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What Are You Watching This Halloween Season?


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I treated (hohoho) myself to a Christopher Lee-Peter Cushing "double-feature" this Halloween season by watching Horror Express, which, like Dracula A.D. 1972, came out in 1972. (In fact, they were both released in September of that year.)

Horror Express has that Hammer Horror period feel to it even though it wasn't a Hammer Studio production and instead was filmed in Spain. Lee and Cushing play rival scientists travelling through tsarist Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express. Also on board is the discovery Lee made in Manchuria -- a primitive human who has been frozen for millions of years. Before long, the missing link escapes from the baggage car and begins committing a series of murders.

Horror Express starts out as a conventional horror movie but soon morphs into something else entirely as a science fiction element comes into play regarding the ancient human's powers and motivations. The premise is outrageous but only in the most entertaining way. The movie is also marvelously claustrophobic as the passengers on the train are stuck inside the various train cars with a killer on the loose and no where to go even if the train stopped. (They are in the middle of Siberia during the Russian winter.)

What really adds to all the supernatural/sci-fun is the appearance of Telly Savalas as a Cossack officer (!) who boards the train late in the movie. His performance is so different in tone from the other performances that it's almost as if he was beamed into this movie from one of the spaghetti westerns he was making in Europe around this time. But what the movie loses in period accuracy it gains from that unique Telly Savalas presence!

Recommendation: A worthwhile viewing on a quiet night due to the audaciousness of the plot (mixing horror and sci-fi elements), the chemistry between Lee and Cushing, and Savalas' antics as the Cossack captain.

Edited by miliosr
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I moved on to something "lighter" this Halloween season with one of my favorite Charlie's Angels episodes, "Haunted Angels" from Season 3 (original air date: 10/25/78).

Synopsis: When wealthy Claire Rossmore's nephew, Martin, was killed in a motorcycle accident on her estate, she turned the estate into the 'Rossmore Institute for Psychic Research' in the hope that a team of psychic researchers could make contact with him. The team does make contact but only after Claire gave them an ultimatum that she would not fund the institute for more than another year unless they reached Martin.

Claire's friend happens to be Bosley of the Townsend Detective Agency and he enlists the Angels to investigate what he believes to be a con. The Angels infiltrate the institute with Kris pretending to be a graduate student in parapsychology and Sabrina posing as her subject, a medium. But what starts out as simple fraud investigation turns into something else entirely when another medium at the institute, Kathy Wade, is murdered during a sitting even though she was in a locked room and all of the potential suspects were in view of the Angels. Confounding matters further is that Martin's voice is heard by all in the run-up to the murder!

I remember being scared by this episode as a kid, especially the poltergeist attack on Kelly and the "ghostly" motorcycle rider riding around the property at night. As an adult, the episode isn't scary but it is a nifty little mystery that keeps the audience guessing until late in the episode as to who -- or what -- is behind all the supernatural goings-on. In many Charlie's Angels episodes, the culprit is obvious from the get-go. But not this one -- the Angels and Bosley have their hands full with six separate suspects; one of whom may be a ghost.

Recommendation: A fun little episode from a more innocent time in television history that isn't particularly scary but does have a decent mystery.

Edited by miliosr
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Next up on my viewing list this Halloween season was the 1981 slasher film Just Before Dawn. Truthfully, though, Just Before Dawn isn't exactly a slasher film even though it came out at the height of the slasher craze in 1981. It has more in common with a movie like Deliverance than it does with something like Friday the 13th.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Synopsis: Five college-age campers decide to go camping in a heavily wooded mountain area. Despite warnings from forest ranger George Kennedy (whose ranger station is the last outpost of civilization) about not entering this remote area, the campers forge ahead and travel up and into the mountain range. There, they get much more than they bargained for including two inbred twins who begin murdering the campers one-by-one. Like many horror films of this era, the "Last Girl" has to duke it out with her tormentors.

Just Before Dawn is a nifty little thriller that only occasionally lapses into slasher territory. (The movie has an ending that has to be seen to be believed -- or disbelieved.) The best thing it has going for it is its location. The Silver Falls State Park in Oregon doubles as the supposedly uninhabited mountain area. The visuals are tremendously atmospheric and unsettling. Anything can be (and often is) lurking in the dark woods.

Adding to the atmosphere are composer Brad Fiedel's unsettling whistling theme, the subhuman noises made by the two inbred twins and the sheer silence of the woods. This is a nice change of pace from the typical horror movie which uses the score to telegraph the horror from a mile away.

The five young actors playing the campers are above average and George Kennedy adds a certain heft (literally and figuratively) to the action.

Recommendation: Less well known than many of its contemporaries (Friday the 13th, Part 2, Halloween II) from 1981, Just Before Dawn is worth a viewing and deserves its "unsung classic" of the genre status.

Edited by miliosr
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It's well known that characters in horror flicks make bad decisions, but "The Birds" is something special in this regard. A hostile flock of birds attacks a children's party? Do we hurry the children into that pretty imposing looking building and board up the place until help arrives or the birds disperse? No, we march the kids outside so Angry Birds can have another go at them.  Smart thinking, Suzanne and Tippi!

This season I saw Joe Dante's "The Howling" (1981) for the first time. This was the picture that revived the filmic fortunes of lycanthropy. A TV anchorwoman fears she is being targeted by a serial killer and is freaking herself and everyone around her out. It is suggested by her celebrity shrink, (Patric Macnee) that she take the cure at the Colony, a mental health spa in a rural setting, which proves to be not so relaxing for Karen, given the howling dogs that raise the roof every night. The special effects by Rob Bottin wowed at the time and are still effective, if dated. The picture is chock full of genre in-jokes (Look! Roger Corman!) that it's helpful, if not essential, to get. 

Another one new to me: "It Follows" from 2015. An interesting variation on the "bad things happen to teenagers who have sex" aspect of the genre, and by no means a Cautionary Tale. Also with some killer shock effects and a real atmosphere of unrelenting dread; the heroine has no place to run and no place to hide.

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On 10/30/2020 at 10:52 PM, cubanmiamiboy said:

My picks. 🙃

 

Anyone seen the 1963 The Haunting based on The Haunting of Hill House?  Netflix series? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/   Some developed an aversion to homes with similar architecture after Amityville Horror.  https://www.theloop.ca/the-amityville-horror-house-is-up-for-sale/

At auction-clawfoot tub, beamed ceilings, original millwork/floors, some exposed brick inside, white kitchen, view, 4 sides brick:

https://derosaexchange.com/auburncastle

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4 hours ago, maps said:

Anyone seen the 1963 The Haunting based on The Haunting of Hill House?  Netflix series? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/   Some developed an aversion to homes with similar architecture after Amityville Horror.  https://www.theloop.ca/the-amityville-horror-house-is-up-for-sale/

At auction-clawfoot tub, beamed ceilings, original millwork/floors, some exposed brick inside, white kitchen, view, 4 sides brick:

https://derosaexchange.com/auburncastle

Thank you for the link, maps, that's great.

I have seen the 1963 movie a couple of times. I think it is as good as its high critical reputation, although I prefer Jackson's book. It's very well cast - Julie Harris is just right for Eleanor and Claire Bloom makes a very saucy lesbian. Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn would have more horror flicks in their future although they probably didn't think so at the time. The direction and cinematography do a great job of disorienting the audience's view of the house. 

I regret to say I also saw the remake with Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, et al., and I've managed to erase it from my brain cells. I don't remember anything except that it stank.

I haven't seen the Netflix series, which I understand wanders far afield from Jackson. 

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Hi, all. It’s Halloween and scary movie/TV series time again. Tel us what you're watching!

Last night I saw “It’s Alive” from 1974 on TCM. Briefly, something goes seriously wrong in the delivery room when Frank and Lenore Davis are having their second child and soon a killer newborn is terrorizing Los Angeles. Anxiety and fears about childbirth, sexuality, and science are not new to the horror genre and they all get a workout here. The movie is very watchable despite the cheesy dialogue and amusingly stilted acting from the supporting cast. Distinctive score from Bernard Herrmann.  The movie has an open ending and there were two sequels. 

Has anyone else seen it? Any opinions on the denouement?

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On 10/11/2021 at 12:38 PM, dirac said:

Last night I saw “It’s Alive” from 1974 on TCM. Briefly, something goes seriously wrong in the delivery room when Frank and Lenore Davis are having their second child and soon a killer newborn is terrorizing Los Angeles. Anxiety and fears about childbirth, sexuality, and science are not new to the horror genre and they all get a workout here. The movie is very watchable despite the cheesy dialogue and amusingly stilted acting from the supporting cast. Distinctive score from Bernard Herrmann.  The movie has an open ending and there were two sequels. 

Has anyone else seen it? Any opinions on the denouement?

I saw it in the 70s but I don't have strong memories of it. I do think it's a testament of what you can do on a low budget if you have a lot of ingenuity.

This Halloween season I've been watching the 1840 storyline on Dark Shadows, which first aired in the fall of 1970 - winter of 1971. After the malevolent spirit Gerard Stiles destroys Collinwood in 1970, Dr. Julia Hoffman returns to the year 1840 via a magical stairway through time to unravel all the mysteries that led to Collinwood's destruction in the present. Even though the show was nearing cancellation in 1971, there are so many good characters and plot twists in this final big storyline. Oh, and a young actress fresh out of drama school by the name of Kate Jackson is on hand as governess Daphne Harridge!

Edited by miliosr
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Rick Baker was in charge of the special effects and some of them are quite effective. There was an issue toward the end , SPOILER COMING when I think the injured monster baby is intended to attack the villainous fertility doctor by somehow ejecting himself from his father's arms, but what we see is John P. Ryan tossing the baby at the doctor.

Dark Shadows really went off the rails toward the end, IMO, but I admit I don't find the 1840 storyline gripping. There were some memorable lines, though:

Quote

 

  Mr. Collins, I’m not saying that I believe what Mr. Trask told me, although it did depress me quite a bit.

Well, wouldn't you be depressed if you were told the untimely death of your sister was a result of sorcery?

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On 10/29/2021 at 5:52 PM, dirac said:

Dark Shadows really went off the rails toward the end, IMO, but I admit I don't find the 1840 storyline gripping.

I enjoy the storylines from 1970 for their sheer audaciousness - Parallel Time to a ruined Collinwood in 1995 to 1970 to 1840 (via a mysterious stairway through time). But Dark Shadows did violate one of the primary rules of daytime soap operas -- you conserve storyline and stretch it out over an extended period of time. Dark Shadows burnt through storyline at such a clip that, even if the show had continued past spring 1971, they wouldn't have had much storyline left to film.

Probably my two favorite periods on the show are pre-Barnabas/immediate post-Barnabas and 1970. Two very different eras and I like them for very different reasons. The former because Collinsport was more of a real place and the show achieved some stunning lighting effects in B&W. The latter again because of how audacious it was.

I participated in a fun Webinar last night titled 'Gilded Age Mansions of Dark Shadows'. It covered all of the houses used to represent Collinwood and the Old House in the various incarnations of the franchise, particularly Seaview Terrace in Newport, which became the exterior stand-in for Collinwood. Fun fact: The Lyndhurst estate in New York, which was used as Collinwood for the two Dark Shadows features, actually has a Rose Cottage on it. Rose Cottage plays a huge part in the 1970 and 1840 storylines.

Edited by miliosr
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From the 70s TV show The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries . . .

"The Curse of Pirate's Cove" (w/ Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew)

"The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula" (two part team-up w/ Martin, Parker Stevenson as Frank Hardy and Shaun Cassidy as Joe Hardy) 

 

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Blair Witch Project is on Prime so I’ll probably watch it. But, only before the sun goes down cause it scares the beejesus out of me. Every time I see a pile of small branches tied up neatly on the curb I think of this movie… *shudder*…
 

The Conjuring is a Halloween fav so that’s also on my list.

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I rewatched The Legend of Hell House this weekend. (2023 is the 50th anniversary of the film's original release and actress Gayle Hunnicutt, who plays the character of Ann Barrett in the film, died this year. So, it seemed like a good time to rewatch it.)

Horror/sci-fi legend Richard Matheson adapted the screenplay for The Legend of Hell House from his own 1971 haunted house novel, Hell House. The movie adheres closely to Matheson's novel, and both bear certain similarities to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and its movie adaptation, The Haunting; the biggest similarity being a team of mediums and scientists investigating haunted houses. But whereas the haunting in the Jackson work is left ambiguous, the same is not true for the Matheson novel and the derived film. In The Legend of Hell House, the haunting is objectively real.

In any event, The Legend of Hell House has that great early-70s "Hammer horror" feel to it (even though it was not a Hammer Studios film.) The use of bizarre colors and furniture design give the haunted house a disorienting quality as do strange camera angles and a pulsating electronic score. The primary cast consists of only four actors but they are all quite good in their parts. The ending is something of a letdown but, then, Matheson left the ending unchanged from his own source novel.

I wouldn't classify The Legend of Hell House as scary, per se, but it does invoke a strong feeling of dread.

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I also felt an urge to see The Legend of Hell House again and thanks to Comcast's rewards program I could rent it for a dollar, although sometimes TCM shows it around this time of year. I think it is a genuine horror classic and seeing it again confirms this opinion for me.

The resemblance to the Jackson novel are close although Matheson's story is pulpier in both versions. Hell House is also a lot harder on its occupants than Hill House. (I'm going to pretend that the 1999 remake of The Haunting does not exist.) Matheson does leave out the scrungiest items from his book, like the Bastard Bog in which Belasco's lady orgiasts drown their unwanted offspring. I think there are some sequences that are genuinely scary, like the black cat going after Florence, but it's not a BOO! kind of movie. The ending is a terrible letdown.

The movie looks very good - love the red bedrooms.  I agree that the acting is good except for Roddy McDowall. Not my idea for the part and I also think he's over the top here. I always liked Pamela Franklin in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and I like her here, too. 

Speaking of Shirley Jackson, this Halloween season I saw the relatively recent movie version of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Watchable but it doesn't work. The translation to the screen and the loss of Merricat's highly unreliable narration tends to highlight the many improbabilities in Jackson's plot (how on earth did Constance get acquitted?) and the acting is uneven. I think if they had taken a few more liberties with the story it might have helped, but the atmosphere is just not right.

 

 

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