John Rozum's Blog, page 117

31 Days of Halloween - Day 31

I usually try to showcase items from my own collection during my Halloween countdown, but this year, while I did acquire some new items I haven't really put out any decorations inside the house and probably won't be doing much with the outside of the house either.



So instead of showing anything of my own I would like to direct you to Vintage Halloween Collectors group on Flickr and impression resource of fantastic vintage items and displays of various members collections which will no doubt fill you with awe and envy. Take a look at a small sampling here, then head for the link above and check out thousands more.



HAPPY HALLOWEEN!









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31 Days of Halloween - Day 30 - Movie 2

Night of the Demon (1957) stars Dana Andrews as John Holden,  a psychologist who debunks the supernatural who learns that a colleague died believing that he was murdered by witchcraft by an Aleister Crowley-like figure named Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) that he was trying to expose as a fraud. Now Holden, setting out to continue his dead colleagues work finds that he, too, has been targeted by Karswell and that his firm skepticism may not be enough to save him.



This movie is a masterpiece of supernatural and psychological horror directed by Jacques Tourneur, who returns to the subtle psychological horrors that made him famous in the 1940s such as Cat People (1942), The Leopard Man (1943) and I Walked With a Zombie (1943). The cast and script are excellent, and the story moves at a brisk pace from opening to finish, with beautiful cinematography throughout. This is one of my all time favorite horror movies.



This is a movie that should not be missed and would make a good double bill with Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell (2009)



   

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 30 - Movie 1

The Devil Rides Out (1968) was adapted by Richard Matheson from the novel by Dennis Wheatley. Christopher Lee secured the rights to all of Wheatley's supernatural novels featuring the Duc de Richleau, hoping to create a franchise for himself as the heroic occult investigator. Alas, The Devil Rides Out is the only movie to have come from these plans and is such a fantastic movie that one only wishes that the others had been made.



The Duc de Richleau (Lee) and Rex Van Ryn (Leon Greene) are distressed to discover that their friend Simon (Patrick Mower) has gotten himself involved with a bunch of practitioners of black magic. They make every effort to save Simon, but discover that the group's powerful leader, Mocata (Charles Gray) is reluctant to let Simon go. The Duc and Rex find themselves in opposition to some serious powers of darkness.



This is my favorite Christopher Lee movie by far. He gives a magnificent, commanding performance in the role of the movie's hero, and I only wish his dream of following this up with more movies starring him as the Duc de Richleau. This is also my second favorite Hammer film (Brides of Dracula being number one) and it is truly a powerful film. The movie starts with a bang and never lets up through the climax. Many have said that this movie is too ambitious for its budgetary restrictions, and while the representations of the dark forces may have been more terrifying with a larger budget to invigorate them, I found their mundane natures to be quite effective, lending them an air of credibility. The excellent script by Matheson, direction by Terrance Fisher, cinematography by Alan Grant, score by James Bernard and the excellent cast and great sets and locations all make this movie feel much grander than the budget allows.





  

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 30 - Mask of the Day

Anyone who's followed this blog for a bit will know that I'm a huge fan of the Haunted Mansion attraction at the Disney theme parks. Here's a link to some printable masks of the three hitchhiking ghosts from Disney's The Haunted Mansion attraction.



You can also print out paper models of the hitchiking ghosts, the hatbox ghost,  stretching room portrait bookmarks, cupcake topper tombstones, "Tomb Sweet Tomb" candy boxes, and Madame Leota party invitations.



You can find even more Haunted Mansion papercraft projects here.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 30

I'm not sure when this Lon Chaney puppet was made, nor do I know what this display was for. All I know is I really like it.



In continuing with all of the paper projects I've been sharing this month, from the daily print and cut out paper masks, to the paper model Psycho house, here's one where you can build your own Lon Chaney paper puppet as he appeared in his role in The Penalty (1920).

31 Days of Halloween - Day 29 - Movie 2

The Return of Doctor X (1939) is not a sequel to Doctor X (1932), nor does it have anything to do with the prior movie, though the title is accurate. This movie begins with the murder of an actress and the trials of the reporter who discovered her corpse after she turns up alive the next day with no one else having seen her dead, but him. In an attempt to clear his reputation and save his job, the reporter teams up with a young doctor friend and they follow a trail of murder victims with the same blood type, resurrected dead people, and a quest for synthetic blood. Humphrey Bogart is creepy in his small role as Dr. Quesne, a man with a disturbing past and an even stranger present status in this mystery.



I wasn't expecting much from this movie, but it turned out to be pretty entertaining, with some nice elements in it. As a mystery it was very satisfying. As a horror story, not as much, but the horror elements that were present were pretty effective. The dead people brought to life were visibly cold and pallid looking, like dead fish bellies, giving them an unnatural and unsettling presence.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 29 - Movie 1

Dr. X (1932) is a pre-code mystery/ old dark house style movie in which a series of murders involving surgical precision and cannibalism lead police to Dr. Xavier (Lionel Atwill), not simply for a medical consultation, but because the hard to obtain medical instrument used in the murders is one that is in use at Xavier's research institute. Concerned that any connection will bring negative attention to his institute, he asks for the opportunity to flush out the killer from amongst his research scientists himself. He's given 24 hours to do so, and takes the suspects to a remote mansion where a series of tests are conducted meant to  expose the killer, eventually he is revealed, but not before he strikes again.



You'd think that starring Lionel Atwill in a movie about a killer at large would automatically lead the trail to him, but this movie is stocked with disfigured mad scientist types and a creepy butler, all of whom appear to be likely candidates, especially since three of the scientists have connections with cannibalism. There are some nice sets, and some great mad scientist and lab equipment moments, but overall this movie drags along and fills unsatisfying. Fay Wray also stars, as Xavier's daughter, but has little purpose except to be placed in danger in the final act, and to be pestered and mooned over by obnoxious reporter, Lee Tracy.



It's too bad this movie was so bland since it does have its great moments and a cast of suspects worthy of a Dick Tracy comic strip.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 29 - Mask of the Day

Here's a ghoulish face for you to wear as today's print and cut out mask.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 29

When I was a kid comic books featured a lot of ads just like this one above. They came in several varieties, and all were enticing, and to be honest, a few of them were unsettling, which didn't stop them from being enticing.







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Like everyone I know who studied these sorts of ads regularly, my parents refused to let me order any of this stuff because they recognized it as cheap crap, though how they were so certain I'm not sure because c'mon look at those ads. How cool would it be to have a ghost at your command to terrify others? Or a giant monster?



Well, it turns out my parents were right. Here's what the actual products turned out to be:







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That's right, a two piece plastic poster and a balloon with a plastic sheet.



I don't know, though. They still look pretty cool to me.



As a special bonus to this cautionary tale, here's a link to a short film by one of the Countdown to Halloween's founding fathers, Kirk Demarais of Secret Fun Spot. Here's his award winning film, Flip. Be sure to check out his two books on the items found in all those comic book ads through the links below.

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31 Days of Halloween - Day 28 - Movie

I'm a bit embarrassed to say that until today, I'd never gotten around to viewing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) starring John Barrymore. I don't need to go into plot details, if you're reading this then you're probably familiar with the story of the doctor who creates a potion which allows him to divide himself into his good nature that the world already knows as well as a separate persona composed of all of his darker yearnings and behaviors.



While no cinematic adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's short novel compares with the excellent 1931 version starring Fredric March, this version does a good job with the material. Barrymore does an excellent job creating distinct personas and physical aspects between the Jekyll and Hyde characters he portrays, and the movie is really all his with the rest of the cast in literal supporting roles, there to bolster his performance which carries the movie. Except for the beginning, Jekyll doesn't get to do much to distinguish himself except spend a lot of time with his brow furrowed looking annoyed or impatient, which is in contrast to the saintly doctor persona which establishes him. As would be expected, Hyde is a more colorful, memorable character, whom Barrymore portrays as hunched over with long, thing greasy hair cascading down from a domed skull, and with long thin fingers ending in ragged nails. While, except in one scene where he beats a man to death with his came, there isn't really anything terribly threatening about him. He doesn't really embody caged rage straining to burst free, but he does definitely come across as skeevy and debased.



Director John S. Robertson divides all aspects of the movie into two sides as well, with the clean, rich, well to do with their big neat homes and immaculate, healthy looking characters on one side and the filth and squalor of the poor parts of town with their wretched, diseased looking populace and environments. When Hyde enters a combination brothel and opium den, everything about it makes you want to scrub down with Lysol just from looking at it. To make things more interesting, it's the morally questionable behavior of Jekyll's wealthy friends that leads him on his road to ruin, but even though Jekyll attends to the poor as a physician, there's no one from the side of squalor, no prostitute with a heart of gold to elevate Hyde.