3rd Birthday – Halloween Horror Marathon

Three years old. That’s one home, four assignments, one computer and almost 1,500 films ago, how time flies eh? I was aware of my birthday which occurred amidst the LFF shenanigans but quite frankly I didn’t have the time to incorporate another mammoth blog post until the dust had settled and I had sorted out some work nonsense. The good news is I have completely smashed my cinema visit target for the year – it’s currently running in the mid 60’s – and I have around half a dozen more visits planned although pickings are now slim as we move toward the end of the year, don’t get me started on how barren 2010 looks, I’ll save my vitriol on that until the 2009 round up next month. So my secret project can finally be revealed – I’ve been writing reviews, mostly covering the LFF for these guys, a Canadian outfit that I approached a few months back. I’ve been thinking about expanding my horizons all year, to see if I could get my ill-informed scribblings published in another format so I was quite pleased to see the Sound On Sight editors jump at the chance after I got in touch following an episode of their podcast which asked for potential submissions. It’s not paid or anything but they will be arranging press credentials for future events – if I’m still with them that would mean a pass to all of next year’s LFF press screenings for example – and I’ve got some free DVD / Blu-ray screeners to review on the way so I can’t complain. Given that all I really have to do is amend the stuff I put together for the blog to remove all the first person references it’s a no brainer really, I’d be writing my reviews for personal satisfaction anyway so why not see what freebies I can spin out of it? I’ll admit it was also something of an ego-boost to see my words hosted elsewhere, if you’d told me that was feasible back in my tender teenage years of rushing down to the corner shop to pick up the latest copy of Empire then I probably would have passed out. If you’re so inclined then do visit the site and subscribe / rate the podcast on iTunes as all the traffic helps of course.

 Anyway, back to the matter at hand, the horror . I’ll not waste time on any detailed plot synopsis for the most part, if you’re so inclined they’ll be buried in the links. I was planning to go and see the first film – Werewolf – at the cinema but the re-release was really quite limited to only one 10.00pm screening at a handful of cinemas on the 31st and quite frankly I was feeling a bit under the weather so I compromised by blowing £50 in HMV on Saturday to complement some existing films I had hanging around on the shelves, I really wanted the Blu-ray of Werewolf due to the great reviews of the two hour making of documentary Beware The Moon that is on the disk, I haven’t enjoyed a well researched, comprehensive account of a cult classics construction in a long time. In another moment of serendipity lets kick things off with this link, a list of Scorsese’s favourite horror movies, a link that leads nicely to my smugly acquiring a ticket to see Marty in person at an NFT event next month, an evening that will crown ten years of my living in London and attending this sort of event. That’s like, so totally awesome – see, already I have my North American vernacular down ya’ dig?

An American Werewolf In London – Talk about starting at the top eh? People claim that Shaun of the Dead gives Werewolf a run for its money as the greatest horror comedy ever made, these people are horrendous idiots who must be ignored at all costs. Sure Shaun is funny and entertaining, a good film which merits semi-regular repeat viewings, no problem – but it isn’t even in a fraction of a molecule of the remotest sense scary or horrifying. In Werewolf the initial attack on those desolate moors remains brutally shocking, almost unwatchable and the thoroughly unnerving fever dreams that David suffers instil an unsettling atmosphere, all of which is counterpoised by the grim humour of the slowly disintegrating corpse of best friend Jack, probably the films despicable masterstroke which provides most of the nervous laughter whilst tying the tale to the monster movie lore of history – the cursed lunar cycle which can only be cured by suicide or death. The transformation sequence, intentionally rendered in full daylight, remains unmatched:

….as does Jenny Agutter whose presence made quite an impact on everyone in my generation who furtively hired this from their local VHS emporium. The 1981 London locations – the tube, Piccadilly Circus, what looks to me like Belgravia and Mayfair – are interesting to see, not sure how a nurse could afford a telephone box let alone a flat in that area of the Capital even back in them olden times though. Stan was supposedly a big fan and when you consider the ironic use of the music against the horror, the pitch black comedy it isn’t difficult to see why. A seminal monster movie, I’ll See You Next Wedneday.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari – I’ve had this sitting on my shelf for about three years and although I have seen it before, when studying German Expressionism as one of the modules on my A Level course many years ago, I’ll admit is has been one of those ‘oh I must watch that one day’ choices that is ignored whilst reaching past it for something else which looks more fun. Something like The Hottie & The Nottie for example. OK, I jest, its only 52 minutes long first of all and although its 90 year pedigree can test the patience it is a remarkable looking film for its period and is one of the core texts of supernatural genre cinema. The somnambulist prowling the distorted mise-en-scene is a snapshot of almost every horror film made ever since with that use of make-up, lighting and set design setting the standard for a whole slew of immensely influential films that emerged out of UFA and then Universal studios after the hemorrhaging of talent across the Atlantic in the thirties. It’s an academic exercise to be sure with a clunky ‘it was all a dream’ style conclusion but I enjoyed it, you have to pay your respects to your elders now and again…..

Trick ‘r Treat – no, not that one, this one. I picked this up on a chance, it has been getting some terrific reviews amongst the genre community as a real return to the 1980’s heyday of horror cinema, specifically the anthology films such as Creepshow, Cats Eye, Tales From The Crypt series and of course Creepshow 2. Taking place over a bloody Halloween the film interweaves a host of gruesome tales including a chaste Anna Paquin travelling to a costume party with her promiscuous sisters (she is dressed as little red riding hood if you want a clue where that one’s going), an abandoned mine where a school bus mysteriously crashed 30 years ago to the day, supposedly killing all the mentally challenged kids on board and Dylan Baker playing against type as a school principal candy poisoning child killer, all the strands being stitched together by the eerie Sam, the pint sized mute spirit of All Hallows’ Eve who also seeks some terrible vengeance on the elderly Mr. Kreeg for some unspecified discourtesy. This was probably the best fun I had all night (child murder, ravenous kid zombies, slutty lycanthropes, I’m a man who is easily pleased) with a firm hand on the tiller that steers between the key points of knowing winks to the audience and quick scares, the way that the divergent tales intersect and morph with each other with certain key events in one strand playing out on the background of developments of another strand is quite skilfully presented. It’s good, nasty, gory fun with some neats twists on the tropes of the genre, highly recommended.

Drag Me To Hell – Unmistakably diminished on the smaller screen this is still terrific fun, if you overlook the somewhat suspect gypsy bashing. I don’t really have much to add to my previous review so I’ll just link to some scenes from The Incredibly Strange Film Show with Raimi that I unearthed recently, I have fond memories of staying up late to watch that back when it aired in 1988.

Halloween II – A shame to end on such a travesty but there we are, I am referring to the 1981 sequel to the original slasher classic, not this years supposedly execrable sequel to the remake, a film which is running high as the worst film of the year which considering its opponents sounds like quite an achievement. Picking up from exactly where the original finished Michael is back on a rampage with a twist – it seems that Laurie is his sister hence the Freudian themed carnage. What is most disappointing about this isn’t the lacklustre and frankly boring parade of kills, it’s the presence of both John Carpenter and Debra Hill as the writers in the credits, they must really have worked fast to get this roughly hewn piece of nonsense together. Donald Pleasance should win an award for his cringeworthy OTT performance which makes it worth watching. Almost.

Paranormal Activity will be the last horror review of the year, I’m already amused at the ‘most scary film ever’ and ‘most profitable movie ever’ marketing angles which have been trumpeted for some movie or other since the 1950’s with the inception of the B-Movie, William Castle would be proud. Still, I am intrigued about it, it looks like fun and it’s a shame it wasn’t out over here for Halloween, here’s one of the trailers: