OLDIES BUT GOODIES

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)

Harry Powell marries and murders widows for their money, believing he is helping God do away with women who arouse men's carnal instincts. Arrested for auto theft, he shares a cell with condemned killer Ben Harper and tries to get him to reveal the whereabouts of the $10,000 he stole. Only Ben's nine-year-old son, John and four-year-old daughter, Pearl know the money is in Pearl's doll and they have sworn to their father to keep this secret. After Ben is executed, Preacher goes to Cresap's Landing to court Ben's widow, Willa. He overwhelms her with his Scripture quoting, sermons and hymns, and she agrees to marry him...

The film is based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Grubb, adapted for the screen by James Ageeand Laughton. The novel and film draw on the true story of Harry Powers, hanged in 1932 for the murders of two widows and three children in Clarksburg, West Virginia. The movie was filmed in black and white in the styles and motifs of German Expressionism (bizarre shadows, stylized dialogue, distorted perspectives, surreal sets, odd camera angles) to create a simplified and disturbing mood that reflects the sinister character of Powell, the nightmarish fears of the children, and the sweetness of their savior Rachel. The film's lyric and expressionistic style sets it apart from other Hollywood filmsof the 1940s and 50s, and it has influenced later directors such as David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick, Jim Jarmusch, the Coen brothers, and Spike Lee.
In 1992, The Night of the Hunter was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in its National Film Registry.


Director: Charles Laughton
Writter: James Agee, Charles Laughton, Novel: Davis Grubb
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
Running Time: 93min
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8dX6ZKJe2o

Rating: 9,5/10

FREAKS (1932)

A carnival barker displays a sideshow freak called the Feathered Hen and tells her story. Cleopatra, a trapeze artist with the carnival, is adored by a midget named Hans. Frieda, Hans' fiancée (also a midget), warns Hans that Cleopatra is only interested in him so that he will give her money. Cleopatra has an affair with Hercules, and when Frieda lets it slip that Hans is to come into an inheritance, Cleopatra and Hercules plan to get the money be having Cleopatra marry Hans. During the wedding reception, Cleopatra, although openly romantic with Hercules, is accepted by the freaks, but is revolted and mocks them...

The film was based on Tod Robbins' 1923 short story "Spurs"and wirh a cast mostly composed of actual carnival (funfair) performers. Director Browning took the exceptional step of casting real people with deformities as the eponymous sideshow "freaks," rather than using costumes and makeup. Browning had been a member of a traveling circus in his early years, and much of the film was drawn from his personal experiences. In the film, the physically deformed "freaks" are inherently trusting and honorable people, while the real monsters are two of the "normal" members of the circus. Despite the extensive cuts, the film was still negatively received by audiences, and remained an object of extreme controversy. Today, the parts that were removed are considered lost. Because its deformed cast was shocking to moviegoers of the time, the film was banned in the United Kingdom for 30 years.

Director: Tod Browning
Writter: Tod Robbins
Starring: Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Olga Baclanova, Henry Victor, Harry Earles
Running Time: Original cut: 90 min., Released cut: 64 min.
Country: United States
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zf-ah9ZrWM

Rating: 9/10


DEAD OF NIGHT (1945)

Architect Walter Craig, seeking the possibility of some work at a country farmhouse, soon finds himself once again stuck in his recurring nightmare. Dreading the end of the dream that he knows is coming, he must first listen to all the assembled guests' own bizarre tales...

This is a British compendium horror film made by Ealing Studios, its various episodes directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden and Robert Hamer. The film is probably best-remembered for the ventriloquist's dummy episode starring Redgrave. Dead of Night stands out from British film of the 1940s, when few genre films were being produced, and it had a huge influence on subsequent British horror films; most particularly, the anthology films produced by Amicus in the 1960s and early 1970s. Both of the segments by John Baines were recycled for later films, and the possessed ventriloquist dummy episode was adapted as an episode of the long-running CBS radio series Escape. It was also used twice by the American television series The Twilight Zone.

Directors: Cavalcanti ("Christmas Party" and "The Ventriloquist's Dummy"), Charles Crichton("Golfing Story"), Basil Dearden ("Hearse Driver" and "Linking Narrative"), Robert Hamer ("The Haunted Mirror")
Writter: H.G. Wells (original story), E.F. Benson (original story), John Baines (original story and screenplay), Angus MacPhail(original story and screenplay)
Starring: Michael Redgrave, Mervyn Johns, Frederick Valk, Roland Culver
Running Time: 102 min.
Country: United Kingdom
Related Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mOIy5U8eaE

Rating: 9/10

CRONENBERG'S SCI-FI HORROR MASTERPIECES


VIDEODROME (1983)

Set in Toronto during the early 80s, it follows the CEO of a small cable station who stumbles upon a broadcast signal featuring extreme violence and torture. The signal causes brain tumors in viewers, and is revealed to have been developed by the government as part of a conspiracy...

The film has been described as a "disturbing techno-surrealist film". Andy Warhol called the movie the "A Clockwork Orange of the 1980s". David Cronenberg recalled how, when he was a child, he used to pick up pirate television signals from Buffalo, New York, late at night after Canadian stations had gone off the air, and how he used to worry he might see something disturbing not meant for public consumption. This formed the basis for the plot of Videodrome. Videodrome pioneered the flicker-eliminating technology used to film a television screen's images; before, film images were superimposed onto blank television screens. Videodrome's cult film status has made it a popular source for sampling and homage in Electro-industrial, EBM, and heavy metal music.
In 2009, Universal Studios announced that it had obtained the rights to produce a remake, with a possible 2011 release.


Director: David Cronenberg
Writter: David Cronenberg
Starring: James Woods, Deborah Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky, Leslie Carlson
Running Time: 89min
Country: Canada
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPGszmU1egQ&feature=related

Rating: 9,5/10


THE FLY (1986)

Seth Brundle, a brilliant but eccentric scientist attempts to woo investigative journalist Veronica Quaife by offering her a scoop on his latest research in the field of matter transportation, which against all the expectations of the scientific establishment have proved successful. Up to a point. Brundle thinks he has ironed out the last problem when he successfully transports a living creature, but when he attempts to teleport himself a fly enters one of the transmission booths, and Brundle finds he is a changed man...

The film is a remake of the 1958 film of the same name, but retains only the basic premise of a scientist accidentally merging with a housefly during a teleportation experiment. Despite being a gory remake of a classic made by a controversial, non-mainstream director, the film was a huge commercial success, the biggest of Cronenberg's career, and was the top-grossing film in the United States for two weeks. Make-up effects were created by Chris Walas, who won the Academy Award for Best Makeup. The inspiration for the design of the telepods came from the shape of the cylinder in director David Cronenberg's vintage Ducati motorcycle. Some critics saw the film as a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic.
A sequel followed in 1989 entitled The Fly II.


Director: David Cronenberg
Writters: Charles Edward Pogue, David Cronenberg, Story: George Langelaan
Starring: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz
Running Time: 95min
Country: Canada
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BTPOlbW-Cc

Rating: 9,5/10


SCANNERS (1981)

Darryl Revok is the most powerful of all the scanners, and is the head of the underground scanner movement for world domination. Scanners have great psychic power, strong enough to control minds; they can inflict enormous pain/damage on their victims. Doctor Paul Ruth finds a scanner that Revok hasn't, and converts him to their cause - to destroy the underground movement...

The story is structured as a futuristic thriller, involving industrial espionage and intrigue, car chases, conspiracies, and shoot-outs. It was the nearest thing to a conventional sci-fi thriller Cronenberg had made up to that point, lacking the sexual content of Shivers, Rabid, or The Brood; it was also his most profitable film until The Fly six years later. Master make-up artist Dick Smith (The Exorcist) provided the prosthetic make-up effects for the often-cited exploding head and the climactic scanner duel. The effect was made by filling a prosthetic head with dog food and rabbit livers, and shooting it from behind with a 12-gauge shotgun.
Scanners spawned sequels [Scanners II: The New Order (1991), Scanners III: The Takeover (1992)] and a series of spin-offs; [Scanner Cop (1994), Scanners: The Showdown (a.k.a. Scanner Cop II) (1995)]; a remake was announced in 2007, but as of 2010 has not been put into production. None of these projects have involved Cronenberg as director.


Director: David Cronenberg
Writter: David Cronenberg
Starring: Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, Patrick McGoohan
Running Time: 103min
Country: Canada
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6GNs6MthtU&feature=related

Rating: 9/10