Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

Light day and evening viewing. Just a week at work that took some wind out of the sails. The Roost (2005) 2.5/5 Ti West directed this before The House of the Devil. Brother and sister and their two buds take an alternate rural route due to traffic, crashing into a rock accidentally. Trying to locate help, even with a cop who accompanies them to a farmhouse, they run afoul of a roost of bats from a barn that swoop down for a desired feeding frenzy. Their bite causes those  victimized to turn into flesh-hungry zombies. Probably will best remembered for Tom Noonan as the host of a chiller theater program that introduces this movie, complete with monster attacking the camera man. Camera within the movie hangs on gaping, bloody wounds caused by the bats. Larry Fessenden has a cameo as a truck driver attacked by bats. Zombies also attack. Violins are cranked at high decibel. Thriller (1983) 5/5 The brilliant collaboration of director John Landis, makeup artist Rick Baker, and pop i...

I wasn't sure when to fit The Shining (1980) into my October schedule but at Midnight, Saturday, I decided to. The final five days I feel will continue to try and combat time constraints and viewer fatigue, sacrificing certain mainstays due to the closing window. I was fortunate to see this in the theater a few years ago, and anytime I watch it now just pales in comparison. The Steadicam scenes especially and helicopter opening with the eerie score are just visually incredible. I amusingly read comments on Facebook referencing the film, and to say feelings were mixed would be an understatement. With every "one of the greatest horror films of all time" followed "this movie is so overrated". Kubrick's film is polarizing to say the least. Shelley Duvall alone parts opinion, with many quite critical of her while others (like me) can't see anyone else in the role of tormented and walking-on-eggshells anxious Wendy Torrance. The abuse victim is right ther...

I watched a lot of Hammer Dracula today, and I thought I had a copy of The Satanic Rites of Dracula, but I must have misplaced it. 1]Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968) 3/5 2]Taste the Blood of Dracula  (1970) 3/5 3]Dracula AD 1972 (1972) 3/5 4]Scars of Dracula (1970) 3/5 I also plan to watch Brides of Dracula  (1960) later tonight after a break. I thought I'd try something different today because I'm burned out on writing reviews about the same movies over and over. How Dracula is brought back: 1] A priest breaks the ice encasing Dracula's corpse, with blood from his wound "reawakening" the vampire from his rest. 2] A devil worshipper with allegiance to Dracula drinks his blood and somehow dust covers him and once it petrifies and breaks, the face of the Count emerges instead of Ralph Bates'. 3] While some of Dracula's blood is splashed on the fetching Caroline Munro, you can see the ground just outside the ruins of a chu...

Mummy Double Header The Mummy (1959) 4/5 Cushing's John Banning, after his father and uncle were murdered by the mummy, Kharis (Lee, who looks even more towering than he did as Dracula or Frankenstein's first Monster), visits Egyptian Bey (George Pastell, who with rich accent and sophisticated and mannered speech, comes off quite impressive when engaged with Cushing) in a conversation about Karnak, where he dismisses the religion purposely...this actually turns out to be one of my favorite scenes in the film. Just how Cushing uses a tone of disregard and Pastell's response, trying to reel in his disgust while maintaining a semblance of civility. Bey can't wait to unleash Kharis on Banning after that. Dare to desecrate the tomb of Ananka...Bey won't tolerate that! Lee's eyes tell the story, buried under the wraps he still shows a hell of lot when seeing Yvonne Furneaux, considering her his beloved, Ananka, obeying her when she tells him to stop. Without...

The Devil Rides Out (1968) couldn't have been a better choice to start what will be a deluge of horror voluntarily started this evening after a light Monday and Tuesday. Lee as an authority in the occult, realizing his deceased friend's son has been chosen for indoctrination into Charles Gray's cult of Devil Worshippers, even summoning Satan who shows up in the form of a goathead human, surprised fans pleasantly because he was provided the opportunity to be heroic. Lee, and deservedly so, receives plenty of accolades, but Gray is his equal. My inner Bond fanboy often overjoys when a famous Bond villain shows up in a Hammer or Amicus horror outing so Gray as this mind-overpowering Reverend of Satan, matching wits with an austere, totally focused (intensely so) expert in how to repel the cult's practice in black magic, Lee, certainly was a special treat. The sets and setpieces are visually impressive (the circle of protection in chalk, the astrology room with the goat hea...

Pharaoh's Curse, from 1957, is a first time viewing (and only time) for me. Mummy movies are my guilty pleasure, preferably the Hammer ones, not necessarily the Universal sequels after The Mummy's Hand. But, if we are honest, there haven't been a whole lot of good ones, and the list of bad ones are aplenty. You can lump Pharaoh's Curse in with the latter category. This is the time of the month where I do sort of incorporate fresh view oldies into my October lineup. I plan, for instance, to view The Sorcerers, a film with Karloff, made towards the end of his career in the coming days. Captain Storm and Simira in Pharaoh's Curse British officer, Captain Storm (Mark Dana) is sent on a mission to remove American archeologist, Robert Quentin (George Neise) and his company from an unauthorized expedition at a tomb during strained relationship between England and Egypt, hoping to keep the whole situation hush-hush. Robert is enthusiastic and driven, looking to uneart...

10/21 I typically don't wait so long to watch Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) when October arrives. It is one of my favorite "starter" Halloween season entertainments. Some of the humor would certainly be frowned upon today, but you can say that for practically most comedies in the 80s. You have a radio station owner trying to grab for Elvira's breasts. For fuck's sake, when she's supposed to get her last rites before the township plans to burn her at the stake for witchcraft, the priest reaches with lust-filled eyes for them! The film is an engine running full throttle with sexual innuendo (subtlety this film doesn't just brush aside but pushes out of the way with great aggression) and boob jokes. And how Elvira dresses gets plenty of attention. Cassandra Peterson, to her credit, is a sport because the film continually sexualizes her time and again, with her fully invested in milking her amazing Gothic sex appeal with complete dedication. I do thin...

It has sort of been a brief tradition now a couple years where after I take my kids to their fall festival school event, I return home to watch Dracula (1931). This year was special because my son was actually interested in the film once he entered the room near the half-way point. Right about when Renfield starts up about the blood of rats promised him by Dracula. My daughter, who had been pestering me to watch it, didn't even bother once I started up the film. Go figure. I always just love when Dracula goes through the spider web and Renfield, before he is a victim of Dracula and goes from ordinary and naive to bug-eyed and overly expressive, walks right into it. Frye rarely got to just portray ordinary, so before Renfield becomes "ole flyeater", seeing him react with annoyance and puzzlement at the strange of Dracula always amuses me. I just consider Lugosi's work here so captivating, Frye often gets a bit overlooked, but not too much so. I think Dracula fans rea...