Season of Horror: Halloween Safety (1977)

Happy Halloween! I rewatched Carnival of Souls this evening, and afterwards came across director Herk Harvey's short educational film, Halloween Safety, which recalled nostalgic memories of Halloween in the 1970s that I thought some of you may also enjoy.  

The narrator introduces the topic while menacing music plays: 

There's one magical, haunted evening each year when all the scary creatures come out to prowl through every neighborhood. But here's the scariest monster of all. Do you know why? This little witch doesn't know it, but she's taking some frightening chances of being hurt. Maybe badly hurt.

What follows is a traumatizing look at how this little witch is transformed into a lame Princess with a costume bedecked with reflective tape, while wearing a witch's hat turned white. Her cool plastic mask is at first mutilated and then discarded. Was this really about Halloween safety or a message to girls about the importance of becoming more appealing? I guess it depends on your perspective. Either way, truly frightening stuff. Watch for yourself, if you dare.

I've had a post lingering in draft for this year's Season of Horror, which I will hopefully get around to posting before next year. Suffice to say, I've been having difficulty getting things done lately. I have recently discovered Letterboxd, and have been logging brief thoughts on movies I've been watching. Maybe that explains in part why I'm not getting things done. If you'd like to follow along, here's my profile page: https://letterboxd.com/aging_broad/

Messiah of Evil (1974)

I decided to watch something from 50 years ago by selecting a title from my 1973 movies and landed on Messiah of Evil. It wasn't until I went to write this post that I realized the incorrect date was listed on the Film Detective DVD, and it had actually been released in 1974. If not for that error, I may have been writing about Jesus Christ Superstar today instead. It seems to be an era for messianic movies.

"A hundred years ago, the moon started turning red up in the sky and things began to happen. It was like the redder the moon got up there, the closer the people were being jerked toward hell. Well, the people started bleeding out of control. They found children eating raw meat. It was like the town was festering with an open sore, until the night that they...until the night they came down out of the canyon and..."

Spring Into Folk Horror: Robin Redbreast (1970)

I did one of the worst things I could possibly do. I watched a movie about movies. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched documents the history of folk horror films from all over the world. It is a thorough and interesting investigation that naturally inspired me to add to my burgeoning collection, as I couldn't resist exploring more of my favorite kind of horror movies involving backwoods pagans and witches. 

One of the movies documented was Robin Redbreast, a BBC television play from 1970 that seemed appropriate viewing for the first day of Spring. In this movie, Norah Palmer decides to take up residence in a vermin infested, remote country cottage after breaking up with her boyfriend of 8 years. She retains a local housekeeper, Mrs. Vigo, who seems to know everything there is to know about everybody; is accosted in her garden by Fisher, who immediately asks to examine her yard for sherds and always seems to be lurking about; and comes across handsome Rob, née Edgar, attacking a pole in the woods, clad only in a speedo. They all seem to have common knowledge of an artifact she found on her windowsill, asking her if she'd brought it into the house with no apparent way of knowing she found it outside, all describing it as a marble cut in half.

She invites "dishy" Rob to dinner, discovering just before their date that her diaphragm has mysteriously gone missing, though his incessant, one-sided conversation about the SS makes it unnecessary, killing any cougar desire she may have harbored for him, and she bids him goodnight. 

She awakens to find a bird trapped in the house and her screams bring him rushing back to comfort her, making her ripe for his ardent advances. 

The next day, Mrs. Vigo invites her to church for a harvest festival, but despite her claims that she's agnostic, she's finally bullied into going, seemingly unaware that most churches don't typically display dead chickens and rabbits on the altar.

She tells her London friends soon thereafter that she's pregnant, describing how her birth control went missing and reappeared the night after. She wonders if someone purposefully put the bird down the chimney to draw Rob back into the house, or if he did it himself. Her friends offer to help, but she says she can find an abortionist herself. 

Rob comes looking for her in the city, begging her not to kill his son. She says she wants the child as much as she doesn't want it. He notes that she has the half marble with her and she says she found it in her suitcase, claiming Mrs. Vigo probably stuck it in there. She tells him when she comes to the cottage again, she doesn't want to see him, no matter what she decides about the child. 

Once she returns to the cottage, Mrs. Vigo insists she must remain there until Easter. When she tries to leave, she finds her car is no longer working, and when she calls her friends to come get her, the connection is lost and her phone stops working. She attempts to take a bus, but it refuses to stop for her. She realizes that she's unable to leave and feels trapped. She writes a letter to her friends, imploring them to come get her, but Fisher tells the woman at the post to hold on to her letter for a few days. This would be a good place to stop reading if you don't want to know how this movie ends. Go check it out on YouTube or Amazon Prime Video and come back here when you're done. 

The night before Easter, Rob stops by. She lets him in when he says he's got nothing to do with it. He tells her he's leaving in the morning, and that Fisher paid for his ticket to Canada. She asks what service he provided that inspired Fisher to put up the money for a ticket, and realizes it was a stud fee. As she begins to add up all the clues, she becomes agitated, demanding to know why she's being kept there until Easter, and the purpose of his being there. She threatens him with a knife, as people try to get in through her locked doors. He claims to not know what's happening and says he's on her side. He says he's not one of them, and she sees that he's scared. 

Peter emerges from the chimney with an ax and Nora passes out. Rob is led away and Peter follows with the ax. Rob's terrified screams are heard. 

Norah comes to and finds Mrs. Vigo in her kitchen. She tells her she's taking her to church, informing her that the part for her car has arrived and Fisher's picking it up. She asks where Rob is, and Fisher enters and tells her he's gone to Canada. 

She asks why he is allowing her to go, when she could go to the police. He asks what she'd go to them about. He tells her about a legend of the goddess of fertility, who would couple with a pampered young king. The king would then be sacrificed and crops would spring up from his blood. He connects it to Robin Hood, Robin of the Dale, and the robin redbreast, saying that the male lives only one year and the female has many partners. He suggests that the police would think her foolish if she went to them with a tale like that. He offers to make arrangements for her babe at a local orphanage, but she declines, backing out of the cottage. She gets in her car and drives off as they watch her go.

Thoughts:

This is an utterly creepy movie that recalls to mind the Wicker Man and Rosemary's Baby. The unexpected ending was effective, and while the baby does not end up being claimed by the clan, it's not hard to imagine this crafty group will find a way to arrange to bring the lad home when he comes of age to serve as the next sacrificial king. There are some interesting shots and a strange dream sequence to enjoy. This movie was initially presented in color, but it is well suited to this surviving black and white print. This was an entertaining film that I would gladly watch again. 

The Season of Horror Has Risen from the Grave: October Recap

"We don't know what kind of murder-happy characters we have here." -NOTLD

I did quite a bit of casual viewing in October and felt the need to document what I've been watching. I'm not sure I have anything particularly insightful to share as I've mostly just been drifting from one movie to the next in a bit of a mind numbing escape. 

Blind Alley (1939)

This was one of the films offered by the Criterion Channel as part of its "Home Invasion" themed films. Ruthless killer, Hal Wilson, has broken out of jail and is taking it on the lam with his gang. They decide to invade a family home, while waiting for their means of escape across the lake.

Wilson appears to take pleasure in killing, but despite being a ruthless, cold killer, he is no match for the wits of Dr. Shelby, who dissects his mind, exposing what's at the heart of his urge to extinguish people through some wonderfully designed dream visuals. 

I like Chester Morris, but I did not find him particularly well suited to this role. What I enjoyed most were the wonderfully weird dream sequences. 

In Cold Blood (1967)

True crime stories aren't my cup of tea, but it's hard to pass up on cinematography by Conrad Hall and a score by Quincy Jones. 

The story of the murder of a Kansas family by Perry Smith and Dick Hickock is revealed in an unexpected way, which makes it all the more disturbing. 

The realism inspired by filming where the crime actually occurred brings the horrifying reality home.

I must not fail to note that Conrad Hall is a master. I love his work.

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Back to NOTLD again. This was another one of the "Home Invasion" offerings on CC, making it easy to watch again. There is always some new takeaway from this movie, which may be what makes it ideal for repeated viewing.

This time around, I'm thinking about mindless consumption.

Demon Seed (1977)

A woman is impregnated by AI gone rogue. I have not seen this movie for quite a long time and found it much more disturbing in the age of Alexa. 

Let's hope life will not imitate art.

It's frighteningly prescient that the AI-human progeny should so closely resemble Jeff Bezos. 

The Invisible Man (1933)

 

It's hard not be impressed by the special effects in this film. I love that Claude Rains plays the title character and we never actually get to see that it's him until the end. 

I also appreciate that he addresses the elephant in the room, that he's actually running around naked while playing his invisible man tricks on folks. 

I have seen this movie multiple times, but have not seen the other films in the series. I anticipate they may be a bit of a letdown, but perhaps I will find something to appreciate about them anyway. 

Creepy (2016)

I came across this movie about a serial killer pursued by a retired police officer while I was browsing the Criterion Channel. It's directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to Akira K.), so I can now claim to have seen a Kurosawa film. Eventually I'll get around to The Lower Depths, Seven Samurai, and Rashomon. 

The serial killer character truly is creepy, and will have you looking at your own creepy neighbors in a different light.

I found it difficult to understand how he entranced some of his victims. It was hard to tell if he had some powers of hypnosis or supernatural abilities. It was interesting to watch something off my usual beaten path, and I found the ending satisfying. 

Zodiac (2007)

I am not sure why I chose to watch this movie, since true horror disturbs me, but I guess I felt like being disturbed. And I was. 

I can't say I enjoy this kind of movie, but it was interesting. 'Interesting' seems to be my favorite word today.

Dracula (Spanish language version 1931)

I finally got around to watching the Spanish language version of Dracula. I can't say I like one better than the other. I can appreciate each of them for what they are. 

Jigoku (1960)

This film was another unexpected selection on CC. A student is a passenger in a car driven by a demon that becomes involved in a hit and run accident. Apparently it's enough to send him to hell, though it seems he goes through quite a bit of hell before actually arriving there. 

Hell is not a nice place, and it appears that everyone in the movie has gone to hell.

The gory visuals are quite a sight to see. It must have been truly terrible on the big screen. That exposed, pulsating heart would have been awesome in 3D!

You might think it would inspire folks to walk a straight and narrow path, but this film has me thinking that you'd still end up in hell even if you did. 

The Old Dark House (1932)

This is one of my favorite old movies, and it was perfect to watch while an atmospheric river was being unleashed. In it, some folks get caught out in a deluge, and when the roads become impassable, they foist themselves upon a strange family for the night. 

It wouldn't be pre-code if there wasn't a bit of disrobing going on. It's made all the more weird and sinister by the leering old gal poking her finger into the young lady's chest, claiming her flesh will rot.

There are many great shadowy shots to enjoy here.

Not everyone is having a bad night.

I am not convinced this ancient character was played by a man. The effect was completely creepy.

Boris Karloff plays a lecherous, drunken hulk of a man, pawing at the ladies and being generally menacing.

Charles Laughton is fun to watch in this early role as a guy willing to let his good-time-gal go to another suitor. 

Jennifer's Body (2009)

A cheerleader is possessed by a demon and goes about consuming guys she would have never given a second glance before. This is another movie that wouldn't ordinarily interest me, but I was lazy and cruising the Criterion Channel a lot in October. I actually found it quite fun to watch.

The Season of Horror may have tapered off a bit as I've been led astray by noir in fog laden November, though I am hoping to explore a few more monster movies before fall turns to winter.

*11/23 Addendum

I forgot a few. This is why I have to write these things down...

Parents (1989)

This was a fun movie about a 1950s family, whose son discovers his parents are cannibals. I enjoyed the acting and the visuals, and would watch this one again. 

Martin (1976)

Martin is an awkward kid who thinks he's a vampire and doesn't have much experience with "sexy stuff," so he's got to get his blood and good lovin' through unconventional means, and is not very adept at it.

It's difficult to tell whether or not he really is a vampire, but he claims to be 84 years old and has what could be either flashbacks or fantasies of being a vampire in earlier days. 

He goes to live with his cousin Cuda, who calls him Nosferatu, and says he will save his soul and then kill him. Kinda makes me wonder why he'd choose to stay with him. 

The appeal of this movie is never actually knowing if Martin is a vampire or not, which can elicit different feelings about the way the movie ends.