For today’s horror on the lens, 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!
(And, hey, why wouldn’t gargoyles live in Arizona? I mean, they have to live somewhere, right? Real estate is not cheap.)
This film was introduced to me by TSL contributor and Late Night Movie Gang founder Patrick Smith and we had an absolute blast watching it. 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.
Awwwww! Even zombies occasionally just need a night to go out and have some fun.
I like this video. Far too often, zombie videos are too serious for their own good. This video actually has some fun with the living dead and it ends with a nice little twist.
On tonight’s episode of Suspense, Elaine Court (Felicia Montealegre) just wants to relax. In fact, considering that she’s recovering from a recent heart attack, it’s actually very important that she be allowed to just relax. Too bad there’s a strange man (Stanley Ridges) who keeps mysteriously appearing! One day, when Elaine returns from a trip out, she finds the stranger waiting in her home….
This episode originally aired on December 26th, 1950. Seriously, the day after Christmas!
Today’s scene comes from the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is one of the greatest horror films ever made. Needless to say, since this is the final scene, it’s a huge spoiler if you somehow haven’t seen this movie.
Enjoy, dance, or laugh maniacally. I leave it up to you.
Direct from my aunt’s paperback collection, it’s the story of Portia Differdale and her aunt Sophie!
The time is the 1920s. Sophie has come to Brooklyn, in order to live with the recently widowed Portia. Portia, unfortunately, is having some issues with her neighbors. Portia’s late husband was an occultist and, now that he’s died (more or less a victim of his profession), she’s decided to continue on his work. Needless to say, the local gossips aren’t particularly happy about that. Personally, I would love to live next door to an occultist, just because I would always some place to send any spirits who showed up in my house. “Really, you’re undead?” I would say, “Head on next door.” Sadly, I guess that’s just not the ways things were done in Brooklyn back in the day.
Anyway, Portia is lucky enough to have a potential new suitor. His name is Owen and Sophie thinks that he would be the perfect new husband for Portia! Portia, for her part, agrees. However, it turns out that someone else has her eyes on Owen, as well. Princess Irma Andreyevna Tchernova is wealthy, beautiful, and charming. The uninhibited and flirtatious Princess Tchernova soon appears to have all the men in the community under her spell, including Owen! None of them seem to find it odd that the Princess has an oddly silent servant or that she owns several wolves. Not even the fact that the Princess eats nothing but meat strikes anyone as odd….
Except, of course, for Portia. It doesn’t take long for Portia to figure out that there’s something sinister about the Princess but will she be able to save Owen from her grasp? Read the book to find out!
Greye La Spina was born in 1880 and stared writing horror fiction in the early 20th century, at a time when it was considered somewhat scandalous for a woman to even write fiction, much less horror. Shadow of Evil was originally published over the course of three issues of Weird Tales in 1925. It was then reprinted, in paperback form, in 1966. The cover at the top of this post (and which my sister shared earlier this month) is from the 1966 edition. Since that time, the book has been occasionally reprinted.
It’s a fun read. La Spina was a lively and entertaining writer and she tells this tale with the right mix of melodrama and satire. La Spina obviously loves her unconventional characters and the story is as much about their desire to be independent from the conventions of society as it is about any paranormal activity. It’s got everything — intrigue, romance,humor, scares, thrills, and a wonderful atmosphere. It’s an enjoyable story and, if you can track down a copy, one that’s worth reading.
Jean Rollin’s 1982 masterpiece, The Living Dead Girl, is one that makes me cry every time.
This is one of Rollin’s non-vampire films but it still features the themes for which Rollin was famous. You’ve got a gothic castle. You’ve got the beautiful French countryside. You have two female friends, one of whom is haunted by her memories of the way things used to be and the other is horrified by what her present has become. It’s one of Rollin’s most heartfelt films and also one of his saddest.
Helene (Mairna Pierro) sits in her office in Paris, thinking about her childhood friend, Catherine Valmont (Françoise Blanchard). Catherine died two years ago and, as far as Helene knows, is still in the coffin that sits in the crypt of her family’s estate. When her phone rings, Helene answers. At the other end, no one speaks. But Helene can hear the sound of a music box playing, a music box that once belonged to Catherine.
Yes, Catherine is once again alive. She was brought back to life by ….. well, it’s not really explained. It has something to do with some toxic chemicals that were accidentally spilled by two incompetent thieves who broke into the crypt. The chemicals returned Catherine to a sort of life, except now she’s a silent zombie who needs to feast on blood to survive. Though Catherine has hazy memories of her past, she’s not sure who she is and why she’s suddenly been brought back into the modern world. Catherine promptly kills the two thieves. She also proceeds to kill a real estate agent and her boyfriend. It’s not that Catherine wants to kill. Instead, it’s what she has to do in order to survive. She’s like a cat pouncing on a bird. It’s all instinct.
By the time Helene arrives at the castle, there’s already quite a mess that needs to be cleaned up. But it doesn’t matter to Helene that she’s got four dead bodies of which to dispose. Instead, she’s just happy that her friend has come back to life! Even though Catherine is miserable at the thought of being one of the living dead, Helene is happy that her friend has returned to her and is willing to do whatever has to be done to keep her alive. Helene even tries to offer Catherine a dead bird but Catherine shakes her head. She needs human blood. Fortunately, there is a village….
It’s a sad and deeply sentimental film. Ignore the bloodletting. Pay not attention to the toxic chemicals. Overlook the zombiefication. This is a film about friendship and the love that only best friends can share. Admittedly, Helene can be seen as being a selfish character. As much as Catherine wishes that she could return to the peace of death, Helene refuses to let her go. But, at the same time, who hasn’t had a friend who they would do anything for? If I came back as living dead girl, I might not enjoy having to drink blood but I’d love the friends who kept me supplied.
Rollin’s direction is heartfelt and, as was often the case with his best films, unapologetically mixes sentiment with gore. Mairna Pierro and Francoise Blanchard give two of the best performances that Rollin ever captured on film. Admittedly, there is a somewhat distracting subplot about two annoying American tourists but what would you expect from a director as wonderfully French as Jean Rollin?
From beginning to end, The Living Dead Girl is one of Rollin’s best and a personal favorite of mine.
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!
4 Shots From 4 2009 Horror Films
The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond (2009, dir by Gabriel Bolongna)
You gotta watch out when it comes to those sensory deprivation tanks. They may look like fun and it might seem like a pleasant idea to spend a while floating in and out of a state of consciousness but those tanks will mess you up. Especially if you’ve got unresolved issues with your family and religion.
Also, if you’re going to go to Mexico to try a powerful hallucinogenic, make sure you’re not appearing in a Ken Russell film because again, those drugs will mess you up. It’s like you’ll close your eyes and, when you reopen them, you’ll be in an 80s music video or something.
Now, to be honest, Altered States came out in 1980 so it’s a bit unfair to complain that it looks like a music video from the 80s or, for that matter, the 90s. Instead, it’s more fair to say that a lot of the music videos from those two decades looked like Altered States. That shouldn’t be particularly surprising since this film was directed by Ken Russell and Russell was a director who specialized in combining music with wild imagery.
Altered States may have been directed by Ken Russell but it was written by Paddy Chayefsky. Chayefsky, of course, is best known for writing the script for Network. (He also wrote the script for the Oscar-winning film, Marty.) Chayefsky is one of those writers who is always cited as an inspiration by writers who are trying justify being heavy-handed. For instance, when Aaron Sorkin was criticized for both Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip and The Newsroom, his supporters started talking about how he was just carrying on the proud tradition of Paddy Chayefsky. In his autobiography, A British Picture, Ken Russell portrays Chayefsky as being a pompous control freak who refused to allow any changes to his dialogue-heavy script. Russell responded by directing his actors to speak the dialogue as quickly as possible, rendering much of it incoherent. In a few scenes, he even specifically had the actors eating so that their mouths would be full as they spoke. Chayefsky was not amused and eventually demanded to be credited under his real name, Sidney Aaron.
As for the film itself, it tells the story of Dr. Eddie Jessup (William Hurt, in his film debut), who is convinced that he can cure schizophrenia by exploring states of altered consciousness. As mentioned above, this leads to him floating in a tank and taking hallucinogenics in Mexico. Somehow, this leads to him turning briefly into a caveman and then into some sort of primordial energy creature. His wife (Blair Brown) is not happy that Eddie appears to be determined to reverse evolution and return to mankind’s original form. For that matter, Eddie’s bearded colleagues (Charles Haid and Bob Balaban) all think that he’s playing a dangerous game as well. Eddie’s daughter (Drew Barrymore, making her film debut) isn’t particularly concerned but that’s just because she’s like five and probably thinks it would be fun to have a primordial energy monster to play with. Anyway, it all becomes a question of whether or not all questions need to be answered and whether love can defeat science.
Anyway, this is a deeply silly movie but it’s also kind of compelling, mostly because the uneasy mix of Chayefsky’s pompous, serious-as-Hell script and Ken Russell’s aggressive and semi-satiric directorial style. Chayefsky obviously meant for the story to be taken very seriously whereas Russell takes it not seriously at all. Though Chayesfky and Russell ended up hating each other, Russell keeps the film from becoming the cinematic equivalent of Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s twitter account. Chayefsky’s greatest objection was that Russell directed the actors to not only speak quickly but to also speak over each other but this actually works to the film’s advantage. Eddie and his colleagues are young, arrogant, and determined to make their mark. Of course, they’re going to speak quickly. They’re excited and there’s no time to lose. The film’s best moments are the early ones, where it’s hard not to get swept up in Eddie’s enthusiasm. Of course, once Eddie turns into a caveman, it pretty much becomes impossible to take anything that follows seriously.
For all the talk about the origins of mankind and whether or not love can save the day, the main appeal of this film is to watch William Hurt totally freak out. Jessup’s hallucinations allow Russell to do what he did best and they’re the highlight of the film. Despite Chayefsky’s ambitions, you don’t watch this film for the science. You watch it for the seven-eyed ram and the scenes of Eddie walking into a mushroom cloud. Ken Russell was smart enough to know that audiences would take one look at William Hurt, with his WASP bearing, and totally want to see just how fucked up Eddie Jessup actually was. On that front, Russell totally delivers.
This film is a mess but at least it’s a Ken Russell mess.
Sure, inheriting an old New England farm might sound like a fun idea but what are you going to do if it turns out that the farm is haunted by the spirits of a coven of witches?
That’s the question that Hope Lange and Paul Burke have to find an answer for in this enjoyably spooky 1970 made-for-TV horror film! Lange and Burke both give good performances, generating a lot of sympathy for their unhappily married couple while director John McGreevey does a commendable job of creating and maintaining a nicely ominous atmosphere.
And, of course, John Carradine’s in it! It’s simply not a rural horror film from the 70s without John Carradine!
Through the Shattered Lens 