One from the golden age of horror... This film (more widely known as the namesake inspiration behind Rob Zombie's band, White Zombie) holds up remarkably well even now, an immensely watchable film that has earned its place in cult movie history. Shot in black and white and dating back to the 1930's this is probably the earliest of the zombie flicks I have seen. No gore or special effects to speak of in this film, it has to rely on plot, dramatisation, musical score and acting and it comes across as a very solid film even from the point of view of a modern (well 80's horror fan) movie fan. The plot follows a young man Neil who is moving up in the world and his soon to be wife Madeline on the island of Haiti, where upon arrival they are greeted by stories and a close encounter of the undead roaming the island at night and working in the sugar mills (Good to see someone smart enough to put those zombies to work... think of all that free labour going to waste in modern zombie films) ... What I like about the story line in this film is that it sits closer to the historical origin of zombies than the "Night of the living dead" style zombies which is a pleasant change. Madeline has also unfortunately attracted the attention of Charles a wealthy businessman from the island who decides that since he can't have her he will turn her into a zombie.
Some kind soul has been kind enough to upload a remastered version of this classic! check it out below!
Now we're going right back to the start of Horror cinema... Nosferatu!
I have to say this took me a couple of attempts to get into the right headspace to sit and watch this film but when I finally got my head right to sit down and appreciate it it was well worth it.
Some interesting background on this film was that while it was based on Bram Stokers "Dracula" it never gained legal rights to do so and instead of using the words vampire they are referred to as "Nosferatu" and instead of using the name Dracula they called the main villain "Count Orlok". They were still sued and as a result of copyright infringement all copies of the film were ordered to be destroyed. Thankfully at least a few must have survived for the movie to have remained in circulation until the digital age we now find ourselves in.
NOTE: I'm going to go into more detail with this plot as I'm sure any fan of the genre pretty much knows the story of Bram Stokers Dracula anyway, its by no means a comprehensive outline of the plot, lest it would become an essay length blog entry... but if you would rather no spoilers .. skip the next paragraph.
Nosferatu follows the story of a young real estate agent, "Hutter" who is acquiring real estate in England for the wealthy Transylvanian Count Orlok. As the commissions on the property deal will be big, he is asked to travel to Carpathia (In Transylvania) see the Count in person. As he gets close to the Counts abode the tour guides refuse to go any further. He does not take this as a warning, but instead presses on to visit the count. ... and of course falls under the vampires (I mean NOSFERATU) spell. Upon entering the castle he dines with the Count and cuts his finger , which stirs up a blood lust within the count and he sucks the blood dripping from Hutter's finger. Its then Hutter realizes things are getting strange. Hutter stays in the house and is bitten in his sleep by the Nosferatu. He starts to fall under the spell of the Count. Hutter's betrothed, Eilleen whilst still back in England also falls under the spell of the Nosferatu from across the seas. Orlok is then transported to England via sea vessell (whilst killing most or all of the crew with a plague that seems to be carried by him.. and spread into the town where he bought his house) whilst Hutter also tries to escape the Castle but hits his head and is found by the villagers who keep him in an infirmary to rest him up, wasting valuable time and giving the Count a great headstart. Hutter eventually recovers and sets sail back home, only to find England ravaged by an plague which the Nosferatu has unleashed on the town. Count Orlok is keen is keen to sink his teeth into Hutter's fiancé, but Eileen has read in a forbidden tome that the way to defeat a vampire is to keep him distracted by feminine beauty until the sun comes up which she does (by default) and of course the Count vapourises into dust and the curse he's brought with him is nullified.
The movie itself is primitive and has no dialogue. You can kind of see the stuttering of the frames. The film is shot in Black and White / Sepia and in some places seems to have a strange green hue to it (I'm not sure if the restoration process did this or the original film) The accompanying music is a recreation as the original scorehad been lost in time... But there in lies the charm of this film. The music that accompanies this film is quite hypnotic and other worldly in its own way and adds to the atmosphere of the film. Scenes are cut with script text laid out in old style gothic script which does help a lot, but also adds to the arcane feeling of this film. But like I said it did take me a while to get into the headspace required to appreciate this work, but I have a sneaky feeling this is the film that spark a new interest in vintage horror for me (Note: it most certainly DID!)
Anyway here's a really neat, HD version of the film I've found on YouTube for your enjoyment so check it out!
This is George Romero's ground breaking zombie flick from 1968.
Shot on Black and White film, and filmed on what can only be described as a shoe-string budget this film is singlehandedly responsible for bringing zombies as we know them today (as opposed to the haitian/voodoo zombies in movies like White Zombie that had previously been depicted in movies until then) into the mainstream of modern culture and spawning countless zombie films just like it, some better and many immeasurably worse. It is also the earliest film I can think of that uses explicit gore, levels of gore which now have been rendered "cute" by todays standards but were revolutionary by late 60's standards.
Basically the plot revolves around a scenario where the dead are coming back to life and a small group of survivors are trapped in a farmhouse left to defend themselves with whatever weapons they can find, while the undead around them are literally "chomping at the bit" to take a bite out of them.
While much of it now would be considered outdated and the special effects used rather plain this is still quite a watchable film and something that you could use to introduce your kids to the world of horror without traumatizing them. Featuring none of the over the top gore that the following films in the franchise (Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead etc....) were renowned for, this can probably be considered one of the safer films for the horror newbie, where I guess hardened gore-fiends might find the pace of this one a bit slow.
Over all its a great watch, and historically important to gain an understanding where the zombie infection first took a hold on mainstream cinema audiences
It is presented below in all its glory on you tube for those that haven't had the pleasure!
The full title for this one is THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD .... . but I've never really heard it referred to as that... so I'll call it "The Thing". It's essentially an adaptation of a short story called 'Who goes there?" from the 30's which was later done again by master horror director John Carpenter in 1982.
The plot revolves around a military operation in the north pole concerning a UFO that went down in the artic. Upon investigation the crew accidently blow up the craft but find the frozen remains of the alien nearby the site and take it back, with the intention of testing it. However the "Thing" thaws out faster than they'd anticipated and escapes the military facility and slaughters a couple of military dogs in the snow, but not without the dogs removing an arm off the "thing" which is taken back to be tested. Upon testing it is determined the arm belongs to a creature not of this world composed of materials closer to plant life than human flesh and blood. However the "Thing" can change shape and mimic humans which it does and then its up to the rest of the defence force personell on the base to stop the thing before it wastes them.
The movie itself is quite reasonable when considering it is a B & W feature directed in the early 50s. I have to say I found it quite enjoyable for what it is, but unfortunately it doesn't stand up against the later version done by John Carpenter (which I'd already seen) but like many movies of this era I still think its worth watching if only as a historical reference and to see how far Carpenter took the film. I should also qualify this by admitting I'm not a huge fan of science fiction and while this film was rated the best sci-fi of its year and is quite highly regarded, I Just found it a little slow going. The film itself has very little horror, as lets face it most films of the time would have done, it also would have been cool to see the "Thing" a little more (though I guess the special FX standards of the time wouldn't have done it justice). This is by no means a bad film, I was just a little underwhelmed by it after having seen the 1982 version.
Its a quiet Saturday night in for me this week and I thought I'd put one something easier on the senses so I dragged out an old VHS copy of FRANKENSTEIN.
Since writing this blog I've gained an appreciation for the horror classics, and I have to say out of all the golden era (20s and 30s period) this is probably my favorite. This is one movie I have to say really works well on the VHS format, the picture probably wasn't shot in anything more high definition than a tape would have been and the analogue tape format really carries the soundtrack and dialogue of the film well.
I'm sure we all have a fair idea of the plot or have at least read the book so there's no huge necessity for me to outline the plot again. Boris Karloff (see also The Mummy) once again is cast as the creature and while I'm not familiar with anyone else acting in the film they all do a great job, movies as this one rely on dialogue and the interplay with light/shadows and of course the soundtrack and a great job is done in all areas.
Production values aside it rolls along nicely as a film, the visual quality seems ahead of the other monster films of the time and doesn't feel as slow paced as some of the other films of the generation. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it the whole way through. Another point to mention is that Frankenstein's monster is not an ambitious talk to recreate with the technology of the time as some of the creatures (universal monsters) look quite comical now where as in this case the monster is quite believable.
As with most films of this era there's no real gore or graphic violence so you can watch it with your younger children or elderly parents without the fear of upsetting anyone. I couldn't find a free online version of it but its available to stream on You Tube or I'm sure you won't have too much trouble finding it at a second hand store or Ebay or something
I thought it was time to fire up the old VHS player and give this one a spin. These old VHS tapes do have a certain charm, Its strange to think some guy probably paid a lot of money for this back in the day (as indeed I did too back in the 90's) and now I find myself having to sift through a couple hundred of them which I got for next to nothing.
This was one such treasure, with child like enthusiasm I fed it into the "state of the art" 6 head, Hifi VCR and went back to the couch to absorb this film in all its grainy, black and white, VHS glory.
Realistically this film is obviously dated but I think its an interesting watch the story and plot line holds interest and the dialogue is excellent. As a child of the 80's glory days of horror its hard to go back and put myself into the mind of someone watching this in the 1930's would this film have frightened audiences back in the day? hard to say.... there's some chilling dialogue but overall its an easy watch.
The film revolves around a group of archaeologists who unearth the mummy of the Egyptian Phaoroh, Imhotep... (in much the same way I unearthed these VHS tapes) and inadvertently resurrect him by reading out from the ancient scroll of Thoth. Played by horror legend Boris Karloff the mummy returns as an Egyptian character named Ardeth (spelling???) instructing the archaeologists on where to find the treasures of Imhotep's tomb. My only real criticism of the film is that its hard to follow how the Mummy came back as the Egyptian Ardeth and why the scientists would even listen to him in the first place.... but regardless the Mummy is set on finding his long lost lady love from Ancient Egypt whom he believes has been re-incarnated as a modern woman.
Overall a cool watch and shrouded in what can only be described as an old world charm that only these vintage era horror films can have.
I hear this is supposed to be a loosely based sequel for seminal zombie film White Zombie, and also directed by Victor Halperin (who directed White Zombie) it does seem to follow on after that first film, at least chronologically, with reports filtering back to the Allied forces in French-Austria that there were in fact zombies in Angkor (in the orient) which starts a military expedition to find and destroy the secret the zombies, after a failed attempt to extract information about the zombies from a priest they had previously captured from the Orient, fearing the Zombies could be used against the alllied forces
There's a subplot around Claire part of the expedition who falls in love with Cliff (after they've been in the orient a few months or so) but accepts a marriage proposal from Armand to make Cliff jealous..... which works and she ends up marrying Cliff after he finally confesses his love for her, its all a little hammy in that 1930's kind of way, but after that's all out of the way its starts to get a little more interesting and the movie moves along a little faster.
Not to be defeated in love or life Armand persists and unlocks the secret of enslaving the unwitting into zombie-hood to do his bidding and eventually creates an army of zombies (one should remember that the zombies in these early films are not the decaying flesh eating creatures made popular in movies like the Night of the Living Dead etc... rather they are more slaves of will in a state of hypnosis like trance) Armand threatens to turn Cliff into a zombie like he as done to everyone else unless Claire agrees to marry him in exchange for Cliff being left unharmed.
Without giving away the plot I will say the ending left me a little underwhelmed, but over all its a decent enough watch, and interesting from an historical point of view. I will say that the passing of time and events in the film can be a little unclear as well which makes what is an otherwise pretty cool story a little disjointed.
Obviously being shot in 1936 this is a black and white film and the audio has that scratchy feel to it as well. I know that many people don't like to watch black and white cinema but if you can get past that its a fairly decent watch, I don't think it comes up that well against White Zombie, but its a fairly cool watch as well. Like Most B&W films it does rely on dialogue, and a decent story line and lets face it the special effects and gore were non-existent back then, so it has to stand up as a story on its own as well.
This is a vintage horror film featuring the talents of Vincent Price, who is looking and sounding as debonairre as always. I'm a big fan of this guys work and this one is no exception.
The plot centres in on Price's wealthy, and serial husband character Frederick who is unhappy with his current wife Annabelle his fourth or fifth wife. Annabelle organises the which involves spending a night in a haunted house with 5 other guests for a reward of $10,000 (a lot of money back in the times of black and white cinema) for anyone who survives the night.
Some of the party believe in the supernatural and of course others do not, and its not long before a few bumps in the night and macabre goings on have everyone scared for their life and wanting get out.
The dialogue is excellent and the story is extremely well written and engrossing through out the whole story. This movie has a certain old world charm about it that cannot seem to be recreated in this day and age... The gore factor is non-existent but this means the story has to rely on dialogue and plot development the whole way through, and it does very well thank you very much! The movie has a genuinely creepy atmosphere about it, and the sound effects compliment the film perfectly keeping the viewer rivetted. This is not going to scare hardened gore-fiends but is a very entertaining and compelling watch.
Plot wise there are a few twists and developments that are expertly written into the story development and everything in my opinion works rather well. I won't ruin them here but rest assurred it will keep you guessing~
Of course its up on Youtube so check it out here! You won't be dissapointed!
One from the golden age of horror... This film (more widely known as the namesake inspiration behind Rob Zombie's band, White Zombie) holds up remarkably well even now, an immensely watchable film that has earned its place in cult movie history. Shot in black and white and dating back to the 1930's this is probably the earliest of the zombie flicks I have seen. No gore or special effects to speak of in this film, it has to rely on plot, dramatisation, musical score and acting and it comes across as a very solid film even from the point of view of a modern (well 80's horror fan) movie fan.
