15 Favorite Horror Movies: The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)

This is easily my favorite version of this story, and that includes both the classic 1932 Island of Lost Souls with Bela Lugosi as well as HG Wells' original novel. I saw the '77 version as a kid and there are images and feelings that have stuck with me ever since. The makeup work on the animal men is top notch and the film handles the themes sincerely and provocatively.

Burt Lancaster is a relatable, but unapologetic Moreau. Nigel Davenport strikes a great balance between being resigned to and haunted by the choices he's made. Barbara Carrera is shockingly beautiful as well as fragile (a long way from the role I know her best for in Never Say Never Again). And Michael York is the perfect saboteur of the whole operation: weak in power, but strong in morality.

I wasn't sure I liked the "Oh Crap Did I Just See What I Think I Saw" ending, but I can't think of a better, more effective way of closing the story. I'm gonna roll with it and call it perfect.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: The Innocents (1961)

I wrote in detail about The Innocents a few months ago, so this is a modified version of that earlier review. 

Henry James' The Turn of the Screw has been adapted a lot, but this is the definitive, classic, film version of it. I've watched it three times this year, because like the novel it's based on, it haunts me. I can't stop thinking about it, wondering what and how much it's trying to say and what I need to do with what it doesn't say. 

It's about a governess who moves to a remote mansion in the English countryside to take care of a couple of children, but she starts seeing what she believes are the ghosts of former workers at the estate. Are the ghosts real? Is the governess insane? Even though I came to some answers to those questions where the novel is concerned, those same answers don't necessarily have to apply to director Jack Clayton's adaptation of it.

Clayton's adaptation, based on a script that was touched by a few people, including Truman Capote and Clayton himself, keeps the basic premise and setting of the novel, but also makes some notable changes. It raises the age of the main character (Deborah Kerr), which is significant, and it muddies her mental state by removing scenes from the book and having the governess react differently to some things.

A big example is how it casts ambiguity on the existence of the ghosts by almost always showing the governess' reaction to the ghosts before seeing the ghosts themselves. When we see them, are we only seeing them through her eyes? The film also adds a scene where the governess sees a photo of a deceased groundskeeper before she sees his ghost. How much has her vision of his spirit been influenced by the photograph? She never sees a photo of the former governess, but when she sees that ghost it's always at a distance and with unclear features.

There are a couple of other big changes, but they're spoilery, so I won't go into detail. What's clear though is that Clayton wanted to leave viewers options in interpreting the film. Even the title can be taken a couple of different ways. Does it apply to the entire household (including the governess) or just the kids? If it's just the children, does the title claim that they're truly innocent as the mansion's housekeeper Mrs Grose insists? If that's true, it makes the governess' paranoid treatment of them even more tragic. Or is the title ironic and the children have already been somehow corrupted by the deceased groundskeeper and former governess?

However we interpret it, as pure film-making, The Innocents is superb and deserves its status as a classic. When Truman Capote took a run at the script, he added a lot of symbolism about death and decay: wilting roses everywhere and bugs crawling out of statues' mouths. And Clayton and cinematographer Freddie Francis create a creepy, haunting atmosphere that makes The Innocents as much an icon of gothic cinema as James' story is of gothic literature.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: Psycho (1960)

Psycho is a nearly perfect film. The way it builds tension and mystery and keeps first time viewers guessing not only about the plot, but even about what genre the film is and who the main characters are. It's so bold. 

But it's great for repeat viewing, too. That iconic, creepy house and the almost as creepy motel at its foot. Anthony Perkins' sympathetic (at least at first) portrayal of Norman Bates. The cat and mouse of Lila and Sam's trying to learn what happened to Marion and Norman trying to keep his secrets. And of course the shocking murders and the discovery in the cellar. 

The only thing that drags about it is the psychologist's long info-dump at the end, but by then we're pretty much done anyway and I'm already waiting for that last shot of Norman with his voiceover.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: Gojira (1954)

Some friends of ours knew that my son David is a huge Godzilla fan, but don't know anything about the King of Monsters themselves, so they invited us over for lunch and an introduction. We showed them the original, 1954 Japanese version and in hindsight, I don't know if Gojira is the best way for everyone to meet the world's most famous kaiju. There are some substantial barriers to entry, depending on how you feel about black-and-white film and subtitles. But we couldn't bring ourselves to show them the English version with Raymond Burr.

I don't know if it's accurate to say that our friends "enjoyed" it. The word "interesting" was used and I never take that as high praise. But we spent some time at the end talking about the movie in its historical and cultural context, which is what I love about the film. 

There's some goofy stuff, but there's also truly horrific and powerful imagery. I think the best horror movies are ones that turn some real, cultural fear into a metaphorical monster. That's certainly the case with Gojira, which makes it an impressive insight to Japan's feelings around the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki less than ten years before. And around atomic energy in general. It's a powerful document and I'm always touched by the film's discussion of science and how it's applied.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

I was going to try to limit myself to one Universal Monster movie for this list, but when I was looking at '40s horror movies, Universal dominated my favorites the same way they did with the '30s. Just for a different reason.

Universal monster movies in the 1930s were still trying to be genuinely scary and that carried over a bit into the '40s. But by the middle of the decade, they were getting pretty goofy. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. I like both the serious and the silly versions of these characters.

The epitome of the silly side of Universal horror is Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. It's such a funny film, but not at the monsters' expense. It keeps me hooked by treating Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and the Wolf Man as actual, scary beings and not objects of parody. It even continues Larry Talbot's tragic quest to end his curse in a way that jives with everything that's come before. The humor is all in Abbott and Costello's (especially Costello's) reactions to them, as well as just some very funny jokes ("Hey, you're gonna have to get your dog away from the phone. I can't hear a word you're saying.").

And of course, though the three most popular Universal monsters had already appeared together in House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula, this was the only time that Bela Lugosi got to join in the team-up, finally reprising the role that made him famous. The only way it could have been better would have been if Boris Karloff had played Frankenstein's Monster, but I also like Glenn Strange (who'd been in the two House of movies) quite a bit. No complaints there.

AfterLUNCH | The Expendables of Horror (Undead Edition)

Last October, the Fourth Chair Army Invasion created an Expendables of Horror movie featuring only living actors. This year on AfterLUNCH, Joanna from Bloody Popcorn, Evan Hanson, Rob Graham, and I resurrect our favorite dead actors to create our all-star cast. We pick the actors, discuss the types of roles they'd play, and Evan writes a plot. Listen and imagine The Evil Hunters... IF YOU DARE!

Download or listen to the episode here.

Halloween Interview at AEIOU and Sometimes Why

Every October, Dex at the AEIOU and Sometimes Why blog interviews people about their Halloween memories and traditions. It's a cool project and I was thrilled when he invited me to participate this year. I talk about my favorite costumes, candy, movies, music, and just what makes Halloween such a special time. Check it out and the other interviews Dex has going all season long.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Son of Frankenstein was the third in Universal's Frankenstein series and the last to feature Boris Karloff as the Creature. And even though James Whale (whom I love) didn't come back to direct it, it's my favorite of the Universal Frankenstein films. 

Part of that is probably nostalgia. After reading about the Universal Monster movies in countless books and magazines as a kid, Son of Frankenstein was the first one that I actually got to watch. And thanks to the local children's museum where I grew up, I got to see it on the big screen. I'll never forget it.

But still, so many iconic Frankenstein features get introduced in Son of Frankenstein. It's got the hairy vest, Bela Lugosi as Ygor, and secret passages all over Castle Frankenstein. It also has my favorite Doctor Frankenstein, Basil Rathbone as the awesomely named Wolf. 

Rathbone's descent into madness is far more believable and fascinating than Colin Clive's ever was. I love the cheese in Clive's performance, but Rathbone's mania is utterly compelling, especially in his scenes with Lionel Atwill. Which reminds me that more than any other Universal Frankenstein movie, this is also the one that inspired Young Frankenstein with Kenneth Mars' character directly modeled after Atwill's. 

15 Favorite Horror Movies: King Kong (1933)

It's amazing that the original King Kong still holds up so well after almost 90 years. Some of the effects can feel quaint, but mostly they're just really cool. And the movie zooms through its plot, never feeling slow or dull. It captures my imagination from its opening scene with the mystery around the planned voyage and it doesn't let up from there. Once Fay Wray is brought into the mix, her fragile performance gets me deeply invested in her making it through the film. And then you just add a dinosaur-filled jungle island and a rampaging giant ape in New York City on top of that and it's one of the coolest movies of all time.

15 Favorite Horror Movies: Nosferatu (1922)

When Jess suggested that the Filthy Horrors crew come up with our 15 favorite horror films, I thought of a couple of different ways of approaching it. I could of course try to figure out my actual, fifteen all-time favorite horror movies, ranked from most favorite to 15th favorite. But that sounded like a lot of work that would probably be inaccurate as soon as I started posting it. My favorites change all the time depending on the day and my mood.

So instead I've come up with a list of favorites from different decades. I've got at least one movie to represent each decade from the 1920s to the 2010s. Instead of ranking them by my personal preference, I'll just go through the list chronologically starting with 1922 and FW Murnau's unofficial Dracula adaptation, Nosferatu.

I've written about it before, but the gist is that while Nosferatu does have story problems (Professor Bulwer, the Van Helsing character, has no purpose in the movie, for example), the style of the film is so strong, and its vampire is so utterly horrifying (thanks both to Max Schreck's performance and the way Murnau filmed him), that nothing else matters. It's not only a great adaptation of Dracula, it's possibly the best vampire movie ever.

In addition to its style though, I love how the film handles Ellen, the Mina Harker character. Like in the novel, she's the one who figures out what's going on and understands how to defeat the vampire. But in the movie, she learns that the only way to do this is to willingly letting the Count feed on her until daybreak so that he's trapped and destroyed by the sun. It's a horrible, but emotional fate for her and I'm always moved by it no matter how many times I've seen the film.

She's such an interesting character: extremely sensitive and at first glance, irrationally paranoid. But her fears are always proved prophetic and I end up loving her insight and her sacrifice.

Countdown to Halloween 2020

It's October, so that means time once again to Countdown to Halloween. As usual, I'm participating in an official way with the Countdown to Halloween website, where you can find links to a bunch of cool Halloween enthusiasts who are committed to providing spooky content all month long.

I struggled with what I was going to do this year as a theme though. I wasn't feeling passionate about a particular, narrow topic to talk about like I've done in the past with werewolves, witches, gothic stories, etc. But I wanted to do something more unified than just Random Horror Movies I've Been Watching. 

What I've settled on is to do a couple of different smaller series of posts. First, I'm going to run through 15 of my favorite horror movies. This was an idea that Jessica Hickman had for the Filthy Horrors podcast. Since we record that podcast in person, Filthy Horrors is on indefinite hiatus during the pandemic. So Jess had the idea for us to have some Halloween content on our website by each host's creating a list of 15 favorite horror movies. They're just going to be lists though without any commentary, so I decided to expand on mine here for the next fifteen days.

After that, I'm going to finally watch and write about the Friday the 13th film series. I think I've only ever seen the first film, but I've always been curious about the saga. And since I had such a fun time catching up on the Halloween series (holy crap, it was thirteen years ago!), I'm going to finally do the same with Friday the 13th.

Somewhere in there I'll sprinkle in some Halloween-related podcast episodes and that'll get us to October 31st. It's going to be a weird Halloween this year without traditional Trick or Treating, so it's doubly important to celebrate the other aspects of the holiday as much as possible.