13 Nights of Shocktober: Shadow of a Doubt

 by A.J. 

Night 5: Hitchcock Night/Suburban Horror Night II

“Do you know if you ripped the front off houses you’d find swine? The world is a hell.”

Shadow of a Doubt

Master filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock directed so many truly great movies that even several of his less famous movies are among his greatest and the greatest of any era. Shadow of a Doubt is not as famous as Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, or North by Northwest, but it is secretly one of his greatest movies. At first it may seem like a slight or minor movie given its small scale and quaint setting, however these aspects belie its dark and unsettling plot. It is also the epitome of Hitchcock’s ultimate career long theme: danger is always lurking and will come at the most unexpected time in the most unexpected form to someone who feels completely safe.

The stars, Joseph Cotton and Teresa Wright, are two of my favorite classic era performers. This movie is where I first saw them. The setting is Santa Rosa, California, a town so average it could be Anytown, USA. It is so idyllic and cozy that things like crime and murder and even war don’t seem possible there, even though the year is 1943. There is no trace of darkness in the home of Young Charlie, that is until Uncle Charlie arrives. 

Teenage Young Charlie (Teresa Wright) is discontent with the mundanity of suburban comfort and longs for something to rejuvenate her family. The change comes with the arrival of lively and charming Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton), who does indeed recharge the household dynamic. He also brings darkness that Young Charlie could not have imagined. Though mother Emma (Patricia Collinge)–Hitchcock’s last sympathetic portrayal of a mother–delights in having her brother with her, the real connection is between the two Charlies. The very morning she planned on sending him a telegram to come visit, the family receives a telegram that Uncle Charlie is on his way. No one has any suspicions that he is possibly The Merry Widow Murderer.

There are a lot of things I like about Shadow of a Doubt, but what makes it special are the performances of Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotton. They are excellent choices to play average Americans while still being distinct. Joseph Cotton rarely played a villain but he does a fantastic job playing a complex character that is as sinister as he is charming. He never does anything forthrightly villainous, at least not for most of the movie, but he behaves just suspicious enough for Young Charlie to have doubts about him. In Cotton’s best scene Uncle Charlie’s jovial mask begins to slip and delivers a speech brimming with contempt and disgust about rich windows: “[Husbands] die and leave their money to their wives, their silly wives, .... these useless women...drinking the money, losing the money… faded, fat, greedy women.”

As Young Charlie, Teresa Wright is fresh-faced and lively, at first. She is perhaps naïve but she is not dull or dim. Once her suspicions are raised, she does detective work of her own and puts the pieces and clues together. The scene where she finds the newspaper story about the Merry Widow Murderer that Uncle Charlie hid from the family is an effective one. Hitchcock wanted the camera instead of Wright to gasp so it pulls back from a close-up to a wide overhead shot. My favorite moment comes when Young Charlie finally makes her appearance at a dinner party as Uncle Charlie is about to give a toast. She descends the stairs wearing the ring he gave her, a ring she now realizes is evidence. The camera pushes in from a wide shot of Charlie to a close up of the ring. Neither she nor Uncle Charlie say anything about the ring, but the tone of the entire scene changes for her and him and the audience though it remains the same for the other characters. 

That things are not what they seem and pleasant appearances and behavior belie a hidden menace were frequent themes of Hitchcock’s movies. Just about every Hitchcock movie dealt with the dark side of human nature and society to some degree. This is especially pronounced in Shadow of a Doubt. Perhaps the darkest sequence is when Uncle Charlie takes his niece to a seedy bar to confront her about her suspicions. Smoke fills the bar and their waitress is a former classmate of Young Charlie’s who wears a bitter, dour expression, looks at her and says, “I never thought I’d see you here.” When he realizes that he cannot charm her any longer, Uncle Charlie tells her how little she knows about the world. His words are harsh and cynical but they sting because there is truth in them. This scene is similar to the sequence in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet where young and naïve Jeffery (Kyle MacLachlan) goes to Lincoln Avenue, the bad and dangerous part of his small, quaint town, and sees and learns harsh realities. I do not know for sure how much Shadow of a Doubt influenced Blue Velvet but the two films share similar themes and would make a great double feature. (Shadow of a Doubt certainly had a more direct influence on the film Stoker, a previous Shocktober recommendation, which is also about a newly arrived sinister Uncle Charlie who casts a spell over his niece). The ending might feel anticlimactic but it turns out to be a subversive conclusion fitting for this surprisingly dark and challenging classic.

Shadow of a Doubt airs on TCM on Sunday, October 26th at 9PM CT and might be at your local library.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Summer of 84

 by A.J.

Night 3: Suburban Horror Night I

“Even serial killers live next door to somebody.”

Summer of 84

The poster for Summer of ‘84 makes it seem like a hokey 80’s throwback or something intentionally campy. I admit I was skeptical of this random find–an independent Canadian production that received a marginal theatrical release and was essentially a direct to streaming movie–especially when I saw that there were 3 credited directors, but this is actually a solid suspense picture and coming of age story that draws on Hitchcock as much as it does any of the 1980s movies it references. The screenplay, production design, and costumes are steeped in the specific kind of 80’s nostalgia ushered in by Stranger Things. The basic premise shares similarities with Stranger Things, among many other movies and television series: 4 teenage boys investigate something mysterious and have an adventure of sorts. They even ride bikes, but the similarities end there. More than Stranger Things or even Rear Window, Summer of ‘84 is on the same wavelength as David Lynch’s Blue Velvet and Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt; these are films young people who discover the dark and shocking secrets of their seemingly perfect small towns.

The idea is simple enough: even serial killers live next door to somebody. 15 year old Davey (Graham Verchere) becomes concerned that his neighbor, amiable local police officer Mackey (Rich Sommer), is secretly the Cape May Killer, responsible for a series of disappearances of young teen boys. Davey recruits his friends Woody, “Eats”, and Curtis to help investigate. At first it is nothing more than another game to them but then evidence begins to accumulate. The plot more or less unfolds how you expect but it is well done regardless and there are some truly tense scenes. The eerie synth score is highly effective in creating an unsettling and mysterious mood. 

The teenagers are all well played though some get more backstory than others. They are recognizable in the way they talk and in their behavior, likeable or not. They let each other spend the night to avoid troubled home lives. They insult each other affectionately. Like all teenage boys they are sex obsessed and routinely try to spy on Davey’s former babysitter and neighbor, Nikki (Tiera Skovbye). She gets enough of a backstory and is played well enough by Skovbye to be more than eye candy or a potential trophy. Davey’s conversations with her reveal that she is bound for Stanford and dealing with her parents’ divorce. Woody (Caleb Emery) is dealing with his overworked, alcoholic mother. “Eats” (Judah Lewis) is dealing with his possibly abusive father and quarrelling parents. 

What really makes Summer of 84 something special is its final act and resolution. Up to this point things unfold as you might expect but then the story takes a decidedly dark turn. The final confrontation between Davey and Mackey is all the more terrifying for how unconventional it is. Davey’s final scenes fit the harsh reality that was the 1980’s, with the dim outlook that many had about their present and potential future. This tone will probably resonate with people watching in 2025. Still this movie is not mean; it is not grim for the sake of being grim or shocking for the sake of being different. Teenage anxiety and the fear of things yet to come that is dismissed by adults never really goes away or becomes less felt (it just becomes general anxiety). In the season one finale of Mad Men, Don Draper tells Kodak executives that nostalgia is Greek for the “pain from an old wound.” I think Davey would agree. That is the kind of nostalgia on display here. 

Summer of 84 is available to stream for free on Kanopy and Hoopla (Kanopy has the better quality transfer).

13 Nights of Shocktober: The Witch Who Came From the Sea

by A.J.

Night 5: Serial Killer Night II

“Why did she come out of the sea?”

The Witch Who Came From the Sea

I must admit that I was completely unaware of The Witch Who Came From the Sea before coming across it randomly on the streaming site Tubi and was only interested because of the outrageous title. I was more than surprised by what I saw. This low budget proto-slasher film from 1976 qualifies as a horror movie because of its bloody violence and cerebral imagery. However, two more things separate and even elevate this movie from other serial killer and slasher movies. The first and most obvious: it flips the gender of the killer, so the psychologically damaged killer is a woman. The second: the screenplay focuses on the troubled emotional and psychological state of the killer, turning this would be exploitation movie into a compelling character study, even though the psychology is fairly basic. 

Millie Perkins stars as Molly, an average working class woman who lives by the sea. She adores her two nephews and despises how few “heroes” there are for young boys. She idolizes her deceased father, but remarks from her sister hint at a less than ideal father. Disturbing flashbacks reveal his true abusive relationship with Molly.

By 1976 there had already been many films, especially Italian giallos (mystery films) that, inspired by Hitchcock’s Psycho, were about a killer who was driven to kill their intense and conflicted feelings of attraction and repulsion to women stemming from abuse suffered as a child. Molly is driven by the same conflict but from the perspective of a female character it feels fresh and revealing. The screenplay by Robert Thom provides a great showcase for the talents and skills of Millie Perkins, Thom’s wife at the time, by making Molly a multifaceted character who draws our sympathy or at least our understanding as she murders. 

To be sure, this was created as an exploitation movie. There is a lot of sex and nudity and violence; though not all of the sex and nudity is sexy and not all of the violence is sensational or fun. Molly seduces two very muscular football players and drugs them. One passes out. She ties down the other and he realizes too late this is not a sexual game and he is in trouble. She grabs at his Achilles tendon and fretting over having only a small safety razor and complains, “this is going to take forever.” There is some squirting blood but most of the violence is off screen and we are thankful for it. 

There is also humor too: intentional, unintentional, and awkward. The oddball tattoo artist Jack Dracula reveals that people call him that because that’s his real name. The opening sequence has Molly with her nephews at the beach but she is distracted by ultra muscular men exercising nearby. The camera cuts to close ups of their speedo clad bulges then back to Molly in the throws of desire and disgust. This movie isn’t afraid to turn on a dime from humor to horror. 

The stylistic choices by director Matt Climber pay great attention to Molly’s complex emotional and psychological state. In one scene, a handsome mostly nude man in a TV commercial talks directly to her. There are flashes shown in psychedelic colors of a woman tied to a stake on a raft adrift at sea with dismembered body parts all around her. These surreal touches are captivating and put you in the same bewildered headspace as Molly.

The psychology is simple, perhaps even too simple by even a common understanding today, but unlike slasher movies before or since, this movie cares about its antihero/killer protagonist. Her backstory and past abuse and trauma are more than just an excuse for murder. This movie cares more about Molly’s peace of mind than sensational kills. The ending, like the rest of the movie , is unconventional for the genre, but it is fitting for this story and character.

The Witch Who Came From the Sea is available to stream for free on Tubi.

13 Nights of Shocktober: American Psycho (2000)

 by A.J. 

Night 2: Serial Killer Night

This is not an exit.

 

American Psycho

American Psycho is surprisingly watchable (and even rewatchable) and very entertaining given its violence and dark, disturbing subject matter. Like the novel by Brett Easton Ellis, the film drew controversy and protests. Even now it still retains an aura of controversy and danger. The main protests against the novel and film were accusations of misogyny, the scenes of graphic violence against women, and seeming glorification of the lifestyle of the killer. I admit that at first I was surprised when I learned that two women were the principal filmmakers: director Mary Harron and screenwriter-actress Guinevere Turner. However, this makes total sense; only female filmmakers could see completely through the façade of 1980’s Wall Street executive Patrick Bateman and even the writing and opinions of Brett Easton Ellis. They are also not intimidated by Patrick Bateman or the violence and deliver a dark satire of 1980’s consumerism, masculinity, male aggression, and performative conformity. 

This movie is also very funny. There are scenes of humor in the book but the movie’s humor works so well and really comes through because of Mary Harron and Guinivere Turner’s screenplay and the excellent performance of Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman. At different points throughout the 1990’s Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, and Leonardo DiCaprio were interested in playing Patrick Bateman. Bale was Harron’s choice because he seemed to be the only actor who not only saw Patrick Bateman as a pathetic, shallow, and actually dorky character but was willing to play him that way and without an artificial redemption. My favorite comedic touch is the weird hyper dance Bale does while preparing a murder scene and explaining the nuances of Huey Lewis and the News’s “Hip to Be Square.” In a subtle but brilliant choice, the sound of the sword being unsheathed can be heard whenever the Wall Street guys take out their business cards. Bateman proudly explains the minutiae of the front and texture and paper of his card only to be upstaged by his colleagues’ cards. Justin Theroux, playing one of Bateman’s interchangeable colleagues, hesitates to show Bateman the business card of a rival because it is just too great a business card. Of course, all of the cards look the same.

When I say this movie is darkly funny, I don’t mean to suggest that the scenes of violence are funny. These scenes are sometimes elaborate, sometimes cruel, and though very bloody there is never much gore on screen. Whether it is the humorously embarrassing scene of Bateman having a threesome with two sex workers and being more interested in checking himself out in the mirrors or the scene of him killing a homeless man and his dog, there are scenes that will be uncomfortable to watch no matter how many times you watch the movie. Is this a misogynist movie? No. Does it have misogynist characters disgustingly comfortable in their lifestyles? Yes. Maybe the only likable or relatable characters are Matt Ross as Bale’s closested coworker, trying extra hard to fit in with his "macho" co-workers, and Chloe Sevigny as his put upon secretary.

There is a question of whether or not all of the murders are purely in Patrick’s mind. This would explain the logistics of the chainsaw scene. The scene where Patrick is confronted with this possibility is quite cryptic and unsettling. However, the chance that the murders are not real does not make the film any less disturbing or Bateman any less dangerous. Harron and Turner show that the real horror is that Bateman lives in a world where he could kill and get away with it if he wanted; the entire system has been designed to benefit men like him, killers or not. 

American Psycho is a great movie but it is also an uncomfortably misunderstood movie, not unlike another movie critiquing and satirizing masculinity, Fight Club. In the making-of special features on the DVD, screenwriter Guinevere Turner says that she's met men (and only men) who tell her, "You wrote American Psycho? I think that movie's so cool. I am Patrick Bateman." Her response: "Really? So, are you saying you're a dork or a serial killer? or both?"

American Psycho is available to stream on Netflix and Paramount+.

13 Nights of Shocktober: The Bad Seed (1956)

 by A.J.

Night 3: Psycho Killer Night

“It’s just that they are bad seeds. Plain bad from the beginning”

The Bad Seed

The “creepy kid” or “killer kid” movie is an entire subgenre of horror with entries like Village of the Damned, The Innocents, Bloody Birthday, The Good Son, and Orphan to name a few. The Bad Seed (1956) has a firm place as a classic, if not the classic, creepy kid/killer kid movie. Based on a novel by William March and its stage adaptation, the killer kid here is 8-year-old Rhoda who is outwardly sweet, privately snobby, and also quite evil and murderous. Though The Bad Seed is not at all violent, it feels delightfully subversive and transgressive, like a movie that got away with something, especially for being made during the 1950’s.

The trouble begins when Rhoda loses a class award to another student. Then on a field trip that boy drowns in a lake after hitting his head. The medal goes missing but later Rhoda’s mother, Christine (Nancy Kelly), finds it hidden in Rhoda’s room and begins to suspect that her daughter caused the boy’s death. She also starts to wonder if Rhoda may be responsible for the death of their last landlady, a nice old lady who promised to leave Rhoda an heirloom when she died…and then suddenly died. Christine is also dealing with the knowledge that she was adopted and her biological mother was a notorious serial killer. There are some debates about nature vs nurture, likely one of the first times the topic was addressed in a major film. 

Young Patty McCormack does an excellent job playing Rhoda. She seems completely capable of causing the deaths that happen off screen, which are plausible as accidents or murders–they are not grand or elaborate “kills.” She is also convincing as a little kid. Rhoda is smart and clever, but is not an evil genius. When the creepy groundskeeper, Leroy (Henry Jones), who sees right through her façade, taunts her about having evidence against her, she believes him the way a child believes an adult, even one they don’t like. This exchange makes Leroy Rhoda’s next target

You might hear that The Bad Seed is a campy movie, and after seeing it you might even agree, but this does not diminish the dark, disturbing nature of the movie. Many of the performances seem just a bit over the top, but a better description is that they are heightened stage performances that were not turned down for the movie version. This makes sense since most of the cast from the stage production reprise their roles for the movie. They are still great performances, however, and it is no surprise that Nancy Kelly received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and Patty McCormack received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Eileen Heckart, who plays the mother of the dead boy, really makes the most of only two scenes and also received a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination.

The real camp value in The Bad Seed comes from how totally oblivious the adults, except for Leroy, are to Rhoda’s malevolent side. When Nancy asks Rhoda about the death of their previous landlady the entire scenario is so obviously murder that Rhoda’s continued good girl act becomes humorous. I think director Mervyn LeRoy knew what he was doing in allowing these exaggerated, or camp, moments into the movie. The stylized performances and dark humor take the edge off an otherwise disturbing premise. 

Of course the novel and play end differently than the movie, which had to tack on a new ending to satisfy the requirements of the puritanical Production Code office. This is the most outlandish and campy scene of all, yet even this scene is so over the top that it feels subversive too. It is as though the filmmakers decided that if they had to add an ending where Rhoda gets her comeuppance, they would tack on the most ridiculous “moral” ending imaginable. Also, a Warner Bros. executive insisted on including a “cast curtain call,” not common in this era when movies had no closing credits, with the cast happy and smiling, including Patty McCormick and Nancy Kelly, just so audiences could rest easy with the extra assurance that they had not been watching a documentary. Though it may not be exactly scary, The Bad Seed is a dark and creepy and entertaining film.

The Bad Seed airs on TCM on Sunday, October 22nd at 1PM CT and is also available to stream on Hoopla.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Roadgames (1981)

 by A.J. 

Night 2: Road Trip Horror Night

“That’s the trouble with you Australians, you take your games too seriously.”

Roadgames

Though it stars Americans Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis, Roadgames is an Australian film and a unique one to say the least. This is not strictly a horror movie though there are some slasher elements. Probably the best way to describe Roadgames is as Rear Window as a road trip through the Australian outback. Even though it is only rated PG, what Roadgames lacks in violence, it makes up for in interesting characters, top notch suspense, and an over the top climax.

Stacy Keach stars as Quid, a truck driver hauling frozen pork through the deserts of Western Australia. He spends most of his time having surprisingly interesting one sided conversations with his pet dingo, the famously silent wild dog of Australia. After hearing radio reports of a killer preying on female hitchhikers he begins to suspect that a man in a van traveling on the same road as him is the killer. At one point he sees the man stopped by side of the road about to bury a cooler. The man sees Quid and flees. Both Quid and the killer are males traveling alone and picking up hitchhikers. This will cause a lot of trouble for Quid. 

The first hitchhiker Quid picks up is Frita (Marion Edward), a housewife deserted on the side of the road by her husband. They both like to talk so they get on each other’s nerves and Quid’s talk of serial killers puts her on edge. The second hitchhiker he picks up is Pamela (Curtis), though he calls her “Hitch” for hitchhiker. They actually get along and speculate on the serial killer together. In an incredibly suspenseful scene worthy of comparison to Hitchcock's best work, she investigates the mysterious van at a rest stop while Keach thinks he is about to confront the killer. The danger for each is palpable. Director Richard Franklin no doubt drew on Hitchcock for many scenes in Roadgames; it's also worth nothing that Franklin would go on to direct the surprisingly smart and thrilling Psycho II.

Stacey Keach typically plays the heavy or lovable tough guys so it is great to see him play an unlikely hero. He excels at the solo scenes and monologues and holds our sympathy and attention all through the story. Probably the most enjoyable parts of the movie are Keach talking to the dingo, philosophizing or coming up with a profile of the killer. Of course there are the scenes of him sounding like a madman as he tries to explain about the killer, but he is hardly a stock character and this is hardly a by the numbers movie. Jamie Lee Curtis, no doubt cast to cash in on her fame as the reigning scream queen of the era, has a much more interesting role than in some of the other horror movies that gave her that title. As Pamela/Hitch she is a rebellious but mature young person, the runaway daughter of an American diplomat. When she ventures into the possible killer’s van, it fits with her character instead of coming across as a dumb decision by a horror movie character.

There are long stretches of Roadgames that really feel like just a road trip movie with Quid and his dingo and maybe a hitchhiker passing time as they drive to their destination. These stretches are plenty entertaining and they are where the movie’s odd sense of humor comes through.  The climax is ridiculous and over the top as Quid barrels through a town in his truck and a mob gathers but it still fits thanks to the movie's offbeat sensibility. It is as though the movie has been low key for so long that it can’t stand it anymore. So if you find those road scenes dull, just know that the ending makes up for it. Roadgames works best as a horror/thriller but it is memorable because of its non-horror elements. The lack of violence makes this a great movie to watch with anyone squeamish or horror hesitant, but the great scenes of mystery and suspense, entertaining characters, and oddball humor make it a great movie for anyone to watch. 

Roadgames is currently streaming on Tubi, Peacock, PlutoTV, Shout-TV, Freevee, and The Roku Channel.