More Halloweenies

Last night, we watched House of Frankenstein (1945), despite some strong competition from a fat bellowing pothead who was having a jam session at the apartment across the street. I wish I could record some of his fatuous roots-rockin' tunes for you, so that you could share the experience. Since it happened last night, I think we're off the hook for the rest of the weekend.Anyway--House of Frankenstein. This is a late Universal Studios effort, released 14 years after their initial Drac/Frank films. Boris Karloff plays Dr. Niemann, who wants to continue the experiments of Henry Frankenstein. He and his handy/tragic hunchback assistant, Daniel (is that really a good hunchback name?) escape from prison and end up with Dracula's corpse in a coffin, whom they revive to do a grudge killing against a burgomeister, and then Dracula (John Carradine) is quickly dispatched by the first rays of the morning sun, after only about 30 minutes of the movie, which is a strange plotting decision. Then, the Frank-monster and the Wolfman, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) are unfrozen, a gypsy girl falls in love with Larry, making the hunchback sad, the gypsy girl shoots Larry with a silver bullet, the monster throws the hunchback out a window, the villagers attack the castle, and the monster carries Dr. Niemann into quicksand. The End.

There's a lot of overt explanation of how vampires and werewolves can be killed, to set up their later deaths, and there's a lot of familiar set pieces and archetypal Universal horror characters. The next year brought House of Dracula, with the return of Carradine and Chaney, but no Boris. After that, all that was left was for the monsters to meet Abbott & Costello, since the franchise had pretty well burnt itself out (though A&C Meet F is a good movie). Would I recommend HoF? No, if you haven't seen the good Universals, yes (why not?) if you have.

BB (the other one)

Halloween Movie-Fest update

Beebo and I sat down to watch the next installment of our li'l movie series last night, after Beebo's weird experience in the apartment hallway. The film we chose was Frogs, which I picked up at a Big Lots in New Hampshire for $3.00 a year ago.

I have a very clear memory of the movie poster, from when I was six years old:Looks compelling, doesn't it? However, it's seriously misleading, as you might expect if you weren't a first-grader. The frogs are of average size, and most of the time, they're just sitting there, observing some mishap that's happening to one of the humans in the story (it's "the day that nature struck back", since the motivation is ecology, early 70s-style). Sometimes, they fly into the frame, but it's obvious that a frog wrangler is just pitching them in there to make it look like they're 'attacking'.

Star Ray Milland was in several American-International pictures in the 60s and 70s, including X -The Man With X-Ray Eyes (a classic), The Thing with Two Heads (co-starring Rosey Grier, and another movie that fascinated me as a six year-old--though it delivers!), Panic in the Year Zero (an interesting mixed bag, with post-apocalyptic co-star Frankie Avalon), and Premature Burial (owned by me, but not seen yet).

We didn't make it all the way through, since it's very boring and repetitive, but we may watch the last 15 minutes tonight. But I suggest that YOU see The Thing With Two Heads!

Halloween Movie-Fest status

Operation Watch a Lot of Old Horror Movies before Halloween is in full swing.
Here's what we've watched so far:
Sept. 2: Don't be Afraid of the Dark (an old tv-movie!)Sept. 4: Dead of Night (a classic British portmanteau film)Sept. 5: Blood on Satan's Claw (Foulard only; ye olde British Devil worshippers); Dracula A.D. 1972 (Christopher lee is reawakened in Swinging London)Sept. 6: Twins of Evil (which twin girl in the 18th century town is the vampire?)
7 or so more weeks to go!