Creature from the Black Lagoon

Boy am I almost a week late or what? Exams are hard but that's no excuse for slacking.

Creature from the Black Lagoon was directed by Jack Arnold and was released in 1954.

I must admit I wasn't in love with this film, but I was rather fascinated by the topic and how it communicated with modern topics at the time of release.

A big emphasis of this movie was evolution, and explaining how this creature may have evolved from the same ancestral tree that humans did. Scientists are sciencing, and the beautiful lab assistant is the one who makes the creature go haywire in the first place.

This film was filled with tropes and to be quite honest, I got a little bored watching it, but it is a classic  and for that reason I'd say give it a go. But frankly, if you're looking for a creature, go with Monsters vs Aliens because that movie is fucking funny, and I think the creature in the animation one-ups the original.

Sorry for being so bad at blogging, I'll pick up the pace, I promise.

She Wolf of London

Aaaaoooooo

Werewolf of London

This song is all I could think of when watching this film. I know, I'm sorry, I can't help who I am. She Wolf of London dir. Jean Yarbrough (1946).

I had never seen this movie before and was really pleasantly surprised by it. The movie sets up a lot of possible endings and has a cool (maybe kind of predictable twist) ending.

We follow protagonist Phyllis Allenby through her panic of thinking she's a werewolf. The movie starts with the mention of an "Allenby curse" without telling much more of what it's about. Obviously the curse is the Allenbys turning into werewolves.

Early on, Aunt Martha explains to her daughter Carol that Phyllis is not her cousin but a family friend, and the house they live in belongs solely to her. Seems boring and unimportant but you know it's coming back later. Oh, there's also the housekeeper who's always good and nice named Hannah.

Phyllis wakes up with blood on her hands and mud on her shoes, the hem of her dress wet as though she had been walking through dewy grass. Of course, she thinks she has fallen victim to the Allenby curse and wants to turn herself in, Aunt Martha won't let her, and she sinks into a deep depression refusing to see her fiance, Barry.

There are a lot of red herrings in this movie, like Phyllis's wholehearted belief that she was a were-woman, a detective who is adamant the murders come are of mystical origin, and a hooded woman leaving the Allenby estate without giving the audience access to her face. I say red herrings because this movie was NOT about a werewolf!!

Aunt Martha was trying to frame Phyllis to drive her crazy, set Carol up with Barry, and keep the house to herself. She drugs Phyllis, confesses the plan, and good ol' Hannah overhears everything! Evil Aunt Martha falls down the stairs and stabs her damn self, happy ending, aaaaand scene.

I really enjoyed this movie because it toyed with the monster movies happening around the time. You're fully expecting the suspicious detective to be right, Phyllis to be a werewolf, etc etc. I applaud the thrilling twist ending.

Oopsie

Hey all. Day 3 and I've already fucked up.

Totally forgot to watch the movie for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with 2 whole posts.

Frankenstein's Hot Takes

Hello! Welcome to day 2 of movies, day 3 of blog.

Frankenstein. Frankenstein. Icon, classic, kind of cute??? in a lost puppy way. Mary Shelley sure knew what she was doing when she thought up this monster. 

Before you come for me, yes I know Frankenstein is the scientist not the monster, but if everyone else in the world knows this face as Frankenstein, wouldn't it be easier for me to go along with it? I mean if everyone says it's true isn't it then true? But that's a philosophical question for a different day. Either way, I'm talking about this handsome fella.

same^

Frankenstein was directed by James Whale and was released in 1931. In contrast to Caligari, which I'm now remembering I compared to this film and will claim was an intentional segue, Whale's was first released in America and based on an English novel by Mary Shelley. Everyone knows her as the badass creepy gal who carried her dead husband's heart around with her, but together she and the aforementioned husband Percy were actually pretty cool people from what I can tell. Please don't hesitate to tell me I'm wrong if they sucked, but I'll need some solid proof. 

This film is awesome for a lot of reasons, but I'll start with the picture above to tell you more than I can type. The monster is fucking cool! He's scary, weirdly sympathetic and iconic. Frankenstein's monster is obviously known today as more of a stereotype and less of an innovative reanimated creature, which is kind of disappointing. Perhaps Shelley would be okay with that, but something tells me she'd rather he be ominous and creepy as opposed to a Halloween joke where drunk dudes walk around with their arms sticking out mumbling something about brides. Not to mention that Frankenstein's monster wasn't dumb...but I'm going on a tangent here. Let me add one little thing though before I leave this train of thought. If I could change anything, it would be the elimination of Frankenstein's monster's voice. In the original novel, he was quizzical, tortured, smart...here's an example from the book.

God, in pity, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and encourage him, but I am solitary and abhorred.

See what I mean? He's contemplative, and we see his/its personality. I miss that guy in this movie. 

However, this 1931 film has everything else you'd want from a scary movie. It follows this reanimated man-monster as he hunts the creator who abandoned him. Simultaneously, the audience follows Dr. Frankenstein as he descends into madness, questioning the morality of playing God while also struggling to protect his loved ones from the confused creation. This aspect of the movie, the playing God part, is an apparent social commentary, warning us to take a step back and look at technology and industrialization before trying to run shit (and ruin shit). We didn't quite listen.

This layer adds to the movie infinitely as it follows the trend many horror films to this day still adhere to, of making that social commentary while still scaring the shit out of the audience. Though it's not one of the movies on my list, Dawn of the Dead is the most obvious example that comes to mind: literally being consumed inside a shopping mall. I mean.

Frankenstein is good. Heck, I'll say it's great. If you find yourself getting distracted trying to watch, I won't lie to you: same. But don't be unwilling to let this classic creep up on you. It's worth the watch. 

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the Foundations of Horror

OOooh it's day 1. I'm excited, nervous, ambivalent and a slew of other emotions. Before I get into today's post, there are a few things I'd like to get out of the way.

1. These posts will absolutely contain major spoilers. Every post, every paragraph, every spoiler I can jam into a few hundred words.
2. There are a million movies I want to do but simply can't. 1 movie per day is a tough challenge as it is (in accordance with writing the post, homework, and boyfriend). So who knows. Maybe in the future I'll do more. 
3. These movies are a predictable mix of classics, my favorites, and movies I felt I couldn't live without writing about in a horror movie blog. There's no real method to picking, and although I've already compiled the list, I reserve the right to change it. You won't know anyway, stranger.

So now let's boogie.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari was released in 1921 and directed by Robert Weine. It's a silent movie, and I know that will discourage a lot of people from watching, but I'd like to nudge you, reader, into the realm of Willing To Watch. Let me show you a picture of the trippy set to entice you.

All these painted details (yes, painted), add to the creepy vibe of the entire film. Basic plot follows a town being harassed by an evil Frankenstein type, but even referencing Frankenstein feels like a cop-out given that Cesar came first. Cesar, the "somnambulist" is having his mind hacked by the evil Dr. Caligari. Mad scientist uses body of another to act on his murderous impulses.

This sounds like a trope or a plot we've heard before, but if you ask me its ~~special~~ because it came first. Don't get me wrong, I know books exist. I love books. But film is unique, especially as it comes to horror films. Innovative plots become cliche, but it wasn't cliche then. In fact, it was quite innovative and scary. But that's not where the innovation turned trope ends.

The film concludes with our protagonist, Francis, coming to the revelation that he is in an asylum. The evil Dr. Caligari is none more than the asylum director. Whaaat!? It was all a dream...or something along those lines. Again, this feels familiar. But think about how cool it would be to see this, not anticipating such an outcome? Talk about an unreliable narrator, and talk about how sick that would be in 1920.

If you ask me, this movie is only missing one thing: the word Creepy in the title. I don't even care where, just stick it in and I'm happy. This film comes highly recommended by me, especially if you have any interest in the foundations of horror. 

30 Horror Films in 30 Days

Hello! As you may be able to tell from the name of my blog, I'm Victoria. It's about midnight and I've been struck with it: inspiration. I have wanted to start a blog for the longest time, for a variety of reasons, the details of which are unimportant.

Let me sell you on my idea: for every single day in October, I'm gonna watch a scary movie and write to you. I will tell you my thoughts, why I like it, what it means for me, why you should watch it, why you shouldn't watch it, etc etc etc.

You might be wondering: why do I care? And the beauty of that question is that I don't have to answer, given that nobody will ever read this and therefore nobody will ever ask it. I'm not one to share my writing, let alone writing that's just me giving myself a dumb excuse to do my favorite things: watch scary movies, and write.

I'm really going to try to keep up with this. If you're reading this, good for you. You must have really been searching to find this bad boy, and you must really be bored to have made it to...holy shit I'm already on paragraph four...anyway. If you like Halloween, this is for you, but not exclusively. I intend for this to be Halloween-ish (obviously), but horror films are a year-round sport for your girl here, and I really want to make this a rounded assessment of the films.

That being said, I'm not really sure what I'll talk about in each post. I'll definitely address the stuff I mentioned before, but I'll likely get into some of the technical stuff in addition to plot, actors, murder and more. This blog is serving more as a personal challenge to get me more comfortable with writing. I'm saying all this to fill the first post, and on the off chance someone's reading this, to tell you a little about the author (read: me).

So again, I'm Victoria.

I'm 22, a senior in college (graduating in December), and a horror movie buff. I'm by no means an expert, but I like to think I know more than the average consumer. I'll be going through 30 movies, hopefully in chronological order, starting tomorrow. So I guess that whole every day thing was a farce, but hey. I'm doing my best here.

The first post will be The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the final post will be the new Halloween, and I'll figure out the rest between then and now. Dad, if you found this, you're too good. Ryan, if you found this, I showed you.

Enjoy this picture of my dog holding the disembodied arm of a toy he's destroyed that I like to think is him being a little spooky pooch.

Happy watching!