I Sell The Dead (2008)

Genre: Zombie, Comedic

Source: Netflix Instant View

Grade: A


     Zombie comedy's are very much hit and miss for me. If you combine just the right amount of zombie comedy with zombie horror you can get absoulute masterpieces like Return Of The Living Dead, which to me is the best zombie comedy film ever made or ever will be made. For the most part Shaun Of The Dead worked, but if you watch crap like Zombieland and Dead Heat you can see how an uneven mixture of the genres will ruin the movie. Now as for I Sell The Dead i`ll happily say its one of the good ones that combines just the right amount of horror with dark comedy.

     The story is about a grave robber on the eve of his execution telling his life story to priest were he shares how he and his partner Willie went from simple body snatching into selling the living dead. Its interesting I noticed they never refer to the zombies as zombies they are either referred to as the Living Dead or Ghouls. The story is full of great "colorful" characters like the two main characters Arthur and Willie, the incredibly vile Dr.Vernon Quint, the sadistic house of Murphy, and Ronnie the chubby bartender. I`d have to say all the actors who portrayed these characters were excellent. Angus Scrimm aka The Tall Man from the Phantasm movies plays the Dr.Vernon Quint character, which he does masterfully as usual. Ron Perlman plays Father Duffy, which he does so with a very amusing Irish accent. Then Dominic Monaghan surprised me by actually doing a above average performance as the character Arthur.

          One thing I especially liked about this movie was its style. It had this great EC Comic Book style, sorta in the fashion of George Romero's Creepshow. Its a style of filmmaking I really like and would love to see more of. I also am impressed at how much director Glenn McQuaid did with his budge. I can tell it didn't have a big budget but it style looks great and never once looks campy or anything. It has this genuine Gothic horror feel with a simply dark, tense atmosphere.

          Altogether I Sell The Dead is a great little horror movie, that is criminally underrated. Its style and direction are fantastic. As well as boasting a cast of some of my favorite actors like Ron Perlman and Angus Scrimm . If your a fan of zombie movies I Sell The Dead is a great recent zombie movie that I highly recommend.

Book Review: Devil Bat Diary: The Journal Of Johnny Layton By Peter H. Brothers

 
         Ever once in awhile I read a books synopsis and am immediately enthralled by it. Devil Bat Dairy is a prime example of this. Its story is based off one my personal favorite Bela Lugosi movies The Devil Bat from 1940.Only what this book does is it takes the sole perspective of the character Johnny Layton who was the newspaper reporter  in the movie and claims the movie The Devil Bat is a watered down version of true horrific events and this book is the long suppressed account of what really happened.
         The book brings in a nice variety of characters, who are easily recognizable if your familiar with the film.There was of course Johnny Layton and his "partner" One-Shot McGuire, Dr.Carruthers, and Chief.Wilkins. On top of the solid and interesting story, there were some rather amusing subplots thrown in such as Chief Wilkins being absolutely in love with Johnny Layton, the whole tension between Layton and his  partner One-Shot McGuire who between the two of them hate each other to the most extreme extents.
        I also really liked how Brothers handled Bela Lugosi`s character Dr.Carruthers. The way he wrote his dialogue and described his presence on the pages was very much Bela Lugosi. The only thing I wish was expanded upon was his characters back story. There was a macabre hint as to what happened to his wife, and there was a part were Layton finds a autographed copy of the book "Mein Kampf". Which that alone opens so many possibilities to his past.

        Overall Peter H.Brothers novel Devil Bat Diary: The Journal Of Johnny Layton is a excellent novel were I found at many points to be unbelievably hard to put down. The story is very original and just simply a terrific idea for a book. Which upon finishing  I strongly feel it is a essential read for ever Bela Lugosi fan as well as fans of the entire classic horror genre.

The Sentinel (1977)

Genre: Supernatural

Source: Netflix Instant Que

Grade: B

     Other than it being an obvious attempt by Universal to cash off the success of Warner Bros extremely successful supernatural/possession horror film The Exorcist. This movie is rather good and original. With an incredible cast boosting both veteran actors such as John Carradine, Eli Wallach, and Burgess Merideth. As well as actors who were new faces at the time but are now huge names such as Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Walken, and Chris Sarandon (who is forever know to me as Prince Humperdink,his character from The Princess Bride in case you didn't catch that).

        The story for The Sentinel was in my opinion an interesting story that was delivered well on screen but I feel it had the potential of being better. For instance the basic story is about a fashion model who moves into a apartment owned by the church  that also happens to be the gateway to hell, and also happens to be in need of a new sentinel to guard the gateway so demons cant escape, luckily shes the perfect candidate. The rest you'll just have to watch for yourself.
          For the most part I felt the story was pretty well done on screen, some great eerie scenes in the apartment and a very cool ending if you ask me. Now the only problems I had with the movie was there was just to much focus on the main girls drama between her and her boyfriend and not enough on the horror aspect. I also felt there were a couple things in the movie that were not nearly expanded on enough. Also they didn't give enough screen time for John Carradines character despite him being the sentinel.

         Anyways the biggest thing I think this movies got going to its name is its superb cast. Wow, lets see first off you have the awesome as always John Carradine, Next you've got Burgess Meredith in a really well suited role for him, and even Eli Wallach is in it playing a bold detective whose partner  is a very young Christopher Walken who hardly says a word.Then Jeff Goldblum gets a couple of good scenes. Heck even Tom Beranger and Richard Dreyfuss show up for some very small roles, though Dreyfuss is so small if you blink you'll miss it. A young mustached Chris Sarandon plays the main characters boyfriend and he does a pretty well job at it to, though its nothing compared to his performances in The Princess Bride and Fright Night.

       Altogether though The Sentinel is a decent supernatural horror film. Now i`m not crazy about remakes but if there was any movie that had potential of being remade and possibly turning out really good I think this one would be one of them. I mean think about it all you'd have to do is touch up the script focus more on the horror then drama, add more suspense, and cast Christopher Lee in John Carradines role and you might as well bring back a bunch of the original cast for cameos or even main roles. I honestly believe it could turn out really good.

Happy Birthday Boris Karloff

        Today i`d like to commemorate the 124th birthday of one of the greatest Horror Icons ever, Boris Karloff. His depiction of Frankenstein in the 1931 master piece is forever immortalized, on top of being the best monster he went on to portray other iconic horror characters such as the Mummy, Fu Manchu, and whole array of mad scientist characters. Other than the many awesome horror movies he was in he also starred in quite a few non horror movies, including a outstanding World War 1 thriller called The Lost Patrol which was directed by John Ford, he did a couple movies with Abbott and Costello, and played a oriental detective named Mr.Wong in a series of mystery movies.
         His voice was used in the Chuck Jones classic cartoon How The Grinch Stole Christmas were he voiced the Grinch and narrated the cartoon. To this day it remains one of my favorite cartoons. Towards the end of his career he starred in some superb films such as Targets a hard hitting and freakishly realistic thriller, and Curse Of The Crimson Alter a supernatural horror film that co stared Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, and Barbara Steele. I am aware that some people really don`t like that movie and feel its a waste of a good cast, I personal tend to disagree I think its a interesting, Lovecraft inspired movie. Boris Karloff literally continued to star in movies until his death in 1969, still movies of his continued to be released posthumously until 1971. He was one of the greatest actors of all time and I can say without a doubt in my mind he never once put on a bad or uninterested performance.

Here is Boris Karloff on the far left seated next to Arthur Treache and Buster Keaton.
In an episode of Looney Tunes 

Horror Express (1972)

Genre: Alien

Source: My Own Collection

Grade: A+

Horror Express is one of those movies that the more times I watch it the more I enjoy it and develop a deeper appreciate for it. Its an all around terrifying movie that has held up to today`s standards very well. Its a well written and directed movie that shares many themes similar to that of the short story "Who Goes There?" by John W.Campbell. Yes the same short story John Carpenters "The Thing" is based off.

          Horror Express`s story is like I said  a "Who Goes There?" inspired story, but laden with British Gothic overtones. Essentially what this movies about is a anthropologist played by Christopher Lee who has found what he believes to be the missing link frozen in the Siberian wasteland, so he gets it and boards a Trans-Siberian train and heads back to London to display his finding. Unfortunately though thanks to Peter Cushing`s character the thing escapes on board the train were it begins to wreck havoc and kill passengers in this really weird and disturbing way. Now i`m not going to go into detail over how this Alien kills the people because that's something you just really have to see for yourself, basically the Alien kills its victims similar to how the alien in The Thing kills its victims were it doesn't have a true form and instead kills someone or something and takes control of  its body. A cool factor added into this is it takes place on mostly on a a train, on a Trans-Siberian trip, in the middle of a snowstorm. Oh yeah couldn't get more screwed than that.

          As for the for the very well assembled cast you have another classic Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing team up. Starting with Christopher Lee to me he was the star of this movie, he has the most dynamic character and performance. To me he stood out the most. Peter Cushing on the other hand even though a notch lower then Lee never the less puts on a great performance. Especially considering the fact that this was his first movie since the death of his beloved wife Helen. He almost didn't even do it because he felt it was to soon after her death, but thanks to some friendly persuasion on the part of his good friend Christopher Lee he agreed to star in it. If your a fan of The Dirty Dozen or Cape Fear your probably going to be thrilled to see Telly Savalas in this movie as a oppressive down right mean Russian captain who`s put in charge of killing the creature on board the train. His screen time is relatively short compared to Cushing and Lee but he nonetheless uses to make a very impacting and amusing performance.

         To me 1974`s Horror Express is a absolute classic horror movie. Its phenomenally directed, acted,written, and not to mention a eerie and very original soundtrack that fitted perfect with the movie. I wonder if its available on CD? Anyways i`m aware that this movie has recently gotten a Blu Ray release with a kick ass Hi-Def transfer and tons of extras. Which is something i`d love to get my hands on, because currently the copy I own is cheap DVD that came with my Legends Of Horror 50 pack, so the sound especially is not top notch and the picture quality was a bit scratchy. Oh well, anyways Horror Express is a down right awesome horror movie I feel I can just about recommend to any Horror movie fan.

Halloween 2011

This year for Halloween I dressed up as Vincent Prices character Dr. Death from the 1974 Horror film Madhouse. I personally was really happy with the way my costume came out and overall had a awesome Halloween.

                                               Now to begin plans for next years costume!

Curse Of The Demon (1957)

Genre: Supernatural, Occult

Source: Channel TCM

Grade: A+


This is just one of those awesome movies that within the first five minutes I already know  its going to classic. Not only that but the direction was fantastic! The story was incredibly well written and filled with great lines and genuine suspense. Curse Of The Demon is a horror film that completely stands out from all the other horror films from that era.

         The plot is about an american scientist who comes to England to help formally debunk activities and claims of a certain powerful demonic cult. The story admittedly picks up and never gets boring or slow from start to finish its almost nonstop suspense  and genuine frights that made me jump from my seat a couple of times. Now whats so remarkable about this suspense and scares is they all almost completely accomplished through simple objects popping out of nowhere like for instance a branch or little kid in a crude Halloween mask, the use of shadows as well as the atmosphere also made large contributions to the suspense and horror. Interesting enough that demon you see in the poster only makes like two actual physical appearances in the entire movie, yet you don't really notice it and it seems like its there throughout the whole movie,now that's masterful filmmakeing if you ask me. Anyways when you see the demon its pretty freaking cool, the special effects were great and very memorable. The creature design its self is very cool and medieval looking. Not to mention this movie has a really chilling and freaky seance scene, that was extremely well acted.

             This movie was directed by Jacques Tourneur who had previously done directing some work for Val Lewton with such movies as I Walked With A Zombie and Cat People. His style used in thouse movies is clearly reflected into this movie. Heck there's even a "Leopard" attack in this movie which was obvious brush off from Cat People. The Screenplay was written by Charles Bennett who had written for Alfred Hitchcock a number of times with films such as The 39 Steps and The Man Who Knew Too Much; which happen to be two of my favorite Hitchcock films. Now when you combine two high class people like Tourneur and Bennett its no surprise to why this movie was so good and a guaranteed classic.
            After I got through watching this I started to think to myself has this ever been remade? There would be absolutely no reason to remake this, but still I was curious to see if id been done yet. Come to find out it hasn't been remade but Sam Raimi was really trying to remake it but couldn't secure the rights to it so instead he made a movie that borrowed very heavily from it that movie is called Drag Me To Hell. Now Drag Me To Hell is a very good modern horror film in my opinion but it does borrow many elements from Curse Of The Demon such as the passing of the demons curse through something as simple as a piece of paper or button, and how the demons curse would take effect after three days, to just to name a couple. Also I can see the influence this movie has had on Raimi`s earlier work such as The Evil Dead.

            Altogether I really did enjoy this movie a lot. it`s a very unique horror film and is without a doubt years ahead of its time. Its masterfully directed and has more then enough chills and suspense. As well as a outstanding cast. Overall its simply a perfect movie especially for Halloween time.