The Movies - An October to Dismember
A guide to some of the greatest horror movies to ever grace the silver screen.
My Month of Horror begins tonight with a 1968 classic "Night of the Living Dead" by George A. Romero. Starting this off right with Zombies and relentless scampering! There are so many historic gems by the Godfather of the Dead (which I will be promptly viewing, but unfortunately, not listing them all . . . there’s a lot . . .) but I figured why not start with some true Zombie education/demonstration? The idea and imagery of this historic beauty spawned an entire genre and then some. May I also suggest Wes Craven’s “The Serpent and The Rainbow” for more info on this gruesome subject? I want to make sure we’re all on the same page . . .
My Month of Horror continues tonight with a Brian De Palma's 1976 Stephen King adaptation of “Carrie.” Let’s be honest, Stephen King has written a lot of great books in our history, but this may have been one of my personal favourites. The film mostly did it justice, and as always, some things just get lost, but a great supernatural horror premise is a great supernatural horror premise: Unpopular high school girl is unfairly humiliated millions of times. She hits puberty and discovers she has telekinesis of all things . . . pretty cool. She somehow gets asked to the prom by the popular-hunky-football-douche as part of a cruel joke. Her fanatic nut-bar of a mother forbids it to hell. The unfortunate youth of the 70's cover her in pig’s blood in front of the whole town. She mercilessly slaughters them all, including a typecast John Travolta at the time. Makes sense to me!
We continue with Joe Dante's 1981 cult classic "The Howling." I found the whole Werewolf genre to get a bit tired by the time I grew up. Hoky CGI and Wolf-Men and Women acting as if they aren’t completely ruled by the carnal desire bestowed upon them by the curse of the full moon and just like, hanging out with with sexy glitter Vampires and Shapeshifters and just eating brunch like Bruce Banner as if they were able to control it. Yes, it became EXHAUSTED, but I still find this film to hold up with an interesting story-arc and practical use of make-up and special effects. The transformation scenes are long and ghastly, which I like to see with humans becoming monsters. Lots of gore. Delicious.
Late Wes Craven's kooky, 1991 gore-fest "The People Under The Stairs," starring a young and righteous Ving Rhames. This movie is surprisingly heartfelt while maintaining its terror and integrity. There has always been this kind of demented “Robin Hood” theme underlying the film which I think was intended, but it works so well when the rich fucks you’re trying to rob have barred and armored windows, a ravenous guard-dog, a penchant for cannibalism and bondage and pale, violent, blood-thirsty, reverent-like teenagers living in their dungeon. Oh, and their one tongueless son that escaped the perils of “Mommy and Daddy” was the star of the original “Got Milk?” commercial. Like I said, Kooky.
One of my favourite 1988 B-Horror Films, "Pumpkinhead," starring a very young Lance Henriksen. Even before Bishop (Aliens) and Frank Black (Millennium), he was a premature old-looking dude, which I think gave him a grand affinity for a career in supernatural and cosmic horror . . . but I digress . . . I think I first saw this film when I was 8 or 9 at a friend’s house where we had free reign over all the illegal satellite channels and just dove headfirst into developing a dark and horrific taste in film. This movie is ridiculous and predictable but holds a certain dark, nostalgic charm for me. Kind of like the movies “Goblin” and “Leprechaun 4: In Space.” It’s crap, but I’m into it.
Danny Boyle's British Zombie-Plague-Apocalypse thriller "28 Days Later" (2002) is brilliantly unsettling and has one banger of a cast. It taught me at an early age to be well-prepared for the end . . . for when the zombies come. Even before AMC’s “The Walking Dead” this movie got me thinking I should have an extensive “end-of-days” kit, in which I have in FACT been putting together since 2005 (Save for a crossbow or an old Winchester) A pre-Scarecrow Cillian Murphy does an excellent job as the confused and refreshingly naive “left-for-dead-to-discover-everything-he-loved-is-gone” character; terrified, desperate and slightly less moralistic than Rick Grimes. The “rage-addled” zombies stunned me upon my first viewing, mostly because they were a lot like wild animals as opposed to docile walking corpses that can only really catch you in large groups. I also praised the heavy underlying sorrow contained within this film and was happy to see it wasn’t missed . . . And in true British pop-culture fashion, Doctor Who is there to save the world . . . Kind of . . .
My Month of Horror continues with "Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers." (1995) Although this film doesn't make any fucking sense, it is terrifying and captures classic elements of the original John Carpenter's "Halloween," (ie. Soundtrack, the Myers’ family house, the classic swoop over Haddonfield on Halloween) as well as some amazingly gratuitous and gruesome death/awkward sex scenes. It's very nostalgic for me, and is oddly enough, one of Paul Rudd's first roles. He tries really hard to be a seriously disturbed, adult Tommy Doyle, and it’s funny, but not like funny “HaHa” like in I Love You, Man . . . More like funny “Uh-Oh,” like he knows this is kind of bullshit and on the verge of laughing. We have to learn to forgive the awkward 90s teen victims . . . they didn’t have SmartPhones to tell them the best route to take to avoid dismemberment, or in this case, being pinned to a fuse-box and electrocuted until your head explodes.
My Month of Horror abounds with James Wan’s 2004 psychological horror “Saw,” or as I like to call it, the “How Can We Enlighten People On The Joys Of Torture As A Creative Process?” franchise. Don’t get me wrong, I like this film and I can see the appeal in clever and sadistic mind-games, gut-wrenching gore, on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense and over-the-top violence, I can, but to me, this movie spawned something inherently dark and all too satisfying, especially when exposing the younger generation to a whole world sadism yet undiscovered. The only reason I watched this one is because I haven’t seen it in quite a few years, and I wanted to see what the original was like before it came “The Fast and The Furious” of horror-culture. It’s a great film, but far too much “unnecessarily gross for the sake of being unnecessarily gross.”
Sam Raimi's legendary "Evil Dead." (1981). Out of most fictional hero-characters, Bruce Campbell as Ash has always been my favourite idiot, and I've enjoyed his career thoroughly because of this magical, disgusting and utterly incredible film. Sam Raimi did not do too badly himself . . . Casting Topher Grace as Venom in Spider-Man 3 was a little shortsighted but hey, we all can’t get what we want. The special-effects, soundtrack and overall photography continue to blow me away with this film, as does the slightly goofy and bumbling character traits mixed in with the terror. It just works so well. I also remember being 11 and discovering this film amongst a stack of VHS piled on top of my sister’s VCR and watching it 3 times in a row to try and understand what I was feeling. By the 3rd viewing, I didn’t look away from the laughing demon locked in the cellar or when it decided to chew off it’s own hand. I felt inspired. One by one, they will take us. Yes please.
The honorable late Wes Craven’s 1996 now classic Slasher, “Scream,” we all know the “ghost-face” mask from this movie is iconic, and carried on in true slasher tradition. Bored, angsty and sex-crazed teens in a small American town get cut the heck up by a masked murderer, but the story told, step by step, from a horror-culture “How-To Manual’s” point of view that references all the great premises and plots, do’s and dont’s and memorable guts and gore that make up the very fabric of “Scream.” Pretty genius, and who better to tell it than Wes Craven, through a slew of extremely good-looking, young, up and coming, 90s actors? (Yes, even a fresh-faced post-Hackers, pre-Wing Commander Mathew Lillard) I can definitely understand and respect the recent Netflix reboot of this film as a longer-running series as it approaches the 20-year mark, and the impact that technology would obviously have on a modern-day Mr/Mrs Ghost-Face Killer Person inventing a clever, maniacal scheme to slice up their friends with style . . . I’d imagine it would be much easier and fun . . . To me, it puts a little life back into a tired genre that seems to have strayed a bit over the years. I’ll be right back.
Richard Donner's 1976 classic "The Omen." I haven't seen this movie since I was 12, and my mom raves about the original being better than the remake, so I thought I would give it a go and let Satan in for a couple hours. I will admit, Gregory Peck's acting makes me laugh, but I've seen Cape Fear, so I knew he could pull it off in the end. Especially having David Warner to feed off of. He's so endearing and snooty to the point of nausea, but i think it really works considering he's dealing with an ancient and unspeakable evil that is strategically disassembling his sanity, one death at a time . . . I guess that’s what you get for naming your son Damien. A lifetime of hanging nannies from your bedroom window, screaming profanities outside of churches, controlling packs of wild dogs with your mind and burning down roman-catholic hospitals to prove your point.
Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King novel, "The Shining" this film is an absolute classic, and it goes without saying how innovative Kubrick is as a filmmaker and how perfect Jack Nicholson is as an actor, in not just the rampage scenes, but also with Loyd the Bartender. Kubrick's use of colour, lighting and tones, and the absence of both, is brilliant and effective. As always with this film, the creep factor is 100%, as is Shelly Duvall's annoyance and Scatman Crothers' sadness due to his unexpected death scene/failed rescue attempt. At least it was kind of quick, like a knight falling on his own sword. Just . . . Ahhhh . . . So good.
Philip Kaufman’s 1978 remake of the sci-fi thriller “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” Again, I saw this film way younger than I should have, and I think it left behind a decent amount of issues with believing other people weren’t grown from pods carried by solar winds. Yes, indeed I was that kid. Alien beings that create emotionless duplicates is a truly horrific concept, a concept that has become a bit of a staple in some sci-fi culture, but I would like to believe this is the film, and Jack Finney’s 1956 orignal (which I couldn’t locate . . . Sad-Face . . .) were what made that so. An all-star cast: a pre-The Fly Jeff Goldblum, Donald Sutherland and a lovely young Veronica Cartwright, who later went on to star in a string of some of the most memorable X-Files episodes. I will admit, I found it hard to sleep after this one, mostly because of the fear unspeakable violation and tendrils from under the bed, but also, that exciting twist where Sutherland Snr. lets out that other-worldly, pod-person, shriek.
Th First installment of John Carpenter's holy "Apocalypse Trinity," starting with his 1982 sci-fi horror masterpiece "The Thing." Quite possibly one of the best horror movies ever made; a bold statement, I know, but the proof is in the incredible, yet practical, special effects, the creative mutations of the alien being and the ominous and isolated tone that the film takes on. It is classic, and for good reason. I couldn't watch this film for years after I saw it as a child, especially the scene with the consolidated-huskies/mutant-spider-head. Keith David and Wilford Brimley are also an excellent choice for casting. I guess now the only thing to do is continue on with “Prince of Darkenss” (1987) and “In The Mouth of Madness.” (1995) Wish me luck!
My Month of Horror abound late into the night with a viewing of Peter Medak’s 1980 haunting, “The Changeling.” I thought it was time for some Canadian ghost stories, and I think I picked the right one. Supposedly based on true events experienced by writer Russel Hunter, this a classic, but not so “by the book” haunted house” tale. There are so many chilling scenes in this film, most noteworthy, the seance to communicate with the dead boy Joseph’s spirit, the digging of the well in which to find the dead boy Jospeh’s bones and Joseph’s unmanned wheelchair covered in cobwebs chasing down George C. Scott as he smokes around 200 cigarettes in the duration of this film. A bit of a slow-moving and perhaps obscure one to include, I find myself, like a great book, unable to look away even though I’ve known the turnout of events since I was a child. It’s an extremely clever, dark and beautiful watch, therefore I highly recommend. The house definitely doesn’t want people.
Tobe Hooper's 1974 Slasher "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." I'm excited for this guys. This was a big one for me during my childhood. Not only is Leatherface one of the most terrifying and unforgettable killers in the history of horror films, he is loosely based off real-life serial killer/weirdo/amateur taxidermist, that's right, Plainfield Wisconsin's own, Ed Gein (See also, Psycho, Silence of the Lambs) I really can't imagine anything more horrifying than a man dressed in the skin of his victims, wielding a chainsaw. Thankfully I can't speak from personal experience, but I would assume that would be kind of scary, depending on how desensitized you are I guess. Also, I'm a big fan of Tobe Hooper. He brought us the magic of "Poltergeist," "The Mangler" and "Salem's Lot." Amazing stuff.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 adaptation of Robert Bloch novel (1959) “Psycho.” I think what truly makes this film a great psychological horror, other than the eternally beautiful shower scene, would have to be trying to imagine what it would be like seeing it for the first time in the cinema in 1960. Can you imagine the droves of people coming to see, leaving pale as sheets and beside themselves for weeks after? There had been creepy, messed up stuff in people’s lives, like Ed Gein and his family fun-house of human furniture and also trinkets . . . but for Hitchcock to take that further as an influence and make you see it, feel it and flee from it, that’s some brilliance I am truly thankful for. Also, if you want to see a pre-murderous Norman Bates and a very fine Vera Farmiga as “Mother,” I have been addicted to the reboot “Bates Motel” since it came out and I highly recommend, but only if you can stomach a minor amount of teen drama spat through a funnel into a Smartphone that is needed to sell practically anything these days.
Sean Cunningham’s 1980 original slasher, “Friday The 13th,” a film horror legends bathe in the glory of. To me, this film is basically a systematic guide to what NOT to do while attending summer camp in the middle of nowhere with horny friends while high as fuck in the face of a death curse. You’d think if someone, in this case, the county Sheriff and a transient named Crazy Ralph, warned you a myriad amount of times when you arrived, trailing off into the distance while uttering the phrase “You’re all doomed,” you may not wander out into an archery range during the peak of a thunderstorm. Regardless of my rantings, this film is the reason I grew to love slashers and became rather desensitized to gore at an early age. I would say this is a spoiler-alert, but if you haven’t seen this one yet, you should probably educate yourself and realize, when you’re Mrs. Voorhees, and idiot teenagers drowned your son in Crystal Lake ages ago, it’s probably safe to say that revenge is not a life well-lived, but rather, preying on a moody, young Kevin Bacon in speedos.
The nightmare will be continued throughout what's left of the month of October.