Horrorfest 2017: Dracula A.D. 1972

What better way to wrap up Horrorfest 2017 than with a Hammer Dracula movie -- DRACULA A.D. 1972 from, you guessed it, 1972. This sequel in the long-running Dracula series was directed by Alan Gibson and has both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee returning as Van Helsing and Dracula, respectively. This was listed as one of Tim Burton's favorites, and if you've ever seen his version of SLEEPY HOLLOW, it's pretty clear Burton's a huge Hammer fan.

The conceit this time is to take Dracula to the (then) modern day of 1972. This way he can bite the necks of swinging Londoners and Hammer can save money on sets and costumes. It's an interesting idea, although it renders most of the middle portion of the film kind of boring. The beginning is awesome, starting in the past as Van Helsing hunts Dracula down yet again and impales him on a broken stage coach wheel. And the ending is also awesome as Van Helsing and Dracula do battle. But the middle is just kind of there.

Christopher Lee's take on Dracula is interesting because although he looks and dresses like the gentleman version of the character that we've come to know, he basically acts like an animal. He just single-mindedly wants blood and wants to continue his eternal life and will do anything to reach those goals. There's not much sneaking around when it comes to Lee's Dracula. It's almost like after centuries of being undead, he's sick of all the pretense and is ready to get on with it.

Cushing as Van Helsing is similarly to the point, portrayed as both smart and badass, and willing to go to great lengths to see that evil is destroyed. In this movie things are a little different, since Cushing is playing one of Van Helsing's present-day ancestors, instead of the doctor himself, but it isn't long before we start to see the familial resemblance.

So there you have it -- another 31 horror movies down, just in time for another happy Halloween.

Horrorfest 2017: The War of the Gargantuas

For the last two entries of Horrorfest 2017 we turn to director Tim Burton and a couple of his favorites, starting with the Japanese production WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS from 1966. This entry in the "giant monsters attacking Tokyo" genre was directed by the master himself, Toshiro Honda who was responsible for the original (and great) GODZILLA, the not so great RODAN and my childhood favorite, KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, along with probably every other big Japanese monster movie you've ever heard of.

After a little research I learned this movie is actually a sequel to a previous movie called FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD in which the Frankenstein monster grows to Godzilla-height and attacks Japan. So, the two monsters in WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS are the genetic offspring of the Frankenstein monster in the previous film, but mentions of Frankenstein were left out of the US version of the film to avoid needless confusion and hide the fact that this is a sequel. Aside from being humanoid and shape and kinda/sorta having flat heads, these monsters aren't easily visually recognizable as being of the Frankenstein-variety.

The story starts off with a bang as a cool, tentacle-waving sea creature attacks a boat at sea. These first ten minutes or so of special effects are more interesting than your usual "man in suit" effects, because we're dealing with a tentacle creature that's not humanoid. But then one of the Gargantuas shows up and kicks its ass, and it's all Gargantua all the time for the rest of the movie.

One Gargantua is bad and the other Gargantua is good. The bad one destroys Tokyo and other parts of Japan for the first half of the film, until it runs into the good one, who starts to fight back. As usual the human run around trying to figure out ways to stop the monsters but they're ineffectual and by the end of the movie can't do much but sit back and watch the two monsters fight each other, hoping the good one wins.

The Gargantua costumes are pretty gross -- you feel like you're looking at a couple of flea-bitten rabid animals for most of the movie. But, the miniature sets are pretty awesome, ranging from detailed city-scapes ripe for the destroying to scenes in nature that are pretty closely matched to real locations. My favorite part is always when the little remote control army trucks show up, and there's plenty of that, including helicopters for the Gargantua to swat out of the sky.

For the most part, this flick is a forgettable entry into the giant Japanese monster genre. There are better examples to watch if you just want to dip your toe into these movies, and you should probably only ever find yourself sitting through this one if you're trying to be a completist.

Horrorfest 2017: The Fall of the House of Usher

Here's a favorite of one of the greatest directors of all time, Akira Kurosawa: 1928's THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER. This French version of the Poe tale was directed by Jean Epstein. The screenplay for the silent film was co-written by Luis Bunuel, who apparently left the project because it wasn't faithful enough to the original. It's funny to think of Bunuel being so concerned with something so literal.

I watched the Roger Corman/Vincent Price version of HOUSE OF USHER last year and at that time I made sure to go on at length about the masterpiece my friends and I shot in the 90s also based on THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER. So, in the interest of full disclosure, I mention it again here: having created my own glorious rendering of the tale, I am biased.

This version of the tale takes some pages from DRACULA and some pages from THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY to spice up the usual tale of USHER. As usual, the tale begins with a man (Charles Lamay) traveling to visit his friend, Usher (Jean Debucort), who has fallen ill. Upon arriving at Usher's crumbling castle-like mansion, which is surrounded by swamps, we learn Usher's wife (Marguerite Gance -- in the original, this character is Usher's sister) has also fallen ill and is fading away.

In this version, Usher is obsessed with painting his wife's portrait, and as he adds life to the portrait, the life seems to drain from his wife until she eventually perishes. That's when one of Poe's favorite subjects comes up -- being buried alive.

As with most silent films that have withstood the test of time and are still rembered today, the visuals are stunning, mostly revolving around the blustery weather that seems to burst in on the massive interiors of Usher's home. Books fall from shelves, papers blow around and leaves blow into the house, blurring the line between outside and in. The filmmakers even effectively use slow motion in a few key moments, and it occurred to me that you don't see slow mo in silent flicks very often.

There's an interesting juxtaposition made between Usher and his unnamed friend in this film -- Usher seems to have heightened senses and perceives everything going on around him intensely and immediately. His friend, on the other hand, is both hard of hearing and needs a magnifying glass to see. Has Usher gained some transcendent second sight as a benefit of his madness, while his friend suffers from the blindness of the mundane? Maybe, but Usher seems to be blind, as well, when it benefits him. For instance, he neglects to notice that his wife is a human who is suffering and not just an object to be painted.

Horrorfest 2017: The Driller Killer

Now for Nicolas Winding Refn's last movie on this list, THE DRILLER KILLER. This 1979 indie slasher was directed by Abel Ferrara, who went on to direct the infamous BAD LIEUTENANT. THE DRILLER KILLER is infamous itself, mostly due to its sensational title. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess, depending on your point of view), while the movie does feature a driller killer, it is not the movie most gore fiends would imagine.

Ferrara himself stars as a starving artist living in an apartment in Union Square, New York City. He has a couple roommates but can't make the rent, can't pay the phone bill and can't stand the racket from the neighboring punk rock band. His landlord is not sympathetic and his connection to the art world won't give him an advance on his next masterpiece, but promises to buy it -- if it's any good. Problem is, he'll have to create the painting first, and that's the hard part.

Our young artist eventually descends into madness and becomes the titular driller killer, both killing random transients on the streets that he resents, and later moving on to murdering his own friends, acquaintances and enemies.

I guess the greatest strengths in the film lie in the rare glimpses into late 70s New York at a gritty street level, among the punk counter culture, in seedy neighborhoods and trashy apartments. I guess they had to add the stuff about drilling killing in order to get the movie made and released, but there probably could have been a slice of life movie to be made here, or even a documentary.

As it is, the movie is definitely worth looking at as an oddity, but it does not have the memorable qualities of other indie innovators like HALLOWEEN. While it's an interesting conceit to have a horror movie where half the run time is devoted to exploring a subculture and lifestyle, I don't think it quite works here and, thanks to the title, you end up sitting around wondering when the drilling killing is going to start. Maybe that's the point. Maybe I'm supposed to be like "OMG I can't believe I'm a monster who can't wait for a murder to happen." But probably not.

Horrorfest 2017: Demons

Back to Italian horror for Nicolas Winding Refn's second favorite on this list, DEMONS, a 1985 shocker directed by Lamberto Bava. It was co-written and produced by horror master Dario Argento so going into it I figured it stood a chance of being good, but I was disappointed.

The movie starts off promisingly enough, with a young woman (Natasha Hovey) being stalked by a masked man in a Berlin subway. This is suspenseful and effective because it's the kind of situation anyone could easily find themselves in -- scared in a subway. Turns out the masked man just wants to hand her a flyer advertising a movie premiere, and she decides to attend.

Thus follows many scenes of people watching the movie. It's a horror movie. I stared at the screen in disbelief as shot after shot cut to reactions from the audience. How long are these people going to watch this movie, I thought. Turns out a long time. DEMONS is only 88 minutes long but it's a long 88 minutes.

Eventually a demonic outbreak strikes the theater the premiere is in, and Hovey is forced to fight for her survival with another cinemagoer (Ubrano Barberini) but it's too little too late. What should have been an awesome premise -- basically DAWN OF THE DEAD in a movie theater -- becomes a depressing slog through gore and endless chases.

I think there's a good movie in here, somewhere, but it's hard to watch a movie about other people watching a movie and not be bored. I mean, it can be done -- see MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 -- but it's not done here.

There is a nice metal soundtrack, though.

Horrorfest 2017: Maniac Cop

Now we switch to some favorites of Nicholas Winding Refn, director of such great films as DRIVE and such crazy films as ONLY GOD FORGIVES. First on the list: MANIAC COP. You'd think I would have seen this 1988 exploitation flick directed by William Lustig before because it stars Bruce Campbell, the greatest actor of all time. But I just now got around to it.

The premise is simple: someone in a cop uniform is going around New York city killing innocent people. At first the cops don't believe it could be an actual cop, but one detective (Tom Atkins) buys it and follows some leads until he gets to beat cop Bruce Campbell, who has been framed.

There is one nice scene near the beginning where we're not sure if Campbell is the villain of the piece or not. I guess I ruined it for you. Then again if you think Campbell can be anything other than heroic, think again. Here he teams up with the afore mentioned detective and his officer girlfriend (Laurene Landon) to track down the real maniac.

This is a fairly low budget affair but makes the most out of its limitations. There's lots of great New York location shooting even though apparently they only shot in the city for a couple days. It's pretty convincing. This includes footage of the St. Patrick's Day parade at the climax of the flick.

For some reason I always figured this movie would be pretty awful, I guess based on the title and premise and everything. In fact I think I even read where Bruce Campbell himself said it wasn't very good. But I disagree. For most of the run time the movie keeps you guessing and is an interesting mystery. Lustig shoots from interesting angles and his camera is always energetic.

Horrorfest 2017: The Terminal Man

Here's the second of Kubrick's favorites for the month, THE TERMINAL MAN, directed by Mike Hodges and based on a novel by Michael Crichton. Off the top of my head, I'll say this is the 2nd best movie made from a Crichton property, after JURASSIC PARK, and so good it's kind of a bummer it seems to have been forgotten by the passage of time.

This sci-fi horror story came out in 1974. Knowing it was a favorite of Kubrick's makes me wonder if it was a direct influence on THE SHINING. Both films have sharp, exact visuals, both are adapted from mainstream beach reads and both intersperse "day of the week" title cards to break up the action.

They're also both about a man's descent into insanity. In this case it's George Segal as a guy who undergoes a controversial new form of brain surgery to hopefully stave off seizures he's been suffering from. The seizures lead to blackouts, and Segal becomes violent during the blackouts, so the operating doctor (Richard Dysart) hopes the surgery (involving stimulating the brain with electrical impulses via implants) will help him return to a normal life. Oh yeah, did I mention Segal, a computer programmer, also suffers from paranoid delusions that machines are going to take over the world?

As you may have guessed, the surgery goes wrong and Segal eventually spirals into a psychosis where he's trapped in a blackout state most of the time, hunting down the doctors who operated on him, including a psychologist who wasn't convinced this was the best idea (Joan Hackett), and endangering innocent bystanders along the way.

Like JURASSIC PARK, THE TERMINAL MAN gets a lot of mileage out of the first half of the story by convincing the audience that this is REAL SCIENCE. Of course it's all BS, but we get to see basically the entire operation scene, and it's totally convincing as well as suspenseful. The way it's mocked up for the movie, you can visually understand the concepts of what the doctors are trying to do. That way, you're totally sold by the time we get to the last half of the movie that's all action.

Segal is great in his role and it was interesting to see him as something other than a nice old guy, which is basically all I've seen him play on TV in the last couple decades. Of course that's me forgetting that he was also in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINA WOOLF, but that movie's so scary I think I might have blocked it out on purpose.

Horrorfest 2017: The Company of Wolves

Get ready for a couple favorites from a guy known for directing what some consider to be the greatest horror film of all time, THE SHINING – Stanley Kubrick. The first is a movie I’m kind of surprised I hadn't heard of until now: THE COMPANY OF WOLVES. This 1984 flick from the UK was directed by Neil Jordan who went on to direct such classics as THE CRYING GAME and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE.

Apparently the movie had a limited budget, but it looks pretty great for a non-Hollywood fantasy/horror story from the early 80s. Sarah Patterson stars as a young girl who lives in a decidedly fantasy-style forest that looks like something out of Grimm's Fairy Tales. Her sister has recently been killed by a wolf in the woods, so her parents (including Dad David Warner) are worried whenever she goes to visit her grandmother (Angela Lansbury) who lives alone outside of town.

Sounds like Little Red Riding Hood, doesn't it? Well it is, basically, just a little more fleshed out and with more werewolves. I've skipped letting you know the movie starts with a present day framing device letting us know that this is a contemporary girls' dreams, and then there are stories within the story within the story that various characters tell warning the girl against talking to strangers, etc. One of the earliest and most effective of these stars Stephen Rea and features probably the coolest werewolf transformation I've ever seen (even cooler than AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON!). Another vignette features the great Terence Stamp in a small role.

The movie gets a little needlessly complicated with the framing story, and this leads to kind of a strange ending, but everything in between is great, including the various wolf vignettes told by various characters. There's beautiful atmosphere, dreamy visuals, gory effects, solid acting. Kubrick had good taste and Neil Jordan is underrated.

Horrorfest 2017: Messiah of Evil

I went into Edgar Wright's last favorite of the month, MESSIAH OF EVIL, a little excited because it was written and directed by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, the husband and wife team responsible for punching up the screenplays of AMERICAN GRAFFITI and STAR WARS (by all accounts making them more human and less George Lucas-y) and for writing INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM.

Unfortunately I didn't end up liking it much. This team also made HOWARD THE DUCK, which should have been a warning to me, except I loved that movie as a kid, so who knows.

MESSIAH OF EVIL is a low budget, artsy horror flick from 1973 starring Marianna Hill as a young woman who travels to a northern California town to find her father (Royal Dano), who has disappeared. Clues lead to a cult-leader type figure (Michael Greer) who seems benevolent enough, despite the warnings of a crazy dude played by none other than Elisha Cook, Jr. What a casting coup! And he's amazing as always in his limited screen time.

Eventually it turns out the whole town is possessed and waiting for an ancient evil to return, ever since some stuff that went down back in pioneer days and blah, blah. To be honest I kind of zoned out. On one hand this might be to the film's credit, because it does capture a very surreal and dream-like quality, despite its low budget origins. On the other hand I might have just been bored.

This is the third case in a row of a DVD's presentation getting a little bit in the way of my enjoyment of the film. I can't tell if the source material sucks, or the DVD sucks, but maybe the movie was easier to follow on opening day with a pristine print. That's really no excuse though, I've enjoyed plenty of hard-to-watch movies. I guess I just wasn't in the mood.

Horrorfest 2017: The Asphyx

Another of Edgar Wright's favorites, another good movie marred by a bad DVD release – 1972's THE ASPHYX, a UK production directed by Peter Newbrook.

This time we're in Victorian England and Robert Stephens stars as a scientist who has discovered he can photograph what appears to be the soul escaping the body right at the time of death. Through a tragic accident, he realizes he can also capture this phenomenon in moving pictures. However, once he sees it moving he realizes the ghostly phenomenon is not moving away from the body, as an escaping soul would, but towards it. Thus, he concludes it must be an "Asphyx" – a creature who comes and leads you into death.

Allow me to pause for a moment and say that as an American I figured the title was pronounced like "asphyxiation," like "us-fix." Since the movie takes place in England, everyone pronounces it with an emphasis on the first syllable, so it comes off as "Ass-fix." So, that's hilarious.

Anyway, at a public execution they capture the phenomenon on film again, and Powell decides it would be possible to capture the entity in a beam and drag it into a trap (over a decade before GHOSTBUSTERS!), thus preventing death and maybe leading to eternal life. He wants to perform this experiment on himself, his assistant (Robert Powell) balks at that. But the scientist's assistant wants to marry the scientist's daughter (Jane Lapotaire) and the scientist promises both of them eternal life if this works.

I don't have to tell you things don't work out as planned. But I will tell you that the effects for the actual Asphyx creature are pretty great even if they're a little shoddy by today's standards. It appears to be a grotesque puppet super imposed with various blurring effects, etc., but what's really great is the sound design. It screeches and screams in unearthly tones that are truly unsettling.

Horrorfest 2017: The House that Screamed

Here's another Edgar Wright favorite, 1969's THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED, an English-language Spanish production from director Narcisco Ibanez Serrador.

At first I was excited for the DVD I rented because it was hosted by Elvira. Why not break up the monotony with a little hosting from the ghostly goddess of the dark? But then I realized the rest of the DVD's presentation was very poor – it looked and sounded like the print had been dragged through the mud before it was transferred. That's a shame because the movie turned out to be good!

Lilli Palmer stars as the head mistress of a 19th century boarding school for girls. Her latest charge (Cristina Galbo) is the orphaned daughter of a prostitute and suffers ridicule and abuse at the hands of the other girls, led by the head misstress' second in command (Mary Maude). She also strikes up a budding romance with the head mistress' son (John Moulder Brown) who is forbidden by his mother to interact with any of the girls because none of them are "good enough" for him.

You might wonder how this qualifies as a horror movie. Well, there's some business about missing and disappearing girls, but I think this would qualify even without that and the shock ending because the abuse and bullying in the school is pretty horrific on its own. The movie eventually includes murder and mutilation and other kinds of depravity, but the most harrowing scene is one in which the group of girls thoroughly breaks the new girl by ruthlessly ridiculing her about her mother's past.

Horrorfest 2017: X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes

It wouldn't be Horrorfest without an entry from Roger Corman, master of the low budget flick and mentor to many of Hollywood's finest. He directed one of Edgar Wright's favorite horror movies, 1963's X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES.

The movie gets a lot of mileage out of its star, Ray Milland, most famous probably for THE LOST WEEKEND. If they hadn't nailed the casting, the movie probably wouldn't be as entertaining as it is, with Milland as a mad scientist who does an experiment on himself to get x-ray vision, and then becomes addicted to keeping his x-ray vision while also driven mad by the implications of seeing "everything."

One cool thing about this movie is that it seems willing to go anywhere. Despite its low budget origins it is not content to stay in one location – Milland goes from his lab, to a carnival where he earns money as a novelty and then on to Vegas where he cheats at cards. Along the way he meets Don Rickles as a carny willing to exploit him.

One of my favorite things about going to the movies is when you see one that really exploits every inch of its premise. Corman knows how to do that, taking the concept of having x-ray vision to places that wouldn't have even occurred to me, all of it coming to a head at a religious revival where Milland basically declares he can literally see God. What happens next… well, you won't believe your eyes. Get it?

Horrorfest 2017: The Monolith Monsters

Halfway through THE MONOLITH MONSTERS I began to think I had seen the movie before. I figured it was probably on Mystery Science Theater 3000, but no. The only thing I can think is I caught 10 minutes of it on Svengoolie or something. In any case, it's one of Edgar Wright's favorites, but it's pretty boring.

The premise itself seems boring, but you never know going in whether a movie will overcome a boring premise or succumb to it. This is the usual 1950s Hollywood sci-fi b-movie stuff, set in the desert, as usual, but this time the monsters are giant crystals that grow out of the ground. They're stimulated by water, so if there's a rainstorm – WATCH OUT. They don't chase you or anything. They just grow.

By contrast, I saw TARANTULA the other day (definitely on Svengoolie) from the same studio (Universal) and it shares the same look, pace and production values as THE MONOLITH MONSTERS but is way more entertaining. First off, the monster can chase you and eat you. Secondly, there's a subplot about mutated humans who can also chase you and eat you.

Anyway, this 1957 flick was directed by John Sherwood and stars Grant Williams as the geologist hero and Lola Albright as his girlfriend. There is a little bit of a race against time involved, as a little girl becomes infected by the monolith monsters and slowly turns to stone, but overall it's a long 77 minutes.

Horrorfest 2017: The Quatermass Xperiment

Another filmmaker famous for his high level of movie fandom is Edgar Wright, director most recently of BABY DRIVER but probably most famous for the horror comedy, SHAUN OF THE DEAD. As you might expect of a movie nerd the caliber of Wright, there's a list of thousands of his favorites online, so here's a few of his horror picks, starting with THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT.

This is an early black and white Hammer film from 1955 directed by Val Guest. I've seen the title thrown around so many times, I'm glad to finally make time to check it out. It stars Brian Donlevy as the titular Quatermass. His xperiment? Sending men into space! Unfortunately only 1 of the 3 men sent to space returns alive (Richard Wordsworth) and guess what? He's mutating into a monster!

You'll often see the awful CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST listed as the first of the found footage genre, and the much better BLAIR WITCH PROJECT listed as the most famous of the found footage genre, but I say QUATERMASS shows some early ahead-of-its-time signs of this technique. Partway through the movie, Quatermass and his associates review film footage of the space flight, and they sit in suspense (as did I) waiting to see what might have happened. It's very effective, as is the climax in which we partly see events through the eyes of a TV crew sent to film a cathedral.

This movie went on to spawn several sequels, which is not surprising, because Donlevy as Quatermass is such an interesting character, so unapologetically "logical" and science driven (and mad) that this flick ends with him sending another rocket to space – in spite of his failures.

Horrorfest 2017: Torso

Here's another disappointment from Tarantino's list of favorites, another Italian slasher, this time called TORSO. Directed by Sergio Martino and released in 1973, this one's not as outright bad as SLAUGHTER HOTEL, but it wasn't that great either.

This time we've got Suzy Kendall as a college student who retreats to a villa outside of town when she becomes the target of the local serial killer who's knocking off her friends.

Unfortunately, the killer simply follows her (and her friends) to the villa and gets right back to the serial killing.

There is one sort of interesting moment where you get a glimpse in the killer's psyche and see the moment from his childhood that turned him into a misogynistic killer. But that's about it.

I kept my eye out for any influences Tarantino might have latched onto but then my eyes glazed over and I became incapable of rational thought.

Apparently Sergio Martino also made some better examples of this genre, so I guess I should check those out one of these days. Horrorfest 2018, anyone?

Horrorfest 2017: Slaughter Hotel

Quentin Tarantino is probably the filmmaker working today, or any other time, most vocal about the importance of his influences and most known as an artist who uses his influences to help fuel his creativity. With that in mind, I was interested to check out a couple of his horror favorites. On the other hand, I'm aware he leans towards the realm of exploitation (like Eli Roth), so I was prepared for his favorites to suck.

And boy do they! First on the list is SLAUGHTER HOTEL. You might think this 1971 slasher from Italy (directed by Fernando Di Leo) is about a hotel where people are slaughtered, but you'd be wrong. There's no hotel in the movie! Instead, it's an insane asylum for well off women. Most of the women are not insane, though – unless you count INSANE WITH LUST. Seriously.

Anyway, someone in a mask and a cape is murdering the patients. Since Klaus Kinski is the only big name in the movie, you think it might be him. You also might think, "Hey, he's a good actor, this can't be all bad," but again you'd be sadly mistaken.

I kept myself engaged for keeping an eye out for anything Tarantino might have grabbed for himself and used in his bag of tricks. Just when I was giving up home, a scene came along where one of the patients (Jane Garrett) dances with one of the nurses (Monica Strebel). In this scene, the patient's dance moves are clearly the inspiration for Uma Thurman's famous twist embellishments in PULP FICTION. So the movie has that going for it, which is nice.

Horrorfest 2017: Class of Nuke 'em High

You'd think I would've seen one of the most famous titles from Lloyd Kaufman's infamous Troma Productions, but I only now got around to CLASS OF NUKE 'EM HIGH thanks to Jim Jarmusch. This 1986 horror comedy plays a little like what might happen if THE BREAKFAST CLUB took on mutated monsters. Make sure the budget is micro and the laughs are low brow, and that's Troma for you. Love 'em or hate 'em… they exist?
To be fair this one seems a little less bargain basement than the worst I've seen from Troma, complete with nice monster effects and cool matte paintings. The story involves a high school contaminated by the massive nuclear power plant in its backyard. The former honors students become a degenerate gang called the Cretins.

A (relatively) clean cut couple (Janelle Brady and Gil Brenton) also fall under the effects of radiation, leading to a mutated teen pregnancy and all manner of other shenanigans. It's like an after school special on acid, instead of one about acid.

The movie has a lively soundtrack of punk tunes, a notable perk for a low budget flick like this, and even though the minds of the filmmakers seem to be in the gutter, their hearts are obviously in the right place, because in spite of everything the movie is pretty fun, and everyone looks like they're having fun making it.

Horrorfest 2017: Invasion of the Bee Girls

Here's another Jarmusch favorite, INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS, a 1973 film directed by Denis Sanders. I wanted to check this movie out a couple years ago after I read Nicholas Meyer's autobiography. Meyer is most famous for directing the two best STAR TREK movies, parts II and VI, but his first writing credit was INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS. He's a pretty smart guy so I was expecting a pretty smart movie. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

Basically, dudes start turning up dead and it's fairly clear they're having heart attacks in the middle of sex. Neil Agar plays an agent sent to investigate these deaths, and things seem to revolve around a government research facility in which a bunch of the scientists are all sexed up.

About halfway through the flick we get to witness an entomologist (Susan Harris) actually kill on of the scientists during a tryst, accompanied with buzzing sound effects and revealing strange eyes, reminiscent of an insect. Here comes the bee girls.

A movie called INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS shouldn't be boring, but this one is. I started to zone out but I guess the entomologist played by Harris is using mutation and radiation to create  a race of bee-women.

I think the movie is supposed to be a satire about the sexual revolution vs. sexism – men being sexed to death, etc. But, then throw in a bunch of gratuitous nudity and you get mixed results.

Horrorfest 2017: White of the Eye

I like a lot of Jim Jarmusch's movies, although I've never seen the only one that would be considered anything close to horror, ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE. Still, I was interested to check out some of his horror favorites and started with WHITE OF THE EYE, directed by Donald Cammell.

This 1987 UK flick takes place in Arizona and stars David Keith as a guy who goes around installing high end stereo equipment for rich people and Cathy Moriarty as his wife. Before we get to all this, though, the movie opens with a bang as a well off woman is murdered in her sprawling home. Tire tracks lead the detective on the case (Art Evans) to Keith but the movie has done a pretty good job of establishing Keith as a cool dude, so we're not so sure the detective is on the right track.

In the mean time we get flashbacks to how Moriarty and Keith met. At first we're not sure where all of this is going and to the movie's credit, it doesn't do any handholding. From the opening frames we can tell this movie is going to be more about mood and style than about plot. That's not to say the plot doesn't make sense, it's just not spoon fed to the audience. It all eventually comes together and has a very satisfying ending, but the movie is mostly notable for the beautiful shots and cool soundtrack.

Speaking of the soundtrack, it's co-written by Nick Mason, the drummer from Pink Floyd. There's a lot of good source music on the soundtrack as well, but the 80s-tastic synth and drums score is pretty sweet and ads to the slick visuals.

Cinematography wise this film is perfect. It uses a few different kinds of film stock when switching between time periods in the story, but for the most part the images are sharp, exact and detailed. Even though this is clearly a product of the 80s, the movie looks like it was shot yesterday.

Aside from all this, the movie also has the added benefit of using its locations to its advantage. This doesn't just incidentally take place in Arizona, it uses the landscape to help tell the story of lonely, isolated people, not unlike the Southern California vistas of TWENTYNINE PALMS.

Horrorfest 2017: The Spiral Staircase

Here's the last of William Friedkin's selections for this month, the 1946 noir-horror THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE. I hadn't thought of it before but I guess a lot of noir crosses over with horror, not only  in the subject matter but also in the look. After all, the famous shadowy and moody lighting of noir comes from the same source that inspired the Universal monster movies, the German expressionist filmmakers of the silent era.

THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE stars takes place around the turn of the last century in New England and stars Dorothy McGuire as a mute servant to a bed-ridden matron of a wealth family in an old dark house played by Ethel Barrymore. There's a local serial killer knocking off other disabled women, which makes the mute McGuire a logical next victim.

There's a lot of other players in the house, as an old dark house movie demands, but the most memorable to me is Elsa Lanchester as one of the other servants in the house. Lanchester was most famous for playing the title role in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and it is such an iconic and unforgettable role, that whenever she turns up in other movies I always take note.

Horrorfest 2017: Them

Now on to 2006's THEM, a French/Romanian home-invasion thriller from directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud. This is another favorite of William Friedkin's. I went into it dragging my feet a little because I'm kind of sick of home-invasion movies. There's always a weird dynamic where you're invited to enjoy watching nice people attacked for no reason. You might say this is no different from any other horror movie, but I feel like in many of the films in this genre over the last couple decades, the movies tend to lean a little more sadistically on random violence against innocents rather than deriving horror from the plot or anything like that.

All that said, of course, when you write something off without having seen it, sometimes you're surprised, and that was the case with THEM, which I ended up enjoying. It is the usual thing – a young couple (Olivia Bonamy and Michael Cohen) retire for a weeked in the country at a big, isolated house, only to be attacked by rarely glimpsed assailants who seem to at first have the house surrounded, and then begin breaking inside.

The movie scored points with me by focusing on suspense rather than on violence and brutality. Also, it's worth sticking with until the end because the last shot is particularly chilling. It's somewhat reminiscent of the big Hollywood movie THE STRANGERS from 2008, except way, way better.

Horrorfest 2017: Le Boucher

Some say THE EXORCIST is the greatest horror film of all time, so let's look at some of EXORCIST director William Friedkin's favorites, starting with LE BOUCHER, a French and Italian co-production from 1970 directed by Claude Chabrol.

A teacher (Stephane Audran) meets a butcher (Jean Yanne) at a wedding and the two begin a friendship. It's clear early on the butcher hopes for more, but the teacher has been burned by romance in the past and is not looking for a new relationship. This is an interesting dynamic because it explores the whole "nice guy" phenomenon – maybe if the butcher is nice enough in just the right way to this teacher, she'll eventually fall for him. Or, maybe that's not the way life works, dude.

Around this same time, the bodies of young murdered women start showing up in the small town, and the teacher begins to suspect the butcher might be behind it. As viewers we're as unsure as she is. At one point, she thinks she has the evidence that proves it's him. But then, she realizes it might not be. And so on.

The movie comes to an alternatively thrilling and emotionally intense conclusion as the teacher attempts to barricade herself into the school as the killer approaches, and then has to deal with her friend, the butcher, on his death bed.

Horrorfest 2017: Horror Express

What? Two Peter Cushing movies in a row? Joe Dante, you're spoiling me.  Next up: the French/Italian co-production HORROR EXPRESS, from 1972.

 

Where there's a Cushing that means Christopher Lee can't be far, and here he is, as an anthropologist who has discovered the remains of a heretofore unknown prehistoric ancestor of mankind, and is returning with it from China to Europe on the Trans-Siberian Express.

 

Also on the train are Lee's colleague, Cushing, a Rasputin-esque mad monk (Alberto de Mendoza) and a police inspector (Julio Pena). It isn't long before bodies start piling up, and at first it seems somehow Lee's primitive man has returned to life and gone on a killing spree, but it eventually turns out that an other-worldly being was buried with the primitive man, has now thawed out and escaped, and is jumping from one train passenger's mind to another, killing along the way.

 

As if the cast couldn't get any better, the train stops just long enough for a Cossack Captain to board with his army. It's Telly Savalas! He's determined to put a stop to the murders, but things only get worse from there. Just like in LISA AND THE DEVIL, he's entertaining as hell. The movie has a nice long build up until he shows up, and then he has a great entrance and a great exit.

 

The whodunit-on-a-train aspect (as well as the title) obviously pays homage to THE ORIENT EXPRESS, as does the overt Englishness of Lee and Cushing's scientist characters. At one point the inspector points out Cushing or Lee could be the monster, to which Cushing replies, "Monster? We're British, you know."

Horrorfest 2017: The Flesh and the Fiends

Horrorfest has had at least one movie before inspired by the villainous team of graverobbers Burke and Hare, THE BODY SNATCHER. This time we have a movie actually featuring Burke and Hare as characters, THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS, a 1960 flick from the UK, and a favorite of Joe Dante's.

You know you're in for a classic Horrorfest experience when the movie stars Peter Cushing. This time, Cushing is a doctor in 1800s Scotland who lectures to students on anatomy and is in endless need of cadavers. At first he tasks his assistant and a student with coming up with fresh bodies, but it isn't long before opportunistic con men-cum-murderers, Burke (George Rose) and Hare (Donald Pleasance!) miraculously start turning up with the freshest bodies of all.

Aside from the great premise and wonderful performances from Cushing and Pleasance, THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS benefits from its setting – there's a contrast between the stately Edinburgh home and school of Cushing and the bawdy streets, pubs and brothels Pleasance and his accomplice call home. This contrast in settings also highlights the contrasts between our characters – who is more evil, the cold and detached doctor who allows men to murder for him, while maintain plausible deniability, or the street level bums who are willing to carry out the murders?

The final scene of the film has society's chilling answer to this, as Burke and Hare suffer at the hands of the law and a vengeful mob while the doctor is applauded by his students.

Horrorfest 2017: Lisa and the Devil

Another Joe Dante favorite about a bunch of weirdos living in a house together! This time it's the Italian/Spanish/West German flick LISA AND THE DEVIL from 1973. This one was directed by the Italian master of horror and Horrorfest alum Mario Bava. Apparently at one point it was reshot and re-edited to cash in on the success of THE EXORCIST, but I watched the original version.

Elke Sommer stars as the title character, a tourist on vacation in Spain who becomes lost and ends up in  crazy mansion run by a sinister butler played by Telly Savalas. Savalas happens to look exactly like the image of Satan Sommer saw in a mural, so naturally, she's freaked.

This movie has lots of fun with its eccentric characters, weird flashbacks, creative uses of mannequins and of course Bava's famous slasher scenes and bold colors. Although the movie is basically just a murder mystery about the secrets of the family in the mansion, it plays out like  a weird dream or nightmare. It doesn't always make total sense, but there's one thing that saves it and that's Telly Savalas as the creepy butler.

Savalas is so commanding, so conniving, so sneaky and so at home in the movie that it's worth watching just for his performance. There's a running gag where he's not supposed to smoke in the mansion, but is happy to do so as long as no one is looking. In the mean time, he sucks on lollipops to keep his mouth busy. Apparently this was Savalas' own idea, and it's these little quirks that make the movie interesting.

Horrorfest 2017: Spider Baby

Now here's a weird one. We're going to start a string of Joe Dante favorites, another Horrorfest alum. He's generous enough to have lots of favorite movies listed online, so we'll be hanging out with him for a while.

First on the list: SPIDER BABY. This black and white oddity from 1967 features the last starring role of Lon Chaney, Jr. Here's a man whose career has spanned the critically acclaimed (OF MICE AND MEN) to the iconic (THE WOLF MAN) and everything inbetween, including B-movies that are far more embarrassing than this one. In this flick, it looks like Chaney's in on the joke and happy to be there, instead of desperate or doing someone a favor. So that's nice.

But what's it about? Well… good question. I guess it's about this family the lives in this big old house out in the middle of nowhere. The family is stricken with a disease that makes them remain in a child-like mental state even as their bodies grow. So, for instance, cult movie favorite Sid Haig plays a baby, even though he's his usual physically imposing self. Chaney plays the man entrusted to take care of them, and spends most of the movie attempting to prevent some rich relatives from taking over the property.

One of the kids, the titular Spider Baby (Jill Banner) likes to play a game where she traps innocent passers by, like the mailman (Mantan Moreland!), in her makeshift web and then stabs them to death.

Even though this all sounds gross and disturbing, the movie's pretty funny, and you have to wonder if the minds behind THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE were fans. We know Joe Dante's a fan, and I can see where he was probably thinking about this movie when he made THE BURBS. The movie was directed by Jack Hill, who went on to become an exploitation king, directing the likes of COFFY (also starring Sid Haig).

All in all, this is a genuine oddity that also happens to be entertaining and well made. I'm glad Joe Dante brought it to my attention.

Horrorfest 2017: Twentynine Palms

I saw a great horror film a couple years ago called WITCH – a brand new release directed by Robert Eggers. Apparently he's moving on to make his follow up film, another remake of NOSFERATU. I'm expecting big things from this guy, because WITCH is the real deal and you should totally watch it. Anyway, here's one of his favorites.

TWENTYNINE PALMS is a French/German/US co-production from 2003. I have to admit, after watching about a half hour of the movie I had to stop and look up the list of Robert Eggers' favorite horror films again to make sure I had the right movie. For most of its running time, TWENTYNINE PALMS just plays like an indie drama about a hipster couple's relationship falling apart. But, via the Internet, Eggers assured me this was a horror movie, so I kept at it.

The film stars David Wissak and Yekaterina Golubeva as the hipster couple in question. I think Wissak is meant to be American and Golubeva is meant to be French but I'm not positive. In any case, they're traveling to Joshua Tree National Park on a photography assignment, alternatively having sex and fighting. Both the sex and the fights get more intense until eventually the couple falls apart so thoroughly that you think the movie must be over.

But, they get back together, and then the real horror begins. I don't want to spoil the ending, if you dare to sit through the first 2 hours, but it is sudden, unpleasant, and both what you've been fearing and out of left field. Looking back on the film, it's interesting how certain things are foreshadowed. But, they're foreshadowed in such a way that, on first watch, you aren't sure if it's on purpose or not.

For instance, some of the sex scenes are a little awkward and weird, with the way Wissak treats Golubeva. When you're first watching the movie, not knowing what's going to happen later on, you might think, well, it's naturally awkward because it's more explicit than your average film, and it's not romanticized, so it feels voyeuristic, so while it's uncomfortable maybe it's just the viewer's expectations that make it uncomfortable and it's not necessarily the film, etc. But, it's totally the film.

One thing that kept me interested was the location. Most of the movie takes place in San Bernardino County, which is where I  went to college, so while they didn't necessarily visit locations I 100% recognized the whole thing looked familiar and they made great use of the magnificent desolation, the windmills, the Joshua trees and the palms.

Horrorfest 2017: Pieces

Now we move on to a favorite of director Eli Roth, the Italian/Spanish/Puerto Rican slasher PIECES from 1983. I went into it figuring it was probably a mistake. After all, I've never seen an Eli Roth movie I liked, and he specializes in the kind of horror/exploitation that can really easily be done horribly wrong. Still, not many directors have lists of their favorites online, and Roth is a big name in horror, so here we go.

PIECES is about what you'd expect from a movie loved by Eli Roth. It starts out with a bang, as a kid is interrupted putting together a puzzle of a naked woman by his furious mother. The kid snaps, murders his mother, then fools authorities into thinking someone else did it while the kid hid in the closet.

After that, we flash forward to a college campus, years later. Women are turning up dead on campus with missing body parts – a head here, a torso there. After each murder, we in the audience are treated to a scene of the assailant completeing the naked-women puzzle from the opening sequence. So it's clear – whoever the killer is is this kid, now grown up, taking "pieces" of women to "build his puzzle."

A couple cops (Christopher George and Frank Brana) suspect the big man on campus (Paul L. Smith), but he's innocent so he teams up with an undercover cop (Linday Day) to figure out who the real killer is. I'm guessing Roth loves this movie not just for the over-the-top gore and gratuitous nudity but also for the "Creativity" of the murder scenes. In an era when FRIDAY THE 13th and HALLOWEEN were shocking people, PIECES was taking it to a whole other level.

I'm guessing this kind of flick was probably cooler to have as a favorite before people could easily access it. If you had a beat up print you saw at a 2nd run movie theater one time, or you had an old VHS you got at the video store that no one else ever rented, it could blow your mind and then you could spread the legend of how great it is and then its reputation could precede it. Now that basically everything is easily accessible via digital means, it's easy to call the bluff.

Horrorfest 2017: The Entity

Now for another favorite of Martin Scorsese, the 1983 ghost story THE ENTITY. The movie doesn't waste much time getting to the scares. Within a few moments of meeting single mother Barbara Hershey, who works an office job and takes night classes, a malevolent poltergeist attacks her in her own home. The attack comes out of nowhere, and is over almost as quickly as it began, but here's the worst part: it's clearly a total violation – a rape.

On one hand you might say the idea of a horror film in which the protagonist is repeatedly raped by a ghost is the stuff of cheap exploitation. But I think the majority of the movie plays as a metaphor for real-life sexual assault. Aside from dramatizing all of the feelings of helplessness, insecurity and post traumatic stress, the film also covers the territory of friends, family and even medical professionals not believing the victim – telling her it is in her head, or she dreamed it, or it's a mental problem that is only manifesting itself because of something she may have done in the past – say with her father, or with a previous boyfriend or husband.

One of the medical professionals, a doctor played by Ron Silver, starts out as a sympathetic character. He's personable, seems smart, takes a special interest in Hershey. As the film develops, he ends up alienating her because while he wants to help her he can't accept that ghosts, entities and poltergeists are real. There must be a rational explanation. If this was real life, I'd agree with him. But this is THE ENTITY, and his attempts to support Hershey while also mansplaining to her and victim blaming are exactly the kind of things "nice guys" do to women all the time.

There is real satisfaction when Hershey's constantly attacked and disbelieved character finally has proof of what is happening to her, and has people on her side who both believe her and want to help her. The movie had me going the whole time, and was almost perfect, except they bungle the ending a little bit. I guess this movie is based on a "true" story (forgetting that ghosts aren't real), so it has an unsatisfying ending as a result. I'd rather see a version where Hershey is not only at peace with herself but also gets the best of these asshole entities.

Horrorfest 2017: Isle of the Dead

As spectacular as Technicolor special effects extravaganzas are, nothing says Horrorfest to me than a good old black and white chiller starring Boris Karloff. So it's nice to discover one I've never seen before, thanks to Martin Scorsese. One of his favorites is 1945's ISLE OF THE DEAD.

Boris Karloff stars as a Greek general commanding troops in the Balkan Wars of 1912. Because of the unsanitary conditions of the corpse-covered battlefields, the threat of plague is imminent. The story begins as Karloff travels to a nearby island to pay respects to his wife, who is buried in a tomb there. What's meant to be a quick trip turns into a several days-long stay when Karloff comes upon the home of an archaeologist (Jason Robards, Sr.) and his guests, one of whom seems to have perished from the plague. Until the group can decide whether the plague is really upon them, and whether or not it has been contained, Karloff commands that no one can leave the island, for fear of spreading the disease.

At first everyone goes along with Karloff, but the longer they stay on the island the more people turn against each other. Some want to leave, so Karloff prevents them. Others decide he's a tyrant and insane. Some even believe there are supernatural forces at play, instead of a plague – "vorvolaka", an evil spirit that takes over humans.

The movie has tons of atmosphere, including a stunning matte painting of the island itself, showcased as Karloff approaches via boat. There's a creepy old house, the misty woods on the island, a destroyed tomb and even a couple ghostly shots that will have you wondering if your eyes are playing tricks on you.

In a way this makes a nice companion with THE WAR OF THE WORLDS because it is about how society breaks down and mankind turns against itself. Karloff is well intentioned, but good intentions are not enough in the end.

Horrorfest 2017: The War of the Worlds

The days are getting longer, the leaves are falling and the rain has come to stay. You know what that means. Time for Horrorfest again! This year I'll be focusing on favorite horror films of famous or up-and-coming directors. 31 horror movies in 31 days! As usual I'll focus on movies I've never seen before, but every now and then one might slip in that I've technically seen but barely remember.

In fact, that's the case with this month's first selection – 1953's THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. This is a favorite of both Wes Craven and Steven Spielberg, two Horrorfest alums with spectacular filmographies. Spielberg even remade the film decades later.

The famous Martian invasion story will forever be linked with Halloween thanks to Orson Welles' infamous Halloween-eve radio broadcast of the story. I checked the record out of the library as a kid, and it scared the hell out of me.

This Hollywood version scared the hell out of me also. In fact, when I watched it as a kid, I don't remember if I was able to watch the rest of the movie after we get our first startling glimpse of a real, live Martian. So, now I'm checking it out again.

The film follows the broad strokes of the H.G. Wells novel and Orson Welles radio show – a strange object falls from the sky and alien machines emerge from it, blasting everything in sight. This version has been updated to take place contemporaneously with its 1950s release and stars Gene Barry as a scientist and Ann Robinson as the local pastor's daughter who he falls in love with.

WAR OF THE WORLDS' greatest successes are the bold uses of color and the great special effects. It's important to note that while the special effects likely look quaint by today's standards, other similar films being produced around this time had vastly inferior effects and the subject matter of Martians invading Earth was usually relegated to B-movies, not big budget extravaganzas. Even the Martians themselves are not just "men in rubber suits" – they're humanoid forms, but with spindly arms and legs and a weird, three-section eye. Their effective design, and the minimal use of it, and the surprising first entrance of the monsters, was what scared me so much as a kid. The suspense leading up to it helps, as well.

As the movie concluded I was surprised how far ahead of its time it was in many ways. These days there are mainstream TV shows where every single episode is about the apocalypse and the break down of society. In 1953 these kinds of images were fewer and farther between, unless you count the real life footage and memories of the all-too-recent World Wars. But in the realm of fiction, it's impressive to see such an early example of complete chaos – this is not a rousing story about how mankind comes together to defeat invaders, but rather how mankind crumbles and devours itself as invaders approach, and only an outside influence can save us. It's bleak for mainstream entertainment of the time, even with the religious overtones.