Just when I Thought Christopher Lee couldn't get any more Awesome...

126th Birthday of the Great and Unappreciated George Zucco

George Zuccos 126th Birthday passed last Wednesday with little to no recognition. Which is kinda a bummer I think because this guy is one of the great horror icons, undoubtedly up there with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. He not only was a staple in Horror films he performed in a wide variety of cinema and played in such movies as The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes were he played one of the best Professor Moriarty`s (if you ask me I think his image of Moriarty had an influence on this past Decembers Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, just my opinion though). He also played the Governor in one of my favorite swashbuckler pirate movies from the 50s The Black Swan. As well as having a supporting role in the 1939 version of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. Then his role in the 1947 thriller Lured is one of the best performances of any actor i`ve ever seen.
          Anyways the movie that made me realize that George Zucco was a awesome horror actor was when I watched 1943`s Dead Men Walk for the first time, that movie is a highly over looked vampire movie that has Zucco playing two roles (twin brothers) and costars Dwight Frye. In the way Boris Karloff and Lionel Atwill were to the Universal Frankenstein series was what George Zucco was to the Universal Mummy series. He was three of the Mummy movies including the second one The Mummy's Hand were his villiones portray of Professor Andoheb has laid the groundwork for just about ever antagonist in any Mummy movie since. Though he also had a brief but memorable role in 1944s House Of Frankenstein were he played  Bruno Lampini (the guy who had Dracula's skeleton).
           Of course he was in share of super B-Horror movies such as Voodoo Man, and The Flying Serpent both very low budget but none the less fun and very enjoyable to watch. Overall George Zucco was a phenomenal actor who truly left a mark on Horror.

                                         This cartoon is from an episode Johnny Quest and I cant help but

                                          notice how much that guy resembles George Zuccos character in 

                                           The Mummy's Hand.

Freakshow (2007)

Genre: Psychological, Exploitation

Source: Netflix Instant Que

Grade: C


   Before I watched this gut wrenching gruesome horror movie, I was a bit unclear on weather or not  it was intended to be a remake of Tod Browings 1932 masterpiece Freaks. According to IMDB it was and on the cover of the DVD it clearly says "In The Tradition Of Tod Brownings Freaks". Yet there is no credit given to Browing or the writer of Freaks on the screen credits. So I was trying to decide was this a honest remake? Or just a sleazy cheap rip-off? Well upon finishing the movie I discovered the answer is yes its a intended remake, but just barely.

        For starters contrary to my prior expectations this movie is or at least appears to be set during the 30s like the original and not the modern day like I expected. Which I feel is a wise choice because I don`t think the story would work nearly as good had it been in the modern day. Also they used some very cool music from that time period. Which for some reason actually enhanced the overall freakishness of the movie. I was very impressed at how well the director made the movie with such a minuscule budget, $1,000,000 to be exact. 
         Now unfortunately on the other hand if this remake does anything for the original "Freaks" it just goes to show that that movie is one that cant be replicated and true untouchable classic. This film pretty much falls short of achieveing the greatness of Browings original film in every way possible.For starters they strip the original story down to its thinnest almost to the point were its unrecognizable and rather than go for the suspense and atmosphere the original had this one decided it be better to go for the gross out Hostel/Saw style scares were its not at all scary or suspenseful but just flat out disgusting. Which i`ll give it to them  I was pretty grossed out at some points, almost to the point of me wanting to cover my eyes it was so disgusting. Especially the ending were they turn the "evil" girl into a worn thing, which they show ever disgusting sicking detail.

          I must also say I felt that ironically there weren't enough freaks in the movie. Or at least they spent more time focusing on the band of criminals who are attempting to rob the circus. Though to be truthful the freaks just arnt as freaky in this version as they were in the original. I am guessing because most if not all the freaks in this movie are fake as opposed to the original were they were real actually circus freaks. Now to be fair plot wise they kept a couple of the trademark original scenes of the original like the "One of us, One of us" scene and the ending were you see what they did to the girl. Unfortunately both scenes were shallow and did not have the same effect when compared to the original.

            I know it was probably unfair to compare this particular remake to its original. But with Freaks being one of my all time favorite movies of all time I just could not help it. Though as far as remakes go this ones not to bad, it boosts a couple good scenes and some great music from the 30s. Sadly the over the top torture porn "Hostel"style horror that was way overused in this movie just did not work for me.

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