Michael May's Blog, page 41

Seriously Felicity | Pilot

Kristi and I dig into the pilot episode to talk about Felicity's decision to follow a boy to college, her awkward openness, her crush on Ben, her dreamy RA Noel, her new friend Julie, and her extremely concerned parents.
Download or listen to the episode here.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: A Cure for Wellness (2016)

Gore Verbinski's A Cure for Wellness felt like the best Hammer horror movie in 40 years. I was initially interested just on the strength of his Pirates of the Caribbean films, although I also love his version of The Ring (and The Mexican is a pretty great crime adventure/comedy). I'm also fond of Dane DeHaan and Jason Isaacs. 
But I wasn't prepared for how weird and gothic A Cure for Wellness is. It's about a young man (DeHaan) who tries to find his missing boss at a mysterious spa run by Isaacs' character. And if you told me it was a remake of a Roger Corman flick with Isaacs playing a role originated by Vincent Price, I'd believe you. It was also my introduction to Mia Goth (as another patient/client at the spa), for which I'm very grateful. 
I don't feel like anyone talks about this film, and maybe I'm the only one who likes it, but I love it with a passion.

Hellbent for Letterbox | Little Big Man (1970)

Pax and I turn on the tape recorder and talk about the 1970 dramatic comedy Little Big Man starring Dustin Hoffman, Chief Dan George, Faye Dunaway, and Richard Mulligan.
But Halloween-related, I also get spooky with High Plains Drifter while Pax finds a Western treat in his plastic pumpkin with James D Horan's The Authentic Wild West: The Gunfighters.
Download or listen to the episode here.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: The Orphanage (2007)

The Spanish-language El Orfanato was directed by JA Bayona, but it was executive producer Guillermo del Toro's name who sold it to viewers in the United States. It was also helpful that it came out almost exactly a year after the also Spanish-language Pan's Labyrinth. I remember hoping at the time that del Toro would make it an annual habit to curate and present additional Spanish horror films.
I actually like The Orphanage a bit better even than Pan's Labyrinth. The creepy building, the kid in the scarecrow mask, the gripping mystery, and the generally spooky, gothic atmosphere are all my brand of poison. And then there's the powerful conclusion that puts everything together in a gut-wrenching, but satisfying way.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: The Others (2001)

No matter how many times I watch The Others, the revelation of the mystery still punches me hard in the heart. That's because the power of The Others isn't just in it's surprising answers, but the human emotions involved and the way the answers affect the characters. 
A huge part of why it works so well is the excellent performances, especially by Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, and the two kids: Alakina Mann and James Bentley. Christopher Eccleston also has a small, important role, but he's not quite as memorable as the main characters.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: Tremors (1990)

I remember watching this low-budget cheesefest shortly after it came out and being blown away by how fun and exciting it is. I never kept up with the sequels, not wanting to taint that original experience. 
I shared it with my son last year and am I ever glad it holds up. The effects have aged, but the cast is still great and the characters are hilarious. Especially the ones played by Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire.
I'm curious if anyone reading this is a fan of the sequels. Are they worth watching?

Mystery Movie Night | Halloween (1978), Brazil (1985), and Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

Erik, Evan, Dave, and I start the holiday season with movies about babysitters, bureaucracy, and Bacon-racing. And some other secret connection that we're going to try to guess.
00:02:09 - Review of Halloween (1978)
00:16:29 - Review of Brazil (1985)
00:29:26 - Review of Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
00:52:33 - Guessing the Connection

Download or listen to the episode here.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: The Company of Wolves (1984)

This must have been on the shelves in the video store I worked in as a teenager, because I remember seeing it dozens of times in the '80s. I was so in love with the gothic aesthetic and the fairy tale and the werewolves and just the sheer weirdness of the plot. And maybe a little bit with Sarah Patterson, the actor who plays Red Riding Hood.

It was directed by avant-garde filmmaker Neil Jordan (his second film) and it feels deeply personal. Jordan worked with novelist Angela Carter to adapt her short story by the same name. The structure is cool and strange with Patterson playing a modern girl named Rosaleen who's sleeping and dreaming about her and her family in medieval times. In the dream, her older sister (whom she doesn't get along with in the real world) is killed by wolves, sending the forest village into a panic. David Warner plays her dad, Swedish actor Tusse Silberg plays her mother, and Angela Lansbury is her grandmother who of course lives deep in the woods by herself.

Inspired by the local interest in wolves, Grandmother tells Rosaleen lots of stories about wolves (which always turn out to be werewolves) and these are enacted on screen as well. So there are all of these stories within a dream, turning The Company of Wolves into sort of an anthology film. There's a werewolf transformation in every one and they're all different from each other and original. I don't think I've seen anything like them before or since.

The locations and sets in the film are wonderfully atmospheric and captivating, both the modern day manor and the medieval forest village. And Jordan does a great job depicting the wolves as both frighteningly deadly and alluringly social creatures, usually at the same time. Some films seem like they were made specifically with you in mind. This is one of mine.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)

This is easily my favorite version of this story, and that includes both the classic 1932 Island of Lost Souls with Bela Lugosi as well as HG Wells' original novel. I saw the '77 version as a kid and there are images and feelings that have stuck with me ever since. The makeup work on the animal men is top notch and the film handles the themes sincerely and provocatively.

Burt Lancaster is a relatable, but unapologetic Moreau. Nigel Davenport strikes a great balance between being resigned to and haunted by the choices he's made. Barbara Carrera is shockingly beautiful as well as fragile (a long way from the role I know her best for in Never Say Never Again). And Michael York is the perfect saboteur of the whole operation: weak in power, but strong in morality.

I wasn't sure I liked the "Oh Crap Did I Just See What I Think I Saw" ending, but I can't think of a better, more effective way of closing the story. I'm gonna roll with it and call it perfect.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: The Innocents (1961)

I wrote in detail about The Innocents a few months ago, so this is a modified version of that earlier review. 
Henry James' The Turn of the Screw has been adapted a lot, but this is the definitive, classic, film version of it. I've watched it three times this year, because like the novel it's based on, it haunts me. I can't stop thinking about it, wondering what and how much it's trying to say and what I need to do with what it doesn't say. 
It's about a governess who moves to a remote mansion in the English countryside to take care of a couple of children, but she starts seeing what she believes are the ghosts of former workers at the estate. Are the ghosts real? Is the governess insane? Even though I came to some answers to those questions where the novel is concerned, those same answers don't necessarily have to apply to director Jack Clayton's adaptation of it.

Clayton's adaptation, based on a script that was touched by a few people, including Truman Capote and Clayton himself, keeps the basic premise and setting of the novel, but also makes some notable changes. It raises the age of the main character (Deborah Kerr), which is significant, and it muddies her mental state by removing scenes from the book and having the governess react differently to some things.

A big example is how it casts ambiguity on the existence of the ghosts by almost always showing the governess' reaction to the ghosts before seeing the ghosts themselves. When we see them, are we only seeing them through her eyes? The film also adds a scene where the governess sees a photo of a deceased groundskeeper before she sees his ghost. How much has her vision of his spirit been influenced by the photograph? She never sees a photo of the former governess, but when she sees that ghost it's always at a distance and with unclear features.

There are a couple of other big changes, but they're spoilery, so I won't go into detail. What's clear though is that Clayton wanted to leave viewers options in interpreting the film. Even the title can be taken a couple of different ways. Does it apply to the entire household (including the governess) or just the kids? If it's just the children, does the title claim that they're truly innocent as the mansion's housekeeper Mrs Grose insists? If that's true, it makes the governess' paranoid treatment of them even more tragic. Or is the title ironic and the children have already been somehow corrupted by the deceased groundskeeper and former governess?

However we interpret it, as pure film-making, The Innocents is superb and deserves its status as a classic. When Truman Capote took a run at the script, he added a lot of symbolism about death and decay: wilting roses everywhere and bugs crawling out of statues' mouths. And Clayton and cinematographer Freddie Francis create a creepy, haunting atmosphere that makes The Innocents as much an icon of gothic cinema as James' story is of gothic literature.