Guillermo Del Toro Triple Bill on Film 4

Last weekend Film 4 showcased 3 of Guillermo Del Toro most personal films Cronos, The Devils Backbone and Pans Labyrinth.
I have tried to watch Cronos quite a few times but I tend to full asleep, but his time I saw it in full.
It tells the story of The Cronos device which gives its user eternal life unless there heart is pierced.

Summary extract taken from imbd
In 1535, an alchemist builds an extraordinary mechanism encapsulated into a small golden device. The invention, designed to convey eternal life to its owner, survives its maker until 1997, when it shows up with an antiques dealer. Fascinated with the strange device, Gris (Luppi) doesn't note that there's more than one person looking for it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104029/plotsummary

Gris an ageing antique dealer stumbles upon the device and accidentally uses it, is pursued by Angel played by Ron Pearlmen. Jesus Gris is a man way over his head, you spend half of the movie hoping he will make it through and not be killed forever and the half hoping he will not resorting to killing other people for their blood. The most poignant scene for me in the movie is after he has escaped the funeral home is reduced to raiding dustbins for scraps of clothes to cover his appearance and then he picks up a paper which has his obligatory in it.
In the end Jesus Gris most, confront his tormenter to save his family life, followed by his loyal Grandaughter Aurora, he defeats his enemy and destroys the Cronos device to save people from himself.
In the 3 films I have seen directed by Guillermo Del Toro, their is a theme that yes there is greed and desire and wicked adults but the innocence of childhood can restores our humanity, and inspire others to finally do the right thing.
I think this is illustrated perfectly in The Devil Backbones, that the meek Professor Casares comes back as a ghost to save the surviving children from Jacinto, when he failed in life to protect the orphanage and Carman his love.

BBC Four History of Horror

Last night the second part of the History of Horror covering the 50s and 60s with a tiny nod to the seventies. I have to admit I had seen many of the films referenced as they were hammer horrors, and Bray studios which used to be screened very regularly on the BBC in the 1990s. No mention was made of the Wicker Man apart from a reference to Folklore horror and little was said about the European horrors an area I would have liked to now more about. Of course A History of Horror is about Mark Gatiss journey into horror and many of the films selected during this second part, were available to watch on TV, when I was growing up. Last night horror film was The Brides of Dracula which I recently purchased as its a rare film to be screened, if it ever was on TV. And it does sum up Hammer Horror at its best, but as I have quite a few of the hammer box sets, purchased the book I was looking for something different.

Halloween Viewing- Lucky The Murderous Dog

The film Lucky The Murderous Dog (2002) suffers from a lack of budget, the plot line alone offers a good promise of black comedy horror. But lack of money meant poor recording, poor editing, poor camera techniques and poor development of ideas.
The plot line goes a failed cartoon writer (Millard), hits a dog he nurses back to health called Lucky. Lucky changes his life, Lucky talks to him and tells him to kill people.
I assume the film has narration throughout which became very annoy after 10 minutes as it was too self explanation, I did a lot of fast forwarding and then the dog started to talk and you know what it wasn't witty or smart so I switched off.
I think I would of tried to watch it through if the DVD quality had been better, but this is a film that should be remade, just on a better budget.

Plot Summary from imbd
Ever have one of those lifetimes where nothing seems to go right? Failing cartoon writer, Millard Mudd, has sunk deep into one. Living hermit-like and existing on a strict alcohol diet, Mudd's world has collapsed. But one day everything changes when a dog named Lucky enters his life. You see, what makes Lucky no ordinary dog is his ability to talk. And what makes Lucky invaluable is his ability to teach Mudd how to write again. But what makes Lucky dangerous is his ability to get inside Mudd's head and turn him into a serial killer.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299014/

Halloween Viewing - CastleFreaks

When I say the label best Direct to video on the dvd, I thought I made a good choice for £1.
Once Castlefreak was revealed, he wasn't particuly scary, the thought that the monster will come jumping out at you at any moment added to the suspense. I think that has more to do with what I expect from modern horrors, sick blood acts and fright moments. The sequences wghere the mother and daughter run around the Castle screaming while CastleFreak follows them were comedy. I couldnt understand why she didnt just pick up the number of tall candlesticks and use it to whack it. I also didn't understand the ending as, the Monster was only a deformed person and there were a number of objects in the Castle to use as weapons, surely couldnt the husband have used CastleFreak own chain to strangle him, rather then hurl himself of the Castle roof with CastleFreak with him.
Better then Demons.

BBC Four Horror Season

Last night, BBC Four continued its showing of horror classics by screening (1942) Cat People.
I have heard of the orginal Cat People and like most people have sceen clips of the 80s version on TV, but I have never seen the orginal.
It starts like any good love story, boy meets girl with issues, gets married, girls issues get worse, boy meets another girl and wants to leave first girl, but with a supernatural element. I missed the famous swimming pool scene as I was tired and doozed off. If only I had a recorder.

Storyline taken from imdb
Irena Dubrovna, a beautiful and mysterious Serbian-born fashion artist living in New York City, falls in love with and marries average-Joe American Oliver Reed. Their marriage suffers though, as Irena believes that she suffers from an ancient curse- whenever emotionally aroused, she will turn into a panther and kill. Oliver thinks that is absurd and childish, so he sends her to psychiatrist Dr. Judd to cure her.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034587/

Wardrobe Moments- The Dolly Sisters

There are lots if wardrobe moments in The Dolly Sisters and I can understand why it is one of Dita Von Teese favourite films. The perfect film to watch if you are in a girly mood.

Halloween Viewing- The Bat

Now the Cayman classics are hit and miss, misses are The Wasp Woman,Plan 9 from Outer Space, hits are House in a Haunted Hill, The Terror etc.

The Bat is another hit, not really surprising as it features accomplished actors like, Vincent Price, an intense actor and Agnes Moorhood who always looks the same age no matter the picture.
Steve Calvert website has reviews of all the horror classic being sold by Poundland, so no more excuse for me to make bad chocies again.

http://www.steve-calvert.co.uk/

History of Horror on BBC Four

I must admit for someone who says that they love horror, I don't know much about the film genre pre 1950s or in fact Hollywood Horror.
Which is why I was glued to last night programing from BBC Four. It was nice to learn about the picture of the thirties and their main stars like Boris Korloff and Belugosi.

After the program they played the film the Bride of Frankinstein, when I think of this film, the image above appears in my mind. The funny thing is this character omly appears in the last 10 minutes, yet to people who have never seen this film she is one of the defining images of the picture.

Halloween Viewing- Plan 9 From Outer Space

Most of the Cayman classics are public domain, but for a £1 why not?
If I had known this Cayman classic was an Ed Wood picture I would of choose something else. Creased curtins, still taking from other programmes, and dont fit smoothly. B horror movie at its worst.
At least I got to study Vampira's look, high forehead, very arched eyebrows, tiny waist achieved by corset underneath dress then wear clinch waist belt on top.

Halloween Viewing - The Children

Poundland Buy
A modern British horror film (2008) and actual it was good. A film about murderous children, that then have to be killed, always sounds like it is pushing the barriers of taste, but it was actually one of those gem movies, which received little press so not alot of cinemas showed it, like Splice.

Plot in depth from Wikipedia
The film begins with a family of five, mother Elaine (Eva Birthistle), father Jonah (Stephen Campbell Moore), teenage daughter Casey (Hannah Tointon), and the two younger children Miranda (Eva Sayer) and Paulie (William Howes) heading up to a large house to spend New Year with some relatives. When they arrive, they are greeted by Elaine's sister Chloe (Rachel Shelley), her husband Robbie (Jeremy Sheffield), and their two children; Leah (Raffiella Brooks) and Nicky (Jake Hathaway).

Paulie, who has been feeling unwell for the journey is sick outside the house, so Elaine sees to him. While she looks after him, she tells Casey to carry the bags into the house and Casey asks her if she has heard of contraception. Inside, the children are enjoying themselves, except for Casey, who is annoyed that she didn't get to go to her friend's party. Chloe then gets annoyed because Nicky is playing with a toy gun that Casey got him for Christmas. She then continues moaning about her mother, who called at 11pm wanting to speak to the children, and tells them that she hasn't invited her mother over for New Year. Paulie climbs up on to the table, calling for Elaine, and when Jonah picks him up, he hits him in the face.

Later, when putting the children to bed, Chloe discusses the MMR jabs with Elaine as Jonah tells Robbie about his job. Casey then asks Robbie where she can get reception for her phone, and Robbie shows her because he is glad to escape the conversation. Miranda mentions that Casey isn't supposed to talk to her friends because Jonah has grounded her. Casey makes a remark about him, calling him Jonah, rather than Dad. Chloe tells the family about how she is home schooling the kids, and Jonah mentions that he is teaching Miranda to speak Mandarin.

Leah shows up and tells Chloe that Paulie scares her, and Miranda agrees to take her back to bed. Robbie takes Casey outside, and she leaves her friend a message on the phone, asking her to pick her up the next day. Casey hears the cat, and walks around to look for it, but she can't find it, so she re-enters the house. Robbie locks the door when she gets back in. Later on, Leah coughs something up and wipes it on her pillow, meanwhile, Paulie appears at the foot of his parents' bed, silently watching them.

The next day, everyone has a snowball fight, while Casey talks to her friend. She arrives back and asks Robbie if he has seen the cat, and he says it might be in the woods. She walks past a tent, where Miranda refuses to let her in. Inside, the cat's collar is hanging up, indicating that the children have done something to it. More of the sick that Paulie had earlier is seen on the floor, indicating that Nicky is sick too.

Later, Paulie is playing with a sledge, and it falls down the hill, hitting Chloe in the leg, causing her to drop a tray and spill hot tea over Jonah. Jonah gets mad at Paulie, and spanks him, with Robbie telling him not to hit children. He then shouts at Casey for not looking after the children, even though it was not her responsibility. The children go to the bedroom, and Miranda tells Chloe that she doesn't want to be there. When Chloe leaves, Miranda tells the others to stop staring at her.

Robbie is smoking in the greenhouse, when Casey comes in, and shows him her tattoo. Chloe arrives, sees her with her shirt lifted up and glares at her. During dinner, Chloe deliberately causes an argument by mentioning Casey's tattoo, but Miranda starts screaming at everyone and all the children go mad, so Casey and Robbie go outside to look after them. While there, she goes to the to the other side of the hill to meet her friend, but falls down the hill and hits her head. The kids put Robbie on the sledge, but it crashes, tearing skin off his head.

Inside the house, Jonah tries to get Paulie to go upstairs, but Paulie stabs him in the arm with a kitchen knife, before running away. Chloe finds Robbie, dead and shrieks at Casey to find her children, so Elaine heads out into the woods to find them, and bumps into Casey. Casey tells her she went to meet her friend when the accident happened, but she came back. Her friend texts her, but she sees Leah in the woods. She goes to find Leah, but trips over into some more sick and screams.

Elaine takes Chloe back into the house, then goes outside to find Robbie's body missing, finding it inside the tent. She sees Paulie on the climbing frame, and climbs up to rescue him, but her high heel slips and she falls, breaking her leg. Casey rescues her and drags her into the greenhouse, but the children begin throwing stones through the windows. Casey makes her a splint to help her walk, but then they hear Paulie trying to get inside. He crawls in, and attacks them, but Casey pushes a shelving unit on to him, before grabbing a knife to defend herself. Elaine tells her to stop, as Chloe comes outside. Elaine tells Casey not to let Chloe inside the tent, but Casey initially refuses to leave her mother to save her hated aunt.

Chloe enters the tent, but Leah (who is inside) runs past her, and begins to cut at the tent. Casey opens it up and rescues Chloe, but the evil bitch blames her for everything going on, and locks her outside. She enters the greenhouse, and tackles her brother to the ground. He picks up a pair of scissors and tries to stab her, but Elaine grabs him and he falls on to a shard of glass. Jonah enters to find Paulie dead.

Inside the house, Elaine tells Jonah what happened, and he blames her for the accident. Chloe calls Elaine and Casey monsters. Chloe tries to get out to find her children, and Casey tries to stop her. Jonah grabs Casey and throws her on to the sofa. Chloe tells Jonah that Casey needs to stay away from her family. Casey tells Elaine that it wasn't her fault, and the sickness is making the children go mad.

In the woods, Chloe moans and rants at Jonah that Casey is in the house and if the kids go back there, she will abuse them. Casey blocks the doors up and locks the windows, so no one can get in. Chloe then finds her children, who kill her by stabbing her in the eye with a crayon. Meanwhile, Casey finds Miranda upstairs, sabotaging the phone lines, and tries to strangle her. Jonah arrives, pulls her off and hits her with a toy phonebox before locking her in. Casey shouts for him, calling him Dad. Miranda runs downstairs and tells Elaine that Casey was hurting her, and Jonah leaves her on the sofa, before getting into Chloe's car with Miranda and driving away.

Casey shouts for Elaine to lock the back door, so the kids don't get in, and she locks it before climbing the stairs, but they get in through the cat flap. She tries to break down the door, but she can't. As Elaine gets outside the door, the children arrive, and she can't defend herself against them because they are children. Casey manages to kick a hole in the door, and grabs Nicky's head, impaling it on a piece of wood. As she is about to stab Leah, Elaine tells her not to.

Elaine starts her car and drives down the street, until she sees Chloe's car parked at the side of the road. Casey gets out to investigate and finds a hole in the windscreen. She walks around the car and finds Jonah buried under some snow, and starts to be sick. Suddenly, Elaine sees Miranda rushing towards Casey and urges her to move. Elaine accelerates towards her younger daughter, and hits her, killing her instantly. Casey gets back into the car, and they drive away, as other infected children, including Leah, appear in the woods, and the film ends with us wondering whether Casey now has the infection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Children_(2008_film)

Halloween Viewing - Demons

Another Poundland purchase, a Dario Argento film,

I must admit it started out with promise and then it dragged on, movie goers trapped in a cinema with Zombies, they proceed to find a way out of the cinema which has become magical sealed. They try and stop the movie, think it would save them, while I was thinking how about speed along the movie to find out how to stop the evil. It took them ages to find weapons, when their was a samurai sword in the foyer. Some drugged up youths got into the cinema, releasing a Zombie to cause havoc on the world. What was different about this movie, for its time, was that the evil wasn't stopped and the main female character you meet at the start dies, but she isn't the hero of the movie.

Plot extract from Wikipedia
..............................................................................
The film begins when two young women receive tickets to a free film screening at The Metropol, a newly opened movie theatre in Berlin, Germany. When they arrive they discover that a large crowd has shown up for the screening and they sit down to watch the movie, a violent horror film. Out in the lobby a woman has scraped herself on the face with a bizarre mask, and she notices that the mask is the exact same as a prop used in the film. She goes to the bathroom, and as she looks in the mirror the cut on her face bursts open, spewing out a foul pus. She is soon transformed into a bloodthirsty, fanged demon. Before long the cinema patrons are forced to battle for their lives as one by one they are transformed into vicious monsters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A8moni

Halloween viewing - White Zombie

The Poundland store has been particularly good at stocking B movie horrors such as the Cayman classics,Wasp Women,Little Shop of Horrors and the House on Haunted Hill. Perfect for those of us that will be staying at home a lot over these winter months

I picked up the title White Zombie as it is considered the first feature length zombie film.
I must admit I haven't watched many 30's film, as the ones I have seen seem to be over dramatic I don't know if that was because the silent movies age was like that. The female lead in the movie makes a lot of dramatic eye movements in the attempt to make her eyes appear the size of saucers (I think this is to make her look beautiful)and lots of female actions like fainting, touching her forehead in a dramatic fashion, all a little confusing. It seems to have a good spooky atmosphere, the picture quality isnt great in parts and a suitable music score.


Plot extract from Wikipedia
On arrival in Haiti, Madeleine Short reunites with her fiancé Neil Parker, with imminent plans to be married. On the way to their lodging, the couple's coach passes Murder Legendre, an evil voodoo master, who observes them with interest. Neil and Madeleine arrive at the home of the wealthy plantation owner, Charles Beaumont. Charles' love of Madeleine prompts him to meet Murder secretly in Murder's sugar cane mill, operated entirely by zombies. Charles wants to convince Madeleine to marry him and solicits Murder's supernatural assistance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Zombie_(film)