Yearly Archives: 2018

Strawberry Spring – The Youtube Video!!!, Review By Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

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Sometimes films are done poorly.  Sometimes films stay true to the source material. Sometimes they are just kinda fun.

This adaptation of Stephen King’s- “Strawberry Spring” is just kinda neat.  I was looking for Strawberry Spring images online for my post and here this was.  It’s a High School student film of Strawberry Spring.  It’s just straight up fun. All of his friends are obviously in the film and the director did a pretty good job.

The story of Strawberry Spring is that a serial killer slasher is on the loose at a New England liberal arts school in the 60s.  The narrator is more than unreliable; he is a possible suspect.  The Strawberry Spring refers to a false spring that occurs in New England similar to a blackberry winter where warm weather occurs and then a severe nor’easter hits.  The book makes a point that a mist appears before the murders and that the mist itself is likely sapient who infects the narrator, causing him to kill.  The campus is terrorized by a series of murders and then when the Strawberry Spring ceases, so do the murders.

This student film tries to dramatize the story and although there a bit of overused fog machine sequences, it deserves a lot of credit.  There was obviously a lot of effort put in and I give a tip of the hat to these young artists.

You can watch it here and if you have 15 minutes to definitely check it out!!!

Halloween Havoc!: GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (Universal 1942)

Posted on by gary loggins

gary loggins's avatarcracked rear viewer

The success of Universal’s SON OF FRANKENSTEIN meant a sequel was inevitable, and the studio trotted out GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN three years later. Horror stalwarts Bela Lugosi (as the broken-necked Ygor) and Lionel Atwill (although in a decidedly different role than the previous film) were back, but for the first time it wasn’t Boris Karloff under Jack Pierce’s monster makeup. Instead, Lon Chaney Jr., fresh off his triumph as THE WOLF MAN , stepped into those big asphalter’s boots as The Monster. But while SON OF was an ‘A’ budget production, GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN begins The Monster’s journey into ‘B’ territory.

Old Ygor is still alive and well, “playing his weird harp” at deserted Castle Frankenstein. The villagers (including Dwight Frye! ) are in an uproar (as villagers are wont to do), complaining “the curse of Frankenstein” has left them in poverty, and storm the castle to blow it up…

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Satan’s Cop: Psycho Cop Returns (1993, directed by Adam Rifkin)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

 Psycho Cop is back!

The Psycho Cop is Officer Joe Vickers (Robert R. Schaffer), who upholds the law with the help of Satan and the occult.  When he overhears two office mates talking about a party that they’re going to be throwing for a friend, Officer Vickers decides to stop by and dispense a little Hellish justice.  After killing the security guard, the Psycho Cop spends the rest of the money stalking white-collar workers and strippers.  He’s an efficient killer with a police-related pun for nearly every occasion but he meets his match when he goes after an accountant.  As much as he tries, Psycho Cop cannot catch the accountant.  He can catch security guards.  He can catch strippers.  He can catch low-level executives.  But an accountant?  That’s just a bridge too far.

Psycho Cop seems like he should be a good horror villain and, for the first half of the movie, he seems like he’s unstoppable.  But then he easily gets outwitted by both the nerdiest of the office workers and an accountant and you end up losing respect for him.  The idea of a demonic policeman will always have possibilities but Psycho Cop Returns never reaches the heights of Maniac Cop or even Kevin Bacon’s crazed sheriff in Cop Car.  For everything that you could do with the character of a policeman who is in league with the devil, Psycho Cop Returns just turns him into a one-liner spouting maniac.  Robert R. Schaffer does okay as the title character and he has the right look to play a psycho cop but he’s still no Robert Z’Dar.

As you can tell from the title, this is a sequel.  I haven’t seen the first Psycho Cop so I don’t know if it does a better job at exploiting the whole killer cop angle.  Psycho Cop Returns has potential and a sense of humor but, ultimately, there’s little to distinguish it from the countless other manic-on-the loose films that went straight to video in the 90s.

Horror On The Lens: Carnival of Souls (dir by Herk Harvey)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, we are halfway through October and, traditionally, that’s when all of us in the Shattered Lens Bunker gather in front of the television in Arleigh’s penthouse suite, eat popcorn, drink diet coke, and gossip about whoever has the day off.

Of course, after we do that, I duck back into my office and I watch the classic 1962 film, Carnival of Souls!

Reportedly, David Lynch is a huge fan of Carnival of Souls and, when you watch the film, it’s easy to see why.  The film follows a somewhat odd woman (played, in her one and only starring role, by Candace Hilligoss) who, after a car accident, is haunted by visions of ghostly figures.  This dream-like film was independently produced and distributed.  At the time, it didn’t get much attention but it has since been recognized as a classic and very influential horror film.

This was director Herk Harvey’s only feature film.  Before and after making this film, he specialized in making educational and industrial shorts, the type of films that encouraged students not to cheat on tests and employees not to take their jobs for granted.  Harvey also appears in this film, playing “The Man” who haunts Hilligoss as she travels across the country.

Enjoy Carnival of Souls!

Music Video of the Day: Has Ended by Thom Yorke (2018, dir by Ruffmercy)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s music video of the day is from Thom Yorke’s soundtrack for the upcoming Suspiria remake or rehash or reboot or whatever the Hell it’s supposed to be.

I may not be particularly happy about the idea of a new version of Suspiria (especially one that apparently doesn’t involve a single Argento) but I do like what I’ve heard of the soundtrack.  Of course, nothing can improve on Claudio Simonetti’s work on the original but still….

Enjoy!

Lisa’s Week In Review: 10/8/18 — 10/14/18

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Fall and winter are coming….

The second week of horrorthon comes to a close and I think it’s going pretty well this year!  We’ve got two and a half more weeks to go and then it’ll be the first of three great holidays, Halloween!

As for me, I have a cold so I’m a little bit out-of-it right now.  It’s been raining raining the entire weekend and apparently, we’re about get hit by another storm, one that should last for a few days.  There’s also a cold front coming in so I guess fall has finally arrived!

Here’s what I did this week:

Movies I Watched:

  1. Account Rendered (1957)
  2. Aenigma (1987)
  3. Bay of Blood (1971)
  4. Boyfriend’s Deceit (2018)
  5. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
  6. The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
  7. Cucuy, the Boogeyman (2018)
  8. The Devil’s Bride (1968)
  9. Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966)
  10. Eyes of a Stranger (1981)
  11. The Front Page (1931)
  12. The Girl in the Bathtub (2018)
  13. Happy Death Day (2017)
  14. His Girl Friday (1940)
  15. The Horror of Dracula (1958)
  16. I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958)
  17. Karma (2018)
  18. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
  19. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy Revenge (1985)
  20. Q (1982)
  21. Terror in the Woods (2018)
  22. Terror Train (1980)
  23. Wishmaster (1997)

Television Shows I Watched:

  1. American Horror Story
  2. The American Music Awards
  3. Better Call Saul
  4. Beyond Reasonable Doubt
  5. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
  6. Charmed
  7. Dancing With The Stars
  8. Degrassi
  9. The Deuce
  10. Doctor Phil
  11. Face the Truth
  12. Friends
  13. Ghost Whisperer
  14. The Good Place
  15. The Haunting of Hill House
  16. How It Really Happened
  17. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  18. King of the Hill
  19. Kolchak: The Night Stalker
  20. Manifest
  21. Night Gallery
  22. One Step Beyond
  23. Parking Wars
  24. The Romanoffs
  25. Seinfeld
  26. Shipping Wars
  27. South Park
  28. Survivor 37
  29. Young Sheldon
  30. You
  31. The Walking Dead
  32. ZNation

Books I read

  1. The Improbable Wendell Willkie (2018) by David Levering Lewis
  2. ‘Salem’s Lot (1975) by Stephen King

Music To Which I Listened

  1. Adam Rickfors
  2. Adi Ulmansky
  3. Avicii
  4. Big Data
  5. Britney Spears
  6. Charli XCX
  7. DJ Snake
  8. The Chemical Brothers
  9. Goblin
  10. Jakalope
  11. Kedr Livanskiy
  12. The Killers
  13. Mani Blu
  14. Moana
  15. Thom Yorke
  16. twenty one pilots

Links From Last Week

  1. On her photography site, Erin shared: Empty, Looking Up In the City, Possessed Ducks, Stop, Casper, Neighborhood, and Witch!
  2. On Horror Critic, I reviewed Cry of the Werewolf and the First Power!
  3. For Reality TV Chat, I reviewed the latest episode of Survivor!
  4. On my music site, I shared music from Thom Yorke, Britney Spears, Adam Rickfors, Avicii, Adi Ulmansky, Charli XCX, and Kedr Livanskiy!
  5. From Witchlike: Resurrection Mary
  6. Venice Italy’s Legendary Hidden Bookstore! Climb The Books At Libreria Acqua Alta! Explore Undiscovered Venice!
  7. At the Ferguson Theater, Derrick Ferguson reviews City of the Dead (aka Horror Hotel)!

Links From The Site

(It’s been another busy October week on the Shattered Lens!)

  1. Case reviewed First Man, the first episode of the Haunting of Hill House, Battleground, Cycle of the Werewolf, episode one of Creeped Out, and Star Trek The Next Generation: Mirror Broken and Through the Mirror!
  2. Erin shared some ghostly covers and the following artwork: Dead & Buried, Dr. Cyclops, The Spider, The She-Creature, The Undead, 13 Frightened Girls, and The Satanic Rites of Dracula!
  3. Gary reviewed Dracula’s Daughter, Son of Frankenstein, Tower of London, Black Friday, The Mummy’s Hand, The Vampire Bat, Horror Island, and The Mad Doctor of Market Street.  He also visited Lizzie Borden’s House!
  4. Jeff reviewed Graveyard Shift, Savages, Pray for the Wildcats, Winter Kill, Death Spa, Dr. Giggles, and Dark Night of the Scarecrow!  He also shared the weekly trailer round-up!
  5. Ryan reviewed The Social Discipline Reader, Fenix, and Lara Croft Was My Family!  He also shared his Weekly Reading Round-Up!
  6. Arleigh profiled artist Ben Templesmith, shared the trailers for Pet Sematary and Glass, shared a scene that he loved from The Beyond, and reviewed One For The Road!
  7. I was busy.  I reviewed Near Dark, Happy Death Day, City of the Living Dead, The Beyond, Dead Man’s Kiss, The Children, Q, I Madman, Eyes of Laura Mars, The House By The Cemetery, Baal, Nocturne, Wishmaster, Aenigma, ‘Salem’s Lot, Eyes of a Stranger, I Married A Monster From Outer Space, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Bay of Blood, Crystal Lake Memories, Last Girl Standing, and Terror Train!  I shared the following things to watch: Possum Kingdom, Night Slaves, The Captain’s Guests, Theme From Suspiria, The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake, The Haunting, Demon, Haunts of the Very Rich, Signal Received, Opera, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Ripper, Kiss Me Dracula, Nosferatu, The Zombie, Buio Omega, Indestructible Man, They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be, The Curse, The Hound of the Baskervilles, and the Vampire.  I shared scenes that I love from Halloween, Friday the 13th, Haxan, Carrie, Pieces, and The Changeling.  Finally, I used 4 Shots From 4 Films to pay tribute to Canadian Horror, Collegiate Slasher Films, Lucio Fulci, Mind-Bending Films, Silent Horror, Nightmare of Elm Street, and Railroad Horror!

Want to see what I did last week?  Click here!

Have a great week, everyone!  Be sure to buys lots of candy ahead of time so you’re not that house that’s forced to give out nutrition bars on Halloween.  Seriously, kids hate that!  Just look at this one here:

Kolchak: The Night Stalker 1.4 “The Vampire” (dir by Don Weis)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of Kolchak….

Kolchak is on assignment in Los Angeles and he’s shocked to discover that the town is turning into a city of vampires!  This episode is a sequel to the made-for-TV movie that first introduced to Carl Kolchak to the world.  Not only does this episode feature a vampire but it also features the great character actor, William Daniels.  William Daniels is one of those actors who plays astonishment quite well so his scenes with Kolchak are a lot of fun.

This episode originally aired on October 4th, 1974.

Enjoy!

Bubba’s Revenge: Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981, directed by Frank De Felitta)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

Dude, this movie.

Charles Durning plays Otis P. Hazelrigg, a postman in a small town who has an unhealthy interest in a ten year-old girl named Marylee (Tanya Crowe).  When Marylee is mauled and nearly killed by a dog, Otis decides that she was attacked by Bubba Ritter (Larry Drake), a mentally challenged man who has the mind of a child.  With Otis and his redneck friends looking to lynch him, Bubba’s mother disguises him as a scarecrow and tells him to stand out in a field and not move.  When Otis and his friends discover Bubba hiding, they all shoot him until he’s dead.  Otis puts a pitchfork in Bubba’s hands and tells the police that Bubba was attacking them and they didn’t have any choice but to shoot him.

Otis thinks that he’s gotten away with murder but he’s wrong.  After Marylee sings a song in the same field where Bubba was killed, Otis’s friends start dying.  One is suffocated in a grain silo.  Another falls into a thresher.  Before each one dies, they report seeing a scarecrow on their property.  Otis thinks that Bubba’s mother is behind the murders but what if Bubba has actually come back to life?

Dark Night of the Scarecrow will mess up your mind, give you bad dreams, and leave you with a lifelong phobia o scarecrows.  It’s that scary.  I remember that they used to frequently show this movie on TV when I was  growing up and even the commercials were scary.  (The part of the movie that always messed with me were the shots of Bubba’s frightened eyes darting around underneath the scarecrow mask.)  Scarecrows are naturally creepy and the movie’s atmosphere is unsettling but the most frightening thing about Dark Night of the Scarecrow is Otis and the redneck lynch mob that he puts together.  Otis is a thoroughly loathsome character and Charles Durning goes all out playing him.  Otis is a civil servant, which gives him some prestige in the town but he uses that prestige to bully Bubba and harass Marylee.  His concern with Marylee especially feels wrong and the movie does not shy away from the subtext of his interest.  The scarecrow might frighten you but you will absolutely loathe Otis and everyone who follows him.

Dark Night of the Scarecrow was made for television but it’s just as good as any theatrical release.   It is also might be the first movie to feature a killer scarecrow.  Several have been made in the years since but Dark Night of the Scarecrow was the first and it’s still the best.

Horror Scenes That I Love: Dr. Loomis Explains Michael Myers in the original Halloween

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Now, this is good acting!

In this scene from the original Halloween, Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) attempts, as best he can, to explain the unexplainable.  I’ve always felt that Pleasence’s performance in the first film is extremely underrated.  People always tend to concentrate on the scenes where he gets angry and yells or the later films where an obviously fragile Pleasence was clearly doing the best he could with poorly written material.  But, to me, the heart of Pleasence’s performance (and the film itself) is to be found in this beautifully delivered and haunting monologue.

In this scene, we see that Dr. Loomis is himself a victim of Michael Myers.  Spending the last fifteen years with Michael has left Loomis shaken and obviously doubting everything that he once believed.  Whenever I watch both Halloween and its sequel, I always feel very bad for Dr. Loomis.  Not only did he have to spend 15 years with a soulless psychopath but, once Michael escapes, he has to deal with everyone blaming him for it.  Dr. Loomis was literally the only person who saw Michael for what he was.