79) Veronica (2017)

"It's not who you want to talk to. It's who you talk to."

Director

Paco Plaza

Cast

Sandra Escacena - Veronica

Bruna Gonzalez - Lucia

Ivan Chavero - Antonito

Claudia Placer - Irene

Angela Fabian - Rosa

Carla Campra - Diana

When it comes to ghosts, hauntings, and our runaway imaginations with all of that, it's funny how we find safety in numbers. 

People generally presume ghosts aren't as scary when we're with company. Fear is conquered with company.

I've often wondered what spirits think of that. Are they less prone or discouraged to intentionally spook us if we're with a buddy?

The 2017 movie from Spain, Veronica, proves (maybe) that ghosts just don't care how many are in a bunch if they want to scare or possess someone. 

This movie is a condensed version of the alleged true events of demonic obsession and possession centered around a teenage girl named Estefania Guttierez Lazaro that took place back in the 1980s into the 1990s in the Vallecas municipality near Madrid, Spain. 

Lazaro and her family supposedly suffered a wide range of paranormal demonic attacks and hauntings after playing with a Ouija board with her friends during school one day. Among this phenomenon, family members claimed they saw dark, human shaped figures roam freely through their apartment. Lazaro suffered nightmares, injuries to her body caused by unknown or unseen sources, and disembodied voices among other things.

What makes this supposed ghost case unique is that it's the first case in Spain to be documented by the National Police as officers evidently witnessed some of these paranormal occurrences. 

The film opens with the ending (in media res) as we see police respond to a call from a young girl screaming that someone is coming for her brother, and that this someone is in the apartment.

When police arrive, they find kids in the middle of the street as rain pours down.

The police enter the apartment and see something off camera that puts them in shock.

The movie cuts back to three days prior, where the audience sees 15-year old Veronica (Sandra Escacena), living with her over-worked mother and three younger siblings in an apartment located in Vallecas. 

We learn her father previously died which forces Veronica to care for the apartment and her siblings, Lucia, Irene, and Antonito while attending a Catholic high school as her mother works long hours.

On this particular day, the school is anticipating a solar eclipse, and students are preparing to watch with special viewing glasses. 

During class, one of the nuns teaching at the high school discusses how some ancient cultures would conduct human sacrifices and attempt to summon demons during such eclipses. 

When it's time for students to go up to the school roof to view the eclipse, Veronica and her friends, Rosa and Diana, sneak into the school basement to conduct a séance with a Ouija board. 

Veronica hopes to contact her late father through the spirit board. And Diana wants to see if she can contact her dead boyfriend.

As soon as they place their hands on the glass which they're using in place of a planchet, it begins moving immediately. 

However Diana and Rosa pull their hands back claiming the glass is too hot to touch. But Veronica keeps her hands where they are, and starts to go into a trance. 

The glass then shatters at the same moment as the eclipse. It cuts Veronica's hand, and blood drips onto the board. 

Veronica, still in a trance, begins whispering incoherently. 

Bruna Gonzalez, Sandra Escacena, Claudia Placer, and
Ivan Chavero 

As Rosa leans her ear closer to figure out what she's whispering. Veronica screams in a voice not her own. Her mouth is open wider than humanly possible. She then wakes up in the nurse's office.

The nurse tells her she passed out probably from an iron deficiency. 

After this, paranormal activity begins occurring in her apartment. 

Strange noises, objects moving on their own, apparitions, bites and claw marks appearing on her body slowly escalates. Veronica desperately tries to find a way to make it stop. 

In one instance, she sneaks back into the school basement to search for something that might help her.

Veronica finds a blind nun, whom students refer to as "Sister Death" in the basement having a cigarette. 

Through some sort of extrasensory perception, she knows what Veronica has done and admonishes her for it. 

She tells the girl that a dark spirit is attached to her which she invited through the séance.

The nun attempts to dispel the dark spirit from Veronica, but to no avail. 

All she can tell her is to "right" what she did wrong, which is to properly end the séance with the other two girls so the evil spirits can go back where they belong. Evidently, they didn't end their spirit session.

Veronica does what she can to right the wrong she committed, only to end up in what we saw in the beginning. 

What makes the movie chilling is the back story behind it. Veronica relies mainly on that.

If the movie wasn't based on an alleged true story, I think it would fall fully among all the other easily overlooked horror thrillers that rely on jump scares, demons, and eerie looking nuns. 

To the movie's credit, it does try to present an overall accurate depiction of what witnesses say went on during the case centering around Estefania Guttierez Lazaro. 

The movie manages to scare, and maintain a level of suspense and fear from beginning to end. The ending makes me want to go back and watch to see if I can catch what wasn't real. It left me thinking maybe some of the story wasn't what I thought it was. It gives a good idea of what the Lazaro family may have experienced in the real case. 

But nothing really stands out as memorable outside of elements being based, albeit loosely, on the true story. Without that, it's just another paranormal movie. I didn't find much about it impressive except for that "what if" factor.

Some parts, especially "Sister Death" struck me as cliche'. The blind nun who can see with some sort of second sight. 

I don't believe the actually story had any such nuns. Rather, the real family consulted some charlatan physic who claimed the family was being haunted by a demonic entity named "Crapula." I kid you not! Thankfully, none of this Crapula was included in the movie. "Sister Death" was at least more engrossing.   

I think the true story is certainly intriguing, regardless of whether people who read the true tale believe in ghosts or not. This movie just gives a basic visual of the actual story. And the movie's ending left an otherwise typical spooky ghost movie on a somewhat thought provoking note. It did make me want to go back and watch Veronica again to see if I missed something.  

I think I understand why some horror/ thriller movies begin with the ending, and then start at the beginning to bring the audience along in order to see how the characters got to the situation we saw at the beginning.

I suppose it's a tactic to build up the unbelievable parts of the story. A movie told in media res can be effective at times, creating a tension when audiences go along the main character's journey and see how events can lead to an extraordinary conclusion. After all, the audiences has insight the main character doesn't. 

It does start things off on a frightening note with images that easily spur the audience's imagination. What happened? How'd these characters get to this terrifying predicament? Well, now I have to watch this and find out. It's a story-telling tool that can't afford to leave an audience disappointed. If it does, the whole movie is ruined. 

I wouldn't say Veronica disappoints. It left me wondering what was real and what wasn't. Despite that, the whole movie felt a little too underwhelming overall.

This movie seems like it could be a part of The Conjuring universe - movies based on the alleged paranormal cases investigated by famed Demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. 

Fans of such films, as well as the paranormal in general, might find Veronica an intriguing, scary, and a worthwhile movie.

78) The Old Dark House (1932)

"We make our own electric light here, and we are not very good at it. Pray, don't be alarmed if they go out altogether."

Director

James Whale 

Cast

Boris Karloff - Morgan

Melvyn Douglas - Penderel 

Raymond Massey - Philip Waverton

Gloria Stuart - Margaret Waverton

Charles Laughton - Sir William Porterhouse

Ernest Thesiger - Horace Femm

Eva Moore - Rebecca Femm

When it comes to horror movies, I have a particular love for stories that take place in old houses that aren't what they seem on the outside. In other words, a house can be ordinary on the outside, but a labyrinth of trepidation and unsettling horror on the inside. I love that.

"Sometimes in is out" Alice said in the 1991 movie The People Under the Stairs, directed by Wes Craven.

That movie, along with titles such as the horror comedy Nothing But Trouble and The Boy present a frightening atmosphere were the main characters might be able to escape the dangers within but are still trapped inside its walls. They might gain their freedom, but they'll had to pay some kind of eternal price, possibly part of their sanity. 

Life can no longer remain the same somehow or another. This scenario adds more to the story of the scary monster chasing its victims. It adds to the turmoil. It creates that necessary sense of agitation on top of the victim's dread and anxiety. Before they can get away, they have to get out. Or they can get away, but they still need to get out. And that's the goal.

The 1932 horror comedy The Old Dark House has been sitting in my movie que for a while now for that reason. Of course, Boris Karloff's presence in the movie has much to do with it, too. 

And it was director by James Whale, who later directed Karloff in 1935's Frankenstein. Whale also directed Gloria Stuart, also starring in this film, in his masterpiece movie (and my personal favorite Universal Monster movie) The Invisible Man.

The Old Dark House also stars Charles Laughton who famously portrayed Quasimodo in the 1939 movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

While I'm on the tangent of film cast, I'll add for good measure that English actor Ernest Thesiger, who plays Horace Femm in this movie, also plays the undertaker in the 1951 movie A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim - one of my favorite adaptations of Charles Dickens's story. 

Thesiger also plays Dr. Pretorius in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) which was also directed by.....wait for it.....James Whale.

So, there's a good amount of legendary horror history in this one film. 

Adapted from the 1927 novel Benighted by J.B. Priestly, The Old Dark House starts off with husband and wife Philip (Raymond Massey) and Margaret Waverton (Gloria Stuart), along with their sarcastic friend Roger Penderel (Melvyn Douglas) driving through Welsh country as a deluge of a rainstorm is pouring down. 

Philip is doing all he can not to get stuck in the flooded road. It's dark, stormy, and late at night when they come upon an old house. 

Desperate, they stop there with hopes of finding shelter. 

Luckily, the tenants are home. 

The servant of the house, Morgan (Boris Karloff), bearded, scarred and stoic, opens the door a crack and peers through.

Despite his menacing appearance, he lets them and goes to get the master of the house.

Horace Femm, a lanky and skeletal looking man, greets them and reluctantly allows them to stay. He gives the group a tour of the house, and tells them he lives there with his sister Rebecca (Eva Moore). 

Rebecca escorts Margaret to her room, and starts berating her about being sinful. She pushes Margaret almost to tears. 

Gloria Stuart in The Old Dark House

She also mentions to Margaret that her 102-year old father, Sir Roderick Femm, also lives in the home. 

There's an unsettling heaviness inside the house. It's apparent the moment Morgan answers the door. 

The intrusive guests are invited to supper, during which time others knock on the door. 

Sir William Porterhouse (Charles Laughton), accompanied by a chorus girl named Gladys DuCane (Lillian Bond) stop in for shelter. 

Soon, everyone is chatting it up over by the fire place. During everyone's conversation, Gladys and Roger start having a talking on their own. 

She says her real last name is Perkins. And then they head out to his car to grab a bottle whiskey. It's obvious, of course, they have more on their mind than just drinking whiskey, though it'll help them do what it is they want to do. (*whispers* each other) 

Meanwhile, the storm cuts the lights out. Rebecca asks Horace to go upstairs and grab a lamp from the top floor.

Horace reluctantly obliges, but tells Philip to go and get it instead claiming he's scared to go upstairs.

When Philip finds the lamp on a small table, he notices a locked door. He then hears a voice coming from the room. 

At the same time, William assists Rebecca in closing windows, and Margaret is left by herself in the dining room.

Suddenly, Morgan approaches her, drunk and starts attacking her. She screams and runs up stairs as Philip is heading down with the lamp.

He throws it at Morgan, causing him to fall down the stairs.

Back in the car, Roger and Gladys are about to get it on as they nestle close with their whiskey...and each other. Their conversation goes right to flirting. Gladys suggests the two live together, which Roger agrees without any consideration.

She insists to him that her relation with Porterhouse is purely on friendly terms. And that's good enough for Roger. 

When they head back to the house to tell Porterhouse what they've just decided, he takes it surprisingly well. 

Philip and Margaret go to check out the locked room where Philip heard the voice earlier. 

When they're able to get inside, they find very old Roderick lying in bed. 

Barely hanging on to life, he tells the two about a terrifying secret within the house that ends up almost killing everyone at once. 

I've seen some movie sights categorize this movie as a horror comedy. In a 2018 article from the Irish Times on the film's restoration, writer Donald Clark calls it James Whale's "funniest horror film." Even considering the decade The Old Dark House was made in, nothing in the story line or dialogue, save for a few comedic quips to lighten the mood at times (that's not uncommon in horror movies, even today) doesn't seem sufficient enough to categorize it as a comedy. 

It's a movie that was filmed prior to the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines. That comes across at times, as I thought to myself a few times "I bet that was scandalous for its day." 

Once considered a lost film, The Old Dark House has claimed a rightful title of "cult classic." Though I have yet to read the story it's based on, the movie does possess a bit of a pulp fiction feel to it. The setup is just begging for quick and easy seductive entertainment. I could easily see this story told on the pages of an EC Comic like Tales from the Crypt or Vault of Horror all the way down to the movies simple yet somehow alluring title. Maybe that's where the comedy is?

Boris Karloff as Morgan.

The Old Dark House captivated my attention throughout. It's scary in all the traditional ways- a dark and stormy night, and an unfamiliar old house filled with shadows.

I see this as a foundational movie in the horror genre with its use of eccentric characters, religious infatuation, unsuspecting guests, sexual proclivity, and the emphasis of shadows. 

The scene in which Rebecca takes it upon herself to chastise Margaret about her lewd ways based on her dressing in "satin and silks," the camera focuses on Rebecca's reflection in the warped mirrors hanging over the vanity as she rambles on.  When Margaret finally tells her to leave, she looks at her own reflection in the same warped mirrors as Rebecca's words and skewed reflections run through her mind. And then she begins to panic over herself, and struggles to open the door and run out of the bedroom. 

It's a simple and effective scene in portraying human frailty that results from fallen human nature. Margaret sees her own reflection and tries to run from it. 

Rebecca doesn't see her warped reflection while she's berating Margaret. However, when Rebecca leaves the room, she looks at her self in the warped mirror to make sure she looks presentable.

Even though this movie isn't as scary as other horror movies of the same period, it's a memorable picture. 

Generally protagonists in a horror movie will escape their horrific situation at a certain cost. But they still escape. The Old Dark House ends on a happy note which may leave some horror fans in the audience a little unsatisfied. The point is that people sometimes have to endure the dark and stormy night before they find their true selves, and maybe come out better in the morning. So, it makes sense to include a happy ending. The darkest hour is before the dawn, as they say. 

Maybe horror comedy isn't an accurate category for The Old Dark House. Psychological horror is more appropriate. It's a movie I recommend.

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.