Tonight, on In Search Of…., Leonard Nimoy guides us through an investigation of the Bermuda Triangle!
Tag Archives: Horrorthon
Horror on TV: Thriller 1.8 “The Watcher” (dir by John Brahm)
For tonight’s televised horror, we have another episode of the Boris Karloff-hosted anthology series, Thriller!
In this episode, a religious fanatic in a named Freitag (Martin Gabel) lives in a resort community and targets young people who he believes have failed to live up to his standards. His latest targets are played by Olive Sturgess and Richard Chamberlain. This is actually a rather grisly little episode. With its theme of religious hypocrisy, I can only imagine how people reacted when it was first aired on November 1st, 1960.
The Wolverine (2013, directed by James Mangold)
Having left the X-Men after the death of Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), Logan (Hugh Jackman) is now living as a hermit in the Canadian wilderness. He is haunted by dreams of his past and visions of Jean. (In the X-Men comic books, Scott Summers was the one who went off to live as a hermit and was haunted by memories of Jean, but since Scott was killed off in X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan was the one who got this story and the visions of lingerie-clad Jean, despite never having been in a truly romantic relationship with her.) Logan is drawn out of hiding by Yukio (Rila Fukushima), a mutant who can predict when people are going to die. Yukio works for Ichiro Yashida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), a Japanese industrialist who first met Logan during World War II. Logan saved Yashida’s life when Nagasaki was bombed.
Logan and Yukio return to Japan, where Logan discovers that Yashida is on the verge of death. Yashida and Dr. Green (Svetlana Khodchenkova) have apparently developed a way to transfer Logan’s self-healing powers to Yashida, but Logan refuses to cooperate, explaining that immortality is a curse. When Yashida dies, Logan finds himself at war with the Yakuza and also without his power of self-regeneration.
The Wolverine isn’t bad. Even though Logan is no longer as interesting a character as he was when he made his first film appearance in X-Men, the film features some of the best action sequences to be found in the entire X-Men franchise. The extended fight sequence that takes place on top of a bullet train is especially exciting, and it holds up even when you watch it a second time. Unlike the previous X-Men film, The Wolverine makes good use of its characters. The Silver Samurai may be a lesser villain in the comic books, but in this movie, he was one of the few opponents who seem able to match Logan’s combat skills. For the most part, the movie respects the lore of the comic books without getting bogged down in mythology.
Wolverine finally makes peace with himself at the end of this movie. Of course, as soon as he does, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart show up with a new mission for him. A hero’s work is never done.
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015, directed by Gregory Plotkin)
Ryan and Emily Fleege (played by Chris J. Murray and Brit Shaw) have just moved into a new home with their six-year-old daughter, Leila (Ivy George). They are being visited by both Ryan’s brother, Mike (Dan Gill), and Emily’s best friend, Skyler (Olivia Dudley). While cleaning out the garage, Mike and Ryan come across an old video camera and several VHS tapes featuring young Katie and Kristi from the previous Paranormal Activity films. It turns out that their house has been built over the remains of Katie and Kristi’s old house and that the old video camera can pick up and record traces of ghosts and evil spirits.
That last bit is exactly why this installment of Paranormal Activity doesn’t work. The previous films were scary because the characters could hear and sometimes feel the spirits but they couldn’t actually see them. That always left open the possibility that they were just imagining things. In this one, everyone can actually see the evidence of the house being haunted but they still don’t leave! This is the first Paranormal Activity to make heavy use of CGI, which goes against the whole idea of the films being found footage.
The other problem is that, six films in, the Paranormal Activity series finally fell victim to its own increasingly complex mythology. The first two films worked because they kept things simple. Things started to get more complicated during the third film. By the time Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension was released, the story had grown to include a coven of witches, a family curse, a demon named Toby, and now a camera that can film otherwise invisible spirits. The more elements that are added, the harder it is to ignore the holes in the plot and illogical actions of the characters.
I would have ended things with the second film, but I also would have lost out on all the money made by the third, fourth, and fifth films. Even this installment, which was the weakest box office performer of all of the films, still made a profit. That shows how much I know.
Look Up, AI Short Film Review by Case Wright
AI is not always great. I do use it a lot for patent-related work, legal questions, and drafting legal documents. However, for AI to be a tool- you can’t be one. A guy jogs in casual Friday gear, he gets shot with a tree dart, hallucinates, and is kidnapped by a large bat-crow. I never thought about making something boring. Maybe, my writing is not always great, but I don’t think it’s boring.
If the apocalypse is this boring, I pass. Maybe it’s just crow-related apocalypses that are boring? I’m not sure, but this was 4 minutes of my life that was stolen from me. Just stolen!
Brad reviews THE HAND (1981), starring Michael Caine!
One of my favorite things about my lifetime of loving movies has been those times when I’ve discovered the actors who really appeal to me. It all started with Charles Bronson when I was in grade school. I call it going through a phase, and while I’m in that phase, I try to watch everything that actor has done that looks the least bit interesting to me. Of course, my Charles Bronson phase has never ended, but there has always been room for additional phases, whether it be actors like Roy Scheider, James Woods, Toshiro Mifune, Chow Yun-Fat, or yes, Michael Caine. When I went through my initial Caine phase, I focused on movies like THE ITALIAN JOB, GET CARTER, and DRESSED TO KILL. Later in his career, I focused on his movies like A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM, SECONDHAND LIONS, and HARRY BROWN. I knew about THE HAND, but I never watched it before moving on to the next phase. But this being Horror-Thon, and me looking for interesting movies I’ve never seen before, this seemed like the perfect time to spend a couple of hours with Michael Caine and his hand!
THE HAND finds Caine playing Jonathan Lansdale, a successful comic book artist whose life takes a turn for the worse after a car accident results in the gruesome loss of his right hand. That would be bad enough for anyone, but his newfound situation will no longer allow him to create his beloved comic book, and his struggling marriage only seems to be getting worse. When a series of increasingly disturbing events seem to be taking place around him, we’re left to wonder… is his missing hand somehow responsible for the escalating violence around him, or is he going out of his mind?!
One of the intriguing aspects of THE HAND is that it was directed by Oliver Stone who would go on to win Oscars for directing the films PLATOON and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY. Having just won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, Stone was a hot property at the time so it’s no surprise that he was given another chance to direct. He had written and directed the film SEIZURE back in 1974, but this was his first major studio film. With a man of his acclaim and talent in the director’s chair, and with a legendary actor like Michael Caine in the lead, THE HAND would have to be worth watching, right?
I’m going to definitely say “Yes!” Watching Stone deliver the absurd visuals of a creepy severed hand performing a series of gruesome killings brought a ridiculous smile to my face. I’m actually laughing as I type this and think about them again. Not content with my cheap thrills though, Stone also tries to get deep into his main character’s mind so he can play with the uncertainty between reality and imagination. I’m not saying this attempt at psychological depth always works, but it’s kind of fun seeing him try to turn such silly material into something of more substance.
And then there’s Caine in the lead role, which is my primary reason for watching the film. I always like it when he loses it on screen, and he definitely gets to explore his dark side as Jonathan Lansdale. There’s nothing suave about this guy. Rather, he’s playing a man whose life is falling completely apart. While we can at least superficially understand why he would be so frustrated, Caine’s eyes reveal a man who’s leaving the world of reality, and there’s no scenery that he’s not willing to chew by the end. I’ve read that Caine did this movie for the paycheck, and while that may be true, he definitely seems invested to me. Other solid performances come from Andrea Marcovicci as his wife, Bruce McGill as his friend, and Annie McEnroe as his lover. Unfortunately, no one who gets too close is safe from his hand of death!
I understand that not everyone is going to enjoy THE HAND. I’ve said many times before that I’m a fan of actors, and if a movie stars one of my favorites, I’ll give it a lot of grace. Still, I can’t deny that I had a good time watching it even if it might have overstayed its welcome just a bit. While I won’t give the movie a hearty, full-throated recommendation, if you’re a fan of Stone, Caine, or oddball horror films, you just may find a lot to enjoy about this film like I did.
Artist Profile: The Weird Covers Of Mally and RLM
A 1911 graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, George William Mally is today remembered as the cover artist for the earliest issues of Weird Tales. He always signed his work “Mally” and then added RLM immediately afterwards. RLM stood for Rita Lena Mikelson, who was Malley’s wife. It’s not known how much Rita contributed to the covers, She was never credited on any of Malley’s post-Weird Tales work and it doesn’t ever appear that she ever attended art school or was credited with any work on her own. What is known is that Rita and George were married from 1917 until Malley’s death in 1971 and that they had two sons. Ruth passed away in 1977.
Here are a few Weird covers from Mally and RLM. All of these covers come from 1923 and 1924.
Bonus Horror On The Lens: It Conquered The World (dir by Roger Corman)
“Man is a feeling creature, and because of it, the greatest in the universe….”
Hell yeah! You tell ’em, Peter Graves!
In 1956’s It Conquered The World. Graves plays a scientist who watches in horror as his small town and all of the people who he loves and works with are taken over by an alien. Rival scientist Lee Van Cleef thinks that the alien is going to make the world a better place but Graves understands that a world without individual freedom isn’t one that’s worth living in.
This is one of Corman’s most entertaining films, featuring not only Graves and Van Cleef but also the great Beverly Garland. Like many horror and science fiction films of the 50s, it’s subtext is one of anti-collectivism. Depending on your politics, you could view the film as either a criticism of communism or McCarthyism. Watching the film today, with its scenes of the police and the other towns people hunting anyone who fails to conform or follow orders, it’s hard not to see the excesses of the COVID era.
Of course, there’s also a very persuasive argument to be made that maybe we shouldn’t worry too much about subtext and we should just enjoy the film as a 50s B-movie that was directed with the Corman touch.
Regardless of how interpret the film, I defy anyone not to smile at the sight of ultra-serious Peter Graves riding his bicycle from one location to another.
Here, for your viewing pleasure, is It Conquered The World!
Horror On The Lens: Little Shop of Horrors (dir by Roger Corman)
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….
Horror Song of the Day: Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr.
Today’s song of the day is this 1984 classic from Ray Parker, Jr. Have you busted a ghost today?
