With Halloween approaching, the Shattered Lens presents to you a recording of the 2015 West End production of The Rocky Horror Show, featuring Richard O’Brien, Emma Bunton, Stephen Fry, Anthony Head, Ben Forster, Haley Flaherty, and David Bedella.
The film is so popular that I think some people tend to overlook Rocky Horror‘s theatrical origins. Personally, I prefer this energetic stage version to the film.
1900
For your enjoyment, here’s some old Halloween cards from the start of the 1900s. Back then, as you can see in the cards, the holiday was as much about cats as it was candy!
1908
1909
1910
1910
1911
1913
Have a Merry Halloween!
This was a hard book to review. I had avoided reading it for years because there’s an SA, but also- A CLOWN! Look, clowns are out to murder you! I mean for real they are clowns – see below
Why would you think these creatures would not want to murder your face?! Yes, they have balloon animals, but that that’s just to lure you into for their feeding!
“The Killing Joke” is a Joker origin story and how he was born out of one bad day. We begin with Joker as a struggling comedian with a child on the way. He is desperate for cash and decides to participate in a heist to get out of poverty. The crooks that he teamed up with to do the heist target the Joker’s former job at a chemical plant had always planned on making him the fall guy for the heist. His wife dies by a product malfunction, sending Joker spiraling. Technically, Joker is not born until after he falls into the chemicals, but we see his name pre-Joker; so, maybe he was always Joker? I’m not sure.
The origin story is interwoven with the Joker shooting and SAing Commissioner Gordan’s daughter and generally driving him insane. There is also A LOT of nudity that I wasn’t prepared for with a fair amount of leather. Joker kidnaps Gordan, strips him nude, puts some leather on him, and then makes him look at horrify images of the SA. Honestly, why not just kill Joker? Of course, we would. We’d shoot him on sight as a terrorist. Instead of doing the normal choice and having Joker killed, Gordan wants him taken alive. WHY? Really, why? What more does he have to do? They make a point that Joker wants to show that anyone could be driven insane by one bad day, but the real insanity is not shooting all of these super villains on sight!
The book ends with a joke with the symbolism that life itself and all of the evil he committed was also a joke. It was purposefully ambiguous, but it did scare me- BECAUSE CLOWNS!
Happy Halloween! I see A LOT of terrible movies for your pleasure. It’s a really weird relationship we have. However, I am glad to do it because there are some gems, not from AI because that’s pretty much the worst. “The Mountains of Madness” AI short wasn’t terrible, but maybe I have trouble seeing it now because I have been so mentally hurt….for you. I have seen so many ham-fisted AI slops this month that you’d think that I worked in a deli! Unlike the usual dreck I watch for you, this short is a treasure and I am almost thinking I won’t review any other shorts because I want to end on a high note or maybe I’ll go all in and end on a very low note.
A couple escaped their home where a demon they summoned called “The Choir” has killed all of their friends. One problem: they forgot the cat- Mr Whiskers; so, they have to re-enter the house of horrors to save their pet. There is a recurring song the couple wrote to get the cat to play: “Littlest Man” … it’s cute. As they struggle to rescue their cat, we learn that they are an unhappy couple.
The unhappy duo must fight “The Choir” demon to get the cat. The demon’s only weakness is loud noises and being stabbed. The couple’s relationship is like The Choir demon because they have endless awkward silences, which has destroyed their relationship. The cat was used by the couple to avoid their awkward silences; in fact, the cat was the only glue in their relationship.
By fighting the demon and rescuing their cat, they healed their relationship… a little. I still think that they will break up, but it is ok because the cat is safe and I got to review something good! It’s weird to be able to look a film up on IMDB again because AI films are excluded as far as I am able to ascertain. I recommend this short and I really do believe that you will like it! Enjoy the rest of Halloween!
Since the start of the pulp era, cults have been a popular subject. Usually dressed in red and concealing their faces behind hoods, cult members have menaced and frightened.
For this Halloween, here are some of the cults of the pulp era.
by Walter Baumhofer
by Arnold Kohn
by John Newton Howitt
by Rudolph Zirm
by Tom Lovell
by John Walter Scott
by George Hargis
by Harry Lemon Parkhurst
by Hugh Joseph Ward
by John Drew
by J. Allen St. John
It feels strange to actually watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show without an audience.
I say this because the film is actually far better known for its fans than anything else. First released in 1975 to middling reviews and, at first, anemic box office returns, The Rocky Horror Picture Show went on to become the first great cult film. It’s literally been playing in theaters for 25 years, which has to be some sort of record. When one sees Rocky Horror Picture Show in a theater, one does not merely sit back and watch in a state of suspended animation. Instead, most of the audience becomes a part of the show. They yell, they dance, and many of them return night-after-night. I have been to two midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and I have to admit that it was actually pretty intimidating both times. The people in the audience — the veterans who knew every line and knew exactly what to do — were, more or less, friendly. I’ve read some online horror stories about people who felt like they weren’t welcome the first time they attended a showing. I had the opposite experience. No one was rude, no one glared. It was definitely a cliquey group but I felt as if they had earned the right to be in their clique. No one seemed to be bothered by the fact that I was mostly there just to observe. (I should also mention that neither showing that I attended demanded that the first-time watchers stand up or go to the front of the theater or anything like that. Apparently, there’s quite a few people online who got upset over being singled-out as “virgins” and never got over it.) But it was intimidating in much the same way as meeting a friend of a friend is intimidating or exploring a new town is intimidating. I was surrounded by people who had a deep connection with each other, one that had been forged by sharing the same experience for years. It was a communal experience that was actually touching to see, even if I never stopped feeling like an outsider.
It’s interesting to compare the midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show to the midnight showings of The Room. I attended several midnight showings of The Room and I have to admit that I eventually soured on them as it became clear that many people were showing up to taunt the film as opposed to enjoying it for the odd, communal experience that it was. The last few The Room showings that I attended were filled with a hostility that left me feeling a bit uncomfortable. Whereas The Room’s cult has often felt a bit mean-spirited (as if everyone had gathered together to laugh at Tommy Wiseau for thinking he could make a movie), The Rocky Horror Picture Show‘s cult is based on a genuine love for the film.
As for the film itself, I watched it last month without an audience and I judged it solely as a film. The pacing is a bit off and, without the group experience, it’s a lot easier to notice that the film’s storyline doesn’t make a bit of sense, though that was undoubtedly deliberate on the part of the filmmakers. That said, Tim Curry’s performance still gives the film a jolt of energy, recapturing your attention and holding it until the film comes to a close. (The genius of Curry’s performance as that, as flamboyant as it is, he still plays Dr. Frank-n-Furter as being an actual characters with feelings and emotions. He doesn’t just coast on attitude. One need only compare him to Laverne Cox in the 2016 TV production to see how strong Curry’s performance is.) Susan Sarandon brings some depth to her performance as Janet and, if Barry Bostwick is a little on the dull side of Brad …. well, the heroes who appeared in the film that Rocky Horror sends up were rarely that exciting. I enjoyed the snarky humor of Richard O’Brien’s performance and the energy that Meat Loaf brought to the production. Charles Gray, in the role of the Criminologist, really doesn’t get enough credit for holding the film’s disparate parts together.
In the end, when viewed as a film as opposed to a communal experience, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is undoubtedly flawed but it’s still energetic enough to work. The love for the old sic-fi films comes through and Tim Curry’s uninhibited performance works with or without an audience. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a film that brings people together and I hope it continues to do so.
Johnny was perfectly happy being dead until some obnoxious college friends decided to take a camping trip and came across a locket hanging off of a fire tower. The locket was what kept Johnny’s soul at rest. When one of the group decided to take the locket so that he could give it to his girlfriend, Johnny came back to life.
Already haunted by the tragic memories of his life and how a bunch of bullies murdered him by tricking him into falling off of the tower, Johnny is determined to retrieve the locket. Slowly and methodically, he walks through the wilderness, killing everyone that he encounters as he searches for the one thing that will….
Well, it’s a slasher movie! You know how these things go!
Released in 2024 and directed by Chris Nash, In A Violent Nature‘s plot may be typical slasher stuff but the way the story is told makes the film unique. Nash tells the story almost totally from the point of view of the undead Johnny. The camera follows Johnny as he makes his way through the woods and what we learn about him and his motivations largely comes from the snippets of conversations that we hear from people in the distance. Johnny’s victims largely appear in the distance, having typical slasher film conversations but we only hear them in passing, like fragments from a half-remembered dream or movie. We’re learning with Johnny.
As such, this is the rare slasher movie that requires that one actually pay attention to what is being said. It’s also a rare slasher movie that requires a good deal of patience on the part of the viewers. Johnny moves slowly and so does the movie. Though the kills are certainly bloody and there are plenty of genuinely frightening moments, the film is ultimately more about the sight of hulking, single-minded Johnny walking through the woods and through fields of brilliantly green grass than anything else. If Terence Malick made a slasher movie, it would look a lot like In A Violent Nature. Would Terence Malick have included the yoga kill? Perhaps. I think he would have included a voice-over though about nature, though. (Speaking of the yoga kill, it’s notable that this non-traditional slasher movie features one of the bloodiest killings of the genre, as if the director wanted to make sure that we understood he didn’t consider his film to be too good for the genre. I appreciated that.)
A film like this is great if you’re a fan of both Malick and horror, as I am. If you prefer your slasher films to be a bit less self-consciously esoteric in their approach, you might wonder what all of the hype was about. In A Violent Nature is one of those films that the viewer will either love or the viewer will give up on after several minutes of watching Johnny staring out at the lake. It’s an experimental film and, like all experimental films, it’s not for everyone. That said, if you have the patience for it, it’s an engrossing and off-beat slasher flick.
Happy Halloween!
Watching this movie is a Halloween tradition here at the Shattered Lens and I am honored to keep that tradition alive (heh) in 2025!
Be sure to check out Arleigh’s review!
For the record, you can count me amongst those who thinks that Ben got everyone killed. We root for Ben because he’s the more likable character but, in the end, Harry was right and Ben ended up becoming a cold-blooded murderer. These are the type of things that make Night of the Living Dead the scariest zombie film ever made. The living are just as terrifying as the dead.
I should also note that, for all the criticism the character gets, Barbara has one of the most totally realistic reactions that I’ve ever seen in a horror movie. She’s in shock and denial. I would probably have the same reaction.
And now, here is the greatest zombie film ever made!
Happy Halloween! This is the end to an awesome horrorthon! I will have some more posts today. I will try to find at least one good thing to review for Halloween. It’s not easy and will likely NOT be done by AI because they’re terrible.
The Book Chose Him answers the question: What if Harry Potter sucked and was ninety seconds long?
The film opens with a realistic teenager in a library and magical glowing book starts to open in front of him. I suppose this is the whole “choosing him thing.” Why though? Why stick around to look at a radioactive book? Then, the main character becomes a cartoon, but race swaps from Indian teenager to a eight year old white kid. Why couldn’t he have been Indian the time? It’s confusing and unnecessary.
The protagonist is walking around a fancy library library with glowing candles that are an obvious fire hazard and he switches nationalities 6 more times from white to Indian and back again. It’s super weird. Was there another kid in the library? The protagonist goes to another world where gravity is just not “in” anymore. This is just horrible in every way. This creator should go to the sharks!
This is the worst. Don’t even bother.
To all of our readers
To all of our friends
To every ghoul and fiend out there,
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM THE SHATTERED LENS!
May your Halloween bring you more candy than rocks and we hope you enjoy the last day of our annual horrorthon! Be safe, be sincere, and don’t forget the true meaning on Halloween!
Through the Shattered Lens 