Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

Well, it is ugly, wet, windy, and gray down here in Mississippi; while this may not be good weather for trick-or-treating, it is ideal for a night of horror. Good spirits were in the office despite the weather, many of whom were dressed up in Halloween costume. I'm going the lazy route tonight, watching the Vincent Price festival on Turner Classics. Might drop comments as I watch the three films that lead to midnight. Then I think some of us horror fans will take that much needed break (even if its only a few days or weeks) from the genre to watch something (anything) other than horror. Three films make up the line-up leading to midnight: Pit & the Pendulum, The Haunted Palace, and Masque of the Red Death. Nice line-up that are all three quite entertaining to me and as worthy a triple feature as I can think of for Halloween night. I hope all of you have a safe and happy Halloween night (perhaps with better weather than what we Mississippians have down here). Pit & t...

Bringing over a box of tapes, Katie (Katie Featherston) hopes her sister, Kristie (Sprague Graydon) will allow her to put them in the basement (she has no room for them, she tells her). On those video tapes are the recordings of the sister's mother's second husband, Dennis. These VHS records from 1988 will foretell paranormal activity during the time when Katie and Kristie were children and how a demonic presence tormented their seemingly amicable family idyll.

  Talbot was last seen dead by a cane to the skull by his father, but four years have passed and two graverobbers open his tomb, unknowingly releasing a werewolf to potentially savage innocents. Talbot will soon encounter Frankenstein's Monster, trapped in ice, in a weakened state, and dormant. Can Vasaria withstand not just a werewolf but undead brute as well? While I think Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (Or, better titled, Frankenstein’s Monster Meets the Wolf Man , but I digress…) can be fun at times, the screenplay is a shambles of ideas, some making little logical sense: ·         Dr. Mannering (a London doctor who helped treat Lawrence Talbot after he is freed from his tomb by two bumbling grave robbers, allowing him to once again endanger the public) becomes inexplicably obsessed with providing Frankenstein’s Monster with full power even though this would encourage incredible horrors to the nearby village of Vasaria · ...

Well, we are on the last leg of Halloween season, with two days left of October. I'm kind of torn. A part of me will kind of be glad to watch something (anything) other than one/two/three horror movies a day, and part of me will miss that special quality this month brings to the genre. Essentially, the horror fan in me never totally fizzles, but I would be remiss if I didn't admit that by the 31st, I'm a bit shopworn. Like most Octobers, I have big plans--a grand design--which includes 100 movies, and I wind up watching forty/fifty if I'm lucky. I just don't have the wherewithal or endurance  to do that at this juncture (nor will I if keeping this blog going during October is in the cards). I do lament inside not watching certain films I had planned to view (Captain Kronos, Twins of Evil, Martin, Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, Lemora, to name a few) this month, but realistically, there's only so much time one has when they commute to work, have tw...

...reviewed October 26th  A psychopath, who murdered his potential bride because she rejects him, vows to get even with those who were behind his arrest and sentencing for execution. Having to ax off his hand could very well be the catalyst behind this vow of vengeance. Two proprietors of a wax museum could very well be caught in the crosshairs of this dangerous killer.

While not one of my favorite Hammer Dracula films, Dracula, Prince of Darkness does have rather suspenseful goings-on, with a particularly strong cast of characters involved (and they have to be considering Lee is so scarcely in the film and never speaks!). Dracula’s use is sparingly so we have no option but to either enjoy the other characters (and the actors that portray them) or this won’t work at all. Thankfully, the awesomeness that is Andrew Keir is cast as the forceful, bluntly honest monk who doesn’t mince words or restrain himself from offering his opinion. He isn’t exactly reserved or sophisticated as Van Helsing, but I found him refreshing and a nice against-type hero to match wits with Count Dracula.

  There is just some sort of ethereal power to Let’s Scare Jessica to Death that captures me. The independent filmmaking of the 70s (and the 60s prior to it) just had some advantages that seem to have been lost in the modern era of today’s digital, rapid-cut editing filmmaking. Long, extended takes, dependence on piano and guitar as background music, and the long-lost look of action and characterization on film; so much is now missing that is heavily visible on Let’s Scare Jessica to Death . I agree with Quentin Tarantino that the loss of film and total reliance on digital has removed a distinct look and feel no longer present today.

The Ninth Gate (1999) It never fails. I get right back absorbed in Polanski’s Ninth Gate any time it’s on. This time it was syfy showing it Sunday afternoon. Cut, with all that advertising crap from the channel at the bottom of the screen; the movie is up against it considering its on cable television, but the story is basically intact (there are some clips I’ll just watch to make up for that) with little taken from it. Criticisms (I’m still at a loss the likes of Maltin and Ebert gave it such poor reviews) have been against it since it came out in ’99 (it, as of now, rests as my #1 film of horror in the 90s). It is more of a Satanic mystery/thriller than horror (I guess, although, it has elements that are very much horror to me) with European flavor (we get to essentially tour Europe as Depp’s “book detective” (I simply love Lena Olin's label for him) researches the authenticity of a book in his possession (a book that just might have been acquired nefariously)).   De...

After writing Chamber of Horrors (still having trouble with the blog entry due to some sort of site issues where my written work doesn't show up, but oh well...) tonight, I realized I'm hitting that exhaustion phase of the month. I've been writing reviews for practically all the films I've watched this month. Some two films a day. It's my own fault, really. This obsession with image and word I now have since conducting this blog for the last few years. I was almost relieved watching Universal's The Mummy on Turner Classics tonight because I had written about it last year and I could just sit back without composing thoughts and words in my head/mind reflecting what I feel about it. This passion for writing doesn't leave. It is an itch I must scratch. Movies are a passion for a so many of us and the blog/website on the internet superhighway affords us an option to put word to a format that can be seen by those with similar interests. But I think October for...

Can you cut evil out of man with a scalpel, Henry? Hammer's Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll concerns the scientist dealing with a dark side that overtakes him in personality and physically changes him from an older man to a young handsome buck with vitality and unrestrained by any consequence of morality. Could this lead to Jekyll's destruction?

Call it a bad movie worthy of many chuckles (with its own red carpet rolled out in Golden Razzie fandom) or a cheap way to get audiences in seats with a device that buzzes patrons in theatres, I positively adore The Tingler.

Does the fly rest easy caught in the web? There are times where I can’t tell you why I like certain movies. I can say that Daughters of Satan takes me way back. I can distinctly remember a number of films showing on TNT one Friday night back (I think; it could be a year before or after) in 1989, in kind of a “Chiller Theatre” night. Because TNT had the rights to MGM product, Daughters of Satan was one of those oldies that was available for such an airing. I can recall this coming on after Deadly Blessing , another film I watched today to commemorate a significant night that drew me to the horror genre for good. This was the kind of day I have been looking forward to. Both films, thanks to the internet, can be found, whereas when I wanted to see both of them in the 90s and early 2000s, I wasn’t able to. This day was a dream come true. Granted, neither film will ever hold their place in a top ten (or 100, for that matter), but both remained engrained in the depths of my nostalgi...