King Ellis' Christmas Movie Thing

[King Ellis]

Day 13

Poltergeist II: The Other Side

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Indeed, not Poultrygeist 2 but Poltergeist 2, a 1986 sequel to the 1982 classic which unfortunately is home to more of the supposed 'Poltergeist curse'. Not only is eldest daughter Dana not present due to the untimely death of actress Dominique Dunne only months after the release of the first movie, actor Julian Beck, who plays antagonist Kane, passed away during filming from stomach cancer. Will Sampson, who plays American Indian shaman Taylor, also passed away a year after the films release following a surgery.

Now I'm left questioning whether I've subconsciously chosen to watch this on the 13th of the month, with 13 obviously being a number synonymous with bad luck.

Things start one year after the events of the first movie, with the aforementioned Taylor joining the returning Tangina Barrons to investigate the site of the Freeling's house before it imploded. Seems not only were there skeletons under the pool, there's a whole cave under there riddled with skeletons.

The Freelings have since moved in with Diane's mother, enduring a running battle with the insurance company over their old house. It seems they didn't try to embellish the truth on their claim and just straight up told them that it disappeared, leaving the insurance company to deduce that the house is merely 'missing' and they don't have to pay out. "What do they think, this house is gonna return or something?!"

You know, that thought never really crossed my mind when the movie started. I never imagined it would cover something like them trying to claim for their old house, sure does make a whole lot of sense though, even if it does make me sad that they didn't have a whole scene dedicated to the initial meeting with the insurers. Sure, it'd be frivolous but it'd be a nice fit to the sense of humour this series has going for it, which is a big reason I enjoy it. I've noticed I do like a lot of these movies that are kind of quirky.

Anywhoo, young Carol Anne has attracted the attention of Grandma Jess who has noticed signs of clairvoyance in her granddaughter, something she and her daughter have had experience with before her.

Sadly, this comes into play all too soon when Carol Anne awakes suddenly in the middle of the night and goes into her Grandma's bedroom, kissing her whilst she sleeps, before going back to her room and 'answering' a toy phone, engaging in a conversation with someone she calls 'Grandma', promising to be a good girl. The family wake the next morning to find out that Jess passed away in her sleep.

It seems that the spirits weren't just pissed off about that whole burial ground thing and have followed the family to their new abode. With the family swearing off TV forever following that whole abduction business, the spirits now make the toy phone serve as their conduit. I wouldn't be surprised if by the third movie this entirely family had turned Amish.

Taylor arrives to help the family out but daddy Steven is a little skeptical. This leads to the start of a running joke about the family's car which Taylor claims is 'angry'.

Taylor then heads into the back garden, performing a rain dance. That's no rain dance, he's doing the bloody Macarena! This doesn't help sway Steven who is a little quick to pull the 'my best friend is black!' card when rationolising his distrust, claiming he is 1/16th Native so it's no a race thing. That old chestnut, just like everyone swears they really have that great, great, great Irish grandmother.

But it's a good job he's here to help the family because enter Reverend Henry Kane, looking every bit like a freeze frame of that face melting part of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Tired of these creepy looking villains, you win more flies with honey you know. Bring back Jerry Dandridge, I'll invite that handsome son of a gun into my house any day.

Whilst this was pretty enjoyable, I don't think the individual horror moments quite match up to the ones in the first movie and some of the effects look pretty dated now but I guess they must have been impressive enough back then since it garnered an Academy Award nomination. Plus, the whole ending sequence doesn't do much for me on a technical or story level.

But it does end with Taylor telling Steven that his car would be much happier if it went home with him, it even told him so! Now, granted you've been helping these guys out of the goodness of your heart, with I assume no financial incentives involved but this is a pretty long and elaborate con just to get a car. Plus, the car is pretty messed up by the end of the movie anyway, you'd probably be better off just riding a buffalo.

[King Ellis]

Day 14

The Dead Zone

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Based on the 1979 novel and adapted for the big screen in 1983, The Dead Zone would also make it to the small screen in the noughties with that nerd from The Breakfast Club playing the role of John 'Johnny' Smith for it's six season run. Johnny is a teacher who falls into a five year coma following a car accident. He awakes and begins to experience strange visions whenever he comes into contact with people, seeing their past, present or future simply by touching their hand. I recall seeing an episode or two of the TV series many years ago so I knew the basic premise going into the movie but otherwise it was all new. And, much like Silver Bullet, did I have something special waiting for me. Christopher Walken as Johnny? Hell yes!

We start with Johnny reading aloud to his class the Edgar Allan Poe poem 'The Raven'. Okay, it's no 'Three Little Pigs' or 'Poker Face' but still, pretty cool. He then leaves them with an assignment to read 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'. Hmmm, Sleepy Hollow, now there's a thing...

But that night, a HGV driver at the wheel of a truck containing milk falls asleep at the wheel, causing his truck to overturn. With the stormy weather obstructing his vision, Johnny is unable to avoid the truck and crashes into it. Sure, it was all an 'accident'. My theory is that those dastardly Cravendale cows are up to their old tricks. Stormy weather? More like stormy leather!

I'm on to you...

When he finally wakes from his coma, he is shocked to learn so much time has passed and that his girlfriend has moved on and is now married and has a child. During his recuperation, he suddenly grasps the hand of a nurse tending to him, seeing visions of the her house burning with her daughter still trapped inside. Amongst the various items burning is...ooh, is that BRIO? Sorry, temporary nostalgia trip, what I actually wanted to comment on was the goldfish bowl which boils over amongst the heat before finally shattering. I thought that was a neat little thing amongst all the toys and stuffed teddies. There's so many instances of things burning across TV and cinema but I don't think I ever seen a boiling, exploding goldfish bowl before.

Turns out that vision was entirely true, as the nurse rushes away to summon help and the fire brigade arrives just in time. The press learn of the Johnny's involvement and this in turn leads to the local police department getting involved, their sheriff is keen to utitilise Johhny to help in the search for a serial killer who has been at work throughout Johnny's coma.

And this is where I expected things to go for the rest of the movie, Johhny and the cops on the trail of this killer, slowly uncovering clues, maybe the killer targets Johnny's ex as he tries to reconcile with her or maybe she even dies by his hand and that's what spurs him on after being initially reluctant to get involved. But, no, this thread gets resolved fairly quickly and we transition into Johnny taking up work as a tutor, running into a politician named Greg Stillson (played by Martin Sheen) who we're told is probably up to no good.

I was a little taken aback at this sudden shift, with a large chunk of the movie already gone and only a short amount of time to introduce and resolve this new situation. But, it does lead to a great payoff with, and again I'm going to have to venture into spoiler territory, an amazing moment.

When Johnny shakes hands with Stillson, he sees a vision of Stillson ordering the launch of nuclear missiles against America's enemies, probably ushering World War 3 in doing so. Johnny is left with a moral quandary he equates to traveling back in time to kill Hitler, knowing he probably wouldn't make it out alive but will probably save untold numbers of lives in doing so.

So when he grabs his rifle and takes aim at Stillson, his first shot misses. Before he can shoot again, Stillson wrenches a baby out of it's mother's hands and uses it as a human shield. Ho-ly shit.

Johnny hesitates, leading to a bodyguard firing back and knocking him from his perch to the ground below. As he lays dying, Stillson approaches him demanding to know who he is and who sent him. Johnny simply grabs his hand and sees a new future where Stillson's reputation is in tatters when photos of his heinous act are published for the world to see. A future in which he never ascends to the White House and never gains the authority to fire the missiles that would cause a nuclear holocaust.

Even without that amazing ending, it's a movie with a crazy haired Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen, both prone to the occasional bout of shouty, over acting. What more can you ask for?

[King Ellis]

Day 15

Evil Dead II

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Forgive the brevity of this summary but I don't feel I have much to say about this flick. It almost feels like I'm commiting some cardinal nerd sin to say this but I didn't really care too much for it.

There's definitely some interesting visuals going on with the camera work and effects, and with these movies never really taking themselves too seriously there's some funny moments to be had.

But it feels like it takes some forty minutes to truly get going and this isn't even that long of a movie, only eighty four minutes long or so. Even when something does develop outside of Ash just being slapped around by various things for a half hour, it's just another group of people, and Ash, trying to fight back against all manner of evil demons. There's even similar incidents being re-used like a girl being dragged off by possessed trees. So, I guess there's a hint of 'been there, done that' about it.

I just didn't really have the enthusiasm or investment to keep watching and if I don't really give a shit about what happens to anyone in the film and it's all about spectacle, then I've seen stuff crazier than this that held my interest more. I almost feel bad about saying that when the main character is a guy who ends up going around with a fucking chainsaw for an arm.

The ending does leave the third movie in a much different setting which I guess could be interesting, at least it's somewhere other than the damn cabin.

[MalaCloudy Black]

It is a cardinal sin and you are wrong.

On the real, though, I think I'm in a minority that prefers Army of Darkness over 2. I'd go 1 > Army of Darkness > 2, personally. But I love all three.

I still haven't seen the remake, and part of me is scared to.

[MDK]

Army of Darkness was hilarious

[Jimmy]

Yeah, Army of Darkness is the shit.

[King Ellis]

Day 16

Cat's Eye

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Like Creepshow before it, Cat's Eye is an anthology of different stories penned by King. Two adapted from short stories and one written just for the film. The stories are more directly connected though, with a cat playing part in the first two stories before being majorly involved in the third.

We see the cat freely roaming the streets before it runs into BATDOG! He has returned!

As the cat flees from it's natural enemy, its nearly run over by a car with an interesting bumper stick. I know you're real anxious to be watched, Christine, but we're still only halfway through October, we'll get to you soon enough.The cat eventually hides out in a delivery truck which sets off, unaware of it's stowaway, bound for New York City.

The cat is distracted by a ghostly figure of a little girl in a stores display window, begging for help. It serves as ample distraction to allow someone to scoop the cat up and take inside Quitters Inc.

It's here we run into Dick Morrison (a fine name!), played by James Woods, looking for help to kick his smoking habit. He soon learns, however, that their aversion therapy is a little extreme.

We see the cat now locked inside a room behind two way looking glass where it's subjected to a series of electrical shocks. Not enough to kill it or cause any real damage, but painful nonetheless.

But it isn't Dick that will be going in the room next, oh no, see this company has eyes and ears everywhere and if they catch you once, they wont punish you, they'll punish your spouse. Twice? Your kids. Three times? Well, they'll send someone to rape his wife...

Slip up four times and let's just say there wont be a fifth...

As if the stress of quitting isn't enough, now he has to worry about what might happen to his family if he screws up. He can't even relax during a screening of The Dead Zone. This flagrant self promotion is wearing pretty thin, Mr King!

It's a real tale of paranoia, a point hammered home at a party where the backing music is a cover version of The Police's "Every Breath You Take", a song with more sinister undertones than some people realise.

The cat is able to escape it's confinement and travels to Atlantic City where it becomes the subject of a bet between two men seemingly obsessed with gambling. As it sits in the center of a busy road, they wager two thousand dollars on whether it will live or die.

The older gent, Cressner, thinks the cat will live and when it does, he takes it home. But it isn't his only guest, as he has the lover of his estranged wife, former tennis pro Johnny Norris, kidnapped and brought to him so he can make him an offer he can't refuse.

The deal is simple, if Norris climbs onto onto the ledge of the building and shuffles all the way around then he gets the girl and some money to start a new life. Or he could just plummet to his death and become a pool of jelly on the sidewalk. Or, there's option C: walk out right now and find himself under arrest for possession of heroin that Cressner has had placed in his car. It's up to him...

He reluctantly accepts, only to have Cressner make all sorts of cartoonish attempts to make him fall. Who knew a corrupt crime lord wouldn't play fair! This guy starts trying to whip Norris with his robe, honks a horn at him and even...

turns a fire hose on him!

Whilst things are very tense, it's funny to see the lengths Cressner goes to be a dirty, cheating bastard.

The cat eventually arrives in Wilmington, North Carolina and to the more mundane setting of a small family with a little girl who just so happens to be the same one that appears to the cat at the start of the movie, played by a young Drew Barrymore.

After tales of all seeing corporations and twisted mob bosses, this seems to be a strangely simple story of a little girl trying to convince her parents to let her keep a stray cat and let it stay indoors. The mother would much rather throw it out every night, Flintstones style. Then she can go to bed and read...Pet Sematary? Oh goddammit!

"You cannot 'get' the troll..."

That is until the entrance of the world's cutest little troll. I mean, granted he appears to be a snarling beast who's intent on stealing the little girls breath (don't ask me) but look at him in his little jester hat! And it's got a feather in it!

Look at his teeny, tiny knife. Oh, he's just adorable!

There's something charming about this mischievous little fella, just running around the room at night committing hijinx, performing acrobatics to jump off the bed and land on some cushions. And getting to see a big fight scene between a troll and a cat, that's really something.

All in all, not the greatest but more enjoyable than Creepshow 2 which came a few years after this.

[King Ellis]

Day 17

Hellbound: Hellraiser II

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Ooh boy, this one is pretty crazy. Coming out only a year after the original, we see pretty much all the familiar faces but things are much, much darker this time around. Like, the first did have the Cenobites but they took a little while to emerge, leaving things much more grounded in reality (kind of) with a serial killer vibe. This one, on the other hand, really goes all out.

Sadly, this is another movie that feels like it takes an age to get started, feeling the need to spend about 20 minutes going into great detail the events of the first movie. We pick up with Kirsty, having witnessed all manner of crazy shit at the end of the first movie, waking up at a psychiatric hospital with the police not really buying into her stories of crazy, sadomasochistic demons.

Her doctor, Channard, is a little more receptive to her but we soon learn that's because he's utterly obsessed with Cenobites with an entire room of his house dedicated to them and the puzzle boxes. It's here that he arranges for the mattress that Julia died on in the original to be delivered and where he goads a patient of his to mutilate himself. All that blood, much like Uncle Frank, leads to the resurrection of Julia, emerging sans skin.

The two share some tender yet utterly creepy moments. She has no skin for gods sake! But she is wrapped in bandages, looking like something out of The Invisible Man or The Mummy.

When Kirsty enlists the help of the doctor's assistant, they try to sneak about the house to find out what's going on but he runs into a restored Julia who promptly devours him whilst they kiss. I've heard of sucking face but this is ridiculous!

The doctor brings in another patient, this time an almost catatonic young girl, Tiffany, who has a real knack for solving puzzles, clearly a leading candidate to bring forth the Cenobites. Which is when things get weird...

Everyone suddenly finds themselves in the Cenobite dimension, a giant labyrinth presided over by a Cenobite God named Levithan. It is referred to as Hell and everyone seems to be in their own version of Hell. Uncle Frank is down here, surrounded by female bodies that 'tease but never deliver'.

And Tiffany is forced to revisit the murder of her mother, I guess at the hands of Dr Channard, an event that has rendered her mute ever since, symbolised in a vision of a baby sewing it's own mouth shut...

Julia sacrifices Dr Channard to Leviathan and the God melds with him to create some form of super Cenobite, with what I can only describe as 'utility tentacles' which seem capable of doing whatever the fuck they want. They can sprout knives, eyeballs, lasers...it's like if Dr Octopus was crossed with Inspector Gadget. And he isn't shy about hamming it up. When he first bursts through a window, he utters 'The Doctor is in!'. As he sprouts his bladed tentacles, he tells a ward full of patients that he 'prescribes amputation' before cutting someone's hand off.

Again, SPOILERS! but I feel the need to comment on just how much of a raw deal the Cenobites get in these movies. In the first movie they were barely there and to a lesser extent that continues, in terms of the 'core' group of Pinhead et al. Not only that but they get utterly wiped out by the Cenobite Channard.

All because they fall victim to that trope of 'It's me! Don't you remember?! You're not a monster, you're human!' when Kirsty presents Pinhead with a photo of what he looked like back before he became a walking pincushion.

He even gets reverted back into human form and has his throat slashed. Worst movie franchise figurehead ever!

This is what I was talking about in Evil Dead II, even if at times I had no idea what was going on, things are so crazy, disturbing and creepy that it's all quite compelling. Everything looks great visually, with the sets, effects and especially the costumes. All the Cenobites continue to look awesome, except that blobby one who is apparently called Butterball. That guy looks dumb.

Seems that in the rush to make this movie, they didn't have to time to gauge the reaction to the first one and weren't fully aware of what a cult symbol Pinhead was becoming. Surely that means he wont be so much of a pussy ass bitch in the next one, right?!

[King Ellis]

Day 18

Firestarter

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I've got bad news for you 'Ellis rambling on and on, making comments about 20 pictures' fans because this is gonna be another somewhat brief one. Based on the 1980 novel of the same name, this 1984 release has some Stephen King movie alumni in Drew Barrymore and Martin Sheen. Other notable stars include George C. Scott, Art Carney and Heather Locklear.

Andy (David Keith, the white Keith David) and Charlie McGee (Barrymore), on the run from a government agency known only as 'The Shop'. We're taken via flashback to Andy's days as a college student, earning some money by taking part in an experiment in which he and a series of others are either injected with plain water or something called 'LOT-6' designed to bring about psychic powers. He and his 'neighbour' Vicky (Locklear) soon develop powers, with Andy able to 'dominate' others into doing whatever he wants and Vicky able to read minds. She reads Andy's and hears his highly complimentary thoughts of her and the two instantly fall in love.

Not everyone was so lucky though. Which is weird because only five were given LOT-6 and I'm sure there are more than five people freaking out. Guess somebody felt like playing along with the rest of the group.

They eventually marry and give birth to little Charlie, who develops the power of pyrokinesis. Good job she didn't have that during Cat's Eye.

"Can't we let the kitty sleep inside?"
"No!"
"...BURN!"

The Government naturally sees great potential in training super soldiers capable of being walking flamethrowers and set about capturing the family. Andy comes home one day to find his wife dead and daughter missing. He's able to rescue her and the two start their new lives on the run.

At one point they hide out a farm when a one friendly gent offers them a ride whilst they're hitchhiking, even invites them back for some supper. But they're tracked down and told to come along quietly. Fat chance of that though, BURN! She's making cars explode, engulfing people in flames, pretty intense stuff.

Eventually The Shop do catch up with them thanks to their one-eyed agent, John Rainbird (Scott). But maybe life on the inside wont be so bad. They even try to butter up Charlie by buying her all sorts of toys and putting her up in a lavish room.

They even got her a Colecovision!

This is another one that is really only 'OK'. I don't care for the main characters too much, Charlie can get a bit annoying and Andy looks like a real goofball when he uses his power. On the villains side, Sheen as Capt. Hollister can get a bit excitable and shouty again at times and the Rainbird character is pretty neat, going undercover as a cleaner to win Charlie's trust and manipulate her into complying with the group's wishes since she's being so stubborn.

But if I want to watch something where a people with super powers get chased by mysterious agencies, I'll just watch season 1 of Heroes again.

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Side note! Tomorrow (19th Oct), I shall probably be watching Bride of Frankenstein. Might even double bill it by watching Frankenstein again. Why not do the same? I know Jimmy has expressed an interest in doing so and I know Larz has it on his list so let's all watch and chat and shit!

[Monkey D. Lars]

We could do that! But Ellis, what are you planning to watch it? Because I have to be at work tomorrow at 6 am.

[Jimmy]

Will probably watch it tomorrow morning and let you know what I think! Excited to see if it can top Frankenstein.

[King Ellis]

Day 19

Frankenstein/Bride of Frankenstein

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How do you do? King Ellis feels it would be a little unkind to present this entry without just a word of friendly warning. We're about to unfold the story of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation: life and death. I think it will thrill you. It may shock you. It might even horrify you. So if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such a strain, now is your chance to, uh... Well, we've warned you.

Following Universal's success with their adaptation of Dracula in 1931, they quickly set to work on their next big horror picture, turning to another novel that had transitioned well to the stage, Frankenstein.

There's a title to the cast at the end of Bride of Frankenstein, "A good cast is worth repeating" which I guess is something Universal lived by as there's a lot of actors from other Universal films of the time. In Frankenstein you have Dwight Frye who played Renfield in Dracula, here playing Dr Frankenstein's assistant, the hunchback Fritz. Another Dracula alumni is Edward von Sloan who was Dr Van Helsing, here as Dr Waldman, who teaches at the university that Frankenstein walks out of in order to persue his experiments. There would be a further connection if not for the original plan of Dracula himself, Bela Lugosi, playing the monster not working out. There seems to be conflicting stories on whether Lugosi was pushed or whether he jumped, whether he snubbed the role due to it's heavy makeup and lack of dialogue or whether director James Whale and/or other studio staff favoured Boris Karloff.

Not that you would know that going into the film, at least not back then, with a lot of mystery surrounding who exactly the monster was. Even in the opening credits, he is listed only as '?'. It even extends into the movie itself, with the monster kept under wraps and even when it's brought to life, it's reveal is delayed for a few scenes until he bizarrely enters a room backwards, just to milk the tension that extra little bit. He then slowly turns around to reveal his hideous, stitched together face. A make up job that has outlasted the actor that wore it and the creative mind that made it, becoming the image that people think of when they think 'Frankenstein's Monster' and one that has been mimicked countless times.

Though, when he is revealed, some of the editing is a little strange as it cuts to closeups of him. There's an earlier example too as Frankenstein and Fritz pulled a freshly buried coffin out of the ground and Frankenstein momentarily cradles it in his arms, declaring that the body is only resting as it awaits a new life. It's almost as if Frankenstein is looking directly at the camera, just seems a little weird.

Frye is able to showcase a little bit of that madness he had as Renfield during Dracula, especially when he seems to get really upset with the monster for some reason. I'm not quite sure if it's just because he's afraid of it, he's jealous of the attention that Frankenstein is devoting to it or maybe it's a knock on effect of his own treatment at the hands of Frankenstein so he vents his frustration on the monster.

And indeed, wrapped up in his work, the doctor (Colin Clive) can be quite cold at times. Even when his friend, fiance and former teacher try to visit him and get him to come home, he's adamant that leave at once and gives them all a really mean look when they tell him his ideas are crazy.

But it's not all harshness and brutality, we have Baron von Frankenstein to lighten the mood! I really love this crotchety old guy, fancy hat and pipe combo aside, he's just so abrupt and stuck in his ways, often greeting people with just moans and groans and dismissing them with flatulent noises.

All this talk of 'monster' though, that's probably a little unfair. Apparently Boris Karloff called him 'the creature'. I've heard it said that children really identify with 'the creature' as a rather innocent being and I think there's something animalistic about him too. He shows a fear of fire and loud noises and there seems to be a running theme of dominance with the phrase 'sit down' coming up numerous times before it's eventually turned on Dr Frankenstein himself in Bride. Before the creature really gets a chance to enter the world, he's locked away in a dark room and tormented with fire and whips. Maybe in time he could have adapted but when you back a dog into a corner, it's going to bite.

From a technical standpoint, since I was watching from my fancy new blu-ray boxset (which I am not sourcing screen captures from so don't judge it on these pictures) I mentioned a few days ago, it was as I alluded to then, all nice and sharp. The only things I could really pick fault with were the infamous 'pond' scene which seemed to suffer from a drop in quality. I'd put this down to maybe being different equipment or whatever due to it's location but everything seems fine until the 'climax' of the scene. I know that is something quite controversial at the time and subject to censorship so one could suggest the restored part had to be taken from some alternate footage that wasn't quite as good as the original? No idea. Secondly, I don't really have an ear for these things but during the wedding celebrations in the village, the music sounded a little distorted but otherwise I can't pick any faults with the sound for the rest of the movie.

Now, as for Bride, I'll go back briefly to the whole cast thing as there's a few more familiar faces, though for whatever reason, the actress who plays Dr Frankenstein's fiance is not amongst them. Nor, sadly, is the Baron. Anyway, we have Una O'Connor playing some form of housekeeper who is prone to the same annoying screaming that was heard in The Invisible Man when she played one of the owners of the inn, not least when she encounters the monster, hitches up her petticoat and flees as fast as her legs can carry her. Dwight Frye also returns to play another assistant but isn't quite as focal this time and is slightly more disguised with big bushy eyebrows and no hunchback. Finally, there's Ernest Thesiger who I was watching last year offering up potatoes in The Old Dark House. Oh, and Boris Karloff is billed simply as KARLOFF this time, which I still love.

Much like the opening to the first movie which I emulated at the start of this post, there's another pre show scene here but infinitely stranger. It's really just a way to recap the first movie but it depicts Mary Shelley herself along with her husband and a friend, talking about how she wrote the Frankenstein story, before being egged on to reveal what happened next.

For as sympathetic they make the monster seem in the first movie, they both lay it on much thicker this time but also go the other way in making him seem very vindictive. He's able to escape the climax of the first movie and wanders through the woods until he finds an blind hermit of sorts. Hey, I remember this from Young Frankenstein! Now that movie makes a lot more sense.

This man has prayed to the heavens for someone to give him company and really attaches himself to the creature as he learns that he too is afflicted, given that he is unable to speak. The two seem to get along like a house on fire (pun intended) and the man even begins to teach the creature some rudimentary language and allows him to indulge in the pleasures of food, booze and smoking. This all combines into a wonderful scene that evokes memories of Father Jack as the creature downs a mug of wine and shouts 'Drink!' before taking a puff on a cigar in what would have made for one of the most fantastic pre-regulation spots of TV advertising prior to the creation of The Flintstones.

But when people on the lookout for him find him casually sitting around in this mans house, they all tussle and the place is accidentally set alight. For tearing him from the only friend he's ever known and their continual hunting of him, the creature develops a deep hatred for mankind.

Meanwhile, Dr Pretorious (Thesiger) arrives in the middle of the night at the house of Frankenstein to ask for Dr Frankenstein's assistance. It seems he too has an interest in creating life and hopes to take part in a collaboration of sorts so that they might create a new life together, a mate for Frankenstein's original creation.

Though reluctant, Frankenstein is curious about Pretorious' work and it really is utterly bizarre. Where Frankenstein created life by robbing from graves, Pretorious apparently grew his. For some reason his work has a very regal and biblical feel, with each of these creations taking on the guise of a King, Queen, Bishop and even the Devil himself. The King is rather forthright with his affection for the Queen, to which she does not reciprocate, but he's rather prone to escaping his jar so that he might be closer when he blows kisses to her. Meanwhile, the Bishop looks on with disapproval and blows a whistle at the whole thing. I was really quite taken aback by it at first and really wasn't expecting it but it's rather funny and technically very impressive for the time.

Much like Bride of Re-animator, the bride herself doesn't play that important a role and is only on screen for a few minutes but the idea of her is pivotal, with Dr Pretorious using it to manipulate both Frankenstein and the monster into doing what he wants, rather than the 'just because' feeling I got from Re-animator.

Since the closest I ever got to reading any of the actual novels of any of these classic monsters was the first chapter or so of The Invisible Man, I don't fully know what happens in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein but I understand that much of Bride is covered in it. Since this movie takes place directly after the other, you could always do both in one shot as I did today. Together they're not really that much longer than most movies, being only 71 and 75 minutes long respectively. Hell, you could always trim that further if you got rid of some of the more frivolous scenes like the Mary Shelley part of Bride and the jarring final scene of Frankenstein in which, following the frantic climax, the Baron jokes around with the hired help for no particular reason. I think that's what helps Bride really, as much as I do love the Baron, some of the scenes outside of parts involving Frankenstein or his creation seemed a bit iffy.

So regardless of whether you're on a budget time wise, they're both worth checking out.

[Jimmy]

Yeah, I loved both. Bride really succeeds in showing and expanding on the duel nature that's magnificently shown in Frankenstein; wherein The Monster is innocent and childlike, but there's a clear need for him to die due to his reckless nature and super human strength. The friendship between him and the blind man is wonderfully sweet, but it's counteracted with him murdering a bunch of people, usually in self defence, though. The end to Bride was perfect though, and pretty much summed up his doomed nature. Both are fucking great, so cheers for the DVD, man!

[King Ellis]

Day 20

Horror Europa (Documentary)

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Today, I am following a tradition of what could be described as a day off, a break amongst a tidal wave of movies, and yet it could be considered a sequel of sorts. Last year I dabbled in a little Dr Who and the forebear to today's piece, Mark Gatiss' A History of Horror, that aired back in 2010 on BBC 4. It was as I re-visited it last year that I learnt that it had a second outing in this, Horror Europa, a feature length exploration of European horror, whereas History of Horror was more compartmentalised into hour long entries on the early days of American horror, the rise of British horror through the Hammer series and finally the more recent emergence of American horror with it's slasher icons.

Or, if that intro was too long winded for you, I finished 3rd in my Horror Champions League group so now I'm in the Horror Europa Cup.

Much like History of Horror, it certainly provides an interesting look into many films I am unfamiliar with, as well as the ones that I am. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, for instance, is showcased with a look at some models created by one of the set directors that are housed in a Berlin museum. Their is a discussion between Gatiss and the curator on how expressionism seemed like such a new and exciting idea at the time but was very much established in literature and paintings, so films could be seen as 'expressionism for the poor' and a way for the film industry to be seen as an art form in the same way that other mediums were. It's hard to imagine such a thing today given the juggernaut that cinemas is and with something video games often aspiring to cinema and hoping to be accepted in the same way.

Whilst there is scope to look at movies individually with highlighting of peripheral things such as these models, as well as visits to sets complete with nods to scenes from the movies, there is also a much broader look at the cultural output of entire nations coincided with the real life horrors that gripped Europe during the early 20th century. Germany, for example, found itself taking a different turn under the Nazi regime and horror was quietly pushed out of the door. Yet, there is also a tale of Cabinet star Conrad Veidt fleeing Germany, only for officials to try and coax him back in order to save face.

Aside from it's content, there is an atmosphere to the documentary with it's locations and soundtrack and even Gatiss himself has a strong presence and his speaking voice adds to the eeriness.

Entertaining in it's own right, Horror Europa has also provided a platform for a few films that have caught my eye such as Les Diaboliques, Eyes Without a Face and Who Can Kill a Child?. The latter being of particular interest to me because of it's obvious comparison to Children of the Corn, being a story of a young English couple who take a holiday to a Spanish island, only for it to be completely devoid of adults. Who Can Kill a Child? was released in 1976, eight years before the screen adaptation and one before the apparent first publishing of King's story, though I'm not really sure how far back the notion of an entire town or village's child population slaughtering their elders dates. Gatiss paints it as particularly harrowing as it's release coincides with the boom period of Spanish tourism and certainly something far beyond the usual complaints of dodgy food or half built hotels.

[MDK]

Day 16

Cat's Eye

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Like Creepshow before it, Cat's Eye is an anthology of different stories penned by King. Two adapted from short stories and one written just for the film. The stories are more directly connected though, with a cat playing part in the first two stories before being majorly involved in the third.

We see the cat freely roaming the streets before it runs into BATDOG! He has returned!

As the cat flees from it's natural enemy, its nearly run over by a car with an interesting bumper stick. I know you're real anxious to be watched, Christine, but we're still only halfway through October, we'll get to you soon enough.The cat eventually hides out in a delivery truck which sets off, unaware of it's stowaway, bound for New York City.

The cat is distracted by a ghostly figure of a little girl in a stores display window, begging for help. It serves as ample distraction to allow someone to scoop the cat up and take inside Quitters Inc.

It's here we run into Dick Morrison (a fine name!), played by James Woods, looking for help to kick his smoking habit. He soon learns, however, that their aversion therapy is a little extreme.

We see the cat now locked inside a room behind two way looking glass where it's subjected to a series of electrical shocks. Not enough to kill it or cause any real damage, but painful nonetheless.

But it isn't Dick that will be going in the room next, oh no, see this company has eyes and ears everywhere and if they catch you once, they wont punish you, they'll punish your spouse. Twice? Your kids. Three times? Well, they'll send someone to rape his wife...

Slip up four times and let's just say there wont be a fifth...

As if the stress of quitting isn't enough, now he has to worry about what might happen to his family if he screws up. He can't even relax during a screening of The Dead Zone. This flagrant self promotion is wearing pretty thin, Mr King!

It's a real tale of paranoia, a point hammered home at a party where the backing music is a cover version of The Police's "Every Breath You Take", a song with more sinister undertones than some people realise.

The cat is able to escape it's confinement and travels to Atlantic City where it becomes the subject of a bet between two men seemingly obsessed with gambling. As it sits in the center of a busy road, they wager two thousand dollars on whether it will live or die.

The older gent, Cressner, thinks the cat will live and when it does, he takes it home. But it isn't his only guest, as he has the lover of his estranged wife, former tennis pro Johnny Norris, kidnapped and brought to him so he can make him an offer he can't refuse.

The deal is simple, if Norris climbs onto onto the ledge of the building and shuffles all the way around then he gets the girl and some money to start a new life. Or he could just plummet to his death and become a pool of jelly on the sidewalk. Or, there's option C: walk out right now and find himself under arrest for possession of heroin that Cressner has had placed in his car. It's up to him...

He reluctantly accepts, only to have Cressner make all sorts of cartoonish attempts to make him fall. Who knew a corrupt crime lord wouldn't play fair! This guy starts trying to whip Norris with his robe, honks a horn at him and even...

turns a fire hose on him!

Whilst things are very tense, it's funny to see the lengths Cressner goes to be a dirty, cheating bastard.

The cat eventually arrives in Wilmington, North Carolina and to the more mundane setting of a small family with a little girl who just so happens to be the same one that appears to the cat at the start of the movie, played by a young Drew Barrymore.

After tales of all seeing corporations and twisted mob bosses, this seems to be a strangely simple story of a little girl trying to convince her parents to let her keep a stray cat and let it stay indoors. The mother would much rather throw it out every night, Flintstones style. Then she can go to bed and read...Pet Sematary? Oh goddammit!

"You cannot 'get' the troll..."

That is until the entrance of the world's cutest little troll. I mean, granted he appears to be a snarling beast who's intent on stealing the little girls breath (don't ask me) but look at him in his little jester hat! And it's got a feather in it!

Look at his teeny, tiny knife. Oh, he's just adorable!

There's something charming about this mischievous little fella, just running around the room at night committing hijinx, performing acrobatics to jump off the bed and land on some cushions. And getting to see a big fight scene between a troll and a cat, that's really something.

All in all, not the greatest but more enjoyable than Creepshow 2 which came a few years after this.

I'm watching this because I mentioned a horror film with a cat to my missus

[King Ellis]

Day 21

Christine

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Fresh off of titles such as Halloween, Escape from New York and The Thing, John Carpenter dons both his director and composer hats in this 1983 release. They worked quickly on this one, with the novel originally released on April 29th of 83 and the big screen adaptation on December 9th.

Here we have Dennis and Arnie, one a star of the high school football team and the other a chess team nerd. Hollywood tells us that these two are natural enemies but the two are actually the best of friends.

Dennis usually drives Arnie everywhere until one day, Arnie spots a broken down old '57 Plymouth Fury sitting with a 'for sale' sign attached.

The seller, played by Roberts Blossom (who would later star as the creepy old Marley who wasn't so creepy when you got to know him in Home Alone), tells the pair a story of his brother, the original owner, who named the car Christine and adored it till the day he died. Dennis finds the whole thing awfully fishy but Arnie feels compelled to but it, even putting up his own money that he'd been saving for college. He sees in it a chance to finally do something outside of the strict hand of his parents.

Naturally they're appalled by the whole thing and refuse to let him park it on their driveway. So, he takes it to a local garage where he intends to renovate Christine to her former glory. But not before rubbing the cantankerous owner up the wrong way first.

Arnie becomes a little too attached to the car and exhibits some changes in his behaviour and attitude, worrying his family and Dennis. Dennis pays a visit the old man that sold the car, who expands his story, revealing that his niece choked to death in the car before, eventually, both his sister-in-law and his brother took their own lives in it.

There's a sense of impending menace hanging in the air throughout, not only because of Christine and the feeling that there is something untoward going on with her and Arnie, but also the threat of a gang of school bullies that have it in for Dennis and Arnie after the pair ratted them out for threatening them with a switchblade.

But when they do get their payback, it isn't long before someone...or something, comes looking for them...

This one is pretty good, grounded in that high school melodrama of nerds, bullies and the quest to get laid, before taking a turn into something more dark and vindictive. There's some cool visual moments and there's something enjoyable in how over the top Arnie gets over time, becoming the kind of dark and brooding individual everyone probably envisions when they picture the average teenage Linkin Park fan. It's apt that John Carpenter is involved because Christine is a lot like Michael Myers, she just keeps going and going, nothing ever seems to truly keep her down.

[King Ellis]

Day 22

Basket Case 2

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1982's Basket Case was a low budget affair that garnered enough of a cult following to receive a sequel some eight years later, with it's budget rising from a mere $33,000 to a whopping $2.5m. After spending the movie asking 'What's in the basket?', the audience learnt the grizzly truth and so too, by the end of the movie, did the entire world.

TV cameras are soon on hand to document the strange fate of one Duane Bradley, a man who jumped or was perhaps pushed from third floor of the Brolsin Hotel in Times Square. Witnesses also describe a 'small, grotesque monstrosity' that fell with him.

Indeed, with the cat well and truly out of the bag (or the Siamese twin out of the basket), the gloves are off and this movie isn't teasing anymore. If anything, it's really ramping up the disturbing creatures thanks to a haven for unique individuals run by 'Granny Ruth' and her granddaughter Susan.

The pair help spring Duane and his brother Belial from the hospital, saying they can help them. Belial, what an interesting name. In my hasty thirty second research of searching for it on Wikipedia, it has connotations to a demon in Jewish and Christian texts, as well as being a Hebrew adjective meaning 'worthless'. Wow, a lot of people complain about the names their parents gave them, maybe they were raised by hippies and got the name Moonbeam, maybe celebrity children like Apple or Suri will grow up resenting their folks. But being called worthless? That's pretty harsh.

When we do get to meet some of Duane and Belial's new housemates, well, they're certainly a unique cast of characters. Such as Lorenzo here, whilst afflicted with an overly developed head and an under developed body, he is gifted with a heavenly singing voice.

Duane spends a year recuperating from his injuries but starts to grow restless with his surroundings, feeling he doesn't truly belong there and hopes he can gain a new start in life. He's always had an extremely strong connection to his brother, defended him, fought for him but now Belial is in a place he can be happy and maybe Duane can re-enter the normal world alone.

But, I don't know, you're pretty freaky to me, mate. You seem to be able to spontaneously change your shirt colour out of nowhere.

Duane has a change of heart though when some newspaper reporters start sniffing around and things almost take on an air of the 1932 Freaks, if you mess with one of these guys, you mess with all of them.

Granny Ruth transforms into something of a cult leader, donning some white robes and leading the 'freaks' in a rousing rallying cry to drive out those that would seek to invade their privacy. There's one cool scene in particular when the photographer sneaks into the house, looking to take a picture of Belial but finds something else entirely...

I was a little hesitant going into this but I kinda like this one, there's some great visual effects and the 'freak' costumes are nice and creative. The acting can be very corny but that's all just part of the charm. Above all though, it can just get very creepy at times. Like Freaks, these individuals are portrayed as sympathetic but it's tough to not find them scary and disturbing in their darkened surroundings or when they start to swarm around someone. Of course, nothing even begins to come close to the deeply unpleasant climax (pun intended?) to the film featuring...

Full on severed Siamese twin on severed Siamese twin fucking!

Now, if you excuse me, I need to find out if anyone ever fully realised that mind erasing technology from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, lest I have the above imagine form some sort of recurring nightmare for the remainder of my life. At least I can find some solace that in posting this here for you all to see, it proves that I'm not making this shit up. I mean, sometimes my mind plays tricks on me...

[King Ellis]

Day 23

Pet Sematary

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Well, well, well, if it isn't my old enemy "someone moves into small town and slowly discovers something sinister going on", we meet again! Published in 1983, before eventually making to the big screen in 1989, Pet Sematary (sic) tells the story of a family moving from Chicago to Stephen King country, with the father taking up a role at the local university. Whilst unpacking, they lose sight of their infant son for a split second, allowing him to wander onto a busy road often frequented by trucks. He's almost run down but is saved by Jud who lives across the road.

Hey, I know you!

"Yep, a lot of history on that road..."

Beyond their house is a trail that leads to the titular 'Pet Sematary', now the resting place for many local animals that were struck down on that road. Even Jud had to bury his dog there back in the 20's.

Sadly, the family cat (bizarrely named Winston Churchill), soon becomes just another victim. But, rather than let his daughter face the grief of losing her pet or even pull the old trick of buying a similar looking cat, Louis is led astray by Jud who offers a different option...

For beyond the pet cemetery lies an ancient burial ground where anything laid there seems to come back to life, only as a shell of it's former self, never quite the same.

And when little Gage, with all the self preservation instincts of a lemming, decides to go playing in traffic again and literally gets knocked out of his boots, a desperate father is left with only one option.

"Don't bury your son's body at the Indian burial ground, Stotch!"

Actually, I'm curious to know what tragedy befell King that made him hate trucks so much. It's not just this movie where they're driving at 120mph and running down children and animals like it were sport. I mean, his novel Trucks did serve as the basis for Maximum Overdrive and then again in a TV movie that stuck to the name as the novel in 1997. I suppose they did get some brief respite until Jeremy Clarkson came along eleven years later.

A little, round headed buffoon once said that 'every noise can mean a disaster'...

"No, if I had a baby, right, and Suzanne was out. She worked nights or something and I had nodded off. I had put the baby to sleep and then it’s 3:00 in the morning and I’m woken up by the sound of a baby laughing… that would terrify me."

It's a disaster indeed for Jud when he returns home that night to the eery sound of a childs laughter ringing in his house.

This one gets a nice thumbs up too, the climax is entertaining and the Jud character is very enjoyable. Creepy but ultimately kind at heart, even if his love for Budweiser is bordering on product placement levels. He's played by the late Fred Gwynne, also famous for his role as Herman Munster in TV's 'The Munsters'. Maybe I need to find a way to do that one day.

There were some sudden spikes of weirdness but I suppose on reflection they do make a lot of sense. Like the suicide of their maid or a Gremlins-esque flashback out of nowhere involving 'mom' Rachel, who as an eight year old child was left to look after her very ill sister, bed ridden through spinal meningitis, whilst their parents went out. Her sister would die suddenly that night, leaving her traumatized and forever uncomfortable around the subject of death and worried about how her little girl might deal with it if her kitty were to have to pay a visit to the man upstairs. See, if you'd just played the Song of Time you would have had a do over. It also explains why she fell mysteriously 'ill' the day of their maid's funeral and just what a set of dicks her parents are.

Underlined at little Gage's funeral, when her father who has disapproved of her husband ever since their marriage, decides to take a swing at his son in law as he weeps over his little boy's coffin. Wow and damn.

Though, I think the lasting thing I'll take from this film is the number of times I've had to type 'Sematary' in both writing his piece and looking up the film/novel on Google. I might never be able to spell it correctly again!

[MalaCloudy Black]

Stephen King was hit by a car in 1999. Maybe 1999 Stephen King told Young Stephen King about it and that's where he developed his dislike for things that can go over 20 mph.

EDIT: Also, I've never seen the film - do they ever mention the Wendigo or go into the burial ground's history at all?

[Mick]

It got the name Pet Semetary because a kid didn't know how to spell.

Also, I hate how it's 'Salem's Lot instead of 'salem's Lot.