Scary Movies, Part Deux


I know Halloween is over (and honestly, I watch horror movies ALL year round) but I thought I would do a post about the remaining scary movies I watched for the Halloween month.


Though first, here's a picture of the pumpkin I carved (well, very minimally carved, and glued the rest). It's the only pumpkin that grew this year in my Mom's garden. It is an owl (if it's not that obvious).

I didn't watch too many more scary movies for the rest of the month. Very short of the 31 I had envisioned. Only 5 more films.

The Masque Of The Red Death (Alta Vista Productions 1964) is another Vincent Price film which happened to be directed by Roger Corman. It's also another film based on an Edgar Allan Poe story. Vincent Price is the deliciously evil Prince Prospero who rules with an iron fist & does what he pleases as he is the only one who can protect the locals from the oncoming "Red Death" in his castle. He graciously kidnaps Francesca, played by Jane Asher, to save her from certain death. However, she must submit to his wishes & whims. It's quite a colourful film, visually, and there were some suspenseful & shocking moments but it didn't continue throughout, which I would have liked. Jane Asher is gorgeous (and when I Googled her, I found out she was Paul McCartney's muse in the 1960s & was engaged to him for a time) and Vincent Price, well, he is doing what he does best.

See, how cute were Jane & Paul back in the day? Loved her red hair. I think she would have been about 22 years old in this photo, and Paul about 26 years old.

I hadn't watched The Shining (Warner Bros. 1980) in a few years and have to say, it is one of my top 5 Stanley Kubrick movies. The man was definitely unique in his directorial visions. I love the look of this film. The feeling of isolation one gets with the family taking care of The Overlook Hotel (Oregon's Timberline Lodge) during the off season, the visions of Danny and him talking to "his friend" Tony, the slow descent into madness of Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance. Again, I have never read the Stephen King story so I am not aware of how much the film differs (evidently Stephen was not happy with the end result, but man, what do you expect with Stanley? He's going to do his own thing - still brilliant!). It still amazes me that the actor who played Danny, Danny Lloyd, was only 6 years old when they filmed. He had a pivotal role & was able to really convey the special qualities of Danny. I don't think the movie would have worked if Danny had sucked.

I actually was thinking The Manster (United Artists of Japan 1959) was a film I could watch and practice my Japanese listening skills but I was WRONG. This movie was totally in English. And some bad English acting I have to say. It's basically camp though there are some good parts. Like when Peter Dyneley's character, Larry, turns into this crazy monster, brought on by a dastardly injection from Dr. Robert Suzuki. Pretty cool! Too bad it takes almost the whole movie to see. Larry's wife, Linda, was annoying. No wonder the man was staying in Japan to get away from her in NYC. Interesting trivia is that the two actors were married in real life. And then Larry's "Japanese" love interest, Tara, played by Terri Zimmern was most definitely NOT Japanese & couldn't act, to boot. But then I Googled and found out she was the Director's wife. Oh, *that's* how she got the job!

The 1st time I saw Black Christmas (Vision IV 1974) was alone, while babysitting, late at night, in the dark. I remember being petrified and of course, what a crazy film to be watching by yourself while taking care of two children given what we learn about the phone calls in the film! There were so many scenes that stood out to me. In particular, how the 1st victim dies, Keir Dullea (cuckoo, cuckoo), how great Olivia Hussey is & how beautiful, the comic relief of Margot Kidder. Watching it again I love how I can recognize U of T in the shots (where my parents went to university) and so many Canadian actors who made an appearance throughout. This definitely was the start of the slasher film and one can see how it influenced the horror movies later in that decade. I guess a "new" version was made in 2006, starring Lacey Chabert. Ugh, is all I can say.

And of course, I HAD to watch Halloween (Compass International Pictures 1978) again. I don't even remember the last time I watched it. What hit me on this viewing was how effective John Carpenter did suspense, and without tons of gore (though I do like my gore) and swearing. It's kind of refreshing to watch a horror film without tons of expletives (though I don't necessarily mind). It also hit me how I wish Donald Pleasence would have been in the movie more. It kind of bothers me that there had to be ten, TEN, sequels or incarnations after the original Halloween & we keep seeing Michael Myers always returning (how did he get to be so immortal when he was only this kid who stabbed his sister to death in the original??)! It can only go on for so long, right? Evil *has* to get its comeuppance at some point.


Now that Halloween is over, it's all about the lead up to Christmas. I saw my first Christmas commercial two days before Halloween. That is just wrong. I need to start making my chocolates.