Whatever Happened to The Season of Horror?

This post is part of a new series I'm calling Stale Crumbs, a collection of posts I've written months or years ago that have never been published. Hopefully, they won't be as unpalatable as actual stale crumbs. Of course, it's entirely possible the Stale Crumbs series may end up going nowhere, that my posts on The Dunwich Horror, Psych-Out, and Mystery of the Wax Museum, among others, may continue to lurk in draft form. I always have the best intentions to get back into blogging and then something suddenly comes up. 

The following post was written back in January 2023.

My absence from blogging during this year's Season of Horror may have led my dwindling readership to ponder whether the Aging Broad may have made it to the final curtain. Good news, everyone! I'm still here. Despite not finding time to write, the Season of Horror came. Somehow or other, it came just the same. Here are a few highlights from this year's viewing:

I started off by diving into an exploration of the many movies based on the Mexican folktale of La Llorona. 

The Curse of La Llorona (2019)

I saw The Conjuring and this felt like more of the same with La Llorona as the featured malevolent spirit. It had some scary elements that ended up being less effective since I'd seen them before. Meh. 

 

The Legend of La Llorona (2022)

This movie didn't make much sense, was poorly written and, for the most part, terribly acted. I should have listened to other reviewers who said the same thing. There were a few parts that made me laugh, though that was not the intention, and my misplaced amusement did not make up for the WTF feeling I had through the rest of the film. 

"Vaya con dios, Maria."

 

La Llorona (2019)

This retelling does not adhere strictly to the traditional legend and focuses more on the Mal hombre who wronged La Llorona. Interesting and well done. Unsettling more than scary. It is the best of all versions I watched. 

La Llorona (1933)

This version seemed more of a mystery than horror. It covers two of the folklore origins which makes for a long digression, but also gives it a greater sense of authenticity. I enjoy it mostly for the period in which it was made, which makes it my favorite version of the tale thus far.

La Llorona (1960)

I enjoyed this retelling, though it was rather frustrating that La Llorona was reluctant to carry out her curse in the end. She may have had the best wail of all the Lloronas. "Ay! Mis hijooooooos!"

Next, I revisited some movies featured in the '80s Horror Collection on the Criterion Channel. 

Near Dark (1987) 

I've seen a lot of vampire movies. For the time, this was a novel take and is still enjoyable to watch. 

 

Christine (1983)

I have not seen this since the '80s. As with many movies based on King novels, the book is better. Quite a bit is lost in the screen adaptation. 

After that, I got sidetracked by Noirvember before returning to some classic horror. 

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956)

I watched this on Thanksgiving. It's a great movie that the whole family can enjoy, especially Raymond Burr fans. I do enjoy him, but the constant voiceover does detract. 

 

Gojira (1954)

Of course, I had to follow up with the original Godzilla, which is much more enjoyable without the incessant narration. It's interesting to revisit this well known movie monster from childhood and wonder how it became such a beloved monster. Son of Godzilla may have been a factor.

 

The Devil Bat (1940)

Now this was a real humdinger! Bela Lugosi engineers a giant bat that kills anyone wearing a special aftershave he formulated in order to exact revenge on his greedy employers who have enriched themselves from his work while he remains a poor mad scientist. This bat has a wail that could rival La Llorona. It's an absolutely ludicrous movie that entertains nonetheless. 

Somehow I missed out on my usual 70s horror fare this season. That will have to be remedied during the next Season of Horror. 

365 Days: #9 Sunset Blvd. (1950)

It seemed only natural to follow up The Bad and the Beautiful with Sunset Blvd. It's been quite a few years since I've seen this movie, and it was largely responsible for starting me off on collecting silent films, as it inspired me to seek out movies with Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim. 

#9 Sunset Blvd.

A down and out screenwriter gets drawn in to becoming the companion of a movie star from the silent era, who is planning a return to the silver screen. He gets more than he bargained for when he decides to give up on screenwriting and move back to his home in Ohio.

"It's lonely here, so she got herself a companion. A very simple setup. An older woman who is well-to-do. A younger man who's not doing too well."

I really enjoy this movie, especially the descriptions from Joe Gillis in his narration, which would seem to portray him as a talented writer, leading us to believe that his lack of success shows that it's not easy to get started in Hollywood. This movie accepts that there's no place in Hollywood films for aging female stars, a theme that was also explored in The Twilight Zone episode, "The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine." The movie itself exemplifies that crazy characters were the only roles available to middle aged stars at the time, which may have been the beginning of the hagsploitation genre. 

"It was a great, big, white elephant of a place. The kind crazy movie people built in the crazy 20s. A neglected house gets an unhappy look. This one had it in spades. It was like that old woman in Great Expectations, that Miss Havershim in her rotting wedding dress and her torn veil, taking it out on the world because she'd been given the go by."

"There's nothing tragic about being 50, not unless you try to be 25."

"Two or three times a week, Max would haul up that enormous oil painting that had been presented to her by some Nevada Chamber of Commerce and we'd see a movie right in her living room. So much nicer than going out, she'd say. The plain fact was she was afraid of that world outside. Afraid it would remind her that time had passed."

"I didn't argue with her. You don't yell at a sleepwalker. He may fall and break his neck. That's it. She was still sleepwalking along the giddy heights of a lost career. Plain crazy when it came to that one subject, her celluloid self, the great Norma Desmond. How could she breathe in that house so crowded with Norma Desmonds, more Norma Desmonds, and still more Norma Desmonds?"

"There's nothing else. Just us and the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark."

365 Days: #8 The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

If you have been following along, you probably expected me to be watching something with Dick Powell this evening. While I was tempted to revisit Murder, My Sweet, I decided to go with a movie I haven't seen before.

#8 The Bad and the Beautiful

Jonathan Shields is determined to be a successful Hollywood producer, and uses the talents of a director, actress, and writer to accomplish that goal, ultimately betraying each one in the process. When he requests their participation on a new movie project, he finds that none of them will speak to him, and it's up to Harry Pebbel to try and convince them to work with him again.

"You know, Fred, when I work on a picture, it's like romancing a girl. You see her, you want her, you go after her. The big moment, then, the letdown. Every time, every picture, the after-picture blues."

I really enjoyed watching this movie about movie making! I liked the performances, the costumes, and the way the story unfolds. I found it captivating and look forward to watching it again. 

Summer Indulgence: June Recap

The best laid plans... Here are some of the movies I caught on the Criterion Channel in June because it was easier to flip on a streaming movie than open up the player and pop in a disc. That pretty much says it all for how June went for me.

Experiment in Terror (1962)

Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, Stefanie Powers and Ross Martin come together for a shadowy crime thriller from Blake Edwards that is a must see. Once I started watching it, I realized I had seen it before, which is a true testament to the unreliability of my memory, since it is not an easy film to forget. This is why I need to write these things down. Fortunately, it's a great movie to see again. The opening scene is worth the price of admission and will have you thinking of David Lynch. 

Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

Another Blake Edwards movie with Lee Remick, Jack Lemmon and Jack Klugman. A social drinker turns his wife on to booze and the good times quickly turn sour. Interesting to see Jack Lemmon not be funny. It's a good movie, but not the kind of film that makes me want to go back for seconds. 

No Man of Her Own (1950) 

A Mitchell Leisen film with Barbara Stanwyck and John Lund, not to be confused with 1932 version which is an entirely different story with Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. A woman gets knocked up and dumped by her boyfriend. She meets a nice newlywed couple on a train, and is mistaken for the woman, who is also pregnant, when the couple is killed in a train accident. While she initially tries to clear up the mistaken identity, she soon realizes that being taken in by the wealthy parents will be what's best for her newborn's future. She's placed in jeopardy when her old beau decides to show up and blackmail her. An engaging film with an interesting ending. 

Darling, How Could You! (1951)

Another Mitchell Leisen film with John Lund and Joan Fontaine. A doctor and his wife have been away for five years curing diseases during the construction of the Panama Canal while their three children are cared for by a nanny in their absence, which makes for some awkward interactions upon their return. Their teenage daughter inadvertently sees a play about an unfaithful wife, causing her to assume her mother is having an affair after overhearing a phone conversation with a male friend. It was a bizarre story, and only somewhat funny when the daughter goes to break up the assumed affair. I didn't care much for this one.

The Mark of Zorro (1940)

A Rouben Mamoulian movie with Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Basil Rathbone. I think I enjoyed Tyrone Power playing the part of a useless dandy even more than being a masked crusader. Wonderful filmography in this picture, and though I'm quite fond of Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, it's always fun to see him relish the role of villain. This is an infinitely rewatchable film.

Mr.& Mrs. Smith (1941)

A Hitchcock comedy with Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery that has a married couple learn that they're not really married because of a technicality. Before learning this inconvenient information, the husband foolishly admits to the wife that he wouldn't marry her if he had it to do all over again, so when she finds out that they're not really married, she decides to let him go, kicks him out, and begins dating his best friend. He sets about trying to win her back, but has little success. It's a curio in the Hitchcock filmography that's entertaining for what it is. There is a requisite Hitchcock cameo lest you forget who was directing this atypical film. 

The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956)

This was one of three in a collection of Jane Russell films on the Criterion Channel and was directed by Raoul Walsh. I had never seen any of her films, and ended up watching all three, beginning with this one. Mamie Stover is a prostitute who gets run out of San Francisco and ends up on a boat to Hawaii, where she meets and falls in love with a writer, who expects her to change her ways in exchange for his love, but her desire for money puts her at odds with her new boyfriend. Jane Russell gets to show off her assets in some lovely fashions. There is a frightening portrayal of the Pearl Harbor attack and a great appearance by Agnes Moorhead. It was an enjoyable film, though probably not one I'd revisit. 

Macao (1952)

Josef von Sternberg began directing this film, but was fired by Howard Hughes during the making of it and replaced by Nicholas Ray. Jane Russell, Robert Mitchum, William Bendix and Gloria Grahame make for an entertaining cast of characters to watch. It's a nice noir adventure with a drifter, a salesman, and a singer arriving by ship to Macao, where a crime boss has been making sure any police detectives who come after him to interfere with his jewel smuggling business don't leave alive. He knows a detective has just arrived by ship, and goes after the guy who is also making time with the beautiful singer he's just hired. It was an engaging movie with all the shadowy shots I love to see. 

His Kind of Woman (1951)

Of the three Jane Russell films I saw, this is the one I enjoyed the most. Directed by John Farrow, with Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price, Jim Backus and Raymond Burr. A professional gambler is offered a lot of money to go to Mexico, and is told the details of the job will be provided when he gets there. He meets up with an interesting group of people, including a lovely singer who is dating a well known actor, and soon finds out that his job is to provide a gangster with his identity to enable him to return to the United States. Vincent Price steals the show throughout, but especially during a suspenseful ending. I highly recommend this film.

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

A stylish, thought provoking film directed by Otto Preminger with Jimmy Stuart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden, George C. Scott, and Murray Hamilton. A soldier kills a man he believes to have raped and beaten his wife and is defended by a small town lawyer. This is one of the best courtroom dramas I've seen portrayed in film, with an amazing score by Duke Ellington. Don't miss seeing this one. 

Thelma & Louise (1991)

A Ridley Scott film with Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon, Harvey Keitel and Brad Pitt. What starts out as a fun getaway vacation for two gal pals turns into a crime spree. I haven't seen this film in over 20 years and wanted to peer back into that era. It's still an interesting and relevant film.

During the month of June, I've also been revisiting The Twilight Zone and Sherlock Holmes in print, TV and film, and continuing to update My Film Collection while shelving recent arrivals and acquisitions. At the same time, I am finally getting around to working on The Invaders, now that my adventures in Dark Shadows is about to finally wrap up with Night of Dark Shadows in the next few weeks. Since Brother John has kindly donated some films he was shocked to hear I had not seen, there will be some days coming dedicated to John Carpenter and George Romero. I also hope to dig into more film noir, French film, and silent movies, and finally get around to indulging myself properly.