6 Weeks of Halloween

I always joke that the Six Weeks of Halloween is totally better (two weeks better!) than most horror movie marathons, which are usually only reserved for the month of October, but really we’re all just pale imitations of Brian Collins, who ran a website called Horror Movie A Day, which is exactly what it sounds like. To clarify, that’s one horror movie (and review of said movie) every day for around six years. That’s 2500 reviews. This, gentlepeoples, is insane. He still posts reviews every so often, but no longer feels obliged to keep up the daily routine. Good for him!

One of the projects he worked on with his newfound freedom was Horror Movie A Day: The Book, wherein Collins has condensed his experience into one handy resource featuring a recommendation for every day of the year (plus a bonus, for leap years). Each month features a different theme, ranging from specific genres (Slashers, Killer Kids, Zombies & Cannibals, etc..) to countries of origin (Asian Horror) to more vague categories (Bat Shit Crazy Horror). Each recommendation has some meta information (i.e. dates, genres, etc…), an exerpt from the original HMAD review, and some more current reflections.

The best thing about the book is that Collins specifically avoided well-known, “famous” horror films. So you won’t find the likes of Halloween or The Exorcist gracing these pages, as Collins assumes that you’ve either already seen them or at least know about them. No, with a couple of arguable entries aside, this book is jam packed with the obscure, off-the-beaten path movies that even dedicated horror fans will find unfamiliar. Many classics are certainly referenced in the writeups, to be sure, but the choices themselves are well curated. They range from silent films (only one, I think) to obscure cult films of the 70s and 80s, to DTV efforts of the 90s and aughts. Many of these are maligned simply due to their distribution models, but Collins does a good job finding the gems in the rough. As far as I can tell, at least. For reference, I’ve only seen 52 of the 366 films on offer (which rather neatly works out to 1 per week in the hypothetical year it would take to play along with this book), though that number will increase, as I’ll be tackling several of these films in the coming weeks of the 6WH.

Of course, this obscurity also tends to limit the general appeal of a book like this. Many of the selections aren’t exactly classics of the genre, and with good reason, but I think Collins praise of the “B+” movie is actually quite admirable. It seems like a lot of people want to become experts these days, but perhaps the ubiquity of listicles and wisdom-of-the-crowds rankings has given a false sense of how one attains expertise. It’s fine to follow such lists, of course, but there are no shortcuts to expertise. You’ve got to experience the good with the bad, and Collins is well aware of that, even going so far as to feature a notably bad movie for each month. They’re bad movies, but bad in often fascinating ways. As noted in the introduction, there’s a lamentable trend these days to categorize films into “AMAZING!” or “GARBAGE!” with no room for anything in between. This book takes it as a given that you’ve already seen the obvious amazing stuff and takes you on a tour of the full spectrum, and for that, it is to be commended.

If you’re looking for in-depth criticism or analysis, this probably isn’t the book for you. Nor should you expect incisive capsules, a la Pauline Kael or Roger Ebert. Collins is a good writer, but these writeups tend to feel more like loose blog entries rather than full-blown reviews. I mean, this is a book that was compiled from a blog, so that should clue you in, but some might not know the context. There isn’t anything wrong with this approach in my mind (you’re reading a blog right now, potzer), but I could see it rubbing some folks the wrong way. There’s probably lots of complaints about naval-gazing or name-checking to be had here, and it’s true that Collins spends a lot of time on his experience with the movies rather than the movie itself. He frequently mentions his tendency to fall asleep, or delves into how he managed to keep the streak going whilst traveling, or how a movie played into some horror trivia night, or how having a child has shifted his perceptions, and so on. There’s also lots of discussion about filmmakers who only made one or two movies, then movied on, which can get repetitive, but as someone with expertise, he’s also good at tracing influences and providing contextual minutiae that you are not likely to find in traditional reviews. I never got bored by the book and generally enjoyed Collins’ writing, even if it does sometimes feel a bit disjointed.

I could have done with a little more metadata on each movie. Many of them have alternate titles and some have different runtimes available, so knowing the best one would be nice (and Collins sometimes discusses these sorts of things in the entry, but it would be good to have them more easily referenced). Keeping track of availability of all these obscure movies is a fools errand (i.e. what’s on Netflix Instant or Amazon Prime now might not be there tomorrow), but some of these movies have been out of print for a while, and even old, used DVDs go for exorbitant prices. Not really Collins’ fault and this sorta comes with the territory, but it’s still a bit frustrating.

Ultimately, the true value of the book is the curation. It’s a truly fascinating list of movies, even if I doubt I’ll ever get to all of them. For those playing along, the list is on Letterboxd, though I’d still recommend getting the book, especially for those looking for something new and exciting amongst the throngs of available schlock on streaming services and the like. I’m definitely leaning on it to provide some guidance during these esteemed six weeks of Halloween, and I suspect I’ll continue to do so for a while…

The Autumn Wind is a pirate, blustering in from sea… Yes, the weather is turning, the wind is crisper and colder, trees are abscising their leaves, gourds are being mutilated for decorative purposes, and of course, the pumpkin spice must flow. These and other nominally ghastly signifiers of the season can mean only one thing: it’s Halloween season! To celebrate, we embark upon a six week long horror movie marathon. That’s, like, a whole two weeks longer than most Halloween movie marathons, because we’re just that awesome.

To kick things off, I’m going to do a couple weeks of what I was going to call “Obscure Scream Queens”. Now, that phrase is generally reserved for actresses associated with horror movies and I’ve always found it to be a term of affection and respect in the horror community, but as it turns out, there are some reservations to be had with the label. Particularly since the term is often misused or devalued, especially by folks outside the genre community.

Screaming damsels in distress have always been a thing in horror movies, dating back to the silent era, but you’ll often see names like Fay Wray in King Kong (1933) bandied about as the true start (as she was one of the first and seemingly most memorable examples in the “talkies”). The phrase Scream Queen, though, didn’t really enter the popular parlance until Jamie Lee Curtis took on Michael Myers in Halloween and then followed that up with a surprising string of additional horror titles (i.e. Terror Train, Prom Night, The Fog, Road Games, not to mention Halloween II). As we plowed through the golden age of slashers and 80s horror, the term’s usage intensified and this is also probably where the devaluing usages also came into play. To be sure, like any label, it’s reductive and doesn’t truly capture a holistic sense of what makes these actresses great, but as mentioned above, I’ve always seen it as a term of respect and admiration.

Erika Blanc is probably not a name commonly associated with the label, but she certainly fits the bill. She came to my attention during last year’s marathon with her performance in The Night Evilyn Came Out of the Grave (she also turned up in a Mario Bava themed week a few years ago). While probably most famous for her role as the first Emmanuelle in the infamous series of erotic films, she also racked up quite a long string of impressive performances in horror films, three of which we’ll examine today. A fiery redhead with piercing blue eyes and a penchant for playing roles that mix sexy seduction with death and mayhem (i.e. typical Italian cinema here, but still), Blanc is hard to beat. Nothing like a bunch of obscure Italian horror movies no one’s ever heard of to get people riled up, amiright? Perhaps not the best way to start the 6WH, but it worked well enough!

• Lotion in the Basket (Robot Chicken)
• The Silence of the Lambs (trailer)
• The Snowman (trailer)
• A Dragonfly for Each Corpse – A police inspector gets assigned to a case of serial killings in Milan where the killer leaves an ornamental Dragonfly, soaked in the victims’ blood, as a calling card. This is paint-by-numbers Giallo trash, but such things can work well enough, as it does here. We’re treated to some necrophilia, Nazis (I hate those guys), crossdressing, a gunfight on a roller coaster (literally), and some ridiculous falling dummies… Despite being second-billed, Erika Blanc doesn’t get a ton to do for most of the movie (she’s the inspector’s wife), but she does get to do some research in the nude. This isn’t a role that really leverages her strengths, but she elevates the film anyway.
  

  The mustachioed inspector is played by Paul Naschy, doing his best tough guy impersonation and mostly succeeding. The mystery at the heart of the story is par for the Giallo course, not always making a ton of sense but it’s about as kitsch as you can get, which has its own pleasures. The pacing falters a bit in the middle, but there’s plenty of setpieces, even if they don’t all entirely work. It’s always amusing to see early action sequences like this, but while not always great this acquits itself relatively well for the era. I was watching a pretty crappy pan-and-scan transfer with terrible sound, so it’s hard to comment on the craft of the film, but it didn’t seem particularly accomplished in that respect. The music, often a strong point even in corny Italian cinema, was lackluster at best. In the end, it’s Giallo comfort food, but little else (and certainly not Blanc’s best in the sub-genre). **

• Grindhouse: Don’t (Fake Trailer)
• The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (trailer)
• What Have You Done To Solange (trailer)
• Love and death in the garden of the gods – A German academic rents an old villa, finds a series of recordings that tell the tragic tale of the villa’s previous inhabitants, and inadvertently gets caught up in the tragedy himself. Most of this story is told in oddly structured flashbacks within flashbacks; a needlessly convoluted exercise that was nonetheless pretty common in Giallos. At first, though, this doesn’t seem at all like a Giallo, but rather a straightforward drama about a woman, her brother, and her new husband. After a suicide attempt, the woman (played by Blanc) relates her story to a psychologist (who is the one recording the tapes that will later be discovered). Things get continuously more complicated and byzantine as the story unfolds, and then the narrative goes full taboo, with incest, cruel manipulation, and yes, murder. As per usual, it doesn’t particularly make sense, but that’s how these things work. Blanc is a perfect choice for the role, seductive and manipulative at the same time, I doubt this would work with anyone else.
  

  It certainly takes a while to get going and at times I wondered if I had erred in including this as a “horror” title, but once the revelations start coming, things pick up in the end. I guess its still not horror, but it definitely hits thriller territory, and I have to admit, of the three movies I watched this weekend, this one seems to be sticking with me the most. This could also partly be due to an effective visual style and great music. Even when the story was bogging down, it was always gorgeous to look at (and I’m not just talking about Blanc). Despite it’s odd framing device and languid pacing, this one managed to win me over in the end. **1/2 (As an aside, this movie contained my favorite line of dialog of the weekend. When the groundskeeper is showing the German academic around the villa and the German makes a crack about knowing local wildlife, the groundskeeper retorts: “You’re the big professor, but I have a master’s degree in fried chicken!” Brilliant.)

• Seven (trailer)
• The House of the Devil (trailer)
• The Incubus (trailer)
• The Devil’s Nightmare – Seven strangers on a tour bus take shelter in a mysterious Baron’s creepy castle. Naturally, a succubus also attends the party. This movie begins during WWII as the Germans are being bombed and a woman has just given birth to a baby. Upon learning the baby is a girl, the father, a Nazi officer, pulls out a ceremonial dagger and stabs the baby. Cut to the present day (i.e. the early 70s), and then we join our seven tourists being stalked by a succubus played by Erika Blanc. It seems like the victims are supposed to represent each of the seven deadly sins, though I had trouble placing a couple of them (and frankly, “Lust” could apply to a bunch of them, eh?)
  

  In any case, this was the role Blanc was born to play. A seductive, deadly succubus that wears a most ludicrous outfit whilst meting out appropriate punishments to each of the guests, in accordance with their evil deeds. Some of those set pieces are quite effective, and of course Blanc can pull off even the most absurd looks (I mean, that dress). Of course, the plot, which involves a family cursed by the succubus, makes absolutely no sense. I gather that the infanticide that opens the picture was meant to break the curse or something, but that doesn’t seem to take since the rest of the film, you know, happens. Then there’s the ending in which a seminarian makes a deal with the devil (played by the great Daniel Emilfork, who is channeling Max Schreck). Kinda. I think. I don’t really understand it. But I don’t think this is the sort of movie you try to understand. It’s the sort of movie where Erika Blanc plays a a sex-demon who throws one dude off the roof of a castle into a bunch of spikes that just happen to be on the grounds, then tries to seduce a priest. A lurid tale of Eurotrash satanism with gothic undertones, this one is certainly a garish sight to behold. **1/2

Alright, so I may have jumped the gun a bit on the whole Six Weeks of Halloween thing (this will technically be around 7 weeks), but I apologize for nothing. Stay tuned, next week we cover another obscure Scream Queen, Isabelle Adjani (whose titles are decidedly less lurid or trashy than Blanc’s)… and who knows, maybe some horror TV will show up at some point too…

Time flies when you’re terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought. We’ve gone six weeks and then some, and as per usual, there are plenty of movies that I’ve watched that I didn’t write about. This might have been because it didn’t fit in a given week’s theme, or maybe I just didn’t have that much to say about it. This year’s 6WH was somewhat more successful than the past couple of years. If I’m counting right, I will have watched 47 movies during the six weeks this year, a significant step up from the past two years (where I’ve only managed 36). And that’s not counting TV viewing either. Go me. So now we cover all those movies.

• The Toolbox Murders – The first twenty or so minutes of this movie is unbelievably sleazy and brutal. It then settles into a more traditional exploitation mold before picking up a bit in the third act. It’s a hard movie to “like”, but it’s also hard to stop watching. As mentioned during Tobe Hooper week, it was a good candidate for a remake. **1/2
• Alligator – A follow on viewing from the When Animals Attack week, this one takes that old urban legend about a baby alligator being flushed down the toilet and growing up in the sewers and amps it up by having the alligator survive by eating discarded lab rats injected with growth hormones. Thus we end up with an alligator the size of a car terrorizing Chicago. Pretty trashy stuff, but John Sayles’s script is a cut above your typical giant animal movie, and you’ve also got Robert Forster hamming it up. Worthy! **1/2
• Young Frankenstein – So I like this movie, but I always feel like it’s the sort of thing I should like more. I laugh during the movie, but I always feel like I should be laughing more. Great production design and cinematography, but the thing that really makes this work is Gene Wilder. He single-handedly makes the movie, and without him I don’t think it would have worked. Then again, the whole cast is great, including the comedic trio of Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman (*horse whinny*), and Teri Garr, and good supporting roles for Marty Feldman as Igor (it’s pronounced eye-gore) and Peter Boyle as the monster. So not all Gene Wilder, but close enough. RIP Gene… ***

  

• Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film – It’s become something of an annual viewing for me and was instrumental in plucking out which slashers I should watch for this year’s Slasher week… It’s a good overview of the sub-genre and worth watching if that’s your thing. ***
• Dark Night of the Scarecrow – At some point, I was going to do a killer scarecrow week, but my Netflix queue never quite aligned right and I only got to this one, about a mailman’s vendetta against the town simpleton. It’s like The Ox-Bow Incident, but if the wronged party came back as a scarecrow and took revenge upon the mob that killed him. I liked it, but its TV movie origins are a little too obvious. **1/2
• Goosebumps – It’s easy to get bogged down in despair when watching lots of horror movies, so a good, old-fashioned, fun romp into monster-mash territory is always welcome. I never saw this when it came out because it seemed like soulless CGI horror and, alright, so it has some of that, but I really had a lot of fun with this and it’s certainly worth checking out. ***
• Phantasmagoria – A feature-length documentary about the Phantasm films. Interviews with all the relevant cast and crew, lots of archival footage, and so on. Maybe a step above your typical retrospective, but probably only of interest to true Phans. Interestingly, this was directed by Jake West, who really needs to get off his keister and make another horror movie (Evil Aliens and Doghouse are both great fun)…
• Haunter – What’s this? Vincenzo Natali made a movie in 2013 that I didn’t know about? Huh. He’s gone on to become more of a prized TV director of late (particularly on Hannibal, though also pitching in on Westworld, Luke Cage, and the forthcoming Star Trek: Discovery and American Gods), but his movies tend to be a little more difficult to pin down. This one is yet another take on the whole if-Groundhog-Day-was-horror thing and comports itself reasonably well. It’s not quite as weird as you’d expect from Natali, but it’s also not a straight arrow that’s easy to parse either. **1/2
• Holidays – Horror anthology centered around each of the major holidays. A ripe unifying structure, but it falls down a bit on execution. The biggest director name here is probably Kevin Smith, but his horror chops are, er, lacking. Ultimately, I’m having trouble remembering most of the segments, which probably isn’t the greatest sign, but it wasn’t unwatchable either. **
• Dracula’s Dog – AKA Zoltan: Hound of Dracula! I mean, yeah, I really wanted to like this but it is a bad movie. It could maybe veer into so-bad-it’s-good territory, but it feel short of even that for me. It’s just flabby nonsense, played straight. *
• The Silence of the Lambs – We’ve all seen it and it’s awesome. I finally sat down to watch it with the Criterion commentary track, which is one of those cobbled-together mish-moshes of different people commenting. Still good, and yeah, it’s a classic that I’ve learned is a very rewatchable movie for me. ****
• Psycho – It’s been a while since I’ve watched this and yes, it remains a classic. You could argue about some of the pacing or odd choices, but those are exactly what makes this movie so fantastic. ****
• The Guest – Still a lot of fun, if not quite as great as You’re Next. But it’s on Netflix instant and it’s a solid 6WH watch. ***
• The Addams Family – Not as taken with this as I was back when it came out, but it’s still got some really cool stuff, particularly the performances from Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, and a young Christina Ricci. **1/2
• Possession – Dear lord, what the hell did I just watch? The batshit insanity quotient just went way up in this year’s 6WH. Ostensibly about a bad divorce, it turns out that the woman’s new beau is, um, some sort of tentacled monster (apparently Andrzej Zulawski’s elevator pitch for the movie was “A film about a woman who fucks an octopus.”). Dial performances up to 11; Sam Niell is always great at playing unhinged and Isabelle Adjani is absolutely fearless (dat “miscarriage” scene). Frankly, I have no idea what to make of this movie. Watch it if you dare. Let’s bring back the batshit rating system: ???

  

• The Slashening – You know what you’re in for once that Troma logo comes up, and yes, this is a farcical take on the slasher, with some funny bits actually landing (though many do not). My favorite is when one girl is trying to get help and smears a message on the glass (the guy inside is playing video games with his headphones on and can’t hear her). After the killer dispatches her, we see him spray the window and wipe it clean. Brilliant. It gets better as it goes on, but this ain’t a classic. **1/2
• Ghostbusters – Yes, I still love this movie. One thing about the whole reboot situation that was annoying was all the people who claimed that we should like the new one because the old one wasn’t that good, which is kinda silly. I still laugh a lot when I watch this movie, and it’s got a sneaking backbone of genuine horror love. ****
• Scream: The TV Series – Season 1 – So I did finish the first season and it was pretty good! Perhaps a few too many “Don’t tell the cops” moments where our heroine goes off on her own to confront the killer’s latest scheme, but it all comports itself well enough. The ending reveals are a bit of a cheat, but they kinda work too. Not sure if I like the blatant cliffhanger setup for season 2 bit, but then, I will probably watch season 2 at some point, so there is that. ***
• Slasher – And I finished this season too… It helps that this was only 8 episodes, especially since this does kinda go off the rails a few times as it moves on. It’s played straight the whole time, but the whole skeletons-in-every-closet theme gets old fast, and those skeletons get more and more ridiculous as time goes on. Compelling enough that I watched the whole season, but it flattens out a bit as it moves on… **1/2
• Penny Dreadful – So I watched the first couple of episodes and I should totally love this, but I haven’t quite gotten there yet. Will definitely be giving it another chance, but I wasn’t immediately convinced. Still, it’s great to see Eva Green get something to do. She should be a bigger star these days. **1/2
• Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI – My favorite of the Fridays, I don’t watch it every year, but I probably could. ***
• Trick ‘r Treat – Haven’t watched it yet, but is on the docket for Halloween night, as has become tradition.
• Halloween – Duh.

I may sneak in another movie or two, depending on timing, but all in all, it’s been a very successful six weeks. I hope you’ve enjoyed!

It’s always something of a curiosity when you see a trailer and it sez something like “From the producers of Paranormal Activity” or “From the production company that brought you Sinister” as if these things matter. But in some cases they do, and horror certainly has a history of that sort of thing. We just covered some of Universal’s Monsters, and Hammer Horror made a name for itself by doing something similar. William Castle was a reliable draw in his day and if you ever saw that Dimension Films produced a movie, you knew it would be disappointing (zing!) Enter Blumhouse, an independent production company founded by Jason Blum. His model is based on an idea we’ve all had (especially when you hear about how some $400 million movie bombs at the box office), which is that instead of betting it all on a handful of huge budget potential blockbusters, take that same amount of money and make dozens of smaller, more ideosyncratic films. As a genre, Horror is able to do well under those constraints, so most of what Blumhouse puts out fits in that mold. Most make their money back too, but it’s the handful of breakout successes that really buoyed the company. Notably, the Paranormal Activity movies have been a reliable source of success, and they use it to put out some weird, micro-budget stuff. I don’t know that there’s any sort of specific aesthetic theme here, but there’s definitely a group of horror filmmakers that are feeding off of each other, and Jason Blum is giving them a chance to shine. So I watched three Blumhouse movies this weekend, ranging from the wide-release suprise success, to smaller, more obscure films. I ended up enjoying these movies more than I ever thought I would, so maybe “From the producers of Paranormal Activity” does mean something…

• You’re Next (trailer)
• Rick & Morty’s Purge (clip)
• The Day After the Purge (short)
• The Purge – The Purge is an annual, government sanctioned 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity (including murder!) becomes legal. James Sandin makes a healthy living selling security systems that lock down the house during the period, but when his dumbass son lets in a stranger being hunted by bloodthirsty purgers, we find out that his security systems are basically useless. Also classism.

  

  So yeah, this is one of the dumbest, yet catchiest ideas with which to base a horror franchise on. I mean, yeah, sure horror movies often rely on obvious symbolism and thematic parallels, but this is ridiculous. The concept feels like its making fun of itself and is incredibly ripe for parody. This first film plays it small scale though and essentially becomes a home invasion thriller. It takes a while to get going and the kids are really annoying, but the third act is actually a lot of fun. Well executed, small-scale action set pieces and plenty of gore.

  

  There are some rather predictable twists and turns, but it’s all reasonably well executed. I’m told that the sequels take the series in a more bonkers direction, as befits the ludicrous premise, so I’ll probably make time for them in future 6 weeks marathons… For now, this was a decent enough watch, but nothing particularly special. **

• Paranormal Activity (trailer)
• Paranormal Pactivity (Robot Chicken)
• Shining (fake trailer)
• The Bay – A found footage film about an ecological disaster in a small Maryland town where normally small parasites are mutating and growing at abnormal speeds. So remember back when I said that most found footage loses the opportunity to really take advantage of the mock documentary format? This one kinda, sorta does it. But they’re only interviewing one person throughout the film, and she’s basically just providing a running commentary on what’s on screen. We do, however, get some talking heads, as that is part of the footage that has been “found”. So we get to see CDC video calls and doctors and oceanographers and whatnot, and it all works surprisingly well.

  

  Thematically, it’s a bit heavy handed, but after having just watched The Purge, it felt like an ambitious and subtle exploration of ecological concerns (ok, not really, but it’s not as egregious as some other efforts are). It’s found footage, but most of it is plausible and well shot. Minimal shaky cam here, and most of the movie looks pretty good. Its biggest flaw is that, well, there’s not really anywhere for the story to go, and thus it just sort of ends. Not badly, really. It just feels like one of those SNL skits where they have a neat idea and execute it well, get their laughs in, but have no idea how to finish it off. This movie gets its jump scares in, throws some light body horror your way, and then peters out… Still, it’s the journey, not the destination that matters here, and it’s a suitably creepy one. ***

• The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror V: The Shinning
• Mute Witness (trailer)
• The Strangers (trailer)
• Hush – Maddie is a deaf author who leads a reclusive life in the woods until a masked killer arrives at her doorstep for some good, old-fashioned home invasion horror. So this isn’t the most original premise, even for the sub-sub-genre of home invasion horror featuring a protagonist with a disability of some kind. We’ve been seeing stuff like this since at least Wait Until Dark (1967) and we’ve seen lots of variants (an obscure Kaedrin favorite is 1995’s Mute Witness). And yet, this proves to be a worthy entry in the canon and an exceptionally well executed spin on the typical tropes. Maddie (played by co-writer Kate Siegel) walks the horror protagonist line perfectly, not doing anything tremendously stupid while being plausibly resourceful. The killer (played by John Gallagher Jr., who seems like an unconventional choice but actually does well here) also works that line, being menacing and competent, but not omniscient or indestructible. You could argue that he’s a bit too reluctant to just start breaking windows, but I was able to go along with his clear desire to play cat and mouse games with his prey.

  

  The movie wisely avoids giving him backstory (and it’s implied that he’s surprised by Maddie’s deafness, making it clear that he has no specific vendetta against her) and while he does play cat and mouse games, he does reveal himself in relatively short order (a bold choice that keeps things moving rather than devolving into indulgence). The film takes ample advantage of sound (and, importantly, the lack of sound), and that just ratchets up the tension considerably. Director Mike Flanagan (perhaps best known for that movie Oculus a few years back) clearly knows how to push the audience’s buttons. The film is mercifully short, but it doesn’t feel rushed or underbaked. It’s just well paced and tight. Look, I’m not going to call it a classic and it doesn’t feel like the sort of movie that I’d want to rewatch over and over again, but it’s a rock solid take on the sub-genre that was exactly what I needed at this point in the marathon. ***

Phew, it’s hard to believe that we’re in week six already! Time flies when you’re terrified out of your gourd. Still a couple of posts in the pipeline, so stay tuned for some more season’s readings and the usual Speed Round to close out the marathon…

Of all the Universal Monsters, Frankenstein’s creature is my favorite. This is due chiefly to the first two movies in the series, Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein (Both of which were covered in the Six Weeks of Halloween marathon a few years back). Alas, while I’ve seen many of the Universal Monster movies, I haven’t seen a ton of the sequels. They don’t all have the greatest reputation, but it still seems worth checking out. Turner Classic Movies went on a Frankenstein kick a couple weeks back and thus I took the opportunity to catch up.

• Frankenstein’s Fiance (Robot Chicken)
• Frankenhooker (trailer)
• Young Frankenstein (trailer)
• The Ghost of Frankenstein – Ygor survives the previous installment and seems committed to finding Frankenstein’s monster and reviving him. Town villagers believe they’re still cursed by Frankenstein’s unnatural experiments, so they round up their pitchforks, light some torches, and organize a good old-fashioned mob to go up and destroy Castle Frankenstein. As per usual, this is the action that actually frees the monster from the foundations of the building. Ygor quickly discovers him and ushers him away to meet with another Frankenstein scientist, who has the idea to replace the monster’s former criminal brain with a normal one. It all works out and everyone lives happily ever after. Or, uh, not at all. This is a mildly successful entry in the series, but ultimately nothing special. Great atmosphere, good performances from Bela Legosi (returning as Ygor) and though they couldn’t get Boris Karloff for the monster, they did get Lon Chaney Jr, who does an admirable job. Some nice moments here, but it never really coalesced for me. **
• Futurama: The Honking (episode)
• An American Werewolf in London (trailer)
• Silver Bullet (Robot Chicken)
• Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man – This film opens with two graverobbers breaking into Larry Talbot’s crypt and inadvertently reviving the Wolf Man from his tomb. Thus freed to live his cursed life again, Talbot seeks out the notebooks of Dr. Frankenstein so that he can find a scientific way to kill himself and end the curse. Along the way, he stumbles upon Frankenstein’s monster and enlists the help of a scientist to kill both monsters once and for all. The promise of seeing the monster at full strength proves too tempting for the scientist though, so he simply revives the monster. Local townspeople assemble their mob again, and save the day.

  

  So this is the first actual Universal Monster crossover movie, even if most of the time is spent on the Wolfman’s troubles and Frankenstein’s monster doesn’t really do much until the end. Still, we do get to see some hot Frankenstein on Wolfman action towards the end, which delivers on the promise of the title, I guess. It’s not a spectacular movie, but the Wolfman’s plight is genuinely involving and we’re treated the the usual great atmosphere that all these films engender. Since Lon Chaney is busy reprising his role of the Wolfman, Frankenstein’s monster is switched again, this time to Bela Legosi, who does a pretty good job. At this point, though, the continuity of the Universal monsters series seems to be breaking down a bit. But who cares, Frankenstein’s monster fights the Wolfman, what else do you want? Again, mildly successful, but nothing particularly special. **

• Vampire 8:00-9:00 PM (Robot Chicken)
• The Monster Squad (trailer)
• Is that a whip? (Robot Chicken)
• House of Frankenstein – Ah, now here is a real monster mash movie, though again, the various monster storylines barely overlap. Mad scientist Dr. Gustav Niemann (played by Boris Karloff, who is returning to the series, but not as the monster) escapes from prison along with his hunchbacked assistant Daniel. Niemann seeks to, yes, discover the old notebooks of Dr. Frankenstein so the he can learn the secrets of life and death. Daniel assists because he wants Niemann to replace his hunchbacked body with a handsome, strong body. Dracula, the Wolfman, and Frankenstein all show up in this movie, but each basically gets their own separate segment, glued together by mad scientist Niemann. It doesn’t make a ton of sense and the continuity of the three series is way out of whack, but it nevertheless remains a lot of fun, and despite the lack of interaction between the fiends, I think this might be the best of the three sequels I watched this week. Dracula (played by John Carradine, who many argue rivals Bela Legosi’s original Dracula, and is indeed quite effective) gets the most screen time, but is basically finished off about a third into the movie.

  

  Lon Chaney’s Talbot gets a lot of screentime and has some good interactions with Niemann and Daniel (and the gypsy girl that travels along with them), but doesn’t get to do much as the Wolfman. Frankenstein’s monster sadly spends most of the movie strapped to a slab, but has a nice triumphant return at the end. Again, none of this is particularly well justified, but it’s a lot of fun, and using Niemann as the linking device essentially makes this a sorta road trip through Universal Monsterland, which is neat. While not really the equal of the original movies in any of the three series this continues, I managed to have fun with this. **1/2

I think I must’ve calculated the six weeks incorrectly, as it looks like we’re in for more like 7 weeks. Oh well! Stay tuned for Blumhouse movies this weekend…

Slasher movies are formulaic and trashy, but longtime readers know that I love them (because I won’t shut up about them). They’re good, old-fashioned horror comfort food, like a warm blanket on a cold autumn night. Want a good overview of what makes a slasher a slasher? Check out Final Girl’s Slashers 101 comic book. Funny and informative (and it’s free!)

Me too! On both counts! And yet, it’s been a while since I really dug into classic Golden Age Slashers (i.e. that 1980-1983 corridor where seemingly hundreds of slashers were made). Sure, I’ve caught up with one or two here or there, and I’ve hit up some neo-slashers and proto-slashers, but there have been a few seminal slashers that I’ve never managed to catch up with. It’s about time I rectified that oversight:

• Thanksgiving (fake trailer)
• Driving Lessons – Halloween Deleted Scene (short)
• Jason’s Deceiving Speed (Robot Chicken)
• The Slumber Party Massacre – An escaped mental patient terrorizes a high-school slumber party. I’ve definitely seen this before, back in the days of late night cable viewing, but I’m not sure I saw it all the way through. So this is a movie I want to like a lot more than I actually do, and I’m not entirely sure why. The movie is written and directed by two women (Rita Mae Brown and Amy Holden Jones, respectively) who claim to be feminists, and yet this is one of the more lurid slashers out there. Boobs everywhere. Then again, their influence certainly comes through in our maniac’s choice of weaponry, a giant corkscrew drill whose phallic symbolism couldn’t be more obvious and yet, it doesn’t come off as clumsy as it’s a neat, almost iconic visual.

  
  Behold my terrifying denim jacket

  It’s clearly got some stuff on its mind, but then it also came out of Roger Corman’s stable, so the trashy elements are out in full force. It’s also a more comedic take on the sub-genre than you normally see. Some of the slasher conventions are skimped on a bit, particularly the historical component and the lack of any mystery as to who the killer is (he doesn’t even wear a mask and his jean jacket is the most terrifying thing about his getup; he’s not very intimidating), but other slashers have done well with similar oversights. I honestly don’t know why I didn’t connect with this as much as I really wanted to. I still think it’s really good, but not quite top tier. (There are, however, many who do put this in that top tier, and I can see why…) **1/2

• It’s the Gifts That I Hate (Robot Chicken)
• The Prowler (trailer)
• The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror V: The Shinning
• The Boogey Man – A little boy murders his mother’s boyfriend, and his little sister watches the whole thing in a mirror. 20 years later, still trying to confront what happened back then, she hallucinates the boyfriend in the mirror and smashes it with a chair. In doing so, she releases the boyfriend’s spirit, and he’s looking for revenge! So this one goes right for the supernatural jugular. It takes a while to get there, but it eventually hits its mark. The whole “spirit trapped in a mirror” bit is effective and they wring a lot of juice out of the little bits of mirror finding themselves scattered and thus providing our Boogey Man with a wide range of victims. Of course, you don’t actually see him, it’s all just levitating knives and pitchforks and whatnot, but that works well enough. He can also kinda, sorta possess people, and like, shine green light that makes people’s eyes bleed.

  

  Or something. His powers aren’t exactly defined so well. The first half of the movie is far too clunky for it to be a classic, and while it picks up, it never really overcomes its limitations. A worthy watch for slasher fans, but again, not top tier. **

• Hardly Working: Slasher (Short)
• Horror Friends Forever (Robot Chicken)
• April Fools Day (trailer)
• He Knows You’re Alone – A serial killer specializing in brides-to-be stalks a woman as she prepares for her wedding. The woman’s ex is a persistent douche who won’t leave her alone, so he gets to help out. Meanwhile, a police detective (and fiance to the first victim) is hot on his trail. Now this is the stuff. It hits the conventions but never gets too lurid or too trashy, and the tactical execution is pretty solid too. It’s most famous for being the onscreen debut of Tom Hanks (who isn’t around for long, but he does get to extemporize on why people like to watch trashy horror movies), but you’ll actually recognize a bunch of the actors.

  

  A lot of “that guys” show up here. Once again, the killer isn’t masked and the historical element is a bit lacking, but he’s a little better than the Slumber Party Massacre guy and the film does a great job with his many stalkery reveals. Overall, it’s a really fun slasher, and it feels less trashy than your typical entry while still working in the same arena. Not exactly fine cinema, but I really enjoyed it. ***

Whoa, week 5 is already down? Yikes, this is going fast! Not sure what’s up next, but I’ve got lots of stuff in the queue… In the meantime, check out Zack over at Film Thoughts, who is updating nearly every day…