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Post by kds on Oct 8, 2021 14:16:57 GMT
The 1930s are when the horror genre really came into it's own, with a surprising amount of movies still holding up well today. I'm a big fan of the Universal monsters. I pretty much grew up with that when they used to be on AMC every October. Now all we seemingly get from them are 80s slashers and some mediocre to average stuff from the 2000s. I can't recall the last time I saw Freaks, so I'll have to check that out again. No Spoilers! One movie that sticks out to me is The Most Dangerous Game. Not necessarily because of the movie itself, which is pretty good, but because we watched it in 8th grade. That's right around when I started to get into old movies (aside from stuff I'd watch with my parents) and I got a kick out of nearly everyone being on the edge of their seats for a movie from 1932. Probably my favorite horror film from the 30s is The Invisible Man and its sequels. It's actually been a really long time since I watched it (hasn't been on TV in forever), but I plan to this weekend or the next since it's on Peacock. It has a few comedy bits that I used to think were hilarious when I was younger. It's a shame that the recent reboot of the Mummy was a failure critically and commercially. Universal was planning to reboot the monster universe and I guess they cancelled all of their plans because of how poorly this one did. Edit*- Actually, Universal still did a remake of The Invisible Man in 2020. I can't believe I forgot about it as I saw it and enjoyed it a lot. It was also the last new film I saw before covid hit. AMC has skewed more contemporary with their October programming, with most of the classics no being aired on Turner Classic Movies. I remember back in 2004, Universal released a gorgeous DVD box set with all the Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolf Man (more on him next decade) movies as a way to cross promote their movie Van Helsing - a movie that I was very excited about until I saw the trailer.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Oct 8, 2021 14:24:05 GMT
The 1930s are when the horror genre really came into it's own, with a surprising amount of movies still holding up well today. I'm a big fan of the Universal monsters. I pretty much grew up with that when they used to be on AMC every October. Now all we seemingly get from them are 80s slashers and some mediocre to average stuff from the 2000s. I can't recall the last time I saw Freaks, so I'll have to check that out again. No Spoilers! One movie that sticks out to me is The Most Dangerous Game. Not necessarily because of the movie itself, which is pretty good, but because we watched it in 8th grade. That's right around when I started to get into old movies (aside from stuff I'd watch with my parents) and I got a kick out of nearly everyone being on the edge of their seats for a movie from 1932. Probably my favorite horror film from the 30s is The Invisible Man and its sequels. It's actually been a really long time since I watched it (hasn't been on TV in forever), but I plan to this weekend or the next since it's on Peacock. It has a few comedy bits that I used to think were hilarious when I was younger. It's a shame that the recent reboot of the Mummy was a failure critically and commercially. Universal was planning to reboot the monster universe and I guess they cancelled all of their plans because of how poorly this one did. Edit*- Actually, Universal still did a remake of The Invisible Man in 2020. I can't believe I forgot about it as I saw it and enjoyed it a lot. It was also the last new film I saw before covid hit. AMC has skewed more contemporary with their October programming, with most of the classics no being aired on Turner Classic Movies. I remember back in 2004, Universal released a gorgeous DVD box set with all the Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolf Man (more on him next decade) movies as a way to cross promote their movie Van Helsing - a movie that I was very excited about until I saw the trailer. I saw Van Helsing whenever they started showing it on tv (probably 05-06). thought it was a really great film as an 11-12 year old, but it hasn't really held up as I've gotten older. I'll still watch some of it if I come across it on tv as a bit of nostalgia.
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Post by kds on Oct 8, 2021 14:27:38 GMT
AMC has skewed more contemporary with their October programming, with most of the classics no being aired on Turner Classic Movies. I remember back in 2004, Universal released a gorgeous DVD box set with all the Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolf Man (more on him next decade) movies as a way to cross promote their movie Van Helsing - a movie that I was very excited about until I saw the trailer. I saw Van Helsing whenever they started showing it on tv (probably 05-06). thought it was a really great film as an 11-12 year old, but it hasn't really held up as I've gotten older. I'll still watch some of it if I come across it on tv as a bit of nostalgia. I thought it was a great idea for a movie, but I really hated the look of it, and the overreliance on CGI.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Oct 8, 2021 14:33:52 GMT
I saw Van Helsing whenever they started showing it on tv (probably 05-06). thought it was a really great film as an 11-12 year old, but it hasn't really held up as I've gotten older. I'll still watch some of it if I come across it on tv as a bit of nostalgia. I thought it was a great idea for a movie, but I really hated the look of it, and the overreliance on CGI. The CGI is mostly what I was referring to about it not holding up. Of course I can't think of any right now, but it seems like a number of movies from around that timeframe are marred by poor CGI. I guess it's not any different than some of the cheesy costumes or obviously fake sets you'd see in some films from the 40s-60s.
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Post by kds on Oct 8, 2021 14:39:39 GMT
I thought it was a great idea for a movie, but I really hated the look of it, and the overreliance on CGI. The CGI is mostly what I was referring to about it not holding up. Of course I can't think of any right now, but it seems like a number of movies from around that timeframe are marred by poor CGI. I guess it's not any different than some of the cheesy costumes or obviously fake sets you'd see in some films from the 40s-60s. I've got a couple in mind that I'll mention once we get to the 1990s and 2000s. For some reason, I think the older practical effects, even if they don't exactly look real, seem to hold up better than poorly done CGI. And I think bad CGI can be a detriment to horror more than any other genre because it can really take you out of the illusion (at least it can with me).
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Post by kds on Oct 12, 2021 17:52:17 GMT
1940s
And onward we go as we approach the middle of the spookiest month.
Universal continued their monster movies in the 40s, most notably with 1941's The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Jr as the titular character. The transformation effects are quite impressive for a movie that's 80 years old.
Various Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, and Wolf Man movies would be made in the 1940s. While some are more memorable than others, they're all pretty fun.
Speaking of fun, 1948 saw arguably the first true horror comedy in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The comedy duo does battle with Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man.
Edit - I'm not sure if it's horror, but 1940's Dr. Cyclops used to run on TCM this time of year. The special effects of the movie - which sees the titular character shrink five scientists to doll size - are quite good.
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Post by kds on Oct 15, 2021 13:16:40 GMT
1950s
The 1950s saw the rise of the legendary Vincent Price as a master of the genre. He'd go on to star in countless horror films over the next quarter century, but 1951's House of Wax is generally considering his first big horror picture. He also ended the decade with the 1959 classic House on Haunted Hill. This movie was the creation of William Castle, who used gimmicks in theaters like buzzing chairs and dancing skeletons to try to keep people coming to the movies as television was viewed as a threat at the time.
Across the pond, the UK's Hammer studios put their own spin on horror. For the first time, blood and sensuality were infused into the genre. The studio had their own run at the classic monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein, most of which starred horror iconic Christopher Lee. 1958's Horror of Dracula (proving that horror remakes are hardly a 21st century concept) is a worthy version of the classic tale.
The 1950s, in the post nuclear age, saw the rise of giant monster movies - from Them, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and Earth vs the Spider. Of course the most famous was Japan's 1954 Gojira, recut and released in the US as Godzilla King of the Monsters. The original movie is a bleak, horror filled movie, and a far cry from the campy sequels that would follow.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Oct 15, 2021 14:31:27 GMT
1940sAnd onward we go as we approach the middle of the spookiest month. Universal continued their monster movies in the 40s, most notably with 1941's The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Jr as the titular character. The transformation effects are quite impressive for a movie that's 80 years old. Various Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, and Wolf Man movies would be made in the 1940s. While some are more memorable than others, they're all pretty fun. Speaking of fun, 1948 saw arguably the first true horror comedy in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The comedy duo does battle with Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man. Edit - I'm not sure if it's horror, but 1940's Dr. Cyclops used to run on TCM this time of year. The special effects of the movie - which sees the titular character shrink five scientists to doll size - are quite good. The 1940s was kind of a down decade for horror. It started out strong with the Wolfman and other enjoyable sequels from the previous decade of Universal horror monsters, but much of the rest is pretty forgettable. Cat People is an ok film and of course Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is great. People seemed to be largely uninterested in horror after WWII. I will say there are a lot of films from this decade I haven't seen, so maybe I just need to watch more of them.
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Post by kds on Oct 15, 2021 14:39:05 GMT
1940sAnd onward we go as we approach the middle of the spookiest month. Universal continued their monster movies in the 40s, most notably with 1941's The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Jr as the titular character. The transformation effects are quite impressive for a movie that's 80 years old. Various Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, and Wolf Man movies would be made in the 1940s. While some are more memorable than others, they're all pretty fun. Speaking of fun, 1948 saw arguably the first true horror comedy in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. The comedy duo does battle with Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man. Edit - I'm not sure if it's horror, but 1940's Dr. Cyclops used to run on TCM this time of year. The special effects of the movie - which sees the titular character shrink five scientists to doll size - are quite good. The 1940s was kind of a down decade for horror. It started out strong with the Wolfman and other enjoyable sequels from the previous decade of Universal horror monsters, but much of the rest is pretty forgettable. Cat People is an ok film and of course Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is great. People seemed to be largely uninterested in horror after WWII. I will say there are a lot of films from this decade I haven't seen, so maybe I just need to watch more of them. Yeah, there were quite a few in the 1940s I hadn't seen as well. They'll be heaped onto the "one of these days" pile. EDIT: Unlike my taste in music, I tend to gravitate more toward movies that were released in, or near, my lifetime. So, my posts will be much longer on this subject once we get to the 1970s.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Oct 15, 2021 15:06:45 GMT
1950sThe 1950s saw the rise of the legendary Vincent Price as a master of the genre. He'd go on to star in countless horror films over the next quarter century, but 1951's House of Wax is generally considering his first big horror picture. He also ended the decade with the 1959 classic House on Haunted Hill. This movie was the creation of William Castle, who used gimmicks in theaters like buzzing chairs and dancing skeletons to try to keep people coming to the movies as television was viewed as a threat at the time. Across the pond, the UK's Hammer studios put their own spin on horror. For the first time, blood and sensuality were infused into the genre. The studio had their own run at the classic monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein, most of which starred horror iconic Christopher Lee. 1958's Horror of Dracula (proving that horror remakes are hardly a 21st century concept) is a worthy version of the classic tale. The 1950s, in the post nuclear age, saw the rise of giant monster movies - from Them, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and Earth vs the Spider. Of course the most famous was Japan's 1954 Gojira, recut and released in the US as Godzilla King of the Monsters. The original movie is a bleak, horror filled movie, and a far cry from the campy sequels that would follow. The 1950s was a fun decade for horror. You had some all time films right off the bat with The Thing From Another World in 1951 and numerous quality films from Vincent Price in the second half of the decade. At the same time, there were a lot of campy/B films like The Brain Eaters and The Mole People. The Hammer Dracula movies are definitely my favorite version of the caped monster. This is probably my second favorite decade of horror, behind the 60s and not far ahead of the 70s.
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Post by kds on Oct 15, 2021 15:21:07 GMT
I'm not sure where I rank the Hammer version of Dracula. I'd probably rank the Lugosi and Oldman (more on that later) versions slightly ahead, but I think the Hammer Dracula movies goes better as a franchise than the Universal ones. Having Christopher Lee as the Count for the whole franchise helps.
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Post by kds on Oct 18, 2021 15:23:24 GMT
1960s
While Hammer came to prominence in the 1950s, filmmaker Roger Corman seemed to be very influenced by those gothic horror movies, as he launched his series of eight movies based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Between 1960-1964, Corman released The House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror, The Premature Burial, The Raven, The Haunted Palace, The Masque of the Red Death, and Tomb of Ligeia. All but The Premature Burial starred Vincent Price. And, other horror legends such as Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, and Boris Karloff make appearances throughout the Poe Cycle. A young Jack Nicholson has a small part in The Raven. My personal favorites from this cycle of movies are Red Death and The Premature Burial.
The Haunting (1963) is a brilliant case of restraint in a horror movie. It's also the first of several adaptations of the 1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House.
Speaking of adaptations, 1964's The Last Man on Earth is the first filmed adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. Vincent Price stars at the titular character. Compared to most of his classics from the 50s and 60s, Price's performance in The Last Man on Earth is a little more grounded, as is the film itself.
The mutants in The Last Man on Earth apparently inspired filmmaker George Romero, who in 1968, birthed the modern zombie movie with the iconic Night of the Living Dead. This movie established the "rules" that have mostly been followed by zombies in pop culture for over 50 years now. Night of the Living Dead is also pretty notable as the primary protagonist in the movie is an African American man.
Arguably the most iconic horror film of the 1960s was released at the beginning of the decade. Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, which was inspired by the real life horror story of serial killer Ed Gein, was released in 1960. Up until then, horror always had an element of fantasy, focusing on monsters, ghosts, or science fiction. But, Psycho was one of the first horror movies to present a story based in reality, something that could actually happen. This would be explored more in the following decades, but Psycho is a horror movie that's far ahead of its time.
The most famous scene of the movie might be the most unsettling. (SPOILERS) Janet Leigh's character checked into the Bates Hotel and it stabbed to death while taking a shower. At the time Psycho was released, even showing a bathroom in a movie was taboo, let alone showing somebody getting murdered in one. The bathroom is supposed to be a safe, secure place, and here is a woman who the audience believes is the protagonist, at her most vulnerable, getting brutally murdered a third of the way into the film. To me, the most unsettling horror movies are ones that could actually occur. And, we'll see more of these as the years go.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Oct 20, 2021 13:01:13 GMT
Horror really exploded in the 1960s, with a seemingly endless number of films every year throughout the decade. 1960 starts us off with the aforementioned Psycho and the underrated 13 Ghosts. Both were some of the few pre 1970 horror films that gave me a few real scares when I first watched it. There were a few "children" horror films such as the Innocents, Children of the Damned, Rosemary's Baby, etc. that are very enjoyable. Boris Karloff makes his final film appearances in Black Sabbath and The Terror, the latter of which again features a young Jack Nicholson. Both are borderline B films, but are very creepy. Black Sabbath is really three short stories narrated by Karloff.
The Dracula films weren't the only horror franchise Christopher Lee starred in, he was also cast as Fu Manchu in the seemingly forgotten Fu Manchu movies. None are particularly scary, but I liked them. The Devil Rides out is another Christopher Lee film that should be watched at least once. A few of the scenes really had me on the edge of my seat.
A fun horror/comedy from a young Roman Polanski called the Vampire Killers is a must watch imo. It's almost a parody of Dracula films, but that is what makes it so enjoyable.
The Hammer Horror and Vincent Price films make this my favorite decade of horror. I have to admit, part of the reason this became my favorite decade of horror as a teenager was because of the women that appeared in these films. Veronica Carlson looked great in those later Hammer films. The main reason, though, is because it's when the scares were taken up a notch, but you didn't see the blood or gore that began to infiltrate films in the 70s. It's kinda similar to how I prefer how older films couldn't rely on CGI, although today CGI has mostly improved to the point where it's pretty unnoticeable.
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Post by kds on Oct 20, 2021 13:19:57 GMT
Speaking of horror comedies, one movie that I neglected to mention was The Comedy of Terrors, which features Vincent Price and Peter Lorre as crooked morticians. Vincent Price had really good comedic timing, as shown here, as well as the Black Cat segment of Tales of Terror and Theater of Blood (which came out in 1974).
I forgot to mention The Innocents and 13 Ghosts, both very solid movies.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Oct 20, 2021 13:31:42 GMT
I think Comedy of Terrors is one I still haven't seen. Agreed about Vincent Price. He appeared in a couple episodes of the Brady Bunch on their trip to Hawaii as a kooky guy who hides out in a cave to scare the boys. I don't think I've seen any tv show or movie he's been in and been disappointed by his character.
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