Halloween (1978)

The first time I saw John Carpenter's 'Halloween' was well over ten years ago. I had heard so much about it, especially from my mom who saw it on the big screen when it first came out in 1978, and my expectations were high. For my mom it was a traumatic experience at the time and in her memory it has remained the scariest movie she has ever seen. This build-up made my first viewing of 'Halloween' somewhat anticlimactic.  The movie had a very slow pacing and I didn't find it very scary compared to other movies like 'The Shining'. This year I did however want to give it another chance.

The movie starts of in 1963 on Halloween-night where a 6-year-old Michael Myers stabs his older sister to death with a kitchen knife while he's dressed up as a clown. 15 years later, Michael escapes from the mental institution where he's been locked up since the murder. Dr. Loomis, who is the only one who understands what Michael is capable of, assumes that he's heading back to his old home in Haddonfield to go on a killing spree, and sets out to stop him. 

Not surprisingly I enjoyed the movie quite a bit more this time around. First if all I didn't expect the scariest movie ever made and secondly I've grown very fond of a slow pacing in movies. The build-up is just perfect and I love the introduction to the different characters. Dr. Loomis is my favorite character and Donald Pleasence is simply amazing in the role. He's sort of a tragic hero and is the only defender against the evil of Michael. Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode is also exceptionally good. She's a very sympathetic and we really care about her and want her to survive. 

I love the looks of Michael Myers with his boiler suit and white mask. I do however think he is most frightening when we don't see much of him. The way he stalks the teenagers in the first half of the movie without showing himself too much is very creepy. The second half of the movie is also very good, but suffer a bit from being copied and parodied so many times. Michael also appears weaker and more fragile than one would expect him to be. This was of course before the idea of sequels became a thing and they made min into a supernatural entity of evil. 

The soundtrack is nothing less than a masterpiece. It's simple but very effective and creates the perfect atmosphere for the movie. It has a nightmarish quality to it and must be one of the most recognizable soundtracks ever created.

All in all 'Halloween' is a true horror classic in every sense of the word.  It's obviously a must see for any horror fan and really put John Carpenter on the map as one of the greatest horror directors of all time.

Witchfinder General (1968)

Time for another Vincent Price classic. Though it might not be a straight up horror flick, Witchfinder General from 1968 does have it's fair share of horror elements. As the title suggests it deals with witches, but more as a historical and cultural phenomenon than something supernatural. The horror lays in the depiction of torture and abuse which the accused men and women went through. But lets dive into the story. 

Vincent Price plays a professional witchfinder in England during the Civil War. He and his partner travel the land, seek out potential witches and usually manage to drag confessions out of them. People pay good money to get rid of individuals they don't like so witchfinding is apparently good business. Not surprisingly they do however make enemies in their line of work.

As a kid I became very interested in the European witch trials. At universityty I even based my bachelor's degree in history on the topic. Though this movie might not be a 100 percent accurate it's still a pretty damn good and gruesome flick. The torture scenes are truly horrific and are probably some of the most effective I've seen. When it came out it must have been a very shocking experience.

Vincent Price is, not surprisingly, the main attraction of this movie. He's just so delightfully evil and sinister and seems to grow worse throughout the movie. The other cast is not bad at all, but they just can't compete with the master himself. He's perfect in every sense of the word.

Interestingly enough 'Witchfinder General' also has a lot of western elements. It kinda reminds me of movies like 'Chato's Land' and 'The Great Silence' with all the horse riding, tavern brawls and its themes of vengeance and injustice.

I'm always glad to see a movie that deals with the historical and cultural aspects of witchhunting. If you're somewhat interested in the subject and have a love for Vincent Price, 'Witchfinder General' is the movie for you.

The Black Cat (1981)

I'm not as familiar with Lucio Fulci as I am with other Italian directors such as Dario Argento, but I really enjoyed his classic movie 'Zombie Flesh Eaters' when I was a teenager. I recently picked up the Arrow release of 'The Black Cat' and was intrigued by the premise and that it was inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe story. It did however turn out to have little to do with Poe, but I won't hold that against it.

The story is set in a small village in England where a number of mysterious deaths occur. An American photographer staying in the village begins to suspect a black cat of being more than it appears to be and starts investigating the murders.

Like other Italian horror films I have seen it is more about mood and atmosphere than story. You kinda have to lean back and just enjoy the experience and not think too much about every single plot point. The camera work is simply amazing totally blew me away. Almost every single shot could be framed and hung on the wall. The gothic setting is beautiful and creates a great atmosphere.

The weakest point of this movie is it's lack of characters I cared about or found interesting. Other than that it is a great little flick, and I'm looking forward to seeing more Lucio Fulci films in the future.

Theatre of Blood (1973)

Autumn has finally arrived and Halloween month is right around the corner. In my book there's no better way to celebrate the season than by watching a bunch horror movies. When it comes to horror actors Vincent Price is among the all time greates and I was so happy to finally watch 'Theatre of Blood' from 1973.

Vincent Price plays an devoted stage actor named Lionheart. He refuses to play in anything other than Shakespeare, and is considered somewhat of a joke among the critics. After not receiving a prestigious award he gets devastated and jumps in the river, and is presumed dead. Two years later someone starts killing members of the Critic's Guild. All the murders are ispired by deaths in Shakespeare plays. Lionheart is back to have his revenge.

'Theatre of Blood' is not a straight up horror movie. It's sort of a mixture between horror and comedy. It has some really dark and disturbing moments but can suddenly be extremely funny and even kinda campy. An example is when Lionheart has a sword fight with one of the critics and he suddenly makes a somersault for no apparent reason. After that both Lionheart and his adversary goes on to jumping on trampolines where they continue the sword fight. Good stuff!

It should come as no surprise that Vincent Price completely steals the show. Most of the critics are portrayed as a buch of boring and pretentious wankers, and despite him being the villain you'll find yourself cheering for Lionheart all the way.
In a way Lionheart also proofs himself being right all along about his brilliance as an actor. He takes on a number of disguises and plays out roles right in front of  the critics without them realizing it's already too late. Some of the disguises are so freakin hilarious. My favourite is the one where he takes the role of a flamboyant, gay hair dresser with a sweet afro. He's totally pulling it off and I just lost it in that scene. I simply love that Vincent Price gets so much to work with. He's amazing in this movie and through the character Lionheart, he truly proves his own genious as an actor.

The movie is a love letter not only to the horror genre, but also the works of Shakespeare. It has some great scenes where Lionheart does monologues from the classic plays and it really made me want to get more into Shakespeare.

All in all 'Theatre of Blood' is a fantastic movie. It has a great combination of horror and comedy with the brilliant Vincent Price at his finest. I'm already looking forward to watching it again, but the season has just yet started and will hopefully have more horror classics up its sleeves.

Cruising (1980)

William Friedkin's 'Cruising' from 1980 stirred up a ton of controversies and was, among other things, accused of being homophobic. It has since become a cult classic and to me it's one of the best thrillers ever made.

Someone is killing members of the gay leather underground scene. Aside from belonging the same community all the victims are approximately the same age and have the same body type and hair colour. Al Pacino plays a police officer who matches the description and is asked to go undercover to find the murderer.

At first glance it all might seem rather standard, but 'Cruising' is far more than that. It's an ambiguous, nail biting, psychological thriller and a unique time capsel depicting a hidden subculture. If you like clear answers to this might not be your thing. At the end you will have some unanswered questions, but it's all done in a very deliberate way.

Al Pacino does a great role. This was back when he had a more low key approach to acting. He's an outsider trying to fit in. It's interesting to see him gradually getting more and more familiar with his new life, and how it affects him on a personal level. He feel like he's loosing himself and what it's like being a cop. This scares him and he wants out, but his boss won't let him. All of the actors make great roles and it's fun to see legendary character actors like Powers Boothe and Joe Spinell in minor roles. The retired New York police officer, Randy Jurgensen, also plays a role in the movie. He himself did undercover work in a similar milieu back in his police days and much of his own experiences made it into the movie. One the homepage of my favourite movie podcast, Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers, you can find a fantastic interview with Mr. Jurgensen which I highly encourage people to check out.

The sound design and music are really great and creates an unique atmosphere. I simply love the esthetics of this movie. You'll get your fare share of smoke filled bars, leather, denim, chains and boots. It's a weird and very cinematic world. Apparently Friedkin did a lot of research beforehand and several of the people hanging around the bars are not actors but regulars from the leather community. I find it extremely fascinating to observe this closed subculture.

Personally can't really see why the movie was accused of being homophobic. Some of the cops in the movie might be homophobic, but they are not exactly presented as the voice of reason. Even Pacino's character says at one point that he did not become a cop to harass gay people. Apart from this I didn't really feel that the movie made any particular statement on homosexuality at all.

In my opinion 'Cruising' might be one of the most underrated films ever made. Even though I know it has gotten more recognition over the years, it's still a very overlooked movie that few people seem to know about. Give it a watch if you like New York based crime movies from the 70s and 80s.

Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)

This time we'll have to do things a little different. Until now I have almost exclusively focused on the positive aspects of movies and television, but today I have to adress something that has bothered me for some days now.

'Twin Peaks' is my favourite TV-series ever. I first watched it about ten years ago and I was hooked from the start. Everything just felt right. It was mysterious, funny, creepy, weird, had great music and I felt at home in a way I have never done before or since. I grew to love the characters and became invested in their lifes. Dale Cooper is in my opinon the greatest TV-character ever made. To watch watch him eat a donut or a piece of cherry pie while drinking some damn good coffee on the side, was just as fun as watching him investigate mysteries in the little town of Twin Peaks.

When I heard they were making a third season I was head over heels with joy and expectations. So how do I feel about the third season, 'Twin Peaks: The Return'? Well, I feel cheated, sad and kinda angry. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The timing for a third season was perfect, and so many of the old cast returned. It could have been so great, but it falied to deliver. Too many buildups never payed off. Too many missed opportunities. Too many disappointments. In my opinion this wasn't 'Twin Peaks' anymore, at least not my 'Twin Peaks'. What made it all worse was that David Lynch throughout the 18 episodes now and again gave me small bits hope that what I loved would eventually come back. I waited patiently until the very last minute, and then the ending came, but it brought no closure whatsoever.

Dale Cooper didn't show up as himself until one of the last episodes. And when he appeared there were almost no scenes with him interacting with the other familiar characters. In the original series I had such a crush on Audrey Horne. Apart from being stunningly beautiful, she was just such an amazing character. I hated what David Lynch did to her in this season. The person I saw was not Audrey. She was just an angry, tragic figure and did not play any part in the story at all. The same could be said about several others, but I felt that Audry got the most unfair treatment of all.

I guess the point I trying to make is that almost everything that made 'Twin Peaks' special to me was gone. I understand that other people might love 'Twin Peaks' for other reasons, and perhaps they will get more out of the third season. For me however, it just didn't work.

One might say that I watched 'Twin Peaks: The Return' with nostalgic glasses on, but that's what 'Twin Peaks' is to me. Nostalgia about the greatest TV-experience I've ever had.

The Howling (1981)

Another great movie from the 80s. Joe Dante's 'The Howling' is one of my favourites within the werewolf sub genre and I used to watch it over and over again as a kid.

Karen is a popular news anchor who's contacted by a guy called Eddie who claims to be responsible for a bunch of brutal murders. He seems to have an obsession with her and wants them to meet. In collaboration with the police Karen agrees to meet Eddie. She meets him in the movie booth of a porn shop. It's dark and she has her back against him. He tells her to turn around and look at him, she starts screaming and the police appear just in time to shoot Eddie through the door. What did she see and what made her scream? Karen doesn't remember. She has a complete blackout about what happened in the movie booth, but she's haunted by nightmares. Dr. Waggner who's an expert on repression advises Karen and her husband Bill, to spend a week or two at his colony up north to relax and do group therapy. They decide to give it a try, but Karen soon realises that there is something lurking in the Woods.

Like I mentioned, this is one of my favourite werewolf movies. The only real flaw is that Karen is not a very interesting person and I didn't really care too much about what happened to her. This is kinda ironic because other than Karen, I think the movie is very strong on characters. Bill is a good example.  He's a former football player and owns a couple of health clubs, but now he seems to always be in the shadow of Karen who got her career in front of her. Bill doesn't seem very satisfied with the state of their marriage, and he seems to have a growing impatience with her even though he tries to be understanding. His character fits very well together with the overall theme of the movie, our repressed animalistic nature.
The movie also has a lot of other engaging characters like Terry and her boyfriend Chris, both friends of Karen and Bill. They have a great chemistry and I kinda wish the movie was even more about them. My favourite is however the bookstore owner who's only in a couple of scenes. He's played by the great character actor Dick Miller and completely steels the show.

The movie has a great atmosphere thanks to an amazing soundtrack. It's spooky and melancholic and gives the movie an almost dreamlike quality that resonates very well with the old Universal Studio horror classics. I always end up watching through all the end credits because the music is so good.

The obligatory transformation scenes are amazing and holds up really great. The 80s were defiantly the best decade as far as special effects go. The design of the werewolves is perfect and, in my opinion, superior to most other werewolf flicks.
To sum it up I think 'The Howling' is an underrated classic. It has great characters and amazing music and atmosphere. The story is engaging from beginning to end and doesn't rush anything. It pays tribute to the old classics while still being pure 80s. I must add that in this day and age it's so refreshing to see a werewolf movie that does not have teenage girls as its target audience.