British babes Mary and Madeleine Collinson became the first set of twins to not only star as Playboy Twin Centerfolds (and we’ll get to that at the end of this post!!), but to star in a Hammer Horror film, 1971’s TWINS OF EVIL. Not only that, the lasses got to play opposite Hammer icon Peter Cushing as their puritanical, witch burning uncle. It’s the final chapter in Hammer’s Karnstein Trilogy (preceded by 1970’s THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and 1971’s LUST FOR A VAMPIRE), based on characters from Sheridan LeFanu’s 1872 novella , and it’s a sexy, blood-spattered scream!
As uncle Gustav Weil goes around the countryside burning young girls at the stake, his recently orphaned twin teenage nieces Maria and Frieda arrive from Venice. Prudish Uncle Gustav disapproves of the girls’ plunging decolletage (“What kind of plumage is this? The birds of paradise?”). While Maria is shy and demure, Frieda’s a…
I swear, nothing annoys me more than when wannabe hipsters go out of their way to trash old movies.
You see that a lot on twitter. People who, for the most part, haven’t even studied film or cultural history will try to post something snarky about a film that was made decades before they were born. They either make fun of the acting or the dialogue or they attempt to call out the film for not being properly woke. It’s an easy way to get likes and retweets but it’s also about as intellectually lazy as you can get.
For instance, there’s a tendency to dismiss the 1931 version of Dracula and Bela Lugosi’s performance in the lead role. Personally, I do think that Dracula is a bit too stagey (it was, after all, based on a stage play that was based on Bram Stoker’s novel) and I wouldn’t put it up there with director Tod Browning’s best work. The Spanish-language version ofDracula, which was filmed at the same time, is technically a better film. But, that being said, I will accept no criticism of Lugosi’s performance. Lugosi is the perfect Dracula. If he seems overly theatrical …. well, Dracula’s a pretty theatrical character. It has to be remembered that Lugosi is playing a character who is supposed to be several hundred years old. If he acts like a man out-of-time, that’s because that is exactly what he is.
Ultimately, it comes down to this — a lot of actors have played Dracula. Some of them have been very good in the role. Some of them have been very bad. But, if not for Lugosi, none of them would have had the opportunity.
So, in honor of that legacy, today’s horror scene that I love comes from the original Dracula and features Bela Lugosi at his creepiest:
A few weeks ago, I was going through my aunt’s collection of old paperback novels, searching for anything that I could possibly review during October. While I found a good deal of promising books, I have to admit that I almost squealed for joy when I came across Air Force One Is Haunted.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I had never heard of the book before and I knew absolutely nothing about the plot. But I saw that title and I knew I just had to read it. I mean, seriously — Air Force One Is Haunted! That’s like the greatest title ever! I looked at that title and I asked myself, “What’s haunting Air Force One? Angry druids? Zombies? Succubi? Woodrow Wilson?” Either way, it sounded like it had the potential to be terrifying!
Then I got home and I read the book and I discovered that …. well, let’s just say that my imagination got ahead of me.
Air Force Is Haunted was originally published in 1985 and the author was not only a world-renowned aviation expert but he was also the brother of Twilight Zone-creator Rod Serling. So, it’s perhaps not surprising that Air Force One Is Haunted feels like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone. It’s one of those things where a good but conflicted person has the chance to do something that seems like it might be good for him but it will also be bad for the world at large. Fortunately, a ghost shows up and gives him a lot of advice.
The conflicted person, in this case, is President Jeremy Haines. Haines is in his second term and it seems like the entire world is falling apart around him. America’s in the middle of a great depression. Russia and China are teaming up to possibly try to take over the world. President Haines could always launch a first strike, which would wipe out Russia as a world power but which would also kill a lot of innocent civilians. He can’t make up his mind what to do and, as a result, people across the world are starting to view him as being weak. The President has even started to see a psychiatrist but they’re soon too busy having tasteful, mass market paperback-style sex to actually do anything about the President’s issues.
If only there was a mediocre ex-president that Haines could talk to and get some advice from! However, it appears that even Jimmy Carter is refusing to take his calls.
That’s when FDR shows up.
That’s right. It turns out that FDR is haunting Air Force One and, whenever President Haines boards the plane, he ends up getting advice from him. FDR has a lot of stories to tell about governing during an economic depression. He also says “Bully,” a lot, even though that was Teddy’s phrase.
Anyway, I think the book would have been a bit more interesting if FDR had turned out of be some sort of malevolent demon who intentionally gave President Haines bad advice that eventually led to World War III. And, to be honest, I kept expecting that too happen. I kept expecting FDR’s eyes to suddenly burn like hellfire as he said, “Burn it! BURN IT TO THE GROUND!” But that never happened. Instead, this is one of those books where FDR is the greatest dead president ever and, in the end, middle-of-the-road liberalism keeps the world safe for democracy.
As you’re probably guessing, this is kind of a corny book but it is written with a lot of sincerity. One gets the feeling that Serling really did feel that, if only America’s leaders just looked to the ghost of FDR, every problem in the world would be solved. The book is also overwritten in the way that well-meaning, melodramatic novels of the past often were. One character is identified as having a “gnawing ulcer of doubt” deep in the “bowels of his conscience.” (Ewwwwwww!) That’s the type of book that this is. It’s definitely a product of its time but, if you’re a history nerd like me, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
If anyone is haunting Air Force One, I personally hope that it’s Rutherford B. Hayes. He was the best!
The year is 1820 and Balduin (Paul Wegener) has a problem.
Yes, he might be the most popular student at the University of Prague. And yes, he may be known as the greatest swordsman in the city. And yes, he might get invited to all of the parties and he might have a lot of friends who all look up to him. However, what Balduin does not have is money. While everyone else seems to be living a life of luxury, Balduin lives in a tiny room where his only luxury is the mirror in which he often appreciates his own reflection.
Balduin could really use some money because he’s fallen in love with Countess Margit (Grete Berger) but there’s no way that a member of the noble class could ever marry a destitute man. Instead, it appears that Margit is destined to marry her cousin, the Baron (Fritz Wiedermann).
However, an old man named Scapinelli (John Gottowt) claims to have a solution. He promises to give Balduin a fortune in gold if he agrees to let Scapinelli remove just one thing from his room. Convinced that he’s fooled the old man because he has nothing of worth in his room, Balduin agrees to Scapinelli’s conditions. Scapinelli promptly turns to the mirror and, as Balduin watches, Balduin’s reflection steps out of the mirror and then leaves with Scapinelli. Balduin starts to laugh hysterically.
So now, Balduin has no reflection but he does have a lot of money! Balduin sets out to try to win Margit away from the Baron. Making things difficult is that, no matter where Balduin goes, someone always seems to be following him. Sometimes, it’s a mysterious wandering girl (Lyda Salmonova) who always seems to be intent on eavesdropping on every conversation that he has. And then other times, it’s his doppelganger! There’s now two Balduins running around Prague and, whenever the first Balduin finds himself alone with Margit, the second Balduin always seems to pop up and ruin everything.
Obviously something must be done….
This German silent film was first released in 1913 and it’s considered by some to be the first feature-length horror film. (Georges Méliès directed several films featuring ghosts and haunted houses but the majority of those films ran only a handful of minutes.) It’s also considered to be one of the first art films and, since Paul Wegener financed the production and distributed the film himself, also the first independent film. It was also the first film to make use of the type of double exposure tricks that we today take for granted. In 1913, audiences were stunned to see Paul Wegener apparently acting opposite himself. The film was a big hit, with none the less than psychoanalyst Otto Rank praising the film for its psychological depth.
Of course, to watch the film today, audiences have to adjust both their expectations and the way that they take in and process cinematic storytelling. As of this writing, The Student of Prague is 106 years old and it’s definitely a film of its time. The camera largely remains stationary and, from a modern perspective, the film is rather slow-paced. And yet, the film’s story remains rather intriguing. Despite the static camera work, the film manages to create and maintain a properly ominous atmosphere and a scene in which Balduin and Margit attempt to meet in a cemetery is effectively creepy. Paul Wegener’s performance holds up well. Largely eschewing the overly theatrical acting style that we usually tend to associate with silent cinema, Wegener gives a nuanced and effectively subtle performance as both Balduin and his doppelganger. When he’s acting opposite of himself, you don’t think about the fact that you’re witnessing an early camera trick. Instead, Wegener creates two separate but believable versions of the same character. The doppelganger represents all of Balduin’s undesirable impulses and everything that has kept Balduin from achieving happiness. By the end of the film, Balduin can’t live with his doppelganger but he can’t live without him as well.
The Student of Prague is an interesting piece of history and one that every true student of horror should watch and learn from at least once.
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
This October, we’re using 4 Shots From 4 Films to look at some of the best years that horror has to offer!
Allie Jones (Bridget Fonda) is an always fashionable software designer who is living in New York City and who has just broken up with her cheating lover, Sam (Steven Weber). She has pretty hair, a big apartment, a closet full of nice clothes, and a totally devoted gay best friend.
Hedra Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is shy and socially awkward and in need of someone who will give her a cute nickname like “Hedy.” She has pretty hair that’s just slightly less pretty than Allie’s, a job at a bookstore, a dead twin sister, a pair of really nice earrings, and a television that only seems to show old black-and-white movies.
Together …. THEY SOLVE CRIMES!
No, actually, they don’t. Instead, Hedy answers an ad that Allie placed about needing a new roommate. Even though Allie was thinking of asking another homeless woman to move in with her, Hedy impresses Allie by fixing her sink. Seriously, how can you turn down a potential roommate who knows how to do simple plumbing? Allie invited Hedy to live with her and, at first, everything is great. Hedy even brings home a dog that Allie quickly falls in love with. However, then Sam shows back up and we quickly discover just how obsessed Hedy has become with her roommate.
Single White Female was originally released way back in 1992 and, even if you’re viewing it for the very first time, you’ll probably feel a sense of deja vu while watching the movie. This is one of those films that has been so endlessly imitated and has been unofficially remade so many times that you probably already know everything that happens in the film, regardless of whether you’ve actually sat through it or not. A few years ago, there was a film called The Roommate that basically was Single White Female, just with a college setting and a bit less of a subversive subtext. As well, I’ve lost count of the number of Lifetime films that have basically ripped off Single White Female‘s plot. Any time that a new friend proves herself to be excessively clingy, chances are that she’s going to get compared to Jennifer Jason Leigh in this film.
And yet, despite all of the imitations, Single White Female still holds up surprisingly well. A lot of that is because Single White Female was directed by Barbert Schroeder. Schroeder started his career as a disciple of the French New Wave and, much like Paul Verhoeven, his American films tend to be genre films with just enough of a subversive subtext to stick in your mind afterwards.
For example, Single White Female is often describes as being a film about “the roommate from Hell” but what always seems to be missed is that, especially during the film’s first half, Allie is often as bad of a roommate as Hedy. For instance, when Allie comes home late after spending two days with Sam, Hedy is pissed off and waiting for her. On the surface, the scene is the first indication that Hedy has become obsessed with Allie. But, at the same time, Hedy actually is making a valid point. After repeatedly telling Hedy that she wants nothing to do with Sam, Allie runs off and spends two days with him without bothering to call home once. Though Hedy may have been a bit too quick to yell, she still had every right to be annoyed.
In fact, Allie really is a bit of self-centered character. She impulsively invited Hedy to live with her and then, just as impulsively, she gets back together with Sam and decides that it’s time for Hedy to move out. Of course, then Hedy tosses a dog out of a window and you pretty much lose whatever sympathy you may have had for her.
Still, you can’t help but feel that, just as Hedy wants to be Allie, there’s a part of Allie that would like to be Hedy. Hedy does all the things that Allie’s scared to do. When Allie is sexually harassed and nearly raped by a client, Hedy’s the one who actually gets revenge. While Allie tries to get over and suppress her anger at Sam, Hedy’s the one who acts on that anger. Just Hedy seems to need Allie’s life to be happy, Allie seems to need Hedy’s anger to survive. In short, there’s a lot more going on underneath the surface of Single White Female than its reputation might lead you to presume.
Not surprisingly, the film is dominated by Jennifer Jason Leigh’s performance. When Hedy first appears, Leigh plays her as just being slightly off. She has some obvious confidence issues but, at the same time, she comes across as being so innocent and naive that you can’t help but want to protect her. You find yourself wondering how she could have possibly survived living in a city like New York. It’s only as the film progresses that you start to discover that Hedy was never particularly naive and everything that she’s done and said has basically been about manipulating the people around her. And yet, even after Hedy has started killing dogs and people, you can’t help but feel a strange empathy (though not necessarily sympathy) for her. There’s an emptiness to Hedy, an emptiness that she attempts to fill by stealing the personalities of the people around her and Leigh does a great job of expressing the pain that would come from not having an identity of your own. Plus, poor Hedy just seemed so happy with Allie said that she liked her earrings! I mean, I just can’t imagine being that insecure but I get the feeling it would really suck.
(Fortunately, I’ve also never really had a truly bad roommate situation. One advantage of having three older sisters is knowing that you’ll always have someone to stay with.)
Despite all of the imitations and rip-offs that have come out over the years, both Single White Female and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s performance hold up remarkably well. I’d recommend watching it before inviting anyone to come live with you. If nothing else, you’ll at least learn what stiletto heels are really for.
(It’s tradition here at the Lens that, every October, we watch the original Little Shop of Horrors. And always, I start things off by telling this story…)
Enter singing.
Little Shop…Little Shop of Horrors…Little Shop…Little Shop of Terrors…
Hi! Good morning and Happy October the 2nd! For today’s plunge into the world of public domain horror films, I’d like to present you with a true classic. From 1960, it’s the original Little Shop of Horrors!
When I was 19 years old, I was in a community theater production of the musical Little Shop of Horrors. Though I think I would have made the perfect Audrey, everybody always snickered whenever I sang so I ended up as a part of “the ensemble.” Being in the ensemble basically meant that I spent a lot of time dancing and showing off lots of cleavage. And you know what? The girl who did play Audrey was screechy, off-key, and annoying and after every show, all the old people in the audience always came back stage and ignored her and went straight over to me. So there.
Anyway, during rehearsals, our director thought it would be so funny if we all watched the original film. Now, I’m sorry to say, much like just about everyone else in the cast, this was my first exposure to the original and I even had to be told that the masochistic dentist patient was being played by Jack Nicholson. However, I’m also very proud to say that — out of that entire cast — I’m the only one who understood that the zero-budget film I was watching was actually better than the big spectacle we were attempting to perform on stage. Certainly, I understood the film better than that screechy little thing that was playing Audrey.
The first Little Shop of Horrors certainly isn’t scary and there’s nobody singing about somewhere that’s green (I always tear up when I hear that song, by the way). However, it is a very, very funny film with the just the right amount of a dark streak to make it perfect Halloween viewing.
So, if you have 72 minutes to kill, check out the original and the best Little Shop of Horrors…
1973’s The Exorcistis often cited as the first horror film to ever be nominated for best picture and technically, I guess that’s correct. It was definitely the first best picture nominee to ever deal with a battle between humans and a malevolent supernatural force and no one can deny that The Exorcist has influenced a countless number of horror films.
That said, I think you could make the argument that Deliverance, which was nominated for best picture the year before The Exorcist, was in its own way, a horror film. Certainly, every crazed hick slasher film that has come out since 1972 owes a debt to Deliverance. Deliverance‘s ending has been imitated by so many other horror films that it’s become a bit of cliche. Though there might not be any supernatural creatures in Deliverance, the film still features its own set of horrifying monsters. The toothless redneck rapists (played by character actor Bill McKinney and rodeo performer Herbert “Cowboy” Coward) seem as if they’ve jumped straight out of a nightmare and into the movie. Of course, they aren’t the only monsters in this film. There’s also the (fictional) Cahulawassee River, which is due to be dammed up and seems to be determined to take out its anger on anyone foolish enough to try to navigate it.
Much as with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(which came out just two years after Deliverance), the main theme here seem to be that you should be careful about going off the main road. Just as the unfortunate hippies and college students in Texas Chainsaw Massacre proved to be no match for a clan of backwoods cannibal, the four middle-aged men at the center of Deliverance discover that they’re no match for either nature or its inhabitants. At the start of the film, we watch as three of the men deal with the locals in a condescending and rather smirky manner. Only one of them actually tries to be nice to the locals, engaging in a banjo duel with a young boy who clearly loves his banjo but who still refuses to smile or shake hands. The boy knows what the men are getting themselves into them. The boy knows what awaits them.
If you grew up in the South, as I did, you’ll recognize all four of the men. It’s not just that they’re played by recognizable actors. It’s that each one of them is a common archetype of the type of men you find down here.
For instance, there’s Lewis (Burt Reynolds), the self-styled alpha male with his leather vest and his bow-and-arrow and his constant talk about how society is eventually going to collapse and only the strong are going to survive. You know that Lewis is full of it from the minute you see him but he’s so charismatic that you can also understand why the other three men have fallen under his control.
And then there’s Bobby (Ned Beatty). Bobby is quick to laugh and quick to talk and quick to make a bad joke. When he says that he’s a salesman, you’re not surprised. From the start of the film, Lewis complains that Bobby isn’t strong enough or serious enough and, when the mountain men attack, Bobby is the one they target. And yet, towards the end of the film, Bobby is the one who sells the hastily concocted story about what happened on the river.
Drew (Ronny Cox) is the nicest of the men. With his glasses and his guitar and his rather touching belief that everything will be okay if everyone just tells the truth, Drew’s the prototype of the Southern liberal. One can imagine him teaching in a community college and vainly trying to convince his relatives that segregation and nostalgia for the Confederacy is holding the South back.
And finally, there’s Ed (Jon Voight). Ed smokes a pipe and it’s obvious that he’s someone who has a very secure life. Ed is the one who is everyone’s friend. He’s the one who sticks up for Bobby. He’s the one who reminds Drew to wear his life jacket. He’s the only one who can get away with (gently) mocking Lewis. Ed seems like a nice guy but, at the start of the film, there’s a strange emptiness to Ed. You get the feeling that the reason Ed is friends with everyone is because he doesn’t have any firm beliefs. Instead, he just adapts to each situation and says whatever everyone wants to hear. You can’t help but wonder what Ed believes. By the end of the movie, of course, both Ed and the viewer have learned what Ed is capable of doing.
Cox, Voight, and especially poor Ned Beatty are all perfectly cast in their roles. Burt Reynolds reportedly felt that this film was his best performance and he was probably right. Director John Boorman captures both the beauty and the menace of nature, leaving you both in awe of the the river and fearful of what it can do those foolish enough to try to conquer it. Interestingly enough, while Boorman was directing Deliverance, he was offered The Exorcist. He turned it down, feeling that the script was too exploitive of the possessed child. Boorman would, however, direct The Exorcist II: The Heretic (co-starring Deliverance‘s Ned Beatty).
(At the same time, Jon Voight was offered the role of Father Karras in The Exorcist but, like Boorman, turned the film down so he could work on Deliverance.)
While the film is best known for its sequences on the river, one should not overlook the haunting scenes of the survivors once they make their way back to civilization. After having spent the previous 80 minutes or so presenting everyone in the backwoods as a threat, the final third of Deliverance actually emphasizes the decency of the townspeople. When one of the men breaks down and starts to cry in the middle of dinner, everyone is quietly respectful of his emotions. Towards the end of the film, as the survivors are driven out of town, they find themselves stuck behind the old country church, which is being moved upriver. “Just got to wait for the church to get out of the way,” their driver says while the church’s bell mournfully rings for both the death of the town and the death of innocence.
(Of course, even with all the kind townspeople around, there’s still a somewhat menacing sheriff. It’s just not a Southern film without a scary sheriff, is it? “Don’t you boys ever do nothing like this again,” he says at one point. The sheriff is played by James Dickey, the author of both the novel and the screenplay on which the film is based.)
Deliverance was nominated for three academy awards. In the directing and the editing categories, it lost to Cabaret. For best picture, it lost to The Godfather. Deliverance, The Godfather, and Cabaret, all competing against each other? 1972 was a very good year.
If you watched Raiders of the Living Dead earlier today, you heard this theme song:
The dead are after me….
We are the Raiders of the Living Dead….
Seriously, how can you not love that!? Yes, the song is totally mid-80s and it’s kind of silly but it’s also kind of perfect. Certainly, it’s the best thing about the film and the song has even gone on to achieve a life outside of the movie that it was written for. There are bands that regularly cover this song. It’s a permanent part of my Halloween playlist.
Seriously, you can ask my friends and they’ll tell you that, every October, they’re forced to listen to me sing this song in my off-key way. The deeeeeeeead are afterrrrrr meeeeee….
Many sites incorrectly refer to this song as being called, like the movie in which it appeared, “Raiders of the Living Dead.” The actual title is The Dead Are After Me. It was written and performed by a musician named George Edward Ott. I did some research and I came across some comments that Ott left on another site, in which he discussed how this song came into existence. From Morgan on Media:
In 1986, after viewing early outtakes of the film with Sam Sherman and Tim Ferrante, I went home and wrote the song in about 15 minutes. Cheesy song for a cheesy movie!
Yes, it is a cheesy song but it’s also rather brilliant in a cheerful, no apologies sort of way. Just try to get out of your head.
So announces Hunter Shaw (Ian Ziering) towards the end of Zombie Tidal Wave, proving once again that any film, regardless of genre or tone, is automatically made a hundred times better by stuffing someone in a wood chipper. Or, in this case, several zombies. Needless to say, there’s soon blood and chunks of blue skin flying everywhere. It’s messy but, when you’re being attacked by zombies, you do what you have to do.
SyFy advertised Zombie Tidal Wave as being from “some of the people behind Sharknado” and this film definitely shares the same sensibility as the first Sharknado film. What’s often forgotten is that the first Sharknado film was not quite the all-out parody that the later films in the series eventually became. It was definitely a comedy but, at the same time, there weren’t any celebrity cameos and David Hasselhoff didn’t end up in space. Instead, it took a ludicrous idea — sharks in a tornado — and then presented it with just a hint of self-awareness.
Zombie Tidal Wave does the same thing. As a result, you do get Ian Ziering delivering one-liners, like the one at the start of this review. And the entire film is full of references to other zombie films. For instance, there’s a band called The Fulcis and the first zombie to appears bears a distinct resemblance to the boat zombie from Zombi 2. The many scenes of zombies rising from the ocean will remind veteran zombie fans of Shock Waves. When the zombies invade a hospital, I was reminded of the infamous Hell of the Living Dead. But, at the same time, Zombie Tidal Wave plays things relatively straight. Zombies invade. People get bitten. Some people sacrifice themselves for the good of the other survivors. Zombie Tidal Wave has its moments of humor but it never becomes an out-and-out parody.
Why are zombies washing up on the shores of an island community? Well, it’s because of an earthquake, one that’s unleashed a horde of the undead. Hunter Shaw is a fisherman and perhaps the most respected citizen of the besieged community. Naturally, it falls upon him to not only bring everyone together but also to figure out how to defeat the zombies. To be honest, it really is a typical SyFy movie, which a handful of characters spending most of the film looking for each other while trying to stay alive and then eventually banding together to battle the threat. Some people, like Hunter and his wife (Cheree Cassidy) rise to the challenge. Others, like the rich white guy in the pink shirt, don’t. Personally, my favorite character was Taani (Angie Teodora Dick) because she grabbed a pointed stick as soon as the invasion began and spent the entire movie kicking zombie ass. GO TAANI!
Anyway, as a lifelong fan of zombie movies, I enjoyed Zombie Tidal Wave. It didn’t waste any time getting to the zombie action and really, that’s the important thing isn’t it? The pace was quick and, as he did in Sharknado, Ian Ziering played the grim hero with the right mix of sincerity and horror. I don’t know if Zombie Tidal Wave is going to launch a Sharknado-style franchise or not but it was still an entertaining SyFy film.
Through the Shattered Lens 