Films That Matter
Voodoo, and Zombies, and Ghosts, Oh My
Beating the famed comedy duo of Abbott and Costello to the horror comedy circuit both one and two years prior to their 1941 classic Hold That Ghost, Bob Hope released The Cat and the Canary in 1939, following it up in quick succession (just eight months later) with The Ghost Breakers in 1940 – it was originally a play written by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard (there are also two silent films from 1914 and 1922 based on it that are thought to be lost – the former being directed by Cecil B. DeMille). Directed by George Marshall, the mystery infused horror comedy follows a socialite, Mary Carter (Paulette Goddard), who has learned on a stormy New York night that she has inherited a supposedly haunted castle on a secluded Cuban isle ominously named Black.
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Star Pick with William Ragsdale
Fright TonightThe ChangelingOctober 31, 2023I was fortunate to be able to interview actor William Ragsdale on April 24th 2022, at the Cornwall and Area Pop Event (or CAPE). A most entertaining event each and every year, one of the highlights was a reunion of Ragsdale and Amanda Bearse – two of the stars of Tom Holland’s horror cult classic Fright Night (you can find their recollections of the film, as well as Ms. Bearse’s Star Pick interview here on Filmizon.com). It is also worth noting that Ragsdale returned for Fright Night’s sequel, and has continued working ever since... recently having a memorable three year stint on the excellent series Justified... while speaking of horror, he had a cool cameo in 2023's Renfield – back in the vampire realm once more. When our conversation turned to his favourite film, it did not take him long to highlight a horror classic – 1980's The Changeling, starring George C. Scott. This is what he had to say: “I love that movie [The Changeling]. When it came out I thought it was brilliant. It had strong performances from George C. Scott and Melvyn Douglas. For me, the shock stuff is not so great, I really love the ambience and how things are created... it is almost like how Guillermo del Toro builds his atmosphere. I really like feeling like this is a place I’m going into and hanging out. And, of course, that movie was all about that. If the setting is correct, I enjoy it – and The Changeling just had it.” It is also worth noting that he gave a shout-out to The Exorcist earlier in the interview as well.
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What Could Have Been: Dead Heat
October 14, 2023Arguably one of the more bizarre buddy cop action/comedy films ever made, 1988's Dead Heat, written by Terry Black (brother of buddy cop screenwriter extraordinaire Shane Black – think Lethal Weapon and The Nice Guys... who cameos as a Patrolman in this one), and directed by Mark Goldblatt, fuses the tried and true formula within a Los Angeles set zombie storyline. Meet Doug Bigelow (Joe Piscopo) – cousin to Deuce, and Roger Mortis (Treat Williams) – and I think he’s the brother of Rigor, two officers who drive around town in a red 1960 Chevrolet Impala convertible – very inconspicuous. The former’s goofball jokey, the latter’s the more refined sort, together, they’re chaos.
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The Park, The Rain, and Other Murderous Things
She-Wolf of LondonOctober 10, 2023Taking a more melodramatic angle of the horror genre, towards the end of Universal’s golden age of scary movies comes 1946's She-Wolf of London, directed by Jean Yarbrough – a change of pace from the Lon Chaney Jr. led Universal features (he had already played the Wolf Man four times to this point, and would soon do so one last time in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein). A period piece set in London, horrific murders continue to take place in a local park near the wealthy estate of the Allenby’s. Long rumoured to be cursed, the last vestige of the line is Phyllis Allenby (June Lockhart), a young, nervous woman who, instead of cheerfully planning her wedding to barrister Barry Lanfield (Don Porter), frets about the growing number of deaths in the vicinity – wondering if these acts might have been unknowingly done by her very own hand.
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Wax Works
House of WaxHouse of WaxOctober 3, 2023A bonafide 3D early classic and a less than lauded remake, House of Wax (1953 and 2005 respectfully), are very different films. The former starring legendary actor Vincent Price and directed by André De Toth (Crime Wave), is a vividly coloured, horror tinged murder mystery, while the latter film, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, is a moodily lit modern era slasher flick that is slowly being reappraised. One of the most successful 3D ventures of the 1950s era, De Toth frames Price’s wax artist, Professor Henry Jarrod, as a kindly and loving creative soul who is sadly betrayed by his business partner, Matthew Burke (Roy Roberts), who is a money hungry sociopath looking to invest elsewhere. Burning the wax museum down with its creator inside the building for the insurance money, the act brings bitter anger and utter madness to the once genteel artist, who somehow escapes with everyone believing he has perished in the fire.
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Missed the Bloody Cut: 2023 (Part 2)
September 26, 2023The second Missed the Bloody Cut horror selection of this 2023, here are some more horror movies that did not meet my strict criteria (a rating of 7.0 or higher)... but are still entertaining films (horror fanatics may enjoy) that do not deserve to be shrugged off like the lights going out simply because it’s an ‘old home’ – and that they are definitely worth a watch (just maybe not several re-watches).
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Missed the Bloody Cut: 2023 (Part 1)
September 19, 2023The first Missed the Bloody Cut horror selection of this 2023, here are some horror movies that did not meet my strict criteria (a rating of 7.0 or higher)... but are still entertaining films (horror fanatics may enjoy) that do not deserve to be ignored like the dead body in the corner that college kids simply assume is their buddy sleeping off the alcohol and drugs – and that they are definitely worth a watch (just maybe not several re-watches).
