Tag: Horror

The Haunting (1963)

Posted on by fenrisfil

Look, I know the supernatural is something that isn’t supposed to happen, but it does happen.

Another movie from my October movie challenge that inspired the creation of this blog. My pick for October 11th was 1963’s “The Haunting”, based off the novel “The Haunting of Hill House” by Shirley Jackson. Yes the same source material as the Netflix series (and also a second movie in the 90’s). Unlike the TV series this film stays mostly true to the source material, though there are definitely links between the two versions. 

 

Messing with the Supernatural

The movie is helmed by Robert Wise (The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Andromeda Strain) and stars Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn (Who made a cameo in the TV show). Unlike the TV series this focuses on four strangers that are gathered together by investigator of the paranormal, Dr. John Markway (Johnson) as an experiment to prove the existence of otherworldly things. There were meant to be more, but the others heard rumours about the place and decided against it. They probably had seen horror movies before. As a result the only participants to show up are Eleanor (Julie) and Theodora (Bloom). They are joined by Dr. Markway and Luke Sanderson (Tamblyn) who will one day inherit the property.

Theodora is very similar to her namesake in the TV show (i.e. Gay and psychic), though toned down because it was 1963. Eleanor though is our main character and the target of the Houses evil desires (Her equivalent in the show is pretty much all the other female characters… yeah she’s basically screwed).

Things that go Bump in the Night

This is black and white and a great reminder of just how effective a haunting can be without evil nuns and bent limbed monstrosities crawling at you on their back in stop motions. Instead this relies on shakes and sounds and the actions of the characters (and in the case of Eleanor, her thoughts) and it’s incredibly effective. In the case of Eleanor we get to see her go insane as she is both terrified and seduced by the house. There are some great visuals (and sound bytes! I recognised the opening of White Zombies “Super Charger Heaven” early in the film) including a lot of camera work that reminded me a lot of “The Evil Dead” so I’m guess this movie was a big influence on Sam Raimi.

This is a masterfully crafted horror movie whose only real downside is that we are so used to all the modern visuals that some may consider this a bit too tame. But the characters are all interesting in their own way, the frights are effective and the manipulation of poor Eleanor was well executed. Over my October viewing I would watch several ghost stories and this stayed firmly at the top of the list. There is a reason why updating the story with modern visuals was so effective for the TV series and it’s clear that the show owed a lot specifically to this movie (instead of just the original novel). But while that had the benefit of modern effects, this shows almost nothing and yet is extremely effective. It really is a masterclass in how to do horror without gore or CGI. If you are a horror fan you owe it to yourself to give this a watch.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Mayhem (2017)

Posted on by fenrisfil

My movie of choice for the 3rd of October (as part of my horror per day challenge) was 2017’s “Mayhem” directed by Joe Lynch (A regularly contributor to Shudder’s “Creepshow” series and director of the fun “Knights of Badassdom” from 2013) and staring Steven Yeun (Glenn from the Walking Dead) and the always impressive Samara Weaving (Guns Akimbo, Ready or Not).

Hostile Witnesses

The film is set in a world that has suffered a huge viral outbreak…. I know, topical right? But this virus unique in that it basically reduces inhibitions and encourages violent outbreaks from those infected. Our setting for the film is the headquarters of a law firm that made it’s name in a landmark case involving this virus, where they established those infected by the virus can’t be held accountable for their actions (including murder). This provides both an amount of irony from the virus breaking out in this office and provides a key plot point since everyone involved is well aware that this legal loophole provides certain opportunities….

Our heroes were both wronged by the company, with Derek (Yeun) having just been fired for someone else’s mistake and Melanie (Weaving) having been screwed over financially. Both are about to be escorted from the building when the outbreak causes a lockdown and the pair become determined to take justice into their own hands. Initially just wanting to have their cases heard but with the virus infecting them too this progresses to seeking a far more violent confrontation. 

Passing Judgement

The rest of the film is basically our heroes working their way through the building scoring a whole load of pay back in the process. Mayhem does indeed ensue as the movie title promised. Obviously this movie is light on plot, but it’s fast paced and Steven and Samara really did a good job. Both seem to be having a blast making the movie and I have to say they both deserve to be higher profile actors than they currently are. 

The way the virus affects peoples inhibitions reminds me of things like David Cronenberg’s “Shivers” or the book “The Fog” by James Herbert, both of those though were pure horror while this is far more of an action/comedy movie that just happens to have some horror elements. The Law Firm setting provides the audience with villains that are easy to hate (Corrupt corporate lawyers) as well as making the outrageousness of their inhibitions seem entirely believable. The movie also does a good job of throwing out a number of “mini-boses” for our heroes to get past in order to progress, making the pacing a little bit like a video game. Really the simplicity of everything in this movie is what makes it work so well. This was a fun movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Trick ‘r Treat (2007)

Posted on by fenrisfil

For October I decided to watch a horror (or Halloween related) movie every day and review it in the build up to Halloween. The plan was to use that as an opportunity to catch up with all the movies I haven’t gotten around to watching yet. I initially started just casually posting these to Facebook and then to my Minds account, but after completing the month and writing more and more about each movie I was inspired to start this blog. I am retrospectively posting these reviews here when I have time (some of the earlier ones were short so I will have to update them before posting). This was my first.

Trick

First up for October 1st was “Trick’r’Treat” from 2007. Directed by Michael Dougherty (Godzilla: King of Monsters) and staring amongst other Brian Cox (Hannibal Lecter from “Manhunter”) and Anna Paquin (Sookie from True Blood). It’s a linked anthology horror featuring several vaguely intertwined stories all set on Halloween night in one town. The key linking figure is “Sam”, a mysterious figure that appears at first to be a child trick-or-treater in a burlap pajama costume, but is actually a kind of personification of Halloween. Sam has his own story at the end of the anthology is always fund lurking around the other stories (often being treated like a regular trick-or-treater).

There are four main stories, the first features the local school principal who tricks and murders an unruly child in a fairly comedic horror tale mostly involving his struggles to hide the body. The second tale is a pretty classic story of kids daring each other to go somewhere scary, telling a scary tale and then playing a prank to freak out the “weird” kid. This goes exactly as you would expect when the story of the Halloween School Bus Massacre turns out to have more truth to it than they expected. The third story is actually alluded to with some hot out of town girls hooking up with dates for a big party. The apparent lack of any standards for this hook up of course hints that things are not quite as they seem and really it’s best not to trust Sookie Stackhouse offering you the night of your life, lol. The final tale is Sam’s own and also where we get Brian Cox’s full involvement as Sam terrorizes the angry old man in his own house until he learns the true meaning of Halloween.

Treat

There have been a lot of linked horror anthologies over the years and this isn’t the first with a Halloween theme. One of big decisions when making an anthology horror is how many stories you put into the movie. The choice of four here is about perfect as each had enough time to tell its story but none of them felt like they were dominating the others (Compared to something like the “ABC’s of death” with 26 stories or “Books of Blood” where one main story takes up the bulk of the time).  The linking between the stories was done particularly well and this was one of the highlights for me especially between the Principle and Sam stories at either end of the anthology. 

Personally I felt “Tales of Halloween” from 2015 did a better job of the Halloween theme, though that had the benefit of multiple writers and directors to add variety. None of the tales provided anything outside the twists and turns I expected but they were all well executed (as were several of the townsfolk). The actors all put in a solid performance, though Brian Cox was the stand out here. Overall this was a solid horror fest, did a good job of pacing and left me satisfied by the end. One of the better anthologies out there.

Rating: 6 out of 10.