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.
Today’s music video of the day is for an instrumental piece that was composed by Bill Wyman and Terry Taylor for Dario Argento’s 1985 film, Phenomena.
Put together by Michele Soavi, this music video features not only scenes from the film but also clips of Dario Argento directing both Jennifer Connelly and Fiore Argento. Soavi, of course, went on to have a directorial career of his own, directing four classic horror films before stepping away from feature films to take care of his ailing son. Soavi has since returned to directing, though most of his subsequent work has been for Italian television.
At the start of 2011’s The Reverend, the Devil (Rutger Hauer) pulls up in front of a luxurious hotel. He gets out of his limo, enters the hotel, and finds God (Giovanni Lombardo Radice) sitting at his desk, surrounded by armed priests.
God asks the Devil what he’s been doing. The Devil says he’s been traveling the world and tempting men to do evil. The Devil says that he wants permission to ruin the life of one man who is virtuous and God-fearing, saying that the man will reject his faith as things get worse and worse. God agrees, as long as the man is not killed….
Does this sound familiar? Yep, this is yet another adaptation of the Book of Job. Or, I should say, this film pretends to be an adaptation of the Book of Job. The nameless Reverend (Stuart Brennan) is a God-fearing man whose life goes downhill after he’s bitten by a vampire. That said, there’s really not much of a comparison to be made between the Reverend and Job. Job lost everything, including his land and his family and the majority of his friends. The Reverend doesn’t really have any friends to lose and he actually gets better at his job after he is turned into a vampire and proceeds to take out his village’s criminal element.
In fact, the entire prologue between God and the Devil feels as if it was tacked on at the last minute. It really doesn’t connect to the rest of the film and we certainly don’t learn whether it was God or the Devil who won the bet. Hauer and Radice only appear in that one scene and then they are never heard from again. That’s a shame because, to be honest, the only reason I watched this movie was for the chance to see Hauer and Radice together. They were both incredible character actors and tragically, both of them are no longer with us. Hauer passed away in 2019 and Radice died last year. Neither one of them looks particularly healthy in the prologue, though it is nice to see the two of them sharing the screen together, albeit for just a few minutes.
As for the rest of the film, it did have potential. There’s a lot of blood spilled and that’s always a plus when it comes to a vampire movie. Doug Bradley gives a good performance as the Reverend’s enigmatic superior. Stuart Brannen is himself likable enough as the Reverend and the scene where he’s first bitten has a kinetic energy to it that briefly gave me some hope for the rest of the film.
Unfortunately, with the exception of the aforementioned scenes, The Reverend is a rather slow movie and one that never succeeds in building up any sort of narrative momentum. (I guess that’s a polite way of saying that it’s kind of boring.) As a character, The Reverend is likable but he’s never compelling and the film ends on a rather anticlimactic note. The film had potential but sadly, most of it went unrealized.
Today’s horror scene that I love is the opening production number of Michele Soavi’s 1987 masterpiece, Stagefright.
Not only does the opening scene wonderfully satirize both a certain type of stage production and a certain type of exploitation film, it also lets the audience know that they’re about to something that is more than just another Italian slasher film. With this opening sequence, Soavi announced his arrival as a major filmmaker.
Personally, I can’t help but laugh when the saxophone makes an appearance. Anyone who has ever been involved in a community theater will relate to the moment.
Through the Shattered Lens 