Another October, and another month-long “festival” of horror for your intrepid film critic.
But unlike many years before, this wasn’t a celebration of the wide variety of quality in horror cinema the past century has given us, rather a celebration, it turns out, of the genre’s finest. Some films didn’t quite make the playlist: for example, a couple of personal faves starring HS classmate/budding horror icon, AJ Bowen, sadly went unwatched (“The Signal,” “The House of the Devil”). But as you’ll see in rundown below, I made room for a couple of his films, even this year’s “worst in show,” “Creepshow 3,” of which his segment is the best part.
A few staples, such as nearly ALL of the “Simpsons’s” “Treehouse of Horror” episodes I own on DVD, were excised to make room for a few new entries (plus, trying to space those “Treehouse” eps out is getting harder and harder); namely, a couple of previously unseen films from Warner Bros.’s great Val Lewton box set, as well as the entire first season (and the first three episodes of this season) of AMC’s zombie hit, “The Walking Dead.” On the latter, consider me officially hooked.
I was also sufficiently inspired to write another composition that explores the darkest recesses of musical creativity, albeit in my own unique style. Unfortunately, the piece (currently untitled; I haven’t thought of a good one) is not recorded, as the speakers I would normally use are not working properly, and I have to get them fixed. I tried to record anyway, but the setup just didn’t work. All in good time, however. As you’ll see, you can still download my previous works of the macabre, and watch the short horror film I scored back in 2009, to get your musical fix of my horror-inspired thought process.
So, the general ideas and outlines for this blog remain the same. I hope you enjoy! Until next year…BOO!!
Brian Skutle’s Macabre Musical Saga
“Otherworldly March” (2004)
“Gothic Twilight” (2005)
“Darkness for Voices, String Quartet and Tubular Bells” (2006)
“The Hour of the Wolf” (2009)
“Walpurgisnacht (Original Score for the Short Film ‘Walpurgis Night’)” (2009)
Mathew Timms’s “Walpurgis Night” (2009)
Thanks for listening,
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
www.reverbnation.com/brianskutle
www.myspace.com/brianskutle
www.myspace.com/cinemanouveau
“I think of horror films as art, as films of confrontations. Films that make you confront aspects of your own life that are difficult to face. Just because you’re making a horror film doesn’t mean you can’t make an artful film.”- David Cronenberg (director, “The Fly,” “Spider,” “The Dead Zone”)
Brian’s 8th October Halloween Horror-a-Thon: The List
=“Drag Me to Hell” (2009)- A+
=“The Revenge of Frankenstein” (1958)- A-
=“Creepshow” (1982)- A-
=“Interview With the Vampire” (1994)- A-
=“John Carpenter’s The Thing” (1982)- A
=“Cloverfield” (2008)- A-
=“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (1920)- A
=“Creepshow III” (2007)- D
=“Friday the 13th” (1980)- A-
=“The Sixth Sense” (1999)- A+
=“The Evil Dead” (1982)- A-
=“The Millennium Bug” (2011)- B+
=“The Exorcist” (1973)- A+
=“Halloween” (1978)- A
=“Cat People” (1942)- A+
=“Frankenstein” (1931)- A
=“The Hound of the Baskervilles” (1959)- A
=“Hour of the Wolf” (1968)- A+
=“Cujo” (1983)- B+
=“The Body Snatcher” (1945)- B+
=“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1919)- A+
=“Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn” (1987)- A
=“Stephen King’s It” (1990)- A-
=“Let Me In” (2010)- A
=“The 7th Victim” (1943)- A-
=“Friday the 13th: Part 2” (1981)- B+
=“Dracula” (1931)- A
=“Bubba ho-Tep” (2002)- A
=“The Grudge” (2004)- A-
=“The Mummy” (1959)- A
=“Insidious” (2011)- A
=“The Walking Dead: Season One” (2010)- A
=“Lord of Illusions” (1995)- B
=“Jaws” (1975)- A+
=“Psycho” (1960)- A+
=“Paranormal Activity” (2009)- A-
=“The Walking Dead: Season Two- What Lies Ahead” (2011)- A+
=“The Walking Dead: Season Two- Bloodletting” (2011)- A
=“Paranormal Activity 2” (2010)- A-
=“Nosferatu” (1922)- A+
=“The Simpsons: Season Two- Treehouse of Horror” (1990)- A+
=“Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Four- Hush” (1999)- A+
=“Paranormal Activity 3” (2011)- A-
=“The Masque of the Red Death” (1964)- A+
=“A Horrible Way to Die” (2011)- A-
=“Horror of Dracula” (1958)- A+
=“Let the Right One In” (2008)- A+
=“The Ring” (2002)- A+
=“Red State” (2011)- A-
=“The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XXII” (2011)- A-
=“The Walking Dead: Season Two- Save the Last One” (2011)- A
=“The Shining” (1980)- A+
=“A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” (1988)- A-
Brian’s 10 Favorite Frightfests
10. “Friday the 13th” (1980; Sean S. Cunningham) & “Friday the 13th: Part 2” (1981; Steve Miner)- Two years after John Carpenter redefined the modern horror movie with “Halloween,” along came the legend of Crystal Lake. One day, negligent camp counselors were fornicating in the woods while young Jason Voorhees drown. The next year, they were killed. Now, Crystal Lake (also known as Camp Blood to the locals) is open again for business, but an unknown force still roams the woods. If you’ve followed even a little horror over the years, you know who it is. Over thirty years and twelve films later, Jason has moved from being a terrifying stalker to ridiculous parody, but this origin story, and the 1981 sequel that further set the stage for continued terror, still intrigues as it introduces a new force in horror.
9. “Horror of Dracula” (1958; Terence Fisher)- Though no other film has captured the allure of Bram Stoker’s tale as hauntingly as Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Britain’s Hammer Films came closest with this dramatically powerful first film in their own Dracula franchise, with Christopher Lee rivaling the iconic Bela Legosi in the role of the titular vampire, and Peter Cushing in a terrific interpretation of Dr. Van Helsing, whose hunt for the Undead One has rarely been so visceral. Director Fisher was a Hammer fixture that, in this film and others (especially “The Revenge of Frankenstein” and “The Hound of the Baskervilles”), became one of the great masters of the genre by delving deep into the Gothic and sensual origins of this type of horror story.
8. “Psycho” (1960; Alfred Hitchcock)- In 1998, maverick director Gus Van Sant (“Milk,” “My Own Private Idaho”) did the unthinkable and remade this legendary Hitchcock thriller shot-for-shot, in color no less. To what end, critics are still figuring out, but the classic original still looms large, with Anthony Perkins’s unforgettable performance as Norman Bates, a man whose devotion to his mother is beyond creepy; a story that turns the audience on its head with the expectations it sets up, and the surprises it has in store (spoiler: Janet Leigh doesn’t last long); and one of the greatest, deceptively simple horror scores of all-time courtesy of Bernard Herrmann, who paved the way for other iconic themes to come.
7. “Insidious” (2011; James Wan)- Seven years after they created the latest serial horror killer in “Saw’s” Jigsaw, director Wan and writer Leigh Whannell looked to a couple of other durable genre blueprints, those of the haunted house, and haunted kid, and delivered one of the few horror films that actually terrifies when a family’s eldest child lands, inexplicably, into a coma, which will uncover dark family secrets, and lead a father (Patrick Wilson) through his own childhood fears in order to save his son. I don’t know if I want to see this film go the way of “Saw,” but Wan and Whannell lay the groundwork for a franchise unlike any other in American cinema. I can’t wait to see what they have coming our way next…
6. “The Ring” (2002; Gore Verbinski)- Verbinski may have made blockbuster bucks directing the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, but for my money, he hit the jackpot first by making this tense thriller, Hollywood’s first remake of a Japanese horror classic. To star, he chose Naomi Watts, who projects her natural intelligence and strength along with your typical horror movie vulnerability as a reporter who starts to try and uncover the dark secrets of a videotape where the viewer dies after seven days. However, just when you think it’s over, Verbinski and his collaborators have one more twist in store to curdle your blood.
5. “The Masque of the Red Death” (1964; Roger Corman)- Though typically known for low-budget B-movies like those you’d see on “Mystery Science Theatre 3000,” writer-director Corman– a mentor to the likes of Scorsese and Ron Howard –nonetheless found his greatest storytelling strengths in adapting the works of Edgar Allen Poe, especially with this opulent and striking story of the evil Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) and the feasts of his court when the Red Death comes to town. Price is incomparable, and Corman’s vision of the tale, full of sensual pleasures and wicked delights, is without compromise or peer.
4. “Nosferatu” (1922; F.W. Murnau)- If you need any proof as to how the silent era was the heyday for horror films, all you’d need to see is this evocative adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic tale from silent film master Murnau, which captures all the terror in the story through its haunting imagery (which so inspired Werner Herzog when he remade it, he shot his film in the same locations) and a lead performance by Max Shreck as Count Orlock that is impossible to forget. As with “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,” “Haxan,” and the likes of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” the silent era brought a nightmarish touch to this story that sound takes away, and Murnau milks it for all its worth.
3. “Cat People” (1942; Jacques Tourneur)- The first in a series of low-budget thrillers from producer Val Lewton, Tourneur’s film is not scary but sinuous, as a young Serbian woman (Simon Simone) finds herself dealing with fears of her innermost desires when she marries a New York man, but doesn’t feel as though she can act on her natural womanly desires, for fear that she’ll become a cat. The low-budget trappings only enhance the mood Lewton and Tourneur are able to achieve, while Simone’s performance not only fills you with dread but sympathy for her plight. Paul Schrader’s 1980s remake added more blatant sexuality, but included none of the original’s suspense. Warner Bros.’s box set of Lewton’s films, which include other collaborations with Tourneur such as “I Walked With a Zombie” and “The Leopard Man,” is not just a treat for horror fans, but for anyone who appreciates cinema that moves through the shadows of the human experience.
2. “Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn” (1987; Sam Raimi)- Maybe this is the type of movie Bryan Singer was trying for with his revisionist “Superman Returns.” Alternately a sequel and a remake of his cult classic, “The Evil Dead,” Sam Raimi– who returned to the genre brilliantly recently with “Drag Me to Hell” –returns to the woods and the unseen terror unleashed by the Book of the Dead with everyman star Bruce Campbell returning as idiot hero Ashe. The difference this time? This sucker is funny as Hell. Scenes of Ashe being followed by the evil, exemplified by Peter Deming’s zooming camera, and Ashe dealing with his dismembered and possessed hand have the intensity lacking in many a horror movie, with a darkly comic edge that makes it a laugh-out-loud riot.
1. “The Shining” (1980; Stanley Kubrick)- If John Carpenter’s “Halloween” two years before ushered in the modern era of horror films, Kubrick’s unsettling adaptation of Stephen King’s infamous masterpiece marked the end of the reign (for decades) of intelligent, adult-oriented horror films, stretching back to silent classics like “Nosferatu,” and continuing through the Universal legacy with Legosi and Karloff and the Hammer films with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Make no mistake– intelligent horror found its’ way onto the screen, from “Silence of the Lambs” to “The Sixth Sense,” to “Sleepy Hollow” to underrated King adaptations such as “1408” and “The Mist” –but with one visceral and brilliant entry, the reclusive master, with the aide of Jack Nicholson’s timeless nuttiness, brought the legacy of movie monsters past to its’ unforgettable peak.
Other Noteworthy Nightmares- More of Brian’s Faves:
-“Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hush” (1999; Joss Whedon)
-“The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror” (1990; Rich Moore, Wes Archer, David Silverman)
-“Bride of Frankenstein” (1935; James Whale)
–“Bubba ho-Tep” (2003; Don Coscarelli)
-“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1919; Robert Weine)
-“The Devil’s Backbone” (2001; Guillermo Del Toro)
–“Drag Me to Hell” (2009; Sam Raimi)
-“The Exorcist” (1973; William Friedkin)
–“The Frighteners” (1996; Peter Jackson)
–“Haxan” (1922; Benjamin Christensen)
–“Hour of the Wolf” (1968; Ingmar Bergman)
-“Jaws” (1975; Steven Spielberg)
–“Scream” (1996; Wes Craven)
-“Shaun of the Dead” (2004; Edgar Wright)
–“The Signal” (2008; David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry and Dan Bush)
-“Sleepy Hollow” (1999; Tim Burton)
–“Stephen King’s It” (1990; Tommy Lee Wallace)
Macabre Masterworks I Plan on Adding to My Collection
-“Army of Darkness” (1993)
-“The Birds” (1963)
–“Drive Angry” (2011)
-“Freaks” (1932)
–“Friday the 13th” (2009)
–“The Frighteners (Director’s Cut)” (1996)
-“In the Mouth of Madness” (1995)
-“Let the Right One In” (2008)
–“Man With the Screaming Brain” (2005)
-“The Mummy: The Legacy Collection” (1932-1944)
-“My Name is Bruce” (2009)
-“The Night of the Living Dead” (1968)
–“Scream 4” (2011)
–“The Shining” (1980/Collector’s Edition DVD)
-“Troll 2” (1991)
-“Wes Craven’s New Nightmare” (1994)
-“The Wolf Man: The Legacy Collection” (1935-1946)
“The Horror…The Horror”: 2011 in the Genre
=“Insidious”– A
=“The Taint”– A
=“A Horrible Way to Die”– A-
=“Red State”– A-
=“Paranormal Activity 3”– A-
=“The Millennium Bug”– B+
=“Drive Angry”– B+
=“Scream 4”– B+
=“The Rite”– B
=“Dylan Dog: Dead of Night”– B-
=“Creature”– B-
=“Season of the Witch”– C
=“Red Riding Hood”– C-
=“Priest”– D+
=“The Roommate”– D+
=“Shark Night”– D-
=“Apollo 18”– Haven’t Seen
=“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark”– Haven’t Seen
=“Dream House”– Haven’t Seen
=“Final Destination 5”– Haven’t Seen
=“Fright Night”– Haven’t Seen
=“The Thing”– Haven’t Seen
Read Previous “Month of the Macabre” Entries
2010
2009
2008
2006
