Shout Factory was another highlight this year. This distributor got the rights to a ton of films produced by Roger Corman and released them with a ridiculous amount of love and respect, as well as a cubic arseload of bonus features. Galaxy of Terror and Forbidden World - those glorious rip-offs of Alien - had me chuckling throughout. If you're a fan of the Green movement, check these two films out, along with Battle Beyond the Stars. There is no better example of recycling than these three movies. Piranha was better than I expected, and far better than the 3D remake/reimagining (the remake suffers from a case of "not enough" - not enough practical effects, not enough nudity, and not enough to make me care). In fact, the original was a lot of fun, another thing the remake lacked enough of. And what can one truly say about the Slumber Party Massacre trilogy? They are outstandingly awful. The second may actually be better than the "original" (can any of these slasher pics TRULY be called original?) in its ludicrous execution, and the third is by far the weakest, but all three are worth watching, if only to see how female screenwriters and directors tackle a subgenre that is notable only (for the most part) for its misogyny. I may revisit these films as part of a greater context...to be continued.
Speaking of slashers, any fan of them needs to acknowledge a debt owed to director Herschell Gordon Lewis, the original Godfather of Gore. Say what you will about his low budget, poorly acted horror flick, there is an actual sense of glee running through them that is undeniable and helps them transcend their own limitations. If you haven't seen his "Blood Trilogy" (Blood Feast, Color Me Blood Red, and 2000 Maniacs), I urge you to rent or buy them immediately. Fans of gore will NOT be disappointed. And 2000 Maniacs just gave me one more reason to love Lewis and curse the fact that I discovered him as late as I did. It's a wonderfully awful movie, rife with bad acting, awful Southern stereotypes, and hilarious kills.
I want to go back to Richard Stanley. I said before that I finally watched Dust Devil (a brilliant film that combined your basic stalk-and-slash film with the supernatural killer film with a thread of African folklore to guide it), and loved the hell out of it. I also watched his film debut - the underrated Hardware, which combined science fiction tropes with the slasher film. Both films were wonderful. But it was the interviews with Stanley in the bonus features that left me dazzled. I'm convinced the man is both a genius (whom I would love to see make a movie with a proper budget) and an Alan Moore-level madman. The man needs to be seen to be believed. In fact, you need to add these two films to your Netflix queue or your "must rent/buy" list. Both are great films by an amazing director, films that toy with and transcend what is considered conventional and cliche.
Some quick words on Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory and Loreley's Grasp. I love it when I stumble across a low budget foreign film that tinkers with a monster's legend and makes it the film's own. Both these movies do that. Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory is a laughably bad flick (bad acting, bad dubbing, awful plot, etc), but it plays with the idea of what makes the monster in an interesting way. Loreley's Grasp (which I believe is a Spanish/German co-production), directed by Amando de Ossorio (famous for his Blind Dead series) plays with the Nibelung story to fine effect. It is equal parts creepy, tragic...and sexy, thanks to the gorgeous Helga Line (who also appears in Horror Rises From the Tomb, another flick that balances creepy and sexy wonderfully).
Although two of my favorite horror films are remakes, the last decade of ill-advised and unnecessary remakes/reimaginings (low-lighted by Rob Zombie's atrocious Halloween films - prime examples of a director pissing all over the originals...Rob may have the best of intentions, but piss is piss, for all that...) have made me hate the very idea of the remake. That said, The Crazies was surprising, in that I found myself enjoying it almost from the very beginning. Plot: a plane crashes in a town's nearby river/water supply and the unleashed biologic weapon turns the infected townsfolk into psychotics. It's up to the town's sheriff - along with his wife (the town doctor), and his deputy - to save the uninfected from the infected people, as well as the military who is brought in to cover up the situation with extreme prejudice. A remake, at its best, should either make you forget the original, make you approach the original with a new set of eyes, or stand on its own merits. The Crazies, for its admittedly few flaws, does the latter.
What can be said about Freaks? I could see exactly why an audience of the 30s would be shocked and terrified by such a film. It is a tight little morality play that truly was ahead of its time. Go see it.
I close with Sympathy and Ludlow for a very simple reason. Both films, for all their merits and flaws, underscore a very simple theory I have, one I will repeat over and over again: These days, in order to find the best in horror and suspense cinema, one needs to stop looking to the major studios and start looking to the independents. Sympathy is the weaker of the two movies, a tale of a hostage situation gone wrong whose twists (and there are more than a few) force the film to collapse under its own weight. It's an example of a director and script that tries to be a bit too clever for his/its own good. Ludlow, on the other hand, was a great movie, reminiscent of Repulsion, telling the tale of an abused woman who has finally escaped her abuser only to collide head-on with her own demons. It was a bleak film from start to finish, but a great film at that.
I watched both films last Wednesday as part of a mini film festival (hosted by the brilliant website/blog, All Things Horror), combined with a number of short films. I walked out feeling that I got more than my money's worth. I can't remember when I last felt that way about a studio horror film. But it seems to happen consistently when I go outside my comfort zone and seek out film festivals, such as the Boston Underground Film Festival (which I have faithfully attended every year since 2006), which cater to the true independent genre films and give voice and exposure to those filmmakers who otherwise wouldn't get it. I walk away from these screening, at worst, thankful for the opportunity to see these movies and, at best, dazzled by at least one film. I urge you, and will do so several times throughout this blog, to seek out these films and festivals in your area. If it involves a bit of travel, do it. Even if you always don't love the movies you see, you'll be helping the hosts and their sponsors to continue to expose the true future of genre cinema. And you will, more often than not, discover some truly great offerings that you otherwise wouldn't have experienced.
This month did have some regrets. I didn't get the chance to view the films of Mario Bava or Paul Walker, as I'd intended. It was a Vincent Price-free experience. I couldn't justify the inclusion of some films, most notably the wonderful Rock 'n' Roll High School. Time constraints kept me away from the movie theaters, which means I have yet to see Paranormal Activity 2, The Last Exorcism, and a few others. And the limitations I set for myself ensured that there was no discussion of The Devil's Nightmare, Suck, Trick 'r Treat, or the recently released Hausu. But these films WILL be discussed in the future (especially Hausu, which, at this point, all I'll say is SEE IT!!!). Most of the films discussed (albeit briefly) would otherwise fly under your radar.
And there's always next year, isn't there?
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