13 Ghosts

As with the last posts, this is the last Supernatural Sunday for the month. I had to go with an old one with some good kitsch.

13 Ghosts comes from the mind of horror genius William Castle. In the late 50's and early 60's, Castle made a bunch of horror movies, each with their own gimmick to either scare or excite the theater audiences. In The Tingler, Castle rigged chairs to give a little shock to patrons at certain parts of the film. In this one, he provided modified 3D glasses that would allow the viewer to see or not see the ghosts. Titled "Illusion-O," this idea was a pretty genius way to use the 3D technology of the time. To view the ghosts, you would look through the red part, but if you got scared you could look through the blue part and the ghosts would disappear. The ghosts were still viewable with the naked eye, which apparently helped its run on television for many years after it ran in theaters. 

Audience member is instructed to use the viewer

Aaah! A ghost!

13 Ghosts is a story about a family in dire straits that inherits a mansion from a late-estranged uncle. Dr. Plato Zorba studied the paranormal and traveled the world capturing ghosts that now reside inside the house. Dr. Zorba's lawyer, Ben Rush, helps the family with the process and gives Zorba's nephew a box that contains strange glasses with no explanation as to what they are for. Cyrus's son Buck loves ghost stories and is all too excited to live amongst the spirits. But there is also a "witch" in the house. Iconic Margaret Hamilton plays the housekeeper, Elaine Zacharides, which was a pleasant surprise. Of course the witch aspect is also a play on her having portrayed the wicked witch of the west in The Wizard of Oz - and there is a nice touch at the end of the film when she grabs the broom and winks at the camera. 

Margaret Hamilton

When Buck and the family play with a ouija board, it tells them one person will die in the house and become... the 13th ghost! Later Cyrus finds a strange room (or before the ouija board thing, I can't quite remember) where he hears voices and tries on the glasses. He sees ghosts! And it is the viewer's first chance to use the glasses. Even later, Elaine explains that Dr. Zorba left a large sum of money hidden somewhere in the house. However, there is someone else that knows about the money inside the house, and is willing to scare or kill for it. Dun, dun... DUN! 

How the living see the ghosts

The lion and lion tamer ghosts

It is fun, kind of silly, but enjoyable and worth a watch. It built the story well, and had a predictable, but good twist. This is one of the older horror movies that has been remade (ala The Haunting, House on Haunted Hill) and I am not ashamed to admit I liked the remake. But I can also say, I enjoyed this one a lot too, maybe even a little more. I checked out the entire William Castle collection from the library, and even though I will not get to fit them all into this month, I will be sure to enjoy them outside of it. 

The man himself, William Castle

My rating:

Office Killer

The last of Slasher Saturday and I decided to go for something with a little bit of dark humor.

I chose Office Killer mostly for Molly Ringwald and Carol Kane. Of course we all know Ringwald is known for her stint in the 80's with a lot of John Hughes films. And Carol Kane is a pretty iconic funny lady but she's no "stranger" to the horror genre (Get it? She was in When a Stranger Calls). Mousy Dorine (Kane) is often ignored and made fun of at work. She has worked as a copy editor for Constant Consumer magazine for a long time but is downsized and forced to work at home as a contract employee. When she is called in to work late and her computer breaks down, her co-worker Gary is accidentally electrocuted trying to help, but she takes him home instead of calling 911. Dorine has clearly snapped and Gary now lives in her basement with her cats. Gives new meaning to "crazy cat lady" if you know what I mean. She covers up his death by sending emails from his address to other coworkers. After that incident, she starts a killing spree, taking care of all those that piss her off or stand in her way. No one is safe from Dorine, no one.    

Deceased Gary just hanging out

The "librarian" look

This movie comes from the mind of photographer Cindy Sherman. She is known for her conceptual portraits and self-portraits, and throughout the movie you get a sense of her "photographer's eye." The story flows well and you only feel scared of Dorine, even after discovering her "daddy" issues that may have prompted her further descent into irrationally killing her co-workers. Kane was pretty superb as a psycho and it was a pretty witty tribute to slasher films of old - being generous with the gore and mayhem. All in all, I liked it. 

My rating:

Infestation

The last of Creature-Feature Friday for the month and I couldn't resist something with large creepy crawlies even though it probably would have been a good fit for a Wacky Wednesday too.

Infestation plays on everyone's fear of large and ferocious insects. Cooper is kind of a loser, although we don't know it yet, he recently lost his mom, and his dad is a hard-ass. So when Cooper loses his job, there seems to be no hope for him. In the firing meeting with his boss, an ear-piercing sound afflicts the entire office and the film jumps right into the action after that. In the next scene, there are a bunch of people wrapped in cocoons with very large insects jamming appendages into them and excreting some kind of fluid. Cooper wakes from his catatonic state, escapes from the cocoon, vomits the fluid and is attacked by what appears to be a large beetle. He rescues some fellow workers and discovers that the entire city has succumbed to this swarm of bugs. 

Cooper in the office with co-workers in cocoons

Some of the insects turn people into this. Yikes! 

It had some pretty well done special effects - just the right amount of cheese. The story is pretty typical as end-of-the-world monster movies go but with a good sense of humor about it. There is a love story to go along with it, which, meh. I enjoyed seeing Ray Wise (Reaper, How I Met Your Mother). He plays a good tough father that doesn't easily show his emotions or connect with his son. Otherwise, most of the acting and story development was kind of blah. 

Ray Wise

NO! Not Fluffykins! 

My rating:

Pumpkinhead

Pumpkinhead terrified me as a child, and of all of those featured on Throwback Thursday to date, is the one that has been the longest since I first saw it.

Pumpkinhead was the directorial debut for special-effects guru, Stan Winston (Jurassic Park). The story takes place in some small backwoods town. It shows a farmer and market owner Ed Harley (Lance Henriksen) and his son. One day at the shop, some young city folk show up with their motorcycles and fancy sports car as they are heading to a cabin in the woods for some weekend fun. Tragedy strikes and the young boy is killed in a reckless motorcycle accident, and the one responsible flees the scene leaving the others to try to find help. Grieving for his son, Ed seeks the aid of a witch. It is beyond her power to bring the child back, but she provides him another solution. She suggests calling forth the legendary revenge demon, Pumpkinhead, to exact his revenge on those responsible for the senseless death of his son. Pumpkinhead is released and begins taking out the youths, one by one. Ed is somehow connected to the demon and through its eyes witnesses their deaths - which forces him to doubt his rash decision. He tries to call the demon back, but it is too late. The other towns folk won't help because they know if they interfere, the demon will come for them too. But Ed knows he has to do something to try to save the others before their fate is also sealed by Pumpkinhead. 

The stuff of my childhood nightmares

A grieving father

The witch helps invoke Pumpkinhead

Pumpkinhead's revenge befalls one of the teens

Winston has a good eye for visuals in this movie, and of course the creature design for Pumpkinhead is outstanding. He also has some good character development, although the small town hick people are a little trite. When the movie gets really disturbing for me is when the demon begins to take on the face of Lance Henriksen. Of all of the scares, this time around, that is the one that will stick with me in my now adult life. Otherwise, I can say that I am over my childhood fear of Pumpkinhead. 

Pumpkinhead-Henriksen hybrid face *shutter*

Overall, I enjoyed the re-watch and the re-visit to a childhood nightmare. For the nostalgia and because, in my opinion, it holds up pretty well for effects, creature design and story, I give it a 3.5-skull rating.

My rating:

Student Bodies

Another Wacky Wednesday and I found myself watching Student Bodies.

Before Scary Movie there was Student Bodies. Think of it as a mix of horror movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th with the added comedy of say, Airplane or the Naked Gun series. When teens engaging in sexual intercourse are being murdered with bizarre weapons, the school looks to the "prude" as the one to blame. But she didn't do it, and becomes our protagonist, trying to discover who the real killer is. Each girl is killed with some strange object and boy is suffocated inside a black plastic trash bag. One girl is murdered with paperclips and the next an eggplant. As the teens start dying off, a kill count flashes on the screen. The killer is called "The Breather" because he breathes heavily when he kills and calls on the phone. He also disguises his voice with a rubber chicken. 

Killed by paper clips

Begin the body count! 

Killed by wooden horse book end

I liked it quite a bit. It had some clever dialogue, jokes and gags, and toward the end became quite absurd, but it dragged on a little long for my liking. For that reason I give it a 2.5-skull rating. 

Chased by an old lady in a trash can, for some reason

Mt rating:

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

I chose this one purely because it was short, and I had a time constraint that evening. But it still fits for Transcontinental Tuesday.

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari can be said to be the first true horror film. Made before the original Nosferatu, it is also a German silent film. I appreciate silent films, but I often do not like them very much. I did like this one though. I enjoyed the scenery, the set was very well made and gave the whole film a strange mood, which was perfect. The lines and shapes the set created reminded me a lot of Burton, maybe he was inspired by it? The overall story was interesting and the characters looked pretty neat. Especially the Somnambulist, Cesare. The lighting of the film was all good, and designed in a way to set the time of the story - an orangish filter for day and blue for night. Shadow play was also really nice in it.

I enjoyed watching it, especially since it is a little piece of film history, but I wouldn't say that I loved it. Good but not great in my opinion. However, it is worth the 71 minutes or so to give it a watch. Maybe it is because it is getting closer to Halloween, and Joey is getting into the spirit, but this is the fourth film he has watched with me - unusual for him it is since he is not a big horror or Halloween fan.

My rating:

Joey's rating:

Warm Bodies

Another more recent zombie movie for Zombday and sadly another bit of a disappointment. 

I am all for re-inventing genres and pushing for something new and original. But I really did not like how this one tried to do that. Aside from having John Malkovich and Rob Corddry and seeing Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy) all grown-up, this one was kind of a flop for me. I liked it more than Zombieland which is whatever. And it is still a better love story than Twilight as they say.

I wish he had shot that zombie in the head, would have been a better movie

I fundamentally had problems with ideas presented in this, and as much as I tried I couldn't get past some of them. Why are ALL of "The Boneys" so tall? Not every person that died, became a zombie and then became a boney, was 7' tall. How is it possible for a zombie to obtain memories and emotions from eating a human brain if it is dead and essentially has no working synapses that could, if somehow that was even ever possible in living tissue, trigger such a response? I mean, you can't really try to delve into the science of zombies since there are so many unrealistic aspects (why do they need to eat brains, or are able to hear, see and smell if they are dead), but really? My main issue though - a zombie cannot, I repeat CANNOT come back to life! No way, no how. No matter, how you try to explain that, "it was love that prevailed and cured the world," it just doesn't work. The dead come back to life, but you cannot bring the undead back to life. Phooey. It was cute and funny here and there, whatever, but no. Just no. In my opinion Land of the Dead did a better job showcasing the idea of "intelligent zombies" or zombies trying to live like humans. Maybe if I was still a teenager I would have liked this, but I sort of doubt it. The Crow was the "love never dies" of my generation, and it was and is still better than this. Sorry for the rant, if you liked this movie, I'm not sorry but to each his own. 

    

I'm a zombie and I love you, blegh

I realize that it is based off of a novel and it might be better, and I guess it's like a modern-day Romeo & Juliet, but still no. I read something a few years ago that was similar called Breathers. More of a love story between two zombies, than a zombie and a human, but it was pretty decent. Although, I sadly just read it is also being adapted into a movie. Great. I want there to be a zombie movie that returns to it's Haitian and voodoo roots.

I think hell has frozen over, because this is the third movie Joey has watched with me since the start of this. I might need to make sure he isn't a body snatcher or something.  

My rating:

Joey's rating: 

The Brood

I didn't really know how to fit The Brood into this years horror films, but knew I wanted to watch it. Even though it's not quite fitting for Supernatural Sunday, it had to do.

The Brood has been on my radar since I worked at Hollywood Video. We had a regular customer that showed movies at one of the second-run theaters here in Portland, and he called it "SuperTrash Film Festival." One of those days we were talking and he mentioned that I looked like the actress in this film, Samantha Eggar, and he was showing it. Sadly, I never did see it at his festival, but it is a good enough time to watch it now.

Samantha Eggar as Nola

David Cronenberg is probably one of my favorite auteurs. He is one of the main originators of the body horror genre. Body horror pertains to the graphic destruction or degeneration of the body, and playing on the fear of transformation and infectious diseases. One of his films, The Fly depicts body horror through mutation and in a way, The Brood is similar. As a psychotherapist, Dr. Hal Raglan treats his patients with "Psychoplasmics" that allow them to manifest their emotions into treatable lesions and boils on the skin. Nola is his star patient. She has so much pent up anguish and rage and she easily vents her fury in their sessions. Soon, people connected to Nola are brutally murdered by mutant dwarves outside the institute. These dwarves are somehow a real-life manifestation of Nola's rage against those she feels abused and hurt by but no one knows where they came from. Her husband tries to unravel the mystery of these deaths and their connection to Nola, meanwhile fighting to keep his daughter from Nola as she slips further into an abusive and weak emotional and mental state.

One of Nola's "brood" 

The Brood is terrifying, visually disturbing and a very interesting and original story. Samantha Eggar is creepy and amazing as Nola. I think this might now be my favorite Cronenberg film. It will make you feel uncomfortable, but the images and mood set a tension that will keep you engaged. It is also a metaphor on maternal abuses and quarrelsome custody battles - an interpretation of his own life, divorce and custody battle at the time. Surprise, surprise, another one Joey decided to watch with me! So I will also include his rating in this one like I did for Feast. 

My rating:

Joey's rating: 

Seed of Chucky

Even though this one would have been more appropriate on a Wacky Wednesday, I was in the mood for a little Slasher Saturday comedy.

Another one of my favorite horror icons, and another surprise that it took me this long to watch this one. This installment in the Child's Play franchise is, I am not totally ashamed to admit, a "hoot." I expected good things knowing that John Waters was in it and the movie delivered. As did Waters! As did Jennifer Tilly! That will make more sense in a bit. After Chucky and Tiffany's killing spree in Bride of Chucky, both Chucky and Tiffany have expired, but are being used as props for a new Hollywood horror movie. Their spawn from the ending of Bride is grown-up and having been abandoned doesn't know where he came from, or who his parents are. Until he sees them on television - "promoting" their new movie with the star, Jennifer Tilly! It tickles my funny bone to no end that Tilly stars in this as herself and as the voice for Tiffany. It takes courage to satirize yourself as she does in this and it works out so brilliantly for her.

Tilly with Chucky

When our creepy little doll friend finds his parents in Hollywood, he resurrects them with the amulet they left behind. Chucky and Tiffany are now free to continue their rampage. That is until Tiffany sees Jennifer Tilly. She is such a huge fan and that plays into what I love about Tilly playing both characters - as Tiffany says, "She sounds just like an angel." Chucky and Tiffany argue about whether their child is a boy or a girl, and he is called both Glen and Glenda. He is voiced by Billy Boyd (another plus for the movie). Tiffany wants to set a good example for their child and vows that she and Chucky will stop killing. That doesn't last long, for Chucky at least.

Happy family

Tiffany also gets the idea that they will transfer their souls into Tilly, and Redman! But what about Glen/Glenda? Oh, no problem there, Chucky will put his seed in Jennifer and she will have a baby that Glen/Glenda can possess because it totally makes sense. From there on and throughout the movie, all sorts of shenanigans happen. Seed also nicely pays homage to some other classics. Chucky breaks through a door with an axe and says, "I can't think of a thing to say" a la The Shining. It is non-stop laughs, gore and gags - ultra-campy and fun but not for everyone.

Prepare the turkey baster, my sweet! 

Waters as the paparazzo. "A masturbating midget? God bless the little people"

Not a lot of love on this one from other sites, but it knows that it is bad and it doesn't let up, not even at the end. I enjoyed this so immensely, upon discovering the director also did the new Curse of Chucky, I think I am actually going to spend the time to watch that. Maybe I'll save it for next year, but we shall see.

My rating: