77) Dracula, Sovereign of the Damned (1980)

"In Transylvania stands a sinister castle - a fortress of shelter of evil and death. The lord of this castle is the tragic and terrifying personification of the cruel conflict between the affirmation of life and the corruption of death."

Directors

Akinori Nagaoka and Minoru Okazaki

English Voice Cast

Dracula - Tom Wyner 

Dolores - Arlene Banas 

Rachel Van Helsing - Melanie MacQueen

Frank Drake - Daniel Woren

Janus - Max Christian

Satan - Richard Epcar

Over on my other movie blog, (dontfastforward.blogspot.com) I've been searching for, and reviewing underrated or lesser-known movies based on comics. It's something I came up with after the hype surrounding Avengers: Endgame (2019) - the zenith of the comic book based movie genre, evidently. 

Well, the made-for-TV Japanese anime film, Dracula, Sovereign of the Damned falls into that genre, as well as being a horror movie. And it is a horror movie, indeed! So, I've posted it on both blogs. Here, I'm certainly counting it as one of my 1,000 days of horror.

Directed by Akinori Nagaoka and Minoru Okazaki (who later directed several episodes of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z), this movie is based on Marvel's horror comic series The Tomb of Dracula. 

It was released in Japan in 1980, and then acquired by Harmony Gold Production Company, dubbed in English, and barely released on U.S. cable television in 1983. 

Marvel's comic series, created by Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway, Gardner Fox and Archie Goodwin, ran from 1972 to 1979, with 70 issues surrounding a group of vampire hunters facing off with Dracula as well as other supernatural creatures and monsters. 

Once in a while, Dracula teams up with his adversaries to battle these other-worldly beings. But normally it's one against the other.

The movie starts with a narrator bolstering up how evil Dracula is.  

While living in Transylvania, he was besieged by a group of vampire hunters, flees and hides in Boston. 

Later, a cult calling itself "The Disciples of the Black Mask" attempts to summon ol' scratch himself, Satan, in order to present him with a bride. They hold this ritual inside a church for the sake of desecrating it. 

The cult's disciples do summon an entity whom they believe is Satan, and present to him a bride named Dolores.

He snatches Dolores and flies out the window. The disciples realize it was Dracula rather than Satan. 

He takes her back to his downtown apartment where he tries to turn her into a vampire by consuming her blood, but he can't bring himself to do it because he's fallen in love. 

He flees in frustration to feed on the blood of other women so as to quench his insatiable thirst.

Dracula does make Dolores his wife, and they have a son together named Janus. 

After his birth, Dracula comes clean to Dolores about his true identity as she believed he was really Satan the whole time.

The real Satan manifests himself to the leader of the cult, and the two swear revenge on Dracula for taking Dolores as his own bride. 

Meanwhile, two vampire hunters named Dr. Hans Hawker, Rachel Van Helsing, and their vampire-sniffing dog, Elijah, seek the help of a guy named Frank Drake as he's highly skilled in martial arts, in finding and killing Dracula. 

He's reluctant at first, but does decide to join their efforts.

A year goes by, and Dolores has since regained her self-esteem thanks to Dracula. And his once cold and unsympathetic heart has warmed up with love once again, just as before he was turned to a vampire. 

Also, the small gang of hunters still haven't found him. 

For some reason I missed, Dracula and his family head to the church where the cult holds its rituals. Unbeknownst to them, but knownst to us, they're followed there by the vampire hunters. 

They become trapped by the cult leader who tries to kill Dracula with a silver bullet. (I thought silver bullets only killed werewolves, but I guess in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they also kill vampires). 

The bullet misses Dracula, and hits baby Janus instead, killing him. 

Dracula kills the cult leader in anger, and the hunters then make their presence known. They intend to kill him, and Dolores begs Dracula not to attack and kill them instead. 

Filled with anger and sorrow, he flees the church. 

Later, Dolores goes to the grave of her son to kill herself in sadness and despair for having given herself so freely to the service of the devil. 

Heaven then intervenes. She begs heaven for forgiveness, and Janus is revived.

He rises from the grave as an adult, complete with body tights, and has a God-given mission to kill Dracula. She begs him not to, but he can't go against his divine duties. Janus changes to a gold eagle, and flies off to kill his father.

Father and son fight after Dracula wanders the night searching for a victim, but yet again, Dracula flees.

Satan comes around and takes away Dracula's immortality and the rest of his powers, leaving him a mortal. 

Janus won't kill him since he's mortal, but Dracula turns to another vampire named Lela requesting she make him a vampire once again.

Lela refuses, and turns on him in revenge as he's the one who turned her into a vampire.

So, he's forced to return to Transylvania where he seeks the aid of another vampire named Malissa. 

He orders her, as her master, to make him a vampire once again, but she also refuses. 

Malissa says she has a new master named Sir Tomo, whom she calls on to destroy Dracula.

Sir Tomo raises other vampires from the dead to attack him. 

The vampire hunters have also followed Dracula to Transylvania were both the undead, and the vampire hunters, battle him in the ultimate showdown.

There's so much happening in this 60 minute film, filled with a lot of exposition. 

The poor English dubs, and stiff animation reminiscent of early 80s Saturday morning cartoons, it was a bit difficult to get invested in this movie. 

At times, I didn't know who I was supposed to be rooting for. Did Dracula turn good despite being labeled all sorts of nasty things pertaining to darkness and evil? He's even called the "tragic and terrifying personification of the cruel conflict between the affirmation of life and the corruption of death." But, in the plus column, Dracula is a good husband and father. 

Tomb of Dracula #10 - first appearance of 
Blade, the Vampire-Slayer

With that being the case, do the vampire hunters need to step back in their quest to kill him? Does he deserve a second chance? Well, no, because in the end, he wants to be evil. Why, though? He felt love once again just like he did before becoming a vampire. And he embraced it. It brought him happiness once again.

At other times, I couldn't follow certain decisions made by the characters. For instance, after Dolores repents for having turned to Satan, she goes back to the church where the rituals take place. Why? 

Dracula, Sovereign of the Damned is very much a melodramatic horror love story.

Somehow, overall it's a fun watch despite the flaws, loads of exposition, bad English dubs, choppy animation, and a scene where Dracula eats a hamburger. Yeah!...That's in there.  

Scenes of horror are also depicted, mostly with close-ups of Dracula's gleaming fangs piercing the slender necks of his female victims, draining their blood, and leaving them as soon-to-be undead corpses doomed to continue his evil work of creating more vampires.

The ending is a fun horror ride as the movie saves monsters and mayhem for the last act. 

It took some patience to get there.

Some of the animation was good. At other times, it seemed far less than perfect, even cheap. Despite that, some of the imagery is memorable and well done, making the movie a true horror film indeed.

The storyline for the movie diminishes a lot of the subplots from the comic series, or omits them altogether.

For instance, the comic series introduced readers to Blade, the Vampire Slayer in The Tomb of Dracula #10. He becomes a reluctant ally to the vampire hunters in the comics. Had Blade made an appearance in this animated movie, chances are it may have been more well known that it currently is.

He was portrayed by Wesley Snipes in the films Blade, Blade II, and Blade Trinity. Sticky Fingaz played the character in the TV series Blade back in 2006. 

Comic book fans, and fans of horror in general, can certainly find something enjoyable in this production. But it could certainly use a retooling for sure.

76) Better Watch Out (2016)

"What delusional infant thinks a break-in is going to get him to second base?"

Director

Chris Peckover

Cast

Olivia DeJonge - Ashley

Levi Miller - Luke Lerner

Ed Oxenbould - Garrett

Patrick Warburton - Robert Lerner

Virginia Madsen - Deandra Lerner

While reviewing the horror film "Friday the 13th" back in 1980 on his and Gene Siskel's old program "Sneak Previews," critic Roger Ebert asks, “Why is it open season on women? What did these female victims do? What was their crime?”
Siskel replies, “I'm convinced it has something to do with the growth of the women's movement in the U.S. in the last decade. I think these [slasher] films are some sort of primordial response by some very sick people saying, ‘Get back in your place, women.’
Siskel notes that women in horror films are generally depicted as independent and enjoying life. Meanwhile, the killer in the movie is typically a sexually frustrated man—frustrated by these liberated women.
Siskel and Ebert cite titles such as "Don't Answer the Phone" (1980), "Silent Scream (1979), and "I Spit on Your Grave" (1978) as examples of horror movies where innocent women are brutally murdered for, I guess, the sake of being brutally murdered.
They do, however, praise the movie "Halloween" (1978) as a “groundbreaker” for “women in danger” films.
"Halloween" tells the story of babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), who fights back against the knife-wielding masked maniac Michael Myers.
I'll add a sort of annotation here. With earlier horror movies such as "Dracula" (1931), for instance, it's true that women were often portrayed as being in distress as a looming monster threatened their very lives. Siskel and Ebert argue that in “classic” horror movies, the audience normally sees the story unfold through the victim's eyes rather than the killer's, as in "Friday the 13th." This forces the audience to identify with the victim rather than the killer.
Anyhow, these critiques of theirs came to mind after watching the overlooked independent Australian-American holiday horror flick from 2016, "Better Watch Out."
You know, a perk of watching not-so-well-known horror movies is finding that one gem every so often—a gem that I proudly display in my mental curio cabinet of highly esteemed and favorited films, which I manifest in the form of a horror movie blog and podcast.
"Better Watch Out" became one such movie. 

Levi Miller and Olivia DeJonge in "Better Watch Out."

It's the pre-Christmas season when teenager Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) is hired to babysit 12-year-old Luke Lerner (Levi Miller).
She's well aware of the crush Luke has on her, but she certainly doesn't share those feelings. Still, she treats Luke as respectfully as a 17-year-old girl can treat such a kid.
Before she arrives, Luke chats with his geeky friend Garrett (Ed Oxenbould) about trying to entice Ashley to make out with him while his parents are gone. It's typical sexually curious teenage banter.
As he and Ashley order pizza and watch a horror movie while his parents are out for the night, Luke tries to pull some corny moves before eventually attempting to take advantage of her.
Ashley doesn't go for it. Suddenly, they hear strange noises coming from outside, and Ashley keeps finding the back door open.
As she investigates to see who's outside, it turns out to be Garrett.
After a few moments of berating him for scaring her, they hear a window break upstairs. The three of them investigate and find a brick on the floor that reads, “U leave and U die.”
Garrett panics and tries to run through the backyard as Ashley and Luke watch him get shot by an unseen sniper.
The two run upstairs and hide in the attic. They can hear movement down below in the house.
After a while, when it doesn't sound like there's anyone near the attic entrance, they try to climb out as quietly as they can.
But Ashley falls and almost breaks her neck. Luke catches her, and they sneak into his bedroom closet.
They can see an intruder with a gun and a flashlight enter the room as they peer through the slits of the closet door.
This is when Ashley notices something unusual yet familiar about the man in the room.
The premise then takes a completely unexpected turn.
And boy, did it pull me in.

SPOILER

There's clearly an underlying narrative in this movie that males believe they have an unconquerable dominance over females. The movie uses stereotypes to depict this point, which I didn't care for.
In the end, males appeal to the powers that be to save them from the consequences of their crimes.
It's a hard pill to swallow, especially in this day and age. With movies, I'll add that it's easy to interpret narratives that may not actually be there—or may not have been the intention of the writers. So I'm speculating on whether this is actually the movie's intended narrative.
One thing is for sure: male sexual frustration, an attempt at absolute dominance, and pulling the strings of the system to escape consequences are strong elements in this movie.
On top of all that, there's a scene that takes inspiration from the 1990 Christmas movie "Home Alone" where this time we see the bodily damage a paint can swung from a second floor and slammed into someone's face can do.
As a horror movie, it's absolutely fantastic as far as story goes. Entertainment is the top priority for me when I watch a horror movie, and this movie doesn't fail in that department. Not in the least.
Better Watch Out is a satisfying thriller that hits the horror-fandom spot. It deserves to be mentioned alongside other popular holiday horror titles such as "Krampus" (2015), "Black Christmas" (1974), and maybe even "Silent Night, Deadly Night" (1984). Hopefully, the latter doesn't stray too far from the wise cinematic observations of Siskel and Ebert.
Perhaps it should also be found among other babysitting horror flicks such as "When a Stranger Calls" and, of course, "Halloween."

Watching this made me wonder how actors manage to stay terrified for an entire movie. Olivia DeJonge's performance brought this question to mind, as her character has to maintain anger and fear through the majority of the movie. She does it convincingly well.
While the “open season” on strong, independent women that Siskel and Ebert said was too common in the sloppy slasher pics of the 1970s and into the 1980s seems to be over—or, at least, its glorification seems to be—I would love to hear what they would have thought of "Better Watch Out." I don't know for sure, but I highly suspect Siskel and Ebert would have seen the babysitter Ashley as being as edifying as Laurie Strode.
The year before, DeJonge and Oxenbould worked together with M. Night Shyamalan on his refreshingly enjoyable thriller The Visit.
Here, she and Levi Miller, whose character is hellbent, terrified, arrogant, and juvenile, work well off each other to create such a different kind of babysitter movie. Should these two ever make another horror movie together, I'd pay to see it.
This movie pulls inspiration for its story from "Home Alone," but the twist in the first act takes it someplace else—someplace much more sadistic and evil than Kevin McCallister ("Home Alone's" main character, played by Macaulay Culkin) comedically attacking two burglars through unique traps at Christmas.
The tagline even reads, “Home Alone meets The Strangers.”
I appreciate movies that take an idea audiences are familiar with and go somewhere else with it. The horror/thriller film "Happy Death Day" (2017) did that, too. It took the premise of 1993's "Groundhog Day" and made it its own. Clever!
If movies like these became a new trend, I'd be okay with it, so long as those movies are as creative and entertaining as "Better Watch Out" and, for that matter, "Happy Death Day."

75) Death Ship (1980)

"Where do you plan to sail her?" "Eternity."

Director

Alvin Rakoff

Cast

Richard Crenna - Trevor Marshall

George Kennedy - Captain Ashland

Nick Mancuso - Nick

Sally Ann Howes - Margaret Marshall

Jennifer McKinney - Robin Marshall

Danny Higham - Ben Marshall

If Stanley Kubrick's The Shining ditched the Colorado Rockies and set sail on the ocean, taking with it some inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho as well as any random Nazis movie, the result would be something similar to 1980's Death Ship.  

Watching this movie, I caught slight hints of these other films packed into the story. 

The less-than-enthusiastic Capt. Ashland (George Kennedy) is taking his last voyage on a glamorous cruise ship before he goes into retirement. 

With him on board is his replacement, Trevor Marshall (Richard Crenna), Marshall's wife, Margaret (Sally Ann Howes - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and their two children, Robin (Jennifer McKinney) and Ben (Danny Higham). 

Sometime during the late night while those are board are partying and the kids are in bed, a huge freighter is detected on radar heading full speed straight towards the cruise ship. 

Despite Ashland's evasive maneuvers, the cruise ship matches their heading. It's just a matter of moments before the inevitable happens. And when it does, the cruise ship sinks along with most of the passengers. 

The next day, only a small number of the cruise ship's passengers survive including Marshall and his family. 

While the survivors are adrift at sea on a life raft, the barely conscious and exhausted Capt. Ashland is discovered and rescued.

While all are adrift, a looming black freighter sails by and the survivors call out for help. 

But the small group is completely unaware that not only is the ship abandoned, it's also the same one that collided with the cruise ship at full speed. 

They find a rescue ladder hanging off the side and are able to climb aboard. 

While some officers try to climb the ladder with an exhausted and injured Ashland, it comes loose and lunges them into the water. 

Still, they all manage to climb to safety ("safety") with Ashland. 

Once on the ship, one of the surviving crewman, Jackie (Saul Rubinek), becomes entangled in a cable through what appears to be supernatural means. He's hoisted up by the ship's cranes, and then dropped into the cold ocean water below before being hoisted back up in the air beyond reach of those on deck. Wheb he's dropped again, Jackie ends up swept away by the current, and lost under the ship. 

There's not much for the shocked witnesses to do other than explore the dusty hallways within the ship, and search for food and warmth. 

What they find is antiquated items dating back to the era of World War II. But aside from that, they hear and witness hatches opening and closing by themselves, and lights turning on and off. 

While exploring the deck, Nick (Nick Mancuso), is knocked out by a swinging block moved by an unseen force. 

Elsewhere, others among the surviving few find dusty bunks and other necessities in various parts of the boat. 

As these mysterious happenings are taking place, Ashland, who's lying on one of the beds, hears a disembodied voice speaking in German. 

Marshall and Nick make the disturbing discovery that the ship they're on is an abandoned Nazi prison ship. And it's inhabited by the ghosts of Nazi officers as well as dead prisoners. 

Also, Ashland becomes possessed by one of these spirits, and declares himself the ship's captain. 

He then begins continuing the terror that once roamed the ship so many years ago. 

Now the survivors must find a way to continue their lucky streak and survive once more.    

Death Ship started off promising only to gradually decline until laying flat on its face by the end.  

The overall plot does have potential to be a fun horror/ thriller story. However, the movie loses momentum by the second act as it becomes a little too predictable and unintentionally funny. By the end, it tries hard to pick up the pace and trepidation but is only left crawling on its hands and knees trying to tie up the story on a thrilling note. 

I found myself pulled into the story once the cruise ship goes down. But by the third act, I was too close to complete disappointment, predicting with little difficulty what was going to happen next. 

Death Ship uses low or tilted camera angles for the sake of maintaining that unsettling supernatural tone. And it includes elements of voyerism in an attempt to keep the audience invested via a shower scene where a woman is nearly scared to death when blood starts spraying from the shower head instead of hot water. That scene dragged on a bit too long to the point where I laughed when I probably wasn't supposed to. It tried to top Psycho's shower scene, but it certainly didn't succeed. Nice try, though.    

There is an originality I can appreciate in creating a war time ship that is possessed by the ghosts of Nazis, turning the vessel into a monster of its own. It reminds me of those many other "killer" movies where the most mundane objects somehow become cognoscente man-eating monsters. Killer tomatoes. Killer rubber tires. Killer puppets. Killer donuts. Killer sofas. Yes...killer sofas! There's a real movie from 2019 about a killer sofa.

With the souls of dead Nazis and their prisoners giving life to the ship, I sense inspiration from The Shining. However, Death Ship was released in March of 1980, while The Shining came out in May of that same year. 

This is the kind of movie that could most likely make a suitable remake. I loved the idea of an evil ship, alive by the souls of evil, continually wreaking dread and turmoil upon other ships out on the open seas. It should be a fun viewing for fans of bottom shelf 1970s and 1980s horror cinema. Otherwise, there's reason this movie is as obscure as it is. It starts off strong, only to fizzle out a sad death by the very last scene. It's the writing that leads to disappointment, not the actors.

Alvin Rakoff, who has directed a lot of television programs, takes the director's chair. With a modest list of film directing, Rakoff has directed some well known talent including Rod Steiger in The World in my Pocket, Roger Moore in Crossplot, Peter Sellers in Hoffman, Henry Fonda, Ava Gardner, and Shelley Winters in City on Fire, and of course George Kennedy in Death Ship.  

Unfortunately, Rakoff stated he didn't care for movies like Death Ship, and the script wasn't something he was excited about. I think that shows in the final production. It's as though the film was eager to finish once the end was in sight. 

And speakin of Kennedy, he appeared in a decent number of horror movies in the 1980s, including Creepshow 2 in 1987.

The best of the horror in Death Ship comes when Trevor and Nick discover the rotten corpses of Nazis prisoners, including a tray of extracted gold teeth - a blunt reminder of horror that once really existed.

This film has promise, and it certainly has an appealing sense of dread as well as horror.

To be honest, I don't know if Death Ship maintains a cult following. If it does, great! 

74) House of the Devil (1896)

House of the Devil

Director

Georges Méliès

I don't know if French film maker, Georges Méliès, is considered the grandfather of movie special effects. If not, he ought to be. Being an illusionist who utilized many technical developments in the earliest days of cinema, such as splicing, multiple film exposures, time lapse, scene dissolves, and early forms of film colorization that involved painting film, Méliès is most certainly a founding father of storytelling in film. Plus, he's known for being one of the first film makers to use storyboards. 

On top of these achievements, he's also credited for producing what's believed to be the first horror movie, House of the Devil. 

It was once considered a lost film until it was discovered at a New Zealand film archive in 1988. His groundbreaking, albeit very early, techniques are present in this short movie.

Since House of the Devil has a runtime slightly over three minutes, I watched this movie on my lunch break. Not all the horror movies I'm venturing through need to be an hour or more in running time. Anyways, the first claimed horror film needs to be counted among these 1,000 titles.

House of the Devil has a thin story line. Though being an early film, Méliès shows his masterfulness in impressing audiences with phenomenal visuals and effects. 

It begins inside a castle where a bat transforms into a slave of the devil named Mephistopheles - the demon known in German folklore whom Faust sold his soul to. 

With the assistance of a minion, Mephistopheles begins to conjure up demons in various forms through spells cast with a cauldron. 

Meanwhile, two men enter the castle where the demons try to scare them by manifesting in terrible forms. 

In the end *spoiler alert* one of the men produces a large crucifix to cast Mephistopheles out for good. Using camera pauses to create the illusion of spirit conjuring and disappearances, it's truly a fascinating film experiment. It deserves more than my mentioning it here.

House of the Devil was produced before Méliès's more famous silent film A Trip to the Moon - an early science fiction movie from 1902. Its iconic scene of a rocket lodged in the eye of the moon's face is still often seen today. 

Méliès is a pioneer of movie magic with his special effects, careful and truly imaginary artistic scenery like those of a stage play. He's also the first to create fictional narratives. 

Movies of this time were generally novel films depicting ordinary scenes in everyday life such as The Kiss (1896) by Thomas Edison. The title pretty much sums up that 30 second film. A man is seen flirting cheek to cheek with a lady, until the two engage in a simple, classy kiss. It was considered risque' at the time. It's pure and innocent by today's standards, of course. 

French film makers Auguste and Louis Lumiere, brothers who were pioneers of motion pictures, are known for making such movies. Their movies have the impression of using motion picture cameras to take ordinary yet moving photos as though the brothers were using a regular still photography camera. These "Actuality Films," also called "Actualities" such as The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat, Baby's Breakfast, The Gardener and  Blacksmiths normally had a runtime of 30 to 40 seconds. And like The Kiss, their titles explain the subject matter. No story, necessarily. Rather, moving pictures of ordinary things. Still life in motion right before your very eyes.

Méliès saw these Actualities and harnessed their potential as a new and novel medium in story telling. 

He portrayed extravagant science fiction, fantasy and in this case, thriller stories through on-camera physical transformations, magical acts, characters disappearing on screen right in front of audience's eyes, and other remarkable scenes audiences of the day had never seen in a picture before. 

Mephistopheles summons a figure from a cauldron.

House of the Devil depicts the ultimate battle in every horror movie. With limited tools, Méliès manages to portray the ultimate good symbolized through the faith of the two men and the crucifix against the ultimate evil depicted in Mephistopheles and his sinister sorcery. 

The movie isn't necessarily meant to terrify audiences though images of a skeleton and demonic presences must have done just that with early film goers. Rather, it's visually displaying that eternal conflict which had never been portrayed in motion picture. It's this motif that became the foundation for all horror movies to follow decade after decade. Of course, it's a battle as old has mankind. Evil is ugly, proud, and fearful of good. Good, meanwhile, is strong and never fails to finally defeat evil. Never!

Movies this early didn't have credits.

So, it's believed among film historians that magician Jules Eugene Legris, who appears in A Trip to the Moon, portrays Mephistopheles. And many historians are certain stage actress Jehanne D'Alcy is the woman who appears out of the cauldron. 

D'Alcy appears in other Méliès's films, and eventually became his wife. 

Other silent horror pictures were made shortly after Méliès film, all before the turn of the century - A Terrible Night, A Nightmare, The X-Ray Fiend, The Bewitched Inn, Photographing A Ghost, The Cave of the Demons, Resurrection of a Corpse, Jizo the Spook, The Joyous Skeleton and The Miser's Doom to drop a generous number of titles.  

The horror genre has Méliès to thank for implementing the solid foundational truth that in any horror movie, good must face evil in some way or another. And no matter how nightmarish evil's looming presence is, there is always a way to conquer it. It's up to the protagonist to find that narrow path that leads to victory. At least, until evil returns in the dreaded horror sequel. 

73) The Canterville Ghost (1986)

When a golden girl can win prayer from out the lips of sin, when the barren almond bears and a little child gives 'way her tears, then shall all the house be still and peace come to Canterville.

Director

Paul Bogart

Cast

John Gielgud - Sir Simon de Canterville

Ted Wass - Harry Canterville

Andrea Marcovicci - Lucy Canterville

Alyssa Milano - Jennifer Canterville

Lila Kaye - Mrs. Umney

Harold Innocent - Hummle Umney

I'm dragging this movie out from a lonely, overlooked space somewhere in a dark crevasse of my memory. Old memories such as watching the 1986 made-for-TV movie The Canterville Ghost have a tendency to jump out at the most random and unlikely of times.

They may be old, murky, and dusty...but not completely forgotten. The memory of this film, based on the classic short story by Oscar Wilde, faintly popped out in my head like a neglected childhood toy suddenly finding enough juice to go off after years of neglect. 

My dad recorded this movie off the television. I was five years old at the time. And for reasons I cannot remember, I often watched it. 

This was the era of bad reception, bunny ears, and tracking control via knobs and such on the TV set. So, our copy wasn't the clearest picture. But it was clear enough to burn a few images in my mind through the soft television static. 

I admit I haven't read Wilde's short story. Still, I'm judging the movie and not the source material. Any deviations from the story, and I'm sure there's a lot, are lost on me. 

The movie begins with Harry Canterville (Ted Wass) en route to his recently inherited Canterville Castle, located in a small English town, with his second wife Lucy Swackhammer Canterville (Andrea Marcovicci) and his young daughter from a former marriage, Jennifer (Alyssa Milano).

They're moving to their new home from Cleveland, Ohio, so it's quite a cultural change.

As soon as they arrive and meet Harry's English relatives at the Canterville Estate, the eccentric aunts and uncles try to disguise their apprehensiveness in knowing the shamed ghost of Harry's ancestor, Sir Simon de Canterville, haunts the place.

Simon allegedly killed his wife, Eleanor, centuries ago. After her death, he is said to have disappeared without a trace. And no one has ever found his remains. 

He spends his afterlife scaring away all who attempt to reside in the castle. 

However, the Cantervilles must live there for at least three months in order to take full possession. 

The unrested spirit of Sir Simon doesn't hesitate to show his disdain for the new inhabitants, and wastes no time trying to scare them off. 

When they arrive and begin to settle in, Simon appears to them on the staircase while they're being taken to their rooms.

He tries to terrify them, but Harry and Lucy think the specter is nothing more than a special effect set up by Harry's off-center relatives to discourage them from taking up residence, and preventing the castle from falling into his possession. 

Jennifer, however, who witnessed the butler, Hummle Umney, lift off the ground and disappear earlier, believes Sir Simon's ghost is real and does indeed haunt the castle. 

Later that night, she sees a green orb floating through the hallways. She follows it up to the attic, where she sees Simon's ghost sitting at a desk.

When she calls to him, Simon tries to scare her but Jennifer stands firm and refuses to let fear force her to run. 

Instead, Jennifer talks to Simon asking if he'd be willing to scare her stepmother away from her dad, and from their lives. 

Simon returns to his normal spectral form, a bit dumbfounded to find a living person not terrified by his presence. 

Alyssa Milano and Sir John Gielgud.

He tells Jennifer that he hasn't slept in 300 years, and would do anything just to have a rest. 

Simon then agrees to try and scare Lucy.

Lucy, however, thinks all the frights she soon after encounters are tricks set up by Harry's family. 

She holds a dinner party where she opens up to Harry's family about their alleged efforts to scare them off. 

The family emphasizes that they're not trying to scare them off, that Sir Simon's ghost is real, and that they need Harry to take possession of the castle to keep it in the family. 

As supper begins, Simon manifests himself in such a freaky way, Lucy and Harry run out of the dining room convinced the castle is actually haunted. 

During all this time, Simon and Jennifer begin to form a friendship. 

One of Jennifer's classmates tells her about the allegations against Simon as the two kids visit Simon and Eleanor's grave site. Simon's grave doesn't have a date of death engraved on it which sparks Jennifer's curiosity. 

Simon appears to the two at the gravesite, scaring off Jennifer's classmate. 

She refuses to talk to him after that.

Simon later attempts to amend his friendship with Jennifer, revealing to her exactly what happened to him 300 years ago, and why he is in a perpetual state of unrest and doomed to remain in the castle. 

Jennifer tells Simon about her dad's plans to accept an offer on the castle from a company that wants to turn it into an elaborate inn and resort. 

Simon requests a meeting with her dad during which he makes a bargain with Harry that he'll cease his hauntings if Harry doesn't sell the castle. 

It might sound like a convoluted storyline, but it's not. 

There are a few scenes from this movie that scared me as a child. They've stayed in my collective memory alongside other scary scenes from other movies. 

For instance, when Jennifer first goes to speak with Simon, he tries to scare her by turning into a giant head with an amplified, looming voice. 

And during the dinner scene with Harry's family, their cook Mrs. Umney brings out a silver platter with a dome lid covering the main course.

As the guests are discussing the many horrific ways Simon has manifested himself, Mrs. Umney lifts the lid to reveal the entrée' has been replaced with Simon's head. He begins to shout and laugh demonically as all the food on the dining table explodes. Disembodied heads is what did it for me back then as far as scares go. 

Seeing it now, this version of The Canterville Ghost feels like a Disney Channel production. The entire ghost aspect starts off comical, and becomes watered down throughout the movie all the way until the end. 

In fact, I wondered if Simon really was a ghost. He repeats how he "wants to die" so that he can finally find the rest he yearns for. But he's a ghost already. Is he half dead? 

I also don't think the writers had a grasp on what a ghost actually is, or what limitations dead people have. 

In one scene, Simon eats a plate of cookies he stole moments before. Also, after spending a couple days at Eleanor's grave site in the chilly English weather, Simon catches a cold. 

Jennifer persuades him to return to the castle to rest (despite his inability to do just that). Back in the castle attic, Simon bundles up and soaks his feet in hot water as Jennifer tries to nurse him back to health. He asks her to open the window. She replies that he'll "die of pneumonia" if she opens it. 

"Do you really think so," he says. Again, is he half-dead? This films vision of the afterlife, and all it entails as far as ghosts are concerned, isn't explained.

Did the writers forget Simon died 300 years ago? He's a ghost! It's in the title. During production, surely someone said out loud "wait...ghosts don't eat cookies and catch colds."  

Since watching this movie through my seven year old eyes, I have gained a lot more respect and appreciation for actor Sir John Gielgud as I've seen him in some great movies- The Elephant Man, Murder By Decree, and Becket to name a few. I became a fan of Gielgud after watching him portray Pope Pius XII in the 1983 movie The Scarlet and the Black with Gregory Peck. 

He certainly gives this character from the mind of Oscar Wilde the respect it deserves. As he delivers his lines about all the scares through the centuries Simon proudly reflects on, Gielgud appears to be having fun with the role. 

Sir John Gielgud as Simon de Canterville 

Simon isn't completely scary as much as he is emotionally wounded. He's a spirit who yearns for externals which he can't obtain. All he has is the inner turmoil he died with. 

Sir Simon is a spirit bitter, resentful, and sad. He's been stuck in his purgatorial state for 300 years. And for 300 years, when every living person Sir Simon encounters reacts in fear, he's going to be expect fear. He'll fuel it. This is were Gielgud seems to be having fun.

His 17th century costume with an ornate Medici style collar, and long frizzled white hair is iconic.

But Gielgud's performance contrasts Milano's lackluster acting. The only time I caught any emotion from her character was when she tells herself how cute her classmate is. 

There's a lot of major turning points in Jennifer's life. She moves to a new country. She tells her dad and step-mother how much she misses her friends. She's not fond of her step-mom. She misses her real mother whom we learn previously passed away. And she makes continual contact with the soul of a 300-year old ancestor. 

Still, Milano shows little to no convincing emotion. She says her lines telling the audience what they need to know, and that's all. Nothing much about Milano's performance stands out. She doesn't shine with the same charisma as Gielgud. His mastery doesn't mix with Milano's seemingly unenthused performance. 

Watching Gielgud in The Canterville Ghost 30-something years later, when I know more things than I did back when I was a kid, I can now appreciate what he does in this movie. 

Overall, it was fun to watch The Canterville Ghost in a nostalgic way. Of course, not everyone has that same particular nostalgia as I have.

For those who haven't seen this movie before, they might find it fun with its Disney-esque feel similar to other Disney ghost movies such as Blackbeard's Ghost and The Ghosts of Buxley Hall. 

Otherwise, if it wasn't for Sir John Gielgud presence, I would leave this movie in the dark corner of my mind were I've kept it all these years. 

I Saw 'Em All: Tremors (1990 - 2020)

My overall thoughts on the series...

For those gracious enough to spare some time to listen to my podcast at anchor.fm/1000DaysOfHorror, then perhaps you followed me as I meandered my way through all seven movies in the Tremors series during October. I appreciate that immensely, even if my listenership is about 10 people at the moment. I like the idea of dedicating time to an entire franchise.

Unlike many monster flicks, Tremors offers something both original and unique. 

The graboids, as they're called throughout the films, are a natural species that have somehow remained undiscovered since who knows when. And they sense their prey by sound vibrations. 

As far as we know, these monsters aren't space creatures. Nor are they from another realm or dimension. They're not some unholy, unnatural fluke of nature like something cooked up thanks to a military experiment gone badly. I think they've always been out in the desert surviving on... what? I don't know!

Tremors is a science fiction horror comedy film with a western taste. There's not too many mainstream horror films like Tremors. Yet it easily manages to be a horror comedy on par with movies such as Gremlins and Ghostbusters. It leans a little into the realm of cheesy comedy but maintains a serious enough tone and plot that's certainly does not induce eye-rolls.   

All the characters residing in the fictional town of Perfection, Nevada (population 14) fit in so well among each other. They're likeable, and easy to grow invested in. This fades sequel by sequel. By Tremors 6: A Cold Day in Hell, I could absolutely care less if any of the characters die. In fact, all I remember about the characters in part six is that there were two girls and this one guy who just spouts some science-y terms. I'm probably wrong on the numbers. 

In the first movie, married couple and survivalists Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) and Heather Gummer (Reba McEntire) are two such likeable characters. 

They live in a bunker type house away from peering government eyes, with a stock pile of weaponry that isn't far from the truth yet still makes me laugh.

Rather than just tackle the worms with bullets, Burt conjures up a variety of militaristic ways to kill these things such as bombs attached to remote controlled cars. 

Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward in the lead roles as Val McKee and Earl Bass is a good casting decision. If only they stuck around through the sequels to be the graboid's arch-nemeses like Dracula's Van Helsing, or Michael Myer's Lori Strode. These two play so well off of each other, they may have had potential to be a popular duo in the horror genre. Though Fred Ward returns for Tremors 2: Aftershocks, part one was all we saw of them together which is probably why the first in the series is the best.

There are great character actors in part one as well such as Charlotte Stewart (Eraserhead) and Victor Wong (Big Trouble in Little China). Many of them return in Tremors 3: Back to Perfection which makes the third film one of the better sequels. 

But the first movie could use just a bit more solid foundation in the story. For instance, what did these worms eat before intruding upon Perfection? Why do we have shots from the worm's point of view as they travel underground when these worms are blind and locate their prey by vibrations? And why have these worms been an unknown species until now, especially when considering their incredibly large size? Backstory would come in handy for the sake of audience interest.

The build up is memorable in the first film. There are two scenes that have stayed in my mind since I first saw part one back in 1990. 

In one scene, Val and Earl discover a friend of theirs, Edgar, high up on a power line. After a rock, paper, scissors competition to determine who's going to go up there and get him, Val climbs up and find that Edgar is dead. 

When the doctor examines the late Edgar, he determines that Edgar died from dehydration.

The second scene occurs when Val and Earl drive past farmer Fred's heard of sheep. All they find left of the sheep are carcasses and sheep parts. 

When they start calling out for Fred, Val finds the farmer's dirty brown hat on the ground. He picks it up, and underneath is Fred's face poking out of the soil, the shock of pain and fear still frozen on this face. 

That particular scene is what gave me nightmares as a kid - I was nine years old at the time of its release.  

I think, overall, the premise of man-eating worms sensing prey through vibrations is a fun idea, but is stretched thinner and thinner, sequel by sequel. 

There are good things to be found in each movie. 

But how do you continue the storyline of man-eating monsters chasing people and make it interesting and fun rather than repetitive and boring?  

The Tremors sequels (especially parts two and five) clearly took some inspiration from Jurassic Park, but only changed settings and species in the general story line, especially in a scene in part five with the bipedal shrieker is chasing two victims through a kitchen. I talked about this in my podcast. 

Some things in the sequels are fun and entertaining. Still by the time I got to part seven, I was anxious to be done with Tremors. There just wasn't enough new, original material to keep me invested. 

Where the sequels fail is in imagination (more or less), and exploring more about the graboids save for their unusual life cycle from worm, to bipedal heat-sensing creatures, to ass blasters, to baby worms that molt into graboids. 

There's more room for exploration in Tremors than in a franchise like Jurassic Park. Dinosaurs are certainly more implemented in facts than graboids.

By part six, I was 100 percent convinced the franchise was reduced to just one big cash grab, leaving nothing for audiences to care about. All the main characters are gone, except for Michael Gross's recurring character. By the last movie, Burt Gummer was starting to become repetitive.   

Nevertheless, the first movie is an enjoyable movie that works very well with so much going for it.  

I intend to dedicate more months next year to other horror franchises - The Omen, The Amityville Horror, Puppet Master, Phantasm, Hellraiser, Children of the Corn to throw out some titles. 

December will be "SequelCember" as I'll be looking at various horror sequels throughout the month! 

Other reviews coming soon...

72) Lake Mungo (2008)

"I feel like something bad is going to happen to me."

Director

Joel Anderson

Cast

Talia Zucker - Alice Palmer

Martin Sharpe - Mathew Palmer

Rosie Traynor - June Palmer

David Pledger - Russell Palmer

Steve Jodrell - Ray Kemeny

Back in 2006, advertisements for the "After Dark Horrorfest" (an annual horror film festival which featured eight independent horror movies) started airing. 

Also referred to as "8 Films to Die For," the ads I saw made these titles seem like they were the most horrific of horror films made.

Of course I was completely captivated, and managed to catch a few of these films such Gravedancers, Wicked Little Things, and Penny Dreadful. And they were alright at best. 

In 2011, the "Horrorfest" was replaced with "After Dark Originals" which I believe still distributes independent horror movies.

Even Snoop Dogg got in on the action with an anthology movie called Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror which stars Danny Trejo, Billy Dee Williams, and Ernie Hudson. This was the "popular?" ninth film amidst the eight films at the 2006 festival. 

I haven't seen it but being from the Bay Area, I can't imagine a hood more freaky than East Oakland. 

Occasionally, I find some of these movies mixed in with other horror titles. I still come across movies under the label "8 Films to Die For" from time to time. Normally they're pre-owned copies.

Even so, I've paid little attention to them until now. That's because someone recommended one of these movies to me under the promise I wouldn't be disappointed.

Lake Mungo is an independent horror movie from Australia, released in 2008 and is part of the the Horrorfest list of movies.

It's a "mockumentary" film mixed with the found-footage style of horror movie making. I didn't know that going in, so when I found the movie on Amazon Prime and started watching, I thought I selected the wrong film. 

Lake Mungo centers on the drowning of a teenage girl named Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker) while she and her family are on a trip to a dam near Ararat, Australia. 

After days and days of searching, rescue teams find a body at the bottom of the lake. They believe it's Alice though her face is deformed having been submerged for so long. 

Following the funeral, the Palmer family begin witnessing strange activity around their home. 

Alice's brother, Mathew (Martin Sharpe) who has a keen interest in photography, sets up cameras around the house and inadvertently captures several images of Alice in various parts of the home. 

Alice's dad, Russell (David Pledger) even claims he witnessed his daughter walk into her bedroom while he was sitting on her bed reminiscing.

These sightings push her parents to exhume the body from the gravesite to ensure without any doubts that the body found at Lake Mungo was truly their daughter. And it is.

Her mother, June Palmer (Rosie Traynor) consults a physic, Ray Kemeny (Steve Jodrell) who tries to help the family, but fails to mention an important piece of information.

They soon learn a dark secret Alice kept from everyone - a secret no one expected. 

I'll leave the synopsis at that though there's still much more to the story. It's a movie I really don't want to spoil.

The movie succeeds impressively in making a documentary style production that's both frightening and intriguing. 

Fear isn't just found in the movie's paranormal elements and realism. It's in the mystery that seems to slowly envelope the audience as the movie progresses. What dark secrets do our loved ones hide? And how will we react when the truth finally inserts itself into our lives? 

There is little grotesqueries, but plenty of engrossing points and foreboding dread throughout. 

Lake Mungo also lures you into watching it again as the movie ends showing you what you probably missed the first time. 

This is truly a modern ghost story told through modern means, and it's depicted beautifully. 

Sometimes found footage films lose sight of the fact they're precisely that- found footage. They begin to tell a chronological story that diminishes the realism, and gives the movie makers away. 

Lake Mungo keeps the documentary style going, and maintains the realism from beginning to end while throwing the audience some unexpected twists.

Some of the line delivery felt like unscripted dialogue just as you'd see in a real documentary. Other times, it leans a little too close to sounding as though the actors are delivering lines they rehearsed rather than giving statements on the spot as they're interviewed in front of a camera.

Nevertheless, it's a well constructed movie that explores death and familial relationships.

I read one review from The Hollywood Reporter that called the build-up "slow." I disagree. 

I was brought into the story almost immediately. I was curious from the beginning where this was going to go.

Many comments I came across online call Lake Mungo a "hidden gem" of a horror film. Now that I agree with. It's very much an underrated movie in the genre, and one I recommend.