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Saturday is Horror Day #229 – Scream

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

 Scream


Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is struggling, has been ever since her mother was brutally murdered almost a year before. Her boyfriend Billy (Skeet UIlrich) seems unsympathetic to what she is going through, and wants to take their relationship to the next level. When Sidney resists, she wonders if they will even stay together. She has a group of friends she hangs out with, especially her friend Tatum (Rose McGowan) who is dating Stuart (Matthew Lillard), Then there is Randy (Jamie Kennedy), who has a crush on Sidney, works in a video store, and is the resident expert on horror movies.

When her friend Casey (Drew Barrymore) and her boyfriend Steve (Kevin Patrick Walls) are killed, fear 


fills the town, and local news reporter Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) is quick to connect the murder with that of Sidney’s mother. Sidney already hates Gale for the book she wrote about her late mother, which is about to come out, and resents her intrusions into her life. When a Scream mask is found at the stie of Casey’s murder, it becomes the face of what is going on. But as the body count grows, Sidney isn’t sure who she can trust… and she thinks she might be the killer’s next target.


Hard to believe this film is almost 30 years old. It’s just as good now as it was then, and wears well.  This is a Wes Craven film, who also brought us Nightmare on Elm Street. A lot of familiar faces here, including David Arquette, who later married Courtney Cox (I believe this is how they met). There is a brief glimpse of the convicted killer of Sidney’s mother, Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), who is the subject of Gale’s book  – she claims he is innocent. I had totally forgotten most of the film, so I was able to be surprised again, as if I was seeing it for the first time. The story is solid, the acting good, the writing good. Also, look for Henry Winkler in an uncredited role as the school principal. This film delivers on all cylinders, and is definitely worth revisiting. I’ll give this film 4.5 Stars.

 

Saturday is Horror Day #227 – Locked

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Locked

Eddie Barrish (Bill Skarsgärd) means well. He generally has good intentions. But somehow things always seem to get in the way. Such as when it’s his turn to pick up his daughter Sarah (Ashley Cartwright) from school but his car is in the shop and he doesn’t have the money to pay for it to be fixed and the shop owner refuses to take his word for it that he will pay him or extend him credit.

Eddie is at the end of his rope and desperate. His ex has warned him what will happen if he doesn’t fulfill

his duties as Sarah’s father. His promises are empty and she is fed u with them. He does everything he knows how to do to get the almost $500 he needs… and then he spots the luxury SUV sitting alone in a parking lot.  Looking vulnerable. And it’s unlocked. What else is a guy to do but take it?

But life is not quite so easy….

Eddie finds himself, to his dismay, locked inside the car. Panicked – and on a time schedule – he tries to get out, but to no avail. Then the screen begins to light up with a call, one that is marked Answer Me. He ignores it the first few times, but finally he’s forced to answer it. To his dismay, he discovers himself speaking with the car’s owner,  William (Anthony Hopkins), who tells me he is tired of having his car stolen and the police doing nothing about it. So he’s taken matters into his own hands. And now, if Eddie wants out, he’s going to have to play William’s game.

I have to confess that when I saw that this film had both Bill Skarsgärd and Anthony Hopkins, I knew I wanted to see it, no matter what it was about. And I’m glad I did. It’s a psychological thriller about two men at the end of their ropes. Eddie is just the unlucky one who falls in the fed-up William’s trap. Seriously, who would leave such an expensive vehicle unlocked, alone in a parking lot? But Eddie is desperate, so he isn’t using what common sense he might possess. Eddie goes through an ordeal in his attempts to simply exit the car, and William is relentless in his methods – including taxing Eddie, and withholding food and drink, torturing him with music, etc. I was never sure how things would work out, and I found myself very invested in finding out. Both men do an excellent job of portraying their characters. Despite one reviewer who blared something about Pennywise vs Hannibal Lecter, that is far from the case. Eddie is no Pennywise and William no Lecter. I found the movie very enjoyable, I’ll give this film 4 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #226 – Vertigo

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Vertigo

John “Scottie” Ferguson is a former San Francisco cop who left his position, in large part as a result of his severe vertigo. Feeling rather at odds with himself, he sits at home, his best friend and companion Marjorie ‘Midge’ Wood (Barbara Bel Geddes), who is also his ex-fiance.  She is trying to cheer him up, lift him out of the doldrums, give him purpose, but so far her efforts are to no avail – even when she makes it clear she still has feelings for him. But he doesn’t take the bait, assuming he is even aware of her attempts. Then his friend Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) approaches him with a job he’d like Scottie to do – namely, follow his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak). Not that he thinks she is cheating on him, nothing like that, but he is concerned about her, thinks she has changed, and wants to know what is going on with her and is she in any danger because of it.

Scottie follows the woman, and soon discovers that she has a strange routine, beginning with the art

museum where she sits and stares for hours at a painting of a woman. Oddly, he begins to notice similarities between her and the woman – a necklace that Madeleine wears that looks like the one in the  painting, the way Madeleine wears a curl in her hair just like the subject of the painting, whose name turns out to be Caroline Valdez. Scottie looks into the history of that woman as he continues to tail Madeleine, discovering the other places she goes, such as the restaurant where she regularly dines alone, and the small hotel where she has a room, but never sleeps there.

Scottie ends up following her to San Francisco Bay where, to his horror, he watches her throw herself into  the Bay. He dives in after her and rescues her then takes her to his apartment to recover. The next day  she disappears and the cycle continues…. until he finds himself in the position of falling in love with her and his emotions vie with his sense of duty to his friend. Until things escalate beyond his power to control…

Vertigo is an Alfred Hitchcock film from 1958, but this is the first time I’ve watched it. Surprising, considering how much I enjoy Hitchcock films. It’s definitely a psychological thriller, and I was surprised at some of the twists and turns, to my amazement. It’s very well-done and fast paced and yet not too fast, building up tension but in an almost sensual way, aided by the excellent sound track and directions.

I read that the film did not do well at the box office largely because of the audience’s perception of Jimmy as a villain, and they were used to seeing him as wholesome characters . But I disagree. I don’t believe Scottie was the villain here, there are better candidates for that role. I have to say I am not really enamored of Kim Novak and her acting, but I suspect I am in the minority there. I don’t think she expresses emotions very well, and the big reason she was cast is because she fit the type of Hitchock’s “blondes”, as we now know.

That being said, I think this film was beautifully done, had an interesting and engaging story, a great cast – you may remember Barbara Bel Geddes from Dallas, she played Miss Ellie, the Ewing matriarch – and also Ellen Corby, who was Grandma Walton on the Waltons, appears as a hotel manager. I very much enjoyed this film and would highly recommend. I’ll give this film 4.5 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #225 – Sssssss

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Sssssss


Famed herpetologist Dr. Carl Stoner (Strother Martin) approaches a former student now professor, Dr. Ken Daniels (Richard Shull) to find an assistant, as his last one left suddenly one day and he needs help in his experiments. Daniels recommends David Blake (Dirk Benedict), and when approached, David agrees to take the job (it also gets him out of being bullied by a larger student). When David meets Stoner’s daughter Kristina (Heather Menzies), there is a mutual attraction and they begin a romance. Stoner is not too keen on this however and reprimands his daughter when he realizes she is sleeping with David.

From the outset of their working relationship, Stoner begins to give David a series of injections, in order 


to protect him from snake bites occurred during the course of their work. But David is starting to notice strange side effects – such as inexplicably peeling skin! Stoner assures him that is normal, and a one-time thing, as he helps to peel David’s shedding back.


David and Kristina go on a date to a local carnival and discover that one of the attractions is a snake man. Naturally, they are curious, being both interested in snakes, so they check out the exhibit. The man appears to be a snake man indeed. But there is something about him that seems off. He seems distressed, as if he is trying to tell them something. By the time Kristina figures out what is familiar about him, she realizes what is happening to David and rushes home to save him and confront her father.

This is a bit of an odd film. I’ve been aware of it for years but never attempted to watch it until a coworker suggested it. Strother Martin shines as the mad herpetologist. You might remember him from Cool Hand Luke, and his famous line – “What we got here is a failure to communicate”! Heather Menzies, who plays the daughter, was a popular young actress in the 70s, and was married to actor Robert Urich who is probably best kniwb fir Vega$, Dirk Benedict, who plays David, was in the 70s sci fi show Battlestar Galactica.

 

The plot is, even for the 70s, ridiculous. I found the scenes with the snakes unrealistic. And as for the idea of turning a human being into a snake – first of all, why? Stoner’s motivation is never clear, at least not in my book. That being said, Menzies as the loyal daughter does a good job, and Dirk Benedict, clearly not the bright bulb in the box, is clueless as to what is happening to him. The scenes with Strother Martin and real snakes are clearly not him, and the special effects leave something to be desired. Even so, it’s worth watching to see Martin. So I’ll give this film 3 Stars.

 

Saturday is Horror Day #221 – Venom (1981)

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

Venom (1981)

Philip Hopkins (Lance Holcomb) is the ten-year-old son of a well-to-do family. His asthma keeps him mostly indoors among the pets he loves and collects. When his mother Ruth (Cornelia Sharpe), goes to join his father in Rome, Philips is left in the care of his grandfather Howard Anderson (Sterling Hayden), a world famous hunter, and the family maid Louise (Susan George) and the chauffeur Dave (Oliver Reed). Philip and his grandfather concoct a little scheme to enable Philip to sneak out of the house long enough to pick up his newest purchase from the dealer – a gray snake. Unknown to them, Dave and Louise have their own plan that is going to go down while the mother is away, one that involves a third man, Jacmel (Klaus Kinski) – they plan to kidnap the boy and hold him for ransom.

Meanwhile, at the Institute of Toxicology, Dr. Marion Stowe (Sarah Miles) discovers that a snake that was

recently purchased by them is not the one they ordered, it’s a common domestic snake. To her horror, she realizes that the purchaser of this domestic snake actually has the black mamba they expected to get – the most dangerous animal in the world. A policeman is sent to the boy’s house to inquire about it, but the nervous kidnappers assume they have been discovered, chaos ensues, and now they are all trapped in the house with a black mamba that is loose and the police are just outside the door – between a rock and a hard place!

To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect with this 1981 film (not to be confused with the Tom Hardy film of the same name). I was very pleasantly surprised. This is definitely no cheap horror film, and the snake is not CGI or cartoonish – and something to be legitimately scared of. There are some well-known actors in this film – Oliver Reed, Sterling Hayden, Susan George, Klaus Kinski, Sarah Miles, and Nicol Williamson as the police commander who is determined to rescue the boy and his grandfather. The acting is wonderful, as is the writing and direction. I had no idea what was going to happen, it is far from predictable. I loved Nicol Williamson’s performance as Commander Bulloch – he commands any scene he is in. You may remember him from the film Excalibur where he played Merlin. Oliver Reed as the chauffeur is prone to act first and think after, which doesn’t work well. You may remember him from such films as Gladiator and Tommy.

Klaus Kinski as the cold rather psychotic German is perfect. You may recall I recently reviewed Nosferatu, where he starred as the titular character. I much preferred Venom and his performance there.  All in all, a very entertaining film, well worth watching. I’ll give this film 4.5 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #220 – The Whip and the Body

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

The Whip and the Body

Nobleman Kurt Menliff (Christopher Lee) returns to his family castle to congratulate his brother Christian (Tony Kendall) on his marriage to Kurt’s former lover Nevenka (Daliah Lavi). His return is not exactly greeted with open arms by his father the Count (Gustavo De Nardo), Nevenka, the servant Giorgia (Harriet Medin) who blames him for the death of her daughter  or even his cousin Katie (Ida Galli). Tension reigns in the household.

Kurt proves to be a rather sadistic fellow who seems to enjoy torturing the people around him. At one

point, Nevenka over hears her husband and his cousin discussing their love for one another. Horrified, she escapes the castle for some private time by the sea, riding her horse. As she sits on the shore, contemplating her life choices, Kurt finds her, he takes her whip from her and strikes her with it – as though they have played this particular game before. She reacts favorably to his actions and they make love on the beach.

Later, when Nevenka is miss, and everyone is searching for her, Kurt is stabbed and killed by the same knife that killed Giorgia’s daughter. Tension grows as the household suspects one another of being Kurt’s killer, while Nevenka is haunted by the ghost of Kurt. When the Count is also found dead, also by the dagger, there can be no doubt of a killer in their midst. But is Kurt actually dead is the question.

I ran across this Italian film on Shudder. I’d never heard of it, but knowing Christopher Lee was in it was good enough for me. It was in Italian, with English subtitles. I could never tell if That was Christopher Lee’s voice or not since he didn’t have the usual depth of voice one associates with the actor. On the other hand, he was of Italian heritage, so it’s not impossible.

This is a bit of a departure for Lee, being a Gothic type horror film without a vampire in sight. Seeing him kiss a woman without biting her neck is also different. But all kidding aside, this is like a soap opera horror story set in an isolated Italian castle by the sea. The plot was sometimes difficult to fathom but once I sorted it out in my head, it wasn’t too hard to follow. It does have atmosphere, and appropriately angsty music, but it was made in 1963, so the pacing feels a little dated.

I wish the filmmaker had given us better insight as to the nature of the relationship between Kurt and the others, or why he was gone to begin with. So much bad blood, and probably not all justified. It was interesting to watch Lee, in particular, but I don’t think I would watch this again. That being said, I’ll give this film 2.5 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #217 – The Changeling (1980)

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

The Changeling (1980)

Composter John Russell (George C. Scott) loses his wife and daughter in a horrible accident that leaves him devastated. Several months later, his concerned friends urge him to get away so he rents an old mansion near Seattle, owned by a Mrs. Norman (Madeleine Sherwood). Her daughter Claire (Trish Van Devere) helped him to get the mansion, and she is very helpful in aiding him to settle into the huge mansion. The house seems like a great place for him to resume his composing. But he quickly discovers that he is not alone in the house. As he grows closer to Claire, together they seek to find the answers to the secrets of the house – and the powerful man who is guarding them.

I remember when this movie came out, but I never made an effort to watch it until yesterday, not sure why, but I should have. The film was directed by Peter Medak, who also directed movies such as The Ruling Class and Romeo is Bleeding, as well as episodes of Hannibal and House. The Changeling was beautifully directed and filmed. George C. Scott was already a well-known and very talented actor, but I hadn’t seen one of his films in years, so it was almost like watching him for the first time. Trish Van Devere, who plays Claire, was Scott’s fifth wife. They were married in 1972 and remained married until his death in 1999.

Among the rest of the cast, veteran actor Melvyn Douglas plays a senator whose family once owned the mansion, Jean Marsh plays the ill-fated wife, Barry Morse is a parapsychologist, and John Colicos a detective. If you’re old enough you might remember Madeleine Sherwood from the TV series The Flying Nun – she played the head of the convent where Sally Field was a nun.

A haunting musical score lends atmosphere to this lovely film. The heartbreak of the present helps to solve the sins of the past. This is a great example of a haunted house film, one that I highly recommend. I’ll give this film 4.5 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #216 – A Haunting in Connecticut 2

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

A Haunting in Connecticut 2

Lisa and Andy Wyrick (Abigail Spencer and Chad Michael Murray) and their daughter Heidi (Emily Alyn Lind) move into an historic house in Georgia.  From the beginning, something feels off about the house… as if someone else is there. Heidi talks about her new friend, Mr. Gordy, who is apparently an older man. Lisa is alarmed until she realizes that Mr. Gordy is an imaginary friend. Lisa’s free-spirited siter Joyce (Katee Sackhoff) joins them, living in a trailer that sits next to the house. From the beginning, she believes there are ghosts in the house, restless spirits who are trying to contact them. Lisa thinks that is so much nonsense. But when strange things start to happen, she begins to question her own sanity, and wonders if her sister may be right/

While this sounds like it’s a sequel to A Haunting in Connecticut, it isn’t. The title was thrown on to capitalize on the first film. Seriously, a movie that takes place in Georgia as a sequel to one that took place in Connecticut with no connection whatsoever?  I’m afraid it goes downhill from there – I know, low bar. The film is based on a true story of the Wyrick family, who claim the women in the family are all natural mediums. While I think there is an interesting story here, involving ghosts and the sins of the past,, I think the writers and the producers failed to capture it. The story was confusing and disjointed, in my opinion, and asks the viewer to suspend an awful lot of disbelief. It also relies a lot on jump scares, which is a rather cheap trick.

The acting is so-so, and the most memorable character, in my opinion, is Mr. Gordy, the so-called imaginary friend. To be honest, I almost turned it off somewhere in the beginning, but decided to finish it anyway. The ending was…. well, just see for yourself if you are really interested. If you pass on it, you won’t have missed anything. I’ll give this film 1.5 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #215 – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Mild-manner Dr. Henry Jekyll (Jack Palance) has a theory regarding the dual nature of man – he posits that it is possible to separate men into good and evil, thus allowing their good nature to overcome and the evil to be quelled. But his ideas are met with scorn by the medical community, and the other doctors tell him that even if he concocts the potion he is speaking of, there will be no way of testing it ethically. So Jekyll returns to is lab undaunted, determined to use the potion on himself. So he takes the potion….

The next morning, he returns to the place where he went the night before, the Windmill Music Hall, and

learns of his actions the night before as his alter ego, Edward Hyde. Seems like Hyde had a good time, drinking and carousing, and particularly spending time with one of the hostesses, Gwen Thomas (Billie Whitelaw). Jekyll repeats the experiment in the following days, and Hyde, who apparently is quite the hedonist, returns to the Windmill and Gwen. But more and more, Hyde’s violent urges come out, and he is vicious and relentless.

Jekyll’s best friend, Devlin (Denholm Elliott) is concerned about Henry, as are his servants, including  his faithful manservant Poole (Gillie Fenwick). When Hyde leans toward ending the experiment, he discovers to his horror that Hyde doesn’t need the potion to come out  to play, and it requires more of the anti-potion to put that particular genie back in the bottle. With Hyde becoming more and more out of control, Jekyll doesn’t know what to do….

This version of Jekyll and Hyde is actually a TV movie from 1968. I remember watching it as a child (I would have been about 11 then), and rewatching it as I grew older. I was always drawn to Jack Palance’s Hyde. From what I read, the role was originally given to Jason Robards, but due to complications, ended up with Palance, and the make-up was changed, the final result meant to resemble a satyr. As a teenager, I remember being quite taken with Mr. Hyde. I wondered if I would feel the same as a fully grown adult – I did. Palance is mesmerizing in the dual roles, between the mild-manner Dr. Jekyll and the sensual hedonistic Hyde. The story is undoubtedly a familiar one to most audiences, based on the story by Robert Louis Stevenson.  I haven’t seen them all, but I always liked this one a great deal.

TV movies and shows were filmed differently, I can’t explain quite why that is, not being an expert, but it’s quite visible, and actually lends a Gothic feel to the movie. From the moment I began to watch, I got strong Dark Shadows vibes – and no wonder, as Dan Curtis of Dark Shadows fame was a producer. Also, if you listen during one of the scenes and you think you recognize an eerie little tune that is being played, you probably do as that song went on to become Quentin’s Song from Dark Shadows.

I was concerned that I might not like the film as much as I did years ago, that it wouldn’t stand up to the test of time. I am happy to report I did and it did, and if you are a fan of Jekyll and Hyde, or Jack Palance, I recommend you add this to your viewing repertoire. I give this film 4 Stars.

Saturday is Horror Day #214 – The Creeping Flesh

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Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

The Creeping Flesh

Emmanuel Hildern (Peter Cushing) returns from the jungles of New Guinea with a marvelous find in the form of a huge skeleton, one he believes will serve to bolster his theory that evil is a disease that can be cured. His daughter Penelope (Lorna Heilbron) is overjoyed at her father’s return, and hopes to spend time with him, but he is quickly lost to his studies once more. On his arrival, he finds a letter from his brother James (Christopher Lee) who runs a mental asylum. James regrets to inform his brother that while he was gone, his wife passed away. And he has said nothing to Penelope, of course. The truth of the matter is that Penelope believes he mother died years ago and her father is not about to let her know the truth.

But he doesn’t realize how obsessed with the idea of her mother Penelope is, especially because she has

been forbidden from entering the locked room that was once her mother’s. But where there is a will, there is a way, and Penelope gains entrance.

In the meantime, Emmanuel has made an accidental discovery that he cannot quite explain – if the skeleton becomes wet, flesh begins to grow on the bone! Interestingly, his brother James is involved in his own dark experiments. And the two experiments are about to overlap!

While this film has the look and feel of a Hammer film, including Hammer’s two biggest stars – Cushing and Lee – it is not. There are also supporting actors Duncan Lamont, Michael Ripper, make-up artist Roy Ashton, and cinematographer turned director Freddie Francis.

Cushing plays the absentminded scientist well. He means well in protecting his daughter, but she finds out anyway, unprepared for the reality of her mother’s mental instability. We see flashbacks of her descent into madness, and we are led to believe that this was inherited by her daughter. I think the daughter’s own descent was a bit rapid, but considering the film is only an hour and a half long, understandable.

Sure, one has to suspend a certain amount of disbelief, such as water growing flesh on a skeleton, and the skeleton coming to “life” and wreaking havoc. But it’s a fun watch with a twist ending I didn’t see coming. If you are fans of Cushing and Lee, as I am, I recommend giving this a watch. I’ll give this film 3.75 Stars.