Since we’ve been talking a lot about the original Little Shop of Horrors today, it’s only appropriate to share a scene from the remake for today’s scene of the day.
From 1986’s Little Shop of Horrors, here is Steve Martin performing Dentist! Because there’s nothing scarier than going to the dentist, right?
Today’s horror song of the day comes from the 1979 film, Beyond The Darkness.
This film’s soundtrack, courtesy of Goblin, was so acclaimed that it later turned up in several other Italian horror film, usually without anyone bothering to clear it with Goblin ahead of time.
This October, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different with my contribution to 4 Shots From 4 Films. I’m going to be taking a little chronological tour of the history of horror cinema, moving from decade to decade.
Today, we begin the 2010s!
4 Shots From 4 Horror Films
The Wolfman (2010, dir by Joe Johnston)
Insidious (2010, dir by James Wan)
Let Me In (2011, dir by Matt Reeves)
The Cabin In The Woods (2012, dir by Drew Goddard)
No title card; so, I used this as the title card. *sigh*
This AI short gave me a little jump. It did have some suspense; so, I won’t feed the creator to the sharks. Sorry Sharks.
Woman alone brushing her teeth, but there is a malevolent force in there with her. The bathroom is by definition private and you’re almost always vulnerable. The film has some suspense and payoff.
It is worth watching.
Whenever it’s time to share this film for Horrorthon, I have a little story that I like to tell:
Enter singing.
Little Shop.…Little Shop of Horrors.…Little Shop.…Little Shop of Terrors….
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….
(Mourner by Erin Nicole)
“Most of the laugh tracks on television were recorded in the early 1950’s. These days, most of the people you hear laughing are dead.”
― Chuck Palahniuk
by Erin Nicole
Don’t look up.
This was one of the earliest music videos, featuring a band that seemed to be destined to take advantage of the format. The song was written a time when Jim Morrison was going through a period of depression. While watching the sunset at Robby Krieger’s house, he suddenly had the realization that “If you’re strange, people are strange.”
Enjoy!
For today’s horror on television, we have a made-for-TV monster movie from 1972, Gargoyles!
What happens when a somewhat condescending anthropologist (Cornel Wilde) and his daughter (Jennifer Salt) head out to the desert? Well, they stop by a crazy old man’s shack so that they can look at his genuine monster skeleton. Before Wilde can thoroughly debunk the old man’s claims, the shack is attacked by real monsters!
That’s right! Gargoyles exist and they apparently live in Arizona! There’s nothing particularly surprising about the plot but the gargoyles are memorable creations and Bernie Casey gives a good performance as their leader. The gargoyle makeup was designed by none other than Stan Winston, who won an Emmy for his work here and who went on to win Oscars for his work on Aliens, Terminator 2, and Jurassic Park.
As well, a very young Scott Glenn shows up in the cast. I like to think that he’s playing the same character in both Gargoyles and Sucker Punch.
Enjoy!
Loosely based on the real-life exploits of a serial killer in Hong Kong in the mid-80’s, THE UNTOLD STORY (1993) unfolds over a couple of different timelines. The film opens with a flashback to Hong Kong circa 1978, where we witness a horrific murder committed by Chan Chi-Leung (Anthony Wong) over a game of mahjong. In order to try to conceal the murder, we see the killer as he destroys his old identification documents and creates a completely new identity. As the opening credits end, we’re “in the present” and join a group of kids playing on the beach when they discover a plastic bag containing severed human body parts. Soon the police are on the scene, led by Inspector Lee (Danny Lee) and a ragtag team of wisecracking detectives. Their investigation leads them to the Eight Immortals Restaurant, a place that is known for its barbecued pork buns, and its seemingly polite but evasive owner, Wong Chi Hang, who just happens to be the same guy we saw committing vicious murder at the opening of the film. Wong claims he bought the place from Cheng Lam (Siu-Ming Lau), who along with his entire family, has mysteriously vanished. As the cops dig deeper, too many things just aren’t adding up, like the restaurant’s high employee turnover rate and Wong’s inability to produce ownership papers. The cops eventually arrest him and attempt to torture a confession out of him. The flashback timeline kicks back in after Wong is arrested and put through hell by his fellow jailbirds and by the police themselves. When he finally cracks, we learn the secrets of “the untold story!”
Right off the bat, I want to make the statement that THE UNTOLD STORY is not a film that’s meant for everyone. Unless you have a strong stomach and can handle extreme gore and vicious cruelty (of both a violent and sexual nature) depicted in graphic detail, you may want to stay away. As I’m definitely a squeamish viewer, I stayed away from this film for many years due to its reputation. My curiosity eventually overcame my good sense, and I gave it a watch a number of years ago. I mean, the film is a Hong Kong “Category III” rated landmark, and Anthony Wong did win the Best Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards for his performance in the movie. It stands to reason that a guy who calls himself a true fan of Hong Kong cinema should give THE UNTOLD STORY a go! Let me just say this, as someone who grew up on Hollywood films, even the goriest films had certain lines that they would not cross. There are no such lines in this film. Director Herman Yau’s 1993 Hong Kong exploitation film is an unflinching punch to the gut in its willingness to go to unacceptable extremes without any apology to the viewer. Just know that going in.
Now that I’ve properly prepared you for the excessively cruel and gruesome nature of the violence in the film, I now have to try to put into words my actual thoughts on the film itself. One of the things that stood out to me as I watched the movie is the stark contrast between the horrific nature of the violence on screen and the “zany antics” of the police who are working the case. Led by THE KILLER’s Danny Lee as the distracted Inspector Lee, who always has a beautiful prostitute on his arm as he visits crimes scenes and the police station, this group of investigators spends a lot of their time acting like immature teenagers rather than serious cops. Imagine if you and your friends in high school were trying to solve a serial killer case, and we got to watch how you acted on stakeouts and in the police locker room, and you might get an idea of what I mean. My guess is that this is meant to make the violent content a little easier to swallow, as well as poke some fun at the “macho men” who are in charge of solving these kinds of crimes. In some ways it works, but there’s still no protection once Wong goes bonkers.
And speaking of Anthony Wong, he is absolutely incredible in this film as the unimaginably disturbed killer. We watch him explode with rage, commit the most heinous acts imaginable, and then just clean up his mess like he’s doing his daily household chores. I guess it helps that he’s a good cook! Hell, there’s a point near the end of the film where his performance almost leads you to having sympathy for him as the police and his fellow inmates are torturing him! Almost, because the worst flashbacks are still yet to come. Wong is one of the best actors to have ever worked in Hong Kong cinema, and his masterful acting elevates the film to a level of cinematic respectability not yet afforded to such a grisly exploitation film. This is the first of five Hong Kong Film awards won by Anthony Wong.
Overall, THE UNTOLD STORY is cinema as an endurance test, delivering an all too real depiction of a vicious killer committing unspeakable violence on screen. The goofy police squad provides some tonal relief, but this movie is not for the faint of stomach. However, for those brave viewers who can handle the graphic violence and who enjoy dramatizations of true crime from incredible actors, you will be rewarded because the filmmakers were able to come up with something special. As I type this, it’s streaming on Tubi for free!
Through the Shattered Lens 