John Rozum's Blog, page 24

31 Days of Halloween - Day 27 - Movie 2

Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin), now living in Seattle, finds himself investigating a new string of murders; women found strangled, their throats crushed, blood removed via a syringe, and decaying flesh found on their necks. The killer is described as corpse-like and incredibly strong. Research leads Kolchak to discover that the same kinds of murders, with an identically described murderer have been occurring in Seattle every 21 years since 1898.

The Night Strangler (1973) is a sequel to the successful The Night Stalker (1972), and as a follow-up I think this film works even better than the original. Mathewson, returning as screenwriter, obviously has a better handle on the characters, as does McGavin, and co-star Simon Oakland, their relationship shining even more than before. The mystery is interesting, with a decent payoff, and the setting of old Seattle lying beneath the ground that modern Seattle was built on gives it an otherworldly quality.  This time Carls seems to have developed an even worse relationship to the police in his new city, if that were possible, and this makes Kolchak seem more isolated as he goes it alone to, again, prove what no one is willing to believe.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 27 - Movie 1

Down on his luck Las Vegas reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin), investigates what becomes a series of young women found drained of blood by an incredibly strong man. Initially suspecting a man who thinks he's a vampire, Kolchak begins to believe he's stumbled on to the genuine article. Law enforcement, and Carl's editor, Tony Vincenzo aren't buying into it.

The Night Stalker (1972), is a made for tv movie, which would spawn a sequel, a short lived television series, The X-Files, and a second short lived television series, was popular, and influential. It also beat Stephen King's Salem's Lot to the punch of removing the vampire from its gothic, 19th century trappings, and loosing it upon the modern world by three years. Based on a then unsold story by Jeff Rice, most of Kolchak's success comes from the performance of McGavin and with the character's relationship with Vincenzo, as well as the way he perseveres despite the constant hostility directed towards him by the police and officials of all kinds. We believe and believe in Kolchak, and root for him to succeed. Credit must be given to Richard Matheson for taking Rice's characters and breathing life into them so successfully.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 27

Do you have little ones at home? Do you need some last minute Halloween craft projects for them? I have some easy ones you can print out and make at home. Take a look here, here, and here, and some masks you can make with things found at home.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 26 - Movie 2

Without getting too spoilery, Shin Godzilla (2016) is a stand alone Godzilla movie from Toho Studios that is not a sequel to any other Godzilla movie. Here Japan has never been menaced by a giant monster before. Godzilla has also been given an entirely new origin story and biology. He's a self mutating creature generating four forms in this film, and hinting at a truly horrifying fifth. He also demonstrates some jaw dropping upgrades to some of his more familiar abilities.

A lot of people disliked the film because of the long monsterless scenes of government officials taking meetings and making decisions on how to deal with this new threat. Yes, there is a lot of this, but it's presented in such a fast paced manner, that I didn't find it boring. The procedural material was similar to what was presented in Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion (1996), showing the bureaucracy necessary to be able to deploy Japan's Defense Forces. The film doesn't waste any time getting started and is told in an almost documentary style putting the viewer right in the middle of events as they unfold. The Godzilla scenes are tremendous, from his unexpected, weird fish-eyed forms to his unstoppable fourth mutation. The creature, awesome as he is, always appears to be sickly and corrupt.

Toho was originally going to produce a sequel, which I would have liked to see, but have apparently shelved plans for that movie, instead planning to return to a shared universe that would feature a more traditional looking Godzilla pitted agains his familiar kaiju foes.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 26 - Movie 1

After the death of a member of their group, four men go for a long hike in northern Sweden in his honor. After one of the men is hurt, they decide to take a short cut through the forest, where unsettling events begin to accrue, especially after they take refuge in a seemingly abandoned house with a weird effigy in its upper floor. They now seem marked by some sort of immense creatures inhabiting the forest, and as they seek for a way out, their interpersonal relationships begin breaking down making the experience more fraught with danger, and more intense.

The Ritual (2017), based on the novel by Adam Nevill is a smart horror film that takes advantage of its sinister, claustrophobic setting to amplify the tension. The forest is so densely packed with trees that not only is visibility limited, but there are times when the mysterious creature is in view and you still can't really see it for the trees. The creature itself is pretty great in a weird design that suggests something both natural and majestic and something supernatural and impossible in its design.

The plot itself is a pretty familiar one, but while the characters often make decisions that are bad ones, it's not out of lazy writing. The decision to make the short cut in the first place is a rational one, as are decisions to abandon following a direct compass driven route through the forest in order to follow an obvious path. The cast is really strong playing their characters who may sit pretty close to being archetypes, are also well rounded and authentic.

I've watched this a couple of times already and am sure to revisit it more times in the future.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 26

Whenever Halloween falls on a Tuesday, or close enough, The New Yorker magazine will typically have a holiday pertinent cover. Like all their covers, these are usually pretty great. You can see some of them here.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 25 - Movie 2

Ghosts Stories (2018) is also a portmanteau film with three stories surrounded by a wraparound tale that connects them. In this case the wraparound ends up being the most significant story and not simply something to link the other tales. Philip Goodman (Andy Nyman) is a man dedicated to exposing fraudulent psychics. The man who inspired him tasks him with solving three unsolved cases, which are the three tales making up the rest of the movie; a night watchman has a really bad night; a young man hits something unexplainable with his car; and a businessman finds his home plagued by inexplicable phenomena while his wife is going through a difficult childbirth at the hospital.

The film is based on the hit stage play by Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson (who also wrote and directed this adaptation), which I've only heard and read extraordinary things about. The film is really well done and knows when to hold back and when to let loose. It has it's share of jump scares, but the really unsettling bits come in the form of the nearly mundane. Like other portmanteau films, the short films within don't always come to an actual resolution, just building to a climax that leaves the rest of the story unresolved. In Ghost Stories we learn that those loose ends are intentional as the wrap around story has plenty more to say about the big picture that those short stories are simply parts of. Even so, the writer in my finds it frustrating when the stories in an anthology are incomplete in themselves. I do appreciate the effort to not only incorporate the shorts into the wraparound story, and the fact that the wraparound story was the story and not just some hastily and lazily conceived time filler that tries to convey to the viewer that they just watched a feature film and not simply a bunch of random short films one after another. Ghost Stories was not as great as I wanted to be, but it will definitely be rewatched by me, and I suspect that over time my fondness for it will grow.

Revenge of Frankenstein 200

Chogrin has curated a show which opens tomorrow at The Dark Art Emporium celebrating 200 years of Frankenstein. "The Revenge of Frankenstein 200" features some great artists presenting their interpretations of the Frankenstein monster in his numerous incarnations.

Here's mine:





This was constructed in 3-D cut paper. The 3-D is subtle, but as seen in the first two photos with the switch in lighting, still pretty apparent. If you are in southern California, stop by the gallery and see it in person.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 25 - Movie 1

Trapped Ashes (2006) is an anthology film featuring four stories and a wraparound story connecting them. In the first story, an actress who undergoes breast enlargement surgery finds her career also enhanced, but unexpected side effects in the form of vampiric breasts. The second story involves a wife being seduced and abducted by a Japanese demon. The third story is about Stanley Kubrick's girlfriend who he passes on to his best friend when he suspects that she is an immortal vampire. The final story is about a girl who as a developing baby, shared her mother's abdomen with a tape worm who becomes her secret, avenging, sister. The wraparound story, set in a haunted house set on a studio backlot, involves the trapped guests of a VIP tour, who also happen to be the characters in the four stories being told. If you've seen any other anthology horror movie involving a wraparound story, you know what connects them all.

This was a very disappointing movie. Most of the stories didn't really come to a satisfying conclusion, and there was an overall feeling that this was made for HBO or Cinemax, cable channels which require every production to feature bare breasts, and feel like they are soft core porn. I only kind of liked the Kubrick story, mostly because of the Tygh Runyan's performance as Stanley Kubrick. The premise for the final story had promise that was not delivered.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 25

Ads in comic books were pretty great, even if the actual products being (falsely) advertised were not. Through the years all sorts of ads appeared for giant monsters and ghosts that you could control. See those ads, and learn the truth about them, here.