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JANUARY MONSTROUS QUESTION – Answer 2 – LL SOARES

Posted in 1950s Sci-Fi Films, 2011, 80s Horror, Aliens, Hammer Films, John Carpenter Films, LL Soares Reviews, Monstrous Question of the Month, Remakes, Yetis with tags , , , , , , , , , , on January 28, 2011 by knifefighter

MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – January 2011
(Monstrous Questions provided by Michael Arruda)

THIS MONTH’S QUESTION:
What’s your favorite winter horror movie(s)?

Answer #2 (of 3). This one is from L.L. SOARES:

Well, the first movie that comes to mind is the most obvious one, John Carpenter’s 1982 version of THE THING.

THE THING is easily my favorite of Carpenter’s films, and it’s one of the rare cases where a remake is better than the original, although the original 1951movie—which has the longer title of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD—isn’t too bad.

THE THING takes place at a military base in the Arctic where researchers find a spacecraft lodged in the ice. When they try to extract it, they accidentally thaw out an alien life form that can change constantly to duplicate whatever is around it, and it has a strong desire to kill humans. It’s just an all-around excellent film.

The other movie that comes to mind is THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN (1957), a low-budget Hammer film starring Forrest Tucker and Peter Cushing. This one is about an expedition in the Himalayan Mountains to find a Yeti. But when they finally find one, things don’t go according to plan.

This is a small movie, yet it has stuck with me over the years for some reason. And I remember the Yetis being pretty cool.

And it cracks me up that SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED (1974), one of Nick’s choices, wasn’t originally on my list. How the hell did I forget that one? Not just because it should be one of my choices for best winter-themed movie, but because it’s one of my all-time favorite movies, period.

SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED (1974) had amazing special effects that were ahead of their time.

—END—

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JANUARY MONSTROUS QUESTION – Answer 1 – Nick Cato

Posted in 2011, 70s Horror, Cannibals, Indie Horror, Monstrous Question of the Month, Nick Cato Reviews, Yetis with tags , , , , on January 26, 2011 by knifefighter

MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – January 2011
(Monstrous Questions provided by Michael Arruda)

Okay, folks, here we are in the middle of January, the month of freezing cold temperatures, snow and ice.

With this in mind, here’s the MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH for January:
What’s your favorite winter horror movie(s)?

First up with an answer this month, it’s Nick Cato.  Take it away, Nick!

Answer # 1 (of 3).  This one’s from NICK CATO:

Here’s a couple of my WINTER-time faves:

SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED (1974). I first saw this on a cold winter morning on TV.  It’s one of my favorite so-bad-it’s-good movies, about a cannibal cult that uses a guy in a Yeti outfit to scare people to death.  In most of the outdoor shots you can see the cold shooting from the actor’s mouths, and one flashback Yeti-attack scene in the snow was quite effective (at least for an 8-year old who should have been watching cartoons). I think of this flick whenever the white stuff starts falling from the sky…

Also,

Larry Fessenden’s WENDIGO (2001) is a great, quiet-horror film that takes place in Upstate New York.  Patricia Clarkson and Jake Weber (the lead actor in the DAWN OF THE DEAD re-make from 2004) star as parents of a young boy who learn the isolated cottage they’re using as a get-away from the stress of city life is haunted by the spirit of a Wendigo, a half-man, half-deer creature of Indian folklore.  The constant sound of wind and the icy backgrounds cleverly add to the slowly growing tension.

When the Wendigo finally makes its appearance during a trippy-looking camp fire scene, goose bumps ran down my spine…the way it walks is as creepy as it gets.  Few films give me the physical or mental chills like this one.

—END—

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December MONSTROUS QUESTION – Answer # 5

Posted in 2010, Michael Arruda Reviews, Monstrous Question of the Month, Nightmares with tags , , , , , on December 22, 2010 by knifefighter

THE MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – DECEMBER 2010
(This month’s question comes courtesy of Dan Keohane)

DECEMBER QUESTION:

Has any horror film actually given you nightmares?  Name the movie, and if you remember any of the dream, describe the nightmare.

Which is scarier, the film or the dream?

AND NOW OUR FINAL ANSWER FROM MICHAEL ARRUDA:

I can’t say that any horror film has actually given me a nightmare, at least not as an adult, anyway.

The closest experience for me would be when I watched THE EXORCIST (1973) for the first time.  I watched it alone, late at night, uncut on HBO, when I was in high school.  When the movie ended, around 1:00 am, and it was time for me to go to bed, I couldn’t get the image of Linda Blair’s hideous face out of my head.  In fact, as I lay in bed, every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face.  Hell, even when I had my eyes open I saw her face— choose any dark corner in the room, and I’d see her there staring at me with that scarred face, demonic eyes, and thick rolling tongue.

Needless to say, it took me forever to fall asleep that night.

It was a very disturbing and scary experience for me, so much so that I still remember it clearly to this day.

That was the closest I ever came to actually having a movie give me a nightmare.

Some runners up include HALLOWEEN (1978), which I saw at the movies when I was 15, (somehow I eluded the Rated R police).  After this one, I couldn’t get the movie’s music out of my head the rest of the night, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I saw JAWS (1975) at the movies when I was 11, and needless to say I was traumatized for the rest of the summer and was afraid to go swimming.

Interestingly enough, none of the horror movies I’ve seen as an adult have come close to giving me nightmares.  Yet, I remember lots of instances as a child when movies bothered me.  I suppose this is more a reflection of the fact that it’s easier to be frightened as a child than it is as an adult, rather than that today’s movies aren’t as scary.  I think they are.  They just don’t bother me as much, because as an adult I recognize that a movie is a movie.  It isn’t real.

For the record, the king of scares in my childhood was— and this comes as a surprise to me— Lon Chaney, Jr.!  His Wolf Man and Kharis the Mummy (afraid of Kharis?  This seems laughable now, but back when I was a kid it was no laughing matter!) frightened the heck out of me when I was a kid.  Karloff’s Frankenstein’s monster didn’t, Lugosi’s Dracula didn’t, Lee’s Dracula didn’t, and Peter Cushing’s Baron Frankenstein didn’t.  Lon Chaney Jr. did.

Many a night when I was a kid I couldn’t fall asleep, because I was afraid that Kharis would creep into my bedroom and strangle me with his huge bandaged hand.  I also used to picture the Wolf Man leaping around outside my window, darting in and out of the moonlight, and if I ever found myself walking outside at night, I’d fear the Wolf Man would be lurking in some dark corner waiting to leap out at me and rip my throat out.

So, no nightmares for me, but lots of sleepless nights, disturbing images, and uncontrollable fears.

Thanks, Lon, for the memories!

Happy sleeping everyone!

~Michael Arruda

—END—

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December’s MONSTROUS QUESTION – Answer # 4

Posted in 2010, LL Soares Reviews, Monstrous Question of the Month, Nightmares with tags , , , on December 21, 2010 by knifefighter

THE MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – DECEMBER 2010
(This month’s question comes courtesy of Dan Keohane)

DECEMBER QUESTION:

Has any horror film actually given you nightmares?  Name the movie, and if you remember any of the dream, describe the nightmare.

Which is scarier, the film or the dream?

ANSWER # 4 – L.L. SOARES:

I remember when I was a kid, I watched horror movies constantly. Where some of my friends weren’t allowed to watch these kinds of movies because they were prone to nightmares (the friggin wimps!), I ate this stuff up and never had nightmares. I guess I felt a kind of kinship with monsters and horror characters. My nightmares were always about more real life stuff.

But I remember one rare movie that caused me to have nightmares as a kid. This didn’t happen very often, and I can’t explain to you why this particular movie got to me. But it was Byron Haskin’s WAR OF THE WORLDS from 1953, starring Gene Barry as Dr. Clayton Forrester (yes, the same name as the character from Mystery Science Theater 3000!). The one produced by the legendary George Pal.

Something about those death rays that turned people to ash especially bothered me. Looking back on the movie now, it’s almost laughable. I certainly saw other movies that were scarier. But when you’re a kid, strange things get under your skin.

As for which was scarier – the nightmares are always scarier than the movies. Nothing is scarier than your own imagination.

~L.L. Soares

—END—

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December’s MONSTROUS QUESTION – Answer # 3

Posted in 2010, Jason Harris Interviews, Monstrous Question of the Month, Nightmares with tags , , , , on December 10, 2010 by knifefighter

THE MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – DECEMBER 2010
(This month’s question comes courtesy of Dan Keohane)

DECEMBER QUESTION:

Has any horror film actually given you nightmares?  Name the movie, and if you remember any of the dream, describe the nightmare.

Which is scarier, the film or the dream?

ANSWER # 3 – JASON HARRIS:

I have never seen a horror movie that has truly frightened me.

I have seen THE EXORCIST (1973), CHILD’S PLAY (1988) and many more. Nothing has scared me. I have always wanted to see something that would have me waking up in the middle of the night screaming and drenched in a cold sweat.

I did have a dream about THE BLOB after reading a review of the 1988 remake back when it was in the theater. In the dream, I am upstairs in the back bedroom of the house. The blob is outside the house below the window. It slowly extends itself. It looks like it has eaten a number of people, but they are only covered by the ooze and not being dissolved by it. It slowly becomes level with the window and starts looking in. At this point, I am cowering underneath the window. That is all I remember from the dream.

The other scary dream I had when I was younger was when I was stung by a wasp before going to bed. I dreamed about bees the whole night. It’s not fun dreaming about bees attacking people and myself throughout the night. The lesson I learned from this experience is never to air out a sleeping bag, then help your dad put it away.  I’ve seen THE SWARM (1978), and that didn’t cause me any bad dreams.

~Jason Harris

—END—

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December’s MONSTROUS QUESTION – Answer # 2

Posted in 2010, Colleen Wanglund Reviews, Monstrous Question of the Month, Nightmares with tags , , , on December 9, 2010 by knifefighter

THE MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – DECEMBER 2010
(This month’s question comes courtesy of Dan Keohane)

DECEMBER QUESTION:

Has any horror film actually given you nightmares?  Name the movie, and if you remember any of the dream, describe the nightmare.

Which is scarier, the film or the dream?

ANSWER # 2 – COLLEEN WANGLUND:

My favorite horror movie of all time is George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) and it has given me nightmares every time I’ve watched it since I first saw it.  It scares the crap out of me.

I’ve had pretty much the same nightmare every time.  The location may change but I’m always running or hiding from zombies.  Sometimes I’m out in the street, sometimes I’m inside a house but the zombies just keep coming.  They are the slow shambling kind but they JUST KEEP COMING!!

In most of the nightmares the zombies are people I know….my parents, brothers, sister, friends, and my children.  No matter where I go they’re there.  The first time I watched NIGHT I had nightmares every night for two weeks.  I still have them although not as long.  And I still wake up in a cold sweat.   One night I woke up so scared I fell out of the bed tangled up in the blankets.

The nightmares are definitely scarier than the movie because they feel so real at the time and because the zombies are my loved ones.  I’ll keep watching it though.  I mean, it’s just a movie, right?  I think it’s this fear that makes me love zombies so much.

~Colleen Wanglund

—END—

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December’s MONSTROUS QUESTION – Answer # 1

Posted in 2010, Daniel Keohane Reviews, Monstrous Question of the Month, Nightmares with tags , , , on December 8, 2010 by knifefighter

THE MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – DECEMBER 2010
(This month’s question comes courtesy of Dan Keohane)

DECEMBER QUESTION:

Has any horror film actually given you nightmares?  Name the movie, and if you remember any of the dream, describe the nightmare.

Which is scarier, the film or the dream?

Thanks, Dan!

And leading off first with his answer is none other than, DAN KEOHANE:

OK, for me, the biggest nightmare-inducer has to be ALIENS (1986). This non-stop sequel to ALIEN (1979) was just so good and so intense that for years (and even now, 24 years later), I’d have the occasional nightmare of being somewhere – usually an office building, or a town, never a spaceship though — infested with these monstrous buggers. I hardly ever see them in the dreams, only suffer from the terrible knowledge that they’re close, and getting closer. I invariably wake up freaked-out.

When summer approaches and I begin to have my usual Back-To-Necon dreams (Necon is a writers conference), now and then the Aliens invade that haven of dreamland, and poor Craig Gardner invariably gets eaten… Still, Cameron’s film is far scarier.

As a kid, two specific bits of media-fear induced the strongest nightmares. First, the TV commercial for the movie MAGIC (1978). I’d actually forgotten this bit of memory until I read somewhere on Facebook recently how someone else used to be terrorized by the image of the creepy ventriloquist doll, staring out of the television, coming to get me. Ah!!!! Friggin scary for a kid (OK, I was fifteen, but easily frightened). The nightmare was vague, just doll-monster-thing staring at me, talking… man, I hate ventriloquist dolls almost as much as clowns.

One last morsel is the OUTER LIMITS episode with William Shatner (No, not what you’re thinking - THAT one was Twilight Zone) called “Cold Hands, Warm Heart” (1964) – in which he plays an astronaut returned from a Venus expedition who suffers nightmares about encountering an alien outside his space ship. That Venusian creature with its waving arms and big head was SCARY!!! I would have so many friggin’ nightmares about that thing. In the dreams I’d close my eyes and could still see it. Crap… I’m still scared of that thing. In this case, the dream was far scarier.

~Dan Keohane

—END—

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September Monstrous Question – Response # 3

Posted in 2010, Horror DVDs, Monstrous Question of the Month, Remakes, Sequels with tags , , , , on September 24, 2010 by knifefighter

THE MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – SEPTEMBER 2010
(Monstrous Questions provided by Michael Arruda)

If you could remake one sequel, what would it be?  Why?  And lastly, for some added fun, what are some of the changes/improvements you’d make?

***

RESPONSE # 3

MICHAEL ARRUDA:

I’m going to turn back the clock a bit and go with DRACULA- PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1966), Hammer Films’ first sequel to their mega hit HORROR OF DRACULA (1958).

Now, even though Hammer Films made a living out of making sequels, even though they made some of my favorite horror movies of all time, and even though I actually like DRACULA–PRINCE OF DARKNESS, I’m still choosing this movie as the sequel that I’d remake, and here’s why:

First off, I’d keep the entire first half of this movie pretty much the same.  Everything that occurs in this movie in its first 45 minutes, before Dracula actually makes his appearance, is dead-on (or would that be undead on?), from its strong sense of evil during the scenes at Castle Dracula, which play off the audience’s memory of Christopher Lee’s powerful performance as Dracula in HORROR OF DRACULA—you can almost sense Dracula’s spirit within the castle walls as he waits to be resurrected, to its most gruesome scene.  In fact, the resurrection scene is probably the most gruesome scene in the entire Hammer Dracula series, as Dracula’s servant Klove (Philip Latham) hangs a man upside down over Dracula’s coffin, and then slits his throat as gallons of blood pour into the coffin, mixing with Dracula’s ashes.  It’s a great scene.

But once Dracula enters the movie, things need to change.  I have three changes in mind.

Number one, I would give Dracula dialogue.  Even though Lee rarely spoke in any of the Hammer Dracula movies, DRACULA–PRINCE OF DARKNESS is the only film in the series where he speaks no dialogue at all.  Lee’s deep, resonating voice is sorely missed in this movie.  Of course, for those of you who don’t know, the reason Dracula had so few lines in the Hammer Dracula movies was that Lee cut the lines, claiming they were awful.  I’ve read copies of scripts with Lee’s notations, and for the most part, he was right.  The lines were terrible.

Anyway, in my remake, Dracula would speak dialogue, and he’d speak lots of it.

Second, I’d also give Dracula a reason for being.  It’d be nice to know his motives for doing things.  Since he doesn’t speak at all in the movie, it’s not exactly easy for the audience to know why he’s doing what.  He just follows the girl that got away and chases her across the country.   Well, my Dracula would spell out his intentions clearly:  yes, he would go all out to retrieve the beautiful girl that got away, that fled from his castle with her husband, but my Dracula would be more ambitious.  After re-capturing the girl, Dracula would plan to leave his castle and travel to London a la Stoker’s novel, and so there would be added scenes where Dracula would make preparations to travel to London.

Dracula is such an evil character.  He should be extremely difficult to destroy.  This was one of the flaws of the later Hammer Dracula films, that everyone and his grandmother could destroy Dracula.  That didn’t make for much of a scary villain if any old idiot could simply hold a cross at the king of the vampires and then drive a stake into his heart.  That was one of the best parts of HORROR OF DRACULA, that it pitted two extremely powerful characters against each other, Christopher Lee’s Dracula vs. Peter Cushing’s Dr. Van Helsing.  Either one could have come out the victor.

Since Van Helsing doesn’t appear in DRACULA–PRINCE OF DARKNESS, my third and final significant change to the sequel would be that Dracula would survive.  Yes, he’d succeed in re-capturing the girl, and he’d elude the woman’s husband and the knowledgeable priest who had made it their mission to destroy Dracula.

So my DRACULA–PRINCE OF DARKNESS would have a very dark ending.  Dracula would emerge victorious, which would set the stage for future sequels and send the following message:  the average guy doesn’t stand a chance against Dracula.  There would have to be some powerful, clever characters written in future movies to pit their abilities against Dracula, and perhaps even Van Helsing would return.  So, my DRACULA–PRINCE OF DARKNESS would have a certain EMPIRE STRIKES BACK feel to it, as the main villain would walk away unscathed, and the heroes and heroines would be left in a shambles.

My Dracula would be a Prince of Darkness indeed, and he’d make sure audiences knew it.

—END—

(That’s it for this month’s “Monstrous Question” – more in October).

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September Monstrous Question – Response # 2

Posted in 2010, Horror DVDs, Monstrous Question of the Month, Remakes, Sequels with tags , , , , , on September 23, 2010 by knifefighter

SEPTEMBER MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH
(Questions provided by Michael Arruda)

THIS MONTH’S QUESTION:
If you could remake one sequel, what would it be?  Why?  And lastly, for some added fun, what are some of the changes/improvements you’d make?

***

RESPONSE # 2

L.L. SOARES:

This is a tough one, because there are so many lame sequels. Almost all of them could be improved upon.

I can think of a handful of sequels that were as good or better than the original. BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) comes to mind, as does DRACULA’S DAUGHTER (1936), DEVIL’S REJECTS (2005) and HOSTEL PART 2 (2007).  I didn’t think James Cameron’s ALIENS (1986) was as good as the first one (Ridley Scott’s original was a horror movie, but Cameron’s sequel was more of an action movie), but it was certainly a respectable sequel.

The British studio Hammer made a business out of making worthwhile sequels.

The problem is, most bad sequels are bad throughout and should have been junked completely. In a lot of cases, they just weren’t fixable.

But if I had to choose one, I think I’d go with JAWS 2 (1978), mainly because the first JAWS (1975) was so great, and the sequel was such a letdown. And it was so not scary. With today’s special effects, I’m thinking a killer shark movie could be made that really scares the hell out of people. But you wouldn’t need to mess with remaking the original. Despite its flaws, the first JAWS doesn’t need reworking. But the sequel could have taken the basic concept and made it even scarier, and it didn’t. If I had a chance to remake JAWS 2, I’d ratchet up the scares considerably, and have a field day with the gore. Hell, it might even get the 3D treatment, if I could figure out how to give people heart attacks by having monster sharks jump out at them (I remember seeing JAWS 3 (1983) in 3D and being completely disappointed that there wasn’t a scene where a hungry shark swims right at you and off the screen). Unlike the recent PIRANHA 3D (2010), I’d play a JAWS sequel totally straight, no laughs and no winks, and build the suspense until it got excruciating.

Another sequel I’d be tempted to fiddle with would be THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986). While there are things I like about Tobe Hooper’s sequel, I remember seeing it in the theater and realizing it wasn’t scary. Not like the first one was. Despite the Sawyers’ winning a chili cook-off (my favorite scene) and Dennis Hopper doing the “dueling chainsaws” thing, it could have been something so much more visceral. You should have left the theater shaking a little. But it was a letdown.

The thing is, sequels, if they have to be made, should be a chance to take the good stuff from the first one and intensify those aspects even more. Not step back and let the whole thing fall on the floor.

—END—

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MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – RESPONSE # 4

Posted in 2010, Monstrous Question of the Month, Sexy Stars with tags , , , , , , on August 27, 2010 by knifefighter

THE MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – AUGUST 2010
(Questions Provided by Michael Arruda)

THIS MONTH’S QUESTION:
Who gets your vote for the hottest, sexiest performance by an actor – male or female – in a horror film?

RESPONSE # 4—MICHAEL ARRUDA:

I’d have to go with Linda Blair in THE EXORCIST (1973).  When her head completes that 360 degree turn— just kidding.

I’ve already written how sexy a performance Frances Dee delivered in I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943).  She is incredibly sexy, and her performance is well worth checking out.  Consider her an honorable mention.

Sexy pose by 1930s beauty Helen Chandler

Another honorable mention is an actress I’d overlooked for years, and that would be Helen Chandler in DRACULA (1931).  She played Mina, and there is something very sexy about Chandler.  If you pay close attention to her, and granted this is sometimes difficult since she shares screen time with the powerful presences of both Bela Lugosi and Edward Van Sloan, you’ll see in her eyes an exuberance, an energy, a love of life, and this energy is made all the more sexy because of the tragedy of what’s to come, that her world is about to be crushed by the evil of Dracula.

Now, this just might be me projecting what I know about Chandler’s real life, as her life after DRACULA was sad and full of tragedy, and it didn’t end well.  I don’t know, but I do know, that if you watch her closely in DRACULA, you’ll see a woman with a charged sexuality just waiting to burst out from the confines of a 1930s Hollywood production.  I wouldn’t mind being Bela Lugosi sneaking into her bedroom!

But my number one pick for the hottest, sexiest performance by an actress in a horror movie would have to be Britt Ekland in the 1973 version of THE WICKER MAN starring Christopher Lee.  When she comes on to Edward Woodward, oh – my – God!  Her nude “siren song” where she tries from the adjoining room to seduce Woodward’s Puritan butt onto hers, is one of the hottest scenes going.  I’m shaking right now.  Sure, when she spanks her own bare butt, it’s not Ekland, but a body double, but ask me if I care?  Sizzle!

The beautiful Britt Eckland heats up THE WICKER MAN

Britt Ekland in THE WICKER MAN is my pick for the hottest performance in a horror movie, as her nude siren song is enough to steam a room.  Excuse me while I defog my glasses.

—END—

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