House (1977)

            First of all, I want to apologize for the lack of reviews, updates or anything really from us here at Highbrow Horror. You see, the week after Halloween is probably the most depressing week for us throughout the entire year. I call it the post-Halloween blues and I have had them particularly bad after such a full Halloween season. I don’t have an excuse to watch a horror film every day now and it just brings me down. I usually feel this way for two to three weeks after the big night and I was on schedule for just that until last night. You see, last night I was cured!
            I sat down with Jonah to watch a Japanese film from 1977 called House. I had heard all kinds of wonderful things about this movie. I had read glowing reviews saying that it was a whacked out bit of psychedelic horror/comedy that would crank the energy up to eleven with every passing second, that it was completely ridiculous, and the closest experience to doing drugs without doing drugs. Well, all of those things are right on the money. However, they don’t even come close to actually capturing the insanity that takes place in this movie.
            I’ll admit right now that I’m not going to be able to articulate what happens in this film or why you need to see it. I was tossing around the idea of watching it a second time before I wrote about it but I realized that a second viewing probably wouldn’t yield any further understanding either. I’ve seen it, it blew my mind, and now I’m trying to get you to see it. That’s probably as far as I’m going to get.
            The film is about a girl named Gorgeous and her six friends (Prof, Melody, Kung Fu, Mac, Sweet, and Fantasy) who travel to her aunt’s creepy old mansion in the country to spend their summer vacation. What they don’t know is that Gorgeous’ aunt is really an old spirit who feeds off of young girls who come to visit her. Items in the house (chopped wood, mattresses, pictures, and an old piano) all eat the girls one by one until the climax of the film when…well…I don’t wanna spoil it anymore. You just have to see it to believe it.
            Director Nobuhiko Obayashi has created a film that is all kinds of insane by using so many different camera tricks, colors, animation, film-within-film, split screens, crazy edits, and much much more. The movie started and ten minutes later I was trying to catch my breath and soak in everything that was happening. Visually, it looks like Suspiria on steroids, it has the feel/tone of The Evil Dead, and the energy/humor of a Three Stooges episode. Is all that possible in one movie? Of course it is! There are no limits to what House will do.
            One of the many things I love about this movie are the girl characters. Each one of them has a ridiculous name that relates to their character in some way. So, Gorgeous is stunningly beautiful, Prof is a genius, Melody plays the piano well, Mac is fat, Sweet is charming, Fantasy is a day dreamer, and Kung Fu knows kung fu really well. Of all of them, Kung Fu is my favorite. Anytime a door needs to be knocked down or someone is in trouble, she arrives on the scene and leaps all over the place in a hyper edited form with crazy kung fu music blaring. She’s a blast! Fantasy also has some hilarious day dream sequences as well, especially when she dreams of prince charming taking her away on his valiant steed right after she’s just seen her friend get eaten by a piano.
 Now, the thing to remember here is that this movie was meant to be fun. Yeah it’s about a haunted house that eats young girls, but it is not serious for a second and you shouldn’t take it that way for a second either. It is pure adrenaline that’s sole purpose is to entertain. And entertain it will. I should warn you that it is extremely different than anything you’ve ever seen before. The humor and visuals can be very off-putting during the first twenty minutes if you’re not into these kinds of films.  But if you are still reading this review then you are probably all about something bizarre like this.  
            Truthfully, I haven’t been this entertained by a movie in awhile. It’s a beautiful melting pot of art house, horror, comedy, and kung fu all steaming in a Japanese stew of awesomeness. Movies like this are the reason why I love the horror genre. Just when I think I’ve seen it all, something like House comes along and rocks my world. The Criterion Collection has released the film with beautiful packaging and tons of extras to boot. Get it on Amazon or come over to my house and watch it with me because I’m dying to see it again!  

-Dave

Halloween (1978)

            At last we arrive to the culmination of all things Hallows eve; John Carpenter’s Halloween. I want to say that this isn’t going to be so much of a review as it is going to be a all out declaration for how much I love this movie. By now, there is nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said about this brilliant film, all I can do is declare my love. So, here I go, it’s about to get mushy in here.

            If you have never watched Halloween on Halloween night then you have never experienced the holiday the way it should be. Everything about this movie harkens back to a simpler time when Halloween wasn’t so commercialized and kids really did trick or treat all over town. It reminds me of being little and my parents taking me to various neighborhoods all over town. I remember the neighborhoods were full of ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and witches parading through the streets with pumpkins full of candy. But I also remember having a repressed fear in the back of my head the whole time; what if one of these costumes was really hiding something evil? What is the boogey man was real?

            That is the essence of Carpenter’s film. Michael Myers is the embodiment of pure evil. He doesn’t have a face, other than that ultra-creepy mask, he doesn’t speak, and for this first film, he has no motive. His only goal in life is to murder and if you just stop and think about it for a second, that is truly terrifying. More than Jason Vorhees or Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers carries an air of menace about him that elevates him above every other slasher villain in history. The image of him simply standing on the street corner, watching silently, is so unnerving that I think about it every time I look out the windows at night. He does this thing where he fades into the darkness and it takes a few seconds to realize he is there, only moments later to fade out and disappear. I’ve never seen it done that well in any other film I’ve ever seen.

            To those of you who watch this film and call it “dated” or "cliché”, I would like to remind you that this is considered the first pure slasher film. John Carpenter did it first and he did it the best. Unlike the countless slasher films that came after Halloween, Carpenter chose to use very little onscreen blood and gore. In fact, I would consider it nearly bloodless. Instead, Carpenter makes use of lighting, shadows and camera angles to give us an eerie frame for the murders committed. He keeps Michael mostly in the shadows as well, only making himself seen right before he does someone in. This use of darkness, shadows, and how he uses the camera help create an atmosphere that is unknown to nearly 99% of the slasher films that came after it.

            Carpenter also created the classic score for the film. It is simple and redundant but highly affective. I love the sweeping shots of the neighborhoods streets with the fall leaves all over the ground as the score quietly ratchets up the tension as we watch. It is a testament to what music can do for a film.

            Top it all off with Jamie Lee Curtis (the first scream queen) as Laurie Strode and a blazing climactic showdown that ends up in Laurie’s closet and we have my favorite movie of the season. I’ve watched it every Halloween for a very long time and it puts a perfect cap on the season. It is essential for getting the most out of your holiday.

            This wraps up my picks for our Highbrowloween season. I hope that some of you who read this got to watch one of these films and caught on to some of the fun that we get from watching them. Halloween may soon be over, but it’s Halloween nearly 24/7 for Chris, Jonah and I. Stay tuned. 

-Dave

Poster by Micah Moseby.

The Exorcist (1973)

            Horror movies have been apart of my life ever since I was a little kid. I remember there was a store in Tulsa called Media Play that had all the classic Universal monster movies on VHS and my mom bought them all for me. I grew up watching the original Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolfman, and loved every second of it. In middle school and junior high, my friends and I would hold marathons where we would watch all the Friday the 13^th or Nightmare on Elm Street films in a row. I saw it all at a young age because nothing was off limits when it came to horror, except one film: William Friedkin’s The Exorcist.

            When mention was made of this film, my mom’s face would turn dead serious and she would forbid me to ever see it. She would tell me stories about her friends who saw it and then regretted every second of it. My uncle told me that there were images in the Exorcist that he wished he had seen because he can’t get them out of his head. Then, upon further research, I read about the outcry and shock the general public experienced when the film was released in 1973. People were fainting in their seats and walking out of the theatre early in shock. The Reverend Billy Graham would even claim that there were demonic forces actually living in the film print of the movie itself. So, with all this commotion about the film, I just had to watch it.

            I remember the night I finally watched it like it was yesterday. I was a freshman in high school and staying the night at my friend’s house when some other guy’s we knew brought the film over. I finally had a chance to watch it. When it was over, my friends and I had just sat through two of the most harrowing and intense hours of our lives and witnessed one of the greatest horror films ever made.

            Is it really necessary to give a plot summary for this one? The possession of Regan MacNeil by the devil himself is a story that sends shivers down the most hardened of horror aficionados’ spines. I think what is so terrifying about the whole situation is that this happened to an innocent little girl. Regan isn’t some slasher-pic bimbo running around half naked throughout the film. Instead she is a twelve-year-old girl who loves her mother and those close to her. She did nothing to deserve the awful things that happen to her throughout the film. So if it happened to her, could it possibly happen to us?

            Everything about this film is perfect. First of all, every single performance is spot on, especially that of Linda Blair, who plays the possessed girl Regan. Her performance isn’t so much an acting job as it is a physical transformation. Despite voice enhancement techniques and such, Linda Blair truly provides us with a chilling look at possession. Everything she does is so disturbing that I always have a hard time believing that a twelve year old girl actually did and said some of the abominations Regan yells.

            Jason Miller (Damien Karras, the priest working with Regan) also provides a great and nuanced performance as a man on the brink of losing his faith and challenged with something that can save it or bring him to his knees. And when Max von Sydow (Father Merrin) shows up to help with the exorcism at the films finale, he proves why he is one of the greatest actors around.

            There is a moment before the exorcism scene, when Father Karras is making his slow ascent up the stairs to Regan’s room. He comes to the door and cracks it just a bit so that some of the light comes piercing into the hallway. He turns his face to the side and you can see his breath as he shivers from the cold emanating from the room. Every time I see this scene I yell, “Don’t go in!” But he does and it leads to the horrific finale.

            During the exorcism, Regan levitates, shakes violently, calls out awful curses and abominations, her head spins around 360 degrees, and she vomits all over our two priests. It is probably the most harrowing scene I’ve ever watched in a film. It drains me emotionally to watch it. And when Father Karras finally realizes what he must do to save Regan, I nearly cry. It’s a powerful and incredible scene pulled off with expert precision by director William Friedkin. His direction throughout the film is taut and precise, constantly raising the feeling of claustrophobia to unbearable heights that puts knots in the viewer’s stomach. He utilizes every aspect of film technique to scare us, from wide and sweeping shots of chaos, to tight shots of horror, a score that screeches and rattles our teeth, and images that shock our senses. He is a master of his craft.

            To wrap things up, The Exorcist more than lives up to it’s hype. There isn’t a second of the film that feels dated or behind the times. It will still disturb and frighten the viewer unlike anything else. Watch it this Halloween and see what I’m talking about. 

-Dave

Poster by Micah Moseby.

Demons (1985)

            Here’s a slam-bang gore fest that will have your Halloween spirit bursting from your chest and put a smile on your face as wide as a Jack O’ lantern! We’ve been talking about movies that will raise the hairs on the back of your neck and make you sleep with the lights on all month long, but sometimes it’s good to sit back and watch your television light up with insanity. That is exactly what every gore soaked second of Lamberto Bava’s Demons will do. Once again hailing from across the pond in Italy (can you tell the Italians knew what they were doing?) comes a film of unequaled camp and adrenaline that will get your pulse going from the opening credits.

            The film begins with a masked man handing out free tickets to a special screening at a new theatre called the Metropol. Two college girls, Cheryl and Kathy, accept the invitation, along with a host of other memorable characters. Most notable among these characters is a pimp and his two dates who spout out one-liners like rapid-fire. Once the screening begins, the audience starts noticing that the events in the film they are watching is mirroring what’s happening in real life. Of course it isn’t long before the audience members begin turning into bloodthirsty demons one by one and picking each other off in increasingly gruesome ways.

            At one point in the film, a character shakes his fist at the sky and shouts, “There has to be an explanation!” Do we actually get that explanation as to why all these people are turning into bloodthirsty demons? Will the poor audience members make it out of the theatre alive? Do any of these questions matter? Of course not! What we do get is Bobby Rhodes (the pimp I mentioned earlier) kicking some major demon tail, amazingly awful dialogue (see quote above), ultra-gory demon transformations/murders, and a climax featuring a dude on a motorcycle chopping off demons heads with a katana. Top it off with a pulsing hair metal score that screams, “This movie was made in the 80’s,” and we have the makings of a classic.

            Dario Argento’s name is attached to this project as a writer and producer. I think he got bored of making artfully crafted films and decided to write something totally off the wall and crazy. That being said, even though it is directed by Lamberto Bava, it is easy to see Argento’s influence. The movie theatre provides a gigantic set piece for numerous gory murders and mayhem to occur in. It is also very well lit and colored. One shot in particular of the demons walking up a flight of stairs in the dark and fog-covered hallway stands out. Their bodies are nothing more than shadows as they hover through the darkness, yet their piercing yellow eyes are seen plain as day. It’s a great shot that always reminds me that Argento was involved in this movie.

            Truthfully there is nothing scary about this film. But it is an absolute blast to watch. Once the people begin turning into demons, which doesn’t take long at all I might add, the movie turns into a gore soaked party. We get to see people’s throats ripped out, eyes gouged, bodies chewed on, heads decapitated and some spine ripping near the end. It’s one of those movies where you don’t know how the filmmakers are going to top what you’ve just seen until a helicopter falls through the roof…which happens, by the way.

            See Demons (or Demoni, as it’s known in Italy) this Halloween and prepare for the best hour and a half of your life. Then see it again with a bunch of friends and tell them to thank you later. Buy it on Amazon or at a Vintage Stock store, they will have it. It will probably be the best decision you’ve made in a long time. 

-Dave

Poster by Micah Moseby.

Suspiria (1977)

            Before I delve into the crux of this review, I need to give a little exposition. Suspiria is not an American horror film. It comes from the golden age of Italian horror and directed by the countries greatest genre director, Dario Argento. Italian horror films are nothing like what comes out of Hollywood. Don’t go into this film expecting a logical narrarative arc and plot. The Italians don’t have much use for these type of things, instead they choose to focus on sights, sounds, imagery, and color to tell their stories. The first time I watched this film, I was thrown off because of this, but my mind was being opened to an entire new realm of cinema.
            The film begins with Suzy Banyon, an American ballet student, landing in Germany to attend a prestigeous dance academy in Freiburg. After a confusing series of events upon her arrival, including a girl fleeing the building in a state of panic, Suzy settles into her new school. She is treated nicely by Madame Blanc and Miss Tanner, the school officials, and finds a new friend in a girl named Sarah. However, she begins to suspect things are amiss when students begin dropping dead and odd occurences start taking place, such as maggots falling from the ceiling. It isn’t long before Suzy uncovers a deadly secret in which the dance academy is really a front for a coven of witches.
            The first twenty minutes of Suspiria is an all out assault on the senses. Before the opening credits hit the screen, the film’s fantastic score fills the room. The Italian rock band, Goblin, handled the scoring duties and created one of the most intense and memorable scores ever recorded. Pounding drums and screeching a-tonal string arrangments give way to the soft twinkling of bells that are reminiscent of the Exorcist theme. It’s one of my absolute favorite pieces of music in any film I’ve seen. Being that the film came out in 1977, the score is incredibly ahead of it’s time. If it showed up in a film today, it would not sound dated one bit.
            After the credits roll, we see Suzy land at the airport and seek a taxi cab. Outside it is pouring down rain and the score is blistering the viewers ear drums. As she rides in the cab through the Italian city and countryside, we are first exposed to the colorful realm of Argento’s films. Overall, this scene is dark but everything becomes saturated in beautiful reds, blues, and greens. The whole film is shot this way with the cinematographer using subvertive tricks to let tons of color into each scene. Because of the wild color scheme, it really gives the film a dream like quality. And as Suzy rides the taxi to her new school, with the music in full force, and tons of color filling the screen, it really does feel like a dream. This film looks like nothing you’ve seen before.
            If the opening scene is key to establishing the mood and atmosphere of the film, then the first murder sequence is where it shows it’s teeth. Dario Argento has long been known for filming incredibly long and elaborate murder scenes and Suspiria shows him in his prime. The set-up to the initial murder is long and brooding making the tension thick. Once the murder actually begins happening, it feels as if it will never end. I don’t want to give anything away, but it is one my favorite death scenes in a movie. The violence is oddly beautiful in the way it is concieved and shot.
            That being said, Suspiria has falsely received the reputation as being a very violent and gory film. Don’t get me wrong, it is incredibly violent, but the body count is low and the gore on display is tame compared to the other films we’ll be talking about this Halloween season. It is the build up and length of the murder scenes that make us feel like we’ve seen more than we actually have. That is smart film-making and credit of this soley goes to Argento. The man truly knows how to craft a scary scene. 
            Argento never lets off of this mood and tension throughout the film. Every frame fills as if there is something amiss and creepy in the air. This isn’t a Neve Cambell or Nicole Kidman type of movie about witches. What is going on at the dance academy is much more compelling than anything in those films. And as Suzy continues to unravel the school’s secrets, she comes closer and closer to a truth that endangers more than just her life.
            Basically every aspect of this film screams, “It’s Halloween!” I watched it for maybe the sixth time the other night and when it was over, I wouldn’t have been surprised if there were little kids trick or treating outside. This movie is a little more obscure than most of the film’s we’ll be talking about on here. You can’t just go to Blockbuster and rent it tonight. However, it is widely available on Amazon and Netflix. So don’t miss out on Suspiria this Halloween!

-Dave

Poster by Micah Moseby.

Hatchet

            My first two reviews here at Highbrow Horror have been of very straight faced, serious horror films. I love them because they truly are terrifying and have been deemed so by nearly everyone who has seen them over the years. However, I don’t think I enjoy anything more than a good ole’ gory schlock fest full of dark humor and insanity that doesn’t take itself seriously for a second or is too low budget to know better. And that is exactly what Hatchet is.

            Back in the 80’s, one subgenre of the horror film reigned supreme, the slasher. Slasher films never pretended to be more than they were, which was outrageously violent, ultra sleazy, nudity-filled gore fests. This subgenre has yielded some of the greatest horror films of all time such as the Friday the 13^th series, Nightmare on Elm Street, and even more obscure films such as Maniac and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. In the 90’s there was the Scream franchise and after that, Hollywood began churning out mainstream re-makes of these films and others from around the globe. It seemed that no one had an original idea anymore.

            Then in 2006, writer/director Adam Green gave us Hatchet. The film boasted two tag lines, “It’s not a remake. It’s not a sequal. And it’s not based on a Japanese one,” and “Old school American horror.” I am happy to say that these two taglines perfectly capture the light feel and awesome approach to this wildly gorey romp through the swamp.

            The film introduces Victor Crowley, a deformed and hideous creature who lives in the Lousiana bayou. As a child, he lived with his father, who kept him hidden away from the rest of society as he was constantly made fun of and humiliated. One Halloween night, years ago, a group of kids gathered at the Crowley house to scare Victor by throwing fire crackers on the front porch. Victor was alone while his dad was out in town. Accidentally the house was caught on fire and Victor was trapped. When his dad arrived home, he quickly grabbed a hatchet and began to chop down the front door to get to his son. Little did he know that Victor was on the other side of the door and the hatchet killed his son. Now, Victor Crowley haunts the swamp and gruesomely murders anyone who dares venture into it. This legend becomes all too real when a swamp boat tour is broken down near Victors house. One by one the members of the tour are picked off as Victor Crowley exacts his revenge against the society that ruined his life.

            This movie is clearly made with one type of audience in mind, the slasher film audience. It doesn’t pretend to be anything it’s not for one second. There isn’t any hidden subtext rich in social commentary on the state of America or anything like that. It plays out with its tongue firmly planted in cheek and embraces everything that happens with arms wide open. People complain that it’s too funny, or that Victor looks like something from the Goonies, and to those people I would say, chill out! I think everything about this movie is intentional and made to make us laugh and squirm.

            And squirm we certainly will, as the gore score is off the charts in this one. We see people’s limbs wripped from their torso’s, numerous decapitations, a man hacked in half sideways with a hatchet, a sandbelt sanding away a girls lower jaw, and a womans face wripped in half via Victor Crowley’s bare hands. It’s all done “in camera” with traditional F/X, no CGI and it looks amazing. I’ll take this type of gore any day and this instantly gives the film more props from me.

            Top it all off with a handful of awesome cameos from Robert Englund (everyone knows him as Freddy Krueger), and Tony Todd (the Candy Man). Victor Crowley is played by Kane Hodder, everyone’s favorite Jason Vorhees from the Friday the 13^th series.

            So, as you can see, this is a winner with me. From it’s light campy tone, the amazing gore F/X work, to the cameos of genre favorites, Hatchet is a film that sets out to make the slasher fan happy, and it worked very well with this slasher fan.

            Hatchet 2 comes out October 1^st unrated to theatres and promises to up the ante on all accounts. If you are a fan of gory horror films, you’ll see Hatchet 2 in theatres because this hardly ever happens. Most of the time the MPAA comes in and cuts a violent film to shreds and we only see a portion of the directors vision. With Hatchet 2, we get to see everything Adam Green wanted us to see, and I can’t wait to see it for myself.

-Dave

Poster by Micah Moseby.

The Wicker Man (1973)

             A few years ago, I made a mistake. I walked into the movie theatre here in town and bought a ticket to see a film titled The Wicker Man. It had Nicholas Cage in it and it appeared to be a suspense/horror film. Little did I know that I was buying a ticket to the worst hour and a half of my life and that this poor excuse for a movie was actually a Hollywood remake of a much better 1973 British film. After watching the original Wicker Man the other night, I wished to God that I had never seen the remake. I basically knew everything that was going to happen and that doesn’t leave a lot of room to be shocked by the film’s fantastic ending. I did, however, find myself much more engrossed and interested in this odd little film that should have never been touched by Hollywood. For the sake of the rest of this review, I will pretend that the remake does not exist and I will only speak of the 1973 original as a stand-alone film. 

The film starts off quickly as a police detective is flying into Summerisle, an island off the coast of Scotland, in search of a missing girl. Upon arriving on the island, many of the people he comes in contact with claim they have never seen the girl in their life. Even the woman who had originally written him the letter begging him to come help says that she has never seen the girl and that her daughter is perfectly safe. It isn’t long before our good detective, Sgt. Neil Howie, begins to notice the strange behavior of all the inhabitants on the island, such as the frequent song and dance everyone in the town seems prone to, the midnight group copulation in the local cemetary, the inn-keepers daughter banging on the walls at night, and the naked women crying over tombstones. Sgt. Howie holds a meeting with Lord Summerisle, played by the fantastic Christopher Lee, in which he tells Howie that the island worships the old Gods of the sea, land, air, and sun. They believe in being fertile just as the earth is, thus all the sexual nature of the local inhabitants. Howie, who is a devout Christian, is mortified by this and begins a battle of the wits with Lord Summerisle and it’s inhabitants that boils to a fantastic twist and a climax that is truly haunting.

The first thing that stands out about this film to me, is character. The two leads, Howie and Lord Summerisle are polar opposites of eachother. One character represents fundamentalist Christianity and the other Paganism. When Howie arrives on the island, he is quick to throw around the fact that he is a devout Christian. His staunch beliefs are readily apparent as he prays by his bed, while the inn-keepers daughter dances naked in the room next to him, banging on his walls. He is constantly reciting scripture to the locals as they reveal their Pagan ways to him. It’s a perfect example of great indirect characterization that isn’t done hardly at all in horror films anymore.

Then there is Lord Summerisle. He represents the other end of the spectrum, which is Paganism. His entire island runs wild with abberant sexuality and worship of the earth’s elements and he encourages it and enjoys it. He is, of course, a jolly and happy man, but his wickedness is brimming under the surface. His words to Sgt. Howie are not cruel, in fact, he gives Howie permission to do as he pleases in regards to his search for the missing girl, but underneath his kindness is an evil that is not fully realized until the final moments of the film.

What I like most about this film is the fact that the antagonist is not some monster, demon, ghost, or some other genre cliche. Instead, it is the people’s beliefs that bring harm and danger. The idea that someones belief system or religion can bring them to do the most outrageous and inhuman things is something very much rooted in reality and rings true for past history (Jim Jones) and even to current events (Westboro Baptist Church and the Koran burning pastor come to mind). But it’s not just the villagers’ beliefs that are examined, it is also Sgt. Howie’s. The instant he steps foot on the island he brings his judgment and “holier than thou” attitude with him. The clash between these two viewpoints is the focal point of the film. It is something much deeper than what is normally put on display in horror films. While what happens in the Wicker Man is, on the surface, disturbing and scary, digging deeper reveals the true horrors because they have the potential to reside in each one of us. I think the idea that extremism is possible on all sides of the spectrum is something that needs to be heard, especially today.

Now, I don’t like everything about this film. There are moments where I feel that things can become a bit “hokey” for a lack of a better term. The local inhabitants on the island randomly begin singing strage Pagan songs sometimes and dress in outrageous costumes, particularly at the end. That being said, I understand that this was done to disorient the viewer and make us feel like an outsider on the island. And I believe it works rather well, I felt just as much confused and lost as Sgt. Howie did and I think this adds to the mystery and suspense of the film. I just think that sometimes it got a little too over the top and it took me out of the viewing experience just a bit.

That small issue aside, I say see the original 1973 Wicker Man. And don’t look into it much before you see it. The less you know about this film, the more rewarding and disturbing it will be for you. Also, do I need to say avoid the remake at all costs? It will truly ruin the experience for you. I believe the only reason I enjoyed the original so much was because I hadn’t seen the awful remake in years. Don’t let it spoil this very unique, intriguing, and ultimately haunting film. 

-Dave

The Thing (1982)

           Director John Carpenter is known for creating arguably the scariest and most widely known horror icon of all time, Michael Myers. When Halloween was released in 1978, it changed the game for horror and created an entire new subgenre, the slasher film. There were many films leading up to this moment that helped shape the slasher film, Italy’s giallo film craze and Black Christmas mostly, but Halloween definitely blew the doors open for the genre. After this film, Carpenter would go on to make other big hits such as The Fog, Escape from New York, and Big Trouble in Little China. But in the midst of all that, he directed one of his best works that is still widely under appreciated and over looked.
           In 1982, Carpenter directed his take on The Thing, a loose remake of the 1952 film, The Thing From Another World. When it was initially released, it was shunned by critics and failed at the box office. It was labeled as “excessive” and “nauseas inducing” and panned by nearly everyone who saw it. Years later, in retrospect, it is considered a masterpiece of the sci-fi/horror genre and hailed for its pacing and atmosphere, performances, and FX work.
           The film is set deep in Antarctica and follows R.J. Macready (Kurt Russel) and his research team after they come in contact with an alien life form that can assimilate into other organisms and in turn imitate them. The film opens with a helicopter chasing after a dog through the snow. Upon the dog’s arrival to Macready’s camp, the helicopter touches down and the pilot begins shooting wildly at the animal. After a skirmish with the research team, the pilot is killed and his helicopter destroyed. The team decides to adopt the dog and place it with the others kept on the site. It isn’t long before everyone realizes that this dog isn’t really a dog anymore and they have granted access to a being far more sinister than any of them realized.
           The first thing about this movie that works is the atmosphere that is increased exponentially as the film progresses. The claustrophobia and feeling of isolation is made apparent at the very first few shots of the film. With wide sweeping shots of the frozen tundra, and narrow tracking shots through the teams research compound, the camera works to create this sense of tension and overbearing dread. As paranoia sets in among the crew, we as an audience begin to feel their bewilderment and fear of the unknown. There are moments where the person you would least expect to be the alien comes out of no where and suprises you with a jolt of violence that will send you flailing in your chair. It has been called a “slow burn” film and I agree. It takes its time and lets things spin out of control. It all spirals to a bombshell climax that is an explosion of fire and gore. It never eases off of the tension pedal and by the time it is over and the credits roll, you will still be holding your breath.
           This kind of atmosphere and paranoia would not be possible to depict without the performances to back them up. And while all of the actors, there are no women at all in this film, do a commendable job, my main praise goes to Kurt Russell. Has anyone seen a movie with Kurt Russell where he isn’t just a complete bad ass? He takes control of the team and leads an assault against the creature with a calm and collected sense of responsibilty. But as things get worse, his mental state begins to collapse. He balances this calm and cool with the manic paranoia and desperation that only an actor of Kurt’s caliber could pull off. Even though we never know who the alien may be imitating, we as an audience root for Kurt all the way.
           I would be leaving out quite possibly the best aspect of The Thing if I didn’t mention it’s wildly impressive gore FX work. This film came out in 1982, but if it were released today, it would still be impressive. Some of the things that happen in this movie are absolutley insane; including, but not limited to: a dogs face splitting in half to reveal a vicious monster, a man’s chest opening and turning into teeth that bite off another character’s arm that spews geysers of blood, and a characters head splitting in half to reveal another set of teeth that in turn eats another man. Insane right? That’s not even half of it. Mere words can’t describe the insanity that is committed to celluloid in this fantastic film. You simply have to see it to believe it.
           I’m not sure if I need to do anymore glowing and raving to get you to see this movie, but if I haven’t said enough, GO RENT IT TODAY! It is widely available on DVD and can probably be found in any video rental store. It is one of Carpenter’s masterpieces that is too good to not be seen.

- Dave