The Brides of Dracula

 The Brides of Dracula

1960

Director- Terence Fisher

Cast- Peter Cushing, Yvonne Monlaur, David Peel, Martita Hunt, Freda Jackson, Andrée Melly, Marie Devereux

         

     Marianne (Yvonne Monlaur) finds herself stranded in a rural town when the coach inexplicably leaves her behind. A local aristocrat, the Baroness Meinster, offers her shelter at her castle. Marianne accepts the invitation but quickly regrets it. The Baroness says she lives alone, but Marianne sees a young man in the castle. He says  that he is the Baron, the Baroness’ son, and is being held against his will. Marianne helps him escape and tragedy soon follows. He kills his mother, flees the castle and the servant, Greta, seems to have gone mad.

            

     Marianne leaves the castle and is found by another traveler, Dr. Van Helshing (Peter Cushing, reprising his role from Horror of Dracula). He connects her story to the death of a young girl in the village and suspects that he knows what is happening. He puts Marianne up in a boarding home for girls and sets out to confirm his suspicions. He finds that the recently deceased village girl (the buxom Marie Devereux ) has risen from the grave as a vampire, helped by the mad Greta. He also finds that the Baroness has returned to life herself, turned into a vampire by her own son!

            

     

   The Baron, hiding his vampiric identity , finds Marianne and convinces her to marry him. He also stalks another girl in the home (Andrée Melly) and turns her into a vampire. He is quite prolific in creating new undead! Van Helsing warns Marianne that her boyfriend is a vampire and then goes out to hunt them. He gets cornered, three on one, and in a rare defeat, the vampires get the upper hand on Van Helsing.

   The Baron chokes him out and when Van Helsing comes to, he is sporting a fresh bite on his neck. In what has to be one of the most hardcore scenes in any vampire movie, Van Helsing throws an iron into hot coals and heats it until it’s glowing red and then brands the side of his neck in an attempt to treat the wound! Of course, this is Peter Cushing, so you know that he is somehow going to sort these vampires out in the end.

   So the first thing you’ll notice is that despite lots of brides, there is no Dracula. The film was originally intended to be Disciple of Dracula, with the Count making a short appearance to help introduce a new vampire. In the rewrite phase this was changed. This was the first sequel to Horror of Dracula and it would be 6 more years before another sequel (Dracula, Prince of Darkness) would come along. With that film, Christopher Lee would become the face of the franchise. It seems like, at least in the beginning, that the plan was for Cushing to be the star.

  I think the movie itself has taken a back seat to the later Hammer vampire films that were bloodier and sexier, but this film has a lot to recommend it. First, there is the aforementioned scene where Van Helsing brands himself. It also brings up some rarely explored themes. If we except (and I think we have to) that the vampire bite is a symbol representing sexual penetration, then this movie give us the taboo of a son turning his own mother into a vampire. We also see a male vampire bite a male victim, something that is still not seen that often compared to a “heterosexual” bite. It also gives us a lot of vampires and Hammer starlets. Though Marie Devereux didn’t get much chance to show off how beautiful she was, Andrée Melly, created some of the most recognizable images of any Hammer starlet. Her vampire is unique and memorable with her wide mouth and bright, wild eyes. Truly beautiful!

 I will always love the more salacious Hammer films of late 1960’s and early 1970’s, but there is still room to enjoy the more classic feel of this film. Watch it to see the master vampire hunter in action.

   

Hannibal

Hannibal

2001

Director- Ridley Scott

Cast- Julianne Moore, Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Ray Liotta, Frankie R. Faison, Giancarlo Giannini, Francesca Neri, Željko Ivanek

           

    Even though Ridley Scott gave us  (in my opinion) the greatest horror-science fiction movie ever (Alien), his name is not the first on anyone’s lips when thinking of horror directors. His style lends itself to epics like Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. Horror, by its nature, works best on a personal level.

            

    In this sequel to Silence of the Lambs, we follow Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster in Lambs, played by Julianne Moore here), now a 10 year veteran of the FBI. Her idealism has been worn away by dealing with politics and bureaucracy.

           

     Gary Oldman plays a truly wretched villain, Mason Verger. Verger is an unrepentant pedophile who has avoided prosecution because of his family’s extraordinary wealth. Years ago, after an encounter with Hannibal Lector, he was left horribly deformed and paralyzed. He has spent the years since plotting his revenge.

            

    Lector (Anthony Hopkins, reprising his greatest role ever) has spent the last 10 years incognito, avoiding the spotlight. He has killed an academic in Italy in hopes of replacing the man when the job opens.

            

     Starling gets in hot water with the FBI after a bust turned into a shootout with several dead. She is used as a sacrificial lamb and tossed to the wolves. She is hounded by a Justice Department pencil pusher (Ray Liotta) who wants his own petty revenge against Starling for refusing his sexual advances. Verger sees this as a chance to lure Lector into the open by using Starling as a bait. Verger’s plan works and Hannibal comes out of self-imposed exile to help Starling, in his own very violent way.

          

      The biggest obstacle that this film faces is that it’s not Silence of the Lambs. That film won 5 Oscars and made Anthony Hopkins a household name. It would be unfair to expect Hannibal to live up to that. Red Dragon (the prequel to Silence) attempted to recreate the look and feel of Silence but only succeeded in reminding you that it wasn’t Silence of the Lambs. Hannibal at least tries to be its own film.

            

     Whereas Silence relies mainly on ambiance and character study, Hannibal spends more effort on overt shock. There are several gruesome murders none more so than when Hannibal has his victim eat their own brain! The most unsettling thing in the film though is Gary Oldman’s incredibly realistic make-up. He is truly horrifying, like a bloody car accident. You want to look away but your eyes won’t let you. Ridley Scott’s penchant for epics comes in handy as the story moves back and forth between America and Italy and follows multiple gradually intersecting storylines.

           

    So if you are expecting Silence of the Lambs, you will be disappointed. If on the other hand, you’d like a competent suspense film with good performances and gore, Hannibal will satisfy you.

Side note- If you want a really different (and very good) film watch Manhunter (the first film version of Red Dragon and the first cinematic appearance of Hannibal Lector) I highly recommend it.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

  

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 

1992

Director- Fran Rubel Kuzui

Cast- Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry, Rutger Hauer, Donald Sutherland, Paul Reubens, Hilary Swank, Paris Vaughan, Michele Abrams, Randall Batinkoff, David Arquette, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Sasha Jenson

           

     I’m not sure if this needs explaining but then again, the movie is almost 30 years old and the spin off series is 20 years old (now some of you feel old) so it’s entirely possible that a lot of people have never seen either.

           

     Buffy Summers (Kristy Swanson) is a shallow, vacuous Valley Girl. For younger readers, Valley Girls were an off shoot of homo sapiens that thrived from the early 1980s to the late1990s. They originated in the California San Fernando Valley and could be found in shopping malls across America buying lips glosses and designer jeans. They were eventually replaced by the more sexually predatory Instagram models. Though they can now only be found in the fossil record, their cultural influence lives on in the habit of most Americans using the word “like” in place of a comma when speaking.

           

    Buffy’s days are filled with barely passing various high school classes, cheerleader practice and making judgments about people of lower social classes than herself. Her blissful existence is interrupted when an old man, Merrick, (Donald Sutherland) shows up and tells her that she has a special destiny. Apparently Los Angeles is being overrun by vampires and Buffy, as the latest in a long line of Slayers, must prepare herself for war.

            

     She is naturally hesitant to believe any of this until she sees some of the undead in action. With the help of a training montage she gets in shape and hones her fighting skills. The menace she is preparing for is Lothos (Rutgar Hauer) an ancient vampire aided by Amilyn, his right hand man (Pee Wee Herman himself, Paul Reubens). Aiding Buffy is Pike (Luke Perry), a slacker whose best friend (David Arquette) is now one of the undead masses.

           

     Luke Perry and Kristy Swanson were 26 and 22 respectively so it was a little hard to believe that they were high school students, but I suppose they had nothing on Steve McQueen who was 28 when he played a teenager in The Blob. Luke Perry was at the height of his popularity as a star of the ultimate 90s TV show, Beverly Hills 90210. Swanson looked like the All-American girl next door, attractive but seemingly approachable. This was not her only brush with horror. The year before, she appeared in the lesser known, but superior, Highway to Hell.

           

     Joss Whedon, who wrote the film, apparently didn’t think too highly of it. The studio changed a lot of his script and he wasn’t happy with the casting of Donald Sutherland. He left the film during production. I guess it didn’t matter in the long run.

           

     As a horror-comedy it’s hard to judge with modern eyes. It’s not scary and the humor is hit and miss. It lacks the wit of Fright Night and the action scenes fall far ,far below that of Blade or Underworld. The value of this film is not in the film itself, but in its legacy. It spawned the very popular TV series that lasted for 144 episodes and made Sarah Michelle Geller a highly sought after Scream Queen. More important than all of that is that it made Joss Whedon’s career and was the start of his 20 year reign as King of all nerdom (he dethroned Kevin Smith for the title and was in turn dethroned by John Favreau). Without Buffy, there is no Angel, no Firefly, no Doll House, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe might never have become the juggernaut that it is. So, maybe the movie is lacking in various places, but it’s worth a watch for genre fans if for no other reason than its historical value.

Fun fact #1- The film was made by Dolly Parton’s production company, Sandollar.

Fun fact #2- Look for cameos of future stars Ben Affleck and Ricky Lake.

  

  

Frankenhooker

Frankenhooker

1990

Director- Frank Henenlotter

Cast-   Patty Mullen, James Lorinz, Joseph Gonzalez, Jennifer Delora, Charlotte Helmkamp, Lia Chang, Kimberly Taylor, Heather Hunter, Gittan Goding, Vicki Darnell, Sandy Colosimo, Shirley Stoler, Joanne Ritchie, Beverly Bonner,John Zacherle

        

     Jeffery (James Lorinz) is a three time medical school failure who now gets by as an electronics repairman. In his spare time he works on a brain that he has in a jar (everyone has a hobby, right?). He is engaged to Elizabeth (Patty Mullen).  During a birthday party for his soon to be father-in-law, Elizabeth is killed in a horrible lawnmower accident, turned into “a tossed human salad.” Jeffery sits in the basement obsessing over his dead love. He expresses his concern to his mother, telling her that he thinks he is turning into a sociopath, losing the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.

            

     Jeffery hatches a plan to bring back the love of his life. You guessed it. He’ll build her a new body! Luckily for him, a huge storm is approaching, just two days away, which will power his creation. But where to find the body parts?  Grief stricken and stressed out, Jeffery needs to chill so he can think and he has an interesting relaxation technique. “Some people need drugs. Some people need booze. I just need a little surgical assistance.” He uses a power drill to destroy parts of his brain in order to get rid of stress (which may be why he is turning into a sociopath).

          

    Although he does miss is dearly departed Elizabeth, he also sees this as a chance to make his ideal woman, or as he puts it, “I can make you the centerfold goddess of the century. I just need the right parts.” His elegant solution is to just hire a bunch of prostitutes, kill them, and select the best parts from each. But how can he subdue and kill so many women in such a short amount of time? He uses his medical skills (and a bag of drugs) to create “super crack.” The drug, once smoked, sets off a chain reaction that will cause the girls to explode!

           

     He sets out on his quest and enlists the stable of a pimp named Zorro (because he brands all of his girls with a “Z”). Jeffery holds a beauty pageant, eyeing and measuring the girls’ legs, butts, boobs and everything else. At the last second he has a crisis of conscience and starts to back out, but the girls get their hands on his super crack, and before you know it, the room is filled with exploding hookers. Its then just a simple matter of collecting all of the parts and taking them home. Meanwhile, Zorro is out of girls and looking for the man responsible.

            

     Jeffery takes the parts home, selects what he wants and puts the rest in his freezer filled with a special estrogen based serum to keep them fresh. He puts his perfect woman together, topped with Elizabeth’s head, and hoists her into the stormy night hair, waiting to harness the electrical power of creation. After it absorbs a lightning strike he brings her down, the towering, purple hued, Frankenhooker.

          

       There’s only one problem. Whatever personality that Elizabeth had is buried beneath that of the dozen or so hookers. Her entire vocabulary is made up of the last things the girls said; “Wanna date?” “You got any money?” She smacks Jeffery, knocking him unconscious, and then stumbles out onto the town, looking for a John. After a few rejections, she finds a schmuck and takes him up to a hotel room.

            

    Whether it’s the electrical energy or the residual super-crack, sex with Frankenhooker proves to be lethal. Half way through doing the deed the John begins to heat up and spark, exploding right between Frankenhooker’s legs. She fishes some money out his wallet before going out and killing another guy who tries to put the moves on her.

            

     Jeffery finally catches up to her, but not before Zorro finds them. Jeffery gets her home and restores Elizabeth’s personality but Zorro cuts Jeffery’s head off. However, there is a surprise in store for Zorro. The dismembered body parts in Jeffery’s freezer have revived and melted together, forming naked , fleshy, chimeras. They attack Zorro and haul him into the freezer. Elizabeth, her intellect restored, uses Jeffery’s notes to come up with a fitting way to restore her boyfriend to life.

  

      There are a lot of recognizable faces. Much of the cast appeared in the director’s earlier works, Brain Damage and the Basket Case trilogy. Some folks may recognize TV horror host John Zacharle as the weatherman predicting the huge storm. The cast of hookers is filled with faces that some people may recognize, depending on their interests. Charlotte Helmkamp was a Playboy Playmate. Kimberly Taylor was a Penthouse Pet. Heather Hunter enjoyed a very successful career in porn in the 90s. Lia Chang (the Asian hooker,Crystal )was one of the Wing Kong guards in Big Trouble in Little China.

           

     Of course, the real main attraction is Patty Mullen as the titular undead street walker. Patty was a Penthouse Pet of the Month and then Pet of the Year before transitioning to acting. Her only other movie credit was in 1988’s Doom Asylum. I don’t know if she just couldn’t get more work or if it was her choice, but it’s too bad. She was really very funny, pulling off the physical comedy of the role humorously and memorably. I think she could have had a career in horror-comedy.  If nothing else, I could have used a sequel. Her shrill cry of “Wanna date?” is almost a horror slogan in and of itself.

            This is one of those movies that is better than it probably has a right to be. Although the plot is derivative, the script is clever and humorous. It doesn’t take itself seriously and is fun from start to finish. The design of Frankenhooker herself is simple but memorable. They could have gone with a Bride of Frankenstein motif, but the purple, punk rock design fits the movie and the character better.

            

     I’m usually not a fan of remakes and reboots but this is a film that could benefit.  I would never say that this film was “deep”( it was clearly exploitation) but with the right script this could almost be turned into ironic satire with a feminist slant. The fact that Jeffery only sees the prostitutes as raw material for his plan is an obvious analogy. Jeffery’s desire to not just bring back his fiancé, but to make her the ultimate sexual object, is just waiting for some biting social commentary. Likewise, Jeffery’s self-mutilation, through drilling holes in his brain to destroy his emotions begs for extrapolation. Well, we’re not likely to get a new Frankenhooker anytime soon, so I guess we’ll just have to enjoy what we got.

 

Tremors

Tremors

1990

Director- Ron Underwood

Cast- Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, Reba McEntire, Victor Wong, Ariana Richards, Charlotte Stewart

           

    Val and Earl (Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward) are handy men who are good at almost everything; stringing fence, operating heavy machinery, pumping a septic tank. What they’re not good at is putting together any sort of plan for their life. As such, they are stuck in the remote, sparsely populated town of Perfection, where they perform odd jobs for the locals.

            

     After one too many crappy jobs they decide to leave for greener pastures but they’ve made the decision one day too late. Something is killing people and has torn up the rode out of town, trapping them in a desert valley. The culprit is a group of giant, underground monsters, dubbed “graboids” that sense vibration. They grab their victims with their multiple snake-like tongues and drag them underground to devour.

             

     Val and Earl are joined by a cast of colorful characters; a spunky grad student who is in the valley studying seismology (Finn Carter) a store owner looking to make a buck on the creatures (Victor Wong, from so many good movies like Big Trouble in Little China, Prince ofDarkness, and Golden Child) a dooms day prepper and his wife (Michael Gross and Reba McEntire) and others. The creatures are smart and adapt, so townsfolk have to come up with new ways to kill the creatures. Eventually they run out of options and try to flee for their lives.

           

      This is pretty close to a perfect movie. I mean it. It’s hard to watch this and find anything that could, or should, have been done differently. It has the perfect blend of comedy and horror, it moves along at a nice pace, the creature effects were good and the casting choices were excellent. Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon play off each other well with great comic timing. Victor Wong was always entertaining in everything he ever made. I think the real genius casting was Michael Gross as Bert, the gun toting survivalist. Prior to this film, Michael Gross was known for his portrayal of the liberal, former hippy, father in the sitcom Family Ties. So convincing (and enjoyable) was his portrayal of Bert, that now he is mainly known for starring in Tremors (and its MANY sequels). Also look for Ariana Richards as the pogo stick riding little girl. She is known to most for her portrayal of Lex, the young hacker in Jurassic Park.

            

     The movie was moderately successful in the theatres (it cost 11 million and made 16 million) but became legendary on home video and has millions of loyal fans. The film has aged remarkably well. Proof that a good cast and a clever script is the best recipe for film longevity.