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Here are today’s ohhh scary.

Sunshine: (2007) A sci fi film from Danny Boyle that doesn’t quite hit the mark, yet it has some great stuff in it. A crew is sent on a VERY special space mission and they only have one shot at it. The sun is fading, and has to be “re started.” The first ship had become lost so this is the last chance.  Wikipedia says:

“Sunshine is a 2007 British science fiction film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland about the crew of a spacecraft on a dangerous mission to the Sun. In 2057, with the Earth in peril from the dying Sun, the crew is sent to reignite the Sun with a massive stellar bomb, a nuclear device with the equivalent mass of Manhattan Island. The crew is made up of an ensemble cast consisting of Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Troy Garity, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong, Chipo Chung, and Mark Strong.

The script was based on a scientific back-story that took the characters on a psychological journey. The director cast a group of international actors for the film, and had the actors live together and learn about topics related to their roles, as a form of method acting. To have the actors realistically react to visual effects that would be implemented in post-production, the filmmakers constructed live sets to serve as cues.

Previous science fiction films that Boyle cited as influences included Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001 A space Odyssey, the 1972 Tarkovsky’s Solaris, and the 1979 science-fiction horror film Alien.”

This film is a well made, well constructed, lower budget picture, and it flows pretty well until the last 30 minutes or so. I won’t tell you the ending, but it shifts gears in a direction that I felt didn’t fit the story too well. Otherwise a good sci fi effort.

Return of Dracula: (1958) This is an odd film. Dracula comes to the US. California specifically. He kills an eastern European man, and assumes his identity mysteriously arriving in California as the cousin of an older woman who had not seen him since they were kids. Dracula lives in their home, and starts doing his Dracula stuff. In the mean time he is being hunted, by a policemen from Europe who knows who Dracula is, and how to destroy him. Frances Lederer (who plays Dracula) is an odd choice for the role, but in some ways he is kind of refreshing. You just have to buy him physically as the count, and get past the curly hair! As far as Dracula films go this one is a little different. Not great by any means, but certainly an interesting (if you can buy into Lederer) take on an old character.

Targets: (1968) This is one of Karloff’s very last films and it is a good one. A young Peter Bogdnoavich was told that Karloff owed 4 more days of shooting so come up with something and they did. It’s about an aged horror star that has had it with modern horror. He wants to retire for good. Meanwhile the REAL horror in the film is about a young guy who decides to coldly shoot his mother, and wife, then go out and snipe random people  with his rifle! Karloff and this young guy eventually meet up, but I won’t reveal the rest. All will say is that this is a very good film. Not much budget, but a whole lot of inspiration got it done. Highly recommended, and it turned out to basically be a great send off for Boris Karloff. Yes, he made a few cheapies in Mexico afterwards, but within a year of Targets he had died so that’s how I prefer to remember him. RIP Boris, you did good.

Starship Troopers: (1997) Some like it. Some don’t. Some think it doesn’t do the novel justice others don’t worry about it. All I know is, even though this film gets silly at times (but that’s the Paul Verhoven touch at work) it delivers. Satire, and bugs, bugs bugs! Vicious, ornery and just plain stubborn. The bugs (the alien enemies) vs the Earth’s soldiers is a fun watch. It also helps one to remember that while Denise Richards may be hot, she can’t act her way out of a paper bag. Hmmmm, in this case though does it really matter? This film is loads of fun.

Dawn of the Dead: (1978) If Night of the Living Dead is his Citizen Kane, then Dawn of the Dead is George Romero’s Magnificent Ambersons. Romero’s zombie social satire reaches new heights because most of this film take a place in a shopping mall, and the zombies don;t appear to be much different than the regular folks who probably shopped there. The movie opens shortly after the dead have risen, and the human race is quickly losing it! Four people steal a helicopter, and find refuge in a shopping mall. Once they have cleaned all the zombies out and have the mall all to themselves they become bored and dissatisfied, but fate intervenes and a big bunch of motorcycle “raiders” invade the mall.  It has a fair bit of gore and this time its in color, but you really can’t go wrong with making this film part of your Halloween viewing experience!

This movie was also re made in 2004, and directed by Zack Snyder. Is it any good though? It’s not terrible, but after you cut through all the fast moving zombies, and the “cool” effects what is left is pretty empty. Fun to watch, but the original is the best.

Night of the Demon:(1957) This is a really good movie. That’s about all I will say. If you haven’t seen it then you need to.  Just don’t try to pass the paper on to me in the meantime! Once you have seen this movie you will know what I mean!

Day the Earth Stood Still: (1951)One of the great sci fi films ever made. Period! Directed by the great Robert Wise, this film still holds up very well today. Gort is great! The message delivered by Klatuu at film’s end is also cool. This is a must see AND…..Yes, there was a remake a couple of years ago starring Keanu Reeves. All I can say is bleech. Why did they bother?

Alien:(1979) This is like the anti Star Wars. The art design is creepy, the Alien it self is savage, the violence is much tougher, and the tension is much more intense.  Written by Dan O’Bannon and supposedly inspired by the films Planet of the Vampires, and It! The Terror From Space…it set a new benchmark in outer space type horror and introduced us all to Sigourney Weaver. Another Halloween must see.

Incredible Shrinking Man:(1957) Another all time great sci fi. Written by Richard Matheson…..some of it may seem a bit silly and quaint today , but the message still rings true. Our poor hero ends up running for his life from a house cat, almost drowning in a flooded basement, and, most exciting, battling for his life against a deadly spider. By the end of the film he is shrinking down to nothingness, and has a realization of being a part of a grander and greater thing. A beautiful script by the great Richard Matheson.

Bladerunner: (1982) I am not as in love with this film as many fans are (I think it is a bit silly to tell the truth) but there is no denying that it is very cool to look at. The idea is good, but there is a little too much self conscious….let’s make this guy weird, and this one and this one etc. However, the atmosphere of the film is quite good so it scores major points in that area. What version to watch? The one with Harrison Ford Narrating? The newer cut? Etc. I would say of you want a bit more clarity get the narrated one, if not get the one of the others. If you like your first try watch another version and find out for yourself. This film has major fans out there, and maybe you are one of them??

X files: Kolchak set the bar for this kind of show, and the X files just took it to a different place.

Hunchback of Notre dame: (1923) (1939) It is not often that a remake is as good if not better than the original, but that’s the case here. There is a BOATLOAD of good old fashioned pathos in both versions too.

The Lon Chaney version is especially great for his makeup and performance. The way he swings around in one scene, his sad faraway look at times…and he dies almost alone ringing his own death up on one of the bells of the cathedral. The ultimate silent screen death.

The Charles Laughton is of course with sound, so we actually hear Quasimodo speak a bit. Poor Quasimodo is a lonely, outcast. Made so by his deformities, and being mostly deaf from his many years ringing the cathedral bells. Quasimodo lives in this film though…and the last scene of him alone with the gargoyle is quite heart wrenching.  Charly Laughton………… a great actor (sometimes accused of being hammy), but for my book he was GREAT playing the outcast. Both versions highly recommneded.

The Invisible Man: (1933) A true classic Universal that introduced to the voice of the great Claude Rains. The film travels along at brisk pace, while The Invisible man (Jack Griffin) becomes more insane from the chemical that made him Invisible. He racks up a pretty good body count, but all with that James Whale (director) touch of black humor. Then there are the effects by John Fulton. Just tremendous for their time! A shirt floats in the air still worn by Griffin. The bandages come off of Griifin’s head showing no chin or mouth. etc. Just great. Remember this is something like 60 years before CGI was used well in films! This has to be considered one of the great Universal horror/sci fi films, and needs to be in any Halloween movie viewing. PS- Gloria Stuart who co starred in the film only just passed away late last month!!!

So bad they are good and guilty stuff.

Attack of the Puppet People: (1958) John Hoyt plays a lonely, crazed. obsessed doll maker that shrinks people down to doll size so he can store them in suspended animation, occasionally awakening them  for little parties and such. Another Bret I Gordon film. He loved shrinking AND growing didn’t he? Starring John Agar it is not as bad as it may sound, and is highly watchable.

The Creeping Flesh:(1973) This really does not belong at all in this section, but I ran out of room up top or something. A highly entertaining movie, and here is a very quick synopsis from IMDB:

“A Victorian-age scientist returns to London with his paleontological bag-of-bones discovery from Papua New Guinea. Unfortunately, when exposed to water, flesh returns to the bones unleashing a malevolent being on the scientist’s family and friends.”

This film is a good diversion from the same old stuff watched for Halloween

Let’s see what tomorrow brings…………

Robert

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 28th, 2010 at 11:16 pm and is filed under Halloween Movie Countdown 2010. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.