The Rest - Hallow's End

Almost all these are in the Blog Archive, written about plenty of times, especially in October.

Frankenstein (1931) – Didn’t have a lot to say this year as my daughter distracted me from really enjoying this in full. Still the amazing sets and Karloff’s Monster reaching up to the light set themselves out to me this year. ****/**** I think the question that struck me this year is how could have everything turned out if Fritz hadn’t antagonized the Monster with fire.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) –I have plans to watch this again in November as my teenagers and I really enjoyed it. Linus collapsing at the silhouette of Snoopy while infuriated Lisa gripes about how she gave up trick or treating for a wasted evening cracked us up. ****/****

Mr. Sardonicus (1961) & Homicidal (1961) – I don’t believe I’ve ever written official reviews for these two. I finished Halloween Eve with these two films and concluded the next day with House on Haunted Hill (1959), so plenty of Castle unlike the past where I unfairly neglected his work. I am a total Castle fanboy so I always treasure his films. I think these two are really considered by Castle fans to be is masterworks. Granted, those who aren’t so fond of him will just look at all of his resume as silly, of-their-time gimmick films that are for the audiences that grew up with them. Guy Rolfe as Sardonicus, even with that creepy face-less mask, owns the film with how he orders, commands, speaks down to, and bullies his countess, her ex-lover he demands assistance in curing his frozen Man That Laughs grin, and his sadistic, scar-eyed servant who does his bidding (which included torturing the maid with leeches!). The lottery ticket-on-the-corpse reason for the grin is certainly quite a twist as is the psychosomatic “cure” (that doesn’t open the mouth!) that factors into the conclusion are a real kick. I personally choose Homicidal as Castle’s best film, although his most famous is House on Haunted Hill. The whole dual role twist concerning Jean Arless—who I love, especially the camera shot on her mad eyes and the way she hysterically plunges in the knife!—and how the film socks us with the first murder and return to the mute stroke wheelchair victim and her silver knocker that can’t seem to help her are indeed my reasons for loving this so much. Yes, there are obvious similarities to Psycho (1960), my favorite horror film, but I still think Homicidal is its own animal. Both films: ****

Halloween was okay. I watched the opening of the 1978 Carpenter film (I missed it on the first go-around), Black Sabbath (Mario Bava; 1964), Mark of the Vampire (1935), Dracula (1931), and The Mummy (1932). All **** except Mark of the Vampire which was **1/2.

I still go back and forth on Mark of the Vampire’s conclusion. I LOVE all the middle with Lugosi and Borland seemingly stalking the lady of the house but it is really all tied to a murder and how the Baron and godfather of the fiancé is involved. Barrymore as the Prague professor annoys me but he’s the mastermind behind a ruse that ultimately succeeds due to hypnotism. Borland flying down on what we later learn are fake wings, and Lugosi appearing in a window and pursuing the maid and butler is a pip.

Black Sabbath version shown on TCM was dubbed with Karloff’s voice actually used along with the odd rearrangement of The Sound of Water and The Telephone. Still beautifully colored/lighted, lots of fog and mood, of course. One day I’ll do this film some serious justice. But my brain is toast.

Truth or Dare (2019), featuring a cast of television talent (one is known from Pretty Little Liars, another from Teen Wolf), become entrapped in the game with a demonic-influenced bent. When you are lured into the game and decide to play (even inadvertently tricked into it like these college kids are), there is no escape unless you get the one who started it to cut out his tongue after repeating lines written in Spanish seven times. None of the deaths are all that Final Destination and the cast is presented in broad strokes. I don’t think the characters are that terribly constructed (one loses her struggling alcoholic father to suicide, another is very involved in Habitat for Humanity, a third has been keeping his homosexuality from his cop father, a forth is a cocky med grad about to get a big interview, and fifth is a pussy-obsessed dweeb with a reputed small dick, etc), just not that interesting to me personally. The pen through the eye and leap from a pool table into another resulting in nasty neck break might be the most pop-worthy demises. **