Posts

Image
The Batman   While technically a superhero movie, Matt Reeves' 2022 epic, The Batman , leans very much into the horror genre. Super rainy, grandly Gothic and dark, it's like the bastard child of James Whale and David Fincher, with a strain of Faulkner lurking in its DNA. At the same time, it's also a neo-noir pitting a singular, cynical detective --in this case Batman--against a host of felonious fiends and not-so-civic-minded leaders. Sound familiar? Drop a terrifying, unknown serial killer into the mix and Batman--deemed a vigilante by the police department--is up to his bat ears in dead-ends, dead bodies and taunting clues designed to provoke and torment our hero. (I'm not using the word "superhero" because I'm just not.) Essentially humorless, this Batman--aka Bruce Wayne--leads a hermetic existence in a gloomy penthouse with soaring, arched ceilings, high above crime-ridden Gotham City. This is a Gotham where the sun never shines and honest folk don...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
  The Bride of Frankenstein It's the final film of the Halloween season and I thought I'd save the best--or at least the most utterly pleasurable--for last. The Bride of Frankenstein is one of those rare movie sequels that improves upon its predecessor. Directed by the legendary James Whale, Bride of Frankenstein  is considered to be a masterpiece of gothic horror. Filmed in 1935, the film picks up where its predecessor ended--well, almost. After being hurled off a burning windmill, Victor is now pretty much dead. As villagers gather round to watch the mill--and hopefully, the Monster--burn, the over-excited village  yenta Minnie, one of the Frankenstein family's maids, leads the crowd in cheering on the inferno. Sadly, the party-pooping burgomaster arrives on the scene and orders everyone to clear out and go home. A few stragglers stay behind to pick through the ruins and--much to their dismay--are confronted by the monster. Minnie runs shrieking back to the Frankenste...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
Island of Lost Souls The natives are restless tonight .  British actor Charles Laughton first uttered a variation of this immortal line in the 1932 horror film,  Island of Lost Souls , a pre-code production from Paramount that was banned in several countries--including the U.K.-- upon its controversial release. Based on an 1896 novel by H.G. Wells, Island of Lost Souls tells the wild tale of Dr. Moreau, a mad scientist conducting barbaric "biological experiments" on the unfortunate souls inhabiting a remote isle in the South Seas. Dr. Moreau is assisted in his endeavors by trusty sidekick, Montgomery, a disgraced former medical practitioner on the lam from British authorities. When Moreau's boat meets up with a cargo ship delivering cages of wild animals, handsome young castaway, Edward Parker, unceremoniously lands on deck as the big ship sails away.   At first, Moreau and Montgomery are annoyed to be stuck with this gatecrasher who accompanies them back to the is...
Post a Comment
Read more
Image
Alice, Sweet Alice Originally titled Communion when it was first released in 1976,  Alice, Sweet Alice  is a perfect example of a low-budget movie that crashed and burned at the box office only to rise from the ashes of obscurity years later to become a well-regarded indie classic. Featuring 11-year-old Brooke Shields in a small (but crucial) role, Alice Sweet Alice was re-released under several titles in an attempt to cash in on Shields' notoriety in the wake of Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon . Despite this,  Alice was eventually consigned to the ash heap of public domain and cheap VHS videos. Over the years, the movie managed to attract an impressive following, and was finally reassessed by film scholars in the late 1990's. Now widely viewed as a milestone of underground horror, Alice, Sweet Alice  is a proto-slasher that casts a jaundiced eye on religion (in this case, Catholicism) and the corrosive effects of guilt, repression and fanaticism.  Filmed pr...
Post a Comment
Read more