Halloween Diary 2018 **

10/10

I hadn't really decided whether I'd watch Ti West's The Innkeepers (2011) or not this October, much less as an unintended companion to William Castle's House on Haunted House (1959). Nonetheless, that's how it worked out. Either seeking out paranormal activity or the "ghosts" seeking out them, the characters of both films encounter expected and unexpected peril. 

Paxton is interested in truly witnessing Maddy's ghost at The Yankee Pedlar, while fellow employee, Healy, puts on a front that he's also interested, just wanting to score points with her because of a crush. West spends time in the inn soon to be closed, as a mother and son had been around, no longer tolerant of their seemingly immature behavior while an actress-turned-sensitive, in Connecticut for a seminar, and elderly widower, looking for one last bit of nostalgia, arrive as the final occupants. Sufficed to say, Paxton gets her wish. West does take the tried and true route of cranking up the score and busting out the spirits turning up from behind Paxton, but to me the piano music heard on the mic and some good use of the dark inn when it's late and she's all alone--except for you know who--are when the film is truly at its best. Everything with Riddle, too, is good and creepy. Although most consider The House of the Devil (2009), a film I plan to watch tomorrow night, to be the best West film, this one is my own personal favorite. * * * *

I can never help but crack up at the opening with Elisha Cook and Price, their disembodied heads narratively preparing us for our visit to the Pritchard house, as Castle delivers plenty of gimmicky ideas like the casket cases for guns, a maid trying to scare a shrieking, always-hysterical Carolyn Craig, the ridiculous rope trick by Ohmart to freak out Craig, a preposterous hanging facade by Ohmart and Marshall not once but twice which would have been an enormous undertaking with a great deal of time, effort, and planning, the acid vat and skeleton on strings, secret passages and fake severed heads, blood dripping from the ceiling as the sound of chains and moaning fuel the paranoia of drunk Cook, and the eccentricities involved in a peculiar house with a notorious history. And Cook's theatrics along with Price's venomous exchanges with Ohmart. I just can't help but get a kick out of it. But good grief the continued Craig vocals! Girl has very sensitive nerves! * * * *

10/7

 Although I cherish From Beyond the Grave, Asylum, and significantly Tales from the Crypt; The House That Dripped Blood is my all-time Amicus omnibus favorite. I was a late bloomer to Amicus, I must admit, fortunate of their DVD availability and seeing them featured on AMC (before they dedicated themselves to television) drew my attention to them. This was the same for The Beast Must Die! & …And Now the Screaming Starts. There was something AMC used to feature late Fridays and 70s Amicus got serious rub. I’m just the kind of horror fan who sees one Amicus anthology film and will go right into research mode, looking for as many as possible. I found The House That Dripped Blood, believe it or not, packaged with the awful An American Haunting as a side DVD. An American Haunting was the film featured as the primary DVD in the package, but I bought it specifically for …Dripped Blood. It was worth shelling a couple bucks to snag …Dripped Blood, for sure. Oh, the first tale (often considered the least of the four tales in the omnibus) with Delholm Elliot was what caught my interest when I was channel surfing one Friday late. I was hooked to that score and the house of the title was exactly right in the eerie department. But, honestly, the house sometimes has nothing to do with what happens to those who stay there. Sure you could make the argument that just being a renter of the house was enough to kind of curse you. But Cushing barely stays at the house, more or less doomed because he visits the waxworks (his passing the Lee Dracula waxwork just made my evening…I never tire of that nod) in town. That dream sequence in the waxworks is underrated. I read Cushing tried to get out of this film…I can’t imagine his not being involved, although I didn’t blame him due to his wife’s health in decline. Still, the film wouldn’t nearly lure back to it if the Waxworks with Cushing wasn’t included. That third tale with Lee and his creepy daughter eventually using witchcraft (smiling as she jabs a pin in the candle figure with Lee’s face shavings applied) to torment him while her teacher remains helpless to stop her deserves all its accolades…Lee is the victim and a little girl (right out of the Bad Seed Hall of Infamy) turns out to be his undoing. Pertwee as the diva B-movie horror star (and the line poking fun at Lee) is hit or miss with some but I love him. That whole tale is pure B-movie horror parody. Ingrid Pitt—what an eyeful of voluptuous sex appeal—as the vampire who ultimately decides Pertwee is perfect for “joining the club” couldn’t cap this tale off any better. The film is a pure joy to me, including the Scotland Yard detective who doesn’t heed the warning of a detective and the house’s real estate agent, trapped in the basement with Pitt despite staking Pertwee. The agent offering a chance for us to occupy the house breaks the fourth wall beautifully. And Dominic, regardless of if he's real, imagined, or performed as a ruse for sinister purpose (his return on set with Pertwee also a neat nod), in the first tale as Elliot remains as rattled as any of us might be, offers quite a memorable opening boogeyman! I was definitely caught hook, line, and sinker with Dominic, the authored psychopath imagined by Elliot's horror novelist, here or there on the property and in the house when I first found this film!  * * * * ½