Movie #17
Vincent
On Sunday night, I didn’t get home until about two in the morning, and when I did I was a little tipsy. Reasonably sure that I would not stay awake through an entire movie, I chose to watch Tim Burton’s short film Vincent for my daily horror film.
Vincent revolves around a young boy obsessed with Vincent Price. The movie is only six minutes. Shot in black and white, this stop motion animation is one of my favorite things Tim Burton has ever done. Burton uses sets reminiscent of Dr. Caligari and a nursery rhyme voice over by Vincent Price to create an overly gothic feel about a child obsessed with the macabre. The movie is an absolute delight, and after watching I recalled how I, myself, became obsessed with Vincent Price at a young age. After performing the “rap” in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” he provided the voice of Vincent Van Ghoul in The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo. This led me to watch two random episodes of Scooby Doo despite being tired, so maybe I could have manned up and watched a horror movie after all, but I’m glad I didn’t.
Movie # 18Basket Case
Basket Case is a ridiculous horror comedy from 1982. Directed by a first time director, the film follows a young man and his severed Siamese twin brother as they skip through life looking for love and cleaning up blood. This film is hilariously awful. The main lead is absolutely leaden as the lead. I’m pretty sure 90% of the cast is wearing a wig. The monster is a rubber half mask with no mobility whatsoever. The dialogue is relentlessly awkward. Regardless, these elements all contribute to an overall sleaziness and disturbing humor that no studio film could replicate. The movie is filled with dark jokes (One favorite involves a tenant who relates a story to the lead about the woman who lived in his room before him. Once she finishes the story, she turns and abruptly walks away – purpose served.) and over-the-top violence. The monster itself is a melted bit of rubber with lifeless eyes and no legs, though the filmmakers twice resort to animating it with antiquated stop motion techniques that fail to cut into the rest of the movie, but to be fair, none of the cuts seem to work in this film. Everything is done haphazardly. It’s a miracle that this film is as fun and eerie as it is with so much working against it. But the director does a hell of a job making that rubber creature disturbing as fuck. The screams it makes are bone-chilling. When the insides of its eyes light up, there is a terrifying anger in it. Some of the violence is stomach-turning, and the rape scene is genuinely sickening. Good job, everybody! I’ve actually decided to add the sequels to my queue based on this ugly, sick movie. It’s a blast.
Body count: 7
Movie #19
The Haunting
Of course, this is the 1963 original directed by Robert Wise in between winning Oscars for two overblown musicals. The Haunting is a sinister, elegantly shot haunted house movie about a group of researchers who spend a few nights in a mansion notorious for eerie goings-on. The high points of this movie are the incidents that take place each night. And so much is done solely through sound effects. The pounding at the doors, the chanting behind the walls, the baby crying, the screams.And when the movie ups the effects to bring in a single visual effect, it’s downright terrifying. I’ve always felt that Julie Harris’ performance is far too neurotic for its own good as I’ve never been a big fan of women-going-crazy horror movies, but the voice-over is essential to understanding the thought process, the need, the elusive understanding this character comes to have with the house itself. The neurotic, flawed characters express just the right amount of skepticism and curiosity to galvanize their roles as audience surrogates. So much is done through implication and conjecture on the parts of the characters. There are moments that grate on me. I want to slap Julie Harris by the twentieth time she utters, “My mother . . “ And sometimes, the surreal sound effects become too overwhelming – particularly towards the end. However, the direction is tense as hell (when I first saw this in college, there was a moment that made everyone in the room scream.) . The subtle games played between characters makes the downtime between occurrences every bit as involving. And the house itself, amazing. A triumph of art direction – starting with that opening low shot of the house against the night sky. So imposing, so vast, so sick. I decided to watch this movie based on my roommate’s declaration that he hates haunted house movies. This one won him over.
Of course, this is the 1963 original directed by Robert Wise in between winning Oscars for two overblown musicals. The Haunting is a sinister, elegantly shot haunted house movie about a group of researchers who spend a few nights in a mansion notorious for eerie goings-on. The high points of this movie are the incidents that take place each night. And so much is done solely through sound effects. The pounding at the doors, the chanting behind the walls, the baby crying, the screams.And when the movie ups the effects to bring in a single visual effect, it’s downright terrifying. I’ve always felt that Julie Harris’ performance is far too neurotic for its own good as I’ve never been a big fan of women-going-crazy horror movies, but the voice-over is essential to understanding the thought process, the need, the elusive understanding this character comes to have with the house itself. The neurotic, flawed characters express just the right amount of skepticism and curiosity to galvanize their roles as audience surrogates. So much is done through implication and conjecture on the parts of the characters. There are moments that grate on me. I want to slap Julie Harris by the twentieth time she utters, “My mother . . “ And sometimes, the surreal sound effects become too overwhelming – particularly towards the end. However, the direction is tense as hell (when I first saw this in college, there was a moment that made everyone in the room scream.) . The subtle games played between characters makes the downtime between occurrences every bit as involving. And the house itself, amazing. A triumph of art direction – starting with that opening low shot of the house against the night sky. So imposing, so vast, so sick. I decided to watch this movie based on my roommate’s declaration that he hates haunted house movies. This one won him over.
Body count: 6, including those in the prologue.
Total body count: 147.
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