Bride of Frankenstein (1935, dir James Whale)
Today’s horror scene that I love comes from 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein. In this wonderfully acted scene, the Bride (Elsa Lanchester) meets the Monster (Boris Karloff) for the first time. Both of their reactions reveal them to be far more human than the people who created them.
Seeing as how today is Bela Lugosi’ birthday, it only seems appropriate that today’s scene that I love should honor him. This is one Bela’s best scenes from 1931’s Dracula. Because his performance has been so widely imitated (and Bela himself appeared in a few films that poked fun at it), it’s often forgotten just how could Lugosi was in the role.
In honor of the one and only Lugosi, enjoy!
We continue to honor the memory of Tor Johnson with today’s scene of the day.
Even though Tor Johnson is playing a character named Lobo, today’s scene that I love isn’t from Ed Wood’s 1955 film, Bride of the Monster. Instead, it’s from 1957’s The Unearthly. In this film, Lobo is now John Carradine’s servant. (Lobo made quite a career out of working for mad scientists.) The Unearthly was directed by Boris Peftroff, a friend of Wood’s, so it’s not improbable that this film’s Lobo was meant to be the same Lobo as the one who appeared in Bride of the Monster and Night of the Ghouls.
Anyway, in this scene, Tor does his usual Lobo stuff while John Carradine plays the piano. “Time for go to bed,” Lobo says at one point, a much-mocked line but one that is delivered with a bit of gentleness by Tor Johnson. My point is that Tor did the best that he could and bless him for it.
Since today is Peter Boyle’s birthday (he would have been 86), it seems only appropriate that today’s scenes that I love should come from 1974’s Young Frankenstein. Here, for your viewing and listening pleasure, are Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle….
Today’s scene that I love comes from Jeff Lieberman’s 1978 film, Blue Sunshine.
If you haven’t seen the film, Blue Sunshine is the nickname for the acid that a group of characters dropped while in college during the 60s. Unfortunately, ten years later, all of them are losing their hair, suffering from extreme migraines, and turning into psycho killers. It’s the worst acid flashback of all time!
This is a pretty good film, one that uses the horror genre as a way to explore the contrast between the idealism of college and the realities of the real world. It’s also, as you can see in the scene below, quite suspenseful and more than a little frightening.
Last year, a group of friends and I watched 1988’s Night of the Demons for our weekly #ScarySocial live tweet. Not surprisingly, everyone loved the film. This scene below, featuring a possessed Angela dancing, was especially popular. Since today is director Kevin Tenney’s birthday, it only seems appropriate to celebrate by making it today’s horror scene that I love!
Take it away, Angela!
Dario Argento’s 2021 film, Dracula 3D, doesn’t get the respect that it deserves. I guess that’s to be expected, as people are pretty much obsessed with criticizing Dario and his later films. Personally, I think it’s an enjoyable and unique version of the legend. Thomas Kretschmann is a credible Dracula. Rutger Hauer was a great Van Helsing. The whole thing is wonderfully over-the-top and stylish.
Plus, to my knowledge, this is the only Dracula film in which the Count turns into a preying mantis and beheads someone. Don’t believe me? Here is today’s horror scene that I love:
Today is Udo Kier’s birthday!
Kier is 77 years old. This German actor has over 260 film credits to his name, having worked with everyone from Dario Argento to Paul Morrissey to Gus Van Sant to Alexander Payne to Rob Zombie to Lars von Trier. Though he’s appeared in every genre of film, he’s best remembered for his horror appearances. In fact, his career got a major boost when he was cast in two horror films that were produced by Andy Warhol. (As with all things Warhol, there’s more than a little debate as to how much Andy was actually involved.) In 1973, Kier played Baron Von Frankenstein in Flesh For Frankenstein. In 1974, he played Dracula in Blood for Dracula. Both films were deliberately over-the-top in both their gore and their performances and they helped launch Udo Kier on the path to cult stardom. Take, for example, the scene below. This is from Flesh for Frankentein. Kier’s Baron meets his end but not before giving a lengthy monologue. One thing to keep in mind is that this film was originally released in 3D so, while Kier was giving his speech, the Baron’s organs were hanging out over the audiences.
(If you have a hard time with gore, I would not suggest watching this scene.)
Happy birthday, Udo Kier! Thank you for putting your heart into ever role!
The Fly (1958, D: Kurt Neumann)
One of the great things about the original, 1958 version of The Fly is that, even though it starred Vincent Price, Price didn’t play the Fly. Instead, for once, Price was allowed to be the voice of reason, the guy who said, “Maybe don’t mess around with the laws of time and space.”
Today’s scene that I love is from the ending of the original Fly. Supposedly, Price had a hard time filming this scene because whenever he heard the recording of David Hedison crying out, “Help me!,” he would start laughing. Still, if you know what spiders actually do to the flies that they capture, you can’t help but sympathize with our misdirected scientist in the web. Destroying him with a rock was probably the most merciful thing that anyone could do.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 49th birthday to Danny Lloyd, the child actor who — at the age of 6 — brought Danny Torrance to life in Stanley Kubrick’s version of The Shining. After appearing in one made-for-TV movie after The Shining, Lloyd retired from acting. (He did make a cameo appearance in Doctor Sleep.) He went on to become a teacher. Somewhat sweetly, it’s been reported that, during the filming of The Shining, Kubrick went out of his way to keep Lloyd from knowing that he was appearing in a movie about killer ghosts and a father attempting to kill his family.
In honor of Danny’s birthday, here’s a scene that I love from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining!
