Least you think this year’s Six Weeks of Halloween were softening a bit too much, what with all the parodies and old standards, we jumped aboard the Terrifier franchise this week. Even amongst the horror dork crowd, this is a somewhat controversial series. There is definitely a school of thought that says that horror movies should push boundaries, be dangerous, make you feel miserable after watching. It’s… not especially my perspective, but I can respect the sentiment, and the Terrifier series, which makes the New French Extremity look like Pixar fluff, certainly qualifies.

I actually watched All Hallows’ Eve last year, and that’s the first film featuring Terrifier‘s fledgling horror icon, Art the Clown. It’s more of a demo-reel or proof-of-concept though, as it’s really just a fix-up collection of previously released short films with a poorly conceived wraparound narrative added after the fact. Inconsistent and slipshod, it had its moments and showed a little promise, but didn’t really move the needle. But writer/director Damien Leone soldiered on for years in obscurity, building a reputation amongst the horror extremophiles. When Terrifier 2 showed up in theaters after the Covid hangover and did surprisingly solid business (at least, relative to it’s paltry budget), more people started to take notice. Just this past week, Terrifier 3 debuted to #1 at the box office, beating out Joker 2 (which, to be fair, has been poorly received and experienced an 80% drop in its second week, but still, no one expected the unrated schlock sequel to beat the comic book sequel). So despite my reservations, I dove in the deep end this week, and watched all three Terrifier films.

Six Weeks of Halloween: Week 5 – Terrifiers

• All Hallows’ Eve (trailer)
• Driving Lessons – Deleted Scene from Halloween 1978 (short)
• The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror III: Clown Without Pity (Disney+)

Terrifier – Two women trying to get home on Halloween night get stranded and wait for their ride when they run afoul of a maniacal clown-costumed man named Art, who massacres everyone in his path, from pizza shop employees to janitors to homeless cat ladies.

Once again, it does still feel like we’re in demo-reel/proof-of-concept mode here, though this is more consistent and cohesive than the aforementioned All Hallows’ Eve. And there does seem to be an overarching purpose to this movie, which is to subvert nearly every horror trope in existence. Art the Clown is often referred to as a new slasher icon, but this movie really seems hostile to the general conventions. The only real exception is that the killer has a unique appearance and there’s creative violence and plentiful gore (including one particularly gnarly, mean-spirited kill), but beyond that, everything gets tweaked. There’s no tragedy of the past being revisited upon the present, no motivations, no harbingers, and the characters don’t even rise to the level of cardboard cutouts. At one point, when it appears that a character has gotten the jump on Art, he pulls out a gun and just shoots her (generally a no-no in slasher films, which mostly rely on, you know, slashing and bashing motions). Even the ostensible Final Girl doesn’t exactly count as a true Final Girl, given where she ends up (mild spoiler here, but her “victory” isn’t much of a victory).

There can be value in this sort of thing, but Terrifier veers perhaps a little too hard into its nihilistic extremity to be genuinely effective. There’s a reason so many of these things became conventions in the first place – they work.

It’s not all bad news though. David Howard Thornton plays Art the Clown with reckless abandon, and despite never talking, manages to express some level of personality and even a sorta sick, demented sense of humor. The scene at the pizza shop starts out genuinely creepy, and even later in the film, he does darkly humorous things like riding a tricycle and honking his little clown horn in a goofy way. I suspect his performance alone is what makes these early appearances notable.

Shot on a literal shoestring (something on the order of $35,000), it’s hard to fault the movie for its locations or some of its visual repetitiveness. They know where their bread is buttered though, putting most of their budget towards gory effects work, and that part of it is pretty well executed. As much as I don’t particularly care for the philosophy behind the movie, there was some thought put into it, and writer/director Damien Leone is clearly growing his talents, even if the movie remains somewhat shapeless. Ultimately, this is not my thing, but it has its moments. *1/2

• Thanksgiving (fake trailer)
• It (trailer)
• Hatchet (trailer)

Terrifier 2 – A year after the events of the first film, Art the Clown returns to stalk teenage Sienna and her younger brother Jonathan on Halloween. Together, they try to figure out who Art is and how they’re possibly connected.

While the first film was almost an anti-slasher, this one actually deigns to have something of a real narrative. You’ll noticed in my (still quite brief, let’s not get carried away) plot description above, I actually named a couple of characters. That’s because the film actually spends a surprising amount of time getting to know them, their family, and their friends. We even find out a little about Art, and he gets something of a sidekick in a creepy little Clown girl (we later learn that she may have been his first victim). To be clear, we’re not entering A24 elevated horror territory here or anything, but compared to the first film, this thing is like Citizen Kane.

There’s still plenty of subversion to be had. Art pulls out a gun again (on multiple occasions), his powers and that of his new sidekick are vaguely established (at best), and plenty of kills border on bad taste. This sort of thing is always a little hard to justify, but I dunno, I’ve read some history. We’re a species that invented all manner of gruesome torture devices and grotesque methods of dismemberment. I mean, sure, Art will cleave someone in half using a hacksaw in an acutely revolting manner, but we are the species that invented drawing and quartering. And as much as we might like to pretend, those tortures weren’t conducted by demonic Clowns.

The budget has increased, but is still quite low ($250k), but you see all of it onscreen. The settings are more varied and interesting, it’s visually more consistent and while it still has some of the digital sheen of modern filmmaking, it also gives off a bit of the throwback vibe it’s clearly going for. Damien Leone has clearly grown as a filmmaker, and he makes some surreal creative choices here that were unexpected. David Howard Thornton continues to evolve Art into a fledgling horror icon, and Leone gives him time and space to cook, especially in the early goings. A long sequence at a Halloween costume shop is quite effective and actually builds and releases tension the way horror movies should.

Of course, all of this comes at the expense of the runtime, which clocks in at an unwieldy 138 minutes. A judicious editing could perhaps bring it down to a more manageable length, but there is something to the shaggy dog nature of the proceedings that is effective. It may get a bit exhausting by the end, but it’s never boring. Indeed, the weird digressions and even the strangeness of the post credits sequence are part of what make it noteworthy. And unlike the previous films featuring Art, this is actually noteworthy. It’s still not for everyone and I find it hard to recommend, but there’s something here. This sort of mean-spirited nihilism is definitely not my favorite thing in the world, but there is some sort of alchemy at work here that’s interesting, even from the outside looking in. I can actually see why this movie has struck a chord. It’s a big leap forward creatively and I was genuinely curious to see where they’d take things. **1/2

• Black Christmas (trailer)
• Santa and Coke (Robot Chicken)
• Silent Night, Deadly Night (trailer)

Terrifier 3 – Five years later, Sienna and Johnathan struggle to put their traumatic experience behind them, but are planning to have a nice Christmas holiday together with their remaining family. Naturally, Art the Clown and his new sidekick have their own holiday plans that may throw a wrench into the proceedings. Hijinks ensue.

By this point in the series, you pretty much know what to expect, and this new entry retains the increased level of creativity and craft established in the second film. Indeed, and maybe this is just because I was watching this one in a nice theater, it actually just looks fantastic. It wasn’t shot on film, but something about the lensing or graininess lends it a distinct vintage feel. The Christmas setting and great production design helps, what with all the colorful lights and decorations. I was genuinely surprised at how great this looked.

As befitting the slow establishment of a new horror franchise, this one also features tons of cameos, including the likes of Tom Savini, Clint Howard, and several other recognizable faces. David Howard Thornton continues to work wonders with his expressive performance (his delight at encountering Santa Claus in a bar and subsequently messing with him is quite well done). Victoria Heyes returns from the first movie as the final girl turned villain and basically becomes Art’s sidekick, to middling effect. One of the great things about Art is that he doesn’t speak, and while we’ve started to establish a bit of “lore” about him, we really don’t know much. Heyes’ sidekick is clearly some sort of demonic presence, and she speaks too. It’s implied that there’s some sort of connection between her and Sienna, though it’s all very hand-wavey.

It comes off a bit as one of those things where the series started off trying to subvert conventions, but is now diving headfirst into the same conventions it was trying to subvert earlier. Is that a good thing? I dunno, it’s all still mostly just an excuse to engage in gory mayhem, which is obviously still on the menu here. It’s more or less on par with Terrifier 2 in terms of the mean-spirited and gruesome kills, including multiple kids (usually considered a cheapshot in horror films, but not unheard of either, especially in stuff like this series). A few kills happen offscreen, which is a bit odd, but I suspect here may be a reason behind that. Clocking in at just over two hours, this one is shorter than Terrifier 2, but still perhaps a hair too long.

Again, this is not a series for everyone, and if you’ve gotten to this point, you pretty much know what you’re in for. The Christmas setting breaths a bit of fresh air into the series, while the establishment of lore is perhaps a bit less successful. There is an actual plot and characters, even if it can be a bit clunky at times (and honestly, by this point, setting the bar so low in the first movie will only get you so far). The ending isn’t exactly a cliffhanger, but we know there’ll be another movie coming. I suspect this series will run out of steam at some point, but I think it’s probably safe to say that we do have another horror icon on our hands, even if Art the Clown won’t quite reach the mainstream heights of his predecessors (but then, box office for this is at $38 million and counting, which is mighty impressive for an unrated splatter flick) **1/2

Well that was… interesting. Even if these movies aren’t exactly my thing, watching them feels a bit like anthropology or something. I can certainly appreciate these movies on some level, though I doubt I’ll be revisiting them often. I am genuinely curious to see where it goes though, and will probably catch them at the theater. One thing I thought about this series is that even though I don’t love them, I like them a lot more than several of the recent attempts to revive longstanding franchises (I was particularly thinking of David Gordon Green’s recent Halloween movies, which were mostly just a slog). Anywho, we’re already in the homestretch of the Six Weeks of Halloween. These Terrifier movies gave me a hankering for some more conventional slasher type movies, so I think we’ll be tackling some neo-slashers next week.

I usually cover Halloween season’s readings towards the end of the 6 Weeks of Halloween, so just to preview this year’s offerings, one of the things I’ve read was a large selection of Edgar Allan Poe stories (amongst other writings, poems, etc…) Obviously, I was already familiar with some of the more famous stories and poems (i.e. The Raven, The Tell Tale Heart, etc…), but I wanted to have Poe fresh in my mind before watching Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher Netflix series.

Flanagan had found something of a patron in Netflix, at least for a while, and it seemed that every year brought a new series around Halloween. I’ve never watched them in a timely manner, but I appreciate the effort and Flanagan is a talented guy who’s collected an accomplished repertory cast (it’s almost like an anthology series, similar to American Horror Story, only these are actually good.) The Fall of the House of Usher turns out to be the last of Flanagan’s Netflix productions. Rumors abound for the reasoning behind the breakup (Netflix cancelling the underperforming The Midnight Club after one season is often referenced as a flashpoint), but Flanagan is now working with Amazon Studios (and it seems like he will be taking yet another swing at Stephen King’s Dark Tower series), and I’m assuming we’ll see some familiar faces in future series. Until then, I’ll be catching up on some of the stuff I haven’t watched yet, like The Fall of the House of Usher:

Six Weeks of Halloween: Week 4.5 – The Fall of the House of Usher

Despite the title, this isn’t an adaptation of any one Poe story, but rather an ambitious mashup, remixing tales into each other while retaining Poe’s trademarks of death, decay, premature burial, antagonism, and betrayal (amongst others). It even layers in some of Poe’s poetry, which adds a dreamlike vibe to the proceedings, while relegating some other Poe tales to backstories that underline and reinforce the overall narrative. It also incorporates some non-Poe elements, most notably of the Faustian variety, and it’s all been modernized, so there’s an eat-the-rich component that’s popular these days.

While each episode is named after a different Poe story, this is not exactly an anthology series, even if there is a discernable structure to the 8 episodes, and the titular stories are heavily referenced. However, as mentioned above, they’ve all been blended together into one fluid, unified narrative with overarching themes. It’s an impressive feat of adaption, and despite Netflix’s tendency to dump all episodes at once, this is a little too dense to really binge.

That being said, it’s also probably the most fun of Flanagan’s Netflix series, which feels weird to say given its deeply macabre tone (after all, the series centers around the horrific deaths of Roderick Usher’s six children), but there’s a certain ironic gallows humor under the surface that keeps things moving. Once the structure becomes clear, some of the deaths are robbed of their impact a bit, but there remains a distinct Grand Guignol influence, such that even when you see it coming, it works surprisingly well, and by the end I was really relishing the mayhem. Maybe it’s telling that the first (inspired by The Masque of the Red Death) and last (inspired by The Pit and the Pendulum) of the deaths were my favorites, though I’m not sure exactly what to make of that (and it’s not like the others aren’t effective or anything).

As usual, the cast is great, anchored by Flanagan regulars Bruce Greenwood and Carla Gugino, with some new but recognizable names like Mary McDonnell and Mark Hamill fitting in seamlessly. The rest of Flanagan’s reparatory group pitches in admirably, as per usual, and it’s become interesting to recognize these folks mostly through their collaborations with Flanagan. Visually solid, as always, with particular attention played to the sound design. Many of Flanagan’s trademarks are there, like Easter Eggs and details hidden in the background and showy monologues, but they’re all filtered through Poe’s prose and poetry, which actually has the effect of making this feel more restrained than Flanagan’s other Netflix efforts.

Overall, it all works well, and it’s quite entertaining. Thematically, there’s lots of room for interpretation, including some perhaps unintended endorsements of conservative ideals (the Usher family got filthy rich off of an evil drug company that falsified records in order to get everyone addicted to an Oxy-like drug, the kids are all sexual deviants and druggies, one of the more evil characters denounces the traditional concepts of family and motherhood, they’re all punished for their sins (with one notable exception), etc…), but it’s actually quite well conceived in its approach and execution. Recommended!

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I’ve watched a few episodes of some other Halloween season appropriate shows, but nothing that could approach Usher’s level, so we’ll just save those other shows for the inevitable Speed Round post at the end of the 6WH. Next up in the Six Weeks of Halloween? Terrifier(s). Is Art the Clown a new horror icon, or is it all smoke and mirrors? Stop by on Sunday to find out.

Sometimes these weekly themes are more rigid than others. This week is really more of a three movies I’ve always wanted to watch but never found the time and am now catching up with them than anything else. Of course, there’s a long list of movies that fit that criteria, so filtering by Sci-Fi Horror makes it easier to narrow down to three. All of which is to say that Sci-Fi is somewhat loosely defined for the purposes of this theme. I’m a big fan of science fiction and could probably bang out 10,000 words giving a good definition of the genre, but that’s overkill for the purposes of the Six Weeks of Halloween. Anyway, here’s three movies I watched this week:

Six Weeks of Halloween: Week 4 – Sci-Fi Horror

• The Fly (trailer)
• Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers (Looney Tunes Short)
• Them (trailer)

The Incredible Shrinking Man – Richard Matheson has this knack for coming up with goofy sounding premises that he somehow manages to wrangle into grounded, interesting stories. This mode of operation was perfect for things like the Twilight Zone, a series where he contributed some of the more memorable episodes (most notably Nightmare at 20,000 Feet), but some of his pitches could sustain a full feature film too.

Due to a hand-wavey exposure to radiation and insecticide, Scott Carey is shrinking, slowly but surely. He eventually becomes so small that he begins to live in a doll house, and as he becomes even smaller, his home becomes an obstacle-laden wilderness. As he continues to shrink down to mere inches (and even smaller), he must survive encounters with the likes of house cats and spiders.

50s science fiction has a certain reputation as being a little silly or hacky, and reading the plot here, you can’t help but feel that the high concept is probably all their is to it. To be sure, the film delivers on the exasperation of exploring a familiar environment from a radically different perspective, and there’s plenty of action. The effects are often quite simple, but they remain remarkably effective, even to this day (when he gets really small, there are some shots that are perhaps not perfect, but they’re still quite good – I’ll take those over some of the weightless CGI slop of today’s blockbusters.) The cat chase is pretty fantastic, the challenges of navigating the basement to find some food are also quite well executed, and the spider is genuinely terrifying (it helps that they use the biggest, hairiest tarantula they could find rather than a simple daddy long-legs or orb weaver).

What you’re probably not prepared for are the dark, existential monologues that Matheson peppers throughout, particularly in the ending, which contains a bittersweet glimmer of hope. Again, it’s one of those things where Matheson takes what could be a deeply unsatisfying ending and turns it entirely around, even though all the unsatisfying stuff is still there. There’s a few elements that aren’t entirely baked (an abortive romance with a circus performer, the way his wife just assumes he’s dead), but at just 86 minutes long, it never wears out its welcome. Great stuff. ***1/2

• The Thing (trailer)
• Hell No: The Sensible Horror Film (fake trailer)
• The Blob (trailer)

Mimic – Guillermo del Toro began his career in Mexico with Cronos, a unique blend of vampires, alchemy, and del Toro’s distinct brand of fairy tale. This garnered enough success that he was able to make the jump to Hollywood to make Mimic at Miramax, which was apparently quite an ordeal:

“I really hated the experience,” del Toro said to the crowd at the festival. “My first American experience was almost my last because it was with the Weinsteins and Miramax. I have got to tell you, two horrible things happened in the late nineties, my father was kidnapped and I worked with the Weinsteins. I know which one was worse… the kidnapping made more sense, I knew what they wanted.”

Yikes. Apparently tons of studio interference here, but enough of del Toro’s style remains that the film is worth a look, and the idea behind the film is kinda interesting, though a little far-fetched.

In order to combat an emerging epidemic in NYC, an entomologist genetically engineers a breed of insect that will kill the cockroaches that spread the disease. The insect was specifically designed to die off after one generation but life, uh, finds a way. What’s more, their heightened metabolism has allowed them to evolve the ability to mimic their greatest predator, human beings. Hijinks ensue.

This turns out to be del Toro’s most conventional film, and while there are some interesting ideas bubbling under the surface here, they’re pretty clumsily presented. The cautionary theme of unfettered science is presented through overly literal exposition and on-the-nose dialogue; there are much better explorations of this sort of thing that are more subtle and thorough. The titular mimicry is an interesting idea, but ultimately, you are left having to believe that 6 foot tall cockroach monsters are walking around New York undetected (in the dark, from a distance, maybe, but with the creature design they have, it would not survive any real scrutiny). del Toro gets around this a bit with the way he frames and blocks these sequences, so it’s probably good enough, but this movie requires you to make several leaps that make suspension of disbelief a bit of a challenge.

On the other hand, the set design and atmosphere are impressively moody, and the creature itself is well done. Goopy and gross at times, these things all play to del Toro’s strengths. The more ambitious effects are perhaps a bit dated, but it’s pretty good for a low-budget attempt. The cast is actually quite good, with Mira Sorvino leading the pack as the entomologist who figures everything out, and Charles S. Dutton playing the thankless role as a subway cop who gets caught up in events (that guy deserved better in the 1990s, he always brings a gravitas to the proceedings that elevates anything he’s in…)

Unfortunately, perhaps due to the studio interference, the film’s pacing grinds to a halt on a few occasions. It’s an interesting movie, well worth a look, especially for fans of del Toro, but it’s not exactly a classic. **1/2

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Murder (short)
• Duel (trailer)
• “Gremlins 2” Brainstorm (Key & Peele)

Maximum Overdrive – By the mid-80s, Stephen King had parlayed his phenomenal success in the writing world into films, with tons of successful adaptations, and he finally got a chance to direct his own movie, an adaptation of his short story, Trucks, in which a group of people at a truck stop are terrorized by a bunch of tractor trailers which have become animated by some unknown force and mow down every human they can find. In this movie, King expands on the concept beyond the Trucks of the story, with all technology betraying mankind, and the result is a fine example of cocaine-fueled 80s excess.

This is quite obviously not a strictly good movie, but man it’s wildly entertaining. I would say that it’s unintentionally hilarious, but I don’t know, I suspect everyone knew what they were doing with this one, even if they never actually wink at the audience. I mean, this is a movie where Stephen King himself has a cameo in which his ATM repeatedly calls him an asshole. Emilio Estevez is putting on some kind of bizarre accent. After the trucks start their rampage, the scummy manager of the truck stop whips out an actual rocket launcher and starts blowing up trucks (a trend from the 80s we desperately need to bring back). The vehicular mayhem is suitably destructive and frequent (something we also need to bring back: massive practical explosions). One of the trucks is inexplicably sporting a giant Green Goblin mask strapped to its grill. AC/DC provides the soundtrack. There’s a weird romantic subplot. The cast is a veritable who’s who of character actors, including the aforementioned Estevez, the woman who would go on to voice Lisa Simpson, Barney from Silence of the Lambs, a bartender from Deadwood, and probably a dozen other recognizable “that guy” or “that gal” faces.

Look, it’s not really scary in any way, but it’s such a singular oddity of 80s cheese that I can’t help but love it. I’m glad that King would sober up and mostly return to writing, because he’s just so great in that arena, but this is actually an interesting film to have under his belt. This is one of those things that sorta defies ratings, but what the hey: ***

Next up, some televised (er, streamed) horror. After that, I’m planning on a few things. I should probably catch up with the Terrifier movies at some point this year (ah, I see the new one just came out), and I’ve got some Neo-Slashers on the schedule too, not to mention a few other potential themes. A few other themes may have to be relegated to the Speed Round, but I wanted to watch some Fly sequels, horror musicals, and moar. Stay tuned!

Watching nothing but horror movies for six weeks can get a bit grueling if you don’t know how to pace yourself, by which I mean incorporating something a little less dour into the marathon so you don’t completely burn yourself out. I already managed to sneak one parody into this year’s proceedings, but it’s not like there’s a quota or a maximum or anything, so let’s watch a couple of Scary Movies. That is, movies from the Scary Movie franchise, a series of horror parodies that was developed by the Wayans brothers around the turn of the century.

Today, we’ll take a look at the first two movies in the series, which happens to coincide with the Wayans’ involvement (the series would shamble on under the leadership of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer for a few more movies, and they would also attempt to expand the concept to other genre parodies, mostly to disastrous reviews.) I may get to some additional Scary Movie entries in the inevitable 6WH Speed Round, but for now, we’ll just hit the first two.

Six Weeks of Halloween: Week 3.5 – Scary Movies

• Scream (trailer)
• How Scream Should Have Ended (short)
• Student Bodies (trailer)

Scary Movie – As a genre, horror experienced a bit of a boom in the 1970s and 80s but had mostly run out of steam by the early 90s (still good stuff if you know where to look, but definitely not as popular or accessible.) That changed in 1996 with Scream, the self-aware neo-slasher that ignited a stream of mainstream deconstructions of horror flicks. This wave of ironic meta-takes on horror only lasted a few years, but there were enough movies to warrant a string of parodies in the Scary Movie series.

This first entry mainly spoofs Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer (including their sequels), and follows the stories closely. It’s a bit of an odd target. Scream and it’s ilk aren’t precisely parodies, but they’re already a comedic rendition where the folks in the movie know about horror tropes and joke about subverting the conventions. So this plays a bit like a parody of a parody, resulting in less scares and more jokes for sure, but it’s cruder and less intelligent. Which, like, has its place, don’t get me wrong (I like a good fart joke as much as the next guy), but I probably laughed more at Scream than I did at this. This is partly due to some dated humor (much of which runs afoul of current mores, especially amongst the gender and sexuality crowd), but hard as it may be to believe, things were like that 24 years ago (jeeze, has it really been that long, ugh).

The only bit that really hit home in a memorable way was when Shannon Elizabeth was attacked by the killer and gives a sorta play-by-play of how the tropes are supposed to play out that continues even once she’s been beheaded. That’s actually pretty clever and well executed. Plenty of other movies (and, um, Budweiser commercials) get referenced, including some weird non-horror choices – in particular, there’s a big Matrix-style bullet-time sequence that seems kinda incongruous. I dunno, it’s not like other classic parodies don’t contain far afield references (i.e. Airplane referencing Saturday Night Fever), but they usually seem more in line with the main thread of the parody.

So this isn’t exactly a classic genre spoof or a must-watch, but if you can get past some of it’s dated elements, it displays a reasonable degree of cromulence and it made me chuckle a few times, which is always a welcome change of pace during the six weeks of Halloween. **

• The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror: Bad Dream House (Disney+)
• There’s Nothing Out There (trailer)
• Grindhouse: Don’t (Fake Trailer)

Scary Movie 2 – The gang is back, this time being invited to stay the weekend in an old spooky house at the behest of a professor who wants to see how their trauma (from the first movie) impacts the ghosts that are living in the house. Or something like that.

This time around, they take a much broader cross-section of the horror genre, spoofing the likes of The Exorcist, House on Haunted Hill, The Haunting, 13 Ghosts, and many more. Many of these movies had received prominent, big budget remakes in the years preceding this movie, but the general premise is something of a horror staple anyway, so this aspect tends to work a little bit better than the first movie (on the other hand, there’s nothing as memorable or creative as the aforementioned Shannon Elizabeth bit from the first movie). It’s only a year later, so you get the same crude behavior and style of joke, and while I laughed plenty of times, this ain’t exactly a classic either. Also, they do the thing where they spoof other popular movies of the day, this time Charlie’s Angels, which again, doesn’t really fit with the horror theme, but whatever.

I never really mentioned the cast when discussing the first movie, but most of them return in this one. The series is led by Anna Faris and Regina Hall, who are actually solid, have good comedic timing, and decent chemistry with each other and the rest of the cast. Shawn and Marlon Wayans are also doing their usual schtick to decent enough effect. David Cross and Tim Curry are always fantastic and provide a bit of a boost, but Chris Elliott is perhaps overused here and gets a little grating (I like Elliott, but he’s best in smaller doses).

Again, not exactly a classic, but it’s always nice to break things up a bit during a horror marathon. **

These aren’t exactly the best horror comedies out there, but I’ll likely hit up a couple more of them in the remaining weeks as a palate cleanser. Anywho, stay tuned for some Sci-Fi Horror (eh, loosely defined Sci-Fi), coming on Sunday.

As a director and producer, Larry Fessenden has a reputation as the patron saint of indie horror, but he’s probably much better known as character actor. He’s worked with tons of indie darlings, like Kelly Reichardt and Jim Jarmusch, but also big name folks like Martin Scorsese. In the past year alone, he’s been in Killers of the Flower Moon, MaXXXine, and Brooklyn 45 (amongst others). He’s mentored lots of young horror directors, notably Ti West and Jim Mickle, and probably others I don’t even know about.

Up until this week, the only Fessenden-directed film I’d seen was Habit. Ostensibly a vampire movie, it’s actually much more of a personal drama about addiction than anything else. After having watched a few more of Fessenden’s movies, this sort of genre mashup seems to be a common theme. Most horror genre hybrids veer more towards the sci-fi horror (we’ll tackle some of that later in the 6WH) or comedic horror, but Fessenden tends to prefer mixing drama and horror. He clearly has an affection for the genre, so unlike some of the prominent “elevated horror” entries of recent years, his films never seem like they’re embarrassed by their horror trappings, even if the focus might be more on the drama side. It’s an intriguing blend, so let’s take a look at a few:

Six Weeks of Halloween: Week 3 – Larry Fessenden

• Silver Bullet (Robot Chicken)
• Werewolf Women of the SS (fake trailer)
• Wolf Guy: Enraged Lycanthrope (trailer)

Blackout – Small town artist Charlie develops a sneaking suspicion that his blackouts might not be caused by his binge drinking habit, but rather the thought that he’s actually a werewolf.

This is less of an original take on werewolves than he’s done with vampires in the aforementioned Habit, or Frankenstein in Depraved (see below), but it’s still reasonably well done. Of course, the werewolf story is set on the backdrop of a small town suffering under the thumb of a local power-hungry businessman who wants to build a resort despite potential environmental impacts (this guy is also an anti-immigration racist, despite the fact that he needs those folks to build his resort). Charlie feels strongly about the whole situation, but is mostly powerless to stop it, much like he can’t resist the full moon.

It’s a solid production, decent acting, plenty of low-key werewolf effects. It’s a low budget affair, so don’t expect incredible transformation shots or CGI movements, but the simple makeup works well enough, and Alex Hurt has the physicality to pull it off as well. Fessenden also uses our protagonist’s paintings in quasi-animated sequences (a pretty effective way to get around budget constraints).

The small town politics of the movie are ham-fisted and the writing is a bit melodramatic, but it’s got an earnestness to it that is hard not to appreciate. It’s not his best work, but it’s still interesting and it looks like he’s actually trying to set up a crossover with Depraved (mild spoiler, I guess, and I’m a little hesitant on this, but there’s precedent for the Wolf Man meeting Frankenstein after all, so why not). **1/2

• Frankenstein’s Fiance (Robot Chicken)
• Frankenhooker (trailer)
• Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (trailer)

Depraved – An Iraq war field surgeon with PTSD creates a living human out of body parts in his Brooklyn lab. As per usual, Fessenden loads this premise up with other themes, including ruminations on fatherhood and, of course, plenty of criticism of the pharmaceutical industry.

Fessenden is stylistically more playful here, despite the obvious low budget. This sort of DIY aesthetic can come off cheesy at times, but once again, the movie’s earnest nature forgives a lot, and the notion that he’s playing off of James Whale’s 1931 Frankenstein (more than the book) also helps. It’s a tad too long, drags a bit in the middle, and even once the “monster” escapes and engages in some monstering, there’s some awkward clunkiness, but the ending picks up considerably and ties things together well.

David Call and Alex Breaux give solid performances as the doctor and his creation, respectively, but Joshua Leonard steals the show as a tightly wound businessman hoping to reap the rewards of a new drug that made the whole thing possible (how he’ll do this given the clearly illegal nature of the experiment is left unanswered, despite literally being brought up in the movie). It’s nice to see that someone from The Blair Witch Project has made a career for himself, but still manages to seek out interesting roles like this one.

This is a better, more original take on an old story than Blackout. It’s a bit shaggy and clumsy at times and a little overlong, but it’s got a lot of heart. **1/2

• Pet Sematary (trailer)
• The Blair Witch Project (trailer)
• How the Blair Witch Project Should Have Ended (short)

Wendigo – A family on their way to spend some time at a country farmhouse hits a deer on the road, an accident that runs afoul of the local hunters who were tracking the deer and are now upset that their prey has been taken from them. This incident kicks off a feud that eventually conjures up the spirit of a Wendigo, a mythical, voracious, shape-shifting creature from Native American folklore.

The usual Fessenden pattern asserts itself: this wintery horror atmosphere with some light cryptid mythology is really just a backdrop for an exploration of modern manhood. It touches on the country/city divide that drives a lot of this sort of thing, but also gives three perspectives. City slicker George (played by Jake Weber) has his manly confidence shaken by the confrontation. Boorish country bumpkin Otis is humiliated by losing his deer kill and then getting scolded by George’s wife, played by Patricia Clarkson. George’s young son, played by Erik Per Sullivan (Dewey from Malcolm in the Middle), also finds himself unsettled by the encounter, which manifests as nightmares about Otis and later, the Wendigo. It turns out that there’s more simmering underneath the surface of the conflict, with potentially tragic consequences.

This is another film shot on a shoestring budget, but which manages an effective snowy atmosphere. The more stylized dream sequences or hallucinations rely mostly on editing and quick cuts, which are less effective, but work well enough. The Wendigo doesn’t really show up until late in the movie, and even then it feels more symbolic than literal. As an allegory for the various crises of masculinity the movie is going for, the Wendigo is actually a pretty good fit though, and I think this is probably the most successful of the three Fessenden movies I watched this week. ***

An interesting filmmaker for sure, though probably not for everyone. Next up, Sci-Fi Horror (this will be, ah, a kinda loose definition of sci-fi) and maybe some Scary Movies or televised 6WH action.

Hey, remember movie theaters? They’re great! I always try to make room for horror movies playing in theaters during the Six Weeks of Halloween, but releases are not always cooperative. What’s that? A hot director is remaking Nosferatu? Awesome, when does it come out? Christmas Day? Uh, ok. Um, what about that movie that’s, like, a slasher told from the perspective of Jason? No, that came out in April (but it is streaming on Shudder if you want to check it out).

Look, not everything has to come out around Halloween, but there are some years where the pickins are way, way too slim. Fortunately, this year is not one of them! There are actually plenty of options in the theaters right now, and I saw two of the more interesting, smaller-scale releases. One is getting a lot of play amongst the film dorks, the other is apparently way more obscure (and, admittedly, not very mainstream).

Six Weeks of Halloween: Week 2.5 – Now Playing: The Substance & Azrael

• The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror VIII: Fly Vs. Fly
• Society (trailer)
• Meatballs (SNL)

The Substance – Meet Elisabeth Sparkle! An Oscar winning actress who has aged out of big roles into a lesser, Jane Fonda-esque TV workout show. Even this more limited fame becomes jeopardized when the producer fires her, basically because she’s too old. Enter The Substance, a new, invite-only, black market cell-replicating drug that promises to temporarily create a younger, better version of herself. FDA approval is presumably pending.

A primal scream about Hollywood’s tendency to chew up youth and dehumanize aging stars (particularly among women), this movie has seemingly struck a chord with audiences. The premise is vaguely explained and a little sloppy, but thematically rich. On its surface, it’s actually quite blunt and not very insightful, but if you dig deeper, there’s lots to explore around addiction and self-destructive hedonism and empowerment. The things we think we want are slowly destroying us.

The casting of Demi Moore is perfectly suited to this story. As someone who built a career on her radiant beauty and became an A-list star, but who has seen diminishing opportunity as she aged, Moore basically is this character and her self-aware performance is fantastic. It’s the sort of role that people will call “brave,” which normally just translates to the fact that it requires a lot of nudity, but here involves a level self-reflection that must have been uncomfortable. Margaret Qualley might not be the obvious choice for the younger, better version of Moore, but also does exceptional work (apparently with the aid of some prosthetics). I think both would be deserving of awards season consideration… but I can’t imagine Academy Awards voters really connecting with the more lurid body horror elements of this story (more on this in a bit).

Dennis Quaid shows up in a small role as your typical scummy Hollywood producer (his character’s name is Harvey, providing a useful shorthand for those who don’t immediately get it). It’s a big, unsubtle performance (also brave, in its own way) that is accentuated by garish wardrobe choices and even filmmaking choices like fisheye lenses and foley work. A scene in which Quaid’s character eats shrimp is emphasized so dramatically by the closeups and sound design that it might single-handedly set off an epidemic of misophonia. Seriously, this film has lots of gross-out body horror sequences, but this particular scene is so viscerally disgusting that it more than stands up to the effects-heavy gore later in the film (which, to be sure, also features alarmingly well done sound design and makeup.)

Director Coralie Fargeat is building on her work in Revenge here in an interesting way. Both films benefit from her feminine perspective in a way that would probably not be possible with a male director. I suspect the way the camera lingers on Moore and Qualley’s bodies would draw very different responses if they came from male director. This movie might drive the Gen-Z anti-sex scolds a little crazy, but there’s lots of thought-provoking depth in this film if you’re willing to confront it.

Much has been made of this movie’s Body Horror (that gnarly sub-genre that explores the grotesque violations and general frailty of the human body), and as the side effects of misusing the titular Substance become clear and escalate throughout the film, we are treated to some truly nauseating gore. This is clearly not a movie for the faint of heart, as there are several virtuosic sequences that are genuinely unnerving and gross. Near as I can tell, they leaned heavily into practical effects and makeup here, rather than excessive CGI, and that just provides a sorta texture that makes the whole experience even more disconcerting. It’s important to note that these sequences aren’t entirely gratuitous either; they are used to emphasize the results of our protagonist’s addiction to youthful fame and the self-destructive consequences of desperately trying to cling to it by any means necessary (alright, maybe a little gratuitous, but still, there’s a point to it).

As a general rule, you can’t really talk about Body Horror in film without mentioning David Cronenberg, and his influence is definitely felt here, but I was also reminded of Brian Yuzna’s particular brand of Body Horror (notably in the film Society) and Frank Henenlotter might also be worth thinking about. Indeed, this film seems filled with tributes and homages, without actually feeling too derivative of any one source or too on-the-nose about it. Even influences as far afield as The Picture of Dorian Gray, Requiem for a Dream, and Nothing But Trouble get some love.

The intensity of the body horror can get a bit overwhelming, especially for a movie that is this long. There are some pacing issues, and Fargeat was seemingly terrified that people wouldn’t get the connections she was trying to make, and so she adds all sorts of flashbacks to scenes that just happened ten minutes ago. I get the impulse to do this sort of thing because, as mentioned earlier, the actual rules about how the Substance works and what is actually happening are a little cryptic (despite the Jony Ive-style concise packaging design for the Substance kits), but on the other hand, this is clearly going for a sorta demented fairy-tale vibe that doesn’t actually need every detail spelled out (to be sure, my dumb engineer’s brain has tons of questions about how this stuff works, what the relationship actually is between the doubles, and so on, but I’m able to go with it because the movie offers lots of other things.) As a result of this approach, some of the payoffs are undercut by repetitiveness, and it messes with the pacing. Paradoxically, some of what this movie so desperately wants to say (to scream) gets muddled as well. There’s probably a tighter, 100-120 minute version of this that would not feel as bloated.

That being said, it’s hard to fault a movie for being this ambitious and still largely successful at evoking a thoughtful response. I honestly didn’t think this review would grow to the length that it has (and I could probably make it even longer), which I think says something important. Indeed, I suspect a lot of the most interesting things about this movie are the ideas we bring to it ourselves, not so much the thuddingly obvious ideas it clearly wants to bash us in the face with. It’s one of those movies where the criticisms probably say more about the critic than the movie itself (I’m too tired to re-edit this post with this in mind, please be kind to me). There are plenty of quibbles to be had, but I was quite happy to see something this deranged in a theater with a bunch of people (the last half hour or so, in particular, are great to watch with a crowd of stunned onlookers). ***

• Stake Land (trailer)
• Kool Aid in Zombie Wasteland (Robot Chicken)
• The Signal (trailer)

Azrael – Many years after the Rapture, a young woman named Azrael is being hunted by a group of devout believers who want to sacrifice her in order to pacify an ancient evil that lives in the surrounding wilderness.

At least, I think that’s what’s happening. Due to whatever weird perversion of religion is happening in this post-Rapture world, the grand majority of characters have been surgically muted (in order to “renounce the sin of speech” as the film’s textual prologue informs us), so there is basically no dialogue here. Everything we learn about what is going on is done visually. This makes for a somewhat thin story of survival, but it’s at least action packed and visceral. With a runtime of 86 minutes, it never really wears out its welcome and it ends on a high note, with a diabolical and perfectly composed shot.

Samara Weaving plays Azrael and does excellent work, continuing a string of blood soaked performances that have earned her a devoted following. Due to the mute nature of the character, she’s forced to leverage her facial expressions and physicality more than you’d normally expect, and she’s up to the task. Other performances are similarly calibrated, and the characters are distinct enough that you can distinguish between them. The ancient evil in the forest is mostly played as a monstrous cipher. The movie effectively communicates that they’re attracted by the smell of blood, but the mechanics of when and how they attack (and why they would spare some people and not others) are left unclear. The creature design is perfectly cromulent, basically just burned/singed, slightly out of proportion humans, decent but not memorable enough to become iconic or anything like that.

The lack of dialog is bound to turn some people off and the simplicity of the narrative coupled with a stubborn refusal to elaborate on certain oddities probably won’t help, but I was really taken with this movie. It hasn’t been getting much traction, even amongst the mutant horror sub-cultures on Twitter or Letterboxd (where something like The Substance is gaining tons of attention). It’s clearly lower budget and has less star power, not to mention no discernable marketing, which probably explains some of it, but it’s worth seeking out if you like this sort of thing. It’s simplistic and probably won’t satisfy the “elevated horror” folks in the way that The Substance would, but I thought it was great. ***

Both of these are well worth seeking out if you like out of the ordinary horror stuff (and if you have a strong stomach) and will hopefully remain in theaters for a couple more weeks. Happy hunting. In the meantime, we’ve got a few Larry Fessenden movies coming on Sunday, so stay tuned…

Italian horror has become a staple of the Six Weeks of Halloween, with at least one week dedicated to the schlocky cinema of my people. This year, we’ll take a look at three flicks from perhaps the best known Italian horror filmmaker, Dario Argento (as such, he probably doesn’t qualify as an “Obscure Horror Auteur“, another common theme of the 6WH, even if he’s not exactly a household name in America and hasn’t made a notable movie in decades.)

Born to a film producer and a photographer, Argento was always on track to work in the movies and got his start working with the likes of Bernardo Bertolucci and Sergio Leone (even going so far as to earn a Story By credit on Once Upon a Time in the West) before directing his first feature, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (1970). While not the first Giallo, it was a massive success and it’s generally credited with kicking the sub-genre into high gear. Argento would immediately follow it up with two more Giallos in 1971, creating a sorta unofficial trilogy of unrelated movies tied together by their Animal titles. We’ve covered Argento repeatedly over the last fifteen years of the Six Weeks of Halloween, but there’s still plenty of his filmography (including some heavy hitters) that I have yet to explore, so let’s jump in:

Six Weeks of Halloween: Week 2 – Dario Argento

• Murder Mystery Dinner Party (Robot Chicken)
• Deep Red (trailer)
• Tenebrae (trailer)

The Cat o’ Nine Tails – The second of Argento’s Animal trilogy went into production immediately following the success of The Bird With the Crystal Plumage and is famously one of Argento’s least favorite of his own films (I’m guessing the young director was pressured to crank this sucker out in a rush.) It’s certainly the slowest and most conventional of the three Animal films, a straightforward murder mystery produced in a mostly unflashy manner. This is disappointing coming from a director who basically embodies the concept of style-over-substance, but it’s not entirely without merit either.

In particular, Argento develops an endearing friendship between the two leads, a blind retiree played by Karl Malden (an Oscar winner slumming it in Italy) and young hotshot journalist played James Franciscus (of One of My Wives is Missing fame*), as they investigate a mystery involving a genetics institute (including a plot point that would probably infuriate current day, gender obsessed audiences). Something just clicks when they’re onscreen together, and even the young girl who accompanies Malden most of the time is pretty great in the role. Unfortunately, they split the two leads up often, the film goes on for far, far too long, and the story is too simple to justify that length.

Argento would obviously go on to bigger and better things, even in the same year as this one, as Four Flies on Grey Velvet features more of his visual trademarks, not to mention more unconventional plot elements, and he would go on to perfect the sub-genre with Deep Red (not to mention a few other solid examples of the sub-genre, like Tenebre). That being said, there’s still an element of pulpy fun crafted by a genuine weirdo here. It might be a little slow and go on too long, but it’s still a solid, middle tier Giallo. It’s only really disappointing in light of Argento’s other work in the sub-genre (which is mostly in that top tier). **1/2

• Suspiria (1977) (trailer)
• Suspiria (2018) (trailer)
• The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror VIII: Easy-Bake Coven (Disney+)

Inferno – This is Argento’s followup to his most famous movie, Suspiria, and much like Cat o’Nine Tails, he’s unable to recapture what made the preceding film so great. It’s still quite stylish and atmospheric, with a couple of bloody and ornate sequences, it just really suffers in comparison to Suspiria.

Argento tries to recapture the visual motifs and primary colors of Suspiria, and it is indeed a visually striking movie. But without Technicolor (which really gave Suspiria a distinct appearance) it just falls a little flatter. Michael Emerson (of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer) takes over the soundtrack duties and does his best (the song Mater Tenebrarum is quite the earworm), but can’t really live up to the iconic Goblin soundtrack from Suspiria. There are several reasonably effective death sequences in the film… but none are as ornate, unique, or memorable as those in Suspiria. The story of Inferno attempts to flesh out the mythology of the Three Mothers, but this basically just amounts to several sequences of interminable and nonsensical exposition, and the film basically just ends with an unresolved whimper. A lot of folks don’t like the more conventional turn in the ending of Suspiria, but once again, I’ll take that over this nonsense any day.

It’s not the worst thing in the world and there’s plenty to like about this, but as a direct sequel, it really suffers in comparison to the first film. Argento had originally planned to do three movies, one for each of the Three Mothers, but didn’t get to the final film until 2007, which was not well received. You’re probably better off just watching Suspiria (and maybe it’s remake). **

• Phantom of the Mall (trailer)
• The Phantom (Robot Chicken)
• The Phantom of the Opera’s Girl Problems (short)

Opera – Ah, now here’s the stuff! By 1987, Argento was moving past the conventions he had previously established while still managing to incorporate all of his calling cards (Black gloved killers! Metal soundtracks! Animals! Voyeurism! Tons of other nonsense!) without seeming repetitive or derivative. It’s probably his last great film, even if he continued to work for decades after.

There are elements of Phantom of the Opera and several other references here, but like Argento’s best work, he plays it a bit fast and loose with the plot while elevating the whole thing with stylistic excess. And boy does this movie engage in stylistic excess. The restless, prowling camera movements, unusual angles, and lavish cinematography are all leveraged to the full extent. It’s the sort of wildly creative style-over-substance that Argento is known for, and it’s all deployed with gusto.

It’s the best thing I watched all week, and it’s certainly the most memorable. He even manages to execute a perfect death scene involving a gun (usually a no-no for this sort of horror), a bravura sequence that rides the line between silly and stylish fun incredibly well. It’s the sort of virtuoso exercise that justifies trawling through a long filmography to find the gems. ***

The intervening decades have not been quite as kind to Argento. His 90s seem filled with moderately well received films, but clearly something was lost, and his more recent works are almost uniformly despised. I may have to check out one of these recent disasters, Dracula 3D, just because I’m still on a bit of a Dracula kick, but I’m not expecting much.

* – Just kidding. One of My Wives Is Missing is one of those obscure TV movies from the seventies that no one has seen, but hey, it’s available on Amazon Prime and is actually pretty fun (if a bit silly).

Bram Stoker created the character of Count Dracula in his 1897 novel Dracula, and perhaps owing to the novel’s swift entrance into the public domain (at least, in the USA), he has appeared in more films than any other character, fictional or otherwise, except for Sherlock Holmes (which, incidentally, includes stories with both characters.) There have been over 30 straight movie adaptations of the novel and countless ancillary appearances, not to mention inclusions in television, stage, and other literature. Just last year, we had two Dracula-adjacent flicks with major releases (more on one of them below), and we’re about to get another Nosferatu from Robert Eggers later this year (not to mention the rumored Sci-Fi Western version of Dracula from Chloé Zhao), so the character has proven quite resilient.

I actually kicked off the Six Weeks of Halloween a little early by listening to the Audible Edition Audiobook, which was fantastic (I want to say that I read this in my teen years, but honestly, a lot of this felt new, so maybe I never got too far back then), and have been going through a Dracula kick in movies as well. We’ll most likely see more of these in the inevitable 6WH Speed Round, but here are three new-to-me Dracula flicks:

Six Weeks of Halloween: Week 1.5 – Draculas

• Dracula (1931) (trailer)
• Is that a whip? (Robot Chicken)
• Renfield (trailer)

The Last Voyage of the Demeter – On paper, this movie seems like it should work like gangbusters. Based on a short (about 5 pages) but evocative and memorable excerpt from Stoker’s original novel about Dracula’s voyage from Carpathia to London where it’s implied that he murders the entire crew, it’s an interesting pressure-cooker of a premise that leaves plenty of room to fill in details (even if we sorta how it will end). The sea is dope! The cast is filled with solid character actors doing yeoman’s work. The director and crew are also known for their sturdy craftsmanship. Add this all together, and somehow, you get a bit of a slog.

Perhaps this is because we know where this is likely to end up, which robs some of the impact of the deaths, even the more gratuitous ones (there’s a child and dog onboard, but their fate is pretty much a foregone conclusion, despite some solid tension being developed in isolated sequences). It’s definitely a bit too long. Clocking in at nearly 2 hours, it really stagnates once you get underway, which is weird, because the characters are a little thin and underdeveloped too. The plans our heroes devise to combat the creature aren’t very clever and they’re obviously ineffective (and, well, they can’t be that successful, least the story diverge too far from the source). I guess the premise isn’t quite the slam dunk it might seem upon first glance. I’d be curious how well it would work if you cut out 20-30 minutes and then withheld the names of Dracula and maybe even the Demeter (to throw us nerds off the scent) until much later in the movie. It might make for a better film, but I’m guessing a studio would never go for that – the marketing kinda hinges on Dracula.

Speaking of whom, this is an interesting take on the classic fiend. Over the last 125 years of countless appearances in film, television, and more, Dracula has suffered from Flanderization, where a character’s initial complexity gets distilled and simplified to the point where they become almost a caricature of themselves. With Dracula, this has usually taken the form of overemphasis on his sex appeal and adding an element of gothic melodrama to his story. Often, the truly monstrous nature of the character is downplayed in favor of providing a sympathetic backstory or a romantic subtext. Take this to its logical conclusion and you wind up with the sparkly lovestruck vampires of Twilight or the horndogs of True Blood. The interesting thing about The Last Voyage of the Demeter is that it has also Flanderized Dracula, just in the opposite, more monstrous direction. It’s an approach I’d normally approve of, especially if his identity was withheld until later in the movie, but all we really see is a generic boogeyman who pops up to slaughter a crewman every few minutes. It’s still interesting and the creature design is well done, but it feels a bit off for Dracula (who has more personality and cunning than we see here)…

The other major criticism this movie has garnered is with the ending, a transparent attempt to set up a sequel in which our hero (who, spoiler alert, does manage to become the sole human survivor of the Demeter) vows to hunt down Dracula. I guess the implication is that he’ll hook up with Van Helsing and friends later down the pike, but since this character doesn’t appear in the novel, I like to think that his quest for revenge is completely fruitless and that the sequel would just be him constantly three steps behind Dracula and two steps behind Van Helsing until they all finally meet up and he sees that Drac is already dead. This movie also suffers a bit from the modern cinematographic obsession with overly dark photography. It’s far from the worst offender, and it’s clear that the director and cinematographer know what they’re doing because much of the movie looks great, but the calibration is just off on some sequences, which are far too murky and dark (particularly the opening and fog soaked ending). Ultimately, there’s lots to like about the movie, but nothing quite coheres the way it should. **

• A party hosted by a vampire (Robot Chicken)
• Young Frankenstein (trailer)
• The Netherbeast of Berm-Tech Industries, Inc. (short)

Dracula: Dead and Loving It – I suppose it was inevitable that the man who made Young Frankenstein would eventually take on the other major Universal monster, and thus we get this surprisingly bland take on Dracula. Mel Brooks is obviously a fan of those original Universal monster movies, and this is clearly patterned after Tod Browning’s 1931 adaptation of Dracula. Indeed, this movie plays mostly like a straight remake of that film, with some light jokes scattered around for good measure.

The problem is that the joke density is quite low, and much of what’s there doesn’t land very well. There are a few good bits though. There’s a running gag about Dracula’s shadow (a clear reference to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which had come out only a few years earlier) that’s pretty good, and I love the splatstick bit when Harker drives the stake into Lucy’s heart. Leslie Neilson plays the titular Dracula to decent enough effect, and I like the way Peter MacNicol hams it up as Renfield. Mel Brooks himself shows up as Van Helsing, and he’s pretty good onscreen, even if his work behind the camera isn’t particularly great. I wonder if this movie would look better if it were just shot in black and white? As it is, it feels visually uninspired and flat.

I don’t know, I chuckled a few times and it’s always nice to sprinkle some comedies in with all the horror during this sort of marathon, but it’s also lethargic and largely unsuccessful. I could see it striking a chord if you saw it at a certain age, and I bet if I had seen this back when it came out, I might have a pleasant nostalgia for it today. It’s hard not to like a Dracula movie staring Leslie Neilson directed by Mel Brooks, but they gave it their best shot, and it’s nowhere near Brooks’ best work. **

• Vampire 8:00-9:00 PM (Robot Chicken)
• The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror IV: Bart Simpson’s Dracula (Disney+)
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (trailer)

Dracula (1974) – Dan Curtis (of Dark Shadows fame) directed and Richard Matheson (of I Am Legend fame) wrote this relatively straightforward adaptation of Stoker’s novel. The most notable changes here are introducing the idea that Dracula is Vlad the Impaler (implied by the novel, but not explicitly stated) and adding a romantic subplot involving Dracula and a woman who resembles his deceased wife (in this case, Lucy Westenra). Both points would become a prominent part of Coppola’s Dracula in the 1990s, which expanded the ideas further. There are lots of other changes: Jonathan Harker is killed early on and comes back as a vampire thrall during the final showdown, and several major characters are excised altogether, including Renfield, John Seward, and Quincey Morris.

Jack Palance plays the Count here, to pretty good effect. He brings a certain stoic physicality to the role, but also shows some yearning towards his long lost love that injects a bittersweet note. He’s not quite as otherworldly or memorable as Bela Lugosi, but Palance brings a peculiar cadence that is fitting for the part. Unfortunately, the cast surrounding him isn’t quite up to the task. In particular, the Van Helsing is quite lacking, but the rest of the cast can’t quite hold the line either. Visually, Curtis does what he can, and it has some nice compositions, but that can’t really make up for the rest of it. This is definitely an interesting adaptation in that it introduces some ideas that would influence future takes on Drac, but it ultimately does come down somewhere in the middle of the pack of straight Dracula adaptations… **

Again, I will most definitely be watching more Dracula and Dracula-adjacent movies during the next six weeks, but they’ll probably have to wait for the traditional Speed Round. In the meantime, stay tuned for some Dario Argento, coming on Sunday…

In Robert Aickman’s short story “Ringing the Changes,” a surreal crowd of townfolk parade through the streets chanting:

The living and the dead dance together.
Now’s the time. Now’s the place. Now’s the weather.

When I read it a few years ago, I found it to be a fittingly macabre slogan for The Six Weeks of Halloween as a concept. As we approach Autumn, there’s a chill in the air, leaves are changing color and falling from their trees, people start breaking out their sweaters and adorning their household with all manner of mutilated gourds, decorative corpses, plastic spiders, styrofoam gravestones with cute, ironic captions, and of course, the (pumpkin) spice must flow. These and other ostensibly ghastly traditions can mean only one thing: It’s Halloween Season!

Around these parts, we celebrate that Hallowed E’en by watching a veritable plethora of horror movies (and we read some spooky books while we’re at it) for the six weeks leading up to the big day. Why six weeks? Well, it used to be two weeks better than the standard October marathons that a lot of folks do, but everyone’s been stepping up their game over the last few years, to the point where we’re just conventional at this point.

It’s traditional to start the marathon off with something that’s at least nominally respectable. Which is not to say that it won’t be schlocky fun, just that there will be some element to the theme that might hint towards something a little more classy than typical. Things like silent movies, foreign films (more foreign films), arthouse flicks, classic anthologies, celebrated studios (and other celebrated studios), and the like. This year, with the help of the fine folks over at The Criterion Collection (always a safe option for more respectable horror), we’ve lined up a trio of Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers.

Browning is most famous for directing the first sound film adaptation of Dracula (a Universal monster movie classic that we’ve revisited multiple times during these Six Weeks of Halloween marathons), but his notorious followup to that film was Freaks, an infamously transgressive film that we’ll talk a little more about below. Freaks also touches on topics and themes that Browning often tackled: outsiders, con artists, grifters, carnivals, sideshows, gypsies, vagabonds, and the like. All three films we’re watching this week are from that milieu, though only one is a sound film. Browning himself spent time working at a circus (as a clown) before moving on to Vaudeville and eventually Hollywood (he was a protégée of D.W. Griffith), so the man has the experience to back up his interests. Let’s dive in:

Week 1: Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers

• The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXIV: Freaks, No Geeks (Disney+)
• The X-Files: “Humbug” (episode)
• Freaked (trailer)

Freaks – An infamously transgressive film, surely one of the strangest things ever produced by a major American studio, this film was initially a financial and critical disaster, but developed a cult following and eventual reevaluation decades later.

A beautiful but cruel trapeze artist seeks to marry a sideshow performer, but when it becomes clear that she’s been poisoning him in order to inherit his fortune, the rest of the sideshow “freaks” rise up in righteous vengeance.

Browning famously cast real-life sideshow performers to portray the performers at the circus, which certainly lends an authenticity and verisimilitude to the proceedings. There’s always been criticism of the film’s potential to exploit its cast’s physical disabilities for amusement’s sake, but the story does everything in its power to portray an inclusive community who, shunned by mainstream society, have their own code of acceptance and inclusion. It’s telling that Browning doesn’t really show the performers onstage (i.e. for an audience’s amusement), but instead demonstrates their talents in a more understated and organic manner (i.e. a quadruple amputee lights his own cigarette using only his mouth during a conversation, and so on).

Indeed, for a film made in 1932 (a time when eugenics was nearing its peak in popularity), the film must have been shocking in its portrayal of circus freaks as actual people with real feelings, hopes, and dreams. The whole point of the film is that the more conventional people, like the trapeze artist and strongman who look down on the sideshow performers as subhuman freaks and seek to take advantage of them, are the real monsters here.

Audiences at the time didn’t really see it that way, and were revolted at the film. Early screenings were significantly longer and reportedly more gruesome than the cut that was eventually released and survives today (nearly 30 minutes of footage was cut and is thought to be lost), but the ending remains effective, perhaps even moreso because of what you do not see. To be sure, it’s not a perfect film. The narrative is simplistic and while the cast and setting are quite authentic, the performances are a bit stilted. But these flaws tend to be more endearing than anything else, and it remains an effective bit of social commentary and, remarkably odd, even today, for a major studio release. The Criterion presentation is the best the film has ever looked, and has lots of special features as well. ***1/2

• Toss to the Death (Robot Chicken)
• The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (trailer)
• Circus of Fear (trailer)

The Unknown – A circus bound love triangle develops between an armless knife thrower (he uses his feet) and a strongman vying for the affections of their female assistant. One of the men is actually an infamous criminal who is hiding out in disguise, and seeks to sabotage the the other’s attempts at love. Ironic twists and machinations culminate in a tragic showdown.

Browning often collaborated with “the man of a thousand faces,” Lon Cheney (most famous for his turn in the silent Phantom of the Opera), and this is the most famous and celebrated of their work together. It’s easy to see why, with Cheney giving a remarkable physical performance. Even accounting for the usage of a body double for some of the footwork (Cheney plays the armless knife thrower who is remarkably dexterous with his feet and toes), it’s quite effective and really sells the character’s shocking decision later in the film. I won’t spoil the bitterly ironic, O. Henry-esque twists at the core of the story, even if you might see where it’s headed (though I must admit, I wasn’t really expecting the film to get quite so strange and lurid). Cheney doesn’t do crazy makeup or anything here, but he sells all the turmoil his character is going through with his exaggerated facial expressions, grimaces, scowls, and whatnot, sometimes managing to evoke resignation, heartbreak, and even sympathy for a fundamentally callous character.

Also of note is an early performance from a young Joan Crawford as the love interest and the rest of the supporting cast also does fine work. The plot focuses a bit more heavily on the melodrama than I usually like, and it all feels like a bit of a dry (silent) run for Freaks, but it’s worthwhile on its own as well. If you’re interested in film history, it’s neat to see how Browning evolved these settings and themes across the three movies in this set.

Visually, I’ve never found Browning to be quite as dynamic as the expressionistic films of the era, even though there is a clear influence at work here. Take the scene where Cheney confronts a doctor in a cathedral-like surgical suite, which is certainly a striking visual, even if it’s not as extreme as something like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (a clear influence on most horror films of the 1920s). That being said, I’ve always found Browning to have a keen eye for framing and blocking that is too often dismissed in favor of more showy techniques.

The Criterion presentation is sourced from the only two remaining nitrate prints of the film, so it actually looks the worst of the three films in this set, even if it’s probably as good as possible (to be clear, any issues here are with the poorly preserved film and not with Criterion and their digital partners) and better than most public domain silent films that you’re likely to find for free on the streaming services (and hey, I’ll certainly take that over AI upscaled slop or, like, you know, nothing – Browning’s London After Midnight was made in the same year as The Unknown, but is one of the most famous lost films of all time and I’d totally take a crappy transfer over nothing). Criterion also sourced a new piano-heavy score which pretty much conforms to what you’d expect from a silent film, but is well done, and an audio commentary that’s solid and informative. Overall, I don’t see how this could look or sound any better unless someone finds a well preserved and pristine print somewhere (which has happened!) ***

• Nightmare Alley (2021) (trailer)
• Nightmare Alley (1947) (trailer)
• The Astrologer (trailer)

The Mystic – After decades of only being available on VHS, this is the least seen and rarest of the three movies in this set. Sourced from a 35 mm safety print (the intricacies of old timey film stock are perhaps worthy of their own post and, uh, some learning on my part, as I’m certainly no expert on this sort of thing except to say that this transfer looks pretty good for a film made in 1925) with a new score by Dean Hurley (best known for his frequent collaborations with David Lynch), it looks and sounds pretty great.

Small time Hungarian gypsy hustlers with an effective psychic act are approached by an American grifter who lures them to New York to swindle rich high-society types. Another love triangle develops here, as well as some grinchlike transformations, but the real stars of the show are the elaborate séance set-pieces. Browning takes you behind the con to see just how these things work, but the actual presentation is quite effective, even when you know how it’s being pulled off.

Browning was not able to get Lon Chaney for this film, and perhaps the cast of mostly unknowns is part of why the film has languished in obscurity for so long. That being said, Eileen Pringle does great work as the titular Mystic, aided by some rather spectacular costumes by famed art deco designer Romain de Tirtoff (also known as Erté). Browning and cinematographer Ira H. Morgan light her in a way that literally makes her glow on screen at times, and her performance can stand up to the scrutiny.

As mentioned above, this is a silent film with a new score by Dean Hurley, who does include sound effects in the mix (i.e. knocking on a door, the sweeping sound of a broom, cheers or laughs of a crowd, horse hooves, and so on). I’m not a silent film expert, but this is an approach I have not seen often, and it made for interesting watching (even if it was sometimes odd to hear the sound effects but not dialogue). Clocking in at a svelte 74 minutes, it’s actually the longest of the three movies here, even if it is shorter than most House of the Dragon episodes.

Once again, it does feel like we’re looking at the larval stages of what would eventually become The Unknown and then Freaks, but that’s what makes this set interesting. ***

A successful start for the 2024 Six Weeks of Halloween marathon, stay tuned for more: we’ve got some Dracula movies, a trio of Dario Argento flicks, some Larry Fessenden, a few Neo-Slashers, Flyquels, and much, much moar!