Both ... Return of Dracula, The (1958) & House of Dracula (1945) on TCM tonight were pretty much not what I've expected and I consider both of them aren't that good at all and I was terribly disappointed in them. I've expected more from these and I considered the version of Francis Lederer in Return of Dracula rather lame and I just find it pretty low-key and not that terrifying at all. I just find the ending pretty dramatic and that's the only good part of the movie. The House of Dracula had a monster-fest and that alone didn't do me any good. I was terribly disappointed in them; and sorry to report this to all Horror Fans here.

Man, you're in for a treat. I love the original Universal Dracula.

I am generally not a horror movie guy. In general, I don't care for horror films.

But I'm trying to get a deeper appreciation of film, generally. So am catching up on some classics, and will particularly focus on catching up this October. I'll give a list and my thoughts.

I'll note two classics I watched recently before October began. This July I watched both Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween, and in September I watched the new It film; I am currently listening the the It book via Audible. Nightmare on Elm Street was very underwhelming. I think I'd seen bits and pieces of a film or two in the series as a kid, but never watched a whole film. I gave it 3 stars in recognition of its lasting place in pop culture, but it reminded me of every other horror movie I don't care for.

Halloween on the other hand was excellent. I thought it was a great film. I had seen Halloween H2O in the theaters in my youth, which I had enjoyed. But I enjoyed it more as an action film than a horror film. As that's basically what it was. A violent action film. Halloween felt like a story. It was intense. I was caught up in it. I was caught up in the character's struggle. I thought Michael Myers was a great villain in all the ways Freddy had fallen flat to me. The score was great. Everything was just great. I gave it 4 stars.

On to October. I've watched 3 so far:
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Suspiria
Texas Chainsaw Massacre

It's hard for me to love silent films. I grew up with films having sound and movies from the olden days rarely resonate with me. I haven't watched much. I've made a point to watch most science fiction silent films, all of which I appreciate. Metropolis is the only one that really resonates with me though. Another supposedly great silent film I've seen is Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, in theory one of the greatest films ever made. But with such a bizarre story that I was left shaking my head at the whole thing. Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is probably the best silent film I have ever seen, as well as the oldest horror film. It is the edge of a sci/fi film, which is why I watched it. The set design reminded me of Tim Burton. It was its own little creepy gothic world in which murders were taking place. I was generally enjoying myself. And I was genuinely surprised by the ending, the earliest twist ending I have every come across. I have to say I recommend this film, with the caveat that it could use words. I gave it 4 stars.

Suspiria struck me as an extremely well-done horror movie, but reinforced my disinterest in the whole genre. I have never heard a film score like this film has or seen a film that uses its score in quite the same way. It's a nice companion to Caligari because it is also all about creating its mood through set design. Unnerving music, freakishly stylized sets and an atmosphere of forboding... it does all that well, very well. And it has the effect it goes for. As the main character walks around, I do feel that unease in my stomach that something bad is about to happen and maybe she should run away. I just don't care about that feeling. It's not an emotion I have much fondness for, and it doesn't leave me with much after the film ends. Toward the end of the movie, we get down to the plot, which I found pretty poor. The film was a masterpiece when it was about atmosphere. Then an academic explains to us what's going on and we get down to a fairly uninspired story. The ending lost for me whatever power the beginning may have had. I gave it 3.5 stars


Texas Chainsaw Massacre was another film I struggled to care about at all. It's one of the most beloved horror films ever, but does none of the atmosphere work that Suspiria gives us. Quite the opposite. It's mostly quick. People die too quickly for me to even be scared for them. The villain, presumably one of the most famous villains of cinema, seemed pretty goofy to me. I could not have been more underwhelmed. I read and read about it. Common consensus was that this was the trope-establishing film. That what was familiar about the film came from copies of the film and were original here. After reading enough reviews about the film's importance, I ended up giving it 3.5 stars, but felt bullied into doing so. It's an appreciation grade, not an enjoyment grade.

On the horizon, thinking about Friday the 13th and Rosemary's Baby.

It's interesting to hear your views of these films, seeing them for the first time and also not being a horror, thus judging them simply as movies. I'll be curious to hear what you think of Rosemary's Baby in particular, as I think it's an extremely well-made film.

I presume you've already seen Kubrick's The Shining? If not, I'd look forward to your reaction to that one too. How about low-budget cult favourite Carnival of Souls?

Watched two more this evening, inspired by this thread, making the list so far

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Suspiria (1977)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Invisible Woman (1940)
Friday the 13th (1980)

Invisible Woman is in almost no way a horror film, except that it seems to be in the same franchise as one. And I watched it looking for a horror film, so I'll count it. If anything, it aims for slapstick comedy. (Comedy is my 2nd-least favorite genre). I think it fails pretty badly at the comedy. It's only got two jokes and it repeats each a dozen times. Joke 1 is that somebody trips and falls. Joke 2 is that someone says something like, "Wait'll you see this... I mean wait'll you NOT see this!" Having Shemp in it didn't help. I gave it 1.5 stars for not being funny or scary or interesting, and seeming sexist even by 1940 standards.

Friday the 13th is another famous example of that genre. It hits all the expected tropes, and it's perhaps my fault for seeing more examples of parodies of the genre than the genre itself. Somebody warns them to turn around. Sex leads to death. Etc. And most of its tropes I'd seen in the '70s horror films. For the most part, this film didn't succeed in atmosphere the way they did. The score only had two good bits. There are a few iconic notes when the kids are being watched from the words that worked. And it did a good job turning off the music a couple times, to let the sounds of birds create the atmosphere. I give it credit for its enduring place in pop culture. The movie is older than I am, yet I knew the story well. The one surprise was that I was really expecting to see a hockey mask. Two things made this stand out in my mind. One is the violence. I expected Texas Chainsaw Massacre to be bloodier than it was, but the camera tended to cut away before the chainsawing leaving what happened to our imagination. Here, the camera was very interested in getting a close-up of necks being cut. I think this was more bloody than any horror film older than it that I've seen. The second was the trick of never showing the killer, especially as most killings happened from the killer's point of view. Halloween did this with the opening, but this kept it going through the entire film until it revealed the killer. After which I found the movie devolved.

It's another horror trope that you shake your head and imagine you'd be smarter in that situation. But most kids died faster than I'd have caught on. I like to think I'd have taken the bloody axe a bit more seriously than, "You get some sleep while I go check on the generator". But the end of the movie was more or less me wondering over and over again why choices were being made. It really is like that new Geico add about kids in horror movies. "Let's go hide behind the chainsaws!"

Also it was cool to see a young Kevin Bacon. 3 stars.

House of Dracula (1945)



Interesting monster mashup and excellent casting with Lon Chaney Jr, John Carradine and Glenn Strange reprising their roles as the Wolf Man, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster respectively. At times Carradine gives one of the most sympathetic portrayals of Dracula on screen. Onslow Stevens gives a fantastically creepy performance in the later half of the film. Both Martha O'Driscoll and Poni Adams really helped to carry the movie between monster scenes. My only complaint is that I feel Glenn Strange was a bit underused. Other than that I think this is one of the more entertaining Universal Monster sequels.