Vampyr – We Are Movie Geeks

Ten Classic Scary Movies For Halloween

I have known for years, many people will not watch black and white movies, of any kind. It has to be color and no older than 10 years, preferably movies made this year, or last year. I have had people look at me with astonishment when I tell them I not only watch black and white movies regularly but even silent movies. I’ve had people admit they didn’t know movies were being made in 1927, much less 1915.

So for this Hallowe’en, when movie geeks thoughts turn to scary movies here is my personal and eclectic list of great, old, scary movies, filmed in glorious black and white.

10. Nosferatu 1922

The Great Grand Daddy of all Dracula movies, and the template for every vampire movie ever made, the first, one of the best and still creepy, even if you’ve seen it repeatedly. A silent masterpiece by FW Murnau and with the incredible Max Schreck as Graf Orlock looking weasel faced and moving like a big rodent, this vampire is light years from Lugosi’s suave aristocrat or Christopher Lee’s super human woman magnet. Some of the camera tricks have not aged well, but there is nothing camp or silly about Nosferatu. Remade brilliantly by Werner Herzog with the incredible Klaus Kinski playing the Vampire King and the subject of Shadow of the Vampire, a movie about the making of Nosferatu that put forth the idea, what if Schreck was a real Vampire? But accept no substitutes. Radah and I got to see this at the Tampa Theater a few years ago for Hallowe’en, with live organ accompaniment, an unforgettable experience.

9. Haxan 1922

Another silent masterpiece Benjamin Christensen’s still controversial Haxan is deeply disturbing, still creepy and captured images unlike any other film made during the silent era, or any time later for the matter of that. Part documentary, part hallucinatory nightmare Haxan was recut and rereleased as Witchcraft Through the Ages with a music score and narration by the one and only William S Burroughs. Filled with nudity, demons, the very devil himself and horrifying scenes of accused witches on trial and being tortured into confessions, Haxan is one of a kind, and perfect for Hallowe’en.

8. Vampyr 1932

Only marginally a talking picture Vampyr is another one of a kind, deeply disturbing tale of Vampirism told in a hallucinatory, dream like way. Shot through gauze filters with a non actor in the lead role, Vampyr, directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, is disorienting, creepy and leaves the viewer with a serious feeling of uneasiness. There are no jump out of your seat scares and yet, we are never really sure what in hell is going on; shadows dance on the walls without people being present, living person’s shadows get up and move on their own, point of view changes constantly, characters enter and exit without explanation. Most unsettling, we get an entire sequence of what it would feel like to be buried alive, the view from inside a coffin, while still alive, and being carried to a grave site, in the hypnotic thrall of a vampire. Be forewarned, some people don’t get it. Forest J Ackerman, editor of Famous Monsters of Film land, hated this movie, didn’t think it scary at all, or entertaining. It is referenced constantly throughout Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, good enough recommendation for me.

7. Island of Lost Souls 1932

In the 1930s Universal Studios was considered the major producer of horror films. Their movies, if you are a serious movie geek like me, are so familiar they are probably not scary at all anymore. Despite Universal’s dominance of the genre other studios put out some great productions. Paramount Pictures, known for classy musicals produced one of the most disturbing horror movies of the 1930s, Island of Lost Souls, a movie that packed such a punch on its original release it was banned in England and other countries for years. And it still has a powerful, painful effect. Directed by Earl C Kenton and the first film version of HG Well’s Island of Dr. Moreau (Wells hated the film) Island of Lost Souls features an incredible performance by Charles Laughton, obsessed with creating men out of animals and operating on them without using anesthetic. His island is populated with these half man half animal hybrids, among them, most unforgettably Bela Lugosi as Sayer of the Law “What is the Law? Are we not men?” and someone named Hans Steinke as Ouran, another unforgettable character. It is not just the horror in the house of pain or the monstrousness of the animal men, there is a queasy, oppressive atmosphere in the whole film, the jungle itself seems to be alive, even more so than in King Kong. Criterion’s blu ray is incredible, bringing out details, especially in the makeup I had never noticed before.

6. The Black Cat 1934

Another one of a kind horror movie, although made by Universal, the Black Cat is unlike any other film in their various franchises, or any other movie ever made for that matter. Rather than a gothic castle The Black Cat is set in a futuristic house,(it even has digital clocks, in 1934!) built on a fortress from WWI, in the Bauhaus style, and that house is inhabited by Boris Karloff playing a thinly disguised version of Aleister Crowley. Bela Lugosi arrives with a young couple in tow(David Manners and Julie Bishop) who get sucked into the vortex of Karloff and Lugosi’s poisoned history. Lugosi and Karloff were in eight movies together, usually with Karloff in the lead role, once, in The Raven, it was Lugosi’s movie. Here they stand as co equal characters, both of them dangerous, both actors at the top of their form. And masterfully directed by Edgar G Ulmer, who somehow made a movie that deals with necrophilia, cannibalism, Satan worship and God knows what else in 1934! I have watched The Black several times, usually around Hallowe’en and it never fails to make me feel very ill at ease. This is seriously creepy stuff, especially when Lugosi decides it would be a swell idea to skin Karloff alive.

4. Black Sunday 1960

The official first movie directed by Mario Bava (he had a hand in several other films, without credit) Black Sunday still has the power to horrify and frighten. A witch (Barbara Steele) is tortured and put to death in a blasted looking landscape, where the sun never seems to shine. She vows revenge and comes back years later, along with her walking dead servant and proceeds to wreck all manner of carnage and mayhem. Her main concern is taking over the life of her look alike descendant (also Steele). Bava has several masterpieces on his resume, this is one of them. Drenched in gothic atmosphere, as only Bava could produce, Black Sunday is still genuinely scary stuff. The servant Javutich crawling up out of his grave is still the stuff of nightmares.

3. Psycho 1960

A game changer is ever there was, Hitchcock’s film was not just the template for every psychotic slasher movie that came out over the years it changed the way we see movies. If it’s a scary movie we expect that no one is safe. No one had ever killed off the major character in any movie previously, certainly not from a major film maker. And Hitchcock’s genius shines in every frame, no matter how many times it is seen the shower scene still is shocking, the entire movie has an uneasiness, even the mundane scenes at the beginning have an edge. And the famous all strings music by Bernard Herrmann can still put you in a nervous frame of mind. A classic and still scary after all these years.

2. Carnival of Souls 1962

A one of a kind regional movie, made by people who made classroom and training films, on a very low budget with non actors, except for the lead actress Candice Hilligoss, (who is brilliant.) Carnival of Souls is not terrifying, but again, it will put you in an uneasy frame mind that can last for days. A major influence on George Romero Carnival is yet another movie, even if you know the ending, is worth revisiting many times. All of the scenes at the old Salt Air Pavilion in Utah are literally haunting. A text book example of what can be done on a low budget, if you have some talent. I first saw Carnival of Souls on Zone 2 in 1965, a local St. Louis tv show with a Horror Host played by Jack Murdock , scared me half to death.

1. Night of the Living Dead

The other game changer on this list. We have George Romero and his underpaid crew to thank for all the zombie movies that have come out since 1968, including the Walking Dead. And yet another regional film made by people who made industrial and corporate training films, as well as sports documentaries, Night of the Living Dead may shock you, it may horrify you, so if you are the least bit faint hearted, well, we warned you!

And, as I said this is a very personal list, I have to give honorable mentions to the original The Haunting, The Thing From Another World, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, all of the Val Lewton series made at RKO in the 1940s, The Mummy’s Hand, Bride of Frankenstein and, what the hell, I love them all, whether they are still scary of not!

And a very Happy Hallowe’en to you all!

THE STORY OF FILM: AN ODYSSEY – The DVD Review

I love the movies, really, truly I do, I love the movies. Cinema, motion pictures, movies, film, whatever you want to label this peculiar art form that we all cherish here at We Are Movie Geeks, I have loved it ever since the first time I saw a movie on television, in a theater or at a drive-in. I wish I could recall the first movie I ever saw and what the medium was in which I saw it.

One of my earliest memories was the yearly showing of Wizard of Oz on television and my delight at seeing Judy Garland in a different movie, Pigskin Parade, and realizing that actors made a living by appearing in more than one movie or television series.

I can recall seeing Battle Beyond the Stars at the Pine Hill Drive-in in Piedmont, Missouri, one of the Russian space movies bought and re-edited by Roger Corman. I stood in the playground in front of that huge screen in awe of the space adventure unfolding against a night sky that blended seamlessly with those images of silver rockets and asteroids and weird looking monsters.

I can recall my family going to an indoor theater, probably in Greenville, Missouri, to see a western, in color, and feeling lost in the wide open spaces captured in that (probably) B-movie landscape.

I came to love every genre of film and from every country that makes them. Italian peplum, Russian fantasy films, Japanese historical and giant monster epics, English historical romances, American westerns, comedies, monster movies, musicals, everything, just everything.

And among my favorite films are movies about the movies, documentaries giving the history of the medium or narrow casting down to the history of a single studio or director or actor and using numerous clips to illustrate the story. In my collection are excellent documentaries on the history of Warner Brothers, Universal, RKO and MGM studios. Biographies of John Huston, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Roger Corman. Profiles of Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, James Dean, John Wayne, Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart. I particularly love a series called 100 Years of Horror hosted by Christopher Lee and featuring clips from every monster and horror and science fiction picture imaginable.

I say all this as an introduction to an incredible piece of work, a 15 episode history of innovation in the movies, The Story of Film, sub titled An Odyssey by Mark Cousins. This project should be subtitled a Personal Odyssey and I’ll get to that in a minute. I found this box set at one of St. Petersburg’s libraries and brought it home, knowing nothing about the project. Of course I became hooked and watched it all, usually one episode a day, then watched the whole series again and have dipped into certain episodes ever since.

A “Personal” Odyssey would be a more accurate subtitle as Mr. Cousins, (who first wrote a book covering this same ground and then spent six years shooting the documentary) lets us know up front this is his personal and highly opinionated story of film. He takes us step by step through every technical innovation from the invention of the camera to the recent changeover to all digital shooting and projection. He accurately informs us that it was not the camera that made the movies, it was the editing table. The first time two or more pieces of film were spliced together to create a narrative, cinema was made. Then came color tinting, sound, wide screen systems, stereo sound, 3 Dimensions.

If you have ever taken a course in film history or read any of the many books on the subject you’ll recognize a lot of the names here. Among the usual suspects are the Lumiere Brothers, Georges Melies, DW Griffith, Murnau, John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, John Huston. And covering so much ground in only 15 one hour episodes of course a lot gets left out. David Lynch is well represented and I was delighted to see David Cronenberg also discussed at some length. If Woody Allen or Mel Brooks were mentioned I missed it.

Cousins narrates his project with his soft Irish brogue and takes a global view of film. Which makes it all the more curious that he does not mention Irish film at all, since there is such a thing. Angela’s Ashes qualifies as Irish and so does The Crying Game. Europe is will represented but there is no mention of the astonishing work of Harry Kumel of Belgium.

Among the countries discussed at length: Germany, Russia, the French New Wave and the Italian neo-realist school. Ozu gets quite a lot of coverage, and rightfully so. But we also get quite a lot on Takeshi Miike (that most horrifying shot from Audition, if you’ve seen it you know what I mean.) and Shinya Tsukamoto.

But I was glad to learn so much about film makers I had never heard of, from countries I had no idea made world class films, or that I had very limited knowledge of. Egypt, Israel, Iran, and Brazil are discussed at some length. Although there is no mention of Jose Mohica Marins (Coffin Joe,) probably the most well known Brazilian film maker, to me anyway.

If Cousins work has a failing it is an open prejudice about main stream Hollywood product. From the beginning he shows us a Christmas tree ornament hanging in space near the Hollywood sign (really!) and labeling Hollywood “the Bauble”. From many comments throughout the series we are asked to consider most of that body of work useless and without merit. I have to be fair and admit that a lot of disposable fluff came off the Hollywood assembly line in the 30s through the 50s. But many smart, personal, well thought out films were made by several directors, most of which have stood the test of time.

Our narrator also makes some truly outrageous statements, and some glaring omissions. While covering Orson Welles we are told that in his entire career Welles “never worked for any of the four major studios!” FOUR major studios? I thought there were about 6 or 8 major studios, RKO was never major? Or Universal? What about Columbia? Also when we get to the French New Wave we are not told that Truffaut, Godard and most of the rest of that crew had been film critics. Their back ground is critical in understanding where, how and why the French New Wave came about. For that matter we never hear the name Cahiers du Cinema, easily one of the most important film magazines ever published.

One very curious statement, Cousins spends some time on Performance, the outrageous psychotropic English gangster mind melding, cross dressing enigma and proclaims it THE film that any aspiring film maker should watch, to see how a movie should be made! Please don’t get me wrong, I love Performance, have watched it numerous times, abused a variety of substances in order to do so. But that is a very strange statement to make. Just as an aside, any time I see James Fox in anything I cannot help but think of Chas and that outrageous Memo From Turner! “Does that sound equitable?”

But when Mark Cousins is on top of his game this series hums. Cousins really gets warmed up when he gets to the 70s and the Decade under the Influence, when the styles of the neo-realists and French New Wave were absorbed by Hollywood film makers like John Cassavetes and Robert Altman. In fact I got the impression that covering the 70s was the point of the whole series.

Many Directors are interviewed and more than a few actors, but even here there are some odd choices. We get interview footage with Gus Van Sant, for instance. But then we get a side by side comparison of Hitchcock’s Psycho and Van Sant’s ill advised remake and what amounts to an apology for the color remake being made in the first place. Van Sant (who I do like by the way, I thought My Own Private Idaho was brilliant) explains that he made the remake basically for the paycheck. Fine, he has that right, just as I have the right never to watch the thing. The main point seems to be that Van Sant could show much more of Ann Heche’s naked body and bloody open wounds than Hitchcock could have ever gotten away with in 1960. Thankfully that is about the only time spent on useless remakes.

The real danger in watching a series like Story of Film is the urge to get out copies of the complete films and watching them all, all over again. If I see clips from Intolerance, Vampyr, Citizen Kane, Vertigo, Passion of Joan of Arc, The Searchers, Blue Velvet, The Godfather, Once Upon a Time in the West or any number of other titles, I want to see the whole movie again.

And the real value in a series that attempts to be this comprehensive is in learning about so many new film makers and their projects. I kept a notebook and a pencil handy to write down Directors and titles while watching Story of Film, and so should you.

There is only one special feature to this set and it is on all five discs, a 90 second ad which covers the whole series in a machine gun edit of clips from every major film and director interview. Maybe I have spent too much time watching movies; I could name just about every clip as it flashed by.

With any faults this is a very valuable and enjoyable series for any movie geek, I learned quite a lot, and I have been accused of knowing everything about movies. The more I learn, about anything, the more I realize how much more I have to learn.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have to watch Gallipoli, Kansas City Bomber and West of Zanzibar again. Oh dear, not enough hours in the day……

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