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 1996 Horror Films
The Craft (1996, dir by Andrew Fleming)
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996, dir by Robert Rodriguez)
Scream (1996, dir by Wes Craven)
Thinner (1996, dir by Tom Holland)
2018’s The Possession of Hannah Grace is a real idiot film.
As in, “Hey, idiot, there’s a dead woman behind you!”
The dead woman in question of Hannah Grace (Kirby Johnson), who was once alive and had brown eyes but then she was possessed by demons and her eyes turned blue. An attempted exorcism didn’t go well, with the older priest ended up getting impaled on a conveniently placed hook and the younger priest being one of those young bearded types who had obviously never done an exorcism before. Finally, Hannah’s father, Grainger (Louis Herthum), was like, “Ah, screw it,” so he just smothered her to death,
Unfortunately, the demon is still inside of Hannah’s body and, three moths later, that means trouble when it shows up at the morgue. Megan (Shay Mitchell), who is working the night shift, is an ex-cop with drug and alcohol problems and she’s not sure if Hannah is really wandering around or if she’s just hallucinating things. The film probably would have been more interesting if we had been as uncertain as Megan as to whether or not she was really seeing Hannah wandering around the morgue. Unfortunately, though, the film starts with the unsuccessful exorcism and, as a result, we already know that it’s Hannah and we’re just kinda like, “We get it. You’ve got issues. Who cares?”
Anyway, even though the morgue is a restricted area, people keep coming down there and getting killed. What’s interesting is that everyone who dies is on duty at the hospital yet hardly anyone seems to notice or care that they’re suddenly absent. We do see one security guard wandering why his partner hasn’t returned but that’s pretty much it.
And it should be scary because this is one of those films that seems to exclusively take place in dark rooms and unlit hallways but it never really is, largely because we know everything that Hannah’s going to do before Hannah does it. And everyone is so stupid that there’s not really any suspense as to whether or not Hannah’s going to be able to rip them up into little pieces of naive medical personnel. This all, of course, leads to Megan declaring that she’s now a stronger person and will be able to face the the future with renewed confidence so I guess all of those people dying for no good reason was worth it.
Anyway, I usually like to make sure that my reviews usually run at least 500 words but I kind of feel like that would be a waste of effort where The Possession of Hannah Grace is concerned. I’ll be happy with 440.
First released in 1961 and directed by Curtis Harrington, Night Tide stars a young Dennis Hopper as Johnny, an awkward sailor. Johnny meets Mora (Linda Lawson), who works as a “mermaid” on the pier. For Johnny, it’s love at first sight. However, the more that Johnny pursues her, the more he learns about both her mysterious past and the dark fate of her previous boyfriends.
Night Tide is low-key and atmospheric gem of a movie, one that serve as an inspiration for low-budget filmmakers every where. Lawson is perfectly cast as the enigmatic Mora but the film really belongs to Dennis Hopper. Hopper’s naturally off-key presence made him perfect for the role of Johnny.
Night Tide is one of those low-budget movies that, because it’s in the public domain, has been released on DVD (often in inferior form) by dozens of different companies. Often times, films like this turn out to be fairly forgettable. Night Tide, however, is an exception.
Oh no! There are bad things happening! On a small college campus, co-eds are being stalked and killed by a masked murderer who carries a cleaver. With each murder, the killer chops off a limb and carries it off with him. He also leaves behind a mysterious gold medallion, one that appears to feature an etching of a dog on it. It’s a bit of a mess, really.
Early on, in the 1985 film, Blood Cult, a narrative crawl informs us that the events that we’re watching occurred during the previous winter. These murders, we’re told, were “the strangest crimes in recent recorded history.” The film opens with one of those crimes. In an homage to Psycho and every other slasher movie ever made, the first murder occurs in a shower. The showering victim looks straight at the camera during her scenes. When she delivers her lines (“Is that you? Did you get the pizza? Did you get my anchovies?”), she does so in a flat, Oklahoma accent. In short, these scenes proudly announce that we are watching an amateur, regional production.
Anyway, the film itself deals with Sheriff Ron Wilbois (Charles Ellis), who must solve the murders before they harm his chances of being elected to the U.S. Senate. Fortunately, he has some help from his daughter, Tina (Judi Adelman). Tina is a librarian, which means that she has magical research powers. All she has to do is open up a book and, thirty seconds later, she will have discovered whatever needs to have been discovered. Unfortunately, Tina may have some secrets of her own. She’s also dating an rather dorky guy named Joel (James Vance). Joel is the type of guy who, when he meets his girlfriend’s father in a diner, lazily props his feet up in the seat across from him. I mean, come on, Joel! At least try to impress the old man! I kept expecting Sheriff Wilbois to yell, “Get the Hell away from my daughter!” and maybe draw his gun but apparently, that was not the Sheriff’s style. The Sheriff’s a good, honest lawman. He’s not the type to abuse his powers. He just wants to solve the murders, go to the Senate, and drink a lot of Coke. Seriously, there are so many Coke cans in this movie that, if not for the film’s amateur status, one could be forgiven for assuming that the film was produced by the Coca-Cola Corporation.
Can you spot the Coke?
There’s a twist to Blood Cult but it’s not a particularly surprising one. In fact, there’s really nothing surprising about Blood Cult. Some of the gore effects are effective in a low-budget way. One victims gets beaten to death by another victim’s severed head. That was kind of creative. For the most part, though, Blood Cult never escapes the constraints of its low budget and its status as an amateur production. I did feel that Charles Ellis, who was a regional theater actor, gave a fairly good performance as Sheriff Wilbois. He came across like being a genuinely nice guy. I would have voted for him. The rest of the cast was forgettable at best and painfully stiff at worst.
Blood Cult is historically significant because it was actually the first movie to ever specifically be made for the home video market. Every straight to video movie ever made is a descendant of Blood Cult. Apparently, it was filmed in nine days, with the cast and crew taking a week off from their days jobs. To the film’s credit, there are a few atmospheric scenes, largely because Oklahoma is a naturally atmospheric state. But, for the most part, Blood Cult has a “Grandpa Picked Up a Video Camera And Made A Horror Film” look and feel to it. I have a weakness for amateur, regional horror movies and the DVD of Blood Cult comes with a likable director’s commentary but, for the most part, this is a film that’s significant mostly as a piece of historical trivia.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to review this film in French.
I wish I could because this was the feature film debut of Jean Rollin, who made horror films that were uniquely French in both their vision and their execution. A decade ago, I probably could have written an at least 300-word review in vaguely passable French but, unfortunately, my language skills have gotten a bit rusty as of late. “But Lisa, what about Google translate?” Uhmmm ….. yeah, that’s not a good idea. The comprehension powers of Google translate are a bit overstated.
Anyway, on to the film!
I absolutely love the wonderfully surreal films of Jean Rollin. At his best, Rollin was responsible for some of the most visually impressive and narratively incoherent films ever made. Believe it or not, I don’t mean incoherent in a bad way. A Rollin film creates its own unique world, one in which things don’t necessarily have to make much sense. A Jean Rollin movie is like a filmed dream, one in which the stories continually seem to loop back to the same group of obsessions. There’s always an emphasis on memory and the importance of the past. The countryside is always beautiful but also always full of menace. There’s always a scene or two at the beach. It’s not unusual for a Rollin film to end with the water washing away the evil, like some sort of fairy tale. There’s usually a house in the country and Rollin’s camera loved old French architecture just as much as it loved images of people making love. Rollin’s films often very sincerely celebrated female friendship while, at the same time, continually returning to the theme of lesbian vampires. In fact, I think it can be argued that the best way to appreciate Rollin’s films is to sit down and watch all of them, one after another. So many theme reoccur from film to film that ultimately, they all become a part of giant and very strange tapestry of lust, secrets, and the paranormal in France.
Le Viol du Vampire (which translates to The Rape of the Vampire in English) was Rollin’s feature directing debut. It started out as a 30-minute short film, one that more or less made sense. A producer then offered Rollin some money to expand the short into a feature film. The end result was a deeply strange but visually stunning film, one in which characters who clearly died in the original short film mysteriously came back to life so that they could take part in the second part of the film.
During the first 30 minutes of the film, three Parisians are called out to a country château (because it’s not a Rollin film without a château) to investigate four sisters who believe that they’re vampires. (One of the sisters is blind and says she became a vampire after being raped by the local peasants, hence the film’s title.) The Parisians believe that the sisters are being manipulated by an evil old man. The sisters believe that they are all vampires. It turns out that they’re all right!
As I said, that part of the film makes sense. But then suddenly, a vampire queen appears and suddenly there’s all these other vampires running around and some of them are dressed like court jesters and there’s a doctor working at a clinic who thinks that he can cure vampirism and then there’s a revolution against the queen and there’s a car chase and you’re never really sure who is who or what it is that they’re doing or why they’re doing it. Rollin was a noted fan of the old serials and that’s how directs the final 60 minutes of Le Viol du Vampire. Cliffhanger after cliffhanger follows twist after twist and, again, you find yourself wondering if even Rollin was able to keep up with it all.
And yet, it remains a compelling film because Rollin was such a gifted visual artist and the black-and-white cinematography is so atmospheric that it’s very easy to ignore the plot and instead just enjoy looking at the film. I would actually suggest waiting to watch this film until you’ve seen some of Rollin’s other films. Once you’ve experienced Rollin’s unique aesthetic vision, it’s easy to watch Le Viol du Vampire and say, “There’s the beach! There’s the clowns! There’s the lesbian vampires! There’s everything that we’ve come to expect from Jean Rollin!”
Le Viol du Vampire was released in 1968. It was released at a time when political turmoil had brought much of the French film industry to a halt. As a result, Le Viol du Vampire was the only film playing several theaters. If you were in France during the summer of 1968 and you wanted to go to the movies, Le Viol du Vampire was often the only option available. As a result, a huge number of people went to this movie. Audiences were reportedly so angered by the film’s intentional incoherence that they rioted and threw things at the screen. It was quite a scandal but it also made Rollin a bit of a star.
Seen today, the film is still incoherent but it’s also a chance to see where one of the most interesting horror directors of the 20th Century got his start.
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 1995 Horror Films
Castle Freak (1995, dir by Stuart Gordon)
Lord of Illusions (1995, dir by Clive Barker)
Species (1995, dir by Roger Donaldson)
Village of the Damned (1995, dir by John Carpenter)
A woman named Christine (Lyn Bari) walks along the beach when she thinks that she hears the voice of her husband calling out her name. The only problem is that her husband has been dead for two years. Christine’s sister, Janet (Cathy O’Donnell), says that Christine is just hearing things and that she needs to move on from mourning. After all, her boyfriend, Martin (Richard Carlson), is on the verge of asking Christine to marry him….
And yet, Christine can’t escape the feeling that her husband is trying to contact her from beyond the grave. During another walk along the beach, she runs into a handsome man who introduces himself as being Alexis (Turhan Bey). Alexis says that he’s a medium and that he has the power to speak to the dead. Furthermore, he tells Christine that he can speak to her dead husband for her.
Despite the fact that Alexis owns a really impressive crystal ball, Martin is skeptical of his claims. Martin even goes so far as to hire a private investigator (Harry Mendoza) to investigate Alexis’s past. Meanwhile, though she has her suspicions, Janet finds herself falling in love with the charming Alexis….
Released in 1948, The Amazing Mr. X is an unjustly obscure little mystery film. Though I guess it’s open to debate whether it should be considered a horror film or just a noirish thriller, The Amazing Mr. X is full of creepy atmosphere and eerie moments. Employing expressionistic camera angles and dark lighting, director Bernard Vorhaus turns The Amazing Mr. X into a dream of dark and forbidden things. Some of the black-and-white shots are simply stunning and the seance sequence is brilliantly done.
The film is also well-acted by a cast of actors who deserve to be better remembered. Lynn Bari is perfectly fragile and sympathetic as the haunted Christine while Cathy O’Donnell turns the potentially boring Janet into a compelling character. The film even makes good use of Richard Carlson’s reliable dullness by casting him as the one character who is meant to be a force of stability in Christine’s otherwise neurotic life.
That said, the entire film is stolen by Turhan Bey. Born in Austria and of Turkish descent, Turhan Bey was nicknamed the “Turkish Delight” during his film career and, watching The Amazing Mr. X, you can see why. Bey is so charming and so handsome that you can understand why even those who should know better would want to believe that Alexis could talk to the dead. The Amazing Mr. X was one of the last films that Bey filmed in the United States. He retired a few years later and returned to his native Austria, where he ran a cafe. (40 years later, the now elderly Bey did come out of retirement and made a few appearance of television before passing away, at the age of 90, in 2012.)
Like all good mysteries, The Amazing Mr. X has a third act twist that you probably won’t see coming and it ends with the proper combination of tragedy and redemption. The Amazing Mr. X is currently in the public domain and can be viewed on YouTube so check it out! You won’t be sorry!
The original The House on Haunted Hill is a classic and one that we make it a point to share every Halloween. And since October is nearly halfway over, now seems like the perfect time to do so!
Be sure to check out Gary’s review by clicking here!
Enjoy Vincent Price at his best!
Last night, as soon as I got home from work, I turned over to the Lifetime Movie Network and I watched Mommy’s Little Princess!
Why Was I Watching It?
Why not?
No, actually, I did have a very specific reason for watching it. Mommy’s Little Princess was a film that I watched earlier this year but, for whatever reason, I didn’t review it. Unfortunately, I didn’t record it either. So, by watching it yesterday, I was able to reacquaint myself with the film before reviewing it.
Because that’s what ethical reviewers do!
What Was It About?
12 year-old Lizzy (Sarah Abbott) is haunted by the memories of her abusive mother and a fear that she’s not that special. In order to make Lizzy feel a bit better about herself, her adoptive mother, Julianna (Alicia Leigh Willis), decides to send away for a DNA testing kit!
When the results are returned, Lizzy discovers that she’s a little bit French, a little bit English, and a whole lot German! In fact, she’s even descended from German nobility! Soon, Lizzy is walking around and telling everyone that she’s a princess. She covers an entire wall of her bedroom with pictures of European nobility and tells everyone that it’s a collage of her real family.
Unfortunately, not everyone is impressed with Lizzy’s heritage. Some of them even go so far as to suggest that being distantly related to royalty is no big deal. Those people, Lizzy kills.
What Worked?
I have to admit that I kind of enjoyed the irony of Lifetime broadcasting a movie about someone being driven crazy as a result of obsessing on royalty when Lifetime is also the same network that has, so far, done one movie about William and Kate and two movies about Harry and Meghan! It was kind of fun, like Lifetime was saying, “Don’t spend too much time living in a fantasy and, by the way, stick around for the next royal wedding movie….” Mommy’s Little Princess felt wonderfully subversive.
Sarah Abbott did a really good job as poor, psychotic little Lizzy. You feared her but, at the same time, you felt sorry for her. As a flashback to her time with her birth mother showed, Lizzy really never had a chance.
What Did Not Work?
It all worked! This was a fun little Lifetime melodrama and it had just the right amount of self-awareness.
“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments
As far as DNA goes, I’m primarily Irish, Italian, and Spanish. As far as I know, I’m not related to royalty. If I was related to royalty and in line for the throne of some country, I would totally hold it over everyone’s head. Seriously, I would find a way to sneak it into every conversation. “You’re going to the store? Hey, could you pick me up some a tiara or something because, after all, I am royalty and I could have you executed.” My friends would probably get tired of hearing about it.
So, all in all, I guess it’s good that I’m not yet a part of the royal family.
Lessons Learned
DNA tests only lead to pain and misery.
Through the Shattered Lens 