211) Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

"The real Santa was totally different. The Coca-Cola Santa is just a hoax."

Director

Jalmari Helander

Cast
Onni Tommila - Pietari Kontio
Jorma Tommila - Rauno Kontio
Tommi Korpela - Aimo
Rauno Juvonen - Piiparinen
Per Christian Ellefsen - Riley
Ilmari Järvenpää - Juuso
Peeter Jakobi - Pietari's Elf

I wanted to review a sci-fi Christmas movie for my platform 1000daysofscifi.blogspot.com. My first post over there, "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" is the only sci-fi Christmas movie I know of. Otherwise, I had trouble finding another one. 

When Googling other movies in the holiday sci-fi subgenre, if there is such a subgenre, I came up with a list of Christmas movies that look more like horror that sci-fi. One of the movies suggested by Google was the 1984 movie "Gremlins." I suppose that can be labeled science fiction. It is a Christmas movie. Afterall, the holiday plays an integral part in the "Gremlins" story, so it checks that part of the formula in what constitutes a Christmas movie. As for sci-fi, that's another discussion for another time, which I'll probably never have on this nor any of my other platforms. 

On IMDB's list of "Christmas Movies SciFi & Horror Style" the titles I found there seem to be horror rather than sci-fi. 

And "Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale" from 2010 is number one on the list. So, I cozied up in a Christmassy blanket, poured me a glass of egg nog and brandy (I can't have one without the other) and watched this list-topping sci-fi or horror movie. 

"Rare Exports" is a Finnish movie labeled as a fantasy action horror comedy. The horror is light. The fantasy is moderate, and the action increases as the story progresses. Above all, it's certainly a take on Santa Claus and his lore the likes of which I haven't seen in any other movie. 

The film starts as a research and excavation team, working for the firm "Subzero," are drilling for samples on top of a fell called Korvatunturi located in the Lapland region of Finland. 

Riley (Per Christian Ellefsen), the excavation leader, thinks this fell is really a burial site built by the ancient native people known as the Sámi. He hopes to unearth the remains of Santa Claus whom he believes is buried within. 

Meanwhile, from the village at the foot of the fell, two young boys, Juuso (Ilmari Järvenpää) and Pietari (Onni Tommila), sneak up to the top of the fell to watch the workers blast open and search inside the alleged huge burial site. Pietari lives with his father, Rauno (Jorma Tommila), in the village.
Juuso tells Pietari that Santa Claus is, in fact, real. However, the common depiction of Santa as the jolly old fat man dressed in red is made up. The real Santa hands out punishments to bad children that are far more severe than putting coal in their stockings. He does, however, watch children closely. And that includes Juuso and Pietari. 

Meanwhile, reindeer hunters from the village discover nearly hundreds of dead reindeers near their village. They think wolves were driven to kill all these reindeer by the Subzero workers scaring the wolves down to the village, especially after using dynamite to blast into the stone. 

So, several villagers march up the top of the fell to demand reparation for the dead reindeer as they rely on the hunting for food and such. 

When they reach the top, there's no one up there. All they find is a massive deep hole. 

Meanwhile, one of Rauno's wolf traps ends up capturing a strange, seemingly deceased, naked old man on Christmas Eve morning. 

Rauno and his neighbor Piiparinen (Rauno Juvonen) take the body into the slaughterhouse and lay him down. They soon realize the old man is still alive. Piiparinen leans in close to the old man, who suddenly jumps up and bites his ear. 

As they tie him up and discuss what they should do next, Pietari tries calling his friends only to find that they're all missing. 

Pietari fears the old man is actually Santa, and that his friends are missing because they must have been bad and were therefor taken by Santa. 

So, he's compelled to confess to his dad that he snuck up to the fell and caused the deer to be eaten by wolves. If he confesses, then maybe Santa will leave him alone. 

Rauno and Piiparinen decide to dress the old man as Santa and offer to sell him to Subzero workers as compensation for the money lost from the dead deer. 

They haul this guy up to the fell where they meet Riley. However, he tells them the old man is not Santa. Rather, he's one of Santa's elves. 

Soon, several other elves appear and end up killing Riley. 

The men run into a nearby hanger where they find a looming horned figure frozen in ice, which turns out to actually be Santa Claus. 

Next to him is a huge sack filled with crying screaming children. 

Their discovery turns into a destroy and rescue mission, and Pietari takes it upon himself to come up with and carry out the plans to accomplish this unbelievable task. 

"Rare Exports" is more horror with little (if any) sci-fi elements as general audiences would claim the meaning of "sci-fi" to be.

The movie has an unsettling tone unlike other holiday horror movies I've seen, particularly those movies that depict an evil Santa in some way or another. That also includes the 2015 movie, "Krampus" which has a tinge of satire to it.  A lot of that tone comes from its dramatic tone and realistic (real world) atmosphere.

There's something about the evil child-punishing elements surround Santa Claus, or whatever depiction of Santa various countries have, that seems to be all the trend now.

What I don't appreciation is the trend in celebrating folkloric Christmas characters like Krampus who has become a symbol of anti-Christmas and defiance in general in modern society. Various places now offer kids an opportunity to visit Krampus just as they would visit Santa Claus, and get their picture taken with him.

Society today lambasts personal responsibility for crimes and misdeeds, so it's no wonder that the evil side of Christmas folkloric characters like Krampus are celebrated in place of Christ or Saint Nicholas at Christmas. Being contrarian in the face of innocence and goodness is nothing to aspire.

Anyways, I think "Rare Exports" is a horror movie with subtle comedy or satire that audiences might interpret in different ways. Perhaps it's a criticism or cynical take of modern Christmas commercialism and how it sees the history of Christmas celebrations. 

It's a different take on the whole "bad Santa" schtick seen over and over again in movies, especially horror movies.  

What I like about this is it's real-world realism. I enjoy movies that take a true-to-life approach to fictional and fantastical aspects of life...like Santa Claus. Mel Gibson did it really well in the 2021 movie, "Fatman." The 2004 independent movie, "Primer" is such a movie that takes a realistic depiction of time travel comes to mind. Although, "Rare Exports" still carries a hint of fantasy. How can a movie about Santa, no matter how serious it tries to be, not carry a tone of fantasy? 

It's an entertaining, certainly different, type of movie. I have an interest in movies that portray otherwise fantastical things in a true-to-life manner. 

I'm skeptical about what I'm supposed to take away from this movie, at least as far as consequences go for a person's misdeeds. What are the characters saving the world from? A retributive Santa? The consequences of misdeeds? Old ancient lores? Is the movie satirizing that whole notion? Or is it just a creature-feature rendition of Santa Claus and his elves? 

Whatever the case might be, it's unpredictable. I honestly couldn't determine what was going to happen. When I thought I knew where the story was leading, it went in a different direction from what I expected.  

The movie is well structured and certainly something unlike anything I've seen before in the huge library of Christmas movies of any genre. 

It has satisfying suspense with the spice of terror, action, and fantasy. Within all that maintains a true Christmas feel and charm. And I mean that! As far as its story goes, I'm still unsure what sort of message it's trying to leave me with. Otherwise, the movie doesn't overstay its welcome, and doesn't waste time with excessive build-up, nor does it feel conceited.

210) Mouse Trap (2024) - NEW TO HORROR

"You cannot trap me." 

Director
Jamie Bailey

Cast
Simon Phillips - Mickey Mouse / Tim Collins
Sophie McIntosh - Alex
Madeline Kelman - Jayna

Ben Harris - Ryan
Callum Sywyk - Marcus
Mireille Gagné - Gemma
James Laurin - Paul
Kayleigh Styles - Jackie
Mackenzie Mills - Rebecca
Jesse Nasmith - Danny
Allegra Nocita - Marie
Damir Kovic - Det. Cole
Nick Biskupek - Det. Marsh

With "horrorized" re-imaginings of popular children's properties began popping up within the last five years, such as "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" and "The Mean One" (a horror version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss) it seems clear this is going to be the new trend in the movie genre. It's the most gimmicky of horror subgenres. I think it's a fad that'll die off sooner than later. I highly doubt mainstream audiences want to see their favorited cartoon characters "reimagined" as killers going on blood drenched murder sprees. 

At the time I write this, a horror version of the famed cartoon character Popeye, called, "Popeye the Slayer Man" is set for release in 2025. These older properties falling into public domain account for this new gimmick in the horror genre. The other half of the trend likely stems from unknown directors trying to quickly make some sort of name for themselves, grabbing these properties for themselves and greedily squeezing out all the innocence and whatever money these old properties might still have. Soiling up or simply destroying innocence seems to be the thing to do in modern society. 

When the 1928 Mickey Mouse cartoon "Steamboat Willie," considered to be Mickey Mouse's debut, became public domain in January of this year, it took no time for some shlubs out there to follow this horror trend and turn the early version of Mickey into a horror movie psychopath. However, the producers of the recent horror movie "Mouse Trap" seemed so eager to do this that they forgot to write a worthwhile movie and just threw something together haphazardly.

By the way, here's some trivia for those who don't know this. "Steamboat Willie" is actually a satire of a silent movie popular at the time called "Steamboat Bill, Jr." staring silent film comedian, Buster Keaton. The iconic tune whistled by Mickey Mouse in the cartoon is the same as the movie's opening score.
"Mouse Trap" was released in Aug. 2024. However, it's worth mention that there are some old Mickey Mouse comic strips that depict Mickey in a less-than-savory way. The Disney Company would prefer these comic strips be forgotten about. Here, I recommend the 1989 comic book "The Uncensored Mouse" published by Malibu Graphics' Eternity Comics. It's a collection of Mickey Mouse comic strips from the 1930s, most if not all drawn by American cartoonist Floyd Gottfredson, which depict such things as Mickey unsuccessfully attempting suicide, racial stereotypes, and so on. 

Simon Phillips as "Mickey Mouse."

Anyways, "Mouse Trap" is a pointless and unnecessary movie about a group of lame and forgettable teens who are trapped in an arcade. 

A guy in a Mickey Mouse mask, with some sort of supernatural ability to teleport (I'm not exaggerating) goes around killing each of them one by one for unclear, unspecified reasons. 

The movie begins as two of movie history's most commonplace good cop/bad cop police detectives interrogate a gothic girl named Rebecca (Mackenzie Mills) about several murders that took place at the arcade. She tries as hard as she can to be an intimidating, callous bad ass, unaware of how much of a joke she really comes across as. 

The story cuts to the arcade where two young girls, Alex (Sophie McIntosh) and Jayna (Madeline Kelman), as they work their shifts at the arcade. Alex seems to take her job seriously while Jayna is just there to collect the paychecks. 

Their supervisor, Tim Collins (Simon Phillips) who also owns the arcade, tells them they need to work an extra shift that night as someone booked the arcade for the night at the last minute. 

Alex stays on but Jayna ditches work to hang out with some boys, begging Alex to cover for her until she gets back which Alex agrees to.

Meanwhile, Tim sneaks off to watch "Steamboat Willie" because the writers had to force the connection to the public domain cartoon somehow. He watches it in a small theater adorned with some vintage Disney posters and memorabilia including a rubber Mickey mask locked in a curio cabinet. 

Tim begins hearing some ethereal voice in the room with him. It seems to come from this Mickey mask. What it is, or why it's coming from the mask is unknown. He eventually goes into a hypnotic state due to some ethereal presence, and puts the mask on. It's never revealed why this is all happening. 

While Alex is working alone, she catches the masked guy in the back of the arcade chaining the door. She panics and tries to flee when she bumps into her friends who have arrived to throw her a surprise birthday party. She completely forgets about the stranger in the Mickey mask sneaking around the back chaining the door, in order to party. 

As the party begins, and these characters do a lot of nothing but recite their lines, some with hardly any emotion, the Mickey killer starts murdering each teenager with a knife. He doesn't talk. His motives are never revealed. He just stares at his victims, holds his knife out like a show-n'-tell session without a word, and then kills. 

The movie feebly attempts to portray panic and fear. Everyone runs around while the audience waits for each one to die. None of the characters emote. None of them are memorable or express any depth that entices the audience to care what'll happen to them. 

The only memorable character is the guy in the Mickey Mouse mask only because he's wearing a Mickey Mouse mask. None of the other characters are interesting nor memorable. So, there's hardly (if any) any sympathy when they die. 

With all the doors chained, no one has the brilliant idea to break the front glass doors or any of the windows and escape.  

What's weird is that this killer somehow has the power to teleport. At first I thought it was bad continuity. Once the movie establishes his ability to teleport, it comes across as a lame solution to bad continuity. It's as if the producers weren't interested in putting in the work of going back and reshooting or making necessary edits to improve continuity. 

However, when he gets caught in strobe lights, he can't teleport. It's random as hell, stupidly predictable, and thankfully forgettable.

There's nothing original, scary or even semi-worthwhile about this bitterly mundane bore-fest. 

Sophie McIntosh as "Alex."

There's a side story that made no sense to me. I couldn't follow what was happening within this side story, so I won't even bother trying to explain it. 

The movie relies solely on Mickey Mouse's face being used in a horror movie. Everything else is unoriginal, uninspired, and terribly banal. And even Mickey's image adds nothing. It's not scary. It's not unsettling. The only thing Mickey's image, and the entire story in general, can produce is a yawn and an eyeroll. Cliché is not a big enough word.

The acting is horrible. The lines are embarrassingly scripted. The story is non-sensical. The characters are poorly established. Nothing about them is convincing. I didn't even know who was who. This movie doesn't deserve any significance, regardless of what it dares to do with Mickey's image. And what's most frustrating is how proud this movie is of itself for trying to turn Mickey Mouse into a horror movie villain. 

It's one big gimmick of a movie. It's almost like a gag gift to horror fans, but certainly not to Disney fans. It feels as though as the writers knew they could take Mickey Mouse from "Steamboat Willie" and work him into a horror flick, they made this movie as quickly as they could to beat anyone else who might do the same just so they could be the first to say, "look what we did with Mickey!" 

It's certainly proud of itself for doing just that. 

It's a big, conceited flop. As soon as the Star Wars screen crawl explaining that neither the production company nor the movie are affiliated with Disney and its subsidiaries, the producers surely wanted to get through the pesky dialogue and writing just to get to the Mickey and horror. They even had to steal a line from the 1996 far better horror movie "Scream." 

"Mouse Trap" feels like a college freshman film class project produced haphazardly with no time for creativity or thought. I'd ask if the movie has some underlying social commentary about Disney as a global entertainment giant, and how it has influenced the world, but that would involve the writers actually writing something interesting, even if by accident. The movie strikes me as too stupid and lazy to work something like that in. "Mouse Trap" is a disgrace to Mickey Mouse whom the movie claims to love. It's one poor mess of a gimmick.  

209) The Raven (1963)

"If I would have been sober, which I admit doesn't happen very often, but, it would have been an entirely different story! Entirely different."

Director

Roger Corman

Cast
Vincent Price - Dr. Erasmus Craven
Peter Lorre - Dr. Adolphus Bedlo
Boris Karloff - Dr. Scarabus
Hazel Court - Lenore Craven
Olive Sturgess - Estelle Craven
Jack Nicholson - Rexford Bedlo
Connie Wallace - Maid
William Baskin - Grimes
Aaron Saxon - Gort

If I walked up to any random person on the street and asked them what the first thing is that comes to their mind when I mention the macabre poet and storyteller, Edgar Allan Poe, chances are his 1845 poem "The Raven" is what they'd say. 

It's probably his most iconic and notable work. I mean, there's even an NFL football in Baltimore named after Poe's famous poem. What other writer has a sports team named after their work?

For me, it brings to mind my high school English class in which every month for all four years of high school, I and everyone else in my class had to memorize an assigned poem or sonnet, and then recite it in front of the class. One of those poems I had to memorize was, "The Raven." Too bad I don't remember the entire poem. 

Roger Corman's fifth Poe film happens to be (finally) "The Raven" - not to be confused with the 1935 movie, also called "The Raven," directed by Lew Landers. I happen to have that original movie in my film library and I'll get to it eventually.  

While Corman's previous Poe movie "Tales of Terror" felt the most Poe-like so far as it tells a trio of short stories, and Poe was a writer of short stories and poems, "The Raven" surprisingly feels the most un-Poe like. 

Honestly, I'm torn on this movie. I enjoyed it overall for its own sake. I'm also of the opinion that movies based on books and such don't have to completely follow the book. But I do think they need to respect their source material. They shouldn't convey an opposite message of what the author originally intended. Nor should it stray so far from the original source material were it becomes completely unrecognizable.

Vincent Price returns once again along with some other well-known and well-respected stars - Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and a young Jack Nicholson. Lorre stars in the previous Poe movie, "Tales of Terror."

Nicholson and Karloff also appear in Corman's following movie "The Terror" which was filmed on the back of "The Raven." That's an interesting story for another time.

Nicholson also has a cameo in Corman's popular 1960 flick "Little Shop of Horrors." He's also in the 1958 film "The Baby Killers" produced by Corman. 

Anyways, "The Raven" starts off in a similar way as the poem as Vincent Price recites the opening of the poem before the movie goes in a completely different direction that's miles from Poe's original work. 

Vincent Price as Dr. Craven in "The Raven."

In this movie, matching in the Gothic horror style of the previous Poe movies, the poem's narrator - the one mourning over his lost Lenore - is a magician and sorcerer named Dr. Erasmus Craven (Vincent Price). Lenore has been dead for the prior two years. 

His daughter, Estelle (Olive Sturgess) is truly concerned about her father as she watches him exist in his morose state since the death of her mother.

One night, a raven lands on his window sill tapping on his window. He lets the bird fly into his study much to his amusement. 

I'll add here that this is the best dialogue in the entire movie.

Craven asks the bird, "Are you some dark-winged messenger from beyond?"

The bird doesn't respond. 
"Answer me, monster, tell me truly," he says.

But still, nothing.
"Shall I ever hold again that radiant maiden whom the angels call Lenore?"

Finally, the raven responds.

"How the hell should I know?" 

It brings to mind "The Simpsons" take on "The Raven" from the "Treehouse of Horror" episode in season two which aired back back in 1990. 

In their version, more faithful to the poem, Bart takes on the role of the raven, who initially quoths to Homer, mourning his lost Lenore (depicted as Marge), with "Eat my shorts." His sister, Lisa who's reciting the poem, reprimands him to take it seriously. 

Anyways, the raven is actually another sorcerer, Dr. Adolphus Bedlo (Peter Lorre). He was transformed into a raven during a duel with Dr. Scarabus (Boris Karloff). 

So, Bedlo asks Craven to help turn him back into his human form. And once he does, the two of them hunt down Scarabus to take revenge. 

Bedlo wants to get back at him for turning him into a raven. And Craven wants to get his hands on Scarabus because Bedlo swears he saw Craven's beloved Lenore inside Scarabus's castle. 

Estelle, along with Bedlo's son, Rexford (Jack Nicholson) join them in their mission to find and battle Scarabus. 

Peter Lorre and Jack Nicholson.

There's not really enough content in the source material to make an entertaining movie. If the film's writers just used the scenario as Poe wrote it, the movie would be nothing more that the narrator pondering, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, brooding over his lost Lenore while arguing with a cheeky raven perched upon a bust of Pallas just above his chamber door. Perched, sitting, and nothing more. In other words, it would probably be painfully boring!

So, to prevent that, the movie takes a sharp right turn as soon as the raven utters his first line and takes a whimsical juvenile tone than previous Poe movies from Corman. 

Clearly, since "The Raven" is a poem, this movie takes some major liberties with it, turning it into something completely different. I both disliked and loved this movie. I'm torn. 

The story concludes with a duel of spells between Price and Karloff that must have been hilarious to watch on set sans the early special effects. 

I get the impression it's not supposed to be funny but the actors wouldn't mind at all if they saw audiences laughing at them through the whole scene. It feels heavier with comedy than the previous Poe movies in this series. 

While the previous movie had a Poe-like style and feel to it, though I don't know how accurate it is compared to the book, "The Raven" takes perhaps the most well known of Poe's works, gives it lip service in the beginning, and then deviates so far from the source material that it's not even recognizable. It's 99 percent Corman and one percent Poe. 

There is something very iconic of seeing Vincent Price with the raven perched on his arm. It's as though his tie in with such an iconic and well-known poem is meant to be. It's kind of like Sherlock Holmes investigating Jack the Ripper's murders. That has been depicted several times. The 1979 movie "Murder by Decree" comes to mind. 

With the final climax resembling something out of a live-action Disney movie, I'm a bit surprised that out of all of Corman's Poe movies, this one, based on Poe's most well known poem, is the most disappointing and laughable. But I like it for its absurdity, cast, performances, and laughs despite it deviating so far from Poe's genius. The story in and of itself is a trip to watch. For what it is, it's cheesiness is entertaining, and the cast is clearly enjoying it. 

208) Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1971)

"So, she's bad?"

Director
Curtis Harrington

Cast

Shelley Winters - Auntie Roo
Mark Lester - Christopher Coombs
Chloe Franks - Katy Coombs
Ralph Richardson - Mr. Benton
Lionel Jeffries - Police Inspector Willoughby
Rosalie Crutchley - Miss Henley
Judy Cornwell - Clarine
Michael Gothard - Albie

It recently occurred to me that I didn't know for sure what the difference is exactly between a horror and a thriller movie. The term "horror/thriller" confused me. A lot of horror movies are categorized as such. 

A horror movie put simply intends to scare its audience. I knew that much before searching for the difference. 

Evidently, a thriller aims to keep its audience in anticipation. But doesn't a horror movie accomplish the same thing? A thriller movie keeps its audience on the edge of their seat. 

When it comes to characters in thriller movies, they're usually pulled into the scenario or evil plans of the antagonist unwillingly. Think of "Die Hard" when Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and his band of nasty terrorists as they decide to take over the Nakatomi building just as John McClane (Bruce Willis) walks in to make up with his estranged wife in time for the holidays. This is a perfect specimen of a thriller.

Horror is a bit of the same thing, but with more dreadful, unsettling imagery and actions. Horror movie characters, who are normally victims, find themselves up against powers and threats that in some way or another fall into the realm of the inexplicable. The horror more often comes to them through circumstances they can't control. And the way out of their nightmare, whatever it may be, is often through a means that's just as dreadful or paranormal as the situation they're up against. 

To put it simply, one genre builds tension, and the other builds suspense. So, it's easy to mix these two genres together. Mystery, crime and action/adventure movies can claim the label of thriller as well. 

I'm sure, if I thought about it for a few minutes, I could name a decent amount of horror/ thriller movies that are a perfect mix of both genres. While watching the 1971 holiday horror/thriller flick "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" directed by Curtis Harrington, the topic of horror versus thriller came to mind. 

Shelley Winters with young co-stars
Mark Lester and Chloe Franks in "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?"

In this movie, Shelley Winters plays the wealthy Rosie Forrest who hosts a fabulous Christmas party every year for a group of children from a nearby orphanage inside her huge estate. 

The kids come over on Christmas eve, celebrate, and spend the night so they can wake up the next morning and see what Santa Claus brought them. 

Only ten kids are selected by the head house mother, Miss. Henley (Rosalie Crutchley), to attend.

And while Rosie, whom the kids affectionately call Auntie Roo, has a warm and welcoming grandmotherly demeanor, what the kids don't know is that she keeps the mummified remains of her deceased daughter, Katherine, inside the nursery hidden away in the attic which is setup as a nursary. 

Roo even holds regular seances to try and contact Kathrine in the afterlife. As far as she knows, these seances work. During the rituals, she can hear her daughter calling out to her from the beyond. The seances are led by Mr. Benton (Ralph Richardson) whom Roo doesn't realize is a fraudulent medium. Roo pays him to hold these seances, and Mr. Benton splits the payments with Roo's butler, Albie (Michael Gothard).

However, two particular orphans, Christopher and Katy Coombs (Mark Lester and Chloe Franks) decide they're going to sneak into the party despite not being among the ten lucky chosen party goers. 

When they're discovered, Roo doesn't mind their presence at all and includes them in the festivities. She also thinks that Katy looks similar to her late daughter. 

During the night, after the children are sent to bed, Christopher sneaks around the house, and eavesdrops on Roo's seance. 

While peaking through a keyhole, he spots the house maid, Clarine (Judy Cornwell), hiding in the pantry pretending to be Catherine from the beyond, all in a continuous effort to fool Auntie Roo. 

After the kids wake up on Christmas morning, open their gifts from Santa, and eventually head back to the orphanage, Roo kidnaps Katy to raise her in place of Katherine. Since his sister is not with the other kids, he secretly stays behind to find her. 

Of course, he's caught rather quickly. Christopher thinks that Roo is a witch who intends to cook and eat him and Katy. So, he takes it upon himself to take her down and rescue his sister by himself. 

The oldest rule, perhaps, in storytelling is to show rather than tell. "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" seems to have nailed that rule well. There's little, if any, exposition. The story plays out rather naturally. 

And it's a prime textbook example of a genuine horror/thriller movie. It doesn't rely on much to be precisely that.

It's slightly misguided at first, as though it wasn't sure where to take itself. As the story finds its footing, it seems to realize that its plot is similar enough to the story of "Hansel and Gretel." So, that's what it decides to be - a very loose retelling of Hansel and Gretel.  

By the final act, it's proud of itself for realizing how similar it is that the audience starts hearing Christopher's thoughts in which he compares his and Katy's dilemma to that of Hansel and Gretel. 

The movie feels a little labored, especially as the two children try to escape Roo and her house but are outsmarted by her. The movie really milks the ending for all the trepidation and thrills it can squeeze out. 

It's a thriller that has a satisfyingly decent amount of fear and unsettling elements to make it a horror movie. Though the movie is overall predictable, it still manages to be entertaining. 

"Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" is also a perfect example of the horror sub-genre known as "psycho biddy horror." I wrote about this subgenre in my review of "Mountaintop Motel Massacre" from 1983. Also often referred to as "hagsploitation," the term refers to horror movies centered on older and often wealthy women, or "old biddies," who are driven to the point of psychotic behavior. 

The genre became popular in the 1960s. Writer Stephen King made his mark in the subgenre with his novel, "Misery" which director Rob Reiner turned into a movie in 1990 staring Kathy Bates. 

"Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" reminds me of the 2019 psychobiddy horror movie "Ma" which stars Octavia Spencer as an older mother who wins the favor of a group of teens by supplying them with alcohol and throwing them parties, all for nefarious purposes. There are some similarities between both movies. For one thing, they both have Hansel and Gretal vibes, though "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" constantly compares itself to the fairy tale as it progresses. 

Shelley Winters puts on an amusingly uncomfortable performance. She's well cast in this role and certainly off-putting to watch, even as she plays the grandmotherly figure to the orphans at Christmas. The way she develops her character is well played. She's likeable, sympathetic, and evil in the end. 

Actor Mark Lester is perhaps better known for his performance as Oliver Twist in the 1968 musical "Oliver!"

And director Curtis Harrington is known for directing some other supernatural and psychological horror flicks such as "The Killing Kind" (1973) and "Ruby" (1977). He also directed Shelley Winters alongside Debbie Reynolds in another psychobiddy horror film, "What's the Matter with Helen?" released the same year as this movie.

The atmosphere carries enough uneasiness to keep me invested. Putting children in harm's way, especially in the looming presence of an otherwise motherly or grandmotherly figure, gives movies like this a unique edge of uneasiness and intensity. Children in a vulnerable scenario at the hands of a mother-figure threatening danger of cruelty is enough for an audience to grasp their seats unable to look away because they need to see the resolution. 

The story may be simple and predictable, but its overall creepiness and unsettling tone makes it a Christmas horror movie worthy of being a cult classic. It's a fun movie despite itself, if the mood calls for such a flick. 

207) Tales of Terror (1962)

"And it is with death and dying that we concern ourselves."

Director

Roger Corman

Cast
"Morella"
Vincent Price - Locke
Maggie Pierce - Lenora Locke
Leona Gage - Morella Locke
Ed Cobb - Coach Driver

"The Black Cat"
Vincent Price - Fortunato Luchresi
Peter Lorre - Montresor Herringbone
Joyce Jameson - Annabel Herringbone
Lennie Weinrib - Policeman
Wally Campo - The Barman

"The Case of M. Valdemar"

Vincent Price - Ernest Valdemar
Basil Rathbone - Mr. Carmichael
Debra Paget - Helene Valdemar
David Frankham - Dr. Elliot James

Halloween is over for another year, but thankfully the Fall season - my favorite time of year - carries on. If there was an ideal season for watching classic horror and thriller flicks, this is it. It's just how my imaginative mind works. 

Now that I've finished my string of Dracula/ Vampire movies for Halloween, I'm anxious to get back to other things, particularly Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe films. 

The last Poe film I reviewed was "Premature Burial" which follows a theme Poe seems to love. Namely, being buried alive.

"Tales of Terror" is an anthology movie that tells three different tales of the macabre. It's been a while since I reviewed a horror anthology movie. For a short period, I was reviewing a bunch of them and calling those reviews, "The more horror there is." They're fun to watch and comment on. I should get back to that anthology thread. 

The word "macabre" strongly comes to mind after watching this movie. And as expected, one of the stories involves being buried alive. 

As Poe is well known for writing short tales of terror, this movie has a true Poe feel to it. Thankfully, Vincent Price returns after being absent in "Premature Burial."
The Poe movies with Vincent Price were produced through American International Pictures (AIP). "Premature Burial" however was produced through Pathé Lab. While Corman wanted Price to appear in the last movie, Price was under contract with AIP. So, Ray Milland took on the lead role. But Vincent Price is back, and in three different and distinct roles! 

"Morella"

The first tale begins with a young lady (that's never a bad start) named Lenora (Maggie Pierce) as she's headed to Boston to see her estranged father, Locke (Vincent Price). He lives a reclusive life in his dark and dingy mansion. 

He's a big lush suffering from a stinging loneliness. Who wouldn't be if they lived alone for some many years in a huge house?

Locke holds a grudge against his daughter blaming her for the death of his late wife, Morella, who died while giving birth to her. 

While roaming his house, Lenora finds her mother's remains resting in a bedroom and treated as though she's only sleeping. 

Locke cannot accept Morella's death and has closed himself off from the outside world. He's waiting for death to take him, too. 

Lenora tells her father that she's sick and could die as a result. So, he begins to dissolve his grudge and allows her to stay. Despite having been estranged from his daughter, he doesn't want her die. 

That night, Morella's ghost returns to her decaying body since daughter is now in the house. She arises from her bed and restores her decaying corpse to her former beauty. But the catch is that her body is exchanged with Lenora's body as an act of revenge for being the cause of her death. Lenora's body then becomes the decaying corpse in Morella's spot.

Morella seeks out Locke and strangles him. His huge mansion catches fire, and Morella and Lenora switch places again. 

Lenore breaks a smile as she lies on the body of her dead father, while the bodies inside burn with the house. Burning houses, by the way, seem to be a reoccurring event in these Poe movies. 

Peter Lorre as Montresor Herringbone in the "Tales of Terror."

"The Black Cat"

In this segment, Peter Lorre plays Montresor Herringbone who has absolutely no love for his wife, Annabel (Joyce Jameson). 

He has even less affection for her black cat. 

He's also a huge lush like Locke in the previous story and wanders around town looking for a drink. 

After getting kicked out of a tavern, he stumbles upon a wine tasting party hosted by a widely respected wine connoisseur named Fortunato (Vincent Price). He decides to take on Fortunato in a wine identifying challenge. 

Herringbone impresses Fortunato by identifying each wine flawlessly. He chugs each glass while Fortunato sips and smells each glass like a well-trained connoisseur would. But Herringbone passes out before the challenge is over. Of course, Fortunato is just fine since getting plastered wasn't on his agenda for the night. Afterall, a connoisseur needs to stay respectable.  

At the end, he walks the drunk Herringbone home. There, Fortunato meets Herringbone's wife, Annabel (Joyce Jameson) while her husband remains passed out.  

After a while, Fortunato and Annabel become a little too familiar with each other. 

When Herringbone wakes up and realizes what happened between the two, he takes his revenge on both by sealing them up alive inside a wall in the cellar. 

However, after bricking up the wall, he doesn't realize that the black cat found its way inside as well and is now crying to get out. 

Police later show up to investigate Fortunato's disappearance. That's when they hear the crying cat which leads them to the sealed wall. 

When they break it open, they find the remains of Annabel and Fortunato. 

Vincent Price as Ernest Valdemar.

"The Case of M. Valdemar"

In the final segment, Vincent Price plays M. Ernest Valdemar who's suffering from a horrible illness that's slowly killing him.
So, he consults a hypnotist named Mr. Carmichael (Basil Rathbone) to hopefully ease his pain and maybe even cure him. 

Carmichael puts Valdemar into a trance. But then he keeps him a state between life and death as a kind of experiment.

While in this trance, Valdemar telepathically begs and pleads for Carmichael to end the trance or to kill him. But in the name of experimentation, Carmichael keeps him in this trance. In fact, he keeps him in this state for months. All the while, Valdemar's body starts to decay though he's still alive. 

Meanwhile, Carmichael starts to move in on Valdemar's wife, Helene (Debra Paget). She rejects his advances which infuriates him enough to attack her. This all happens in front of Valdemar's decaying lifeless body. 

However, he knows what's taking place. So much so that he slowly wakes up and kills Carmichael. 

 Vincent Price, David Frankham, and Debra Paget in
"The Case of M. Valdemar."

My thoughts...

I enjoyed "The Black Cat" the most. The late, great Peter Lorre launches this segment into grand heights. 

I really appreciate Corman casting Lorre in this film. His performance is fantastic, making "The Black Cat" among the most enjoyable stories in all the Poe films I've watched so far. Watching him work off of Vincent Price is the stuff of film legend. It's a real rarity to see these two on screen together. To my pleasure, they appear together in the next of Corman's Poe movies, "The Raven" which I will post commentary on later. 

Also, Basil Rathbone - Sherlock Holmes himself - is a welcomed sight as he plays a conceited character whose self-righteous style of cruelty effectively makes the audience want to dislike him. His performance lends Vincent Price a little more triumph when he awakens to kill him. 

I've heard "Tales of Terror" referred to as a throw-away horror flick, whatever that means. The talent is there with its big-name cast, and I'm partial to its gothic horror style just as I am with the other Poe films. 

The scare factor is in the scenarios, gothic sets, and situations. Like "House of Usher" in which the house is the monster, "Tales of Terror" relies on those three things. 

The first tale is decent enough, but more of the same as previously seen. It's a grim situation in a big creepy house just as the previous movies are. And the final tale is rather subtle. I think it's "The Black Cat" that really makes "Tales of Terror" worthwhile. 

Despite any problems this movie might have, I appreciate it for the variety that distinguishes it from Roger Corman's, especially with its off-putting tales. 

The subplot of being buried alive, seen in "The Black Cat" is depicted as an act of revenge rather than an act of despair as seen in "House of Usher." And that burial scene delivers one of the most chilling exchanges in the Poe series.

As Fortunato is being sealed up alive in the wall, he begs and pleads for Herringbone to let him go.

"For the love of God, Montresor," Fortunato pleads.

Montresor glares back and says coldly, "Yes...for the love of God." 

Vincent Price most impressively plays multiple characters, one for each story. Each character he portrays is depicted with completely different personalities. 

He's a depressed recluse in the first segment. That's followed by his performance as a conceited professional wine expert and scoundrel in the second segment. And in the third segment, he plays a sick man trapped in his own body. This movie alone shows how versatile an actor Vincent Price was. 

Out of all of Corman's Poe movies I've seen so far, this is the most Poe-like film. Of course, this and the previous movies takes various liberties with Poe's short-stories and poems. 

And it's an anthology movie which is right up my alley. I love horror anthologies. 

The movie really takes its time with its pace. Its runtime is two hours. 

Overall, "Tales of Terror" deserves appreciation. And it's a perfect segue for the next movie in Corman's Poe series which I can't wait to get to! 

206) Let the Right One In (2006)

Son of Halloween 2024's spectacular and not random vampire movie review extravaganza! (Part Ten...the final vampire, for now)

Director
Tomas Alfredson

Cast
Kåre Hedebrant - Oskar
Lina Leandersson - Eli
Per Ragnar - Håkan
Henrik Dahl - Erik
Karin Bergquist - Yvonne
Peter Carlberg - Lacke
Ika Nord - Virginia
Mikael Rahm - Jocke

After two overall terrible vampire movies, despite  some of the good things they both have going for them, I wanted to end this Son of Halloween 2024's spectacular and not random vampire movie review extravaganza with something well made...maybe even sublime. 

The 2006 Swedish horror film "Let the Right One In," based on the 2004 novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist, is a movie I had in mind to include in this thread since I thought up this year's Halloween movie extravaganza. And as I've mentioned in previous posts, I love saying the word "extravaganza." This movie is a unique story when it comes to vampires. 

The movie, which takes place in the early 1980s in Blackeberg, Stockholm, centers around a young Swedish boy, Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), who's a bit of a loner. 

He's unmercifully bullied at school by a small clique of boys. He lives in an apartment with his mother, Yvonne, (Karin Bergquist) while his father lives elsewhere. 

Meanwhile, mysterious and brutal murders are occurring around the neighborhood. The person responsible is a man named Håkan (Per Ragnar) who hoists victims upside down by their feet, cuts their throats, and collects their blood. He does this because he lives with a 12-year-old girl vampire named Eli (Lina Leandersson) who needs blood to survive. Håkan and Eli happen to live in the apartment next door to Oskar. 

Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson in "Let the Right One In."

However, he's unaware of these two until he meets Eli one evening out in the apartment courtyard. 

Oskar spends time alone at night wandering outside pretending to inflict revenge on his tormentors at school. 

One night, Eli sees him alone outside the apartment and talks to him. Oskar takes a bit of an interest in Eli as she appears to be his age. At first, she tells Oskar that she cannot be his friend without giving a reason. 

However, they slowly become friends. He opens up to her about the bullying he endures at school. And she encourages him to defend himself.

So, he enrolls in an after-school fitness class with hopes he can build up some muscle. 

Later, Håkan attempts to murder a passer-by in a secluded area in order to collect blood for Eli one evening but is interrupted by someone else out walking their dog. So, he runs off before getting caught.  He returns home with nothing to bring back to her. 

Eli has to go out into the night and attack someone herself to feed on. She lures a man named Jocke by pretending to be a young child in need and stranded out in the cold. 

When she returns to the apartment, Håkan goes back out to hide Jocke's body by dumping his remains in a frozen river. 

He tries again to collect blood for Eli by tying up a teenage boy after school one night in a locker room long after school hours. 

However, the boy's friends come looking for him and the boy wakes up before Håkan kills him and starts shouting for help. 

He hides elsewhere in the school hoping to avoid detection. In order to prevent being recognized, Håkan pours acid on his face. 

He's soon arrested and taken to a hospital first for treatment. Eli goes to see him that same night. Since he's in custody and will no longer be able to provide for her, Håkan offers his neck to her. She accepts the offer, drinks, and he plummets to his death out of the hospital window. 

Eli goes to see Oskar, while he's in bed. She taps on his window and asks him to invite her in. He asks how she managed to get up to his window as his apartment is several stories off the ground.

She simply says that she flew and them spends the night in his room. 

Now, he's all she has to take care of her. And she's the only friend he has. 

"Let the Right One In" keeps the vampire lore in a realistic style while being its own story unlike other vampire movies out there. 

I've heard it called a "coming of age" story, and I suppose it is for Oskar. Still, it's not the first movie with vampire children. Outside of probably a ton of made-for-children movies with vampire depictions suitable for children, Kirsten Dunst as Claudia in the 1994 movie, "Interview with a Vampire" is the only one that comes to mind right now. 

Kåre Hedebrant's performance makes his character sympathetic and memorable.

He and Lina Leandersson have true chemistry. Kåre's performance supports Lina's role as he needs to give her, as a vampire, a reason to befriend him and have the audience appreciate her doing that. That must have been a challenge. 

Though the movie carries themes of bullying and friendship, I'm torn as to what Eli's true intentions are from the moment she meets Oskar all the way to the end of the story. I couldn't tell if she was deceiving Oskar with her friendship to make him her next servant. Or, if she sincerely wanted friendship just as much as Oskar. Maybe there's a bit of both? 

My suspicions lean more into the side that Eli is really recruiting young Oskar to be a servant for her, whom she'll later command to kill people so that she can feed. 

In the scene when Oskar realizes Eli is a vampire, she admits that she is. She doesn't hide it. Oskar is rightly bothered by her need to kill people so she can feed. Still, he choses to remain a friend, even encouraging her to go steady.

She tells him they are a lot alike. Oskar has a secret desire to kill his bullies, while Eli needs to kill. 

She then tells Oskar, "Be me, for a little while." 

This sentiment gives the movie's title meaning - "Let the Right One In." 

Evil can disguise itself as good, but evil can't be anything other than what it is. 

Eli is the strength Oskar that lacks which is why he gravitates towards her. Or, it could be her vampiric lure to make him her slave. After all, he sees adults, even his divorced mother and father, as not too interested in his problems and situations. His mom is too busy. His father seems to include him because he has to. This certainly works in Eli's favor.   

As a vampire, she personifies the fact that true evil is willing to deceive in any way it can to ultimately drag souls down alongside them. The devil is the father of lies. In which case, perhaps the film is a cautionary tale about becoming comfortable and familiar with evil which ultimately seeks to enslave. 

Despite being a vampire, she never hints at any desire to feed on Oskar. 

In a later scene, Oskar takes her to a hideaway and wants to become blood siblings. He slices his palm and wants her to do the same to her hand. The idea is that they'll shake hands, and mingle their blood. Instead of cutting her hand, she can't hide her insatiable thirst for blood once she sees it as he naively stands in front of her with his hand out dripping blood. Instead of attacking him, she takes to the drops of blood on the floor and tells him to leave. 

The movie also adds a little to the vampire lore in that it shows what happens to a vampire if they enter a house without being verbally invited in. 

"Let the Right One In" got an American remake called "Let Me In" in 2010 with Chloë Grace Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Richard Jenkins and Elias Koteas. I watched it several years ago shortly after I watched the Swedish film, and I can't remember anything about it. 

Anyways, this is a very unique vampire story that emotes more feelings of sympathy rather than fear, although it does possess some fear and horror elements as is needed in a vampire movie. A lot of the older Dracula movies have a bit of a fairy tale tone to them to some degree or another. This movie maintains a taste of that style, but with much more realism, or real-life style to it. And it's perfectly subtle and thought provoking.

🧛 So, that's another horror movie extravaganza in the bag...or on the blog...or where ever it needs to be. I had a lot of vampire movies I wanted to watch and include. Some I couldn't get my hands on for some reason or another, and others I would have had to pay for which I didn't want to do. 

As for the rest, there's just not enough time to get to all of them. My initial intent was to watch one Dracula/vampire movie from each decade between 1922 to 2024. Well, I made it to 2006, and watched 10 movies which is a number I decided to stick with. So, not bad. Below is a list of other movies I had considered including in this list, or tried to include. I'm certain I'll get to some of these in the future. 

"Vampyr" (1932)

"Vampire Bat" (1933)

"Mark of the Vampire" (1935)

"House of Dracula" (1945)

"The Vampire's Ghost" (1945)

"Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948)

"The Vampire" (1957)

"Kiss of the Vampire" (1963)

"The Fearless Vampire Killers" (1967)
"The Vampire Lovers" (1970)

"Blacula" (1972)
"Son of Dracula" (1974) - This one has Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, Peter Frampton and other rock stars! What the heck? 

"Zoltan... Hound of Dracula" (1977)

"Salem's Lot" (1979) 

"Fright Night" (1985)

"Vamp" (1986)

"The Lost Boys" (1987)

"Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992)

"Interview with the Vampire" (1994)

"Vampire in Brooklyn" (1995) - Eddie Murphy plays a vampire in this movie. 

"From Dusk Till Dawn" (1996)

"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" (2012)

"What We Do in the Shadows" (2014) - I regret picking "Dracula: Dead and Loving It" over this comedy. 

"The Last Voyage of the Demeter" (2023)

🎃 Happy Halloween!🦇

205) Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)

Son of Halloween 2024's spectacular and not random vampire movie review extravaganza! (Part Nine)

"Children of the night... What a mess they make."

Director

Mel Brooks

Cast
Leslie Nielsen - Count Dracula
Mel Brooks - Professor Van Helsing
Peter MacNicol - Thomas Renfield
Steven Weber - Jonathan Harker
Amy Yasbeck - Mina Seward
Lysette Anthony - Lucy Westenra
Harvey Korman - Dr. Seward
Anne Bancroft - Madame Ouspenskaya, the Gypsy Woman

If you mention Mel Brooks and "horror comedy" in the same sentence to anyone, chances are they'll throw the title "Young Frankenstein" back at you. And rightly so. 

Writer, director, and comedian Mel Brooks has satirized just about every movie genre there is. But he's knocked the horror genre around twice. The second horror satire from Brooks is his 1995 Dracula spoof, "Dracula: Dead and Loving It." 

It doesn't get anywhere near the same attention and appreciation as his 1974 horror comedy classic "Young Frankenstein." 

After checking out more macabre vampire movies, some being sublime and others taking themselves too seriously, I wanted to include something like this. I needed to toss in at least one horror comedy. And what better satirical Dracula movie could their be other than something from Mel Brooks. 

I've heard of this movie, but I've never seen it until now. 

It's a parody of "Dracula" by Bram Stoker with a lot jabs aimed directly at Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film. "Bram Stoker's Dracula."

The story in "Dracula: Dead and Loving It" is the same Dracula story told again and again. I laid it all out in my review of "Dracula" from 1931 so I'm going to skip the details of the storyline. 

The late comic legend Leslie Nielsen plays Count Dracula alongside Mel Brooks as Prof. Van Helsing. Peter MacNicol stars as Renfield. And the late Anne Brancroft, who was married to Mel Brooks, and is an actress I absolutely love, has a cameo as a Gypsie woman which I got a laugh from.

Steven Weber also stars as Jonathan Harker. And Harvey Korman, who's no stranger to Mel Brook's movies, plays Dr. Jack Seward. So, this movie is certainly well cast with strong comedic talent. 

Leslie Nielsen as Dracula in "Dracula: Dead and Loving It."

And yet the movie lacks comedy. There's not enough of it. Some scenes feel like a joke is building up, and then it doesn't arrive. Disappointing!

As for the rest of the movie, it's the same story of Dracula depicted over and over again in the movies, but with light satire. It doesn't have the comedic punch I would expect from a Mel Brooks movie. No wonder this film doesn't get the same attention as his other films, especially "Young Frankenstein." While that movie is mockery mixed perfectly with a clear reverence for the movie "Frankenstein," and includes unique lines and a memorable performance by Gene Wilder, "Dracula: Dead and Loving It" certainly has a talented cast, but it goes through the motions of the Dracula story. Aside from the cast, nothing else about it stands out. Not even the lines.  

Peter MacNicol is perfectly cast as Renfield. He depicts the character's tics and sporadic mannerisms, as well as Renfield's insanity spot on. 

In fact, MacNicol is an actor who appears to enjoy whatever roles he's in, though I admit the only movies I've seen him in besides this one are "Ghostbusters II," "Addams Family Values," and Mr. Bean's movie, "Bean." He always puts forth everything he has to fine tune his performances. In other words, he never half-asses it. 

Leslie Nielsen as Dracula is exactly that - Leslie Nielsen putting on his best Dracula impression. Behind the Dracula costume and pale face, it's Leslie Nielsen. It seems liker there's potential for some comedic gold in casting Nielsen as Dracula, and then seeing what he does with this character. But it's not his most memorable character. 

This movie has potential. It's the lacking comedy which is disappointing. Only a small handful of scenes got a bit of a laugh out of me. There's little, if anything, that stuck with me after watching this. Otherwise, it's a disappointment.