Not a Review Necessarily - My Nosferatu trailer reaction

The 1922 silent German expressionist vampire film "Nosferatu," directed by F.W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlock, opened the horror genre to vampire movies. 

Count Orlock was the vampire before Bela Lugosi established the quintessential vampire through his depiction of Count Dracula in 1931 with his sleek black hair, alluring Central European/ Romanian accent, debonair appeal, and mysterious and sinister darkness.

Count Orlock is a demon of a vampire both inside and out.

He has an otherworldly appearance, piercing glare, emotionless and unsympathetic demeanor, and his shadow is just as menacing as his person. 

I happened to watch the original "Nosferatu" a month ago and wrote some commentary about which I'll post in October. 

A trailer for "Nosferatu," a remake set to be released Christmas of this year, dropped on Monday. 

It's the second remake of Murnau's brilliant and truly horrific foundational film. The gothic horror movie "Nosferatu the Vampyre" was released in 1979 starring Klaus Kinski as "Count Dracula." He's called that rather than "Orlock" in the movie.

In 2000, the film "Shadow of the Vampire" was released which tells the backstage story about the filming of "Nosferatu." It portrays the suspicions that the film crew had about Max Schreck based on how seriously he took his performance as the vampire. Willem Dafoe plays Schreck in that initial remake.

Willem Dafoe in the upcoming movie, "Nosferatu."

I see "Nosferatu," and maybe Dracula in general, as an allegory for the deadly sin of lust - an enticing powerful emotion that kills love and the soul in the end. It's a vice that makes slaves out of those who give into its seductive allurement, and in most instances struggle all their lives to escape it. 

What person who indulges in lust can stand the sight of a crucifix? The guilt of what the lustful person does in the cover of darkness and secrecy is heavy. The fear of being found out and their secrets being brought out and exposed outside of that darkness is a nagging feeling. But the enticement of lust is too strong and appealing to resist. 

Only the unrepentant soul will cringe at the thought of being exposed, ultimately running away from God. On the other side, the repentant will glorify God for His infinite mercy. 

I worry this remake will get it backwards and glorify the demonic and the seductive while demonizing repentance and the religious which is what the vampire fears. 

It's much too common in Hollywood these days. Perhaps that won't be the case, but I'm not holding my breath. Too many remade stories and the morals they express are often flipped upside down by the progressive minds that run Hollywood. Regressive is more like it. 

"Nosferatu" is directed by Robert Eggers who directed "The Witch" in 2015. That movie does just that. The ending depicts gleeful women being elevated above the trees by demonic forces, no longer bound by the so-called patriarchal repressive powers of the Puritan society the movie takes place in. All the modern articles of the leftwing creed are there (patriarchy and oppression and hatred for religion). His movie "The Witch" is unashamed of depicting evil as a "savior" and good as an enslaver. 

To be fair, Eggers also directed two major hits after "The Witch." That is, "Lighthouse" and "Northman." I saw "Lighthouse" and enjoyed it, though I think I need to see it again because I'm sure I missed something. 

Looking at the trailer for "Nosferatu" I recognize the same storyline from the silent movie. I think the new film will follow that storyline at least. Still, as trailers can be deceiving, I hope the new movie respects the source material - namely the 1922 movie, and Bram Stoker's novel. 

Bill Skarsgård plays Count Orlock in this new remake which isn't a bad casting choice. 

In fact, I predict this will be a winning performance from Skarsgård. He killed it (no pun intended) as Pennywise the Clown in "It" and "It: Chapter 2" directed by Andy Muschietti and based on Stephen King's novel. His performance in both of these movies elevated Skarsgård to the lofty ranks of frightening and memorable movie monsters. His Pennywise will surely stick around for decades alongside Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster, Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil, and Robert Englund's Freddy Krueger. With his boyish face and intense stare that fit Pennywise so well, I think he'll give Count Orlock that same staying power. In other words, he'll raise this vampire back into pop culture territory. I can see Skarsgård making Orlock his own.

Willem Dafoe also stars in this movie as Prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz. He's a decent enough actor with a number of entertaining performances.
Nicholas Hoult will play Thomas Hutter - the Renfield of the story. Honestly, I haven't seen a Hoult performance that I found impressive. He was decent... just decent... in "Tolkien." He was well cast in "The Menu." He was boring as Renfield in "Renfield" (speaking of vampires). Basically, he's a mediocre actor from what I've seen of him so far, which includes his performances in the Marvel movies. Mediocre! So, fingers crossed he brings a decent performance.

The original "Nosferatu" is a nightmarish movie. Will this remake be scary? Maybe. There's no way it'll capture the brilliance and imagination of Murnau's film. But if modern ideologies can be left out, maybe this'll be a worthwhile remake. I can see Skarsgård carrying this entire thing on his shoulders.

I'll hold out a spark of hope that the movie will be a faithful retelling of the story. 

I get that impression from the trailer. So, I'm curious enough to see a new retelling. And stay tuned for my commentary of the silent movie this October... among another set of reviews for the Halloween season!

191) The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

"...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair."

Director

Roger Corman

Cast
Vincent Price - Nicholas / Sebastian Medina
John Kerr - Francis Barnard
Barbara Steele - Elizabeth
Luana Anders - Catherine Medina
Antony Carbone - Doctor Leon
Patrick Westwood - Maximillian
Lynette Bernay - Maria
Larry Turner - Nicholas as child
Mary Menzies - Isabella
Charles Victor - Bartolome

Ever since I started this blog, I've developed an appreciation for the works of director, producer, and actor Roger Corman. 

Among all his work, he stands out in my head as the guy who created "Little Shop of Horrors." 

The more I read about Corman, particularly his Edgar Allan Poe films, the more I wanted to watch them in chronological order. Of course, there's a list of other movies he directed in his long reign as the "King of cult cinema" which I hope to get to in the future. 

I was sad to hear of Corman's passing last May. He certainly has an amazing legacy in horror/thriller cinema. 

In March, I started watching Corman's Edgar Allan Poe series starting with the first film, "House of Usher" (1960). As I mentioned in my review, Usher is followed by "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1961). And that's followed by "Premature Burial" (1962), "Tales of Terror" (1962), "The Raven" (1963), "The Haunted Palace" (1963), "Masque of the Red Death" (1964), and "The Tomb of Ligeia" (1964). All of these films except "Premature Burial" stars horror icon Vincent Price.
I'll also mention again that there's a few odd balls in this mix. To begin with "The Haunted Palace" is actually based on H.P. Lovecraft's novella, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." However, the title belongs to Poe.
The 1968 British horror film, "The Witchfinder General," directed by Michael Reeves and starring Vincent Price, is based on Ronald Bassett's 1966 novel. When it was released in the U.S. by American International Pictures, it was retitled "The Conqueror Worm" in order to connect it to Corman's Poe films.

"The Pit and the Pendulum" continues Poe's obsession with premature burial. Like the other Poe films, this is loosely based on his works.

The story takes place in Spain during the mid-1500s. Francis Barnard (John Kerr), an Englishman, drops in on his brother-in-law, Nicholas Medina (Vincent Price) who lives in a huge castle overlooking the sea. Barnard is looking into the disappearance of his sister, Elizabeth (Barbara Steele).

Nicholas, who lives with his sister Catherine (Luana Anders), tells Francis that his sister died from some sort of blood disorder three months ago. 

As Francis presses for more details, Nicholas and Catherine seem reluctant to give him any answers. But Francis is determined to know what exactly happened to his sister. And he refuses to leave the castle until he knows the facts. 

John Kerr and Vincent Price in "The Pit and the Pendulum."

During supper one evening with the family physician, Dr. Leon (Antony Carbone), Francis asks again about Elizabeth. 

Dr. Leon informs him that Elizabeth actually died from heart failure. As he puts it, she "died of fright." 

Things turn stranger from there. 

Francis demands to see where Elizabeth is buried. Nicholas obliges and takes him into a torture chamber. He also reveals to Francis that Elizabeth became obsessed with the torture devices housed within. So much so that she locked herself within the chamber's iron maiden where she died after whispering the name "Sebastian." 

Francis doesn't buy it. In fact, he picks up on what seems like guilt from Nicholas. He shares his thoughts with Catherine. And she tells him of Nicholas's traumatic childhood experiences as his father was a Spanish inquisitor named Sebastian Medina.

Once during his youth, Sebastian snuck into the torture chamber with his mother, Isabella, and Sebastian's brother, Bartolome. While hiding, he watched as his father tortured Bartolome with a hot poker while shouting "adulterer" at him. 

Bartolome didn't survive the ordeal. And after he died, Sebastian tortured Isabella in front of Nicholas. 

Then, Dr. Leon lets the morbid ugly cat out of the bag. 
He tells Francis and Catherine that Isabella was buried alive behind a stone wall in the castle. 

This news leads Francis to believe the same fate befell his sister Elizabeth. Dr. Leon says that if Elizabeth is roaming around the castle, chances are it's her ghost that's doing the roaming. 

The idea of premature burial is Nicholas's most dreaded and traumatizing fear. 

Soon, all kinds of noises start coming from within Elizabeth's room. 

Everyone goes to investigate these noises, and find her room demolished. And the portrait Nicholas painted of her is torn and slashed. 

Nicholas is now convinced his wife's angered soul is truly haunting the castle. He also starts hearing the harpsichord she loved so much play in the middle of the night. 

Shortly after, he insists her tomb be opened. 

Francis opens her grave and finds her corpse frozen in a terrified position with eyes wide open and her mouth wide open as she died screaming. Scratches mark the coffin lid. Clearly, she was buried alive.  And the sight of her makes Nicholas faint. 

That night, Nicholas is bombarded with mental anguish. He can hear Elizabeth calling him. 

He follows the sound of her voice until he reaches her gravesite. There, he witnesses his late wife crawl out of her grave and follow him as he tries to run. Scared out of his wits, Nicholas falls down a flight of stairs. 

Just then, Dr. Leon appears on scene and confirms to Elizabeth that Nicholas is gone. 

But it doesn't end there!

Like "House of Usher," the horror and apprehension grows and grows in  this movie. The excitement intensifies all the way through.

It's horror that doesn't rely on blood and guts, or jump scares, or gnarly hideous zombies and monsters. This fear is pure mental anguish and anxiety culminating in a superb twist ending. It's a fear of a real possibility. The only way out of that fear, as far as the story goes, cannot be met without inflicting a permanent scar. Horror writer Stephen King applies such a technique for the endings of some, if not many, of his stories. 

Once again, Vincent Price is well cast and maintains himself to be the master of horror and the macabre. 

He conveys the terror within the plot remarkably through his face and reactions. It's in his eyes. Through his defeated, lonesome, fear-filled eyes, Price insights those same emotions to the audience with no need for exposition. 

The performances are brilliant all around, but Price carries the entire thing on his shoulders as though it takes no effort. Yet, it's full of effort.

For a low-budget picture, Corman somehow manages to put the audience in a dreamlike atmosphere while the thought of being buried alive where no one can hear you is forced to stay within the audience's collective imagination for sometime.  

Perhaps the term "horror classic" is thrown out loosely for most of my posts, but that term needs to be applied to Corman's "The Pit and the Pendulum." 

As much as I found "House of Usher" to be a well-made horror flick, "The Pit and the Pendulum" manages to earn a few extra points for hitting the right fearful spots, and for Price's continued impressive performance. I have yet to see Vincent Price performance I didn't like. 

190) The Pit (1981)

"They don't eat chocolate bars."

Director
Lew Lehman

Cast
Sammy Snyders - Jamie Benjamin
Jeannie Elias - Sandy O'Reilly
Sonja Smits - Mrs. Lynde
Laura Hollingsworth - Marg Livingstone
Richard Alden - Mr. Benjamin
Laura Press - Mrs. Benjamin
Paul Grisham - Freddy
Wendy Schmidt - Christina
Allison Tye - Alicia
Edith Bedker - Louise

You hear about movies with a cult following all the time. They're the failed movies that somehow earned a great deal of admiration and enjoyment over time. 

I've never thought of myself as a follower to a film labeled as having a cult following. 

I'm publicly declaring that I'm officially a part of this movie's cult following. 

"The Pit," released in 1981, is a Canadian horror flick that was actually filmed in Wisconsin. And things get weirder from there. 

The story centers on 12-year Jaime Benjamin (Sammy Snyders) who, to put it mildly, is an awkward kid. 

The movie starts with a scene that takes place later on in the story. 

It's Halloween night and Jamie is dressed in a not-so-well-executed ghost costume. 

He walks up to an older kid named Freddy Phelps (Paul Grisham). We see a quick cutaway of their initial meeting on the school playground where Jaime asks Freddy if he can join his club. Freddy, in front of his girlfriend, Christina (Wendy Schmidt), responds by punching Jaime right in the face. Christina starts laughing hysterically. 

Jaime says he wants to talk to Freddy in private and show him something. So, for reasons beyond reason, Freddy follows Jaime to some remote location out in the woods. Jaime says he has a big bag full of jewels and stuff worth millions, and he wants to give to Freddy!

When they get to the bag, it's near a huge gaping pit. Freddy starts searching through the bag while standing on the edge of this pit. Jaime sneaks up behind him and pushes him in. 

The movie then goes to the beginning of the story. 

Other people, kids and adults, around town are pretty mean to Jaime. His one friend is his teddy bear which he often talks to. The bear's responses are spoken in Jaime's voice. So, the audience is led to believe it's all in Jaime's head. Or is it?

You see, Jaime as at "that" age. Puberty. He's developed a creepy obsession with females. 

Sammy Snyders as Jaime in 'The Pit.'

Jaime is forced to stay after school and write lines on the chalkboard for bringing a book of nude photography to school. Not pornography necessarily. 

The front page is cut out. Jaime claims the book was in that condition when he checked it out from the library. 

His teacher brings it to the library and hands it over to librarian Marg Livingstone (Laura Hollingsworth). Marg doesn't need an explanation as to who had the book and cut out the front page. 

She knows without a doubt Jaime is responsible. 

Later, his parents take off on a business trip and hire a babysitter named Sandy O'Reilly (Jeannie Elias) to look after Jaime. She's an attractive psychology student whom Jaime takes a quick liking to. 

Once the parents are gone, Jaime wastes little time in bluntly asking if she has a boyfriend. 

He then does a bunch of other weird stuff like watching her sleep, and then admitting to it like it's no big deal. He also asks her if she'll help give him a bath. Though she thinks he's too old for that, she agrees anyways along as there's enough bubbles in the water to provide cover. It's awkward just mentioning it.  

During a conversation at breakfast, Jaime tells Sandy he has a secret he wants to reveal. 

He says that he found a pit in the forest with some weird goblin-looking creatures called trogs living inside it. Jaime calls them tralalogs. 

And he feeds these tralalogs raw meat. 

Jaime starts stealing cash from Sandy's purse to buy meat for them. Then he starts luring people who mistreat him to the pit where he then pushes them in for the tralalogs to feast on, including Freddy and his girlfriend, Christina, on Halloween night. We get to watch that scene play out a second time later in the movie. 

When he first tells Sandy about these creatures, she obviously doesn't believe him. 

Later, after she's had enough of his creepy behavior like his sneaking into the bathroom while she's showering and writing "I love you" on the mirror, she says she'll go see this pit if he cuts his disturbing behavior. 

They go to the pit, and Sandy is shocked to see these creatures are in fact real. She insists on getting specialists out to study these things - the discovery of some new species. 

Jaime doesn't care much for that idea, and after arguing about, Sandy accidentally falls into the pit. He tries to save her but can't, and she becomes the next meal for the tralalogs. 

Jaime breaks down in his room, convincing himself Sandy's death is not his fault. 

It's implied early on that his ragged teddy bear's responses are all in Jaime's head. But in one scene, the bear moves on its own. God knows what Jaime has put this bear through during his alone time.

Anyways, out of anger or frustration, Jamie lowers a rope into the pit to let the creatures out. Carnage quickly ensues as they start eating innocent people around town. 

Towners create a militia to hunt down the tralalogs. They round them up back to the pit and shoot them all. They tell everyone that these creatures are nothing but a pack of rabid dogs. 

After, Jamie's parents take him to live with his grandparents. Once he arrives at their place, he meets a girl his age named Alicia who suggests they should play together. Jaime is all to happy to have an actual friend, though he has kept his teddy bear. 

Alicia has him chase her into the woods where, behold, she has a pit of her own. 

This movie is bad. Yet seldom have I watched a bad movie with such a satisfying ending. 

The opening scene with the flashback of Jaime asking Freddy to be in his club, resulting in a punch in the face, leads the audience to believe Jaime to be a sympathetic character. That dissolves quickly.

Jaime isn't supposed to be a likeable character, nor is he meant to be sympathetic. Jaime is a disturbed kid whose actions go from creepy to outright disturbing and terrible. 

Once he crosses those boundaries way past adolescent curiosity in sex, he goes into the realm of murder and stalking, enjoying it all the while. Disturbed isn't a big enough word. 

Honestly, my first reaction after watching "The Pit" was to make fun of it, which is pretty easy to do. I have to applaud Sammy Snyders for his performance. That's not an attempt at pandering, either. Kudos to him for portraying an awkward kid so well that it makes the audience feel pretty damn awkward, too. 

For Snyders to portray such a twisted problematic kid whom the audience is meant to take a disliking to, and do it convincingly deserves recognition. By the third act of the movie, I couldn't blame Freddy for punching Jaime right in the face. I couldn't help laugh along with Christina, too. I don't encourage bullying, or anything like that. Nevertheless, that has to be the expected reaction after seeing what kind of kid Jaime is, and what he's willing to do to other people. In one scene, he calls Marg from a pay phone, and plays a pre-recorded message telling her that her niece has been kidnapped. If she wants to see her niece again, she has to stand in her front room window and remove her shirt. And she does, fearing the call is real. Jaime, meanwhile, is hiding in her bushes with a Polaroid. And when Marg is standing there, in walks her niece.  

A lot of the lines sound horribly scripted, many scenes are uncomfortable to watch, and other scenes get a laugh when that's not the intended reaction. Seldom have I shouted "you can't be serious" several times during one movie.  Still, it all manages to work in telling an entertaining horror story, which is weird for me to think since there's some creepy stuff in the movie, and I'm not referring to these tralalogs. But it really does entertain! I can see why "The Pit" has a cult following. I want to be among these followers, mainly for Snyders's performance.

The mystery behind Jaime's teddy bear has no explanation. Is there correlation between the tralalogs and this bear? Who knows? It's never explained. There are tralalogs living in a pit, and Jaime's teddy bear is alive somehow. 

I can't say "The Pit" is a good movie. It's not. For all the awful stuff in this movie, it's not forgettable. Again, my hat is off to Snyders for his truly and sincerely unforgettable performance! 

Not a Review Necessarily - My Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice trailer reaction

I have mixed feelings about Tim Burton's 1988 supernatural comedy, "Beetlejuice." 

Michael Keaton's performance as the titular character is one of my favorite performances of his. It's pure Michael Keaton all the way. He's a natural born comedian who's immensely likeable. He brings that likeability to this comically sinister "bioexorcist" character. 

Keaton is so at ease as Beetlejuice, with his class clown kind of humor and mannerisms. 

In my head, "Beetlejuice" is the most Tim Burton-y movie of Tim Burton movies. It's certainly one of a kind. I can't compare it to any other movie I've seen or know about. 

Some of the jokes in the movie work, and the gimmicky concept of the afterlife as being one big corporate system operated by the dead who appear just as they did when they died is hilarious. 

The set design is unique and unforgettable. It's like a dark ride version of Tim Burton's 1985 movie "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure." 

Beetlejuice, though, is more of a side character in his own movie. The story is really about the small town couple, Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam Maitland (Alec Baldwin) who pass away and are stuck in their  house as ghosts. 

They have to get use to "life" in the afterlife while attempting to scare away the upscale eccentric Deetz family who move in from New York City. 

What makes Beetlejuice stand out, aside from his unkept hair, molding face, dark eyes, and cartoonish behavior, is how he contrasts with the story around him. 

Outside of the titular character, the movie has a somber tone within a surreal atmosphere. It's a weird mixture of small-town country style side by side with Tim Burton's dark and dreary ambiance sprinkled with awful looking gaudy kitsch artwork. That's part of the comedy, though. 

And Keaton's Beetlejuice contrasts with it all with his slapstick comedy. It's a movie that seems intended to a specific audience. Who that audience is, I have no idea. 

It's Keaton's likeability that surely kept Beetlejuice a pop culture staple ever since his 1988 debut. Though the movie is really aimed at adults, with its adult humor, it still managed to gain the attention and affection of kids. It even managed to get a Saturday morning cartoon that ran for four seasons between 1989 to 1991. I never missed an episode each Saturday morning.  

Thirty-six years later, in this cinematic era when long-awaited sequels come to fruition, a new Beetlejuice movie is coming out in September called "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice." Rumors abounded for years of another Beetlejuice movie in the works. Now, it's a thing. 

Michael Keaton reprises his role as Beetlejuice 36 years
after playing the character in Tim Burton's 1988 movie, "Beetlejuice."

I think a sequel is manageable for the story. Afterall, Beetlejuice is dead, so he's not going anywhere. 

I'm curious enough to wonder what became of the oddball Deetz family. Has this upscale eccentric New York City family managed to adapt to country life in the rural town of Winter River, Connecticut? What became of the ghosts of Adam and Barbara Maitland? My guess is their number was finally called, and they moved onto the great beyond past the afterlife waiting room. 

Above all, what else is there to explore in the afterlife?

I don't get the impression, based on this trailer, that Keaton still has the same comedic energy he did 36 years ago. Then again, it has been a long time. How long is too long? Evidently, it doesn't matter since, again, this is the age of sequels intended to pump new life and interest (money) into older movies past their prime.

The heart of the original movie is the satirical treatment of the afterlife and all the weird dark spiritualism unfortunately associated with it, at least among people who think they know all about the unknown. 

"Beetlejuice" is a ghost story told from the ghosts point of view. The Maitlands are not only thrust into a completely unfamiliar domain that doesn't meet their expectations, they also have to figure out how to haunt their house. It's a clever scenario that's perfect for a comedy setup. There's a lot to do with a scenario like that. Hence, a sequel. 

So, now where does it go?

I bet "Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice" will explore the "other side" a little more. It looks as though since the happenings of the first movie, Beetlejuice has started working at a job inside the corporate processes of the afterlife. 

I think the inclusion of Jenna Ortega as "Astrid," who must be Lydia Deetz's (Winona Ryder reprises her role) daughter is a great casting choice. 

Ortega is masterful as Wednesday Addams in Burton's mystery series "Wednesday" based on the "Addams Family" series." I expect she'll be fantastic in this movie! 

Catherine O'Hara also returns as Lydia's mother, Delia Deetz. Again, based on this trailer, she seems to bring a more reserved demeanor with a sense of true sophistication. In the first movie, she's an impulsive and self-absorbed character. Surely that aspect of the character will carry on. I am really intrigued, based on the trailer, what Catherine O'Hara will do with an older Delia who's a grandmother. 

Above all, I truly appreciate Burton utilizing stop motion animation just as he did for the first movie. 

Despite the mixed feelings I have towards the first "Beetlejuice," I'm curious enough to see where Burton will take everything.

Most sequels that have come out years and years after the initial film are really just attempts to rehash old franchises and allow old timers to relive their old movie experiences. This, I'm sure, is following that trend.

There are a few callbacks seen in the trailer which is expected. I anticipate it'll be another attempt to capture the feel of the first flick. That's probably a no-brainer. 

By the way, I have to say, for a dead guy, Beetlejuice has certainly aged considerably. 

189) Teen Wolf (1985)

"Well, dad, it didn't pass me by. It landed on my face."

Director

Rod Daniel

Cast
Michael J. Fox - Scott Howard
James Hampton - Harold Howard
Susan Ursitti - Boof
Jerry Levine - Stiles

Mark Holton - Chubby
Matt Adler - Lewis
Lorie Griffin - Pamela
Jim McKrell - Mr. Thorne
Mark Arnold as Mick
Jay Tarses - Coach Finstock

I'm really pulling the meaning of "horror movie" rather far with 1985's "Teen Wolf." It's not really a "horror" movie as the genre is commonly understood. That is, a horror movie is usually a film intended to frighten its audience. 

Aside from the fact that the main character turns into a werewolf, which are a common horror trope, "Teen Wolf" is not really a horror movie as it's clearly not trying to scare its audience.

Unlike other werewolf movies, this werewolf isn't a ravenous bloodthirsty monster. He maintains his typical teenage personality, and he suddenly becomes really good at basketball. So, I'd categorize "Teen Wolf" as a horror comedy although it's really tame as far as frightening scenes and general horror elements go. 

In fact, "Teen Wolf" even got its own Saturday morning cartoon which ran for two seasons in 1986 and 1987. For some reason, I remember the cartoon airing in the early 1990s. 

Growing up, my family had a VHS copy of "Teen Wolf" which somebody recorded off of television. 

Last week, I stumbled upon a copy of at my local library. I haven't seen the movie since the early to mid 1990s. I watched it a lot in my youth and remember constantly rewinding the werewolf transition scene to really soak in the effects. So now, I was a bit excited to watch it again after about 30 years. 

In this movie, Michael J. Fox plays high school teenager Scott Howard who lives with his dad, Harold (James Hampton). It's implied that his mother has since passed away. 

He lives in a small Nebraska town and... wait! I also live in a small Nebraska town! 

Anyways, Scott plays on the high school basketball team, the Beavers. He's also going through the usual teenage stuff. 

He has a major crush on the popular girl, Pamela Wells (Lorie Griffin). However, she's dating Mick (Mark Arnold) who plays on the rival basketball team, the Dragons. Pamela could care less about Scott. 

His long-time friend, Boof (Susan Ursitti) likes Scott but he's clueless about how she clearly feels. 

Michael J. Fox as 'Teen Wolf' Scott Howard.

Scott is also noticing some odd changes taking place with himself. Hair is suddenly growing on his hands. His ears changing shape in certain moments. His finger nails will suddenly turn into claws. Long hairs are suddenly appearing on his chest. Spooky stuff!

Finally, he can't control these changes and one night he transforms into a werewolf. That same night, his dad reveals he's also a werewolf. 

"An explanation is probably long overdue," his dad says.

Scott doesn't know how to deal with this. 

He first reveals his secret to his oddball friend, Stiles (Jerry Levine) who is shocked at first but promises to keep it a secret.

Finally, when being pummeled on the basketball court during a game, the wolf suddenly comes out in front of everyone. 

As the entire school now knows about Scott being a werewolf, they take a liking to him. He becomes not only Mr. Popular around campus, he's also suddenly good at basketball. And he finally gets the attention he wanted from Pamela Wells, much to Boof's chagrin. Though Pamela goes out with Scott, much to the jealousy of her boyfriend, she declines to actually be his girlfriend as she is still Mick's girlfriend. 

While Scott maintains his school popularity, one person still has it in for him - the Vice Principal, Mr. Thorne (James McKrell). 

He has a vendetta against Scott, which ultimately stems from an incident Thorne had with Scott's dad.

Disappointed with Pamela, Scott asks Boof to the Spring Dance. Boof agrees under the condition that she goes with Scott Howard, not "the wolf." 

Scott declines. People like the wolf. That's who they want to see. So, he goes alone. 

At the dance, he and Boof meet in the school hallway, and kiss. This turns Scott back into his normal self. 

When they return to the dancefloor, an angry and jealous Mick punches Scott in the face. He also starts mocking Boof. Angry, Scott turns back into the wolf and tries to attack him. 

Scott gets a grip on himself and runs into the hallway instead where he meets an all-too-happy Vice Principal Thorne who has Scott right where he wants him, He's about to kick him out of school but Scott's dad comes to his son's aide against Thorne. 

For Scott, he faces a choice to continue on from there as himself or as "the wolf." Despite all the benefits the wolf paved the way for, Scott of course realizes it's better to be who he really is... although he is actually a werewolf so, it's not like he'd be lying to himself or anyone if he chose to be the wolf. 

"Teen Wolf" is as formulaic a coming-of-age movie as it gets. 

Nothing much happens after Scott realizes he's a wolf. He becomes popular and wins the big basketball championship. Outside of Michael J. Fox playing a werewolf, this movie is bland. It carries on in pop culture simply because of Fox. The only dilemma is whether Scott keeps up being the wolf or not. Other than Michael J. Fox playing a werewolf teen, and a few still funny moments. the movie is just boring.

Scott's coach, Mr. Finstock (Jay Tarses) is my favorite character in all this. Perhaps the premise that the coach is rather disinterested in the team has not aged well, the joke that he can't offer any sensical motivational advice to his players to save his life is pretty funny. 

"There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese," he tells Scott in one scene. 

In another scene, when Scott is noticing the odd occurrences taking place, unaware it's his inner werewolf coming out, he goes to his coach in the hopes of receiving some advice. 

"Look Scotty, I know what you're going through," the coach says. "Couple years back, a kid came to me much the same way you're coming to me now, saying the same thing that you're saying. He wanted to
drop off the team. His mother was a widow, all crippled up. She was scrubbing floors. She had this pin in her hip. So, he wanted to drop basketball and get a job. Now these were poor people, these were hungry people with real problems. Understand what I'm saying?"

"What happened to the kid?" Scott asks. 
"I don't know. He quit. He was a third stringer; I didn't need him."

I see this movie as a bit of a spoof of teenage horror movies such as "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" from 1957. In one scene, Scott uses his wolf abilities to scare a liquor store clerk into selling him a keg of beer. 

A few years before its release, an actual horror comedy with the same general premise was released called "Full Moon High" (1981). I've heard it come up in content and conversations about "Teen Wolf", but I have yet to watch it. 

The whole teenage werewolf motif has stuck around for a lot of years. Yeah, yeah... "Twilight." We all know about that. 

The marketing for "Teen Wolf" was heavy with the fact that not only is Michael J. Fox in this but that Michael J. Fox, the star of "Back to the Future," is in this. 

Time has been good to Fox. If it wasn't for him, "Teen Wolf" would surely have fallen into the deep, dark recesses of obscure 80s movies where titles like "Invaders From Mars" (1986), "Hell Comes to Frogtown" (1988) and "Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann" (1982) dwell. 

It's a bit of a nutty professor kind of scenario in that the main character becomes much more popular and liked when he becomes a monster than he is when he's his normal self. 

While Scott Howard isn't so popular at school, when he becomes a werewolf, the students love what he becomes and the success he brings to the Beavers. 

Scott the werewolf is rather novel, but not who he "actually is" personality wise, I guess. He's always been there, but the werewolf side of him was always a secret. At the advice of his dad, Scott has to choose to either be himself regardless of what others think of him or be the superficial wolf and enjoy this newfound popularity for as long as it lasts. 

What's odd is that Scott doesn't start changing until his teenage years. Did he not go through this during his childhood days? And he doesn't learn that his dad also becomes a werewolf until the night when Scott fully changes into the wolf. 

I don't get why his inner werewolf suddenly decides to show itself now at random in his teenage years. It's vaguely implied that it's tied to his hormone changes common with puberty. Later, Scott tells Stiles he can bring out the werewolf whenever he wants. And evidently being a werewolf is a genetic thing, passed down through generations.    

"Teen Wolf" is an alright update to the teenage horror subgenre, though again, it's a real stretch calling it "horror." 

The story line is cut and dry. Once the werewolf shows up, it's a matter of waiting for something else to happen. Though it does still have some funny moments, outside of the novelty of Michael J. Fox being a wolf, the rest is a complete lull. Not to mention the fact it's the only other movie that I know Mark Holton from other than "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure." That is, until I saw him in "Leprechaun." 

Also, is "Boof" a real name? Has anyone out there had a child and declared, "And I shall name her, 'Boof'?" 

188) Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) - NEW TO HORROR

"Kong can't stop this on his own."

Director
Adam Wingard

Cast
Rebecca Hall - Dr. Ilene Andrews
Brian Tyree Henry - Bernie Hayes
Dan Stevens - Trapper
Kaylee Hottle - Jia
Alex Ferns - Mikael
Fala Chen - Iwi Queen
Rachel House - Hampton

🦎Some minor spoilers ahead 🐵

I really regret seeing "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," currently playing in theaters, before 2023's "Godzilla Minus One" from Japan. I haven't heard anything bad about the latter. And I'm very anxious to see it.
"Godzilla x Kong" is a sequel to the 2021 film "Godzilla vs. Kong" which is a sequel to "Kong: Skull Island" (2017) and "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" (2019). This is the fourth movie in what's being called the "MosterVerse" which starts with the 2014 film "Godzilla." 

It's also the 37th Godzilla film ever. 

I can't write about another Godzilla flick without mentioning my reviews of the first 15 Godzilla flicks which I sat through, one by one, back around Halloween of 2022. That was fun, and I plan to review the next movies during some future Halloween. 

I did enjoy watching the previous "Godzilla vs. Kong." So much so that I completely forgot all the characters who return in this new movie. In my review of "Godzilla vs. Kong" which I wrote for a local paper, I called it a "fight worth waiting for." 

This new movie takes place three years after the events of the previous movie. 

Kong has established himself quite comfortably in Hollow Earth, which is where scientists put Kong in the last movie. But even giant apes get lonely, especially when there's a lack of a female presence. 

Up on the Earth's surface, Godzilla is still boss keeping an eye on humanity, and making sure no new titans are coming around to cause trouble. 

After defeating Scylla in Rome back in the first movie, Godzilla has turned the Coliseum in Rome into his own personal bunk bed. 

Observers at Monarch, the organization that kept Kong in the last movie, are keeping an eye on him. They realize they have to bring Kong up to the surface of Earth because he has an infected tooth. Thankfully, Monarch has a dentist on hand who specializes in big gorillas. Trapper (Dan Stevens) manages to sedate Kong, pull out his infected tooth, and replace it with an artificial one. 

They've also picked up an unusual signal from Hollow Earth. 

Up on Earth, Jia (Kaylee Hottle) the last survivor of the Iwi tribe from Skull Island, is also mentally picking up on this signal. It's causing her to have hallucinations.
Her adopted mother, Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) is concerned, naturally. 

And guess who else is catching this signal. Godzilla! 

This leads him to go attack a nuclear power plant over in France and absorb all the nuclear energy in preparation for an upcoming fight. 

I had no idea why he took any interest in everything that comes next, but my guess is he's protecting humanity from any threat brought about by another titan or titans. 

From there, Godzilla makes a B-line for the secret lair of Tiamat, another monster titan, up in the Arctic. 

These two monsters fight with Godzilla winning effortlessly of course. He steals Tiamat's radiation supply which continues to give him a generous surplus of power.  

The brainiacs at Monarch think Godzilla is preparing as much as he can for a major fight. 

Kong, meanwhile, finds a sinkhole which takes him to an unchartered portion of Hollow Earth where other giant apes have survived. 

A little giant ape named Suko finds Kong and alerts other giant apes. These apes don't take kindly to him. 

After Kong beats up the other apes, he forces Suko to take him to the whereabouts of more giant apes. 

Suko takes Kong to a secret liar were other apes serve a tyrant leader known as Skar King. 

He sees Kong as a threat and fights him with a crystal that controls an ice breathing monster lizard called Shimo. 

As Kong and Shimo duke it out, Shimo gives Kong frost bite on his arm after breathing on it. 

Ilene Andrews gets the help of podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) because he was in the last movie and has to be in this movie, too. 

Together with Kong's dentist, they all travel into Hollow Earth. Down there, they discover hieroglyphics telling the tale of how Skar King once attempted to ascend to our part of the Earth, conquer it, and battle Godzilla and his species. Godzilla defeated him and kicked him back to Hollow Earth. 

These carvings also indicate how Jia and the Iwi tribe will one day awaken Mothra. So, there's that exposition of what's to come later in the movie. 

The explorers find members of the lost Iwi tribe who help Jia awaken Mothra. 

Kong manages to ascend back to the Earth's surface, emerging in Cairo, Egypt. He calls out for Godzilla for help, but Godzilla is anything but thrilled to see him. He attacks Kong despite Kong's efforts to talk and explain the situation. I mean, that's basically what happens. 

Thankfully, Jia and Mothra arrive and manage to explain things to Godzilla who relents and agrees to help Kong in his own Godzilla way. 

They all head back to Hollow Earth to take on Skar King and Shimo. The name 'Shimo' sounds like one of the three stooges, or the 6th Marx Brother. 

Anyways, they all fight down there and eventually drag their fight to Rio De Janeiro. This is Skar King's chance to conquer the Earth and take down Godzilla and Kong.

Unlike the previous movie, Godzilla and King Kong don't really fight each other. They do have a little scuffle in the middle of Cairo. Otherwise, it's all about getting Godzilla on board to fight a battle for a purpose which he has absolutely no role in or use for. Still, he's completely gung-ho for this fight on Kong's behalf.

Mothra's presence is a welcomed plot point for me. Her presence gives the movie that giant monsters all-out attack atmosphere. It's giant ape and lizard against...another giant ape and lizard. 

With all this check-your-brain-at-the-door cheesiness, the movie still manages to have all the Godzilla movie feels. For instance, the dentist/ scientist just happens to have an artificial giant ape tooth on hand once he extracts Kong's bum tooth. 

Later, when Kong's arm is frostbitten, the scientists happen to have a left-over robotic exoskeleton arm brace that just happens to be there in Hollow Earth right when it's needed. And it happens to have all the green glowing stuff necessary to heal Kong's arm. 

Again, check your brain at the door. 

It's the monsters versus monsters, and the Godzilla movie feels I enjoyed the most. That's what audiences want in a Godzilla movie. So, it had what I came for which is always worth the price of a matinee ticket and bucket of popcorn. 

Some Godzilla films have the King of the Monsters being the good guy. Others have him as a bad guy. He's a good guy in this one. 

After recently watching "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" which has a scene where a beach freezes over, I was treated yet again to another scene of a beach freezing over in "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire." Purely coincidental, I think. 

Otherwise, the characters and story in "Godzilla x Kong" are forgettable. And the primitive giant apes carry one with a sudden intellect that wasn't there before is lame. It's all about those monster feels, and not much more. 

After watching this movie, I am all the more anxious to see "Godzilla Minus One."

We've come a long way since the first fight back in '62...

187) House of Usher (1960)

"For hundreds of years, foul thoughts and deeds have been committed within these halls."

Director

Roger Corman

Cast

Vincent Price - Roderick Usher

Mark Damon - Philip Winthrop

Myrna Fahey - Madeline Usher

Harry Ellerbe - Bristol

Roger Corman, "The King of the Cult Film" and "The Pope of Pop Cinema," has a string of period movies based on the macabre works of Edgar Allen Poe.

The first is "House of Usher" (1960) based on Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher." It's followed by "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1961), "Premature Burial" (1962), "Tales of Terror" (1962), "The Raven" (1963), "The Haunted Palace" (1963), "Masque of the Red Death" (1964), and "The Tomb of Ligeia" (1964). All of these films except "Premature Burial" stars horror icon Vincent Price. 

It's worth mentioning that there's a few odd balls in this mix. To begin with "The Haunted Palace" is actually based on H.P. Lovecraft's novella, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." The title belongs to Poe. 

The 1968 British horror film, "The Witchfinder General," directed by Michael Reeves and starring Vincent Price, is based on Ronald Bassett's 1966 novel. When it was released in the U.S. by American International Pictures, it was retitled "The Conqueror Worm" in order to connect it to Corman's Poe films. 

Also, Corman's 1963 movie "The Terror" staring Boris Karloff and a very young Jack Nicholson tends to be linked to his Poe films though it's not based on anything Poe has written. Corman himself explains the reason why this is so. In his memoirs, he says, "I was getting so familiar with the standard elements of Poe's material – or at least our adaptations – that I tried to out-Poe himself and create a Gothic tale from scratch." (Corman, 88). 

So, now I'm on another cinematic horror mission like my watching all the "Psycho" movies. I want to get through all these Poe films in chronological order. The challenge is finding them all. I've had them on my radar for a few years. And I happened to find a copy of "House of Usher" at the library. I'll likely include the oddball films as well because, why not. When I go for something, I want to go all in.

In this movie, Mark Damon plays Philip Winthrop who arrives unannounced to the isolated Usher mansion. He's there to visit his fiancé Madeline (Myrna Fahey). But her disappointed older brother Roderick (Vincent Price) doesn't great him very warmly. In fact, he doesn't want Philip there at all and would prefer he leave Madeline altogether. 

Vincent Price and Myrna Fahey in "House of Usher."

"For hundreds of years, foul thoughts and deeds have been committed within these halls," he tells Philip.

So, naturally Philip and Roderick take a disliking to each other. 

Philip's efforts are focused on trying to take Madeline away from the dreary and foreboding walls of the House of Usher. 

Despite Roderick's protests against the two marrying, Philip intends to marry her despite him. 

Roderick tries to convince Philip that he and Madeline both suffer from an inherited madness that's unique to the Usher lineage. As Madeline is very sick, he tells Philip she doesn't have long to live. But Philip refuses to leave and call off his engagement.

Strange noises echo throughout the halls at odd hours. 

Philip turns to the butler, Bristol (Harry Ellerbe), about these noises. He tells Philip that they're the result of a fissure that has existed in walls for decades. 

As the days carry on, and Philip refuses to leave, strange "accidents" begin occurring around him. He's almost killed as a result of some of these strange accidents. 

One of these accidents happen when Madeline is showing him the family crypt underneath the mansion. 

He's almost hit by a flying coffin, which causes Madeline to faint. 

Later, Philip goes to check on Madeline who has been resting in her room after fainting, and finds her sprawled across the bed, seemingly dead of a heart attack.

Roderick quickly has her placed in a coffin to be buried in a plot reserved for her in the family crypt. He wants her to be immediately buried. 

The following morning, Bristol tells Philip that Madeline used to have cataleptic fits. This means she's buried alive. He goes straight to Roderick about. And he admits to it. 

Roderick claims he allowed her to be buried out of love of his sister, and to ensure the tainted Usher blood won't spread to future generations. When he tries to go save her, Roderick assures him that by this time, she's surely dead. 

That night, Philip sneaks to the crypt only to find a trail of blood along the floor leading to a hidden passage. 

Madeline somehow managed to break out of her coffin and escape to somewhere inside the house. 

When Philip finds her, she has gone insane and attacks him. 

He gets the upper hand and tries to shake her back to some level of sanity. 

But she runs off to find her brother. 

Myrna Fahey and Mark Damon.

A violent storm erupts outside, causing the fissures to start splitting the house. 

Philip watches in helpless horror as Madeline attacks Roderick while the house crumbles to pieces. There's nothing Philip can do but watch as beams fall and kill Roderick and Madeline instantly.

Bristol finds Philip and drags him to safety outside before running back into the house which has now caught fire. 

Within minutes, the house burns and sinks into the ground until it's no more. 

Poe has some sort of interest in premature burial. His other stories "Premature Burial," "Berenice," "Black Cat," and "The Cask of Amontillado" have situations in which someone is buried alive. 

In this movie, the audience witnesses the scenario of being buried alive affect those around the victim. 

Everything from the atmosphere, mood, artwork, music direction and acting, especially from Price, fit so well together in this spectacle of a horror film. 

I don't like to quote other critics often, but "Variety" stated it best at the time when it wrote, "In having taken several liberties with the original, the release may aggravate Poe purists and scholars, but the shrewd alterations, since they pursue a romantic course, should prove popular with the bulk of modern audiences. It is a film that should attract mature tastes as well as those who come to cinema for sheer thrills." 

I have a soft spot for period horror pieces like "House of Usher." 

As Corman is known for producing low-budget movies, "House of Usher" doesn't feel like a low-budget picture. It's quite a spectacle despite having a small handful of performers, one being the legendary Vincent Price. 

In fact, it has a solid script, great performances from respectable actors, and a shooting schedule that took several weeks. 

This is such a lavish and well assembled movie. It reminds me a bit of the Hammer Horror productions such as the 1958 film "Dracula" starring Christopher Lee. 

Corman keeps the film truly rich and ornate yet simple with just four actors in the cast. Though he's resourceful, Corman takes everything he can get out of what he has. Every last little drop! 

And Vincent Price, as always, gives everything in his masterful performance. Price never seems to hold back in his films. "House of Usher" is certainly no exception. I love watching him as he delivers each line so meticulously and carefully, ensuring that his deliverance properly fits and supports the scene and the mood. 

Corman's film maintains a steady pace that doesn't drag nor speed up. There's no dull moment. 

It grows more and more suspenseful as trepidation slowly climbs until the final act. I honestly can't wait to get to the rest of Corman's Poe films. 

Death and despair fill the house. Only that which has life and hope can escape it. I can't say how close or loose the movie is compared with Poe's story. But the themes of family, madness, and isolation are certainly well maintained.

There's good reason why this movie was listed on the U.S. National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."