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31 Oct 08 – Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 5: The Old, Dark House
![[IMAGE]](http://eric.b.olsen.tripod.com/images/odh2.jpg)
I've saved the best for last.
I stumbled on this film on an internet search for classic horror movies. It was made in 1932, directed by James Whale (Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, Show Boat, The Man in the Iron Mask), and produced by the great Carl Laemmle, Jr. (Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, All Quiet on the Western Front), and stars a first-rate group of actors. It doesn't matter who they are; they all play their roles perfectly.
It starts with the hoariest of scary movie cliches: a couple folks are out driving in a terrible storm, and take refuge in an Old, Dark House. At least they aren't horny teenagers, I suppose.
The house's tenants hide dark secrets, of course, which are slowly revealed over the course of the night. It feels like a stage play, at times, and I mean that as a compliment; I felt the stage's intensity as characters faced off.
One relationship shifts dramatically in the course of the night, and that was part of my big surprise. This being 1932, not that far into the talkie era, the film industry's code of decency hadn't quite solidified yet. As such, not only do we see a woman change out of a dress, wearing only a short shift beneath it, we're treated to this bit of dialogue from a girl describing her boyfriend:
| Gladys | He gives me a little money. Oh, not very much, just enough to keep me going. You probably won't believe me, but...Bill doesn't...he doesn't expect anything. D'you know what I mean by "anything?" |
| Bill | Yes, I know what you mean by "anything." |
Remarkable. We all know exactly what she means, but it's entirely implied.
In any event, the dark secrets are revealed, one by one. And it's done masterfully. The dread just builds, and builds, and builds, until a final climactic confrontation. There's nothing magical or fantastical about it; no ancient spells or science fiction hand-waving (though the family is said to be under a curse). It's just personalities, people, some deranged and some afraid and some grimly determined to get through it all.
A tremendous film.
30 Oct 08 – Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 4: The Mummy
![[IMAGE]](http://crazystable.squarespace.com/storage/mummy%20karloff.gif)
Okay, this review is predicated on a surprise, but it's a surprise that happens ten minutes into the movie. So I feel justified in explaining it, since it's the core of what I liked about the movie.
The classic The Mummy begins with a group of standard British archaeologists, enthusing over a new find: a mummy (Boris Karloff) and a sealed box, of which the former was buried alive, and the latter should contain the Scroll of Thoth, which was supposed to bring the dead back to life.
The older archeologists argue over what to do, the younger archaeologist opens the box, and the mummy comes to life and grabs the scroll. Of course.
We then cut to ten years later, to the son of the head archaeologist in that scene, who is now digging in Egypt like his father did, where he is approached by...Boris Karloff. Not wrapped in mummy bandages; just standing there, physically frail but psychically overwhelming.
So the entire movie is about the revived mummy, now walking about Egypt like any man, using his powers in a desperate attempt to revive his long-dead lover. Of course, there are complications, and a surprisingly effective love story in the center of it, as is common in any 1930's movie.
Which is what makes it so effective. It's not about a shambling, dusty corpse; it's about a driven man, blessed with ancient powers, and the normal humans who try to oppose him. It's a contest of wills, and Karloff plays a man of such intense will that he steals every scene he's in. He has immense gravitas; he practically glows with it. My eyes were drawn to him in every scene.
Even the ending contains a bit of a surprise; the mummy may have succeeded in something rather horrifying.
Overall, it's a surprisingly effective movie, mostly because of Karloff's performance. A great little film.
29 Oct 08 – Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 3: The Wolf Man
![[IMAGE]](http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/wp-content/wolfman2.jpg)
Watching The Wolf Man was a strange experience for me.
I first saw The Wolf Man in bits and pieces when I was in my early teens. I really enjoyed the tense mood and varied characters. I was in a phase of my life when I was watching a lot of black-and-white films, so I appreciated that type of movie: simple, direct, and reasonably well-acted.
Upon re-watching it this week...it doesn't hold up. While it is simple, direct, and reasonably well-acted, the plot itself just drags in places. It's a great example of pacing problems. The story's fine; the editing and pacing just aren't tight enough.
It does play successfully off that perfectly horrible fear of loss of control. The protagonist can feel his sanity slipping away, almost as soon as he contracts lycanthropy. He's constantly haunted by it. He's a decent man, and tries to be reasonable, but he knows what he's doing. And how can a person stop himself?
Unfortunately, the plot mires itself in side stories which distract from his path towards the beast, rather than highlight or enhance it. As sweet and poignant as the love story is at times, it slows the movie down, and does little to bolster it.
But it does feature some solid performances and genuinely creepy moments. Worth watching.
28 Oct 08 – Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 2: The Masque of the Red Death
![[IMAGE]](http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/wp-content/masque_of_the_red_death_xl_01-film-b.jpg)
Vincent Price. This is why Vincent Price is such a great horror movie actor.
You may have read the original Poe story, in which a corrupt prince holds a party at his manor, despite the raging plague outside. Price plays the prince in this 1964 film version, which has been expanded into a study of evil.
And it's a solid little story, really, as Price's character brings in an innocent young peasant woman with great Christian faith, and shows her the decadence of his life and that of his peers. He's completely given himself over to Satan, explicitly, and enjoys needling the girl with a faith completely opposite to her own.
There are a few sub-plots dealing with the girl's lover, the plague-ridden peasants outside, and another baron at the masque, which serve mostly as interesting highlights to the main story. I was particularly thrilled by the bit with Skip Martin's character—a jester-like little person—who wreaks vengeance on a noble for his treatment of Martin's character's wife. Besides Price, Martin's the best actor of the bunch.
The film was directed by Roger Corman, which I initially took as an ill omen. Actually, the film looked just fine; perfectly competent directing. That said, for such a gothic concept, I felt like it could've been shot much more imaginatively, giving the film a creepier, more intense feel. This is meant to be horror, and much of it was filmed like a stage play. That may be more the fault of the cinematographer Nicolas Roeg, though, who went on to direct some interesting things but I think fell flat here.
Despite the rather staid look of the film, it's definitely fun to watch, especially to watch Price be delightfully evil all the way through.
27 Oct 08 – Classic Horror Movie Week, Day 1: The Thing From Another World
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This week begins Classic Horror Movie Week, where every day I write about a classic "horror" movie, leading up to Halloween on Friday. Um, that's Halloween the holiday, not Halloween the movie. Anyvay. I watched all these movies for the first time this week, so you're getting a fresh perspective.
I'm starting with Howard Hawks' The Thing From Another World, often called just The Thing. The basic plot involves a group of military and scientists at an arctic research station, who discover a crashed UFO, and recover a body. It thaws and comes back to life, and attacks them. Cue frenzied gunshots and general mayhem.
What's remarkable about this film is how taut it is. It's populated with half a dozen standout characters, each with distinctive personalities and viewpoints. One driven scientist insists that the creature is too important of a scientific discovery to kill, even if it's attacking them. One soldier is just plain freaked out by the thing. A reporter is always asking for information or complaining about the news blackout. The hero keeps a level head, of course, though he has his unsteady moments.
And they all interact. Some of the characters become antagonists, but never villains. They just all have different motivations.
Take that scientist. He becomes a real blockade to the hero, but his opinions make complete sense. He's not crazy; he just believes that the scientific discoveries possible from researching this alien are more important than their lives. Understandable.
Apparently, the creature never looked scary enough for Hawks, so he did the next best thing: it appears briefly, and then usually from a distance. It's effective, really, turning the movie into more of a noir piece. You fear the bad guy (whether the mob boss or the murderous alien) because the movie builds up to him.
Overall, I was impressed. It's a solid little film, full of fun, interesting characters and a taut, fast-paced plot. Like the best of the noir films, if nothing else it's an exhilarating ride.
24 Oct 08 – My Reaction To Tintin
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So I've finally bought and read some Tintin, the iconic comic book character created by French artist Herge. Specifically, I read The Adventures of Tintin, Volume 1.
I'd like to write that I loved it, that it was a work of genius. I can't. It had fun moments, and inventive moments. It was certainly good, in a timeless sense.
But it just didn't come together for me.
According to the Tintin Wikipedia article, Herge initially improvised all his stories, throwing Tintin into predicaments without knowing how to resolve them, then coming up with a solution on-the-spot. As a result, the book features many frustrating cliffhangers of the worst sort, such as Tintin being rolled up in a carpet, shot, then thrown into a river, only to discover that Tintin had escaped from the carpet earlier (with no prior clues to indicate this).
Herge began planning his stories with The Blue Lotus, which is included in Volume 1. The planning improves the storyline tremendously; I fully enjoyed that particular storyline.
Another problem was the characters. Tintin's a plucky young man, but he lacks sufficient depth of character to make me really root for him. The rest of the cast is filled out by broad, simple personalities common to the era.
I wouldn't mind that if the stories themselves carried any depth, but most of these adventures are, well, adventures--simple mysteries and thrillers. Astro Boy, for example, has simple characters, but depth of plot. Tintin just felt...simple.
Perhaps that's his appeal: simplicity. I can appreciate that, and perhaps I'll revisit Tintin with an eye for clean stories and straightforward characters. But for now, I can't be counted a Tintin fan.
20 Oct 08 – The Chatty DM
Short one today, but I want to talk about this guy.
It's rare to come across a person as nice as the Chatty DM. He blogs about D&D, amiably and reasonably, and is a great font of knowledge and perspective. He's very active on his comments and forum, too.
If you have any interest in fantasy roleplaying or D&D, Chatty's a great place to check out, particularly for his forthcoming Kobold Love adventure idea.
10 Oct 08 – Batman: Gotham Knight
This is an odd duck: a bunch of Japanese animation studios each produced a short film about Batman, and assembled them into a movie. Moreover, the shorts are all connected in a loose overall plot, despite the wildly different visual styles of each short.
Batman: Gotham Knight features a Batman who is still mostly a whispered legend, even to police. Indeed, the first film is entirely about that legendary aspect, as four teens describe their sightings of Batman in hilariously different forms—to one he's literally a shadow, to another he's a relentless machine, and to another he's a vicious half-bat.
Every story deals specifically with what it takes to be Batman. In one, he tests a bulletproof energy field which turns out to be too effective. In another, we see a young Bruce Wayne training in India to purge himself of his demons (you can imagine how well that goes). In a later short, he slogs wearily through a sewer after a painful battle with Killer Croc. I rather liked a short told from the perspective of two normal detectives, who debate Batman's effect on the city.
Some of the shorts work better than others, and much of my enjoyment of the film came from my interest in the animation styles. Some are sketchy, some are beautifully fluid, and some are highly stylized. The film remains interesting throughout.
However, because each short is so different, it can be a difficult film to watch, especially if you have no interest in Batman or animation.
Still, it was a noble experiment, and worth checking out.
7 Oct 08 – He's Way Too Calm In The Face of Imminent Alien Death
![[IMAGE]](http://www.worstpreviews.com/images/halo.gif)
So I'm terrifically behind the times when it comes to computer gaming. But many months ago, I finally got around to playing the original Halo.
It's a perfect first-person shooter. Now, that's all it is, but it provides a fantastic environment in which to shoot at things. Excellent quality all around.
Until I noticed something: the character animation was surprisingly poor. By that I mean that the movement and "body acting" of the other characters, particularly during cutscenes.
The ultimate example was during an alien attack on the ship I was in. I watched through a window as an alien blew open the door to another room and shot a human technician. The scene begins with bangs and explosions on the other side of the door, and I watched as the technician screamed "Help me! They're coming in!" as he calmly straightened up from his chair, and turned towards the door. His body was ramrod straight, his arms at his sides, even as he screamed in terror. Then the door burst open and he died screaming.
How did that get signed off? Why didn't the technician at least crouch, or hold up his arms, or try to duck behind something in the room?
It made no sense, and it destroyed the believability of the scene. The game became just a computer game, no more than a chunk of code twiddling bits and causing a set of sprites to waltz across the screen.
Disappointing.