The great Jamie Lee Curtis is, of course, beloved by horror fans for starring as Laurie Strode in the original Halloween. Myself, I’ve always felt that her best horror performance was actually in 1980’s Prom Night.
Just watch her, during the film’s final minutes, when she discovers that the killer who has spent the entire day killing all of her friends is someone from her own family. This is great acting and one can see why the Canadians gave her a Genie nomination for Best Foreign Actress. Let’s hope David Gordon Green never decides or gets the chance to mess this one up.
He was the son of a famous man and, like many sons of famous men, he often struggled to escape his father’s shadow. While he would never be mistaken for a man of a thousand faces, Lon Chaney, Jr. did make a name for himself as Larry Talbot, the unfortunate man who found himself cursed to turn into the Wolf Man whenever the man was full. Chaney spent the majority of his career appearing in horror films and, later, westerns. Not only did he play The Wolf Man but he was also one of the many actors to take a shot at playing both Frankenstein’s Monster and Dracula. Later, he would appear in a series of low budget horror films that, quality-wise, were often a far cry from his best-known films. That said, he was also a favorite of producer/director Stanley Kramer, who cast him in both High Noon and The Defiant Ones and who once said that Chaney was one of the finest character actors in Hollywood.
In today’s scene that I love, Larry Talbot learns the facts about being a werewolf. From 1941’s The Wolf Man, here is Lon Chaney, Jr in his signature role.
It’s been said that John Carradine didn’t really like movies that much.
This, despite the fact that Carradine appeared in over 300 movies over the course of a career that spanned nearly a century. Born in 1906, Carradine made his film debut in 1930 and worked steadily until his death in 1988. He was so prolific that films featuring him were still being released for years after his passing. Carradine was a favorite of directors like Cecil B. DeMille and John Ford. He played key roles in such Ford films as Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
And yet, for many people, John Carradine’s career has been defined by the astounding number of low-budget horror and sci-fi films in which he appeared. Sometimes, he was the star. More often, he would just make a quick cameo appearance. But whatever the size of the role, he always made an impression. Carradine, however, always said that his true loves were Shakespeare and the theater and that the films were just something he did so he could afford to work on stage.
1978’s Vampire Hookers features Carradine in a role that was typical of some of his later horror roles. In this scene, he plays a courtly vampire who wonders if anyone understands poetry anymore.
A true American success story, Bruce Campbell first met and befriended Sam Raimi when the two of them were high school students in Michigan. Campbell first gained attention in Raimi’s Evil Dead films and he’s been a mainstay in Raimi’s films ever since. He’s also been a favorite of the Coen Brothers, Don Coscarelli, William Lustig, and scores of other director. Few actors can balance both drama and comedy with the adroitness of Bruce Campbell.
Campbell, of course, is best-known for his performance as Ash Williams, the S-Mart store clerk who lost his hand while spending the weekend at a cabin, spent some time in the past, and later earned the right to tell us all to say “hail to the king, baby.” Campbell’s ability to do often violent slapstick comedy, along with his ability to deliver the most absurd of dialogue with a straight face, came together to make him into a true pop cultural icon. Though Campbell has since announced his retirement from playing Ash (saying that, at his age, he can no longer physically spends hours a day getting beaten up), he remains a beloved actor to horror fans everywhere.
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1992’s Army of Darkness and it features Bruce Campbell at his best. All Ash has to do is remember three simple words and say them before taking the Necronomicon from its place. Of course, Ash being Ash, things don’t quite work out that simply….
Born in Liverpool, actor Doug Bradley is a longtime personal friend to author Clive Barker and appeared in Barker’s short film Salome, playing the role of King Herod. When Barker was making his feature directorial debut with 1987’s Hellraiserand he needed someone to play the head Cenobite, he turned once again to Bradley and the result was one of the most iconic horror characters of all time.
While the Cenobites may have all had disturbing physical features, what truly made them frightening was their arrogant disdain for anyone who was foolish enough to summon them. Bradley perfectly portrayed Pinhead’s haughty arrogance, starting with his very first appearance in Hellraiser.
When Bradley as Pinhead says, “We’ll tear your soul apart,” the viewer has no doubt that he means every word of it.
Today’s horror scene that I love features an actor appreciated by horror fans everywhere, the great Tom Atkins.
The son of a Pennsylvania steel mill worker who originally planned to follow in his father’s footsteps, Tom Atkins served in the U.S. Navy and noticed that officers seemed to have all the fun. He also noticed that the officers all had college degrees so, upon getting out of the service, he enrolled in Pittsburgh’s Duquesne College. It was while at Duquesne that Atkins met a girl who was involved with a local theater group and he discovered that he actually enjoyed acting. Atkins made his film debut in 1968’s The Detective and he’s been working steadily ever since. A favorite of both John Carpenter and George Romero, Atkins has been a reliable horror fixture since the early 80s.
In this scene, from 1982’s Halloween III, Tom Atkins plays a doctor who desperately tries to stop the cruelest Halloween prank of all. One reason why this scene is so effective is because, if Tom Atkins can’t stop the broadcast, then that means nobody can.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 79th birthday to actor and producer Michael Douglas!
For today’s scene that I love, we have a scene from Oliver Stone’s 1987 film, Wall Street. In this scene, Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gekko. Gekko is supposed to be the film’s villain but he’s actually a lot more compelling and, at times, sympathetic than the film’s heroes. He’s not a judgmental jerk like the union leader played by Martin Sheen. Nor is he a snitch like his protegee, played by Charlie Sheen. Instead, Gordon Gekko is honest about who he is.
This is the scene that won Michael Douglas an Oscar. Watching him in this scene, it’s easy to see why Douglas’s performance supposedly inspired a lot of people to get a job working on Wall Street. Douglas is so charismatic in this scene that he makes this movie, directed by a future supporter of Bernie Sanders, into one of the best advertisements for capitalism ever filmed.
Today is Oliver Stone’s birthday so, for all conspiracy-loving readers, here is a key scene from Stone’s 1991 film, JFK! In this scene, Kevin Costner’s Jim Garrison meets the mysterious man known as X (played by Donald Sutherland). X explains the conspiracy to Garrison.
This scene certainly convinced a lot of people. Personally, I think Oswald acted alone but one cannot deny Stone’s talent as a filmmaker.
On this date, 109 years ago, filmmaker Robert Wise was born in Winchester, Indiana. He started his career as an editor (and was Oscar-nominated for his work on Citizen Kane) and then eventually branched out into directing. From the mid-forties to the year 2000, Wise directed every genre of film. He won two Oscars for Best Director, one for West Side Story and one for The Sound of Music. He was also the first director to helm a Stark Trek film with 1979’s Stark Trek — The Motion Picture.
Today’s scene that I love comes from Wise’s 1951 masterpiece, The Day The Earth Stood Still. In this scene, America watched as a UFO darts across the sky and eventually lands in Washington D.C. Though it’s a simple scene, it deftly captures the wonder of the moment.
Through the Shattered Lens 