History of Horror

selfbuildkk

Hope its in the right forum The History of Horror is on bbc 4 now for anyone interested.

MrMojoRisin

selfbuildkk wrote: »

Hope its in the right forum The History of Horror is on bbc 4 now for anyone interested.

Yeah, I caught the tail-end of the programme about Bela Lugosi's (the man who played Dracula in movies) final days. They were showing him trying to revive Dracula by playing to crappy regional theatres whose audience didn't give a sh!t about Dracula anymore. Actually, I think the film 'Ed Wood' (starring Johnny Depp and Sarah Jessica Parker) depicts Lugosi's dreary final days very well.

I felt a bit sorry for him, how he was typecasted as a horror figure in movies, yet that was what provided an adequate livelihood for him as well. It was poignant how he requested to be buried in his Dracula cape - the thing that brought him success, yet always limited the range of acting roles he could go for. I'm sure he was addicted to heroin near the end of his life - intravenous heroin use. Sad story really.

I think they're discussing John Carpenter's 'Halloween' and Hitchcock's 'Psycho' next week.

Watched a little of 'Bride Of Frankenstein' after that. Boris Karloff (who was Bela Lugosi's horror role 'rival' in Hollywood) was class as Frankenstein. Classic.

selfbuildkk

I thought it was so interesting the stories behind the actors, and like you said, the limitations placed upon them by their work in the horror genre. Looking forward to next weeks episode I must say.Completely random how i came across it but glad I did. Reminder set for next week already. Looking forward to the John Carpenter section. Tuned in thinking I would laugh a lot of the way through at how bad the movies were but I must say some clips were genuinely frightening. Fingers crossed next week delivers.

jassmine12

i really want to be a part of horror stories community.

MrMojoRisin

selfbuildkk wrote: »

I thought it was so interesting the stories behind the actors, and like you said, the limitations placed upon them by their work in the horror genre.

Yeah, the actors' lives add an interesting dimension to what would otherwise be just an armful of old horror movies that happened to set the precedent for the movies that followed.

It's hard to believe that Karloff was English - probably because he's heavily etched in my mind as Frankenstein, and because his actor's alias 'Boris Karloff' is so far removed from his real identity... The reason why he was always so stooped in movies was due to back problems he had suffered from doing hard manual labour when he was trying to establish his career in acting. Karloff drove a cement truck and dug ditches to make a living at that time. It was a far cry from what was to follow later, so fair play to him.

selfbuildkk wrote: »

Looking forward to next weeks episode I must say.Completely random how i came across it but glad I did. Reminder set for next week already. Looking forward to the John Carpenter section.

Yeah, same. Halloween is a classic (the very first one especially), but I thought they really milked the cow dry with all the feckin' sequels and prequels that followed it. It was the same crap with Nightmare On Elm Street - the last straw was when they pitted Freddie Kreuger versus Jason from Friday The 13th a few years ago. Bloody farce. I'm concerned they'll go down the same worn-out road with 'Paranormal Activity'...

But the original Halloween took the genre to a whole new level. I think it was originally supposed to be a movie about babysitters being murdered but then Carpenter suggested that the story be set around Halloween, and they altered the story a little.

The things I like most about Halloween are:

• Young child (Michael Myers) goes bad. Real bad. Murders parents. But I think it's good how they don't make that scene a prolonged gore fest; you just see young Myers wielding a knife and approaching his parents via the eyeholes of his ghost Halloween costume. I like that because it leaves something to the imagination, sort of in accordance with the naivete of a typical child.

• Donald Pleasance, the old guy who plays Dr. Sam Loomis, young Myers' psychiatrist after Myers is placed in a psychatric unit after the murders he commits, is fantastic. He brings a lot of serious credibility to the story, especially with the way his eyes sort of glaze over in a spooked way whenever he recalls his experience of treating Michael Myers as a child.

• The story is mostly set in a very ordinary, comfortable, safe-looking neighbourhood. What could ever go wrong in quiet, leafy suburbia?

• There's an effective 'chill factor' in how Myers cruises by in his station wagon, slowly turning his head to stare thoroughly at his 'targets'. Same thing when he appears, disappears, and reappears by the hedging when Jamie Lee Curtis is making her way home from school through the neighbourhood.
  
  Actually, one of the best scenes, IMO, is when Lee Curtis is sitting in one of her classes at school, she becomes distracted from the lesson, and looks out the window only to see Michael Myers out in his station wagon by the school staring at her. Then the teacher asks Lee Curtis a question, so she looks away for those couple of seconds but when she looks out the window again, there isn't a trace of Myers to be seen. I love that. It's the subtle stuff and the implied threat of ordinary physical actions that hit the mark for me.

• A leading lady (Jamie Lee Curtis) who actually seems intelligent and can get inside the head of the character she's playing. She just comes at it from exactly the right angle almost effortlessly.

selfbuildkk wrote: »

Tuned in thinking I would laugh a lot of the way through at how bad the movies were but I must say some clips were genuinely frightening. Fingers crossed next week delivers.

Yeah, it's easy to look at the old movies and spit your disdain at them, until you refrain from comparing them to the current standard and just try to see them with fresh eyes. In fairness, the motion picture houses had a hell of a lot less money to make movies years ago but they had plenty of common sense to do something worthwhile with what they had. They capture the imagination and genuinely stir your emotions a bit.

I liked the scene in 'Bride Of Frankenstein' where Frankenstein follows the sound of music he likes when he's alone in the woods and enters the home of a blind monk (who's playing the music on his violin). Frankenstein doesn't realise that the monk is blind at first and he expects him to attack him due to his unsightly appearance like the whole town already has. But the monk takes him in and feels grateful that he finally has a potential friend, and Frankenstein feels the same way. It's a good scene. Not scary, but good.

By the way, what number of the 'Saw' films are they on now? 'Saw 11', is it? Such f**king sh!te.

Next week's John Carpenter feature should be great anyway.

MrMojoRisin

jassmine12 wrote: »

i really want to be a part of horror stories community.

Well, you're in the right neck of the woods! There are plenty of horror-inducing stories and topics around here year-round.

selfbuildkk

Episode 2 just started. Hammer House of Horror I believe.

MrMojoRisin

selfbuildkk wrote: »

Episode 2 just started. Hammer House of Horror I believe.

The Hammer movies really brought the likes of Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley and Peter Cushing to prominence. It's surprising that the backdrop for those gore and sexual innuendo-laden movies was the quaint English countryside!

Christopher Lee was phenomenal in The Wicker Man. Maybe it's his height (6' 5" or thereabouts) or his chandelier-shuddering resonant voice, but his presence is very strong on camera. This is different now (but talking about Christopher Lee made me think of it), but I was watching 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' the other night and the guy who played 'Chief Bomden', Will Sampson, has that same highly noticeable presence. He was/is also a very tall bloke. But then you get shorties like Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson who have that presence as well.

What has surprised me most about this series, 'History Of Horror', is how much of a studious movie buff John Carpenter is! I suppose they all have to get their inspiration from somewhere by observing. You pick out the best in your field, steal their ideas, and try to outdo them. I can't remember who it was who said that (but it was a very well-known bloke), but it just stuck in my mind.

selfbuildkk

Just watching this weeks episode tonight. Must say i think this was my favourite era for horror. still as frightening today as they were when i first saw them. Imagine seeing these when they came out first all those years ago.
I dont think any film of late has had the same effect on the general public as some of these movies nowadays. Perhaps blair witch and paranormal activity came close but nothing like the hysteria surrounding films of this era.