The Devil Rides Out: 30 of 31 Horror Movies I've Never Seen

I have this terrible habit of trying to watch a movie when I should be going to sleep.  Usually this happens after I get home from an incredibly late shift from work and I'm all wind blown from riding in the cold on my motorcycle.  I can't sleep quite yet so I always figure, "Well, I'll just watch a movie and by the end I'll definitely be tired."  It always ends up the same way, about 20 to 30 minutes in I pass out on the couch and wake up three hours later realizing that I passed out, stumble to bed, and go back to sleep.  This has happened to me with some movies a number of times, enough times that I feel like maybe I'm cursed not to finish them.  Tonight I broke the curse for The Devil Rides Out and I'm quite glad to have done it.

The plot of the film centers around a reunion of three friends, Duc de Richleau (Christopher Lee), Rex van Ryan (Leon Greene) and Simon Aran (Patrick Mower), except that Simon appears to have missed the reunion.  Richeleau and Rex decide to drop in on his house where they uncover a group of Black Magic practicing Satanic Worshipers led by a coldly calculating Mocata (Charles Gray) planning to Baptize Simon and a girl named Tanith (Nike Arrighi) in the name of the Dark Lord.  Through many set backs they take it upon themselves to halt this baptism and put an end to Mocata's sinister plans.

The script is penned by Richard Matheson, based off of a Dennis Wheatley novel.  The dialogue is quite good, but some of the character decisions made little sense.  For example, if a character has proven themselves time and time over to be correct why would anyone question them after a certain point?  It's a behavior common to horror movies that I've always felt was a rather weak device to steer an event.  Luckily the film makes up for these weak points by a great use of special effects and cinematography.

All in all, the acting ensemble represented in the film was quite strong and supported each other greatly through the story.  It's hard to hold a candle to Christopher Lee but Leon Greene played off of him quite well and Charles Gray's Mocata is such a downright sinister man that Lee's usually dark imposing quality is lightened by contrast.  It's no secret that I have a soft spot movies about Black Magic and Witch Craft so it should also be no surprise that I liked this movie quite a bit, regardless of a few of the strange choices on the writing side of the script.

It felt like quite a bit of research into the scientific side involving the power of suggestion had been done as well as the Seance Rituals of communicating with the spirits.  Such research served to really heighten the mood of the film, steering the audience to wonder just how much could be possible and how much is farce.  At the end of the day, it's a tale of good and evil, and good most certainly trumps evil in this case.

4 out of 5 skulls.

Horror Of Dracula: 29 of 31 Horror Movies I've Never Seen

The Hammer Horror films have been on my mind for quite some time now.  There's something peculiarly unique and so very British about them, that even at their worst they tend to have some sort of redeeming quality that sits with me.  As I wrote earlier, me and vampire movies don't usually agree, but there are occasions where I overcome my bias and get to watch a few gems.  It was completely shocking to my friends that I had never seen Horror of Dracula, so I've decided to set it straight.

Based on Braham Stoker's Dracula, the film stars Christopher Lee in the role of the titular character and Peter Cushing in the role of Dr. Josef van Helsing.  While certain elements, like the boat of dead bodies and the Renfield character are removed, the film purportedly maintains a fairly close resemblance to the novel.  It sports a bit of a slow pace for the majority of the film, but the climactic battle between Helsing and Dracula is so commanding that it makes up for other places lacking in the pace department.

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee work so well off of each other that it's no wonder they would become best friends and co-starts on a number of Hammer productions including, but not limited to, the Dracula series.  The color, for 1958 is nicely saturated and it seems that not a single color on the spectrum is missed in the production design, which is also rife with the Gothic imagery that made Hammer famous in the first place.

Easily, this is one of the most enjoyable versions of the Dracula story and is every bit of a classic in it's own right.  It brought sensuality to the otherwise monstrously cold Lugosi Dracula and even though Lee is an imposing 6'6" of gaunt British awesomeness, he still brings a charm to the character that is unmistakable.  Cushing's eyes alone are so arresting that you want to slap every other character in the film for ever doubting him!  A wonderful treat for the old and new fans alike, Horror of Dracula is not to be missed.

5 out of 5 skulls.

House on Haunted Hill: 22 of 31 Horror Movies I've Never Seen

Since I'm sure some of my friends who read this are going to wanna smack me across the back of the head, let's just get it out of the way right now.  I've never seen, to my knowledge, a William Castle film.   It's true.  In fact, outside of most of the universal monster movies and few films from the 70s most of the 50s to 60s horror has somehow evaded me.  Usually it's because I'm not Mr. Horror Movie Guy, despite my knowledge and love for certain genres and eras of horror film.  I simply lack that ability to watch everything just to watch it.  Some call it taste, I just shrug.  Either way, I finally watched the original House on Haunted Hill.

The story is introduced at the beginning of the film.  A eccentric millionaire and his wife invite 7 strangers to spend a night in a supposed haunted house for the sum of $10,000 each.  The caveat, of course, is that the house is supposedly haunted by 7 ghosts of people who died horribly violent deaths and crave to take new souls into their realm.  The eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren is played by the immeasurable Vincent Price who keeps you wondering about his motivation throughout the film.

The film is one of those rare instances of a B-Movie that could easily compete with the A's.  Yes, it has a few cheesy bits and pieces here, but Castle does an excellent job of keeping the audience on it's toes until the grand reveal, which I'll be honest when I say I didn't quite see coming.  I've never seen the remake either so at least I wasn't at that weird viewing disadvantage.  Carolyn Craig plays Norah Manning, a typist for Loren's company and also the face of fear for the audience, though the why is part of the reveal which I am not about to spoil.

Castle utilizes editing and music for what are now considered classic jump scares much like the kinds that flood most films of today.  The brilliance of Castle is in the mood and setting.  He creates an atmosphere where you start to wonder, in context of the events, what is real and what is manipulation.  Couple that with some downright creepy looking actors and moments and you've got some nice classic horror.  Yes there is one moment that falls for the typical, slow moving thing towards screaming woman who also slowly backs away rather than runs, but that's to be expected from this era of film making.  People weren't ready for the hyper realism that dominates much of modern movie making.

The score was also quite good for what was obviously a low budget and the setting equally creepy.  The exterior of the set is the famed Ennis House (used in a plethora of films including The Day Of The Locust and Blade Runner) while the interior is a film set with a Gothic vibe.  All these elements come together and cement the film's place as a classic in horror history.  Not perfect, but certainly enjoyable and a must see for fans of the classics.

4 out of 5 skulls.

From Beyond: 02 of 31 Horror Movies I've Never Seen!

Last year I watched The Reanimator for the first time.  Blasphemy, I know, especially because I'm 29 and it was one of those films that I used to stare at the VHS Box Art on the shelf of the local video rental for years and years as a child.  I don't know why I took so long to watch it, but when I finally did I realized that regardless of how terrible the dialogue or how flimsy the plot could get, there was a strange quality to it that just grabbed at my visceral side.  I tend to attribute this to the H.P. Lovecraft source material, but I have to also hand it to director Stuart Gordon for his incredibly disgusting interpretation of Lovecraft.  Therefore, it seemed fitting that I should watch his follow up to The Reanimator, the special fx orgasm that is: From Beyond.

The story is about two scientists creating a device that stimulates the Pineal Gland and ultimately opens a gateway to an invisible world full of creatures harking to Rob Bottin's make up fx in John Carpenter's remake of The Thing.  This film is pretty damn gruesome, but that's also part of it's charm.  It was made in an era before computer generated effects had overrun the film making process as they do now and the make up and prosthetic effects are so lovingly crafted that it's easy to ignore the silly dialogue and blatant sexist/racist stereotyping.  Well... almost.

Here's the thing, Gordon obviously loves Lovecraft, pun intended, and the era that From Beyond was rife with neo-exploitation film making.  I can't really say whether or not Gordon is a sexist pig, or even a racist, because I don't quite believe that such issues mattered to him in making the film.  I think the only thing that mattered to him was to make something that both terrified and titilated his audience.  It is an exploitation film in every sense of the word.  You have the blatant stereotypes, sexual tropes, an unfortunately white friendly Ken Foree character (I half expected him to start talking like a minstrel show character at one point because of the way he was playing it), and oodles of violence and gore.

The gore almost outweighs most of the other aspects of the film, but not quite.  Critics and Historians seem to be split about Lovecraft's politics on the subject of race.  In his early to mid works he referred rather disparagingly to non-Anglo characters, but appeared to have softened these views and refocused on greater class issues.  In that sense, if Gordon is merely translating the work, it is possible that he simply ignored the implications in favor of being a true adapter.  However, if he was at all sensitive to these issues, I think he could have done a better job to show that sensitivity.

The formal aspects of the film are pitch perfect.  Excellent camera work, thematic lighting, make up effects, and editing keep the pace going strong and helped to keep my attention. It was just impossible for me not to see Peter being reduced from a strong lead to a shucking and jiving support.  That's what I get for falling in love with horror through the lens of George Romero.

3 skulls out of 5.