|
|
Post by someoldguy on Dec 12, 2020 11:08:54 GMT -5
Son of Frankenstein (1939) Out of the overtime game for the time being, so I cranked this one up this morning. Great turn by Bela Lugosi as Ygor. I liked Lionel Atwill's Inspector Krogh, too. Hammy? Yes. But premium smoked ham with not a bit of cheese in sight. Universal had the sense to let this one go to the 99 minute limit that theaters demanded to maximize daily viewings instead of the usual 75 minutes or less typical of that era. Everyone had time to fully realize their character and allow the plot to develop as well. The third and last of the genuinely classic Universal Frankenstein films. The next entry, Ghost of Frankenstein, has some good stuff - "Lignt ening was your mother" with Lugosi's extra syllable - but there are parts that are just plain silly. |
|
|
|
Post by someoldguy on Dec 12, 2020 18:25:35 GMT -5
To All a Good Night (1980)
Low budget, poorly acted, dumb dialog Christmas slasher with negligible production values and stereotype characters. Not much gore but I think they try to make up for that with some nudity. That might have been deemed exciting to a young male audience in 1980 but is hardly memorable today. The identity of the slasher and the motive are guessable fairly early on, although it does not quite make sense. And the 'surprise' near the end does not really do anything to help. Despite the body count, this is a dozer if not quite an outright snoozer.
|
|
|
|
Post by ArcLight on Dec 12, 2020 18:53:13 GMT -5
Fade to Black (1980)
An old favorite just out on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome.
Dennis Christopher (fresh off his appearance in the Oscar-winning Breaking Away) stars as Eric Binford, a shy, lonely, socially awkward young man who is routinely abused, bullied, ripped-off, and if he's lucky merely ignored by most everyone in his life. His only refuge is classic movies and the stars of old. And naturally he is deeply in love with Marilyn Monroe.
As circumstances pile up and his mental state unravels, he takes on personas from his favorite films to get revenge on those he feel has wronged him.
It was lumped in with the slasher-movies of the day when it came out but it's really more of a psychological thriller with a character you can truly sympathize with by the end.
Somewhere in my stash of stuff I should have the novelization, too, but I haven't dug down to the right box yet.
Co-stars the great Tim Thomerson as a social worker connected to the police department and Linda Kerridge as the woman that unwittingly contributes to Eric's slide into fantasy-land as she's the spitting image of his beloved Marilyn. Also has Mickey Rourke in one of his first film roles.
|
|
|
|
Post by silverbullet63 on Dec 12, 2020 20:25:41 GMT -5
To All a Good Night (1980) Low budget, poorly acted, dumb dialog Christmas slasher with negligible production values and stereotype characters. Not much gore but I think they try to make up for that with some nudity. That might have been deemed exciting to a young male audience in 1980 but is hardly memorable today. The identity of the slasher and the motive are guessable fairly early on, although it does not quite make sense. And the 'surprise' near the end does not really do anything to help. Despite the body count, this is a dozer if not quite an outright snoozer. Prom Night was released the same year and did a better job with same plot. |
|
|
|
Post by silverbullet63 on Dec 12, 2020 21:52:03 GMT -5
Home For the Holidays (1972)
Murder Mystery, starring a very young Sally Field.
|
|
|
|
Post by someoldguy on Dec 12, 2020 22:21:05 GMT -5
Return of the Vampire (1943) Lugosi resurrects (sorry) his Dracula persona as the title character. Character name changed to Armand Tesla for legal reasons. With Matt Willis as the werewolf servant, should have had higher billing. Nina Foch in the her first film as the bloodlust interest. She would go on to star in Cry of the Werewolf and show everyone how its done. I will watch this movie whenever it is on, just good old B horror movie fun. Svengoolie had fun with themes from the movie but did not make fun of it. One item: Armand Tesla Impure Staking Soda. Today's Factoid: The Arm & Hammer logo seen below was in use by that company since around the Civil War. It was copied from the symbol used by an obscure and long vanished socialist party. Industrialist Armand Hammer, who had nothing to do with the company, attempted to buy it but ultimately had to settle for a seat on the board of directors of the parent company. This apparently on a whim.  |
|
|
|
Post by someoldguy on Dec 12, 2020 22:22:05 GMT -5
Home For the Holidays (1972) Murder Mystery, starring a very young Sally Field. I remember that. Good fun, nice ending. |
|
|
|
Post by ArcLight on Dec 13, 2020 15:33:32 GMT -5
Iron Wolf (2013)
Low, low budget German made (in English) werewolf flick.
Nazi scientists perfect an immortal werewolf bred to attack only non-German military but the Soviets overrun the base before they can do anything with it. Apparently, the Russians don't do much of a search because 60-some-odd years later members of a punk band show up and end up letting it out.
Female lead Carolina Rath just passed away last month.
Free on Tubi but I just picked it up for a buck at Dollar Tree. Not the greatest but leagues better than Werewolves of the Third Reich at least.
|
|
|
|
Post by someoldguy on Dec 14, 2020 22:22:46 GMT -5
The Turning (2020) I should have turned this OFF. A real mess especially disappointing because the cast and the production values were in place to do something really good and Spielberg was even behind it. I found out later that this went through multiple rewrites that resulted in the story getting scrambled around, with Spielberg firing the directorial and screenwriting team and starting over. The movie is nominally based on the Henry James short story The Turn of the Screw. But... The 1961 film The Innocents was based on that story as well. It worked pretty well, the only thing holding it back from real greatness was that instead of the ghost definitely being real as in the James story, it was 50/50 that the woman (played very well by Deborah Kerr) was just crazy. In The Turning it appears that she definitely is crazy and that there are no ghosts. Even beyond that the movie just seems disjointed, as if it were made from pieces of the several screenplays. There does not seem to be any coherent plot development. And the ending, over and above my complaint in the previous spoiler, just has nothing to do with the rest of the movie that I can see. In fact I do not even understand what it is saying. At least it was free on Showtime, which is part of my cable/anywhere package. But I would like most of that hour and a half back. |
|
|
|
Post by silverbullet63 on Dec 15, 2020 8:32:08 GMT -5
Dark Was the Night (2014)
|
|
|
|
Post by someoldguy on Dec 15, 2020 8:58:57 GMT -5
Dark Was the Night (2014) I am now thinking that maybe the ending is the right one after all, that being the point of the movie. Don't screw with Mother Nature |
|
|
|
Post by silverbullet63 on Dec 15, 2020 23:09:04 GMT -5
Dark Was the Night (2014) I am now thinking that maybe the ending is the right one after all, that being the point of the movie. Don't screw with Mother Nature Hmmmmm. That is possible. |
|
|
|
Post by silverbullet63 on Dec 15, 2020 23:58:20 GMT -5
Cold Prey (2006) aka Fritt Vilt
Another great Norweigian slasher, with an underrated Final Girl
|
|
|
|
Post by silverbullet63 on Dec 16, 2020 18:57:33 GMT -5
Cold Prey 2 (2008) aka Fritt Vilt 2
Basically the Halloween II to the first one.
|
|
|
|
Post by silverbullet63 on Dec 17, 2020 19:03:51 GMT -5
Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings (2011)
The prequel to the 2003 backwoods slasher Wrong Turn
|
|
Le Loup-Garou Qui Rit
