shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 29, 2019 19:36:43 GMT -5
Mad Monster Party? (1967)From the standpoint of Rankin Bass stop motion animation, this is the most ambitious project they ever produced, with elaborate sets, complex figures, and many many characters in most given scenes. It's a true visual feast to the point that it's easy to forget you are watching claymation and not standard filmmaking. From the standpoint of influence, this is Hotel Transylvania 1.0. Everything I love about that movie can be found here too. From the standpoint of writing and voice acting, though? Well...it kinda' really sucks. Amazing that Rankin Bass poured so much passion and money into such a crappy script with worm-eaten gags and celebrity impressions. Still, watching this one is a Halloween tradition for the girls and I, and I love how it gets them to ask questions about the monster source material. This time around, my youngest connected the sea voyage to Nosferatu! Yeah, the plot isn't that great but I love the character designs and all the fun winks and nods to the Universal films. For my money I consider Mad Monster Party as sort of the last of those films, closing the book on their world so to speak. I always tell myself that one day I'll go back to rewatch Universal's Van Helsing (2004) again and suddenly "get it," seeing it as the definitive final nod to that era. I seriously doubt it, though. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Oct 29, 2019 19:46:17 GMT -5
Yeah, the plot isn't that great but I love the character designs and all the fun winks and nods to the Universal films. For my money I consider Mad Monster Party as sort of the last of those films, closing the book on their world so to speak. I always tell myself that one day I'll go back to rewatch Universal's Van Helsing (2004) again and suddenly "get it," seeing it as the definitive final nod to that era. I seriously doubt it, though. Eh, I see that as part of the 90's attempt at a new Universal series that included the Brendon Frasier Mummy series. While definitely not as good as the originals I liked the first two Mummy movies and Van Helsing for what they were; popcorn action comedy flicks. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 29, 2019 19:58:25 GMT -5
Yeah, the plot isn't that great but I love the character designs and all the fun winks and nods to the Universal films. For my money I consider Mad Monster Party as sort of the last of those films, closing the book on their world so to speak. I always tell myself that one day I'll go back to rewatch Universal's Van Helsing (2004) again and suddenly "get it," seeing it as the definitive final nod to that era. I seriously doubt it, though. Oh god. Van Helsing. I didn't see it. But one time when I was at the CineramaDome (in Hollywood), it was one of the trailers that was enthusiastically and loudly booed by the Friday midnight crowd that was there to see the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. (Which I thought was pretty good.) The first trailer was Van Helsing. The crowd went nuts after a few people started booing. Booooo! You suck, Jackman! The second trailer was The Chronicles of Riddick. It got louder and louder! (It was a sold-out crowd. It was Dawn of the Dead's opening weekend.) BOOOOO! BOOOO! YOU SUCK! The third trailer was the remake of Walking Tall with The Rock. You couldn't hear ANYTHING at that point. Through the whole trailer for Walking Tall ... BOOOOOO! BOOOOO! THIS IS SHIT! THE ROCK SUUUUUCKS!!!! It was like President Trump at a baseball game. (I should note that I've never actually seen any of these three films, so I can't even begin to say whether they deserved such a violent reaction. I've known people who thought Van Helsing was quite a good movie … but I can't say it was anybody whose taste in movies I find particularly credible.) |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 20:00:58 GMT -5
The Human Monster / Dark Eyes Over London (1939)Such a great Lugosi performance, as well as a reasonably clever plot, and one surprisingly moving death. My one major gripe with this film will always be that the final twist, upon which the entire plot depends, is totally unbelievable (I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it). I just watched this movie and this is truly a Lugosi masterpiece, great pacing, photography is superb, and the plot thicken in unexpectedly supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and it's really an excellent movie to watch. Greta Gynt is fabulous as Diana Stuart and Hugh Williams is a surprise Actor that I do not know anything about. Good short movie 1 hour and 15 minutes long. Just perfect for a lazy afternoon. The Trailer. |
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shaxper
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Posts: 22,871
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Post by shaxper on Oct 29, 2019 21:25:53 GMT -5
Been a busy night...
I began with The Student of Prague (1913)
I'm embarrassed to admit I was entirely unaware of this film until today. I'd watched the 1926 and 1935 versions (neither of which did much for me) never suspecting there'd been an earlier source for the story. This is a legitimately good film, with surprisingly subtle/realistic acting for the time period, as well as some deep psychological terror at the root of this early horror film in which a man sells his soul and soon discovers his reflection has become his own worst enemy.
I looked the film up, and it's a surprisingly big deal for a film I'd never heard of before. Some credit it for getting Germany's film industry off the ground. Others call it the first independent or even art film. One source even dared to call it the first full-length horror film.
Well I definitely don't agree with that last one, and it made me want to go ahead and re-watch what I consider to be the true first full-length horror film...
L'Inferno (1911)
Oh, there isn't much of a story here. Take the original work, strip it of any substance whatsoever, and you end up with an excuse to depict all sorts of wild demonic visuals that shouldn't have been possible with the limited technology available to a filmmaker in 1911. What truly makes this film special is the unearthly look of so many of the special effects, executed using totally different approaches than anything later filmmakers would have tried. It seldom looks real, but it often looks different from anything you've seen in film before. It's otherworldly, and that was pretty much the point.
There is little in the plot itself that suggests the horror genre, but the demonic images themselves fit remarkably well.
And I finally tied the evening up with a Lugosi horror film I'd never gotten around to watching until now:
The Phantom Ship / The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (1935)
A lot of sites label this as a horror film, and I think that's a stretch. It's a suspense thriller with a mass murderer at the center of it all, and there is at least one haunting moment (a particularly vivid suicide from the crow's nest, whereas the film had otherwise been showing graphic restraint), but, despite what the American title of this originally British film suggests, there is no supernatural or inhuman force at the center of it all. So it's just kind of horror, I guess?
This may be Bela Lugosi's finest acting role ever. He truly pours his heart out into this one and does a phenomenal job portraying a character who is both thoroughly sympathetic and thoroughly creepy. Meanwhile, this is no standard Poverty Row outing. This is an early early Hammer film, and the studio invests reasonable money into SOLID actors, a real ship, and some impressive effects (man, those squalls look convincing!).
So, all in all, I've found a new Lugosi film to love and watch an absurd number of times.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Oct 29, 2019 21:31:52 GMT -5
That's one of my favorite films featuring Bella, and definitely one of the best Hammer films.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 29, 2019 21:34:01 GMT -5
and definitely one of the best Hammer films. Wow. Hard to even compare it to the Post-1957 stuff, but I'm going to give that some serious thought now. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Oct 29, 2019 21:51:54 GMT -5
and definitely one of the best Hammer films. Wow. Hard to even compare it to the Post-1957 stuff, but I'm going to give that some serious thought now. It's definitely a very different kind of film than Dracula and his pals at Hammer, but I think you can see a similar trend to a larger presence of graphic violence that you didn't see before in films and which would sort of become Hammer's claim to fame. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2019 23:23:47 GMT -5
Been a busy night... And I finally tied the evening up with a Lugosi horror film I'd never gotten around to watching until now: The Phantom Ship / The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (1935)A lot of sites label this as a horror film, and I think that's a stretch. It's a suspense thriller with a mass murderer at the center of it all, and there is at least one haunting moment (a particularly vivid suicide from the crow's nest, whereas the film had otherwise been showing graphic restraint), but, despite what the American title of this originally British film suggests, there is no supernatural or inhuman force at the center of it all. So it's just kind of horror, I guess? This may be Bela Lugosi's finest acting role ever. He truly pours his heart out into this one and does a phenomenal job portraying a character who is both thoroughly sympathetic and thoroughly creepy. Meanwhile, this is no standard Poverty Row outing. This is an early early Hammer film, and the studio invests reasonable money into SOLID actors, a real ship, and some impressive effects (man, those squalls look convincing!). So, all in all, I've found a new Lugosi film to love and watch an absurd number of times. I love Bela Lugosi ... this is the cream of the crop of his brilliant acting skills and this is thriller of the ages and I can echo Shax's judgment on this ... the suicide scene is very visible and very evocative and difficult to ignore. I was impressed by this film and I was surprised to see Ben Welden in this movie ... he played a character by the name of Boas 'Sailor' Hoffman ... Welden is a semi-regular on the Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves. It also had Shirley Gray, Edmond Williard, and Arthur Margetson as Capt. Benjamin Briggs were solid actors in this film and I'm familiar with these three, Welden, and Bela Lugosi as Anton Lorenzen / A. Gottlieb and that's his finest roles. A short film 62 minutes long ... and I find this a real gem of a movie. Highly Recommended ...  |
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Post by Hoosier X on Oct 29, 2019 23:37:09 GMT -5
L'Inferno (1911)Oh, there isn't much of a story here. Take the original work, strip it of any substance whatsoever, and you end up with an excuse to depict all sorts of wild demonic visuals that shouldn't have been possible with the limited technology available to a filmmaker in 1911. What truly makes this film special is the unearthly look of so many of the special effects, executed using totally different approaches than anything later filmmakers would have tried. It seldom looks real, but it often looks different from anything you've seen in film before. It's otherworldly, and that was pretty much the point. There is little in the plot itself that suggests the horror genre, but the demonic images themselves fit remarkably well. I saw this for the first time last year. I love these old Italian feature films from before 1920, and this one is my favorite. I've been meaning to watch it again. I'll save it for one of those nights where it's not quite time to go to bed but I don't have time to watch a full movie. |
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Post by brutalis on Oct 30, 2019 7:45:34 GMT -5
Spent last night watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers from 1956. Not seen this one in quite a few years and mostly remember it from when I was in Junior High School where one Halloween the school hosted a Saturday Howl Fest and ran back to back showings of Body Snatchers and Invaders from Mars in the afternoon before having an evening carnival. Plenty of shivers and eerie going on's in the town of Santa Mira and if you aren't paranoid by the end of this movie then you must be a Pod Person yourself! Strangely enough the loss of emotion and individuality in becoming a simple pea brained part of a pod concept is just as real today when you consider the gaming and Youtube generation of viewers who are mesmerized for hours at a time, losing all interest in the outside world. Scary indeed! Kevin McCarthy provides a fine nervous, anxiously falling apart mentally and physically in exhaustion and fear hero who is faced with overwhelming odds of survival. After, watched Jack Palance in the Dan Curtis production of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde television movie from 1968. I have a fondness for this one as I remember my mom watching it originally when it aired in 2 parts while she sat up waiting for my dad to come in from his late night job. The memories of Palance as Hyde used to haunt my dreams for quite awhile there after. To this day a uni-brow can steal freak me out  Palance as Jeckyll is full of nobility and tragedy as he suffers from the slowly unraveling of his mind while Hyde's persona becomes ever stronger and controlling. There is a lustful wildness to Hyde that Palance shows through what many will consider as hammy overacting but for me it is more exuberance and zestful abandon in allowing one's inner control to be thrown aside and letting your emotions run rampant and free. The pure ugliness of Hyde comes out in his actions as he dresses in flamboyant and rich attire a seemingly rich playboy dashing furtively from scene to scene with a boundless sense of energy and desperation. The ending really touches the mind and heart in watching Palance's agaony. A real Gothic story of terror and fright and worth viewing! |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2019 8:14:59 GMT -5
After, watched Jack Palance in the Dan Curtis production of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde television movie from 1968. I have a fondness for this one as I remember my mom watching it originally when it aired in 2 parts while she sat up waiting for my dad to come in from his late night job. The memories of Palance as Hyde used to haunt my dreams for quite awhile there after. To this day a uni-brow can steal freak me out Palance as Jeckyll is full of nobility and tragedy as he suffers from the slowly unraveling of his mind while Hyde's persona becomes ever stronger and controlling. There is a lustful wildness to Hyde that Palance shows through what many will consider as hammy overacting but for me it is more exuberance and zestful abandon in allowing one's inner control to be thrown aside and letting your emotions run rampant and free. The pure ugliness of Hyde comes out in his actions as he dresses in flamboyant and rich attire a seemingly rich playboy dashing furtively from scene to scene with a boundless sense of energy and desperation. The ending really touches the mind and heart in watching Palance's agaony. A real Gothic story of terror and fright and worth viewing! I need to see this movie ... and this would be hoot and thanks for your recommendation here. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2019 8:43:58 GMT -5
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
This is by far Lon Chaney best work in Silent Movies ever. I was reading Shax's comments about it I enclosed this 3 minutes clip of the Sanctuary scene and this is by far my most favorite 3 minutes of the film itself. Pasty Ruth Miller was excellent too and these two stole the show and I felt that Lon Chaney's expressions really tells a story and done a magnificent job of doing his role as Quasimodo just perfectly.
Kate Lester as Madame de Gondelaurier and Tully Marshall as King Louis XI are the other two that I know about just briefly and Kate did an exceptional job as the Madame and Tully was born to play King Louis XI and all the others did well too. Everyone did their role remarkably well and most of all ... I really enjoyed watching this silent classic back in 1923.
Expressions ruled this movie and that alone makes it very enjoyable to watch this romantic gothic horror movie last night.
Thanks Shax.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2019 14:06:32 GMT -5
Mad Monster Party? (1967)
It's rocks! ... I really loved this movie and just finished watching it on the advice of shaxper & thwhtguardian reviews and I just Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller really provided the main voices in this movie and they spoke just perfectly for me to follow along and all that. The plot is simple, great action, and unbelievable motions all around and this puts the California Raisins to dust.
I'm thinking of sharing this to my grand nieces and grand nephews one of these days either before or after Halloween.
They would enjoy this immensely.
This short clip is one of my most favorites ... the red hair and the golden dress really shows class in this movie.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2019 22:26:11 GMT -5
Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)
This is one of the many movies in the 50's that I wanted to see and it's starred Frank Gorshin and he and I met one time and told me you gotta see this movie when you get a chance to do so.
Frank as Joe Gruen stumbles on an alien corpse and failed to report it and working with his friend Lyn Osborn who played Artie and after working with him ... the plot of this movie had a life of its own and Joe (Frank Gorshin) in a mishap and two kids that I do not know much about got charged with vehicular manslaughter.
At the end of this movie ... the occupants can't stand the bright lights of the car headlights and that did the trick to scare them off. The ending was a bit erratic and I missed the last few seconds and I didn't bother to find out what happened to the end ... but it was a fairly simple movie to follow and I just having a hard time writing these kinds of movies. It was one of the earliest movies that Frank Gorshin did and it was fairly good and all that.
I'll give it a C- grade ... just barely.
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Palance as Jeckyll is full of nobility and tragedy as he suffers from the slowly unraveling of his mind while Hyde's persona becomes ever stronger and controlling. There is a lustful wildness to Hyde that Palance shows through what many will consider as hammy overacting but for me it is more exuberance and zestful abandon in allowing one's inner control to be thrown aside and letting your emotions run rampant and free. The pure ugliness of Hyde comes out in his actions as he dresses in flamboyant and rich attire a seemingly rich playboy dashing furtively from scene to scene with a boundless sense of energy and desperation. The ending really touches the mind and heart in watching Palance's agaony. A real Gothic story of terror and fright and worth viewing!