Giving Themselves Away Horrors

Giving Themselves Away Horror

by Kristin Battestella

What's one to do with recent horror releases that go beyond foreshadowing or mere suggestion and flat out give away their secrets too early in the picture? Read on for several such predictable, conflicted conundrums. What could have made these movies better? Had they not shoehorned in the obvious horror at the expense of fine drama and performances. Spoiler Alert!

Delirium – Distorted home movie flashbacks, daddy issues, family suicides, and therapy sessions open this mental illness or haunted mansion 2018 Blumhouse Production starring newly released Topher Grace (That '70s Show) and parole officer Patricia Clarkson (Six Feet Under). Suggestions about not putting a dad who was eaten by his dog on a pedestal and jailbird brother history are dismissed in favor of heavy breathing phone calls, ridiculously on the nose “Prisoner of Love” music, and distracting product placements. Though meant to add nostalgia, a try hard box of mementos including cassettes, Kathy Ireland posters, an old computer, CDs for the boom box, and Gin Blossoms t-shirts doesn't develop the time warp characterization so much as it makes this film feel two decades too late as our dude bro skateboards through his mansion while under house arrest. The babe delivering groceries is conveniently retro cool and awkward conversations are awkward, so he sketches her and she gives him a mixed CD. (Yuppies today thinking that is so edgy can't comprehend the struggle that was making mixed cassettes!) Ripped wallpaper with 1994 writing underneath, creaking walls, and rattling furniture make for a very slow build before hidden doors, secret passages, and peepholes. Footsteps when one is supposed to be alone, tongues in a jar, saucy cameras, and videos of women chained in iron masks seem like we're getting somewhere, but the zorp crescendos, loud effects, talking out loud, and scares over the shoulder are for viewers not the protagonist experiencing the chills. The eyes ripped out of his stuffed animal would be suspicious if said eyes didn't laughably end up stuck on dad's ominous portrait amid tiring pool scares and crazed versus supernatural old hat obvious. Telling someone about the family crimes becomes the new research montage complete with more unnecessary the victim worked at Wendy's name dropping as convenient pharmacy connections, substitute medicines, relatives who may or may not really be there, and people said to be dead blur together. Fainting and time distortions don't forgive in plain sight clues that were previously ignored once they are thrown at the screen alongside more nonsensical red herrings. This should have been a straight family drama – a taut, isolated investigation rather than contrived horror and audience guessing games without mystery or scares. The mansion is never fully explored right from the start, and it's frustrating when the viewer sees everything here coming. I correctly called at the twenty-two minute mark what's revealed in the last twelve minutes before fist fights, gun shots, and pool waterworks that get all the money in the safe wet. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Invisible Man – Writer Leigh Whannell (Insidious) directs this 2020 Blumhouse and Universal Australian co-production starring Elizabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale). In this contemporary H.G. Wells spin, the picturesque mod home is eerie and isolated with sophisticated security, tip toeing fear, hidden preparations, and desperate escapes. Even after her optics entrepreneur boyfriend is found dead, Cecilia is afraid to go to the mailbox and jumps at every doorbell. Eventually she begins to come out of her shell to friends, but innocuous camera pans in the unattended kitchen, creaking floorboards, flickering lights, and construction tarps suggest something sinister. Big baggy clothes and body discomfort are better than the usual titillation, yet there are still shower scares and wrapped in a towel moments. Despite sheets, coffee grounds, paint splatter revelations, photos, and attic evidence, Cecilia holds on to his phone to call a ride share, going all the way back to the compound she escaped without stopping to pick up some spray paint or downloading an infrared app. While the technical plausible rather a serum of old is fine, the boom boom crescendo zorp music and shock and awe overkill are too much when it's not as if the invisible optics were unexpected. Cecilia insists he is not dead just invisible, but such accusations only make her seem crazy and no one believes her once CCTV is used against her when convenient for the horrors. Though a fine performance from Moss provides broken desperation, mentioning the word “architect” at a job interview and having everyone turn on her is not character development. Making a woman go through real terror only for it to escalate into science fiction horror also feels too cruel. If he orchestrated her pregnancy behind her back, why does he fling her across the room and drag her across the floor like any other whooshing horror entity? How does an institution not have cameras to capture this? By the ninety minute mark, the contrivances become too ridiculous, and it's tough to maintain interest when we need to act like modern technological help and logic don't exist. Where are all the security cameras that can definitively prove the violence is not her doing? Fire extinguishers likewise should have been used much sooner. Invisible boo shocks are weak next to threats to kill family and friends, for this is not a scary hi-tech monster but a monster person who can't be escaped unless she too commits a deadly crime. Just because abusive men are horrible, this didn't have to be a horror movie. Although this feels like a separate script that tacked on invisible elements, in the end this becomes one overlong origin for an Invisible Woman in a Universal Dark Monsterverse. If someone asks how she got the suit, she can say she took it from an abusive jerk. Were we not supposed to see that coming when she found the second suit?

We Have Always Lived in the Castle – Boarded windows, cluttered antiques, dilapidated splendor, and black cats open this 2018 Shirley Jackson adaptation from director Stacie Passon (Little Birds) starring Taissa Farmiga (The Nun), Alexandra Daddario (We Summon the Darkness), and Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Greenery and quaint outside the window lead to “Last Tuesday” title cards, record players, colorful wallpaper, mid century flair, vintage homemaker style, deadly herbs expertise, arsenic in the sugar bowl, and newspaper headlines of dead parents and orphaned daughters. Younger sister Merricat is afraid to go for groceries in town because the villagers hate them – and gossip about the elder Constance being acquitted of the family murders. Merricat reads spell books and buries tokens, but her charms don't actually protect them and her narration dumps a lot of backstory early when the visual cues, quirky behavior, and family bizarre are enough to digest. Brief scenes of household calm, cleaning, dinner, and sisterly devotion lead to odd snow globes, skeleton keys, candles, and whispers of poisoned mushrooms. Lady friends of their late mother in pearls, gloves, and pillbox hats visit for tea, trying to get Constance out again, but when their cousin arrives, Constance becomes infatuated with him. Charles looks like their father, stays in his room, sits at the head of the table, and suggests Merricat should be punished for trying to drive him away. Despite her bratty spying and behaving much younger than her supposed eighteen, the narration intrudes upon scenes outside of her point of view as tensions escalate. Constance defends Merricat, but eventually she admits how her sister makes everything worse. Merricat resents their opportunistic, fortune hunting cousin taking her place because she is in love with her sister and wants everything to her advantage. Deluded visions of their dead parents saying she should never be punished excuse fiery actions as firefighters debate about saving the manor and the looting townsfolk chant to let it burn. This is not as spooky or weird as it could be thanks to the unreliable narrator obviousness given away at the beginning. Who's responsible is no surprise, and fatal revelations about who did what are dismissed in favor of blaming the cruel neighbors when their hatred is just a consequence of the sisters' freaky behaviors. When they bring goods to the door and apologize, any attempt at healing is ignored. Despite implications their father was abusive, Merricat told on her sister's boyfriend so their father would get rid of him – keeping her sister in a destructive environment just because she was jealous and wants to be with her sister forever. Not unlike an abuser herself, Merricat's glad when people call her a witch, has convinced herself she is one, insists she has done no wrong, lets her sister be admonished if it means she gets to keep her caged in their ruined home, and only smiles when she achieves her goals through poison, death, and fire. Why do so many movies start with an ending scene and then go back to tell how it got that way? It really ruins the character study here rather than deepening the demented angst.

Didn't Finish It

Nightflyers – Gretchen Mol (Boardwalk Empire), Eoin Mackin (Merlin), and Miranda Raison (MI-5) lead this 2018 SyFy ten episode series based upon the George R.R. Martin story as alarms, red lights, weightless debris, radio warnings, and a grizzly shipmate with an ax lead to airlocks, medical saws, and bloody splatter. After the opening horror, we go back to the beginning of the mission with crew introductions, confusing for the cool technical slang, little world building, and exposition that doesn't tell the viewer very much. Pretty ship views, celestial visuals, and outer space special effects meant to be awe inspiring don't work once we've started with dark, congested ominous and realistic, tunnel-like submarine interiors. Horror and science fiction perils are not the same thing, and droning, distracting, pulsing music doesn't invoke either one. Dangerous telepaths are needed to save earth by attempting communication with a mysterious alien artifact, but psychic feedback, bloody noses, a supernatural saboteur, and communication problems leave others in fear questioning whether they are doing the right thing. Suggestions to turn back are dismissed, but this mission is off to a terrible start with too much contrived suspense and conflict. The audience has no time to make sense of everything thrown at the screen amid lame shocks like pumping hearts, people set on fire, and chopped heads. Basic sci-fi telepaths, gene therapy, and jacking into the system plots are derivative amid stereotypical Black characterizations and cliché family angst complete with a little girl in a red raincoat and falling flat menace. The pace changes as much as the distrust, altered mission objectives, and personal motivations. Everybody has their secrets – one minute they doubt one person then defend them the next, no one shares all they know, and information is deliberately withheld from the viewer. Life on earth is at stake and alien contact is in sight yet nobody's on the same page despite in world telepathic revelations and memory machines that bend to suit the moment. Laughable guards constantly screw up, acerbating every situation while the captain refuses to share the details on the ship's malfunctions. Are we not supposed to know his angry mother is the literal ghost in the machine? Obvious contrivances leave episodes ending on down notes, and this should have been another movie adaption or a three hour event. it's easy to skip around after the first few overlong entries despite some being as short as thirty-nine minutes. Cool credits blending space, mind, vessels, and galaxies promise this will be something more than suspicious delays and unlikable people in an all over the place presentation, but I completely forgot I was watching it and never went back.

The Invisible Man (1958)

The Invisible Man is a Fun if Repetitive Spectacle

by Kristin Battestella

The 1958-59 H.G. Wells' Invisible Man television series boasts two thirteen episode seasons filled with invisible black and white trickery, mad science espionage, and continental intrigue for the radiated Dr. Peter Brady. While some of the half hour adventures are dated and derivative, there's a certain mid century science fiction charm to the driverless cars and early television special effects.

Due to an unpredictable side effect of his “refraction” science, Dr. Peter Brady is transformed lab coat and all in “Secret Experiment” and he doesn't know how to make himself visible again. Some of the colloquial invisible science dialogue is of its time and wooden, but government agencies want Brady's secrets – leading to quarantine suspense, stolen cover ups, and well filmed invisible escapes. Rather than be confined or take advantage of Brady insists on finding a cure, agreeing to continue on at Castle Hill Laboratories while joking that they won't see him at work. A reclusive and disfigured millionaire risks being a new test subject in “Behind the Mask,” and The Invisible Man is best when the stories focus on the experiments and gray morality at home. Powder from a lady's compact is handy in revealing our invisible quarry, and it's bemusing when people say they are glad to see Brady before stumbling to correct themselves. Occasionally, there's also no mid-air cigarette or other invisible scene indicator, forcing the audience to pay attention for a clue on The Invisible Man's location – a lingering focus on a blank wall or a longer emphasis on an empty chair. Under the bandages decoys and dangerous radiation provide top secret approvals and assassination attempts before the Season Two premiere “Point of Destruction” brimming with experimental fuel risks and airplane disasters. Radical science sabotage, snipers after Brady – when wounded, his blood trail reappears and faking his death may help catch the bad guys. More daring train escapes in “Death Cell” lead to unreliable witnesses, questionable doctors, straight jackets, and hidden photograph negatives before missing coworkers and destroyed files in “Flight into Darkness.” Brady demonstrates the unsafe implications of a new anti-gravity technology while government ministers and peace organizations argue over using it as a weapon, and The Invisible Man is almost ahead of its time with such ambiguous implications. Well filmed suspense, neighboring windows, and dangerous voyeurs invoke Alfred Hitchcock for “The Decoy” alongside decoded notes, kidnapped singers, and twin sister ruses. USO tours and American officers provide timely patriotic winks amid double decker buses, twin camera trickery, and invisible points of view for those speedboat chases.

Unlike the ego maniacs in the film adaptations, Dr. Peter Brady is a solid chap helping catch those who would abuse emerging science. He goes on secret missions when the country asks him, but Peter's frustrated over being unable to find a cure. He shaves before the mirror out of habit despite admitting it is a waste of time. Brady dislikes stifling security measures, so he often goes invisible at home when people spy in the window or treat him like an animal in the zoo. He laughs at the irony of people staring at him and makes jokes when they say they're happy to see him but occasionally also wishes they could indeed look on him. Peter doesn't want to be fixed up on dates with famous dames or relax at the theater in “Play to Kill,” for he'd rather be a hermit, shut himself in, and get some work done. Blackmail over celebrity hit and runs add to his notoriety, and though reluctant to wear his bandages, he chuckles at revealing himself as a headless man to scare people. His work is stolen in the Season One finale “Strange Partners,” but Brady's lured with a call about its recovery before being trapped by a vicious dog – one of the few times his being unseen doesn't help him. The personal and immediate dangers, however, fall away in favor of espionage and heroics. Instead of seeking his once most important cure, Brady is at times selfish, enjoying being the one who can save the day after the surprisingly graphic marketplace shootouts of “The Gun Runners.” A sassy intelligence dame asks for his help on an off the record mission, and he's a little smitten at her brash compared to all the helpless damsels he rescues. The invisible tag team cargo switches are a lot of fun, and the corrupt officials think it's her great right hook because they don't know Brady is doing the swinging! Such undercover chemistry actually would have made a great finale as Peter toasts his refraction heroics with a witty dame accepting of his condition. Of course, an actor is never seen in the role billed as The Invisible Man, but the uncredited voice actor Tim Turner apparently does the most work among several other fill-in actors. Not only was the unknown casting probably cheaper, but knowing the specific character or personality underneath the bandages was unfortunately secondary to the invisible wink and all the unseen trickery – unlike today where the allure would be in never seeing the famous face involved or having a different star under the bandages each week.

Often called “Dee,” Lisa Daniely (Doctor Who) as Brady's widowed sister Diane takes him into her home despite the adjustments – like bumping into him when he doesn't have on his overcoat. Although his family isn't there for themselves so much as to answer the phone as required or to help with a plan, Dee isn't afraid to wield a gun and take on the bad guys. When Peter says he's so angry he could kill, she insists he has his dinner first and demands he wear sunscreen invisible or not. It's a leap that this mild mannered housewife is apparently an incredibly resourceful catch all lady in disguise, but Dee pretends to be a reporter for information and remains a strong headed woman. She witnesses a man hiding stolen film in the lining of saucy puppeteer Hazel Court's (The Masque of the Red Death) coat in “The Mink Coat,” but her brother doesn't believe her despite obvious strong arming attacks and gunpoint threats. Deborah Watling (who also appeared on Doctor Who) as Brady's sassy and precocious niece Sally is cool with this invisible thing and fresh to those pesky reporters bothering her famous uncle. Although they probably didn't think anything of it then, her being in the bathroom with him is a little weird, and throwaway lines about him not wearing his invisible clothes inadvertently imply some awkward nakedness. I could almost do without her, but the entire family angle is dropped by the middle of the Second Season with just a few late appearances for Sally. It's obviously a money saving maneuver to have less regular cast, but the continental espionage of the week takes The Invisible Man away from the science fiction and personal elements that make the series unique as in “Picnic with Death” when a car accident with witnesses puts Brady's condition in the headlines. The family receives extra security, but Peter insists he's a human being not a government file. The invisibility causes more trouble at home as desperate reporters watch objects moving by themselves and try to get a picture as Brady helps one of Sally's friends prove her crooked step father is trying to kill his invalid wife. Sally's kidnapped in “Bank Raid,” too. There are consequences to The Invisible Man being famous with ransom notes and abandoned houses making the titular heists stronger because the action is personal. Of course, there's also some humor when poor Sally can't flag down any help because bystanders are more shocked at her driverless transportation!

Unfortunately, the of the time stereotypes happen early and often with brownface Arabs in “Crisis in the Desert.” There's no real attempt to clarify which agencies or military intelligence are recruiting Brady, either – random colonels use his undercover cover to thwart escaped agents or unfriendly regimes as needed amid generic thugs of the week thrashing themselves about in the invisible fisticuffs. Though originally a secret, everyone eventually knows about Brady. Nobody minds if he interferes in a local crime, a coup against cliche foreign powers, or goes vigilante versus enemy scientists. “The Locked Room” and “Shadow on the Screen” provide anti-government statements, fake accents, Russian sailors, scientist defections, and comrade interjections – if you've seen one of these international intrigue episodes, you've seen them all. It's not so memorable when episodes rely almost entirely on action sans dialogue and people we don't know. The white UK agents saving Cairo from heroin dealing Arabs in “Blind Justice” also misses the mark despite some surprisingly modern politic intrigue, the irony of a blind woman helping The Invisible Man, and future 007 guests Honor Blackman and Desmond Llewelyn. Speeding trains and con artists can't hide that “Jailbreak” has Brady helping yet another wrongly accused lady. He says he can't help everyone, but that's exactly what he does, and The Invisible Man should have chosen whether he was going to be a post-war hero fighting international enemies or just be an invisible mad scientist. Too many episodes become insert exotic locale here – although they were in Paris the show prior, Diane tells Peter she's due a holiday in “Odds Against Death.” They thwart a scientist gambling in the Alps with some invisible roulette tricks, but “The Vanishing Evidence” offers more faux accents and stolen secrets. These aren't all terrible episodes, but the humorous invisible moments are out of place amidst the anonymous action plots. The foreign checkpoints, SS-esque officers, and tortured writer held for exposing a country's terrors in “The Prize” could be an interesting, ahead of its time rescue, but it's lost in a sea of similar of their time episodes. When Brady is called in regarding the eponymous refraction experiments of “The White Rabbit,” it's just more fake accents and fascism. An enemy wanting an army of invisible men could be a great arc, but there's no defined fictitious country or rival scientist to battle. It's more drugs for “Man in Disguise” and Middle East ploys yet again in “Man in Power.” “The Rocket” has more titular secrets at risk over gambling before the malfunctioning weapon of “Shadow Bomb” and the atomic bomb parts in the “The Big Plot” finale. Despite frequent directors Pennington Richards (Interpol Calling), Peter Maxwell (A Country Practice), and Quentin Lawrence (The Ghosts of Motley Hall) and writing teams with Ian Stuart Black (Doctor Who); creator Ralph Smart (Secret Agent) seems most responsible for all the similar action hours and stock scripts. Maybe everyone wanted to add their own science or spy spins, but that leaves the series with no cohesive vision in too short a run.

Thankfully, Tudor manors, classic fifties décor, and cool convertibles add nostalgia alongside phone booths with horseshoe phones, old school newspaper headlines, brandy decanters, and vintage dressing gowns. Old fashioned nurses uniforms and classic constable styles invoke more British mood while flashbulb cameras, aviation photography, radio controls, and giant switchboard plugs set off the through the gun barrel camera visuals. Retro futuristic dials, buzzes, switches, and knobs hit home The Invisible Man's premise with lab coats, cages, and disappearing animal subjects. The bandages, gloves, fedora, and sunglasses create that memorable invisible silhouette, and the unwrapping old chroma key effects are still neat. Phone receivers hang in the air, papers flip on their own, gates open and close by themselves – all tricks for The Invisible Man's slight of hand, of course. There's something pleasant in these disappearing strings ruses. Today we take such in camera skills for granted as now we just motion capture the actor and CGI remove him from the frame. Where's the fun in that? Sound effects are also important as the camera follows unseen footsteps and other foleys itemize the invisible action. Certainly it's obvious all the dialogue is dubbed voiceovers and cast speaking opposite our doctor are usually filmed in a separate shot. However, the actions are well timed with actors moving in and out of the opening or closing doors in step with the invisible cues, and bravo to stunt personnel dealing with operator-less lawn mowers, no riders on the horse's back, and roadsters with nobody behind the wheel nor in the sidecar. Getting that full wine glass to dangle in the invisible air without spilling anything must have been tough!

The Invisible Man often has weak writing and a thin, aimless focus. The over-reliance on weekly bad guys and international espionage of the era can be tiring for sophisticated audiences today. The plots are often more action than personal man versus science fiction mistakes, but this series doesn't deserve to be obscure. H.G.Wells' Invisible Man is still an appealing what if experiment gone wrong with vintage invisible special effects, and it's a fun retro marathon for the whole family.

Forties Mysteries and Mayhem Returns!

More Forties Mystery and Mayhem!

By Kristin Battestella

Science run amok, family monsters, mistaken identity, mystery, and murder abounds in these wartime tales inspired by classic literatures and period macabre.  

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Spencer Tracy (Boys Town), Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca), and Lana Turner (Peyton Place) star in this loose 1941 Robert Louis Stevenson adaptation from director Victor Fleming (Gone with the Wind), itself a remake of the 1931 Fredric March award winner. Though available on DVD sets with its predecessor, the heavy-handed religion good and science bad Hayes Code restrictions here hamper the supposedly scandalous talk of whether the soul is in the realm of science or spirit. The slow, talkative start, dated abstract ideals, and dramatic pacing tell the audience about these radical experiments rather than showing the medical dangers. The design also isn’t as impressive as we might expect, for black and white photography and small set pieces don’t illume all the possible Victorian grandeur. Quick animal testings and laboratory montages represent the science fiction while the up close transformations and intimate camerawork remains on the earnest but out of place Tracy– he ironically looks kind of goofy and doesn’t seem all that different as Hyde. Bergman adds some much needed sassy intrigue, and it’s pleasing to see one normally so demure go from saucy and streetwise to submissive and scared thanks to Hyde. Unfortunately, Turner doesn’t have much to do as the suffering fiancée, and her charming society chaste counter balance isn’t well developed. Escalating violence and bemusing dream sequences of the two women, lotus flowers rising, whipping racing horses, and bottle corks popping do much better with the innuendo. We never get the horror depravity one hopes with this tale thanks to the straightforward presentation and fade to black tame, but it’s nonetheless fun to see just for the classic stars going freaky.

The Invisible Man Returns – Smoky atmosphere, great décor, execution tensions, and reprieve desperation start this 1940 sequel featuring a young Vincent Price as the eponymously afflicted. There’s some confusion in how this plot ties in with the 1933 film but the familial connections are explained soon enough. Objects move by themselves thanks to the invisible tricks and the neat see through effects hold up well along with Scotland Yard investigations, a fun laboratory, innocent romance, and elaborate plans. Animal experiment scenes, however, are bittersweet, and Price’s voice is a bit muffled when under wraps for the fainting ladies. His voice isn’t the raspy smooth, mature sound we love, either, but the invisible science debates and ethical questions amid the escalating violence are intriguing. Why look for a cure when the madness is so much fun? A touch of social commentary, a wronged man, an 80-minute built in ticking clock, and a race for an antidote forgive some bumbling cop work and the cliché, hammy colloquialisms, and there’s a wild, dirty, factory finish. But I’m not going to tell you if we see the young, debonair Vincent, hah! 

The Undying Monster – Great ominous music sets the mood along with family curses, stately but sinister seaside locales, tolling bells, barking dogs, and turn of the 19^th century styles for this 1942 hour. Gas lamps, old time phones, and period laboratories accent the conversational delivery – which isn’t your typical monster exposition. Foreboding uses of shadows and light, up close camera attacks, and wolf howls keep the action moving while a comical older lady, on the case Scotland Yard, and meddling help are smartly utilized. Beware, there is one scene of canine faint, but this leads to intriguing self-aware discussions on the supernatural versus science and ancestral indiscretions like selling one’s soul to the devil. No one wants to believe what’s happening, and as such, the pleasant horror tone takes a backseat to a proactive who done the violence mystery. The ensemble, however, adds well done banter, antagonism, agendas, and evidence. The scares are wisely used as needed, and the time here doesn’t seem so short thanks to a fun action pursuit finish. This is a well put together little eerie, and I sincerely wonder why contemporary horror films just can’t take everything done right here and maximize all the gothic atmosphere and glory.

The Woman in White –The late Eleanor Parker (The Sound of Music) shines amidst the top hats, frilly collars, carriages, white capes, flowing skirts, and asylum escapes in this spooky but alluring 1948 adaptation of the Wilkie Collins novel. Lovely interiors, telescopic effects, camera tricks, black and white photography, and shadowy lighting designs accentuate the titular figure whilst moving candlelight and brimming fog layer the cemeteries and outdoor scenery. The opening and closing narration and tacked on whimsy feel amiss, and there are some hammy characters and melodramatic over acting. However, Parker is doubly charming, and the ill at ease, mistaken identity and family secrets blend well with the budding romantic triangles. A perfectly scheming Sydney Greenstreet (The Maltese Falcon) adds to the suspicions and Agnes Moorehead (Bewitched) drops an intriguing tidbit or two. Granted, several dated plot points may be amusing – a 2-year engagement is considered urgent? A distant relative institutionalized is scandalous? Fortunately, plot twists increase as the mystery, tension, secret passages, and creepy escalates. The audience is forced to pay attention and seek out the subtleties – even if you’re familiar with the story; this version remains fun to watch as all the switcharoos unfold.

One to Skip

The Invisible Woman – Following The Invisible Man Returns, this 1940 double bill is slow to start with anonymous humor and lighthearted talk of money and loveable, hair brained professors. Let’s put an ad in the paper seeking someone who wants to become invisible! The get back at her nasty boss reason for our supposedly so ballsy and beautiful lady applicant – a model aptly named Kitty – is weak, and the invisibility making machine instead of the previous potions is mostly an unexplained MacGuffin. Beyond Wicked Witch of the West Margaret Hamilton and Stooge Shemp Howard, the sassy house staff is annoying and the numerous coming and going people all look the same. Fun laboratories and experiment effects are pleasing along with the softer, melodic scoring. However, the feminine spins seem wasted on scaring off jerks and clothes off or on innuendo. Crooks are after the invisibility machine, there’s somebody named Foghorn, bad Mexican jokes, and the slapstick – eh, I stopped caring and went to clean my tub drain instead. This is harmless fun and dated girl power if you like forties comedy, but it unfortunately doesn’t match the fantastic dilemmas of its predecessors and replaces them with 70 minutes of overlong and loosely tied platitudes.

More Black and White Classic Horror

And Yet More Classic Horror. Again.

By Kristin Battestella

Yes, I’m list crazy this October, but let me ask you this: Is there anything like a public domain scary surprise or a classic black and white thriller to fill a lonely decrepit autumn night? I think not.

A Bucket of Blood – Some of the 1959 beatnik goods in director Roger Corman’s (House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum) low budget satirical creepy are tough to hear thanks to uneven sound, soft dialogue, and a loud but sweet and swanky jazz score.  Yes, it’s slow to open and doesn’t look very good, but we feel for Dick Miller’s (Gremlins, Fame) outcasted Walter Paisley as he resorts to deadly lengths for his sculpting and artistic acclaim. Even if the whippersnappers of today probably don’t know what the Beatnik movement was all about or why Corman’s commentary is meant to be funny, at just over an hour, this freaky and bemusing oddity is worth a look for young horror fans or Corman aficionados.

Carnival of Souls – Sometimes black and white filmmaking seriously adds to the visuals and atmosphere of a movie- and such is the case here. Though there are some fun 1962 cars and nostalgia to start, the suddenly somber opening and eerie credits establish the creepy; and writer, director, producer and star Herk Harvey provides some very disturbing appearances whilst waxing philosophical on isolation, loneliness, claustrophobia, and spiritual debates. Spooky sheers and askew reflections make for great jumps and scares and build the paranoia and fear for Candace Hilligoss (The Curse of the Living Corpse) – which may or may not be all in her mind. Naturally, there’s something kinky afoot, too- such a wild, demented circus and merry go round feelings intimately clashing with the safe, white cathedrals! I did suspect the end, but like a supersized Twilight Zone episode, it’s still great in getting there, and damn freaky!

Dead of Night – This 1945 anthology is a little too pip pip cheerio dated to open its framing story, and the first two tales of deadly premonition and ghostly happenstance are a little short and more merely bizarre or déjà vu than scary. However, tale three chronicles an askew mirror with a suspenseful juice the likes of Tales from the Crypt.  The ghostly golfer switcharoo of plot four is played more for the laughs of Basil Radford and Naughton Wayne (The Lady Vanishes), but in such an early compilation film, I suppose some levity was needed.  Even if it is a little familiar now thanks to other ventriloquist horror, Michael Redgrave’s (Mourning Becomes Electra) final tale is very well played paranoia and twistedness.  Perhaps contemporary audiences won’t find the scary here because we’ve had so many other warped anthology shows, but this one is still dang entertaining.  No effects or sex and gore shockers needed; its all done with performance and suggestion- and the conclusion definitely leaves the audience thinking on the kicker.

Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Oscar winner Fredric March (The Best Years of Our Lives, The Desperate Hours) can do no wrong in this 1932 adaptation of Stevenson’s quick and spooky read.  Wow, March is so young and handsome as the gentlemanly Jekyll but also so utterly creepy looking as Hyde.  The monstrous change is even more scary thanks to the science of the villainy, the element of truth in the dual nature, and the dark half examinations of the human soul we all share.  Hyde may be the straight encapsulation of evil, but isn’t Jekyll just as bad because he has the sought to extract the vile in the first place?  Oh the tormented meat and performance here! The lovely Miriam Hopkins (Becky Sharp, The Heiress) adds a little pre-code kinky, too, and a great use of basic camera techniques and mirror tricks also adds a visual and moody parallel layer. The subtle and simplistic but smart filmmaking here seems a lost art today- but dang, that organ music is eerie, and gosh, I want those candelabras!

The Invisible Man – This chilling 1933 classic from director James Whale (Bride of Frankenstein) has all the obsessive and murderous madman science from H.G. Wells’ novel and more.  Claude Rains (Casablanca) is dynamite, along with Gloria Stuart (Titanic), Henry Travers (It’s a Wonderful Life), Una O’Connor (Witness for the Prosecution), and an equally fun supporting cast.  You have to admit, even in such a bent tale, it is amusing to see these thirties folks talking to thin air and getting hysterical over objects moving by themselves! The black and white photography looks perfectly crisp, and the silver palette helps to hide any of the special effects glitches our modern eyes may spot.  But the cutting edge for the time matte and screen and wire work graphics still look damn good, too. The approach and pursuit of the eponymous villain is contemporarily believable, and it’s all just so good and weird thanks largely to that suave talking but not quite there Rains.  Truly, a must see- and read, for that matter, too. But sigh, a remake is on the horizon!

The Wolf Man – Claude Rains is at it again in this 1941 Universal essential- along with his onscreen son Lon Chaney, Jr. (Of Mice and Men) as Larry Talbot.  So what if the then exceptional werewolf makeup and transitional transformations might not be up to snuff for today’s CGI spoiled.  Get over it.  You can’t be a werewolf fan without loving this granddaddy of lycan establishment- dated and stereotypical though it may be. All the staples needed are here in beautifully sharp black and white, with lots of fog and atmosphere capping off the monster pursuits. The agony and titular torment of the players carries the hour-plus time swiftly, and fun performances from Bela Lugosi (Dracula) and Maria Ouspenskaya (Love Affair) set off the blooming wolfsbane wonderfully.