all out war

Now they got this big airgun that shoots a bolt into their skull and then retracts it.

October 30 Pt. 2: Jacob's Ladder

Radio Isn't Dead posed the question at the beginning of the month. What scares you?
I think one of the scariest traits a horror film can possess is the sheer sense of unknowing. The bizarre or unexplained. No need for dull exposition. Eraserhead is a film that will always give me the creeps. But it really defies genre. Jacob's Ladder oozes that exacting fear inherint in all of us. It's also a picture that modern films have been bitin' from for a long, long time.

What starts out as a Vietnam film soon escalates into a nightmare induced fever dream. Brimming with surreal atmosphere and hellish surroundings. Few films are able to create a nightmarish world perfectly. See the aforementiomed Eraserhead for proof. Even fewer are able to inject deeper meaning into that world. Jacob's Ladder is an extremely rare breed that is not only profoundly terrifying but intelligent and heartbreaking. A film whose demons kicks you in the dirt repeatedly. Only to let you finally see the light once it's all said and done. Top 30 worthy.

A+

October 30 Pt. 1: Jaws

Summer of '75 saw the birth of the blockbuster. It arrived alright. With teeth ready to sink its bite into an unsuspecting crowd. Right down to the iconic poster tihs film simmers with nostalgic glory. Seeing a director like Spielberg take on material like this is something that I'm starting to miss. His last genre efforts, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull & War of the Worlds show that 'magic' he loves to talk about disappearing. Regressing in tone and texture rather than progressing. He showed off his directing chops with Duel. Jaws takes everything he learned previously and amps it up to 11.

People often accuse of Spielbergo's movies being sugarcoated. This is certainly true of the Kick the Can segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie, Hook & several parts of Temple of Doom. Around that time he was all about kids. The magic and wonder of childhood. It's a far step from seeing little Alex being attacked by a shark in '75. I don't know if he'll ever get back to this point. Jaws also contains one of my favorite monologues. Belonging to Robert Shaw of course. It's a feverish, sweat inducing story that counterposes a merrily singing Shaw, Dreguss and Scheider. A+

October 29 Pt. 2: Videodrome

Cronenberg has always been interested in the human body. What gets under our skin. Both literally and metaphorically. His recent efforts like A History of Violence internalize the horror. When Stephen McHattie's face is hanging off, it makes the impact of the scene that much more potent. It's the ideas and story that are now at the forefront more than ever. That's not to say his past work hasn't had interesting concepts. It's just now they are much more subdued in presentation. But when they hit you, they hit you until you're lying on the ground with your nose punched through your skull.

The Brood was a restrained movie when all was said and done. Scanners was, for the most part, restrained. Videodrome on the other hand doesn't hold back. Only this time, instead of traditional graphic violence, its all organic. Rick Baker's practical effects hold up to this day. Look no further than the cancer gun scene.
Concept wise, it's obviously a middle finger to those who lashed out at his early work. A criticism I've seen thrown at the film is its bewildering plot. Videodrome is essentially Canada's answer to some of the Italian horror films of the late 70's and early 80's. It's much more about an intense and unforgettable experience. One that would bridge the gap between an exploding head and Jeff Goldblum spewing fly blood from his fingertips.

Long live the new flesh.

A+

October 29 Pt. 1: Frenzy

Frenzy to me represents what might have been had Hitchcock lived on and directed future films. Unfortunately he passed in 1980. Hitch's second to last film is quite possibly his nastiest. The trademark dark humor and masterful suspense is there in spades. Yet there is also a natural progression of some of his darkest material since Psycho. Unofrtunately that doesn't necessarily mean it's a progression of that quality. I've always wondered what types of films would ole' Hitch be makin' had he lived during the 80's. Frenzy is an indication of a delightfully grimmer side.

A-/B+

October 28 Pt. 2: Night of the Living Dead

At the age of 6, a midnight feature came on that started out with a car on its way to a graveyard set to an eerie score. Night of the Living Dead the title card read. With grim foreboding I layed me eyes upon. In the next hour and a half, I would go through the ringer. Maybe I was too young to get the social commentary that was in the film. The fact that this came out in '68, a year of assassinations and protest. What always stayed with me though was Judy going up those stairs and seeing that corpse at the top of them. Karen Cooper picking up a garden trowel and going after her mother. The fact that it ended on such a downbeat note. Harp on Romero all ya want. The man formed a legacy after these films. & if it wasn't for his first three dead films, I'd be starving for something to wet my appetite. Beatin' on a car window with a brick, trying to get inside for some fresh meat. I just wish the meat of his last two zombie films felt fresh. Instead, it feels like leftovers.

I've always maintained that while Night was his masterpiece, Dawn was the one with the best balance. Day on the other hand veers into such nihilism and is shamefully dismissed because of it. I personally hold major digs for the film and actually in some ways prefer it over Dawn. Though that story has pretty much been told...

A+

October 28: Santa Sangre

Surrealism and horror. A theme I'll be covering this whole weekend. But what better way to kick it off with Jodorowsky's hell bent side show Santa Sangre. I'm cracking open the door a lil' bit to reveal a pick culled from my personal top 100.

The director known for more or less kicking off the midnight movie scene with El Topo and redifining cinematic art with Holy Mountain finally used tunnel vision to channel some truly creative work. It's not as sporadic and chaotic as Holy Mountain. Which is arguably his Inland Empire. The quest isn't quite El Topo either. It's really Jodorowsky setting the horror genre on fire and dancing around like a wild Indian watching it burn ever so slowly into an ember. Jodorowsky also occupies a territory with fellow surrealist Lynch. His films don't quite fit into a genre. Who can really classify Inland Empire or Lost Highway anyway. The story for Santa Sangre plays out as a horror film. The extra toppings of surrealism and mad circus mayhem are funneled through a filter and comes out as a poem full of blood red colors and hallucinations. A disorienting experience. But that's what you'd expect as the end of the mayhem from a movie like this. Right?

A+