It’s a double feature like none other! The majority of the trailer (understandably, in my opinion) is devoted to clips from I Drink Your Blood. What is I Drink Your Blood about? It’s about a little kid who gets rid of a bunch of annoying hippies by giving them food that has been infected with rabies!
2. Grizzly (1976)
Wow, I wonder where they got the idea for this movie from!
3. The Crater Lake Monster (1977)
Awwww! What a cute monster!
4. Cathy’s Curse (1977)
Beware of Cathy …. and her doll too!
5. Jennifer (1978)
A bullied teenage girl has psychic powers …. hmmmm, this sounds familiar….
6. The Children (1980)
“Something terrifying has happened to the Children!” This actually a pretty scary film but somehow, the trailer is even scarier.
It’s Sunday and it’s October and that means that it’s time for another edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse trailers! For today, we have six trailers from the early 80s! These where the years when the only thing bigger than the Italian zombie boom was the American slasher boom. And we’ve got the trailers to prove it!
1. Friday the 13th (1980)
Needless to say, if you’re going to talk about American horror in the early 80s, you have to start with Friday the 13th. Interestingly enough, the first Friday the 13th was less a traditional slasher film and more an American take on the giallo genre.
2. Halloween II (1981)
The 80s were also the year that Hollywood learned to love the sequel. As a result, Michael Myers returned and so did Dr. Loomis. The current franchise claims that all of this never happened but we all know better.
3. The Beyond (1981)
While the Americans were dealing with slashers, the Italians were committing themselves to the zombies. Though Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond was not widely appreciated when first released, it’s reputation has grown over the years.
4. The House By The Cemetery (1981)
Eventually, Fulci combined both zombies and slashers with The House By The Cemetery.
5. Poltergeist (1982)
Of course, not every horror film that came out in the early 80s was about a slasher or a zombie. Poltergeist was a haunted house story. Though the trailer says “Steven Spielberg production,” the film was directed by Tobe Hooper.
6. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Even the Halloween franchise tried to do something new with the third film in the series. Like The Beyond, this is a film that was underappreciated when released but which has since become a horror classic.
It’s Sunday and it’s October and that means that it’s time for another edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse trailers! For today, we have six trailers from the early 70s. This was the era when horror started to truly get …. well, horrific!
The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970)
First off, we have the blood and scream-filled trailer for Dario Argento’s The Bird With The Crystal Plumage. This Italian thriller made quite a splash when it was released in America. Indeed, for many Americans, this was their first exposure to the giallo genre. This would go on to become Argento’s first (and, so far, only) film to be nominated for a Golden Globe. (Read my review here!)
2. House of Dark Shadows (1970)
Speaking of blood and screaming, 1970 also saw the release of House of Dark Shadows. Personally, I think this is one of the best vampire films ever. The trailer is heavy on atmosphere.
3. The Devils (1971)
In 1971, British director Ken Russell scandalized audiences with The Devils, a film so shocking that it will probably never been in its full, uncut form.
4. Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)
Italy was not the only country sending horror films over to the United States. From Spain came the Tombs of the Blind Dead.
5. The Last House on the Left (1972)
Speaking of controversy, Wes Craven made his directorial debut with the infamous The Last House OnTheLeft. The trailer featured one of the greatest and most-repeated horror tag lines of all time.
6. Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
Finally, even as horror cinema changed and became more extreme, Hammer Studios continued to tell the long and twisted story of Count Dracula. They brought him into the present age and dropped him in the middle of hippie-infested London. No matter how much the rest of the world changed, Dracula remained Dracula.
With Horrorthon underway, it’s time for a special October edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse Trailers! Today, I bring you 6 spine-tingling trailers from the 30s and the 40s! Say hello to old school horror at its best!
Dracula (1931)
First off, here is the original trailer for the 1931 version of Dracula! Yes, it’s a bit grainy and it’s a bit creaky and …. well, it’s old. But listen, if I had been around in 1931 and I saw this trailer, I definitely would have been at the theater on opening day. “Do vampires exist?” the trailer asks. No, they do not but who knows? Maybe the trailer would have made me question my beliefs for at least a day or two.
Apparently, the odd scene with Edward Van Sloan and the mirror was taken from an outtake. The scene itself is not in the film and presumably, that mirror was not supposed to fall off the wall. Also, it’s interesting to note that Dracula was not a Halloween film but instead, it was released just in time for Valentine’s Day!
2. Frankenstein (1931)
Of course, Universal followed Dracula from Frankenstein. Again, this is one of the original trailers for the film and not a trailer that was put together and released in later years. The trailer does, at one point, say, “It’s coming back!,” so I’m assuming that this version was sent to theaters where the film had played previously. The trailer features a few scenes that were cut from the film and also a few alternate takes,
3. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
If you have a weak heart …. you better leave now! The early Universal horror films are not necessarily thought of as being grindhouse films but this trailer is pure grindhouse.
4. The Wolf Man (1941)
In the 40s, Dracula and Frankenstein’s Monster were joined by a werewolf named Larry. Here is the original trailer for The Wolf Man.
5. Cat People (1943)
In 1943, horror took a new, psychological turn with the original Cat People!
6. House of Frankenstein (1944)
Finally, in 1944, all of the great monster came together. Before The Avengers, before the Justice League, before the Snyder cut, there was the House of Frankenstein!
To be absolutely honest, I would probably be dismissive of the trailer for Smile if not for the effort that Paramount Pictures has put into promoting this damn thing. Apparently, this weekend, they sent people out to sporting events and had them sit motionlessly in the stands and smile for the entire game. Not only did it look creepy but it probably ruined the experience of everyone who was sitting near them. Of course, the people sitting near them actually paid money to get good seats for the game. Imagine spending a few hundred dollars, just to have to deal with this:
Or this:
I mean, seriously, that’s a bold move! I thought re-releasing Morbius just because people on twitter were making fun of it was going to be the boldest studio move of 2022 but Paramount might take the title. Now that we’ve annoyed you, come see our movie. That’s an interesting gimmick.
Anyway, here’s the final trailer for Smile. The movie comes out on the 30th.
Oh hey, they’re rebooting Hellraiser because of course they are.
Here’s the trailer. It looks like they really want to make sure that we understand how the box works. The best horror films don’t overexplain. Anyway, this comes out in October so I guess look forward to the review.
Finally! We have a trailer for Damien Chazelle’s Babylon!
Who would have thought that 2022 would have been the year that would have produced three flamboyant films about the decadence of the entertainment industry? Elvishas already been released. Blonde will be available by the end of the month. And Babylon will coming out just as the year ends. Judging from this trailer, it appears to be a film that will either be brilliant or a total disaster. I’m hoping for the former. America could use a really good movie about cocaine and pool parties.
Dead For A Dollar is director Walter Hill’s first film in six years and Christoph Waltz’s first western since his Oscar-winning turn in Django Unchained. The film will bring Waltz together with Willem Dafoe, as they play two rivals in the old west. Waltz is playing a bounty hunter who is hired to track down the runaway wife of a prominent politician. Dafoe plays a gambler and an outlaw who apparently has a score to settle with Waltz. Rachel Brosnahan (star of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) plays the woman for whom Waltz is searching. The film is scheduled to premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 6th.
Look back on the 2020 Oscars, it now seems pretty obvious to me that, of the nominated films, The Father was the one that should have won Best Picture. Of course, as far as I was concerned, The Father was actually a 2021 film but, due to the extended eligibility window, The Father was nominated for the 2020 Oscars. Regardless of how one feels about all of that nonsense with the extended eligibility window, The Father was the best film out of the nominees and Anthony Hopkins fully deserved his second Oscar. There are moments from The Father that were so powerful and heart-breaking that I feel as if I just watched them yesterday. On the other hand, I can’t remember a thing about Nomadland, the film that actually won.
The Son has been described as being director Florian Zeller’s follow-up to The Father. However, despite the return of screenwriter Christopher Hampton and the presence of Anthony Hopkins in both films (and despite the fact that Hopkins is playing a character named Anthony in both films), The Son is apparently more of a “spiritual sequel” to The Father than a direct sequel.
Well, no matter! Sequel or not, The Son is expected to be an Oscar contender. The teaser below doesn’t reveal too much, beyond Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern struggling to connect with their son. Hopkins makes a brief appearance. To be honest, the trailer feels a bit tense. One gets the feeling that this is a movie about people who could explode at any minute.