The Horror Film Watch

[littlemissattitude]

Originally Posted by ravenus

5.'They're Creeping Up On You' is the last and best story of the lot. About a Howard Hawks inspired reclusive billionaire tyrant Upson Pratt (Fantastically portrayed by E.G. Marshall) who lives in a germ-proof apartment, shouting orders over the phone to his subordinates who he treats like dirt. Some marvellous black humor here, for example Pratt cheerily greeting the wife of the man he drove to shoot himself, saying "I heard your husband went out with a bang."
Pratt's germ-proof fortress comes undone when he begins to notice roaches scampering across the place. The small trickle gradually increases and the final scenes showing the massive assault of roaches on Pratt's apartment and his person is not a sight for the squeamish.

Um, ravenus...I think you mean Howard Hughes, not Howard Hawks. But it's a good oops, since Howard Hawks helped invent the "screwball comedy" which, as World Book Online tells us, "ridiculed the eccentric or silly behavior of wealthy characters." Since Howard Hughes most certainly qualified as an eccentric, wealthy person, it's an appropriate juxtaposition to have made.

By the way, there is a film coming out fairly soon about Howard Hughes's early life, called "The Aviator", directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes.

Sorry if this derails the thread. Then again, as much of a non-fan of DiCaprio as I am, "The Aviator could turn out to be a horror film, at least for me.

[ravenus]

Quickies rather than full reviews but this'll have to do:

2 horror movies adapted from books I haven't read.

Salem's Lot - Tobe Hooper

This 2-part TV adaptation of Stephen King's book, which in itself was a modern-day take on Dracula, turns out a very so-so movie with many meant-to-be-scary parts being rather hokey. The idea of an entire town of people being taken over by vampires never really comes across. It has some good parts like mostly due to some decent acting (especially James Mason as the Renfield replacement Straker), but tends to be dull on the whole.



The Devil Rides Out - Terence Fisher

Based on a Dennis Wheatley novel about a group of people fending off the diabolical advances of a black magic coven...that guy's supposed to have written a lot of pulps using the occult as plot device.

Anyway the film, produced by Britain's famous Hammer Studios, maintains a mostly energetic pace with the actors, headed by Christopher Lee (playing the good guy for a change) and Charles Gray, appearing to have a lot of fun in their roles (also catch a young Paul Eddington who went on to play that beloved bumbling politician in BBC's Yes Minister and Yes Prime Ministerseries). The campy goings-on are quite entertaining even if often inconsistent...in this movie Satan appears far more easily despatched than his alcolytes. After the 2/3rds mark, apart from a cool scene where the protagonists from inside a sacred circle face off against a variety of nasties including the Angel of Death himself, it flags somewhat and is not one of the classic Hammers but still a nice modern-day diversion from their usual horror flicks.

[I, Brian]

Thanks for those - interesting to find what the adaptions were like to film - and nice to see you still around.

[koma]

Dawn of the dead

Not the original, the remake...
Great film this, with FAST zombies as opposed to the old slow motion lot.
Can't really be compared to Romero's classic but is certainly worth watching...

Land of the dead

Romero's latest (and worst) effort.
A complete waste of time, money and effort. Don't bother...

[Foxbat]

The Pete Walker Collection

Starring: Susan George, Sheila Keith, Jack Jones, Leo Gen, Judy Huxtable, and others.
Directed by: Pete Walker
Region 2 DVD

Anchor Bay presents us with a coffin shaped boxed set containing five movies by Pete Walker who is (arguably) one of the great shapers of British Horror. Unlike Hammer and its contemporaries, Walker avoids leaning on the Gothic trinity of mad scientists, monsters and the supernatural, he instead brings us the mundane normality that is middle class life in 1970s British culture. But beneath this veneer of Home Counties suburbia there lurks a dark beast that lives behind the twitching net curtains of those middle class dwellings. And in this sense, Walker is less Hammer and more leaning in the same direction of David Lynch when he unearthed what lay beneath the white picket fencing in America in shows such as Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet.

But Walker also likes his horror straightforward and in your face. There is not a lot of subtlety once the action begins.

The collection starts with Die Screaming Marianne starring Susan George a few months before her infamous role as the victim in Sam Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. This movie is more intrigue and less downright horror as it tells the tale of Marianne on the run from a mysterious figure called ‘The Judge’.

Next up is House Of Whipcord which begs the question – what would it actually be like if we took the law into our own hands. A blind ex-magistrate and an insane ex-prison governess do just that. The main significance of this movie is the appearance of Sheila Keith who plays a hard-faced and sadistic warden -easily believable and incredible scary. Keith would go on to deservedly become a stalwart on the British horror scene.

Frightmare sees Keith back again, this time as a newly freed asylum intern…..the trouble is, she’s still absolutely crazy and soon goes back to her old ways…..lets just say that Walker was being imaginative with a drill long before Driller Killer appeared on the scene.

House Of Mortal Sin looks at the results when a sex starved, crazy priest finally loses it for good. For the third time, Sheila Keith makes an appearance as the sadistic lead villainess and, as usual, steals the show.

The Comeback stars seventies crooner Jack Jones (never heard of him) and has some nice set pieces of more straightforward horror. It is probably notable for the appearance of Bill Owen who later went on to great fame in Last Of The Summer Wine.

All in all, not a bad bunch at £29.99. The film quality is not the greatest and it looks like most were just straight transfers from other mediums with little or no tidy up but they are still all quite watchable. I think the most notable thing when viewing a collection like this is how what was once so shocking is now not even blinked at.
And with that in mind, I have to say that this collection is not for those of you out there brought up on the latest CGI or brain blasting sound effects. These movies were made in the days when slide rules were the tip of technology and the only digits worth counting were your fingers(if you don’t know what I’m talking about, ask somebody over 40).

Still, if you are a bit of a connoisseur of Horror and fancy a tipple of vintage British seventies screen screams, this is definitely worth having a look at.

[The_Warrior]

The Hills have Eyes Remake


ick

[Addy]

Originally Posted by koma

Dawn of the dead

Not the original, the remake...
Great film this, with FAST zombies as opposed to the old slow motion lot.
Can't really be compared to Romero's classic but is certainly worth watching...

Land of the dead

Romero's latest (and worst) effort.
A complete waste of time, money and effort. Don't bother...

I actually liked Land of the Dead. Better than any recent remakes, in my view.

I suggest you guys also watch Shawn of the Dead. A hilarious zombie movie spoof.

[Sabina]

This is juxtaposed with the authorities’ clampdown on disbursing information, skillfully depicting Kolchak’s frustration at not being allowed to break out his big story.

[aquamarine]

Horrorible,Horrorible..........T_T