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 is all about letting the visuals do the talking.
Today’s director: Jacques Tourneur!
4 Shots From 4 Films
Cat People (1942, dir by Jacques Tourneur, DP: Nicholas Musuraca)
I Walked With A Zombie (1943, dir by Jacques Tourneur, DP: J. Roy Hunt)
The Leopard Man (1943, dir by Jacques Tourneur, DP: Robert De Grasse)
Night of the Demon (1957, dir by Jacques Tourneur, DP: Ted Scaife)
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on twitter. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.
Tonight, we’ve got a special Halloween double feature! First up, we’ve got 1977’s Suspiria, directed by Dario Argento and hosted by me!
After Suspiria, we will watch the original Terrifier, starring Art the Clown!
Along the way, we will have tricks, treats, trivia, and prizes! The Halloween season is always fun at #ScarySocial!
If you want to join us on Saturday night, just hop onto twitter, start Suspiria at 9 pm et, and use the #ScarySocial hashtag! The films are available on Prime! I’ll be there co-hosting and I imagine some other members of the TSL Crew will be there as well. It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
The 1974 film Silent Night, Bloody Night is an oddity.
On the one hand, it’s pretty much a standard slasher film, complete with a menacing mansion, a horrible secret, a twist ending, and John Carradine playing a mute newspaper editor.
On the other hand, director Ted Gershuny directs like he’s making an underground art film and several of the supporting roles are played by actors who were best known for their association with Andy Warhol.
Personally, I like Silent Night, Bloody Night. It has a terrible reputation and the film’s star, Mary Woronov, has gone on record calling it a “terrible movie” but I like the surreal touches the Gershuny brought to the material and the sepia-toned flashbacks have a nightmarish intensity to them. The film makes no logical sense, which actually makes it all the more appealing to me. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary.
Suspiria (1977, dir by Dario Argento, DP: Luciano Tovoli)
You knew this was coming!
Today’s horror song of the day is the classic main theme to Dario Argento’s Suspiria! (The Argento version is the only version that matters.) The iconic soundtrack was composed by Goblin. I saw an interview with Claudio Simonetti in which he said he wanted the song to be “almost annoying” in its intensity. While I could never be annoyed this song, I do understand Simonetti’s point. The score is designed to be as overwhelming as the evil at the center of the film.
Today’s horror scene that I love comes from one of my favorite films, 1953’s Creature From The Black Lagoon. In this scene, Julia Adams goes for a swim. Little does she realize that, under the water, the Creature is following her every move. Wonderfully directed by Jack Arnold, this creepy yet oddly lovely scene is one of the best of the 50s.
(By the way, I’m happy to say that I will be viewing this wonderful movie on the big screen this weekend! I can’t wait!)
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!
Today, we honor the one and only Jack Arnold, who was responsible for some of the best sci-fi/horror films of the 1950s.
4 Shots From 4 Jack Arnold Films
It Came From Outer Space (1953, dir by Jack Arnold, DP: Clifford Stine)
The Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954, dir by Jack Arnold, DP: William E. Snyder)
Tarantula (1955, dir by Jack Arnold, DP: George Robinson)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957, dir by Jack Arnold, DP: Ellis W. Carter)
“Tom Stewart killed me!” shouts the spirit of Vi Mason (Juli Reding).
Technically, it’s debatable whether or not Tom Stewart (Richard Carlson) actually killed Vi. As is seen during the opening moments of 1960’s Tormented, Vi actually slipped and was clinging onto the lighthouse’s balcony for dear life before she fell to her death on the rocks below. Tom didn’t push her and he didn’t force her to fall. However, Tom did refuse to pull her up. After she fell, he ran into the ocean and thought he had dragged back to safety. But then it turned out that he was just dragging around a bunch of seaweed.
To a certain extent, Tom is glad to be done with Vi. Vi was his ex-girlfriend and she was determined to keep Tom from marrying the rich and innocent, Meg (Lugene Sanders). Meg’s father (Harry Fleer) already hates Tom because he’s not only a pianist but he’s also a jazz pianist! Still, Meg loves Tom and, in a somewhat disturbing way, Meg’s little sister, Sandy (Susan Gordon), seems to be kind of obsessed with Tom as well. “Why can’t I get married!?” Sandy demands. BECAUSE YOU’RE LIKE TEN, YOU LITTLE BRAT!
Still, it’s not helping Tom that he keeps hearing Vi’s voice and seeing her ghost. Everyone in the village think that Tom is acting strangely but they dismiss it as pre-wedding jitters. (And, of course, his future father-in-law just assumes that Tom is being weird because he’s one of those jazz pianists.) If it wasn’t bad enough that Tom is having to deal with Vi’s ghost, he’s also got a hepcat blackmailer named Nick (Joe Turkel). Nick was hired to take Vi out to the island where Tom lives. When Vi doesn’t return to pay him, Nick goes to Tom for the money. When Nick overhears that Tom is about to marry a rich woman, Nick decides that he needs even more money.
Joe Turkel was one of the great character actors. A favorite of Stanley Kubrick’s, he appeared in Paths of Glory and later played Lloyd the Bartender in The Shining, Turkel also played Eldon Tyrrell in Blade Runner, in which he made the mistake of talking down to Rutger Hauer’s Roy. In the role of Nick, Tukel is the best thing to be found in Tormented. Turkel delivers all of his dialogue with a wonderfully insolent attitude. He’s the type of character who, in the style of Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear, refers to everyone he meets as “Dad.” He’s a lowlife and criminal but he’s got the spirit of Kerouac and Cassady in him and it doesn’t take him long to see straight through Tom.
Tormented was directed by Bert I. Gordon, who was best-known for his movies about giant monsters. There aren’t any monsters in Tormented but there is a really shrill ghost and a truly unlikable protagonist. There’s a lot flaws to be found in this film but Joe Turkel makes up for a lot of them. And the scene where Vi’s ghost objects to Tom’s wedding is a lot creepier than it really has any right to be. This is probably the best film that Bert I. Gordon ever directed, which does not necessarily mean its a good film. Bert I. Gordon was still Bert I. Gordon. But Tormented is definitely entertaining.
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly live tweets on Twitter and Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We tweet our way through it.
Tonight, at 10 pm et, #FridayNightFlix presents 1966’s Kill, Baby, Kill,, directed by Mario Bava!
If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag! It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.
Kill, Baby, Kill is available on Prime! See you there!
Well, there’s less than a week to go until Halloween and, traditionally, this is 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 (some of which we’ve watched on this very site), 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.
Today’s horror song of the day comes from the great John Carpenter!
Here is the main theme from his criminally underrated 1987 film, The Prince of Darkness. Carpenter is really fortunate in that he not only has a vision but he also has the talent to create the music to go along with that vision.
Through the Shattered Lens 