13 Nights of Shocktober: Halloween III: Season of the Witch

 by A.J.

Happy Halloween! The countdown is over and Halloween is finally upon us. Tonight, hopefully, you'll be relaxing, eating some candy, and watching a scary, or not-so-scary, movie. There are a lot of options for tonight and I hope I've been of some help. Here is my final recommendation to help bring an end to Shocktober:

Night 13: Happy Happy Halloween!

“You don’t really know much about Halloween.”

Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is universally reviled for a single reason: it does not have Michael Myers. In recent years Halloween III has picked up a small following, but for the most part it is shunned by fans of the franchise and horror fans in general. This film is underseen, underrated, over-bashed, and deserves a reassessment. It certainly has its share of flaws to be sure, but if given a chance on its own terms, this is good over-the-top horror entertainment. 

A bit of background. Halloween II (1981), directed by Rick Rosenthal, continued the story of Laurie Strode, Dr. Loomis, and Michael Myers on the same Halloween night as John Carpenter's original film and, unlike the first film, ended very, very conclusively. With Halloween III, written and directed by Tommy Lee Wallace, the idea was to take the film series in a new direction as an anthology film series with each subsequent sequel taking place around Halloween but having a different story and characters. This seemed like a good idea because, after all, there are more spooky things that can happen on Halloween besides a killer wearing a mask. Why not take advantage of a title as broad as “Halloween”? The film flopped, a harsh backlash ensued, and there wouldn’t be another Halloween movie until four years later with Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.

This film begins with a toy store owner being taken to a hospital. He is clutching a Silver Shamrock brand Halloween mask and says, “they’re going to kill us all.” A mysterious man in a suit sneaks into his room, kills him by crushing his face, then kills himself by blowing himself up in a car. Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) witnesses this and is determined to get answers. He finds out the murder victim recently visited the headquarters of the Silver Shamrock toy company. Ellie (Stacy Nelkin), the toy store owner’s daughter, teams up with Dr. Challis to find out who and what is behind her father’s murder. They travel to the isolated headquarters of Silver Shamrock and uncover the company’s sinister plan for Halloween night.

Dan O’Herlihy gives a good performance as Conal Cochran, the head of the evil company. His light, lilting voice makes him seem harmless in certain scenes, like when he’s giving a tour of the factory, but it also makes him especially villainous in other scenes. Cochran’s plan is to return Halloween to its ancient, sacrificial roots by killing countless children all over the country through the popular masks. We see a demonstration of this at the factory and though it is not especially gory or graphic, it is pretty intense and might be a dealbreaker for some. A kid wearing one of the special Silver Shamrock masks collapses when a device in the mask is activated by a signal from the TV and his head caves in and snakes and bugs crawl out from the under the mask. The special effects for the other horror scenes are pretty gross but great effects. There are certainly more graphic and gory images in other horror movies, but these scenes are not for the squeamish. The practical makeup effects add a sense of reality to the grotesque sights and are effective to say the least.

There are subtle touches sprinkled throughout Halloween III that pay tribute to the original but also let the audience know this film means to do its own thing. The title sequence of John Carpenter’s film is a shot of a jack-o-lantern next to the opening credits. The title sequence of Halloween III is a close up of rows of orange dots that are revealed to be a jack-o-lantern on a TV, but the font style of music are different. In John Carpenter’s Halloween, characters watch classic black & white horror movies on TV. In Halloween III, the characters watch John Carpenter’s Halloween on TV and a commercial refers to it as “an immortal classic.”

I can understand the frustration and confusion felt by fans and audiences in general at the time and even now, especially since this is a numbered sequel implying that it comes in sequence or is strongly tied to the original. It feels weird that it is included in the Blu-ray box set, but I’m glad it is. Halloween III stands out and stands alone and that is what is great about it.

Halloween III is not on the same level as the original, but it is certainly more entertaining some of the other Halloween sequels. I’ll admit that like many I was dismissive of this film sight unseen but my enjoyment of it has only grown. The Silver Shamrock commercial advertising the masks and counting down the days until Halloween goes “Happy happy Halloween Halloween Halloween” set to London Bridge is Falling Down and it’s a real earworm. It’s why I call the final night of my 13 Nights of Shocktober “Happy Happy Halloween” and inspired the idea of a countdown. No sequel or remake can come close to John Carpenter’s incredible (even immortal) classic, so why not try something different? It’s goofy at times, scary at times, and lots of Halloween fun.

13 Nights of Shocktober: The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

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 12: Vincent Price Night

“The razor edge of destiny.” The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

I may seem like I’m repeating myself but I cannot emphasize enough how with a Roger Corman movie, more so than with any other filmmaker, you never know what you’re going to get: B-movie dreck, campy fun, or something genuinely good, even great. The Pit and the Pendulum is definitely in the top tier of Roger Corman/Vincent Price movies. Like all of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, you’ll find period costumes and sets, a spooky castle, occasionally stiff acting, low budget charm, and a great performance from Vincent Price. 

Unsurprisingly, the screenplay by Richard Matheson adds quite a bit to Poe’s very short story, which is mainly an elaborate description of the titular torture devices and light on plot. Set in Spain during the 1500’s, Francis Barnard (John Kerr) arrives at the castle of Don Nicolas Medina (Price) to investigate the sudden death of his sister Elizabeth (Barbara Steele), the Don’s beloved wife. Don Medina is still in mourning and heartbroken over Elizabeth’s death, but the lack of details about her death raises Barnard’s suspicions. As Don Medina, his sister Catherine (Luana Anders), and the doctor who treated Elizabeth each fill in the details, the cause of Elizabeth’s death only becomes more mysterious. We also learn that Don Medina’s father was involved with the Spanish Inquisition and the dungeon of the castle still has the torture devices. In a blue tinted flashback, the young Nicolas witnesses his father torture and kill his mother and uncle for their adultery. 

If your plan involves driving Vincent Price insane, it’s not going to work out for anyone. Usually, though not always, Price played the villain or ended up becoming the villain through spirit possession or madness. Don Medina begins as a seemingly sympathetic character, but there is also an air of suspicion around him. As the plot unfolds it becomes clear that Don Medina was not involved in Elizabeth’s death but his paranoia and misplaced guilt threaten to drive him to a nervous breakdown. This gives Price some great scenes to show off. He gets to play a heartbroken widower, a doting husband in flashbacks, a man losing his sanity, and, finally, an all-out mad villain. 

The opening titles play over a swirl of psychedelic colors and ominous music. The costumes and sets create the atmosphere but the performances and story provide the tension and excitement. The titular pendulum, the swinging blade slowly lowering itself closer and closer to a bound victim, is genuinely intimidating. The clank of the gears that lower the blade and the whoosh as it swings through the air make the whole scene very tense. 

The Roger Corman/Vincent Price films are great to watch anytime, but they are especially fun to watch around Halloween. The additions to the original story are in keeping with Poe’s themes like a lost love, fear of premature burial, and madness. So, the connection back to Poe feels merited (unlike like Roger Corman’s The Raven). This may not be exactly scary, but it is a great old fashioned gothic horror story, thoroughly entertaining and thrilling.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Freaky

 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 11: Meta Horror Night

"Great. We're gonna be killed by Murder Barbie."

Freaky

Freaky is not a scary movie but it is a very entertaining one. There is enough here to satisfy any horror fan and the comedy angle is likely to bring in some viewers wouldn’t typically watch a horror movie. The premise is so simple you wonder why it hasn’t been done before and the result is so fun you’re glad it was finally done. A big, hulking serial killer and his intended teenage victim switch bodies by way of a plot devise in the form of a mystical dagger. A body switch movie needs excellent leads and Freaky certainly delivers on that front with Vince Vaughn as the killer known as The Butcher and Kathryn Newton as Millie, the unfortunate teen.

A title card with a familiar font informs us that the date is Wednesday the 11^th. A group of teenagers talk about murders that supposedly happened but also comment that those urban legends are invented to scare teenagers out of having premarital sex. These teens meet with gruesome and overly elaborate deaths: a wine bottle down the throat, a broken tennis racket slammed back together with someone’s head in the middle (this teen was on a tennis court so what else could they expect to happen). The killer wears a mostly featureless mask reminiscent of Jason from the Friday the 13^th Part 2 (before Jason donned the famous hockey mask in part 3) and Michael Myers from the Halloween movies.

The teenage actors overall are pretty convincing as teens, especially Millie and her friends. Kathryn Newton plays both of her roles very well. Millie has the standard traits of a horror movie protagonist: dealing with grief and trauma (the death of her father and her mother’s new dependence on her company), struggling at home and at school, shy, and bullied, but with a few loyal friends. Newton is able is bring some spark and real sympathy to what would be a cliched character. After the switch, Newton as the Butcher projects the right amount of menace and glee at his newfound situation. The Butcher’s menace is mistaken for Millie's newfound confidence and leads some to amusing moments. There’s nice and subtle dark humor in watching the Butcher (as Millie) scan a room for the best way to kill someone. It’s also refreshing to see that the Butcher’s strength did not transfer, so he becomes frustrated with Millie’s petite body and lack of strength. This forces the Butcher (as Millie) to be more creative with his kills.

The casting Vince Vaughn was a very shrewd and wise choice. Vaughn is an all-around solid actor, has well proven comedic talents, and has a very imposing 6’5” figure. Vaughn is excellent as Millie, humorous but believable. Millie in the Butcher’s body has what ends up being an emotional conversation with her mom and Vaughn is believable in this moment too, which never really sheds its comedic setup. As Millie gets used to her new oversize body there are some funny moments and Vaughn plays a gentle, clumsy giant well. A scene of Millie in Butcher’s body getting to know her crush is what you’d expect but it works: the humor leads to tenderness which leads to humor which makes the characters more sympathetic and relatable.

Freaky is a self-aware horror movie that thankfully never stoops to pandering in place of cleverness. There are visual references to other horror movies like Halloween, the Friday the 13^th movies, Hellraiser, The Shining, but aside from the font of the dates resembling the Friday the 13^th font, the movie doesn’t make a big deal about them. The characters are aware of horror movie tropes and Freaky is better for it. When Millie’s friends are being chased by the Butcher (unaware of the body swap) Josh (Misha Osherovich) shouts to Nyla (Celeste O'Connor), “You’re black, I’m gay. We are so dead!” Her friends don’t exactly have inner lives but they feel like full fledged characters thanks to the young performers.

Freaky has plenty of bloody violence. The kills are graphic and over the top, another nod to the slasher genre (the later Friday the 13^th movies in particular), but doesn’t revel in them. Freaky is something pretty rare, a character driven horror movie more concerned with its characters than kills. Director Christopher Landon, who co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Kennedy, blends comedy and horror in just the right way. There’s a definite love for the genre running through every scene. Freaky understands that horror movies can be fun and puts that front and center.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Santa Sangre

 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 10: Surreal Horror Night “My hands…my hands.”

Santa Sangre

It is hard for me to articulate why the films of avant-garde director Alejandro Jodorowsky fascinate and captivate me so much even though many of their defining traits are things that frustrate me in other art films. His films are strange and surreal, heavy on symbolism, magical realism, and absurd and grotesque but striking imagery. They are not subtle about their themes or symbols or attitudes towards politics, or religion, or society in general and aim to challenge artistic and filmmaking conventions. They are also filled with tenderness and sincerity. His films can be described as challenging, but Jodorowsky only means to challenge to audience only up to a point. It feels like his real intention is to change the way we view movies, art, and the wider world so that we can challenge those things together. There is no pretention or condescension in his films, only a welcoming invitation to a new experience and a new perspective. This is especially true of Santa Sangre, one of the strangest and most compassionate films I have seen.

Santa Sangre isn’t exactly a horror film, but it isn’t exactly any other kind of film either. There is violence, drama, humor, cruel characters, bizarre scenes, psychological horror, even elements of a slasher film, but also many moments of great emotion and sympathy. All of this is put together and handled so delicately that it feels like a magic trick.

The film opens with image of a nude man posed like bird on an oversized perch in a mental institution. In an extended flashback we see Fenix's traumatic childhood in a circus where he was the boy magician. His mother, Concha (Blanca Guerra), was the trapeze artist and also the leader of a religious sect that worships a saint whose arms were cut off by her rapists. His father, Orgo (Guy Stockwell), was the circus owner and knife thrower. He is crude, excessively macho, and having an affair with the tattooed woman, who is the mother of Fenix’s mute friend, Alma. One night Concha discovers Orgo's affair and throws acid on Orgo's genitals. He cuts off her arms and then cuts his own throat. Somehow, despite all of that, the most traumatic moment of that horrible night is the tattooed woman driving away with Alma in the backseat, her face against the window looking back at Fenix.  They watch each other being separated in a heartbreaking exchange.

When Fenix, now an adult, is beckoned by his mother, he escapes from the mental institution. Hiding behind her, he acts as her arms and hands in a stage show and also in their private moments. In these scenes the actors have so well-choreographed their movements that Concha really does seem to be controlling his hands and Fenix seems to know beforehand what Concha wants to do. Concha’s control over Fenix is domineering and somewhat mystical. Through controlling him psychologically she controls him physically, and this is how she exacts her revenge.

The first slashing is, like many things in this movie, a paradox: it is gruesome but also hokey. The victim stands behind a sheer curtain and a knife wielding hand stabbing in a cliched, mechanical motion. Bodies pile up, but unlike a slasher movie, the kill scenes are not the crux of the movie. Concha’s desire for complete control over her son results in any other woman being a threat. The slashings are a result of the horror and trauma Fenix has suffered and continues to suffer, so he is able to draw our sympathy even though he is also a murderer.  

This is a movie where a funeral march through town square for an elephant that ends with the elephant corpse being thrown into a canyon were residents of a shantytown cut it up for food is a footnote to the actual plot. Fenix paints the body of a victim white and buries her in a grave that glows and a bird rises out. A scene of a group of patients from the institution being taken to a red-light district with drugs and sex workers actually turns out alright. A large, muscular trans-woman wrestler turns out to be a gentle soul. Every scene contains something unexpected.

Santa Sangre was written by Jodorowsky, Robero Leoni, and Claudio Argento (brother of Italian filmmaker Dario Argento). I suppose this is technically a slasher movie, but it is a slasher movie as only Jodorowsky could make. It doesn’t feel like a traditional horror movie because of its emphasis on emotion and sympathy for its main character. Adult Fenix is played by Axel Jodorowsky, Alejandro’s son, and he does an amazing job playing a tortured, conflicted character. He is a gentle soul and you want desperately for him to be treated as such and be freed from his trauma. There are horror movies that have strong characters, likeable characters, characters you root and cheer for, but I don’t think there is another horror film that loves its main character as much as Santa Sangre loves Fenix, and that love is contagious.    

So why recommend Santa Sangre for Shocktober if it is not exactly horror movie? Well, if this movie is a magic trick, then I guess I want other people to see the trick. Santa Sangre is a dark fairy tale. No matter how bizarre or surreal, we accept the sights we see because they serve something more that just the images. Fairy tales use harsh situations and grim scenarios to teach a simple lesson or moral. So too does Santa Sangre use its garish, striking, but always memorable imagery and scenarios to convey something so simple we can only accept it if it is wrapped up in fantasy. At the climax there is a reveal that may not be a surprise but it is not meant to be. It is a revelation for Fenix and as such is deeply satisfying. It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for. What a unique character study. What a gentle and loving movie. The world is cruel and there are cruel people but kindness and love can still exist and we need not be cruel to ourselves; that only leads back to cruelty to others. This is a beautiful film, a reaction I’ve had only a handful of times.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Body Bags

 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 9: Anthology Horror Night “Ah, body bags. You see, if it's murder, suicide or a nasty accident, they put them in here.” Body Bags

Body Bags is a 1993 anthology horror movie produced by Showtime. It was originally meant to be an anthology horror series, likely to compete with the hit HBO series Tales From the Crypt. When Showtime did not continue the series, the episodes that had already been filmed were put together and aired as a single movie. Regardless of the reason for its cancellation, Body Bags is an entertaining anthology film thanks to the talent involved. 

The setting is the overnight shift at a morgue where a ghoulish, corpselike coroner examines different body bags and shares the details behind the gruesome deaths. John Carpenter directed the first two stories and also plays The Coroner. You can’t help but compare him to the Crypt Keeper from Tales From the Crypt, even though one is a person in makeup and the other is a puppet. The Crypt Keeper is far more decayed and has a bigger personality but both are high energy characters that love death, gory details, and making jokes. There is hard rock music playing in the background of the interstitials with The Coroner and you can tell John Carpenter is having fun with the character.

In the first story, The Gas Station, Alex Datcher plays a young woman working the overnight shift at a gas station. At first she only has to deal with odd customers. Then she finds herself being stalked by a deranged psycho killer played by Robert Carradine. The second story, Hair, stars Stacey Keach as a man obsessed with stopping his hair loss. He seeks out a radical hair growth treatment that actually works but has sinister side effects. In the final story, Eye, directed by Tobe Hooper, Mark Hamill plays a baseball player that loses an eye in a car accident. He undergoes an experimental eye transplant but soon begins to have macabre and murderous visions.

Any horror anthology is likely to feel uneven and Body Bags is no exception. The Gas Station is a well-made but basic slasher story. It's not fresh but not stale either. Things pick up with Hair, which leans heavy into comedy. Naturally this story about a hair transplant gone wrong delves into body horror but it’s watchable because of its fun tone. Though it is not especially explicit with visual or makeup effects, it feels more graphic than it actually is due to the subject matter. Keach, who usually plays a heavy or tough guy, does a good job playing a lighter, insecure character. Eye is similar to The Gas Station in that it is a well-made short film that covers familiar territory, but this story is more of a psychological horror, with some gory effects too. The reason Eye holds together and feels as dramatic as it does is thanks to Mark Hamill’s solid performance. 

Body Bags uses some early CGI effects, which like most early CGI effects do not hold up, but the rest of the horror sights are practical visual effects and special makeup effects which go a long way. It might not be for everyone, either because of its light but macabre tone or the horror visuals, but it’s clear that Body Bags wants you to have as good a time as The Coroner is having. Watch for cameos and appearances by: Wes Craven, Sam Raimi, Debbie Harry, Twiggy, Tom Arnold, Charles Napier,  Tobe Hooper, David Naughton, David Warner, and legendary B-movie producer-director Roger Corman. I love horror anthologies but I’ll admit that most are made up of more misses than hits. Body Bags is better than most and makes for spooky fun Shocktober viewing.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

 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 8: Youth Horror Night

Don’t you ever laugh as a hearse goes by/For you may be the next to die

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

A movie based on the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark book series has a lot to live up to. These stories, a collection of folktales, urban legends, songs, and poems written by Alvin Schwartz and the frightening, nightmarish drawings by Stephen Gammell are indeed scary, so much so that they fully traumatized and fascinated an entire generation of children, myself included. If you read only a few of the stories or saw any of the drawings, you never forgot them. The books, published between 1981 and 1991, caused all sorts of controversies and protests from parents and sold millions and millions of copies. A wonderful and impressive oversight by my Catholic elementary school meant that I bought my copies at the school book fair. My mother thought some of the stories were amusing but they thoroughly disturbed me as a first grader, so she gave them to a friend whose child was very excited by them. I’ve seen the movie twice now, but I’ve never revisited the books. 

The Scary Stories books would have made for a great anthology film but the team behind the camera, including producer Guillermo Del Toro, who receives a screen story credit with Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, screenwriters Dan and Kevin Hageman, and director Andre Ovredal give us a compelling narrative worked around the short stories. Set in the Autumn of 1968, during that extra spooky time between Halloween and Election Day, the plot follows high schooler Stella and her friends Auggie and Chuck. On Halloween Night while fleeing a malicious and dangerous bully, they meet Ramon, a teenage drifter, and end up hiding out in the town’s old haunted house. Stella finds a book full of stories handwritten by Sarah Bellows, the dreadful witch that poisoned children at the turn of the century. Then new stories appear in the book, written in fresh, wet blood that tap into the fears of teens and foretell their doom.

Scenes involving the monsters are legitimately frightening. Perhaps the most well-known is Harold the scarecrow, who the bully encounters in a cornfield on Halloween night. The most frightening and disturbing scene for me had one of the characters trapped in a red room with a pale faced woman coming towards him from every end of every hallway. The blend of computer generated and practical effects is very well done. The creatures of Harold and the Pale Faced Woman are as frightening and haunting as the original drawings. The climax combines action, scares, and monsters with a full realization of the themes and subtext in a compelling and masterful way.   

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark believes that if stories are told enough, they become real, even if they are about yourself. This is what Stella, played wonderfully by Zoe Margaret Coletti, with Velma from Scooby-Doo glasses and smarts to match, comes to realize about her town’s legendary witch and even about herself. Her mother left mysteriously when she was little and the town has circulated rumors ever since. Ramon (Michael Garza) is pegged by the all-American looking bully as a “wet-back” and by the well-intentioned but misguided town sheriff (Gil Bellows) as a suspicious person to blame the recent misfortunes on. Ramon is on the run from something, but there is more to the truth than first assumptions.

The young actors are especially good and believable at playing teenagers. Most of the movie is Stella, Ramon, Auggie, and Chuck investigating the history of Sarah Bellows and her book of stories to save themselves before it is too late. Being 1968, this means that they look at microfiche newspaper archives and old records buried away in forgotten rooms. These scenes reminded me of the better episodes of The X-Files and the scenes of them snooping around an old house reminded me of the original Scooby-Doo series. There are lighter moments and levity that not only relieve tension but build the characters and their relationships with each other. The screenplay and performers do a great job creating characters we want to see escape the monsters, which is something rare for horror films.  

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is also that most elusive and improbable kind of horror movie: a scary PG-13 movie. The confrontations with the monsters and other horrors are as creepy and scary as anything in an R-rated horror movie. You don’t need blood and gore when you have impending, inescapable dread. The visual style and aesthetic sets the film firmly in the real world, so when the characters are confronted with the supernatural it is all the more disconcerting and frightening. This movie is something quite rare these days, a horror movie for kids. Not just a horror themed movie for kids, but a movie with real frights and scares, with compelling themes and enough substance to become something that every great horror movie is: haunting. In that way, the movie is very true to the books.

13 Nights of Shocktober: The Curse of Frankenstein

 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 7: Hammer Horror Night

Christopher Lee: I’ve got no lines! Peter Cushing: You’re lucky. I’ve read the script. The Curse of Frankenstein

There are more than a few things that give The Curse of Frankenstein a special place in horror film history. It was the first remake of a classic Universal monster movie by the British film company Hammer and its success led Hammer to produce other Universal monster movie remakes, each with its own line of sequels, and other horror films as well. Throughout the 1950’s, traditional horror films focusing on monsters, ghosts, or curses had taken a backseat to science fiction films that had some horror elements but focused on the fears of the atomic age: monsters from outer space, the effects of nuclear radiation, or experiments gone wrong. The Hammer horror films are credited by some film historians and cinephiles with revitalizing the horror genre and attracting new audiences. They were shot in vivid color, utilized eye-catching period sets and costumes, and contained a level of violence, blood, and sexuality that was new and shocking for the time. It all started with The Curse of Frankenstein. Watching The Curse of Frankenstein today, there are certain aspects that may seem dated or hokey and its shock value has waned but not disappeared. It is easy to see why this film stood out at the time and has become a classic.

Perhaps as significant as its success for Hammer, The Curse of Frankenstein was the first film to pair Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee on screen together—they had previously appeared in the same movie, Hamlet (1948), but in different scenes. Cushing and Lee met for the first time and became friends by complaining about the script together. They appeared in numerous films together for Hammer and other studios becoming horror movie icons and their friendship lasted until Cushing’s death in 1994.

This version of Mary Shelley’s novel begins with Dr. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) in prison telling his story to a skeptical priest. We see a flashback to an arrogant teenage Victor Frankenstein, who inherits his father’s fortune and aristocratic title and uses the money to hire a tutor, Paul, to teach him medicine. Over the years they conduct experiments that eventually allow them to resurrect a puppy. Both are thrilled but for different reasons. Paul (Robert Urquhart) wants to use their discovery to improve medical care by putting a patient into temporary death to perform a surgery without any shock to their system and then revive them. Frankenstein, however, wants to build a bigger, superior being. There’s no reason given for why Frankenstein wants to do this, but the book also doesn’t explain Frankenstein’s motivations since there is no good reason for wanting to build a new human out of dead body parts. Paul reluctantly agrees to go along with Frankenstein’s idea and together they create the Creature.

Despite his problems with the script, Cushing gives a great performance as the villainous Dr. Frankenstein. It's tempting to want to think of Victor Frankenstein as a hero because he pushes the boundaries of science and fights a monster, but this Frankenstein is a cad and villain. He doesn’t just rob fresh graves for body parts, he kills people. For a superior brain for his Creature, Frankenstein invites an old professor to his house then pushes him to his death. The brain is damaged but he uses it anyway leading to the Creature’s lumbering movement and murderous behavior. Also, Frankenstein is having an affair with his maid, Justine (Valerie Gaunt), even though he’s engaged to Elizabeth (Hazel Court). When Justine threatens to expose his horrendous experiments if he doesn’t marry her, Frankenstein uses the Creature to dispose of her. Cushing often played the hero in horror movies, or someone driven to extremes, but he is also really good as a sinister villain. You want him to stop the monster, but you also want him to get his comeuppance.

The reveal of the Creature’s face is a striking moment. The Creature lumbers to life, pulls off the bandage covering its face, and camera rushes in for a close up. Though Mary Shelley’s novel was in the public domain, Universal held the rights on the makeup design of the monster from their 1931 version of Frankenstein, one of the most iconic images in film history. So, the design of the monster here is very different from the Universal monster. This Creature’s design is nowhere near as memorable as the look of Boris Karloff as the Monster, but the film is better for trying something different.

Christopher Lee doesn’t have a lot to do as the Creature. It’s obvious that the movie couldn’t decide if it wanted him to be sympathetic, like in the Universal movie, or just a force of destruction. Still, Lee’s imposing size gives the Creature a sense of immediate danger. Lee would get to show off his verbal talents and charismatic screen presence in the next film he and Cushing starred in together for Hammer, Horror of Dracula, one of my favorites.

The period 19^th century costumes and sets look great in color. There are some exterior scenes where the background is obviously a matte painting, but this adds to movie’s fantastical atmosphere more than it distracts. Frankenstein’s laboratory is filled with bubbling jars of colored potions and the Creature is kept in a water tank. Nothing in his lab looks especially scientific but this adds to the unnatural side of his experiment, and it looks great in color. Terence Fisher directed The Curse of Frankenstein and while many directors had a hand in Hammer horror movies, his remain among the best. Seeing the names of Cushing, Lee, and Fisher together mean that you’re in for a treat.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)

 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 6: Vampire Night

“Can you imagine enduring centuries, and each day experiencing the same futilities?”

Nosferatu the Vampyre

Nosferatu the Vampyre (or, Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night) is German director Werner Herzog’s not quite remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent horror masterpiece. Murnau was not able to secure the rights to Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, so he changed the character names and locations and some plot points to avoid legal troubles. Herzog does not consider his film a remake, but he follows the structure of Murnau’s film more than Stoker’s novel. Werner Herzog is the kind of filmmaker incapable of making a simple genre picture. His version of Nosferatu is not straightforward horror, but it is haunting and transfixing.

The plot is familiar enough. Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz), a young real estate attorney, is sent to Transylvania to oversee the purchase of an estate, close to his own home in Wismar, Germany, by the mysterious Count Dracula.  The Count falls in love with a picture of Jonathan’s wife, Lucy (Isabelle Adjani), imprisons Jonathan, and sets off to claim the young bride as his own.

Klaus Kinski plays Count Dracula as a forlorn creature of menace and despair. His look is the same as Count Orlok, played by Max Schreck, in Murnau’s Nosferatu, one of the most iconic images in film history, instantly recognizable whether you've seen the film or not. His skin is bone white, with a head like an animated skull, fingers like slender claws, and two pronounced fangs are front and center in his mouth. The vampire in Murnau’s film was only a monster, but here he is presented as a pitiful, melancholy creature. This Dracula has no brides or servants. He tells Harker that there are worse things than death, like enduring centuries repeating the same futile nights. In Wismar, he tells Lucy that he wishes to partake of what she and Jonathan share.

Count Dracula is a supernatural creature but still seems to be tied into Herzog’s fascination with the unrelenting and overwhelming force that nature has over humankind (see Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, and Grizzly Man for more intense and unrelenting nature). Harker’s journey through ageless mountains and canyons to Dracula’s castle is an extended sequence set to Richard Wagner’s prelude to Das Rheingold, a choice that enhances the natural landscape’s sense of beauty and awe and foreboding. Hidden deep in that intimidating landscape is Dracula.

Bram Stoker’s novel has Harker’s wife, Mena, as a perfect Victorian era woman that needs to be preserved and protected. Here, Harker’s wife, Lucy, mostly absent from the first half of the film, becomes the main character in the second half and is the only person willing to take action to stop Dracula and the plague spreading rats he has unleashed on the city. This version of Lucy is an agent not only for her own destiny but the whole city.

Herzog and cinematographer Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein use a handheld camera for many scenes, adding a degree of uncomfortable authenticity and realism to the supernatural story. Unlike the Universal Studios and Hammer productions of Dracula, these locations and sets look and feel real and lived in. Everything from the chairs and silverware to Dracula’s macabre clock feel like real, functional things and imply that he can exist outside of fantasy.

Watching this film in 2021, it is especially horrifying that Dracula’s arrival in Wismar doesn’t just mean the arrival of a vampire. Dracula also brings a huge swarm of bubonic plague spreading rats. A scene of Lucy wandering through plague-ridden Wismar has her encountering a group of people in their finest clothes having their last supper; one tells her that all of the guests are infected with the plague so they are enjoying what they have while they can. The procession of coffins through the town square is like an endless macabre parade.

Herzog was tasked with producing two versions of this film: one in German and one in English, for international markets. After a scene was done in German it would be shot again with the same actors speaking English. Herzog has said that he views the German language version as more authentic since it was his attempt to link classic and modern German filmmaking. There is obviously some dubbing for the minor characters but, overall, I got the same effect from both versions. I recommend this film in general, but I highly recommend it for an atmospheric but not-so-scary night.