RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR – “HOW MONSTER FILMS DEFINED MY LIFE”

RANTS & RAVINGS ABOUT HORROR – “HOW MONSTER FILMS DEFINED MY LIFE”

Early this year during the 2017 Something Wicked Film Festival (www.somethingwickedfilmfestival.com), Festival Panel Moderator Jim Adams created a panel discussion that would forever define the future of panel discussions for the event (especially since I’m the Festival Director and I just hired him to be the Official Festival Panel Moderator.  One of Mr. Adams’ first duties were to come up with some original ideas for new panel discussions and thus “How Monster Films Defined My Life” was born. 

Now I know part of the reason why Mr. Adams decided on this topic for a panel discussion is because he has the podcast “Monster Attacks!” where he has spoken at length about his love for monster films.  For many people, monster films from the Universal horrors of Dracula and The Wolfman to Hammer Studios’ Frankenstein and The Mummy were defining characters of fear from childhood.  For more modern audiences there is Leatherface and that dream demon Freddy not to mention the likes of Ghostface Killer and The Jigsaw Killer.  No matter which decade, audiences have their own nightmare monster that haunts them or fascinates them to no end.

I was one of the film-makers on this panel discussion and one of the films that defined my childhood was the Joe Dante film Gremlins (1984).  I saw this in the theater in ’84 at the early age of 8 and it left an undeniable impression on me.  The monsters were both cute and cuddly and dangerous and fun at the same time.  It was like watching a bunch of unruly children at play able to do whatever they wanted.  It also had an amazing soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith (who became my all-time favorite music composer).  The film was dark and horrifying as well as funny and entertaining.  It had the perfect mixture of comedy and horror and part of that is due to the very dark photography of the film and the fluid cinematography.  It truly became one of my all-time favorite films for which my love for other monsters would grow.

 

I didn’t grow up with the black & white Universal monsters nor had I seen many of the bloody Hammer Studio films until I became a big horror fan in my teenage and college years.  The next monster I gravitated to was that of the Good-Guy doll Chucky.  When I saw Child’s Play (1988) I had never seen anything like it before.  A serial killer uses Voodoo to possess a doll and to continue his killing spree.  Even though this film played straight into horror (unlike the more comedic sequels) it still was quite fun and entertaining.  By ’88 when this film was released and I was eleven years old I had already become a horror fan but nothing had defined my true love of the genre just yet until this film.  I got the poster for the film from the nearby Video Store (how I miss these establishments) and I placed it lovingly on my bedroom wall (where it was later joined by posters of the second and third films).  It was the first poster I ever put on my wall but it would not be the last.

I followed the continuing exploits of Chucky to cinema with Child’s Play 2 (1990) and Child’s Play 3 (1991) which I had to beg my Father to take me to since I was too young for the R-Rated horror.  At this point I did come to realize how much I loved horror films but more importantly – monster films.

At this point you could say I went looking for monsters as I learned to love all monsters big or small.

It wasn’t until Clive Barker’s Nightbreed (1990) that I wished I was one of the amazing monsters that populated our magnificent world.  Barker crafted a story where the monsters were the good guys while man was the bad guy.  This film defined the idea of what a monster could truly become.  The monsters in Barker’s film were deformed and misunderstood as well as dangerous and fascinating.

It was after this that I became a true and everlasting monster fan.  From the films featuring Godzilla and his rogue’s gallery to the Cenobites of the world of Hellraiser I loved monsters both other-worldly and those more human.  My favorites were monsters not easily described or defined like those in Christine (1983), The Thing (1982), Puppet Master (1994), Critters (1986), and especially Killer Clowns From Outer Space (1988), to name but a small few.

I most certainly enjoyed the exploits of Michael Myers and Leatherface (and family) and even those Freddy films but it was with these non-human monsters that I enjoyed more and would later define my love and appreciation of horror.  For me, monsters aren’t defined as either good nor evil but in most films, they are simply just trying to survive and do what comes naturally.  This is the defining trait of King Kong and Godzilla as well as many other timeless monster films.

Serial killers and mass murders are interesting but monsters are something from the imagination where anything that can be dreamed can become a reality.  Therefore, they’ve had such a profound effect on me as not only a film maker but a storyteller and a film lover.  If nothing else, I implore others to seek out monster movies not just for pure entertainment and enjoyment but to understand oneself and the world in which we live (and the one created for the monsters to live in).  It’s never too late to enjoy a good monster film.

To view the entire “How Monster Movies Defined My Life” panel discussion go here - https://vimeo.com/238990857

"Rants & Ravings About Horror": Week 14: “Tom Holland: The Underappreciated Director”

Week 14: “Tom Holland: The Underappreciated Director”

When you think of great horror directors the name Tom Holland is never at the top of the list and for many his name is completely unknown.  With the exception of his debut feature Fright Night (1985) and the original Child’s Play (1988) most of the rest of his films have been mostly forgotten but I’m here to say that Mr. Holland has crafted some excellent and underappreciated films and if you don’t know his films then maybe you should take a few moments to do so.

Enough has been said about Fright Night and Child’s Play to fill an entire book and I’ve already written a detailed account of my love for Child’s Play and the Chucky franchise but I would like to add that these films are a perfect genesis of childhood trauma.  Child’s Play deals with a young innocent child whose doll is corrupted by a serial killer and Fright Night deals with teen angst and fear in the disguise of a “boy who cried wolf” story.  In ’93 he directed the thriller The Temp, which starred an amazing Lara Flynn Boyle and Timothy Hutton in a suspenseful thriller of a hostile takeover and a temp too good to be true.  Boyle is at her most Sharon Stone ala Basic Instinct in this film and you can’t take your eyes off of her (and why would you want to).  This film did horrible business at the Box Office and was quickly forgotten but it is an early film of Holland’s that shows he knows how to bring the suspense without any supernatural elements.

For Stephen King fans he is known for the TV adaptation of The Langoliers (1995) and Thinner (1996).  I’ve never been a big fan of The Langoliers but I’ve always been under the impression that most King TV adaptations were more miss than hit because of the limitations of what can be shown on TV.  This being said, it is the first film in which I became known of who David Morse was and I’ve always been a huge fan of Dean Stockwell having grown up watching plenty of TV’s Quantum Leap.  Thinner, on the other hand, is one of my favorite King adaptations more for the story than any of the horror elements contained within.  This is not your typical King story as there are no monsters of real supernatural elements – just a Gypsy curse which eats away at the characters.  The film contains one of actor Robert John Burke’s finest starring performances (the other being ‘92’s Dust Devil).  The other great thing about this film is that Joe Mantegna gives one of his most entertaining performances and steals every scene he’s in.

After the dismal returns of Thinner the big screen films disappeared for Mr. Holland which is a shame since I saw this film on opening night in ’96 (like I did pretty much any film based on the works of Stephen King).  It was hard to figure out where the director of such classics (in my opinion) had disappeared off to.  Mr. Holland didn’t really disappear though but went to the small screen.

In ’90 he directed the TV movie The Stranger Within another rural thriller starring Ricky Schroder and his Fright Night pal Chris Sarandon.  I saw the film once a long time ago but have forgotten much about it.   I enjoyed more his contributions to the anthology film Two-Fisted Tales (1992) and HBO’s Tales From the Crypt.  I’m still a huge fan of Tales From the Crypt even to this day and his episode “Four-Sided Triangle” is my favorite of the three he directed.  He also contributed to Amazing Stories but I never saw his episode.   What I did enjoy was his contribution to the beloved anthology series Masters of Horror with the episode “We All Scream for Ice Cream” which starred William Forsythe.  It wasn’t one of the best episodes of the series but it was one of the more entertaining of the second (and final) seasons.  Even though Mr. Holland seems to have more or less disappeared the success of the Masters of Horror series added a renewed lease on life for him and paved the way for his own anthology series Twisted Tales (2013), which can be found on DVD/BD as Tom Holland’s Twisted Tales.  These are hit or miss but it has allowed Mr. Holland to continue to contribute to this genre that we all love.

Many of you who only know Mr. Holland from the films he directed should also know that he got his start writing the screenplays of such cult classics as The Beast Within (1982), Class of 1984 (1982), Psycho II (1983), and The Initiation of Sarah (1978).  He also delved into non-horror by writing Cloak & Dagger (1984) and directing the Whoopi Goldberg favorite Fatal Beauty (1987) but he had his greatest success in the horror and thriller genre.

The greatest thing about Mr. Holland is that he contributed so many great films that were not simple slasher or monster films but all had deeper meaning and subtext which cannot be said of many horror films.  This is one of the reasons why he has always been on my radar and why I continue to eagerly await his next film or television project.  As of right now there are rumors that he is finally working on a new feature called Killing Frank which he wrote and is directing and which stars Freddie Highmore, Melanie Lynskey, Rebecca De Mornay, and Bruce Davison.  If this is true then we all have something to look forward to in the near future.

Companion to “Conversations in Horror” - “My Favorite Evil Doll Films”

“My Favorite Evil Doll Films”

In the podcast “Conversations in Horror” hosts Ron McLellen and I look at different aspects of the horror genre in order to entertain and educate fans.  This article is a companion to the show as a means to touch upon things that the show doesn’t have time to.  Enjoy.

I decided that it was time to take a look at some of my favorite films that feature evil dolls.  Some of these films you may be very familiar with while others you may not be (which means you probably need to go out there and look them up).  If you listen to Episode #1002 then you will know that we touched upon some of these films but I will enlighten you even more. 

The film that got me most interested in evil dolls was Child’s Play (1988).  It had a profound effect on me as a child, so much that the franchise was and still remains one of my all-time favorites about Halloween, Friday the 13^th, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  The idea of using voodoo to become one with a doll and to continue killing people and manipulating a child terrified and fascinated me as a child.  It lead to my searching out other evil dolls especially Charles Band’s Puppetmaster (1989), which had some of the coolest dolls ever committed to film.  Chucky may have been the most terrifying doll there was but Band’s group of misfit and misunderstood dolls were among the most entertaining.  I still love all the films in the franchise and eagerly await a new film whenever they are released.

I think Charles Band and Full Moon Entertainment (and his various other companies) had the greatest effect on me growing up as a child because of the Puppet Master franchise and Demonic Toys (1992) and its various sequels.  Whereas the puppets of the Puppet Master franchise could be seen as good those in Demonic Toys were all bad which made them even more fun.  If there is one thing that Full Moon Entertainment does well, it is doll movies - others include Doll Graveyard (1995) and Dangerous Worry Dolls (2008), among many more.  One of the highlights of the Band produced films is Stuart Gordon’s Dolls (1987).  This is a superb film that’s over shadowed by Gordon’s other major works but no less a classic on its own.  I love this film.

Another one of my all-time favorites from this same time period is Dolly Dearest (1991), a largely ignored and forgotten film that doesn’t really have anything new to say but have always been an entertaining film.  It has not aged as well as some of the others but its slightly darker tone doesn’t come off nearly as campy as the Band produced films.  Another film in this same camp is the psychological thriller Pinocchio’s Revenge (1996), another largely forgotten film yet one that I really loved when it came out.  I’ve always had a fascination with doll films since the original Child’s Play and therefore any film featuring a doll was always high on my list.

Of a more adult vein is the Anthony Hopkins starring Magic (1978).  This is a classic psychological thriller that’s more of a character breakdown through the eyes of a ventriloquist who lets his fractured mind take over.  This is successful due to Hopkins’ powerful performance and descent into madness.  A mind not to be missed or forgotten.

Dolls continue to have a profound effect of children in the Tobe Hooper classic Poltergeist (1982) which is not a doll movie per say but it is most infamously remembered because of the clown doll that seems to have a will of its own.  This is not just a terrifying clown but a horrifying doll as well.  Makes you never want to have another doll around the house ever again.

Even more terrifying is the Zuni doll from Trilogy of Terror (1975) and its sequel of which most audiences remember the vengeful Zuni doll more than anything else in the film.  It overwhelms the narrative and ends the anthology film on a high note.  

More recent is the film Dead Silence (2007) which I thought was an amazing film overlooked by the fact that it is indeed a killer doll movie.  I love the atmosphere and the story and the look of this film.  It is written by Leigh Whannell and James Wan who had already created the creepy Billy doll in the Saw films but went one step further for this film.  They would go even one step further with their film The Conjuring (2013) which introduced the terrifying Annabelle doll (which would be the subject of her own film in 2014).

Dolls can be for good but more often than not they are the harbingers of evil (or that is there main function in horror films).  I’m not particularly afraid or scared of dolls and doll films simply interest and entertain me.  Love them or hate them evil dolls are here to stay.  I’m sure we’ll see more of them in the near future (especially in the Poltergeist remake to be released this year) but until then I suggest you seek out these films when you need something to take the edge off one night.

To watch the episode of “Conversations in Horror” go here –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypOa_wliFEI