2017 Halloween Scary Movie Challenge

The 30+ film classic monsters DVD box from Universal just dropped from about $95 to $49.99
Get em while it lasts. There were 6 left five minutes ago. Now there are 5 left
EDIT - 3 left
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L8QP082

 

The Childhood of a Leader WTF Netflix? Somehow this WW1 period drama about the coming-of-age story of the son of an underling of President Wilson’s Secretary Lansing got listed as a horror movie. The only horror was that somehow a two hour movie made me age six hours and made me angry. Scott Walker’s original score for a better horror movie was somehow tacked o to this project where it is completely out of place. Excellent actors populate the movie but since nothing happens (seriously, the biggest piece of action is a candle that sets the drapes on fire..... but they go out on their own!) blah! Angry!

1/5. I wasted my day off on this crap. Don’t make the same mistake.

 

The Student of Prague (1926, Henrik Galeen)
Reached back (literally, in my collection) for this one. But it's one of the few horror films I've kept because it's a classic story of a poor young student who, unknowingly, trades his soul for gold pieces. Not preserved especially well this black and white throwback is still a chilling, genuinely creepy parable and one of the best of the early German Expressionist flicks.

 

DVDs...too bad after seeing the available BR...not interested.

 

You can buy the Blu Rays for 20-30$ a set if you like. Read the reviews.

 

I know I own a few of the BR as I said; after seeing them no reason to down grade as all the contained in the DVD box will wind up out on BR...

 

House of Dracula (1945)

I stayed up and watched a double feature of B-classics on TCM last night. House of Dracula features not only the titular character (who actually doesn't have the lead role), but also Frankenstein's monster and the Wolfman, in both his hirsute full moon glory and the daylight Lon Chaney Jr, played with his standard bags-under-the-eyes, "where's my flask" aloofness.

But the star of the movie is Onslow Stevens as the doctor gone mad. His Dr Edelman has made a career out of diagnosing the supernatural problems of people and curing them. He is trying to turn Dracula back into a human and prevent the Wolfman from going all, well, Wolfman when the mood strikes him.

I still don't understand what the heck the Frankenstein monster was doing there though. Near the end of the movie, after the Dr has begun to go mad (due to circumstances I won't divulge here), we finally see that he has the monster locked up in some secret basement laboratory. He spouts off some nonsense about gaining eternal life by bringing the monster back to life, and then they inserted an abundance of stock footage from several Frankenstein movies. It was all very half-@ssed.

But, on the whole, there was a lot to enjoy in this one. One of the townspeople is just a creepy, creepy dude whose mannerisms and voice reminded me of Peter Lorre. And while I feel he was underutilized in this one, John Carradine had quite the presence as Dracula. Had they focused on him and not spread out the plot all.over the place to include the menagerie of monsters, this one would probably have been much better. As it is though, it was an entertaing hour and 10 minutes or whatever it was. I recommend it with the caveat that you go in expecting more silliness than genuine horror atmosphere.



Billy the Kid versus Dracula (1966)

Holy smokes, yeah, you read that title correctly. This was the second B flick in last night's double header, and was it a doozy. John Caradine reprises his Dracula role in this one, and he plays it surprisingly seriously. Based on the title and premise, I was expecting a tongue-in-cheek spoof type of flick, but everyone is very earnest in their performances which made this one refreshingly watchable and entertaining.

The premise is that Dracula is looking for a life mate and by plot happenstance that I won't get into, he comes to a ranch in the Western US to entrance a young lady who happens to be the fiancee of Billy the Kid. But Billy's gunfighter days are behind him, and he's an honest ranch hand now, trying to stay out of trouble and settle down with his lady. And that's the gist of it.

The bat effects are Ed Wood-esque. I've seen more realistic bats sold at novelty shops. And they didn't even attempt to hide the strings holding it. This one is full of B-movie goodness like that. The performances are all so earnest though, that it never quite feels like a total schlock fest. The actors all took it very seriously, and that works for it. This one could have been a regretful one, but I got into it and wanted to see how it all finished up because I became engaged in the characters. Definitely not bad for a bare budget B flick.

 

First pick of the season:

The Autopsy of Jane Doe - fun film where the scares are suggested and most of the budget went into the autopsy scenes which have no more gore than a Bones (the tv show) episode.

 

I also want to add that no one can creepily leer at nubile young blondes quite like an aged John Caradine in full Dracula regalia.

 

If only it had the "correct" actors for the monsters. Only Chaney is original. Those wanting a monster mash-up of the original Dracula (Lugosi), Frankenstein (Karloff), and Wolfman (Chaney), would never get it. The closest was in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Legosi and Chaney return, but the Monster is played by Glen Strange. But it works, since the Monster is the one of the three you can get by with a different actor.

*Chaney also filled in for Strange one day as the Monster, so it is actually two different actors portraying the role.

*The Monster is actually called Frankenstein in this movie, and it was not the first time. So probably no need to be a stickler on calling him The Monster.

 

BTW: Karloff did don the Frankenstein makeup again on two occassions.

The first was a charity baseball game:

The second was a Halloween episode of Route 66. Start at about 51 minutes in this video: ROUTE 66: Lizard's Leg & Owlet's Wing

 

^Ha! Great stuff. True to form, he didn't walk like the blind monster with arms outstretched in the first clip, and he spoke in the second clip. Nice post.

 

The Devil’s Candy - I’m not entirely sure if this was really good, or my brain simply liked it more as a survival response because that last movie was toxicly awful. Anyway, pretty good throughout until the very end BUT suddenly a house fire produces no smoke and fire has no effect on the protagonist family (despite an entire gas can exploding three feet away in a closed room). Also I’m pretty sure Texas has school buses.

4/5. Good but not spectacular.

 

I always wanted to watch House of Dracula but still have never come across it on-demand or seen the DVD

 

Roman Polanski's 1971 Hugh Hefner produced Macbeth qualifies as horror in my book. Just off the success of the horror flick, Rosemary's Baby, Polanski kept his creepy stride but went proper and gave us the goriest version of Shakespeare's poet/murderer/king I've ever seen. And the ending, barring the Kurosawa version, is certainly the most chilling. Macbeth To Go.

 

It's included in the Dracula Legacy Collection which runs about $10 on DVD or $20 on blu-ray. It's a nice set, I recommend it.

 

Human Centipede. Actually done very well.

Don't bother with the 2nd one, and especially the 3rd one. (2 hours of my life I will never get back)

 

Are you a creepy pervert? Do you really want a whole bunch of close-ups of Caity Lotz’s feet? Then The Pact is for you! And it has Casper Van Dien! I haven’t seen him in anything since Starship Troopers.

Luckily the ghosts turn out to be helpful and keep the heroine alive so she can murder the murderer whom murdered the murdered. Being a vengeful spirit is a vicious cycle. And you’ve seen dozens of movies with the exact same story before.

3/5. If movies were spices this would be flour.

 

What happened to Casper Van Dien? It wasn't exactly an Oscar-worthy performance, but he carried a big budget movie really well. And he had movie star looks.

After Starship Troopers, it looks like he's done garbage ever since.

 

Just finished Quarantine with Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter's sister). Disregard the IMDB reviews comparing it (unfavorably) to the original (Spanish) REC, it stands alone by its own self just fine. Still scary on my (and wife's) 4th viewing and some truly horrific moments, worthy of the Halloween season. The final scene will stick with ya for a piece. Prior to this we saw, again probably for the 4th time, Descent. Despite a very slow beginning, once that sucker gets going its a fun,scary, ride. Last night, our favo Halloween, II.

A

 

I loved The Descent! I keep waiting for the sequel to show up on Netflix some rainy day, although I’m sure it won’t be half as good.

 

Watched the sequel last night. Even though it has a different director and and writer than the first, it was a worthy successor. I'm still trying to figure out what the final scene is about.

 

Sorry did not read the OPs post correctly, maybe these should be considered recomendations, for viewing.

Halloween (John Carpenter)
The Exorcist (Blu Ray)
The Omen (Blu Ray)
Any Hammer titles
Zombie Flesheaters (Arrow Blu Ray)
The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (Arrow Blu Ray)
Deep Red (Arrow Blu Ray)
Dawn Of The Dead
Night Of The Living Dead (Original)
Possession Blu Ray ( I helped out on this release)
So much more.............