As I’m sure most of you noticed the updates to the site have been slow the past month. I try my best to maintain content here so that you always have a reason to check in. Recently I have begun work on writing a massive creative project. Probably the biggest project I’ve ever done. When I am able to give you guys more details I will post it so in the meantime be patient.
While I am away, my good friend Scott has agreed to keep the site content rolling for the next month. Scott is an extremely talented writer that I couldn’t be more happy about contributing to Splatterpictures. His unique perspective of Horror has always kept me entertained. I think you’ll find his stuff to be some damn fine writing.
During the course of the month I will try to give some updates myself but they will most likely be bare bones stuff.
I remember first watching the trailer for the new Film Sinister a few months back and I joked about how it seemed similar in title and theme as 2011’s horror hit Insidious. We got demons we got ghost children, we got moving to a house and the titles are nearly identical. Now that I’ve finally watched Sinister I can safely say that they are indeed different films.
Sinister is directed by Scott Derrickson who’s no stranger to the genre having dipped his pen and sat in the director’s chair for a couple of horror films already. Starring in the movie is Ethan Hawke who’s had a lengthy and critically acclaimed career already.
Hawke plays a true crime writer Ellison Oswalt. Ellison experienced a major hit 10 years ago when he wrote a book called Kentucky Blood. The fame afforded him money, countless interviews; the story was made all the more remarkable because in that case he stumbled upon something the police had missed. Sadly all things come to an end and with two failed books behind him Ellison is desperate for one more hit so he can have financial and personal stability. He brings his family to a house in a small town where a grizzly murder occurred in which a family was hung to death from a tree. (We’re treated to said hanging in glorious 8mm at the beginning of the film).
At this point in the story we watch as Ellison’s wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance) and two young children basically adjust to having their lives uprooted again. Tracy is probably the least likable character. I get that she was supposed to be tired of the true crime business and didn’t want her husband writing another – especially since his books tend to make him notorious among the local police community- but she was flipping out about everything. Nag nag nag…anyways.
The scares happen when Ellison discovers a strange box of old 8mm film and projector in the attic. He watches them and quickly realizes they are home movies that always end with a family’s death. The families seem to have no relation other than; everyone is killed except for one child who goes missing. At this point the film plays out a lot like a totally different kind of horror where somebody is tracking down what seems to be a serial killer.
“I notice you, noticing me”
With every new bit of evidence Ellison discovers he becomes more and more obsessed with how these killings are connected; strange demonic symbols and person referred to as “Mr. Boogie” that is in a few frames of every killing dating back to the 1960’s. Ellison learns through a convenient connection through a local cop that these symbols are of Bagul: the eater of children. He lives in the images and once you’ve seen them it’s already too late. Ellison has to uncover the mystery of Bagul and the murders but the creeping dread that surrounds him is getting worse every day and the real question is he able to hold on to his sanity and forget his desire for literary fame long enough to save his family?
This film has a lot going for it in terms of premise and style. I liked the use of the 8mm film in a lot of places because it gives a gritty and raw feel to an otherwise slick Hollywood production. A lot of the film also hinges on Ethan Hawke’s performance while watching the grotesque images on the film which he does admirably.
The scares come frequently but people who are not fans of cheap-shot jumps will probably become frustrated as the film relies heavily on “loud noises” to create the startling effects. The most disturbing scenes come from the films themselves which are silent and the audience only has the rhythmic flicker of the tapes to accompany the grizzly murders and in this sense there is nothing supernatural about it.
An amazingly effective scene has Ethan Hawke slowly walking his house with a baseball bat while creepy ghost children keep rather skilfully out of his peripheral is in my opinion the highlight of the film.
The film falls short in several key areas. I felt a lot of the scares were predictable in that nothing really startled me at all. Also, like my complaints with another recent film The Possession” It felt all too familiar in certain key areas. Demon, obsession, angry police, occult expert shows up, inner family turmoil and things of that ilk.
Another thing I thought could have been done better was the overall look of Bagul. He looked like some Slipknot reject and while scenes with him actually in it are few I was waiting for him to just bust out a face melting guitar solo.
Sinister overall gets a passing grade from me. Even though the film has its fair share of clichés- It’s a solid movie to help you enjoy your Halloween season with. It cleverly does a balancing act between a true crime horror and a haunted house movie with a little dash of Asian horror. Hawke’s performance as I mentioned is excellent and I felt sympathetic to him in the end. (spoiler alert) no happy endings here which is something that always gets extra points from me.
I’ve decided that my first post for October will be dedicated to the Universal horror film Son of Frankenstein. Life tends to influence a lot of my writing choices and recently I was talking to a friend about sequels, which, of course makes me think of all the other times I’ve talked about sequels with people. For a lot of studios green-lighting a sequel can very well be a license to print money. It’s even more prevalent in horror because they are relatively inexpensive to make. They make a profit even if they are moderately successful. If done correctly it can re-launch careers and put studios back on top. This isn’t something that studios realized in the last ten years either.
We’ll go all the way back to 1939 – actually we’ll go back a couple of years before then to a world where Universal (due to a change in management that caused them to drop their signature horror franchises) was desperately looking for a hit. Also not without some sense of irony the stars that made a lot of those horror films so memorable; Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff were also experience slumps. Karloff was doing a lot better during the change in management because he was able to land other roles whereas Lugosi was far more typecast due to his accent.
A struggling theatre happened to do a Dracula/Frankenstein double-bill night and it was so successful that a green-light was given to restart the Frankenstein franchise. This time it would put Lugosi and Karloff together. Although this was not the first time the actors had been pared together (or even the best time) it was the first time they would both appear in one of the actors respective franchises that made their careers in the first place. Okay now we’re back in 1939.
Aside from Lugosi and Karloff the film stars Basil Rathbone as the young Baron Wolf Von Frankenstein. He’s returned to the castle of his infamous father’s legacy along with his wife Elsa (Josephine Hutchinson) and his young son Peter (Donnie Dunagan). The villagers are not too pleased by this because they’re afraid that Frankenstein will follow in his father’s footsteps and create another monster.
While at the castle Frankenstein meets Ygor (Lugosi), Ygor has been condemned by the townspeople for body snatching and was convicted and hung for his crimes. Being hung broke his neck but he managed to come back to life although now he’s horribly disfigured. The fact that his death sentence was technically carried out he is left alone in pseudo-exile.
He meets Frankenstein and shows him his father’s monster is still alive but sick and unable to move. Frankenstein – wanting to restore his father’s good name and fix the creature agrees to help Ygor and restore the monster back to good health.
Soon after the job is done it becomes obvious that the monster only listens to Ygor who wants the creature to enact his revenge against the people that condemned him to hanging. When bodies start piling up the towns Inspector Krogh (Lionel Atwill) starts to press Frankenstein about his involvement which is to say nothing about the hundreds of townspeople willing riot on the castle.
When it comes to Lugosi’s performances in his various films –everyone- has an opinion on which is his best. My opinion is that as the villainous Ygor he is truly in his element as an over-the-top character actor. Everything plays perfectly as Ygor manipulates everyone for his own gain. It’s an inspired performance that steals every scene he’s in.
Karloff himself sadly is regulated to the monsters grunts and groans throughout most of the film. Although, he is given one good scene it’s really a shame that the monster took a step backwards from the previous Bride of Frankenstein. The monster in this film is back to being unable to speak. It also doesn’t allow Karloff and Lugosi to have any really interesting scenes with eachother.
I feel like Son of Frankenstein is a satisfying enough end of a trilogy It touches on what happened to Frankenstein’s family and the townspeople after all those years. It kills of the monster in the most definitive way and ends with everyone happy. Of course Universal couldn’t leave it alone.
This marked the Last time Karloff would ever play Frankenstein’s monster for Universal. It’s interesting that this movie came out in 1939 because in more ways than one it was the end of an era. Even though the franchise continued on with other actors in the roll I never liked them as much and they really seemed like almost the start of a whole other franchise from the 40’s on.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a top ten and I felt like today was the perfect day to drop one on my unsuspecting readers. This time I’m doing themes. Music is absolutely imperative for creating mood in films and some themes stick with you and have become as iconic as the movies or characters they represent. Music can enhance the emotion of any given scene or just be fun as hell to listen to. There is no way to just do this in 10 so in the spirit of the Day I give you my top 13 Horror Movie Themes!
13 – Night of the Demons
One of my favourite Halloween horrors I not only love the theme song for how 80’s it is I just love the intro in its entirety. Just good old fashioned Halloween fun!
12 – Hellraiser
True story: one time I had the menu screen on for the Hellraiser DVD for 3 hours while I was writing something. I found the music very easy to relax to. It perfectly captures the brutal yet dignified sense of the Cenobites.
11 – Puppetmaster
Charles Band and company have made a pretty impressive industry based around their puppetmaster franchise but to me the best aspect will always be how perfectly the theme captures the creepy yet whimsical idea that puppets can kill.
10 – The Blob
Okay, this one just makes me laugh a lot. The 50’s were the heyday for drive-in-cheese and the blob is arguably the best example of it. Complete with its own toe tapping novelty song!
9 – 28 Days Later
The film isn’t perfect but it’s unmistakably brutal. The action and gritty violence were often off-centered by this haunting melody which was a beautiful touch.
8 – Candyman
Philip Glass composed this piece to match with the character of Candyman being an educated and more tragic figure. The gentle music sets the tone perfectly for one creepy bee infested love story.
7 – Zombie 2
I honestly would put this higher on the list if it was a little more iconic but as it stands the theme music for Zombie 2 is probably one of my favorite bits of soundtrack ever. I just love the weird synth tracks. This will always be the official zombie marching song to me.
6 – The Exorcist
The first time I ever saw this movie it was the films re-release in theatres. I remember just being shocked by the very virtue of the era in which this movie came out in the first place. It set the standard for creepy little girls for years to come.
5 – Saw
An undeniably powerful theme, this makes the list by not only being catchy but also mood enhancing. Although the franchise really ended on a whimper it’s hard to deny that in the first Saw movie; this song accompanied one of the best horror movie twists of the modern era.
4 – Jaws
Jaws has one of the most instantly recognizable themes to even the most casual movie goer. When it comes to knowing that something is stalking you to bite you in the ass nobody even comes close to this score.
3 – Nightmare On Elm Street
The purposefully confusing tones that strike out in this melody were supposedly supposed to emphasis that dreamlike and reality bending nature of Freddy himself. As much as I enjoyed the later incarnations of Elm Street and can enjoy the slapstick violence for what it was, the original theme always reminds me that the first Nightmare on Elm Street was there to scare us.
2 – Halloween
Halloween is full of fantastic music. Their use of mister sandman will never make me able to think of that song without thinking of Halloween. Even the misfit of the franchise Season of the Witch has a fantastic Score. For this entry I’ll go with the theme everyone is most familiar with.
1 – Friday the 13th
Okay so you probably figured out by now that I’m posting this on the 13th and there are 13 entries that the number one theme would probably be Friday the 13th. Well. You’re right smarty pants. When it comes to horror fans there is nothing more instantly recognizable than the “Ki ki ki ki Ah ah ah”. The story goes that the song came about from the words “Kill and Mom” (You don’t fuck with misses Voorhees). Not only is it well known to horror fans but – like the jaws theme; even casual viewers know of it. My favourite use of his theme was the super funky and fun version from Part 3. So enjoy!
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