Jillian in Halloween garb
Jeremy in Halloween garb
by Sam Juliano
Pumpkins will be around for at least a month longer, but in large measure to make pies and for Thanksgiving ornamentation. The jack-o-lantern variety has mystically departed until next year, though it made its mark on many porches across America. Gone too is the trick or treating, though horror film lovers aren’t about to give up the ghost yet. Just when you get back into something with a marked passion, the calendar comes barging in. But much like past years adherents of this genre will stay the course at least a few weeks longer. This writer watched a bunch of horror classic on blu ray and DVD over the past week on a HD large screen for one, and it was great time for the family to share the fun.
As a lifelong baseball aficionado I have watched every minute of the World Series, and have marveled in the ups and downs for both teams. The Kansas City Royals won in an unlikely comeback thanks to a crucial error and some 8th inning heroics in Game 4 to take a commanding 3 to 1 lead. I will revise this post either late tonight or tomorrow morning to reflect the results of Game 5. A Royals win will end the series, while a Mets triumph will force a Game 6 in Kansas City on Tuesday night. Meanwhile the Giants incurred a bizarre 52 to 49 football loss in New Orleans to the Saints after a costly face mask penalty setting up the winning field goal.
I’m not so sure whether we will be celebrating the last two months of the movie year, or whether conversely we’ll be lamenting the dearth of quality works. The proof, alas, will be in the pudding. So far I’d characterize 2015 as an average year in movies, even if I will have no trouble compiling a ten-best list, what with a fair number of very good films part of this annual equation. Things on this front won’t begin to heat up for another four to five weeks. The opera season is well underway, and I’ll be seeing a number of the HD broadcasts in local theaters.
No films were seen in theaters this past week as a result of all the Halloween events and preparations, though we re-watched a number of horror films at home:
City of the Dead (1961) **** 1/2
The Seventh Victim (1943) *****
The Shining (1980) *****
Black Sunday (1961) *****
Cat People (1942) **** 1/2
The Beast with Five Fingers (1947) **** 1/2
The Haunting (1963) *****
Black Sabbath (1963) *****
Carnival of Souls (1963) **** 1/2
Most links have been updated:
At Noirish, the renowned writer (and voracious reader) John Grant has a remarkable listing up of his monthly record: https://noirencyclopedia.wordpress.com/2015/11/01/ot-octobers-leisure-reading/
At FilmsNoir.net Tony d’Ambra has posted a full list of films noir in US Library of Congress National Film Registry: http://filmsnoir.net/film_noir/list-of-films-noir-in-us-library-of-congress-national-film-registry.html/
Stephen Mullen offers up a terrific “Halloween Quiz” at The Listening Ear: http://listeningear.blogspot.com/2015/10/halloween-quiz.html
Joel Bocko has published a superlative review of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Syndromes and a Century” at I Lost it at the Movies: http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-favorites-syndromes-and-century-83.html
At Mondo 70 Samuel Wilson has penned a magisterial piece on Joji Fukunaga’s “Beasts of No Nation: http://mondo70.blogspot.com/2015/10/on-very-small-screen-beasts-of-no.html
At It Rains…….You Get Wet Robert Tower offers up a spectacular presentation on David Fincher’s “Zodiac”: http://le0pard13.com/2015/10/30/zodiac-film-review/
At Tuesdays with Laurie, our great friend Laurie Buchanan offers up a terrific post titled “Abracadabra”: http://tuesdayswithlaurie.com/2015/10/13/abracadabra/
Over at Attractive Variance Jamie Uhler offers up his fabulous latest installment of “Recent Cultural Happenings…..”: https://attractivevariance.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/recent-cultural-happenings-noise-doesnt-annoys-end-of-september-2015/
At Movie Classics, Judy Geater has posted a fantastic piece on Clarence Brown’s 1928 “A Woman of Affairs.”: https://movieclassics.wordpress.com/2015/10/24/a-woman-of-affairs-clarence-brown-1928/
David Schleicher has penned a superlative review of Ramin Bahrani’s “99 Homes” at The Schleicher Spin: http://theschleicherspin.com/2015/10/12/the-death-of-the-american-dream-in-99-homes/
Our longtime friend the film maker and movie lover extraordinaire Jeffrey Goodman has resumed his Ozu series n-99-hwith a terrific review of the director’s 1930 “The Night’s Wife”: http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/2015/10/that-nights-wife-1930.html
Jeff Stroud brings a higher level of thought to his wonderful new post at The Reluctant Blogger titled “Blank Page”: https://jeffstroud.wordpress.com/2015/08/30/blank-page/
Over at Patricia’s Wisdom, the terrific book reviewer and friend Patricia Hamilton has penned an excellent review of Jean P. Moore’s “Water on the Moon”: http://patriciaswisdom.com/2015/10/water-on-the-moon-a-novel-jean-p-moore/
Over at Ferdy-on-Films, Roderick Heath leads up with a superlative review of Wes Craven’s “The Serpent and the Rainbow”: http://www.ferdyonfilms.com/2015/the-serpent-and-the-rainbow-1988/26355/
J. D. Lafrance’s offers up a splendid review of “Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter” at Radiator Heaven: http://rheaven.blogspot.com/2015/10/captain-kronos-vampire-hunter.html
Shubhajit Lahiri has penned an excellent review of Wim Wenders’ 1975 “Wrong Move” at Cinemascope: http://cliched-monologues.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-wrong-move-1975.htm
Terrill Welch’s incomparably beautiful Creative Potager blogsite leads up with “Paiting and then selling paintings are done on a different breath: http://creativepotager.com/2015/10/06/painting-and-then-selling-paintings-are-done-on-a-different-breath/
At Filmicability Dean Treadway’s latest post is a superlative examination of the film year 1956: http://filmicability.blogspot.com/2015/10/1956-year-in-review.html
Sachin Gandhi has penned a terrific review on the Brazilian “She Comes Back on Thursday” at Scribbles and Ramblings: http://likhna.blogspot.com/2015/10/she-comes-back-on-thursday.html
At The Seventh Art the exceedingly gifted writer Srikanth offers up reviews on two Hindi films under the banner grouping titled “Love in the Time of Gonorrhea”: http://theseventhart.info/2015/08/02/love-in-the-time-of-gonorrhea/
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Writers/Founders
I’ve just posted my October horror film wrap up, where I recount the (26) horror films I got to this past month.
https://attractivevariance.wordpress.com/2015/11/02/october-2015-horror-wrap-up/
Love seeing all the Halloween talk and the great, ghoulish make-up on everyone. Shame to think we’re 12 months away from doing this all again…
I am left just about speechless over this incredible presentation. I do of of course know well you have been adding to this the entire month, having been given notifications as such, but I had no idea you were bringing such scope, appreciation and comprehensiveness not to mention the consistently superb quality of the writing throughout. You really bring a special meaning to Halloween Horror Cinema, I am on board with the vast majority of your assertions, and applaud your statement that Val Lewton could be the greatest horror auteur of all, in a close alternately call with Roman Polanski. I do agree that both THE LEOPARD MAN and GHOST SHIP are not among his best films, but I still like both and consider a few sequence in the former among the horror icon’s finest. I have always been a big fan of both DR. PHIBES films, consider the Universal MUMMY as one of the greatest of horror films in any measure. Likewise THE OLD DARK HOUSE and THE INVISIBLE MAN are masterpieces, and THE BEAST WITH THE FIVE FINGERS is first-rate. I might like MARK OF THE VAMPIRE a bit more, but your summary is fair enough. I love MAD LOVE. I’m excited to see MURDERS IN THE ZOO, and much appreciate that buffo assessment. TWO THOUSAND MANIACS is trash of course, I’d never look at that one again. I’m very intrigued by the German film THE FAN.
I am so “thrilled” at the love here for THRILLER, which is one of my favorite shows of all time!! I look forward to discussing it with you further.
Just an overwhelming report here! A true labor of love!
That horror round up by Jamie is remarkable. It is one thing to watch 26 horror films in a single month (still amazing) but quite another to pay each this kind of attention. Not sure what you think of Hammer or Dario Argento, but I love many from them. Of some recent directors I like Ti West.
Hard to believe what happened to the Mets. Still the Royals were never-say-die all through the series.
Happy to hear you availed yourself of Jamie’s horror wrap Tim! Great stuff indeed! I adore the Hammer films, and have championed them for years. I also love Argento, though ironically enough Jamie (above) is his most fervent adherent! I do like Ti West, especially HOUSE and INNKEEPERS.
The Mets were just outplayed by a team of destiny. Have a great upcoming weekend my friend. Many thanks!
I’d never call myself a huge Argento fan (I like several of his key works) and certainly not a ‘fervent adherent’. In fact a Horror film friend this week said that Argento is right behind Cronenberg for top Horror director all time, to which I responded he isn’t even a Top 5’er for me….
Well he isn’t even a Top 10er for me Jamie, and Bava runs circles around him in my book. But I always thought you were a big fan, and until your admission today I was thinking in those terms for the six years or so I know you. So I do stand corrected, but still got it right that you are a huge fan of giallo, a sub-genre where Argento is clearly the big audience favorite. You have since told me that Martino is your preferred director of the form, and that’s certainly fair enough. 🙂
Your son and daughter are authentic Sam. Tell them they have a new fan! Glad to see everyone enjoyed Halloween weekend. Things were kind of quiet up near in the northlands. Not sure what we will do with all this candy. Mark watched all three of Night of the Living Dead films. The original always gives me the creeps.
I will check out the horror link from the first comment above. I’m intrigued. Enjoy your big week with the days off.
I love the way you put that Celeste! They will be very happy when I tell them! 🙂 I’m surprised you had a quiet day up there considering the weather! We seem to have waves here. Mark has fabulous taste in horror. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is an all-time classic that never loses its luster. I have a history myself with that film dating back to 1968. Yeah, that’s a problem with all that candy. You don’t want to get too tempted. The link is worth availing yourself of, that’s for sure! Enjoying the time off. We are heading down to Baltimore tomorrow by car for the second time in the last two years. Many thanks my friend.
Many thanks for the shoutout, Sam! My other great excitement on the site this week was my piece on (if you’ll pardon the intrusion!) Blues in the Night (1941). It was thanks to a piece on it by Tony D’Ambra that I chased the movie down, and I’m very grateful to him!
Thanks to Jamie for that link — as you say, it’s a great presentation with lots of interesting stuff. I’ve also been enjoying the daily horror reviews by WitD regular Jaime Grijalba. All in all, then, my life’s had quite a lot of WitD in it this month, in one way or another.
John, that is no intrusion remotely, and many thanks for alerting me to it! I do remember Tony’s fabulous piece to this day and glad it inspired you to chase the movie down. Will be looking at your write-up today! Your life ALWAYS seems to include quite a bit of WONDERS IN THE DARK, and it always brightens up our day here immeasurably. I’m a big fan of both Jamie’s marathon scholarship on horror and Jaimie’s superb annual foray into the genre. Many thanks my friend!
Must personally thank you for your comments!
Au contraire — my thanks to you for all the splendid essays.
Sam, you really gorged yourself with horror classics this past week. I’ve seen them all, and can’t dispute your ratings. Looks like a great month of horror on the link to Jamie’s post.
Some great make-up for Jillian and Jeremy’s Halloween show. Gotta love it!
That was quite a World Series. Those Royals just kept coming back!
Yes it is a fascinating month long horror diary there from Jamie. Frank, a must read for fans! And Jaimie’s annual celebration is always a joy. Thanks for the kind words about the Halloween make-up! And yes, the Royals epitomized what it is to make late game comebacks. Have a great upcoming weekend my friend!
Sam — Nope, I definitely wouldn’t want to meet either Jillian or Jeremy in a dark alley while they’re wearing their ghoulish Halloween costumes. Clearly, they had a blast. I bet lots of people willingly handed over candy-loot!
Mwah ha ha..
Hahahahaha Laurie! Gotta love it! Yes they had a great time on Saturday indeed! We are inundated with candy though. I’ll be keeping my distance on that front. Many thanks my friend!
Sam, the Halloween outfits by the kids are great. My only Halloween related viewing was of Tim Burton’s original short FRANKENWEENIE which was typical of Burton but must have been shocking to the Disney folks back then.
The series was disappointing, at least for Met fans, but as old Dodger fans use to say, “wait till next year” and they have a good chance of coming back.
On the film front I saw,,,
Steve Jobs (****)
Burnt (**1/2)
The Kid (****)
Dark Hazard (**1/2)
Also a bunch of Thelma Todd comedy shorts (tied in with my recent interview with Michelle Morgan on her new biography on Todd.) including…
Bargain of the Century (***1/2)
The Soilers (**1/2)
On the Loose (**1/2)
Show BUsiness (**)
Beauty and the Bus (**1/2)
The Pajama Party (***)
Alum and Eve (***1/2)
Asleep in the Feet (***1/2)
Have a great week!
John—-FRANKENWEENIE is a lot of fun, and never a big time investment for those who would rather not afford their precious times to Burton’s cinema. 🙂 You are the second person this week (the other is Jason Giampietro) who has come in with a strong reaction to STEVE JOBS, a film I have so far stayed cleared of for various reasons. But I may get to watch it on Saturday the way things look at present. I agree that BURNT is unmemorable, and that THE KID is a classic. I gave it one-half star higher, but we are pretty much in accord. I will be checking out your interview pronto–wow you saw all those shorts then, eh? Fantastic. I have a lot of catching up to do on that front. Thanks for the terrific reference point! And have a great weekend!
Hello Sam and everyone!
Hope you had an amazing weekend, Halloween and everything! That makeup is scary and really well done! Hope you all had a good time.
You had quite the horror marathon, let me compare ratings with you, if you allow me to do this.
City of the Dead (1961) ****
The Seventh Victim (1943) ****
The Shining (1980) *****
Black Sunday (1961) ****
Cat People (1942) ****
The Beast with Five Fingers (1947) *** 1/2
Black Sabbath (1963) ****
Carnival of Souls (1963) **** 1/2
And the movies I saw last week, without the ones from my October Overlook Madness were:
– Joanna Newsom: Divers (2015, Paul Thomas Anderson) **** Weirdly moving, impressive, and better than Junun.
– Joanna Newsom: Sapokanikan (2015, Paul Thomas Anderson) **** Not as moving as “Divers”, and not better than “Junun” (which apparently is now my measure for PTA in not doing fiction), but her voice has something really appealing, something that reminds me a lot of Kate Bush, or am I committing sacrilege?
– Junun (2015, Paul Thomas Anderson) **** I guess I can only stand Johnny Greenwood in the context of a Paul Thomas Anderson film, because this is absolutely entrancing and highly edited concert/making of a concert/making of an album film that is maybe the most “common” thing PTA has done, but at the same time it shows that he’s not a showy director, that he knows how to produce material on demand.
– Natureza Morta (2005, Susana de Sousa Diaz) ***1/2 After the screening there was a discussion that kinda revealed what the director maybe was aiming at, making the recent history of Portugal as one big nightmare, using the codes of dreams as well as the distorted sound to make it even more trance-like. I kinda dig that interpretation, but for the most part I was just marveled at the quality and impressive editing that the director did with this footage, even inspiring me to do my own experiments with this. Nevertheless, I think that the ending is slow and kinda exploits the patience of the viewer, even though it ends in much more powerful imagery.
– The Thing (1982, John Carpenter) ***** A sci-fi, Antartica set, western.
– The Visit (2015, M. Night Shyamalan) **** Maybe one of the most impressive constructions of found footage since Noroi in 2005. While it’s a genre I tend to defend, I still don’t think it has been fully perfected, but if this was more tonally adjusted towards pure horror (which I think it was close, it was just a matter of how it was finally edited), it would’ve been another masterpiece from Shyamalan. I definitely want to check out the rest of his most recent films that I’ve avoided not because of fear but because of just not having enough time or luck to end up seeing them. This film works better as a movie about Shyamalan’s career and about how many ways this can go and all the twists that it can turn and then decides to go the most natural and obvious way that it kinda hurts the “twist”, if there’s even one, but it’s still effective.
That’s all, have a great week everyone!
Jaimie, with the weather cooperating as well as it did, I’d say it was a fantastic Halloween this year. My daughter Jillian is adept at the makeup, and she did do a great job on Jeremy and herself. We got to see the annual Halloween display on an entire street in a nearby town, so we didn’t short change ourselves with the entire experience. All your ratings of the films I saw are quite fine, and I could hardly quibble that we are off a few full stars or half stars on some. I am actually very happy you offered your own rating on each! The point is you do like just about every one, with only that 1947 Peter Lorre feature slightly problematic for you. Interesting way to describe THE THING as a sci-fi western. I was no fan at all of Shyamalan’s THE VISIT, but I know it has more fans than his previous work has attracted. You certainly do have me intrigued with the Paul Thomas Anderson films. I hope to see them soon enough. Have a great weekend my friend. Many thanks!
Sam, that’s a great group of horror movies. I managed to watch a few myself during the Halloween season. Just a quick rundown.
Phenomena, Argento (****)
Suspiria, Argento (****1/2)
Blood and Black Lace, Bava (***1/2)
Orpheus, Cocteau (****)
The Curse of the Cat People, von Fritsch and Wise (****)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne, Borowczyk (****1/2)
The Phantom of the Opera, Julian, 1925 (***1/2)
The Fly, Neumann, 1958 (***)
Alien, Scott (****1/2)
Audition, Miike (***)
The Evil Dead, Raimi (***)
Evil Dead II, Raimi (***)
Dressed to Kill, De Palma (****)
Night of the Living Dead, Romero (***1/2)
Drag Me to Hell, Raimi (***)
Deep Red, Argento (****)
Lorna, the Exorcist, Franco (***1/2)
The Leopard Man, Tourneur (***)
Night of the Demon, Tourneur (***)
Dead of Night, Cavalcanti, et al. (****)
The Old Dark House, Whale (****)
The Ghost Ship, Robson (***)
The Body Snatcher, Wise (***1/2)
I might even get in one or two more before the impulse completely fades.
Duane, what an utterly spectacular comment here, and a real treat for the horror film lover, of which I am one myself. I’ll try here and give mine for the films you document here:
Phenomena ***
Suspiria *****
Blood and Black Lace **** 1/2
Orpheus *****
The Curse of the Cat People ****
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll (haven’t seen yet)
The Phantom of the Opera *** 1/2
The Fly ****
Alien **** 1/2
Audition ****
The Evil Dead ****
Evil Dead II ****
Dressed to Kill ****
Night of the Living Dead *****
Drag Me to Hell *** 1/2
Deep Red *** 1/2
Lorna, The Exorcist (haven’t seen yet)
The Leopard Man *** 1/2
Night of the Demon *****
Dead of Night *****
The Old Dark House **** 1/2
The Ghost Ship ****
The Body Snatcher **** 1/2
Amazing marathon my friend!! Have a great weekend!!
I generally tend to be a bit conservative with my ratings but I very well might go five stars for Suspiria as it is my favorite of the bunch.
Sammy I don’t understand what all these people on your web site are doing there is only one movie to watch on Halloween and that is Halloween the first one with Jessica Meredith. Some kids putting shaving cream on the window of my condo and even though I wiped it off with windex and paper towels it still looks foggy and I couldn’t recognize my mailman George when he brought me the mail on Monday. As you know I don’t believe in trick and treating so I disconnected my doorbell on Saturday but then when I tried to reconnect it’s not working properly and I have to wait to get it repaired because the handyman in the complex is a lazy person whose wife has been pregnant the entire time I’ve been living here, all these years. I am having digestive problems and my doctor told me that the best thing you can do for yourself when you wake up is drink a whole glass of water because it gets the organs doing their jobs but as you know I have never developed a taste for water. I have tried drinking cold water and I have tried drinking room temperature water, I have drank water that was a little warm out of the tap and I have tried drinking water with ice cubes in it and none of them have worked. I still don’t like the way water tastes so tomorrow I have to go to the supermarket and get a cucumber because somebody told me if you put a sliced cucumber in a pitcher of water in the refrigerator that can help improve the flavor. How did you feel about the elections? Harold Cain is up in the polls and I think he will take the nomination and if he does he has a good chance to win because even a lot of people are against Obama people were happy to have a minority as the President and I think they’re gonna wanna do it again, they’re not gonna wanna go back to a majority person because then it’s like progress never happened.
Ah yes Jack, who can missed out on seeing that classic horror with “Jessica Meredith?” Sorry you got the shaving cream makeover, but I know mischief night could be a real disaster for some. Sounds like you dealt with it all decisively! Ha! I know you are not a big fan of people knocking on your door. Sorry your condo handyman is not so reliable. Your doctor is quite right with that water-first-thing-in-the-morning advice! Still with room temperature water, so as not to shock your system. Forget the taste of water, it really has none anyway. 🙂 Ah the sliced cucumber idea might be a good one! I’ll have to try that. Ah yes, the fearful Harold Cain! We better not take this for granted! That’s quite a view you project there on progress moving backward!! Have a great weekend my friend! Make sure you drink that H20!!
Forget the taste of water, it really has none anyway.
Unless it’s firewater.
hahahahahaha John! true enough!!! 🙂
@Jaime
but her voice has something really appealing, something that reminds me a lot of Kate Bush
Have you tried any Loreena McKennitt? I’d feel the parallel with Newsom is stronger than with Kate Bush.
Newson like Kate Bush? Yikes. What’s next Green Day like the Clash?
You did some awesome films for the season, Sammy. Well done. Hope your Halloween was great. Once again, you honor me by including moi with these fine set of writers (you included, my friend). Much appreciated and thanks. 🙂
Thanks so much Robert! We had a nice day for Halloween, and people came out in droves. It is my pleasure my friend! Have a great upcoming week!
Another busy week for our family so not getting here until late in the week. Hope you had a good week Sam. I watched a couple films. Saw Jennifer Aniston in Cake. She was good but the film was very average. Also saw Cronenberg’s The Brood, which I thought was rather silly. I really am not a fan of Cronenberg!
Overall, I’m not surprised you’re calling 2015 rather average overall for film. There’s just not a whole lot to get excited about these days. I was hoping at some point to get to see Michelle Williams in Suite Francaise, but that film looks to have dropped off the distribution map in the US. Not supposed to be a good film, but I love Williams. I’m not sure why that film never showed up here. Thoughts?
Hope you have a good weekend Sam!
Thanks Jon, we had a busy week here, though we were off from school three days, one for Election Day and the other two for N.J. Teacher’s convention. Yes, CAKE is distinctly average. I actually am a fan of THE BROOD and love Cronenberg. But I respect he is not everyone’s cup of tea. Yes, when everything is factored in this is a rather unremarkable year when you survey the entire field, yet there are between 15 and 20 GREAT films still, including a few I saw at Tribeca. Soon I’ll be gathering together a list of all the films that will compete for my year-end list, and we shall see what we shall see. 🙂 You honestly have me wondering about SUITE FRANCAISE. I know you are a big Michelle Williams fan. Thanks as always my friend. I trust you’ve had a nice weekend.
Sam, I was excited for your Mets and sorry they were not able to go all the way. Was a very exciting year though for them and for the playoffs as a whole.
This week I took in two French films, Honore’s LOVE SONGS and Techine’s HOTEL DES AMERIQUES. This was the first film I had seen of the younger Honore and was quite impressed. Techine I have been a fan of for some time and appreciated this one although a little less than his films WILD REEDS and THIEVES.
Hope you are doing great, Sam!