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Post by berkley on Oct 30, 2024 19:00:10 GMT -5
I saw that one a year or two ago and really liked it. A true classic - and reportedly one of the first of its kind in the movies, though of course there are antecedents. Curious what you mean by this? The dark humor aspect? The Old Dark House trope was already done to death by this point, and I kind of love how this film bites its thumb at that fact with its choice of title.
You're probably right. I've seen it referred to that way but I added the "reportedly" to hedge my bets, because I admit I have no idea myself how often all or most of these elements had been combined before. I was thinking of this specific variant of the trope, where the car breaks down in a storm, there's an strange old family with dark secrets, usually some forbidden room, etc.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 30, 2024 19:03:16 GMT -5
Curious what you mean by this? The dark humor aspect? The Old Dark House trope was already done to death by this point, and I kind of love how this film bites its thumb at that fact with its choice of title. You're probably right. I've seen it referred to that way but I added the "reportedly" to hedge my bets, because I admit I have no idea myself how often all or most of these elements had been combined before. I was thinking of this specific variant of the trope, where the car breaks down in a storm, there's an strange old family with dark secrets, usually some forbidden room, etc.
Yes, that might have started there. Of course, the only other time I've seen it done is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I always assumed was intentionally borrowing from this earlier film about repressed sexuality. |
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Post by berkley on Oct 30, 2024 19:03:55 GMT -5
Cemetery Man (Michele Soavi, 1994) This is an Italian black comedy about a cemetery caretaker who has to ward off the undead each night. Extremely quirky. It followed the 90s trend of trying to make every shot a fancy one, but it's a decent production. It's really a story about the young caretaker's search for love and fulfillment that just happens to have zombies in it. Martin Scorsese was a fan. This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse (José Mojica Marins, 1967) I really wanted Coffin Joe to be the best thing I watched this Halloween, but the character spends far too long spouting off about his immortality and superiority to other men. The action scenes are well done, especially for such a low budget film, they're just few and far between. There's a color sequence halfway through the film where Joe travels to Hell that's a wild scene. Fans of cult classics will get a kick out of this. If you prefer a solid narrative, you'll find it tiresome. Coffin Joe has a cool look:
I haven't seen any Coffin Joe movies but I've always thought that "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul" was a great - and effectively scary - title (moreso than the syntactically similar one you mention above), so perhaps I should try that one some time.
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Post by berkley on Oct 30, 2024 19:10:40 GMT -5
You're probably right. I've seen it referred to that way but I added the "reportedly" to hedge my bets, because I admit I have no idea myself how often all or most of these elements had been combined before. I was thinking of this specific variant of the trope, where the car breaks down in a storm, there's an strange old family with dark secrets, usually some forbidden room, etc.
Yes, that might have started there. Of course, the only other time I've seen it done is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I always assumed was intentionally borrowing from this earlier film about repressed sexuality.
I'd like to read the book some time because from the little I've read or heard about Priestley, he might have been making some more general political or social comments about the state of England at the time - in that case, would the old family and their weird house represent the decaying aristocracy, Karloff the brutalised, dehumanised underclass, etc, etc? And the guests are a bit of a cross-section of society, if I recall. I'll have to read it myself one of these days to see what I think.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 30, 2024 19:18:17 GMT -5
Yes, that might have started there. Of course, the only other time I've seen it done is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I always assumed was intentionally borrowing from this earlier film about repressed sexuality. I'd like to read the book some time because from the little I've read or heard about Priestley, he might have been making some more general political or social comments about the state of England at the time - in that case, would the old family and their weird house represent the decaying aristocracy, Karloff the brutalised, dehumanised underclass, etc, etc? And the guests are a bit of a cross-section of society, if I recall. I'll have to read it myself one of these days to see what I think.
Well, if Frankenstein is any clue, James Whale didn't seem all that concerned with following the source material very carefully. May have been a very different story. If you do end up reading it, I'd love your observations. |
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Post by berkley on Oct 30, 2024 20:44:17 GMT -5
I'd like to read the book some time because from the little I've read or heard about Priestley, he might have been making some more general political or social comments about the state of England at the time - in that case, would the old family and their weird house represent the decaying aristocracy, Karloff the brutalised, dehumanised underclass, etc, etc? And the guests are a bit of a cross-section of society, if I recall. I'll have to read it myself one of these days to see what I think.
Well, if Frankenstein is any clue, James Whale didn't seem all that concerned with following the source material very carefully. May have been a very different story. If you do end up reading it, I'd love your observations. I have several JB Priestley books on my to-read list but don't know when I'll get to them. Some of his work does seem to flirt with fantasy and/or SF, if not outright horror. The "Time Plays" (there's a wiki article) sound especially interesting in this respect. The only thing I've read so far, Three Men in New Suits, was about three young men from differing social backgrounds returning home to England after WWII and was very much a realistic social commentary sort of novel. |
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Post by commond on Oct 31, 2024 9:28:43 GMT -5
Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998)
Halloween is almost over in Japan -- just 40 minutes to go as I type this. I thought I'd wrap up my end of the marathon with a Japanese film. This was much more low key than I was expecting. It almost felt like more of a murder mystery than a horror film. I enjoyed it even if there wasn't much gore. The Sadako stuff was cool, especially the part where she climbs out of the television set.
The marathon was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who participated. You guys gave me the motivation to keep going. It'll be a while before I feel like watching another horror film. Next year maybe!
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Post by MWGallaher on Oct 31, 2024 15:52:44 GMT -5
I didn't do a very good job of keeping up--I'll plead too much going on after my recent move--but I did manage to get another viewing of my favorite modern era horror film on Halloween itself.
Southbound (2015) is an anthology in which the stories have a thematic link waiting to be uncovered by the viewer, not an especially subtle one, at least on the surface level, but what makes this film so great is that it leaves plenty of gaps for viewer interpretation, and I love filling in the blanks on my own. It's got an awesome dark synthwave soundtrack and an unforgettable radio dj narration, one of the best creature designs I've ever seen, opens with one of my favorite tropes (the unescapable location), has some of the creepiest weird families ever put on film, has a twist ending, presents the most uncomfortable body horror I've ever seen, is packed with hints and interconnections to reward rewatching...I could go on and on about this one, which I may have seen more times than any other film except maybe Wizard of Oz.
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Post by Jeddak on Oct 31, 2024 17:37:27 GMT -5
Tonight I watched another Hammer film, The Vampire Lovers (1970). Like almost all the Hammer Horror movies this one looks fantastic, great sets with the old castles, graveyards, and late 18-century mansions. The story is a very loose adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu's famous novella Carmilla - which reminds me, I should check to see if there have been any other film versions of that seminal vampire story. The always welcome Peter Cushing has a good supporting part as "the General" the father of Laura, one of Carmilla's main victims, and George Cole is the father of the other, Emma. But of course it's the female characters who take precedence in this movie and they're all great, not only Ingrid Pitt as Carmilla/Mircalla, but Pippa Steele, Madeleine Smith, and Kate O'Mara as well. I might try to see the sequel, Lust for a Vampire, if I can find time before the month's out. As far as other film versions - Jess Franco's Daughter of Dracula is supposed to be his version of Carmilla. It features Howard Vernon as Dracula; he also played the character in Franco's Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein. Considering how much I liked that film, I haven't gotten around to checking this one out yet. Alucarda, a Mexican film, is also claimed to be inspired by LeFanu. Aside from having a lesbian vampire, I don't see it. I do really like that movie, though. |
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Post by berkley on Oct 31, 2024 22:21:00 GMT -5
Ring (Hideo Nakata, 1998) Halloween is almost over in Japan -- just 40 minutes to go as I type this. I thought I'd wrap up my end of the marathon with a Japanese film. This was much more low key than I was expecting. It almost felt like more of a murder mystery than a horror film. I enjoyed it even if there wasn't much gore. The Sadako stuff was cool, especially the part where she climbs out of the television set. The marathon was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who participated. You guys gave me the motivation to keep going. It'll be a while before I feel like watching another horror film. Next year maybe! I was going to see Ring at the local cinema last night but after I got home from work I was in no mood to go out again. So I stayed in and watched Werner Herzog's Woyzeck (1979) instead. An interesting version of the famously unfinished Büchner drama that became a recognised classic of German literature after being forgotten for decades following Büchner's early death in 1837 at only 23 years of age. It would be hard to imagine anyone better suited to play the title character than Klaus Kinski, who perfectly captured his state of mental confusion bordering on madness. There are a few other film versions of the same work and I might try to see one or two of them down the road. |
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Post by berkley on Oct 31, 2024 22:29:09 GMT -5
Tonight I watched another Hammer film, The Vampire Lovers (1970). Like almost all the Hammer Horror movies this one looks fantastic, great sets with the old castles, graveyards, and late 18-century mansions. The story is a very loose adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu's famous novella Carmilla - which reminds me, I should check to see if there have been any other film versions of that seminal vampire story. The always welcome Peter Cushing has a good supporting part as "the General" the father of Laura, one of Carmilla's main victims, and George Cole is the father of the other, Emma. But of course it's the female characters who take precedence in this movie and they're all great, not only Ingrid Pitt as Carmilla/Mircalla, but Pippa Steele, Madeleine Smith, and Kate O'Mara as well. I might try to see the sequel, Lust for a Vampire, if I can find time before the month's out. As far as other film versions - Jess Franco's Daughter of Dracula is supposed to be his version of Carmilla. It features Howard Vernon as Dracula; he also played the character in Franco's Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein. Considering how much I liked that film, I haven't gotten around to checking this one out yet. Alucarda, a Mexican film, is also claimed to be inspired by LeFanu. Aside from having a lesbian vampire, I don't see it. I do really like that movie, though.
I hadn't heard of Alucard until now, so thanks, I'll look out for that one. Yes, I noticed in the wiki page for the Le Fanu story that most of the films they list as adaptations aren't really. Many of them share little more than a female vampire as the lead character or main villain. Only four or five sounded as if they were actually based on Carmilla. However, most of those I hadn't known about so even that low number is more than I had expected.
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Post by berkley on Oct 31, 2024 22:30:05 GMT -5
I didn't do a very good job of keeping up--I'll plead too much going on after my recent move--but I did manage to get another viewing of my favorite modern era horror film on Halloween itself. Southbound (2015) is an anthology in which the stories have a thematic link waiting to be uncovered by the viewer, not an especially subtle one, at least on the surface level, but what makes this film so great is that it leaves plenty of gaps for viewer interpretation, and I love filling in the blanks on my own. It's got an awesome dark synthwave soundtrack and an unforgettable radio dj narration, one of the best creature designs I've ever seen, opens with one of my favorite tropes (the unescapable location), has some of the creepiest weird families ever put on film, has a twist ending, presents the most uncomfortable body horror I've ever seen, is packed with hints and interconnections to reward rewatching...I could go on and on about this one, which I may have seen more times than any other film except maybe Wizard of Oz.
Another new one on me, I'll have to see if I can find it somewhere.
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,860
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Post by shaxper on Nov 1, 2024 5:53:03 GMT -5
My kids tried to show me Fear Street (2021) last night, and I just wasn't feeling it. Couldn't tell whether I was supposed to be laughing at it or taking it seriously. They tell me the sequels are better?
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