250th Review Carrie (1976)

        250 movie reviews, well I’ll be. It’s just crazy to think that I’ve been doing this for so long during the pandemic and now it’s just a hobby. I’m glad that some might read to at least be illuminated on some film analysis or curious to know what I think about a movie you all may have seen. Originally, I was going to do a review on George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. As you can see, it isn’t happening. To improvise I thought we’d look at Stephen King’s first adaptation with Carrie. 

1. Brian De Palma

        Keeping up with the October tradition of talking about a Stephen King work, I decided to look at the first one. And well to finally talk about Brian De Palma in this initiative. For the uninitiated, he was part of the 1970s group of filmmakers that practically changed American Cinema. It was him, Spielberg, Scorsese, Coppola and Lucas that changed an entire landscape that is still being felt to this day. 

        This may also be the first time some were exposed to De Palma. He’s made some of the greats including this one, Scarface and The Untouchables  to name a few. That one was the first time I’ve sat down and watched his movies. Some may not realize that he contributed to a film franchise that is still going on. He directed Mission: Impossible back in the mid-90s. And the seventh sequel just came out recently. No one could’ve thought that 30 years ago, one entry of his would kick off a beloved franchise. 

2. A Thing about Carrie

        Alright, so let’s get down to business with this one. The movie is spelled out right down to the poster spoiling a key point in the film. It’s rare for a movie to just give away that part, but it sort of works to have people watch to see how Carrie got blood on her. We see right in the beginning that she’s the outcast of her school. So much so that when she has her period, every girl in the locker room teases her. 

        The level of empathy we have for her is just astounding. This is one of those rare films that we just want her to have a happy ending when the film ends. Like, just the level of abuse she suffers from school to her own home is just so heartbreaking. I’ll elaborate more on her home life in a bit. Aside from her constant living state, we do see moments that show that some people care about her. 

        In one scene, we see one classmate Sue tell her boyfriend Tommy to go out with Carrie to help her with her low self-esteem. At first, he’s hesitant but ultimately relents to ask her out. It’s both Sue and Miss Collins that have the best interest for her to look out. Among the crappiness of her school, it shows that some people do care for her, in spite of what her mother thinks. 

        When she’s at home with her mother is just so incredibly sad to see. It’s established earlier that her mother Margaret is a traveling zealot looking to convert new people in her neighborhood. It’s bad when one of the mothers of Carrie’s classmates just hands her a 5 dollar bill to have her leave. Just seeing Margaret use her religion as a way to put down Carrie is upsetting to me. 

        One moment is when she tells her mom about her period just made me both sad and upset. Both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie sell the domestic abuse to its fullest. Right down to when Margaret pulls Carrie’s hair by dragging her to a broom closet to have her pray. 

        Lastly, one can’t talk about this film without talking about the Prom scene. Everything leads up to it when Tommy rents a tux, and Carrie is sewing her own dress. This is the one moment where after everything that we’ve seen happen to Carrie, we just want her to be happy, for at least a good amount of time. After the school punks Billy and Chris pull the string that causes the pig’s blood to fall is when we see the true power of Carrie. 

        We get small glimpses of her powers earlier. And a bonus is when she actually tries to understand them when she’s at a library to get the confirmation that she isn’t going crazy, but is just an extraordinary gift. Back to the prom, it’s an editors dream to showcase her blood covered face and her powers is just a chef’s kiss. It would’ve been ruined if all of it was cut and spliced together. Having it be side by side shows just a real-time look of what’s happening. 

3. Legacy

        The film was both financially successful and critically acclaimed. It practically kicked off Brian De Palma’s popularity as a director and established Stephen King’s legendary authorship. It was his first adaptation of his works and many more to come within a matter of years and decades. Carrie’s been featured in one of the best horror films list of the decade and one King’s best works adapted. 

        I was surprised to learn that it got nominated for an Academy Award. For both Spacek and Laurie were nominated in their categories but lost out. It’s surprising for one thing a horror movie getting nominated when The Exorcist came out and many more were nominated based on their performance and special effects. Spacek would ultimately win her Award in the film Coal Miner’s Daughter.

        The film, like many other of King’s adaptations, started a franchise. There was a sequel that came out 20 years after the fact. It focused on Carrie’s half-sister and her newfound abilities. It was criticized for basically doing the exact same thing as the first movie did. In 2013, it was remade with Chloe Grace Moretz portraying the girl but got mixed reviews that didn’t really add anything new to the story in general.

4. Overall

        Carrie is a must watch for anyone marathoning De Palma films or exploring King’s various adaptations. It’s one of the essential viewings for 70s horror. 

The Haunting (1963) Review

        The 1960s I feel is the turning point for horror. As a genre it’s gotten probably a substantial growth of sub-genre’s that many other filmmakers will contribute to. You have great films like Psycho, Night of the Living Dead and Rosemary’s Baby that have made a mark of that decade by pushing the envelope of what will be the norms for many horror films. The Haunting is probably the one that is the definite horror movie of the 60s. 

1. Hill House

        You’re probably wondering if "The Haunting in Hill House" was a Netflix original idea, well you’re wrong in that respect. Based on the book by Julie Harris, The Haunting is probably the first time a haunted house movie leans in heavily on the psychological angle than anything paranormal. I say that because that’s the movies best secret weapon for why it’s great. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

        From the beginning of the film, Dr. Markway narrates to us the background of Hill House and why it’s supposed to be haunted. He elaborates by stating that the original tenants have died by odd circumstances. As an experiment to determine if the haunting is true, he enlists three people: Eleanor, Theodora and Luke to accompany him and document if there is anything paranormal.

        What I like about the film is that everything is subtle in its approach. For a movie called The Haunting, we expect to see some ghosts or some level of paranormal activity. What’s great about is that we don’t see anything tangible or ghostly. The use of paranormal activity is that we hear noises to faint human sounds. The best moments is when both Theo and Eleanor hear something moving from the hallway. 

        It does it so well that they don’t investigate if it’s just the house that’s making it, like a faulty pipe or something. Throughout the whole film, the Dr. asks both women and Luke to document what’s happening. The dynamic character synergy helps sell it since Luke is the one to laugh it off but is still curious to think that the location is haunted. While the duo do acknowledge what they heard. 

        Had the film gone out of its way to show something tangible like a ghost or something more sinister would’ve been ruined. Having it be unseen has the audience try to figure out and guess if the house is literally haunted or just in the test subjects minds. I haven’t read the book if that is the case but for an adaptation it does it well to enhance the subject matter without spelling it out to the audience. 

2. Eleanor 

        As far as protagonists are concerned, this is probably one of the best tragic main characters that I’ve seen in a while. The first time we see Eleanor is when she’s living with her sister, bereft with guilt over their mother’s passing. Having her feel that she could’ve done more when their mother was sick. She wants to be independent but is entirely broke. Chosen to be part of Dr. Markway’s experiment, she sees the opportunity to start over. 

        From there, we follow a slow descend into madness which is often alluded to when we hear her inner thoughts. She wants to be accepted within the small group and strikes up a friendship with Theo. What I like is that we see the friendship form into a sort of sister-like relationship. Interesting enough is that Theo is coded to be a lesbian. The movie doesn’t confirm that but it’s alluded to that she has some feelings for Eleanor. Although, when she teases Eleanor about the house, the latter is combative. 

        Her slow descending mental psychosis into wanting to stay in the house, even when Dr. Markway tells her that she must leave is tragic. The paranormal experiences and her inner thoughts about the house cause her to be even more staunch to stay in the house. Regardless of the experiment since she relates to the story and becomes one with the house. 

        All of it as I say is played straight. There’s not an external force that is influencing her way of thinking or being possessed by a spirit. All of it is within her mind and it makes it more interesting in the context of the house. And for the overall theme of the movie, which is everything that they are experiencing, is it the house or just them? Or is it all an elaborate trick by the doctor to test them? Things like that where the movie isn’t clear cut and has the audience guess is what’s missing nowadays. 

3. The Remake 

        It seems like I keep coming back to last years look of The Body Snatcher. That one was directed by Robert Wise aswell as this film. He was already an established director within a variety of genres such as West Side Story and The Day the Earth Stood Still and a director of two Best Picture winners. So far I think this film is one of his best and I plan to watch his others. 

        The Haunting is one of those films at the time that got mixed reviews, the author especially didn’t like it. Noting that the only thing she feared was getting a parking ticket while she was in the theater. Over time, the film would get its recognition and the acclamation as one of the best horror films of the 60s. So much so that Stephen King pitched a remake to Steven Spielberg.

        Nothing came out of it, but the idea was remade to a movie in the late 90s. Seeing bits of it, my oh my is it bad. It’s like the director of Speed just flat out made a horror movie that relied too much on visual effects without the humanity of it. Which is ironic since the movie relies more on ghosts than anything mental. King ultimately brought his idea back and made it to a limited T.V. series that was a strip down version of his take on The Haunting called Rose Red.  

4. Overall

        The Haunting is one of the best paranormal films where the activity is either happening or in the head. To me that’s more scary than anything. 

Them! Review

        The 50s I feel is what I’ll quote the dark age of horror. With the second World War over, another was in the minds of most people between the US and the Soviet Union. Just the idea of hearing the destructive power of the atomic bomb was always in the mind of everyday people. That’s why you mostly see a variety of B-Movies that have some animal or insect get mutated with radiation. For Them!, it’s considered a classic among the atomic age of horror. 

1. Giant Enemy Ants

        In it’s simplest forms, the film is very easy to follow. Irradiated Ants spring up from the New Mexico desert and soon cause destruction. Now I understand if this isn’t as deep as one would expect from a movie that has giant ants, I mean it sounds about as dumb as Cat People as before. But what those two have in common is that with the ridiculous plot that they have, the characters save the film. 

        Again, I must stress that this isn’t a bad movie, far from it. Character-wise the film is chalk full of great ones. For something like this, one would think that they would be fleshed out or just tokened seeing how the movie isn’t that long. No, we mostly follow State Trooper Ben and his partner investigate scenes of possible robbery. Unbeknownst to them that the areas were attacked by ants. 

        The interesting part involving the characters is how they try to stop the ants. For these kinds of movies there’s a scientist character that knows how ants operate. Right down to showing military personnel a presentation of how ants are in their habitat. That’s also one of the key things for the movie to succeed. Everything is played completely straight without a sense of irony or cheeky delivery. Tone is basically the film’s ultimate strength since we see just how much damage the giant ants can cause. 

        Since we’re speaking about the bugs, they look nothing like what the poster portrays them. The ants look like well, ants but bigger. No, they don’t have the menacing feline like eyes that are advertised, but we see just how much of a threat they are. They do get some kills, albeit with what the old Standard Codes were at the time. What makes them formidable is that we hardly see them. This is something like Jaws would do years later, which is to sparingly use them to give the idea that they can just pop out of anywhere. 

2. Legacy

        The film had no shot of being successful according to Warner Bros. Reading on what the film was going to be practically made it seem that they wanted to sell the idea to other studios but decided not to given the strength of the script. It was originally supposed to be shot in color and use 3-D but all that was scrapped. Surprisingly this was one of the highest grossing films Warner released during that time. More so that it was even nominated for an Oscar but losing out to Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. 

3. Overall

        Them! is a product of the time, and enjoyable to know just how the danger of atomic age can affect anything especially insects. 

Cat People (1942) Review

        We’re in the 1940s now, around this time in terms of horror is more subdued that what came before. While this movie came out approximately two days before the U.S.’s involvement with World War 2, the event was far bigger than the typical monsters or freaks that was part of the horror genre a decade prior. Cat People is interesting since is mixes supernatural with film noir elements. 

1. A Thing about Panthers

        Plot wise the movie is straightforward. We follow Irena who is a fashion sketch artist in New York, she harbors a dark secret when she meets and marries a man named Oliver. Something that you’ll notice whenever you watch something like this during that time is that the film is roughly short. Not that it’s the film detriment clocking in at an hour 15 minutes, but it manages to succinctly tell an interesting story.

        What I like about is that Irena is a complicated character. She has this baggage that if she loves someone she’ll morph into a panther and kill. As dumb as it sounds, I’ll elaborate on it more on the next tab. The movie plays it 100 percent straight since she’s said that the fear that she has was only a childhood legend. And it gives us some leeway as to believe her or convinced that she’s insane. 

        That’s one aspect that I find interesting. I think this film was the first instance and I could be wrong that used mental illness in a horror movie. Typically, the protagonist is mostly sane, and the danger is obvious since the threat is the highlight of the film. With this one, we track Irena’s character and slowly believe with what she’s saying is true. Although, when both Irena and Oliver go and exchange a pet, all the other animals are ruffled. 

        Character-wise, everyone does a good job in the film. Oliver Reed plays Irena’s husband and the level of conflict within him is interesting. He mostly just says to her that her nightmare is mostly from her past and it really starts to drag him down. It gets to a point that he confides with his coworker Alice. With her, I thought that’s where the noir characteristic would pop up, since it’s established that Alice likes Reed. Instead, Irena’s the main woman who is looking to kill Alice. 

        The horror elements are more subtle and not too outward in its approach. We don’t see the danger or the monster but the movie has that dread element. This is one film so far that has an effective jump scare for the time. Just after Alice and Reed leave after dinner, Irena follows her home. We focus on the duo, but we stay on Alice’s character. The tension is filled since she starts to hear someone follow her. Then jumpscare, a city bus stops but makes a panther sound as it parks next to Alice. 

2. Val Lewton

        Last year, I talked about The Body Snatcher that stars Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. What I didn’t recognize was the producer of the film named Val Lewton. I feel it’s now appropriate to give him the credit and how he basically saved a studio from going under. RKO Studios was in the red in the 1940s, they started a new department that specializes in making B-movies. Think bottom of the barrel movies that have no thought put into it. 

        To at least put more into it than what the studio did, Val Lewton would take the titles that he was given like Cat People for instance and make the film interesting than what was expected. More so that he co-written the films and didn’t take any of the credit. It’s commendable since he could’ve stooped low and taken a paycheck but had the gumption to at least give it the care and attention to produce a good film, given that the studio gave him less than 150,000 dollars to work with.

3. Legacy

        No one at the time, especially RKO had thought that this film would save the studio from financial ruin. Val Lewton went on to have a storied career as a producer and as a writer. More so that RKO thought they had given him too much wiggle room since they believed that the film would bomb. It had a sequel that has little connection to the original directed by Robert Wise. If you don’t know who that is, he directed the Best Picture winners The Sound of Music and West Side Story. As I mentioned earlier, this may be one of the first horror movie to use some element of mental health, which would pop up again in other acclaimed films like The Exorcist and Hereditary. 

4. Overall 

        Cat People seems like a cheesy horror movie, but the best kind when you don’t see the threat and see someone slowly lose their mind. 

The Invisible Man (1933) Review

        We’re looking at yet another Universal Monster film. We’ve already talked about the heavies like Dracula and Frankenstein, it only made sense to continue my look into the other monsters. While this one isn’t as macabre and grotesque as the other brethren, the character Griffin is an interesting one since he has some level of humanity. Albeit a crazed one I might add. Lastly, this is the first H.G. Wells adaptation that I’m covering. 

1. Griffin

        Right at the gate, this is probably the only instance where we don’t see how exactly the main character becomes invisible. This is slight departure from Frankenstein where there isn’t any buildup to where we see the scientist go mad and become slightly transparent. With that, we follow Griffin as he enters a tavern to try and find a cure. He is bothered by the constant interruptions and the tenders call the police. 

        The famous scene is the main highlight. I’ll talk about in a while how they managed to make Jack invisible. Just that moment where he removes the bandages, and the glasses is utterly classic. Seeing everybody so scared and confused since there’s a man that’s invisible with a shirt on. Aside from Claude Rains who plays Griffin, actress Una O’Conner has that distinct shriek that’s bird like. Some may call it overacting, I call it apropos for the time. 

        This film basically highlights that the invisibility has driven Griffin’s mind into insanity. It’s explained that the concoction to make invisibility drives animals to go mad. But there’s that touch where his love is his only anchor into the remaining humanity he has left. He’s not just insane for the sake of being insane. Just massive grandeur of delusion where he wants to cause chaos to those around him. 

        The other characters do a good job. The duo of Drs. Kemp and Cranley try to find the papers that make Griffin unseeable. We see that they want to help Jack, especially Cranley’s daughter Flora. While we don’t see the romance prior to the start of the movie, Flora believes that he can be helped. Not knowing just how far-gone Griffin is within the story. 

        The film has moments of horror, just the fact that Griffin plays tricks and hassles the villagers almost makes the film become a comedy. His moments are comedic even though in the context of the movie is that no one knows where he is and just how he can easily outmaneuver the local police. I think one could make an argument that at a superficial level, it’s one of the first comedic horror film. 

2. Technology

        The special effects in the movie is the main highlight. Just the fact that we are nearing the film’s 90th anniversary is such a sight to see. As I mentioned earlier, when Griffin removes his bandages and the accessories that make him look “normal” is the one of the signature moments within the Universal Monster series. So how they did it was just a series of camera tricks and fabrics. The director had Claude Rains dressed in black fabric and was filmed in a mostly black set. 

        To have the effect look real, the shots of Rains in black was spliced with other footage when the tavern regulars and police arrive. Just those methods that were used showed just the ingenuity the filmmakers had. We’re so used to computers doing mostly everything, but something as close to this is such a lost art where I wish more filmmakers could try as either a homage or just experimentation. To make the other objects react with what Griffin is doing, wires were used to pull the cigarettes among other items. 

3. Legacy

        On a technical level, the film was massively game changing. It was Universal’s highest grossing movie back in 1933 and most critically lauded with the special effects and the cast. There were sequels, but they didn’t connect to the original movie. It varied from comedy to World War 2 propaganda since Claude Rains was already an established actor at the time. I think his other most famous role was when he appeared alongside Humphrey Bogart in the Award-winning classic Casablanca. 

        Just recently, Universal attempted to do a horror cinematic universe to rival the success with Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. While all attempts where ended after Tom Cruise’s The Mummy, The Invisible Man was supposed to be one of the follow-ups with Johnny Depp attached. Years later, the film was retooled with Elizabeth Moss as the main star. Seeing snippets of it, the film has a domestic abuse angle with the abuser using a suit instead of drugs to make himself invisible. It’s been hailed as a great adaptation and one of the best horror films so far in the 2020s. 

4. Overall 

        The Invisible Man is a technical achievement in filmmaking and one of the crowing jewels in Universal’s Classic Monsters.