Orrin Grey's Blog: Shovel Murders & Monologues, page 66
October 20, 2010
Countdown: Ghost Appreciation Month: The Frighteners
After participating in Vampire Awareness Month back in July, I was overjoyed to hear that the folks over at Beyond Fiction were putting together a Ghost Appreciation Month as well, and I quickly threw my hat into that there ring.
This time out I'll be contributing my thoughts on two movies, rather than just one. Of course I'll be dropping in to talk about Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone later in the month, but today's piece concerns The Frighteners.
Revisiting The Frighteners I found that I had maybe less to say about it than I might've imagined, but given the building blocks that make it up I don't think it's impact on my young mind should be underestimated.
This time out I'll be contributing my thoughts on two movies, rather than just one. Of course I'll be dropping in to talk about Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone later in the month, but today's piece concerns The Frighteners.
Revisiting The Frighteners I found that I had maybe less to say about it than I might've imagined, but given the building blocks that make it up I don't think it's impact on my young mind should be underestimated.
October 18, 2010
Countdown: Dracula has Risen from the Grave
Basically just a big movie of Dracula being petty and vindictive. "You put up a 'No Vampires Allowed' sign on my house while I was sleeping, so now I'm going to kill you and turn your niece into a monster." That sort of thing.
There's lots of inexplicable stuff (Why is there no road to Dracula's castle? How does he burn a body to nothing in the fireplace without everyone in the inn smelling it? Why is there a weird dungeon with Dracula in it just off the bakery?) and none of the vampire scenes are anything particularly special, but there are a surprising number of genuinely good and funny character moments.
I like how the rules that govern vampires keep changing in Hammer movies. In this one in order to kill Dracula you apparently have to impale him with something and then pray. If you don't pray he'll just writhe around like a character from War of the Monsters who got stuck through with a radio tower and then eventually pull it out and be cranky(er).
There's lots of inexplicable stuff (Why is there no road to Dracula's castle? How does he burn a body to nothing in the fireplace without everyone in the inn smelling it? Why is there a weird dungeon with Dracula in it just off the bakery?) and none of the vampire scenes are anything particularly special, but there are a surprising number of genuinely good and funny character moments.
I like how the rules that govern vampires keep changing in Hammer movies. In this one in order to kill Dracula you apparently have to impale him with something and then pray. If you don't pray he'll just writhe around like a character from War of the Monsters who got stuck through with a radio tower and then eventually pull it out and be cranky(er).
October 15, 2010
Countdown: Fifteen Authors
Another thing that was suggested for my countdown was that I should produce a list of my favorite horror stories and novels. Somehow this task was too dauntingly open-ended for me at the moment, but I came up with an alternative. I made a list of fifteen authors of the weird and supernatural whose short stories have inspired me over the years, and a favorite story by each.
This list is by no means exhaustive. I could double it without difficulty. Probably triple it. Probably more. I picked fifteen because it seemed a manageable number and because it's always the number of those "pick fifteen" memes that go around Facebook. I listed the first fifteen authors who came to mind. There are lots of notable exceptions that didn't make the list for an assortment of reasons; sometimes because I couldn't pick a story, sometimes because I just didn't think of them before I'd gotten to fifteen. (There is, just as a for instance, a conspicuous and unfortunate lack of Fritz Leiber, which is really uncalled-for.)
The stories I picked are not necessarily representative of stories by these authors. Nor are they necessarily my very favorite story by that author. They are one of my favorie stories and, again, usually the first one that came to mind.
Here they are, in no particular order:
Mike Mignola -- "The Witch and Her Soul"*
Robert Westall -- "The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral"**
H.P. Lovecraft -- "The Shunned House"
Robert E. Howard -- "The Rattle of Bones"
Manly Wade Wellman -- "Up Under the Roof"
William Hope Hodgson -- "The Voice in the Night"
M.R. James -- "Count Magnus"
Brian Lumley -- "Recognition"
Clive Barker -- "In the Hills, the Cities"
Holly Black -- "The Poison Eaters"
M.T. Anderson -- "Watch & Wake"
William Browning Spencer -- "The Tenth Muse"
Norman Partridge -- "Return of the Shroud"
Terry Dowling -- "One Thing About the Night"
Sarah Monette -- "The Venebratti Necklace"
*This one's cheating a bit, since it's a comic book story, but not including Mike Mignola on any list like this would be unthinkable for me. Also, picking a favorite of his stories is a mug's game, and this could be replaced by virtually any of his other tales. "The Whittier Legacy" is another recent favorite that's available to read for free online.
**Another cheat. This one's a novella, and I could have easily picked any number of actual short stories by Westall that are also wonderful, but I wanted to pick this one, so there.
This list is by no means exhaustive. I could double it without difficulty. Probably triple it. Probably more. I picked fifteen because it seemed a manageable number and because it's always the number of those "pick fifteen" memes that go around Facebook. I listed the first fifteen authors who came to mind. There are lots of notable exceptions that didn't make the list for an assortment of reasons; sometimes because I couldn't pick a story, sometimes because I just didn't think of them before I'd gotten to fifteen. (There is, just as a for instance, a conspicuous and unfortunate lack of Fritz Leiber, which is really uncalled-for.)
The stories I picked are not necessarily representative of stories by these authors. Nor are they necessarily my very favorite story by that author. They are one of my favorie stories and, again, usually the first one that came to mind.
Here they are, in no particular order:
Mike Mignola -- "The Witch and Her Soul"*
Robert Westall -- "The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral"**
H.P. Lovecraft -- "The Shunned House"
Robert E. Howard -- "The Rattle of Bones"
Manly Wade Wellman -- "Up Under the Roof"
William Hope Hodgson -- "The Voice in the Night"
M.R. James -- "Count Magnus"
Brian Lumley -- "Recognition"
Clive Barker -- "In the Hills, the Cities"
Holly Black -- "The Poison Eaters"
M.T. Anderson -- "Watch & Wake"
William Browning Spencer -- "The Tenth Muse"
Norman Partridge -- "Return of the Shroud"
Terry Dowling -- "One Thing About the Night"
Sarah Monette -- "The Venebratti Necklace"
*This one's cheating a bit, since it's a comic book story, but not including Mike Mignola on any list like this would be unthinkable for me. Also, picking a favorite of his stories is a mug's game, and this could be replaced by virtually any of his other tales. "The Whittier Legacy" is another recent favorite that's available to read for free online.
**Another cheat. This one's a novella, and I could have easily picked any number of actual short stories by Westall that are also wonderful, but I wanted to pick this one, so there.
October 13, 2010
Countdown: The Raven & Comedy of Terrors
I've been waiting to see these two for a long, long time. I picked up pretty much all the other Price/Corman collaborations on double-sided DVDs some time ago, but these two escaped my clutches until just now, when they finally appeared on Netflix watch instantly.
Both The Raven and Comedy of Terrors differ from the rest of the Price/Corman Poe films in that they're both pure comedies. Both were released in 1963 (the same year as The Haunted Palace and Twice-Told Tales), on the heels of Tales of Terror, which they can sort of be seen as a follow-up to (more on that in a minute). Both of them star Price and Peter Lorre, and The Raven features Boris Karloff and a Jack Nicholson so young that I didn't even recognize him, while Comedy of Terrors features Karloff and Basil Rathbone, as well as fellow Tales of Terror alum Joyce Jameson.
While the first and third segments of Tales of Terror are fairly straightforward horror pieces, the middle segment ("The Black Cat," which stars Lorre, Price, and Jameson) is more comedic. It would require someone with a better knowledge of film history to tell whether or not there's any actual relationship between the "Black Cat" segment of Tales of Terror and these two gems, but the apparent connection is, well, apparent, not only in the cast but in some similar (and playfully reversed) gags.
The Raven
The Raven coasts more-or-less completely on the charms of its lead actors. But when your lead actors are people like Price, Lorre, and Karloff, you can get away with that. Fortunately The Raven knows they're its real strength, so it gives them plenty of time to stand around and play off one another.
Price gets to play one of his rare good guy roles, and Lorre essentially reprises his role from "The Black Cat" segment of Tales of Terror, if that character were a smart-alecky magician who spent about half his time transformed into a bird. Karloff plays opposite them, doing the grandfatherly sort of evil that he does so well, but switching to bumbling just enough and at just the right times to hit some good notes.
Basically, The Raven is a parody of the its predecessors. It opens with Price reciting a part of the titular poem over shots from other Price/Corman Poe films, so you know right away what territory you're in. Lorre shows up in Price's study as a raven and the movie proceeds through a variety of comic mishaps and riffs on Poe staples to a wizard duel between Price and Karloff that (not to sound too much like an old fogey) is better than most wizard duels that we get in films with multimillion dollar budgets nowadays. (Lord of the Rings, I am looking meaningfully in your direction.) Along the way Vincent Price shoots lasers from his fingers, there are lightning bolts that turn people into raspberry jam, and Lorre spends some time with wings for arms. It's all very cute and charming, and the principles all bring some much-needed class that keeps it from ever collapsing under its own weight.
Comedy of Terrors
Every note of a Price/Corman Poe parody that The Raven doesn't manage to hit, Comedy of Terrors takes care of. Price gets to play the bad guy this time, hurling abuse at his beleagured wife (Jameson) and bumbling assistant (Lorre), attempting to poison his daft father-in-law (Karloff), and committing the occasional murder. He runs a funeral home, you see, and when money gets tight, he's not above going out to ensure that there are new clients to be had. We exchange big creepy castles for fog-shrouded cemeteries and houses full of weird clutter, but we also manage to work in abusive drunks and premature burials. Price and Lorre get to basically exchange roles from Tales of Terror, and it's nice to see Lorre play a comparatively decent guy.
There's a little more going on in Comedy of Terrors than there was in The Raven, and we get more gags and less coasting on the strengths of our cast, but the strengths of our cast are still the best part. Price is delightfully acerbic, Lorre charmingly mumbly, and Karloff makes the most of his seemingly minor part as a senile old man, turning in a great comic performance that's another reminder of Karloff's all-too-easily-overlooked range as an actor. Even Basil Rathbone manages to steal the show for awhile in a role that I'll not give out the details of, because they're probably better when they just show up. Hell, even the cat got a few laughs (especially when it covered its ears).
It's directed by Jacques Tourneur, he of such Val Lewton classics as Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie (among others), and as such it's more stylish than you'd expect from a slapstick farce of its type. Both movies were really great, but I think this was my favorite of the two.
Both The Raven and Comedy of Terrors differ from the rest of the Price/Corman Poe films in that they're both pure comedies. Both were released in 1963 (the same year as The Haunted Palace and Twice-Told Tales), on the heels of Tales of Terror, which they can sort of be seen as a follow-up to (more on that in a minute). Both of them star Price and Peter Lorre, and The Raven features Boris Karloff and a Jack Nicholson so young that I didn't even recognize him, while Comedy of Terrors features Karloff and Basil Rathbone, as well as fellow Tales of Terror alum Joyce Jameson.
While the first and third segments of Tales of Terror are fairly straightforward horror pieces, the middle segment ("The Black Cat," which stars Lorre, Price, and Jameson) is more comedic. It would require someone with a better knowledge of film history to tell whether or not there's any actual relationship between the "Black Cat" segment of Tales of Terror and these two gems, but the apparent connection is, well, apparent, not only in the cast but in some similar (and playfully reversed) gags.
The Raven
The Raven coasts more-or-less completely on the charms of its lead actors. But when your lead actors are people like Price, Lorre, and Karloff, you can get away with that. Fortunately The Raven knows they're its real strength, so it gives them plenty of time to stand around and play off one another.
Price gets to play one of his rare good guy roles, and Lorre essentially reprises his role from "The Black Cat" segment of Tales of Terror, if that character were a smart-alecky magician who spent about half his time transformed into a bird. Karloff plays opposite them, doing the grandfatherly sort of evil that he does so well, but switching to bumbling just enough and at just the right times to hit some good notes.
Basically, The Raven is a parody of the its predecessors. It opens with Price reciting a part of the titular poem over shots from other Price/Corman Poe films, so you know right away what territory you're in. Lorre shows up in Price's study as a raven and the movie proceeds through a variety of comic mishaps and riffs on Poe staples to a wizard duel between Price and Karloff that (not to sound too much like an old fogey) is better than most wizard duels that we get in films with multimillion dollar budgets nowadays. (Lord of the Rings, I am looking meaningfully in your direction.) Along the way Vincent Price shoots lasers from his fingers, there are lightning bolts that turn people into raspberry jam, and Lorre spends some time with wings for arms. It's all very cute and charming, and the principles all bring some much-needed class that keeps it from ever collapsing under its own weight.
Comedy of Terrors
Every note of a Price/Corman Poe parody that The Raven doesn't manage to hit, Comedy of Terrors takes care of. Price gets to play the bad guy this time, hurling abuse at his beleagured wife (Jameson) and bumbling assistant (Lorre), attempting to poison his daft father-in-law (Karloff), and committing the occasional murder. He runs a funeral home, you see, and when money gets tight, he's not above going out to ensure that there are new clients to be had. We exchange big creepy castles for fog-shrouded cemeteries and houses full of weird clutter, but we also manage to work in abusive drunks and premature burials. Price and Lorre get to basically exchange roles from Tales of Terror, and it's nice to see Lorre play a comparatively decent guy.
There's a little more going on in Comedy of Terrors than there was in The Raven, and we get more gags and less coasting on the strengths of our cast, but the strengths of our cast are still the best part. Price is delightfully acerbic, Lorre charmingly mumbly, and Karloff makes the most of his seemingly minor part as a senile old man, turning in a great comic performance that's another reminder of Karloff's all-too-easily-overlooked range as an actor. Even Basil Rathbone manages to steal the show for awhile in a role that I'll not give out the details of, because they're probably better when they just show up. Hell, even the cat got a few laughs (especially when it covered its ears).
It's directed by Jacques Tourneur, he of such Val Lewton classics as Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie (among others), and as such it's more stylish than you'd expect from a slapstick farce of its type. Both movies were really great, but I think this was my favorite of the two.
October 11, 2010
Countdown: Masters of Horror: The Black Cat
I was discussing the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's death recently, and it was suggested that I should check out this Masters of Horror episode, which I had thus far missed, a failing that I can only attribute to my somehow being ignorant that it starred Jeffrey Combs as Poe himself (and that cover art doesn't do it any favors). Having now rectified that situation, I find that I'm somewhat at a loss for adequate words. Maybe: Wow.
Not only is this possibly the best Masters of Horror episode I've seen (it's only real competition for the title being Carpenter's first-season offering "Cigarette Burns"), but it's also just an absolute tour de force performance from Combs. Maybe the best I've ever seen from him, and I've never seen him give a bad one. It's the kind of performance that would have won awards if it weren't couched in the declining episodes of a gory horror TV series.
The story blends the actual life of Edgar Allan Poe with some of his stories, most notably the titular "Black Cat." I don't know how much of it is accurate to Poe's actual life (not the parts with evil cats and ax murders, I would guess), but it's hard not to see the whole thing as a warm-up to Nevermore, whether the creators had planned it at the time or whether they realized they were on to something as they were filming the episode.
While Combs' fantastic performance is what carries the episode, the rest of it is quality, too, with some impressive shooting by Stuart Gordon. I particularly liked the scene where the shadow of the cat followed Poe down the alley.
Unfortunately (and unavoidably, given the story) there's some rather grisly violence to cats (and people), so if you're squeamish about such things, I'm afraid you'd probably better give this one a pass. Otherwise, though, highly recommended.
Not only is this possibly the best Masters of Horror episode I've seen (it's only real competition for the title being Carpenter's first-season offering "Cigarette Burns"), but it's also just an absolute tour de force performance from Combs. Maybe the best I've ever seen from him, and I've never seen him give a bad one. It's the kind of performance that would have won awards if it weren't couched in the declining episodes of a gory horror TV series.
The story blends the actual life of Edgar Allan Poe with some of his stories, most notably the titular "Black Cat." I don't know how much of it is accurate to Poe's actual life (not the parts with evil cats and ax murders, I would guess), but it's hard not to see the whole thing as a warm-up to Nevermore, whether the creators had planned it at the time or whether they realized they were on to something as they were filming the episode.
While Combs' fantastic performance is what carries the episode, the rest of it is quality, too, with some impressive shooting by Stuart Gordon. I particularly liked the scene where the shadow of the cat followed Poe down the alley.
Unfortunately (and unavoidably, given the story) there's some rather grisly violence to cats (and people), so if you're squeamish about such things, I'm afraid you'd probably better give this one a pass. Otherwise, though, highly recommended.
October 8, 2010
Countdown: Annabel Lee & Others
The folks at Lurker Films have long done a series of DVDs featuring H.P. Lovecraft-inspired short and independent films which I, shamefully, have never watched even one of. But when they rolled out their series doing the same thing with Edgar Allan Poe films, and the first volume included a stop-motion one, I went ahead and took that plunge. And since yesterday marked the 151st anniversary of Poe's death, it seemed an appropriate time to watch it.
First of all, a word about Lurker Films in general. I've heard great things about them, and I fully, 100% support what they're doing. One of these days, I'm going to knock out every one of those Lovecraft movies, I guarantee it, and I'm pretty excited about the Yellow Sign one, too. So if I say anything mean below, don't take any of it to heart.
The DVD I watched (The Edgar Allan Poe Collection Volume 1: Annabel Lee and Other Tales of Mystery and Imagination) consists of the aforementioned short stop-motion film of Annabel Lee, as well as two live action shorts of "The Raven" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." I'll tackle them one at a time.
Annabel Lee
The main event for me. I'm a sucker for Poe stuff, and even more of a sucker for stop motion, so this seemed like a no-brainer. How'd it turn out? Well, I can say with confidence that it's the best Nine Inch Nails video that was ever an Edgar Allan Poe poem.
The movie consists of somebody reading the poem "Annabel Lee" while a puppet version of Edgar Allan Poe wanders through (mostly) a hideous, twisted, expressionistic underworld. The visuals are mostly really great. I'm not sure that all the wire and nails and skull-headed baby dolls are exactly what I think of as Poe-ish, but it all looks very good. The animator does a great job of working in the inherent creepiness of dolls and puppets, and there are some great visual touches, like the scenes when the Poe puppet is suddenly held up by wires.
Unfortunately, the narrator seems to be reading the poem in his best Batman voice, which detracts a lot. I'd recommend putting on the film, muting it, playing your favorite appropriately spooky music, and just pretending it's a music video.
It also bears noting that, as the longest film of the three, it clocks in at around 18 minutes.
The Raven
Another one that consists entirely of a narrator reading the title poem over the proceedings. The narrator here does a much better job, at least, and the film itself, while very simple and spare, is pretty effective. The only problem I had, really, was the painting of Lenore changing its expressions, which read as a little silly to me. I even liked the papercrafted raven, though I think they should've found some way to make its beak move when it said "Nevermore." Around 10 minutes.
The Tell-Tale Heart
A very loose Spanish-language adaptation of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," starring horror legend (though this is actually the first thing I've ever seen him in) Paul Naschy. Very short and, to me, fairly pointless, changing the tale so as to eliminate several of the most interesting parts of the original story. Nicely-enough shot, but not much more. Around 5 minutes.
First of all, a word about Lurker Films in general. I've heard great things about them, and I fully, 100% support what they're doing. One of these days, I'm going to knock out every one of those Lovecraft movies, I guarantee it, and I'm pretty excited about the Yellow Sign one, too. So if I say anything mean below, don't take any of it to heart.
The DVD I watched (The Edgar Allan Poe Collection Volume 1: Annabel Lee and Other Tales of Mystery and Imagination) consists of the aforementioned short stop-motion film of Annabel Lee, as well as two live action shorts of "The Raven" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." I'll tackle them one at a time.
Annabel Lee
The main event for me. I'm a sucker for Poe stuff, and even more of a sucker for stop motion, so this seemed like a no-brainer. How'd it turn out? Well, I can say with confidence that it's the best Nine Inch Nails video that was ever an Edgar Allan Poe poem.
The movie consists of somebody reading the poem "Annabel Lee" while a puppet version of Edgar Allan Poe wanders through (mostly) a hideous, twisted, expressionistic underworld. The visuals are mostly really great. I'm not sure that all the wire and nails and skull-headed baby dolls are exactly what I think of as Poe-ish, but it all looks very good. The animator does a great job of working in the inherent creepiness of dolls and puppets, and there are some great visual touches, like the scenes when the Poe puppet is suddenly held up by wires.
Unfortunately, the narrator seems to be reading the poem in his best Batman voice, which detracts a lot. I'd recommend putting on the film, muting it, playing your favorite appropriately spooky music, and just pretending it's a music video.
It also bears noting that, as the longest film of the three, it clocks in at around 18 minutes.
The Raven
Another one that consists entirely of a narrator reading the title poem over the proceedings. The narrator here does a much better job, at least, and the film itself, while very simple and spare, is pretty effective. The only problem I had, really, was the painting of Lenore changing its expressions, which read as a little silly to me. I even liked the papercrafted raven, though I think they should've found some way to make its beak move when it said "Nevermore." Around 10 minutes.
The Tell-Tale Heart
A very loose Spanish-language adaptation of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," starring horror legend (though this is actually the first thing I've ever seen him in) Paul Naschy. Very short and, to me, fairly pointless, changing the tale so as to eliminate several of the most interesting parts of the original story. Nicely-enough shot, but not much more. Around 5 minutes.
October 6, 2010
Countdown: Candy Corn
When I asked what I should post about for my Halloween countdown, the most common answer, peculiarly enough, was candy corn. I don't know how much I've got to say about candy corn, but never let it be said that I don't aim to please, so here goes:
Like virtually everything else associated strongly with Halloween, I used to like candy corn quite a lot, though most people I know don't care for it. Now that I'm trying to cut out high fructose corn syrup as much as possible, I probably shouldn't have it anymore, but then, I never had all that much, so maybe it'll be fine. You know what's better than candy corn, though? These things!
So... that's about all I've got, except to point you in the direction of this, which I'm told is all I ever needed to say about candy corn in the first place.
Like virtually everything else associated strongly with Halloween, I used to like candy corn quite a lot, though most people I know don't care for it. Now that I'm trying to cut out high fructose corn syrup as much as possible, I probably shouldn't have it anymore, but then, I never had all that much, so maybe it'll be fine. You know what's better than candy corn, though? These things!
So... that's about all I've got, except to point you in the direction of this, which I'm told is all I ever needed to say about candy corn in the first place.
October 4, 2010
Countdown: Vampire Circus
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Over the weekend I managed to watch one of the aforementioned hard-to-find seasonally appropriate movies from Netflix watch instantly, and I figured I'd make my first official Countdown to Halloween post talking a bit about Vampire Circus.
Vampire Circus is a movie that I've been wanting desperately to clap eyes on ever since I first got into Hammer horror movies. Because, well, Vampire Circus, right? And look at that poster! Unfortunately, while it wasn't quite the visual tour de force that I was hoping for based on that poster, it was still a pretty intriguing spectacle, though not always in the ways I expected.
The sets were actually pretty bland, as Hammer sets go, though there's a really nice church near the end. There was, however, lots of other "scenery" on display. Vampire Circus is remarkably graphic and shockingly erotic, even for a late-era Hammer film (at least, for the late-era Hammer films that I've so far seen). There's implied incest, and very heavily implied pedophilia, and moreover, virtually everything in the movie is so heavily sensual and eroticized that it's hard to even explain. There's quite a lot of nudity, including a completely naked lady dancer who is painted to look like a tiger, I think, though at first I thought she was supposed to be a snake person since she looked sort of green. There's also a lot of animal transformations and some very, very credulous villagers who seem to not question just how these people seem to transform from animal to person and back again willy-nilly. I guess they are in the circus.
Lest you think that Vampire Circus is all sex, though... no, actually, go ahead and think that. It pretty much is. Even the stuff that isn't sex somehow manages to feel like sex, in spite of plagues and gory panther murders and creepy midgets. One of Hammer's weirder outputs, and definitely not exactly what I was expecting, but certainly interesting and unusual.
Over the weekend I managed to watch one of the aforementioned hard-to-find seasonally appropriate movies from Netflix watch instantly, and I figured I'd make my first official Countdown to Halloween post talking a bit about Vampire Circus.
Vampire Circus is a movie that I've been wanting desperately to clap eyes on ever since I first got into Hammer horror movies. Because, well, Vampire Circus, right? And look at that poster! Unfortunately, while it wasn't quite the visual tour de force that I was hoping for based on that poster, it was still a pretty intriguing spectacle, though not always in the ways I expected.
The sets were actually pretty bland, as Hammer sets go, though there's a really nice church near the end. There was, however, lots of other "scenery" on display. Vampire Circus is remarkably graphic and shockingly erotic, even for a late-era Hammer film (at least, for the late-era Hammer films that I've so far seen). There's implied incest, and very heavily implied pedophilia, and moreover, virtually everything in the movie is so heavily sensual and eroticized that it's hard to even explain. There's quite a lot of nudity, including a completely naked lady dancer who is painted to look like a tiger, I think, though at first I thought she was supposed to be a snake person since she looked sort of green. There's also a lot of animal transformations and some very, very credulous villagers who seem to not question just how these people seem to transform from animal to person and back again willy-nilly. I guess they are in the circus.
Lest you think that Vampire Circus is all sex, though... no, actually, go ahead and think that. It pretty much is. Even the stuff that isn't sex somehow manages to feel like sex, in spite of plagues and gory panther murders and creepy midgets. One of Hammer's weirder outputs, and definitely not exactly what I was expecting, but certainly interesting and unusual.
October 1, 2010
Countdown to Halloween
October has crept up on me, which is, I suppose, in keeping with its themes.
I've been planning to participate in the Countdown to Halloween even though I didn't sign up until just now and don't have anything specific planned. So while weekends may be a little scarce, most days from here 'til Halloween I'll have at least a little something for you. Suggestions/requests are welcome.
In the meantime, today is the beginning of Ghost Appreciation Month over at Beyond Fiction, where I'll be contributing a couple of reviews later in the month.
Also, if you're on Netflix, they've added several great and hard-to-find seasonally appropriate movies to their Watch Instantly selection, including (but by no means limited to) Vampire Circus, The Raven, and Comedy of Terrors. I haven't gotten a chance to watch any of them yet, but you can bet I will, and that you'll hear about the results.
Until then, happy October!
I've been planning to participate in the Countdown to Halloween even though I didn't sign up until just now and don't have anything specific planned. So while weekends may be a little scarce, most days from here 'til Halloween I'll have at least a little something for you. Suggestions/requests are welcome.
In the meantime, today is the beginning of Ghost Appreciation Month over at Beyond Fiction, where I'll be contributing a couple of reviews later in the month.
Also, if you're on Netflix, they've added several great and hard-to-find seasonally appropriate movies to their Watch Instantly selection, including (but by no means limited to) Vampire Circus, The Raven, and Comedy of Terrors. I haven't gotten a chance to watch any of them yet, but you can bet I will, and that you'll hear about the results.
Until then, happy October!
September 27, 2010
Undead Gentlemen
I spent all weekend under the weather, but I'm back today and fighting fit (or as close as I generally come). I'm still a little behind on, y'know, the Internet, but I would be doing you all a disservice if I didn't take a moment to mention that the awesome Molly Tanzer (
![[info:]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380438177i/889613.gif)
vegan_vulcan
) and I are now Strange Horizons buddies!
If you follow that link, you'll find her interview with The Widow's Bane, a band that happens to be of the somewhat less living variety. Go, check it out, and that'll buy m...
vegan_vulcan
) and I are now Strange Horizons buddies!If you follow that link, you'll find her interview with The Widow's Bane, a band that happens to be of the somewhat less living variety. Go, check it out, and that'll buy m...
