What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Joe Macclesfield
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by Joe Macclesfield »

Western Guy wrote:Sometimes I think it is better that some of these horror films didn't adhere too closely to the books. When such attempts were made, such as MARY SHELLEY'S FRANKENSTEIN, the results were less than impressive. BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA was a little better (Keanu Reeve's wooden performance notwithstanding - not to mention that goofy high wig Drac wears), but I still prefer Hammer's CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HORROR OF DRACULA. These films are exciting, move like lightning and certainly do not overstay their welcome.

Anyhoo, that's my two cents.
That's true. And, if an attempt were made to realize the passage I previously described in a movie, the result would probably look pretty daft. Although not an attempt to show a scene from the original novel, something like it occurs in Murnau's Nosferatu (1922). Hutter looks out a window of Graf Orlok's castle and witnesses the unloading of a cart. Filmed in small jump-cuts, which give the action a jerky motion. the effect was probably meant to look weird - to me it just looks comical!
"...Then as a bee, which among weeds doth fall,
Which seem sweet floures with lustre fresh and gay,
She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all,
But pleasd with none doth rise and sore away..."
Western Guy
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by Western Guy »

Yet I will say I rather enjoyed the recent remake of THE WOLF MAN - which even my wife did, and she is NOT a fan of horror movies. Not that I'd purchase the DVD or even necessarily watch it again, but I found it pretty entertaining (or maybe my mood was right for it) -- up until that ridiculous plot "twist" with Talbot's father. Interesting how Sir Anthony has "adopted" the roles made famous by Edward Van Sloan and Claude Rains. He's up to the task, I think, but just needs better material.
RedRiver
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Sometimes I think it is better that some of these horror films didn't adhere too closely to the books

As often as not, this is true of all genres. We're dealing with vastly different mediums. While unavoidably disappointing fans of the book, it's better to let the movie find its own direction.
Western Guy
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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True - and also their original subject matter, such as the ill-conceived remake of STAGECOACH. And sadly it seems as if Hollywood is running out of gas when it comes to originality, rehashing old (and not so old) movies and even TV series to attract audiences. Dare I mention "The Honeymooners", "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Starsky and Hutch", "21 Jump Street". And the list goes on.
RedRiver
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Shooting has begun on the MY MOTHER, THE CAR movie!
Western Guy
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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That (ulp) almost sounds likely . . . with Matthew Lillard in the Jerry Van Dyke role. Voice of `Mother`: Fran Descher.
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Saw the Curse of Frankenstein tonight on TCM and right now my opinion about this movie has changed and I consider it one of Peter Cushing's masterpieces. He had great chemistry with Robert Urquhart of whom he was battling it out and weighing the consequences of life and death that Victor Frankenstein was dealing with.

Even so they worked together at the start of these "experiments" ... the problems of ethics and moral responsibility came to play and Paul sees it one way and Victor sees it another and that's was led to Victor's downfall at the end. Robert Osborne kindly at the beginning of this movie - the monster was shown the way Mary Shelley's has envisioned in her novel and I consider that rendering of Frankenstein most true to form.

The melodramatic, the spectacle, and the intense style of Hammer came through this masterpiece of horror that I was thoroughly was entertained by all of it.
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Joe Macclesfield
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by Joe Macclesfield »

Erik, "Pass the marmalade." :)
"...Then as a bee, which among weeds doth fall,
Which seem sweet floures with lustre fresh and gay,
She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all,
But pleasd with none doth rise and sore away..."
Western Guy
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Right with you, Erik. Watched it again myself and the film just keeps getting better and better. Cushing is his usual excellent self and I was thinking the same: how great he and Robert Urquhart play off each other. And I still say Christopher Lee's interpretation of the Creature is superb.

And Joe: You beat me to it. Love the way the tense scene with Valerie Gaunt's terrible demise shifts into Cushing's oh-so-casual delivery of the line.
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Lucky Vassall
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

Post by Lucky Vassall »

RedRiver wrote:Sometimes I think it is better that some of these horror films didn't adhere too closely to the books

As often as not, this is true of all genres. We're dealing with vastly different mediums. While unavoidably disappointing fans of the book, it's better to let the movie find its own direction.
So true, RR.

Sometimes the film is not as good as the book, sometimes better (I think most of the Dickens adaptations are improvements—W. C. Fields was Micawber; Oliver and not Charlie just had to be out there on the roof), and sometimes the film is just a different experience.

Same problem with plays; sometimes “opening up” destroys the original message (understand Albee hated what they did to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf) , but sometimes it results in a more enjoyable and/or believable experience.

I recently read and watched The Prestige (a film that fits both the Horror and Sci-Fi areas of this thread) and was astonished to find that a really bad novel had been changed enough to make a really great film. Try it, you’ll hate/love it!
[size=85]AVATAR: Billy DeWolfe as Mrs. Murgatroid, “Blue Skies” (1946)

[b]“My ancestors came over on the Mayflower.”
“You’re lucky. Now they have immigration laws."[/b]
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[b]:–)—[/b]
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RedRiver
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Same problem with plays; sometimes “opening up” destroys the original message

This must be an agonizing choice for directors. They want the movie to have visual appeal; to be cinematic. But they're filming a play. My favorites are the ones that do, in fact, look like plays! DETECTIVE STORY takes place primarily in one room. The intense, claustrophobic feel is greater that way. COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA gets out and about a little. But never for long. The story goes right back into that lonely, quiet house where we, like the characters, feel trapped and resigned.

Kazan's "Streetcar" holds largely to its theatrical roots. OK, people wander down to a dimly lit boat dock, stand on a street corner. But in the restricted lighting, the focus is not on scenery or movement. It's on the tortured and temperamental people standing there.

I like what Mike Nichols did with Albee's classic, but I can understand why the playwright objected. Nichols takes the action to a bar, the front lawn; I think there's even a driving scene. He tells the story well. But how much more relentless might it have been if confined to the living room? Albee clearly wanted that effect. I saw a production in Chicago where theater staff made a pre-curtain announcement. They had intended an intermission in the two hour plus performance. But Mr. Albee's manager canned that idea. It was in the author's contract that the play be presented straight through. Like the disturbed and vengeful couple pick-pick-picking at each other till somebody breaks!

I'm a movie fan, as we all are. But I'm also a former theatre major who LOVES a good play!
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Lucky Vassall
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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Totally agree.

Although it's a TV play, Twelve Angry Men is another great example of not opening up. Quick as he can, Sidney Lumet pushes you into that Jury Room and he keeps you there right to the very end, then that closing shot, as they're leaving the New York Courthouse, makes you feel as if you can finally breathe again.
[size=85]AVATAR: Billy DeWolfe as Mrs. Murgatroid, “Blue Skies” (1946)

[b]“My ancestors came over on the Mayflower.”
“You’re lucky. Now they have immigration laws."[/b]
[i]Mae West, The Heat’s On” (1943[/i])

[b]:–)—[/b]
Pinoc-U-no(se)[/size]
RedRiver
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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TWELVE ANGRY MEN is the perfect example. No director in his right mind would take the action out of the jury room. In fact, the story wouldn't allow it! I'd like to get our local theatre group to do Elmer Rice's all but forgotten STREET SCENE. All the action place on the corner in front of a New York City tenement house. Not in the apartments. On the street! It's a beautiful piece.
Western Guy
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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So I'm just watching HORROR OF DRACULA and notice a ridiculous plot point. Can someone explain why Jonathan Harker (knowing full well that Dracula is the "big cheese" vampire) would venture down into the crypt and first drive a stake through the heart of Valerie Gaunt?

He sees Dracula lying in his stone coffin by bypasses his most logical threat to first take care of the vamp girl. Seen the film countless times but either I'm getting wise or cynical, but first time I noticed this.
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Joe Macclesfield
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Re: What Horror and Sc-Fi films have you seen lately?

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My brother, Jim, made exactly the same point when we watched the movie a few nights ago. And, while Harker attends to Valerie Gaunt, why does Drac get out of his coffin, creep upstairs, then, come back down to sort out Mr. Harker? Also, Drac and his lady friend lie in lidless stone sarcophagi. The crypt is fitted with leaded-light windows, to let in the sunlight!
"...Then as a bee, which among weeds doth fall,
Which seem sweet floures with lustre fresh and gay,
She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all,
But pleasd with none doth rise and sore away..."
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