13 Nights of Shocktober: Sisters (1972)

by A.J.

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 2: Thriller Night

“I saw a murder, and I'm going to prove it.”

Sisters (1972)

Brian De Palma’s Sisters is a murder mystery that has enough suspense and violence to firmly qualify it as a horror film. The plot is heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Psycho, which is no surprise since De Palma is so heavily influenced by Hitchcock. He even hired Bernard Herrmann, the composer of numerous Hitchcock films, to create the score for Sisters. However, De Palma's own artistic flair makes this movie feel like a new version of a familiar story. 

The film begins with Margot Kidder as Dannielle, a French Canadian model, on a date with a man she met through a game show. Their pleasant night together comes to a gruesome end when Danielle’s psychotic sister, Dominique (also Kidder), brutally murders the man. Danielle’s ex-husband, Dr. Breton (William Finley), helps cover up the crime, but a reporter, Grace (Jennifer Salt), witnesses them from her apartment across the street.

Like Psycho, this is a film in two parts with the second part being an investigation of the first. Grace tells the police what she witnessed, but since she previously investigated police abuses of power they are not willing to believe or help her. She turns to a private detective, played by Charles Durning, to help her investigate. Her mother, played by Mary Davenport, also helps and has some memorable moments. There are more than a few twists and turns to the plot, which, if you’ve seen some Hitchcock movies, you’ll see coming from a mile away. We may know what Grace’s investigation will turn up, but Sisters is well crafted and well-acted enough to still be thrilling and suspenseful as the pieces come together. 

The violence in this movie is sparse but sudden and bloody when it happens. Instead of relying only on shock value, De Palma creates suspense whenever and however he can. He employs split screen several times to intensify dramatic tension. The best use of split screen comes when on one side of the screen we see Grace trying to get the police to believe her about the murder as the detectives slowly make their way to the crime scene while on the other side of the screen we see the murder being cleaned up. There is one creepy sequence in which Grace finds herself paralyzed by the nefarious Dr. Benton. The scene is shot from Grace’s point of view with a close up on Dr. Benton’s face as she is hypnotized.

Sisters was released through AIP (American International Pictures) which distributed many, many low budget exploitation films, including the work of the legendary producer-director Roger Corman. This certainly feels like an exploitation picture, but the style and skills on display make it feel a step above other exploitation films. This is a great example of how the ideas and techniques of the “New Hollywood” of the late 60’s/early 70’s also helped change the horror genre. The murder mystery angle combined with the macabre twists make this a great film for any horror fan, or even the horror hesitant viewer, to watch on any Shocktober day or night.

Best Pictures #39: 2016 Academy Awards, My Pick for Best Picture

by A.J.

Best Pictures #39: 2016 Academy Awards

My Pick for Best Picture

The 2017 Academy Awards ceremony for films released in 2016, held on February 26th, will go down in history for its unprecedented, weird, wild twist ending. La La Land, with its 14 nominations, was the front runner in nearly every category according to betting markets, critics, insiders, and amateur prognosticators. The night started out with some surprises, most notably Hacksaw Ridge winning two Oscars for Editing and Sound Mixing--giving veteran sound mixer Kevin O'Connell his first win after a record 21 nominations without a win. Though it took home the most awards of any film at the 89th Academy Awards with a total of six, La La Land unexpectedly underperformed and, most surprising of all, did not take home Best Picture.

Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were the presenters of the Best Picture award at the end of the night. Beatty opened the envelope looked at the card, looked confused, then checked the empty envelope again, hesitated for a moment, then checked the envelope again. After a long awkward moment, he handed the card to Dunaway who read: La La Land. Two of the three producers of La La Land had gotten through their acceptance speeches and the third was about to speak when there was commotion on stage. The expressions of people on stage in the background were of confusion and disbelief. It was La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz that announced to everyone that, in fact, Moonlight had won Best Picture. Some of the La La Land cast and crew on stage were visibly, and justifiably, upset, but Horowitz was the epitome of class and dignity and graciously turned over the Oscar to the producers of Moonlight. 

The accounting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers counts all the of Oscar ballots and tabulates the winners, which are placed in the official envelopes and put in a locked briefcase handcuffed to a representative from the firm. For practical reasons, there are two sets of envelopes. Should anything happen and an envelope is missing, there is a backup. A close up freeze frame of the envelope in both Beatty and Dunaway's hands reveals that category on the envelope is: Actress in a Leading Role.

They were simply handed the wrong envelope. Beatty said that he opened it, it said "Emma Stone-La La Land" and he didn't know what to do, so when he showed it to Faye Dunaway she just read the name of the movie. Host Jimmy Kimmel tried graciously to take all the blame for the mix up saying that it was his fault and he won't be back next year. In reality, Kimmel was one of the best and liveliest hosts the Oscars has had in quite some time.

Early on in the night I thought: wouldn't it be nice if an independent film with no big name stars, about a troubled gay black man wins over the big Hollywood musical about the greatness of Hollywood? Then it didn't happen and La La Land won...then it did happen! I would not have voted for La La Land, but it would by no means be the Best Picture winner with which I most disagreed. It is a fine movie, but, frankly, I've seen it before, and I've seen it done better before. La La Land is simply another musical. Moonlight is filmmaking that approaches poetry. It takes a step back from the events happening to its main character, Chiron, allowing you to experience what he is experiencing. Moonlight is an art film, but it is open with its emotions and thus engaging. It is a special film that I've grown to like more and more.  

I'm very glad that Moonlight won, but it is still not the way I would cast my vote...

My Pick for Best Picture of 2016: Arrival

I didn't respond to any of the 2016 Best Picture nominees the way I responded to Arrival. It's rare that a science fiction film actually focuses on science instead of using the genre as a more interesting background for an action/fantasy story-- exactly what is the science in Star Wars? And, too often, when a science fiction film does focus on science it is to the detriment of the human aspect of the story. This is not the case with Arrival. It is a science fiction film brimming with pathos and thought provoking ideas.

There's so much to enjoy in Arrival: a new take on alien invaders, solid and even restrained filmmaking, and an excellent performance from Amy Adams. I was just as moved when I saw this film a second time as I was the first time I saw it in theaters. Perhaps the main reason for that is Adams' performance. The written language of the aliens is inventive and intriguing, as are the ideas it raises about language and time. The ideas it presents are interesting to ponder and move the story forward. Arrival is a serious science fiction film but it is also very entertaining. Genre conventions and references to other sci-fi movies are in the background, not the foreground, letting audiences enjoy this movie without constantly being reminded of other films in the same genre. Director Denis Villeneuve and screenwriter Eric Heisserer have crafted something poetic and profound.