The Mysterious House of Usher

The Mysterious House of Usher

I was little boy when I first saw a Vincent Price i sitll think he is one of the greatest horror actors all time. He truly had such a charm to him. House on Haunted Hill was the the movie i saw as my frist movie of his horror movies. So i am begining halloween month with The Mysterious House of Usher for a horror movie review.It is truly something I feel embodies the classic gothic horror that is a big part of the genre. So lets begin the review.

The Fall of the House of Usher/House of Usher  (1960) review

The Fall of the House of Usher/House of Usher was the first of seven (eight, if you want to count The Haunted Palace) films that Roger Corman directed for American International Pictures, based on the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. It is one of best entries in the series to my eyes. Roger Corman’s brilliant adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s chilling tale is one of the greatest achievements in cinematic horror that does really stand test of time. It is hard to pick a best Roger Corman Poe movie. Vincent Price turns in one of of his finest performances he ever did on the screen in this horror classic but he always amazes in any movie anyway.

Madness on flim really is such a tricky thing at times to have on screen without it being silly. It’s at this point that I must mention one of Corman’s creative collaborators composer Les Baxter really makes such a wonderful soundtrack. The magical charm of this film is its wonderful acting by its cast. It is something about them they bring to life the wonderful gothic tale of Edgar Allan Poe. The Fall of the House of Usher is a terrific example of Roger Corman’s ever widening circle of gothic, directorial accomplishment. That it stays faithful to the darker tones of its source material but has some of its own way to it too. If The Raven was a delicious farce trading on how easily camp follows theatricality, Usher is something very different, something genuinely creepy and despite the modest claims of its director, it’s very effective that really underlines the magical charm of the orginal tale yet giving way to something totally new.

The perennial 1960s American Gothic setting, and a mood-board for spooky, autumnal vibes. The Usher mansion itself beings a monument to the fissures of familial desolation, from mental illness to egomania and the lingering, perpetual stench of Death rising from the crypt. Probably Roger Corman’s most tasteful Poe adaptation, and so assured that its moments of dreamy color and swift action are both visceral and psychological. When Vincent Price is on screen, nothing else matters, even as he is only one harrowing piece of a larger atmospheric tapestry that will set out to really make you watch the movie no matter what. Everything is personified in Vincent Price’s melodramatic portrayal of lead character Roderick that i feel you will simply enjoy to watch from start to finish. The film is short and sweet at eighty minutes but really makes best use of all of this time but it makes very good use of its time. You simply must see this classic movie today. Needless to say, it’s easy to understand why House Of Usher (also known as The Mysterious House Of Usher or The Fall Of The House Of Usher) stands out as a high mark in Roger Corman’s filmography. It’s a delightful horror picture that will tantalize and terrify while it spirals us headfirst into madness that you must see today I will be revisiting more of these poe movies soon this month. So I may review them all. I hope you join me for them.

The Curse of the Cat People A HAUNTING FABLE FOR CHRISTMAS

The Curse of the Cat People- A HAUNTING FABLE FOR CHRISTMAS

Today I talk about  The Curse of the Cat People. In the early 1940’s rko was suffering a big failure following citizen Kane and other movies leaving the studio in ruins. it turned to its low budget b pictures . Val Lewton was the man put in charge of producing these flims with titles given to him by the studio so came up with movies ideas as he found ways to make these movies into horror classics as he started with Cat People as today I review The Curse of the Cat People which is a perfect holiday horror classic which i review today. The Curse of the Cat People review 

The Curse of the Cat People remains among the strangest Hollywood sequels ever made. Following Cat People, RKO’s 1942 horror masterwork of shadow and atmosphere that also helped delay the studio’s financial ruin, the sequel resolves to occupy another genre entirely. I would call it one of my favorite movies all time as its story is quite lovely. Director Robert Wise, winner of Oscars for the musicals West Side Story and The Sound of Music among several other classic films directs this classic gem that is so strange and different form other horror classics.

The Curse of the Cat People certainly is full of terror and Lewton’s signature dark, foreboding atmosphere and noirish cinematography. Instead, the film evokes the dark fairy tales of Guillermo Del Toro and the deep understanding of childhood fears as it feels like a fairy-tale.  

The film is set in Tarrytown, also known as Sleepy Hollow, and while it was shot in California, the realistic sets, cinematography, and atmosphere perfectly evoke the dreamy, haunted mood of small-town upstate New York. The authentic feel of the film is no doubt due to the fact that Lewton based much of the details of Amy’s world on his own childhood, growing up near Tarrytown. Like Amy, he was fascinated and terrified of the legend of the Headless Horseman. The classic folktale of Sleepy Hollow is discovered by Amy during the film.

Ann Carter is astounding in the role of Amy, taking another otherworldly turn after playing Veronica Lake’s enchantress daughter in I Married a Witch as she gives out such a wonderful performance in her role. Simone Simon who literally plays the role of a good fairy/fairy princess as Irena She’s an angelic presence that, again, could be perceived as evil because she is so ethereal. It also has wonderful acting by its entire cast.

By the nature of the movie’s story you are really in a fairy-tale that feels dreamlike and echoes many other childhood fairy-tale classics with its even Gothic touches that feel right out of a fairy-tale. I used adore to read old fairy-tales as a boy as had book collecting them this movie really captures that feeling of those classic tales form grim tales to the legends of folk tales that evoke such a dreamlike fairy-tale feeling. 

The film tracks a period of time from late autumn through Christmas and ends on a snowy Twelfth Night. Each sequence is steeped in rich seasonal atmosphere, and the hauntingly beautiful Christmas sequences make The Curse of the Cat People a perfect pick for any spooky flavored holiday season. In one of the film’s most famous scenes, Amy’s family has invited carolers into their home on Christmas Eve. While the merry group gathers around the piano to sing “Shepherds Shake off Your Drowsy Sleep,” Amy remains separated from the group. She hears another soft, distant singing. Gazing out the window, she sees Irena standing in the snowy garden, under a tree frosted with ice. She is singing a different carol — “Il Est Né, Le Divin Enfant” — just for Amy. It’s one of the most gorgeous, magical scenes ever put to film.

The Curse of the Cat People is rather a fairy tale in a way it’s very much a movie that feels more dreamlike like the classic fairy-tale classics form The magical tone of the movie is reminiscent of Rene Clair or similar fantastic directors of the era that feels so much more fun to watch unfold on the screen as it captures the childhood feel so great. The Curse of the Cat People is hardly a horror story at all as its more a Gothic fairy-tale which really makes it one of a kind for movies of its time. This is a lovely, haunting film that you will simply enjoy to watch anytime.

night of living dead:Night of Anubis

night of living dead:Night of Anubis(orginal title)

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Today I review the cult classic night of living dead. The original title was Night of Anubis as the original work print had that title on its reels. The lost work-print was cut and removed from screens before even released on screens. The new Criterion Collection version that is the closest we get to a director’s cut of night of the living dead contains the original work-print among many other wonderful extras about this marvelous classic. Night of the living dead is one of the finest horror movies ever made. I review night of living dead now for my blog.

night of living dead review

Night of the Living Dead, was directed by George A. Romero is a horror masterpiece and a cult classic that still gets such high praise even today for its many wonderful traits. George A. Romero’s Night of the Living was released in 1968 as it turns 50 years old this year finally got its true directors cut this year under a release form Criterion this year which is the closest to recapturing the magic of the original classic movie screening of this magical gem.

The story of this movie is very basic, a group of random individuals happen to meet up at house to hide from flesh-eating entranced humans aka zombies. Bruce Capristo, the head of the makeup department did a great job at making the zombies look like normal people as they all look like such real people makes you feel for them even if they are flesh eating monsters about to eat people alive.

Duane Jones as Ben leads the pack with his remarkable role that really showcases such raw talent. Judith O’Dea as Barbra is marvelous she really is such a wonderful actress as who would forget the line they are coming to get you Barbara. Karl Hardman as Harry Cooper really shines in his role. Marilyn Eastman as Helen Cooper gives us a marvelous performance. I would say that the entire cast even supporting cast even bit players all give out marvelous acting performances that all do shine truly to bring to life this classic.

The wonderful directing by George A. Romero along with the marvelous screenplay by  John A. Russo  and George A. Romero that does such wonders to bring to bring to life a tale that is truly marvelous to watch unfold on the screen.

This movie showed something that could have only occurred pre-Watergate. At one point, the people trapped in the farmhouse discover a television and turn it on in search of news of what is going on. Something almost as remarkable to today’s audiences as the dead rising from their graves is seen to occur. In Washington, reporters confront a government official about the situation, the government official tells the reporters the truth, and everyone believes what the government has told them. All of this would be truly remarkable in today’s environment of mutual mistrust between citizens as we would doubt such things today but it does still feel so raw and real even now.

The sense of dread and bleak horror that seems comes off watching night of the living dead with moments that bring you hope to only to take it away from you. The movie makes most of the group of people that all have their own agenda that makes it feel so much more real and gripping and raw to watch unfold on the screen. We have war, pollution and division between the rich and the poor that always seems to be traits we have as a society through our values, culture and norms we create division among ourselves yet if we unite we can overtime such moments we can overcome anything. I feel it raises such a question, so in a way the movie is questioning our values as a society about race and other moral questions of our society. Night of the living is a classic movie that you simply should see today.

The Ruth rating:

I walked with a zombie

I walked with a zombie(https://www.facebook.com/Wolffianclassicmoviesdigest)

It’s undoubtedly the most atmospheric of the Lawton/Tourneur film collaborations as its told in flashbacks by y nurse Betsy Connell, Frances Dee. The horror aspects of I walked with a zombie is very minor in regard to its overall story. I walked with a zombie takes a different way of horror then most of the horror of universal horror of its day as it more what you don’t see that scares you in this film then what is seen by you. It doe harkens back to classic universal horror of the 1930’s its dreamlike approach to cinematic storytelling. This movie has Lyrical and atmospheric story-telling as this film uses very heavy use of that classic trait of story-telling trait.

This movie is a rehash of the Charlotte Bronte classic Jean Eyre in a classic sense. The supernatural and unknown is shown in the form of the Island’s native’s belief in Voodoo was shown in a way as how one can be put under its spell as its the original sense of zombies on the screen. This movie is an Eerie, poetic horror film with such rich black and white camera work that captures it in a richly psychological way. This movie is more about what the eyes do not see to scare you on screen. The acting performance of everyone shines in this movie as you watch it unfold on the screen.

Director Jacques Tourneur is perfectly in tune with his producer to unhinge the audience by way of an approaching dread we can’t see on the screen. The movie has haunting elegiac sequences linger long in the memory after you see this movie. This is a marvelous classic that was written by Curt Siodmak, the concept for the piece came about by way of a number of newspaper articles that were telling of voodoo and witchcraft in Haiti as this is simply a marvelous classic you should see today.

The Ruth rating: