Horror

Short Film Saturday: The Haunted Castle (1896)

Posted on by bernardovillela

As I have been wont to do here on the site and in the Short Film Saturday theme, I love to feature the work of Georges Méliès. As it is also the time of year when the Movie Rat runs its 61 Days of Halloween theme, I figured I’d tie in the shorts in the horror milieu as well. I use the word milieu because this is a humorous take, but is still considered by many to be the first horror film. Horror, especially as many children experience through the Halloween holiday, has its whimsy and flights of fancy too; so enjoy!

61 Days of Halloween: Films to Keep You Awake: Spectre (2006)

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Introduction

For an introduction to the concept of 61 Days of Halloween and a list of films previously feature go here.

Films to Keep You Awake: Spectre (2006)

Part of why I write about movies, and why I’m not so hesitant to revisit them at times, is that my memory can be a bit dodgy at times. When thinking back on these films it was the one further down the list of Favorite Older Films, A Christmas Tale, that stood out more, but here’s what I wrote:

I embrace any and all horror series like Six Films to Keep You Awake that round up genre directors from certain countries to tell quick effective tales. It’s not dissimilar to Door into Darkness or Masters of Horror, this edition highlights the uniquely opaque, intricate and dramatic flair that Spain has for the genre. There will be another tale from the series on this list. This is the one that separates the die hards from the casual admirers.

Part of my wanting to write about them here is first to highlight them, as I acquired them on DVD, but also to disentangle them. In trying to surmise a series of films, a much more limited one than say Masters of Horror, generalizing and grouping can do a disservice to the individual titles.

This is title really toys with chronology and with perception, its jumps through time in a character-based way and what’s best about it is its myopic focus and view of events. For only through entering the protagonist’s perception can we glimpse Moira in a different manner than the entirety of the town does. When it’s boiled down what occurs is fairly simple but the jarring, disorienting moments, the paradoxical ones, and the way in which the narrative unfolds are what make it so fascinating to watch.

Tales of obsession, be them adolescent or adult, can be hard to convey, especially in the horror genre, but I think this one sells it very well.

Another reason to revisit titles at times it to see if you over-estimated or under-estimated something the first time around. Complete reversals of opinion are rare, as they should be, but re-evaluations are good. I will see if I tweeted about another title in the series but I may have given that one the short-shrift just slightly. With this one I agree with the assessment that this is not necessarily the title that will make one gravitate to Spanish horror, but those who already like it may come to appreciate it.

61 Days of Halloween – Tremors II: Aftershocks (1996)

Posted on by bernardovillela

Introduction

For an introduction to the concept of 61 Days of Halloween please go here.

Tremors II: Aftershocks (1996)

In the interest of full disclosure, I believe I watched this for last year’s theme, maybe even for the year before, but it was such a demoralizing viewing that I left my notes aside figuring I wouldn’t bother to feature it. A few things come to mind because of it: one, I tend to try and focus on a long-running series (or more) per year and this sequel squashed the possibility of me moving past it any time soon. Two, as opposed to a zeitgeist reaction of “it took too long for this sequel to come around” I saw this many years later and it still felt a disjointed unnecessary edition that takes a leap too many and forgets part of its tonal formula for success in the original.

There is to this film a terribly slow, mercenary start. Most of what it forgets is to incorporate humor. It’s not that it doesn’t try, but it does not try enough and does not succeed. The efforts are far more fruitful and concerted on the horror end, but still a bit misguided. There is a quantum leap in the evolution of these creatures in a short period of time and suddenly there is metamorphosis, asexual reproduction, infrared senses and biped offspring. That’s a lot to absorb especially when you consider that the creatures are MIA for a large portion of the beginning. Therefore, these changes are more jarring, there’s minimal explanation.

Clearly when you go a long time between editions in a series you’ll lose cast members. Michael Gross’ character was perfect as secondary, pivotal nutjob but hardly leading man material.

As the film progresses it does get a little better, but it never rights itself. I’ve been through many long series and slogged through them. In many cases, the badness almost became a sort of morbid addiction. This one is such a soul-crushing departure from the first it compelled me to quit at least for the time being.

61 Days of Halloween: The Asphyx (1973)

Posted on by bernardovillela

Introduction

For an introduction to the concept of 61 Days of Halloween and a list of past titles please go here.

The Asphyx (1973)

As I did with the last post I would like to commend a distributor to start, I got this film also at Monster-Mania but this time at the Kino Lorber table. Kino’s catalogue is fairly diverse and they offer many silent gems, other classic, art house and foreign fare as well as horror. This release is part of a line called Redemption, so named for previously rare titles in the genre. The idea for the line is wonderful, even if this particular selection doesn’t quite work for me in many ways.

I forget where I saw it, and it may have been a later film, but an interest in capturing the exact moment of death is not a new one. However, it is an intriguing concept especially when the possibility exists to cheat it. The Asphyx is the spirit of the death, which is carrying the deceased across the mortal plain when the time comes.If one has no Asphyx, it is found, they can not die.

An obsessive pursuit of immortality is a good angle to play up. Where things start to go wrong occurs quite soon after the film starts, and quite often; such that the film does eventually lose me. It starts with cheats in the motion picture images that seem to show the Asphyx. The researcher having created motion picture recording is a clever plot element but the cuts in the image, that suggest new camera angles, are clearly cheats for we see the camera he used never moved. That’s a nitpicky complaint, but it starts the snowball effect on this film.

Clearly with the setup this story has the Asphyx must be seen, but that creates many of the issues. The effects works is good considering the likely budgetary constraints and the time period, but the design of the Asphyx strikes me and unintentionally comical. Its presence, however, is not but is rather grating and annoying.

Eventually, once the obsession is full blown the pace slows down to a snail’s crawl and why every attempted inducement of death, to lure the Asphyx, needs to be a Rube Goldberg device is beyond me. There are some good building blocks to the film but ultimately the whole is ineffectual.

61 Days of Halloween: The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Posted on by bernardovillela

Introduction

An introduction to the concept of 61 Days of Halloween as well as past films discussed can be found here.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

To kick off this year I figure I’d go with a film I know and like, one I would gladly revisit anew for the purposes of this piece. The first thing that should be mentioned with regards to this film and myself is that I was fairly young when it first came out, and I first viewed it. Therefore, I fell for the marketing ploy hook, line and sinker; meaning, I fell into the trap that this was real footage. That made my first viewing of the film particularly intense, and perhaps the most affecting fright I ever felt.

Between that time and when I revisited it anew, I learned the truth. I came full circle with my reaction. At first, of course, I was quite angry. However, when it came time for me to see it again I took it as it really was- as fiction. I would’ve likely seen through the ruse the first time had I looked into the film more, but I hadn’t. This was one of the few real instances one can have of “seeing it again for the first time.” I knew a lot of the beats and took it all in, and it’s impressive how well it works, especially the performances. Due to the fact that there’s a brief period of expository information, and much walking and arguing, it can be easy to miss the set-ups and escalation.

I won’t spend too much time discussing it as the progenitor of many found footage films since, save to say that a lot of the shots are clear (barring the running sequences of course) and there’s escalation, pay-off, focus on character/performance, and, perhaps most importantly, it cares about explaining where the footage came from and why it was shot.

It’s a film that mixes sources of footage and has a respect for the process of filmmaking. It’s intelligent enough to be clearly edited, but it doesn’t go too far. Far too often in new-age found footage there’s too much “Hey, look this is real raw footage!” scenes clogging up the first act. By switching cameras and stocks the film spices up the beginning without wasting too much time. Having come full circle with it, it’s a film I’ve really come to admire a whole lot. It’s films like this one that make me come back to the found footage approach as tired and low-percentage as it’s been. The Blair Witch Project is a truly great film, that I just had to add to my collection. Being lost can be truly terrifying whether something is after you or not, few films exploit it as acutely as this one.

61 Days of Halloween 2013: Introduction

Posted on by bernardovillela

Prologue

I figured this year I’d change things up, oh-so-slightly. Rather than have the following intro bulk up the beginning of each post I’d have it in its own post. Not only that I figured I’d also have a huge list of the films included in the past for two reasons: one, so you all can have easy access to the titles featured previously and, two, so I don’t accidentally repeat one. Enjoy and look for 2013’s first title later today. I also hope to have much more than last year’s offerings, and ideally a post a day. Subscribers be prepared to occasionally get a few notices a day as some regular site features will continue as per usual.

Introduction

Most holidays worth their while encompass entire seasons, such as Christmas, for example. However, as you may have noticed there is a corporate push every year for us to think about the next holiday even sooner. While this has many negative side effects I figure I may as well embrace it.

Since Labor Day is really only good for college football and movie marathons cinematically it is as significant as Arbor Day, which means the next big day on the calendar is Halloween and we can start looking toward it starting now.

Daily I will be viewing films in the horror genre between now and then and sharing the wealth. Many, as is usually the case, will not be worth it so for every disappointment so I will try and suggest something worth while as well.

2012 (31 Movies, 1 Retrospective)

Call of the Cthulhu
The Crazies (2010)
The Children (1980)
The Children (2008)
The Other
The Mist
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Case 39
Devil
Zombieland
A Haunting in Connecticut
Survival of the Dead
The Last Exorcism
Paranormal Activity
Frozen
Daybreakers
House (1977)
Cat in the Brain
Vinyan
The Sinful Dwarf
The Final Destination
Village of the Damned (1960)
Children of the Damned
The Final
Girl vs. Monster
Trick ‘r Treat
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
House of Long Shadows
Friday the 13th Part 2
Friday the 13th Part 3
Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter
Friday the 13th Part 6
A Nightmare on Elm Street, the Series Revisited

2011 (47 films, 1 list)

Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest
Mother’s Day
Genesis
Aftermath
Crawlspace
Hatchet for the Honeymoon
It! The Terror from Beyond Space
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
Children of the Corn
Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice
The Video Dead
The Prowler
Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering
Masters of Horror: Family
The Evil Dead
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror
Satan’s Little Helper
Masters of Horror: Pick Me Up
Garfield’s Halloween Adventure
Teeth
Masters of Horror: The V Word
Halloween (1978)
Halloween II (1981)
Child’s Play
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers
Child’s Play 2
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
Halloween Resurrection
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Tremors
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Amityville II: The Possession
Halloween (2007)
Top Evil Kids in the Children of the Corn Series
Amityville 3D
The Curse
Homicidal
The Stuff
Santa’s Slay
Die, Monster, Die!
Freaks
Vampire Circus
All the Colors of the Dark
A Blade in the Dark

Silent Feature Sunday: Nosferatu (1922)

Posted on by bernardovillela

While I do watch many new films, and have annual awards and will discuss current cinematic topics. Part of my desire to create my own site was to not have an agenda forced upon me that was not my own. This allows me to discuss films from all periods of history whenever I see fit. Recently my Short Film Saturday posts have been running toward silents more often. I questioned this tactic for a second until I realized that if I really do hope to encompass all of film history then the silent era most definitely should not be ignored. If you mark the silent era from the birth of film (1895) to the first talkie (1927), and I realize it could be argued that the silent era stretched a few years beyond that, and also that there were experiments with sound very early; that’s still 27% of film history at current which was entirely silent. Therefore a weekly post (or, however often I put it up) is not out of line at all mathematically or otherwise.

The good news is that many silent films are available to watch online, and are in the public domain. So I will feature some here.

Nosferatu (1922)

While 61 Days of Halloween is going on this will be a horror-themed post as well. This will allow me to see some horror silents I’ve not yet viewed. However, I figured I’d start with a staple. I must admit I’m not a huge fan of this film. However, I do like it. It’s not quite another Freaks for me, I like it better than that. It’s just quite meet the hype when I saw it, which was a while ago. Next week, however, I will have a film I love…a lot. Regardless, enjoy and may the horror begin!

UPDATED: The Director’s Cut of Nightbreed is coming to Blu-ray

Posted on by bernardovillela

The other day I saw tweets from Clive Barker about a website organizing the effort to get a home video release of the director’s cut of Nightbreed. Now, this is a film I had not gotten around to seeing but once I discovered that said cut had been unearthed and restored and has now even screened, seeing what the theatrical release ended up being seems to pale in comparison.

I urge you to sign the petition and follow its social network links. I believe in standing with artists and defending their vision, and clearly Barker is one who has earned the right to show his intention. So, it’s not really just a case of I want to see it and so will you. Also, when DVD came on to the market this was the kind of thing that was supposed to become more commonplace, but has become all to rare. If there is demand, an overwhelming amount of it, it will not be ignored. Make yourself be heard!

UPDATE: Since the news that the cut existed first broke there have been screenings at horror conventions and festivals the world round of the Cabal cut. Due to unfortunate scheduling I was unable to attend a screening very close to me. The good news is that Nightbreed the Cabal cut is now officially coming to Blu-Ray. The story was broken by Rue Morgue. You can read more here.

Why The Purge Matters

Posted on by bernardovillela

Finances

Box office actuals won’t likely be out until tomorrow, but the estimates are that The Purge not only won the box office for the weekend clearly, but it also sets a record for an opening by an R-rated horror film in the US. On top of that, it’s take in excess of $36 million dollars more than makes back its reported 3 million production budget.

I’ve frequently commented on budgets inasmuch as I don’t care what they are so long as the film is good. As a viewer that’s true. If a film cost a couple of thousand dollars and works (like Absentia) good for it. If a movie costs a lot of money and works for me bully for it as well (See Artificial Intelligence). Budget really only comes into play on a film, for a viewer, when a film is trying to tell a story beyond its means and fails. If a film understands its constraints and tells its story well within them you can’t knock if for being made on the cheap.

As a filmmaker, budgets do matter. When a film made with a very small investment compared to many, especially so-called tentpoles, can be a hit regardless of what its magic number is and return on that investment that’s a great thing. Most people with sense recognize that fiscal responsibility is needed. Steven Spielberg has directed a number of blockbusters but even he knows that more isn’t always more. So there’s a sense that profit, more than throwing money at a supposed sure thing; or rather something that can’t miss because too much has been invested already, doesn’t always make sense.

The Purge (2013, Universal)

Story

But the success of The Purge is exciting because its strength is its idea. Now, I am one of those who enjoyed the film a great deal. There was a certain more that I wanted, and not in the best way, but the film does work and sets the stage. The concept is about a night of legalized crime. The introduction to the concept is through a microcosmic approach where one family who usually does not get involved, just hides out, becomes ground zero for the neighborhood’s hunt. It essentially plays a home invasion plot.

However, with a jumping-off point of legalized crime and the potential franchise (I am sure it will be one now) drawing its strength from a concept rather than a star or an iconic character there are any number of areas or stories in the genre it can explore. It can either start the next installment with this family or go off on a tangent, it can show the chaos that lead to this all or any number of permutations on Purge Night. Like many of the most successful franchises it tethers itself to a once-a-year happening, but in this case they created a holiday.

I think a common talking point was we wanted more about what precipitated the institution of the purge. That is introduced just enough such that the story can work and the details are left as potential fodder for later. In this film its a given and that’s fine. It still works very well and more importantly people talked about it. Whether you went in cynical or willingly suspended disbelief it got people talking, just on the concept.

On my Twitter feed I saw a hashtag develop of #LegitPurgeQuestions. Yes, many of them were funny but it’s still people talking, engaging, being interested in the idea, and when all is said and done, wanting more.

When I recently rescreened Sinister I noted how many bullets I jotted down for a post I’m planning later in the year. There are many talking points in it. Blumhouse is not only making successful horror films but ones that get people talking and whether you enjoy them or not, I for the most part have liked them a lot, they’re keeping a genre that’s always in peril of stagnation, to one extent or another, fresh.

I say that can be nothing but a good thing.

Celia: A Cautionary Tale of Video Titles

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I enjoy attending MonsterMania Con because it allows me a periodical dousing in horror. Recently I’ve taken to finally viewing some of the selections that I acquired while there this last go-round.

My most recent selection brought to mind, yet again, an issue that seems to be popping up more and more. One film I picked up was bombastically proclaiming itself as Celia: Child of Terror, and the cover image featured a girl (Rebecca Smart) with shotgun in tow.

Now the image of her holding the shotgun does occur in the film, and there is build in the film throughout. However, the title Child of Terror evokes something entirely different than what the pull quotes suggest. Child of Terror evokes something exploitative and potentially hokey, meanwhile, the pull quotes wherein Janet Maslin of the New York Times makes an allusion to Blue Velvet and where Tom Hutchison of The Mail compares it favorably to The 400 Blows and The Fallen Idol portend something more serious-minded. So these things do not necessarily mesh. However, it was the quotes and the synopsis that sold me on the film.

Celia: Child of Terror (1989, Scorpion Releasing)

As the film started, I was reminded of some of the factoids I absorbed about it months ago when deciding whether or not I should buy it. I saw the title Celia come up, without subtitle and something I kind of knew, but didn’t fully acknowledge until that moment, crystallized: Child of Terror was an add-on by the video distributor, a video box title as it were. Sure enough, the IMDb confirms that.

I was ready and open for anything and found that the subplots, the rise up to a boil at certain sections of the film, like the rabbit muster in Australia in the late 1950s and the ostracism of Communists and Communist sympathizers, make the film a more artful and dramatic piece than the box advertised. I rather enjoyed the film and I can separate something that’s in the control of the marketing department and/or distributor and the filmmakers. I can guarantee you that this subtitle has coerced others to buy or rent it and had them come away disappointed because they felt duped.

The other place I noticed something similar recently is that Full Moon Pictures has had a tendency lately to rename films of theirs that are about a decade old and re-release them through Redbox. On Redbox’s site the film shows a new release date so you assume it’s a new film rather than a re-issue. The only reason I caught on the first time around was through researching the cast. Eventually through an actor’s filmography I was able to discover what the film was called the first time it was released.

Mystery Monsters (1997, Full Moon)

The Full Moon film was called Goobers on re-issue and I liked it enough to include it here. I’m not quite sure yet if Celia will end up on the 2013 version of that list, but I do know that while Full Moon and Scorpion Releasing may be boosting their sales and rentals through this slightly misleading branding, but they’re playing with fire with this strategy.

Consumer advocacy shouldn’t really play into criticism. The film is the film and a review of said film is one’s explanation of what they think of the film and why. However, I am, at the end of the day, also a consumer so I think it appropriate to make this statement of caveat emptor separate from a review. This is just another case wherein one should be very careful. I knew full well that Goobers would likely be quite silly, I just didn’t know it was an old film. I learned and pass that knowledge on so that others may avoid that. I also knew that Celia would likely be artsier than the title implied and that too turned out to be the case. I was fine with both films, but not with the marketing strategies employed, and thought that others should be aware of said practices so you can make more informed viewing decisions.