HITCH (1942-2011)

This past Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, journalist, orator, raconteur and professional contrarian Christopher Hitchens finally succumbed to complications arising from esophageal cancer. He was 62 years old. With his passing, the world has lost one of the great public iconoclasts, a man singularly devoted to the pursuit of truth and the utter destruction of hypocrisy in all it's forms. His targets included Henry Kissinger , Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Dalai Lama, the current Pope, and even Mother Theresa. Not always an easy man to like or admire, Hitchens could be smug, supercilious and blatantly rude. He was, also, the champion of  several controversial and, seemingly indefensible, positions, including an unwavering support of the War in Iraq. He was a complicated man for a complicated world.

I suppose I first took notice of him on Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect" show. I remember being quite struck by this rumpled Englishman saying outrageous things about President Clinton (basically calling him a rapist) but dismissing him as some kind of right-wing whack job. How wrong I was. In Hitchen's youth he was a committed socialist and political activist against the war in Vietnam. It is to his credit as a nuanced writer and thinker that his later support of the war in Iraq seems neither contradictory nor hypocritical.

If you bother to read his various essays and articles leading up the war, you will see that his support is not based in some kind of rah-rah-go-America patriotism or a desire for post 9/11 revenge against the Muslim world. This is a person who spent a lot of time in Iraq, understood the culture, and had many valued friends in that country, and his hatred of Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath party is based in that experience. In Hitchens' opinion it was the long overdue moral responsibility of the U.S. to remove Hussein from power, the sooner the better. You may disagree, (as I do), but this was not the opinion of a republican war monger, but rather that of a committed humanist outraged on behalf of a nation about which he cared deeply.

If Hitchens was well known for anything in the States it was his tireless and vocal promotion of aetheism and his distaste for religion. This debate is particularly illustrative, as it represents him at his best and worst. When debating religion he could be arrogant and dismissive, taking his anti-god stance as a moral and intellectual given. Conversely, he was, also, at his wittiest and most passionate. I recommend trolling youtube for anything involving Hitchens and religion. There are literally hours of footage of Hitchens debating religion, all of it entertaining, enlightening, and intellectually stimulating. There are worse ways to spend a cold winter afternoon.

As I feared, this post is far too literal and plodding to do justice to such a talented polemicist, but I do want to mention one more important aspect of his writing. He was also a fine literary critic, and I highly recommend any of his essays on great books and authors. This is Hitchens at his happiest, discussing what is really important to him. Of course it helps that he and I are in agreement on many of our favourite writers. I've been thrilled over the years to read his thoughts on such figures as James Joyce, Jorge Luis Borges and Patrick O'Brian and find them so close to my own. It was this, more than his political stances or his anti-religious activities, that made him a personal hero of mine. Well, that and his utter fearlessness in the face of, not only political and intellectual opposition, but his own mortality.

This last observation I will allow Mr. Hitchen's to illustrate in his own words.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbBVB66DC5k&feature=related

Anyone interested in sampling Christopher Hitchen's work will want to check out his archive on the Slate website. Further reading should include his excellent autobiography Hitch-22, his essay collection Love, Poverty and War, his stirring anti-religion polemic God is Not Great plus: Letters to a Young Contrarian, Why Orwell Matters and Thomas Paine's Rights of  Man: A Biography.

Words and phrases I say too often

Douche
Douchebag
Douchetard
(Fill in the blank)tard
awesome
actually
anyway
There you are
There you go
There it is
Yeah, that'll happen.
That's no way to behave.
spectacular
excellent
awesome
dude
palpable
ostensibly
F*ck me! (as an exclamation not an invitation.....mostly)
Madre Dios!
Damn you Sharktopus!
God F*cking Dammit!
C*cksucking F*cking Whore!
C*cksucking Motherf*cking Whore!
I hate Edmonton.
I know, right?

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 31 HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

"I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply...evil"

HALLOWEEN  (1978)

Directed by John Carpenter

I know, obvious choice, but hear me out.

John Carpenter's "Halloween", the story of psychopath Michael Myers stalking, terrorizing and, ultimately, slaughtering a group of teenagers on October 31st, is a nearly perfect film. The budget is small and the story couldn't be simpler but, somehow, the director turns this little horror film into a masterclass of film aesthetics. Music, editing, fluid camera movement, flawless composition and innovative use of the widescreen frame all combine to create a masterpiece of sustained suspense. This is a director with an absolute command of the language of cinema.
The simplicity and skill of "Halloween" make this a movie I can revisit over and over again, usually right about this time of year. You can argue that Carpenter surpassed his work here with his brilliant version of "The Thing", a film that looks better with every passing year, but I still find "Halloween" his most compulsively watchable film.
Veteran character actor Donald Pleasence is inspired as the eccentric, Dr. Loomis but it's Jamie Lee Curtis' performance as Lorie Strode that has proved influential to this day. The character of the young woman who proves smart and strong enough to survive is still the template for contemporary horror movie protagonist and not likely to change anytime soon.
Despite it's worthy predecessors (which would include "Deep Red", the original "Black Christmas" and of course, Hitchcock's "Psycho") I belive that "Halloween" is still the supreme example of the unstoppable, knife-wielding killer movie. It has inspired a legion of mediocre imitators but that does not, in any way, detract from it's power or acheivement. It remains my favourite horror film.

So that's that, 31 horror films in as many days. I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts and, maybe, discovered some new titles to consider. I don't know when I'll be back as I'm pretty busy these days. Maybe at Christmas time I'll write about how crappy most Santa movies are.
What do you think?

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 30.5

WHAT WAS LEFT OFF AND WHY

31 just isn't enough. Here are some titles that didn't make the list but deserve a mention:

JAWS (1975):  Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" is one of my very favourite movies and it's certainly full of scares and suspense, but I've never really thought of it as a horror film. I've always approached it as a suspense thriller that morphs into an adventure film at about the halfway mark.

CARRIE (1976): Great movie and one of the fundamental works of modern horror. I would have happily written about it but I just couldn't find a spot on my list.

THE OMEN (1975): I love "The Omen" but I've never found it scary at all. It's a solid, classy, well made film with an a-list cast and I do recommend it, but it's also kind of stupid.

RE-ANIMATOR (1985): Arghhh, I hated leaving this film off the list! Stuart Gordon's black comedy Lovecraft adaptation is hilarious, gross, sexy (kinda), offensive and highly entertaining, with a terrific career defining performance from Jeffrey Combs. Basically it came down to this and "Ginger Snaps" and I went with the Canadian choice.

PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1987) &  IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (1994): Two wonderfully entertaining films from John Carpenter that, along with "The Thing", form a  sort of loose "apocalypse trilogy." "In the Mouth of Madness" is a particular favourite of mine.

DOG SOLDIERS (2002): Neil Marshall's debut feature is an entertaining riff on "Aliens" and "Night of the Living Dead" featuring soldiers holed up in a remote farmhouse surrounded by ravenous werewolves. Lot's of fun, but I went with his follow up "The Descent" which I think is a scarier, more powerful film.

DEAD ALIVE  (aka BRAINDEAD) (1992)  &  THE FRIGHTENERS (1996) : Two fun features from a pre-LOTR Peter Jackson. "Dead Alive" is a great over the top zombie "splat-stick" comedy but, as enjoyable as it is, I ultimately end up finding it a bit tiresome in it's endless parade of goofy jokes and gore gags. ""The Frighteners" is a sadly underrated horror fantasy that came very close to making my list.

THE ORPHANAGE  (EL ORFANATO)  (2007): A lovely yet creepy ghost story from Spain, produced by Guillermo del Toro. Despite my admiration for this film, I ended up going with "The Devil's Backbone" instead.

WITCHFINDER GENERAL (aka THE CONQUERER WORM) (1968): Michael Reeves' film is really more of an historical drama than a horror movie so I decided to leave it off the list, although I recommend it highly. If nothing else it contains what I believe is Vincent Price's finest ever performance. Seriously, he's great.

BLACK SUNDAY  ( LA MASCHERA DEL DEMONIO) (1960): I could include any number of films on this list from the great Mario Bava, including "Black Sabbath", "The Whip and the Body" or 'Bay of Blood" but I'm sticking with what may be his masterpiece.  A beautifully atmospheric Gothic horror story with stunning black and white cinematography, this film contains images as striking and elegant as any found in Jean Cocteau.

THE MIST (2007): Another strong Stephen King adaptation from Frank Darabont, this story of desperate people trapped in a supermarket by a mysterious mist filled with horrible monsters is one the best and most underrated American horror movies of the decade. If it has any major flaw it's a tendency towards heavy handed allegory but his is more than made up for by the devastating, uncompromising ending.

REPULSION (1965): Supreme psychological horror film from director Roman Polanski that remains one the the most disturbing portraits of madness in the cinema. Who would believe that the ethereally beautiful Catherine Deneuve could be so frightening.

....and I could go on but I'll stop here. I would be remiss if I didn't mention one more film though.

PSYCHO (1960)  Of course it's a masterpiece. Of course it's an absolutely essential work of American cinema that opened up whole new doors for mature and challenging content. Of course Anthony Perkins creates one of the all time greatest, and scariest, film characters in Norman Bates.
So, why isn't it on my list? Basically, I just wasn't interested in writing about it. You know what it is, and if you haven't seen it by now it's your loss.

So that's it. Be back tomorrow with my final movie which is also my all time favourite horror film.
I'm sure you all suspect what it is by now but please, no spoilers.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 30

"What are they doing? Why do they come here?"

DAWN OF THE DEAD  (1978)

Directed by George Romero

I saw the first two George Romero zombie classics in the wrong order. I can't say my age for sure, but I know that the first time I watched "Dawn of the Dead' I had yet to see "Night of the Living Dead" so I was confused, disoriented and horrified. The movie begins at a TV station in a state of total chaos. Clearly, there is some kind of national emergency that is spiraling out of control. Some pundits on the television are arguing furiously about how to deal with the situation, while the staff of the TV station are rapidly abandoning their posts. Cut to a S.W.A.T. team storming a building where the residents have refused to leave. Within minutes, an innocent man gets his head blown clean off by an insane racist cop while another man staggers back to his family and when his wife embraces him he takes a huge gory bite out of her shoulder. What the hell was going on?

So that's how I was introduced to the cinematic world of George Romero's zombie apocalypse, and I've been a fan ever since. As the film progressed, I quickly caught on to the basic situation but never lost my sense of fear or tension. Much is made of "Dawn of the Dead" as a social satire or black comedy and that element is definitely there , but on my first viewing I experienced it purely as a violent and unpredictable horror film.  I will say, however, that the fundamental satirical conceit, that the mall walking zombies represent a sort of all encompassing, dehumanising consumerism has proven eerily prescient. Go to a mall, especially first thing in the morning, and see if you disagree.

One of the all time great horror films and a masterpiece of subversive genre cinema.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 29

"Beware the moon, David."

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON  (1981)

Directed by John Landis

I must have been about 13 when I first saw this movie and that was just the right age as far as I'm concerned. I already loved comedy, was just beginning to appreciate horror films and here was a movie that was both in almost equal measure. ( I say "almost" because I  think, ultimately, it is a horror movie, and a tragic on at that.) It had so much for me too enjoy, including two appealing leading performances, some great scary moments, lots of good funny lines, a fantastic monster and naked Jenny Agutter. No wonder this is one of my favourite movies.
Anyway, David Naughton and Griffin Dunne have a great rapport as the two unfortunate young Americans who encounter a werewolf on the moors of Northern England with predictably dire consequences. I particularly like the way Dunne maintains his sense of humour after death and decomposition set in. (Watch the movie and the previous sentence will make sense, I swear.) The film is beautifully paced and always entertaining as we follow the poor doomed character, played by Naughton, towards his inevitable horrible transformation.
And what a transformation! Thirty years later it is still unmatched in it's power and believability. You feel every cracking bone and each stretching tendon. The great makeup artist, Rick Baker, achieved a masterpiece that no cgi has ever come close to matching. This is not an opinion; it's a fact.

An important movie in my development as a film fanatic and one I cherish to this day.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 28

"My family's always been in meat."

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE  (1974)

Directed by Tobe Hooper

At this point, I certainly don't need to defend "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" as a horror film. If you've seen it, you already know the visceral power of Tobe Hooper's nightmarish classic. If you haven't there are a few things that might surprise you.
First of all, although this is certainly a violent and disturbing film, it is not gory in the least. There is not one onscreen gore effects and very little blood. This is probably due to budget restrictions as much as anything else, but it still needs to be pointed out as it flies in the face of the film's reputation. As much as any horror film of the past the primary power of this movie is in atmosphere and the building of tension.  Well, at least until the last act.
This film is gritty. It looks and feels as hot and sticky as a summer's afternoon in southern Texas. The hideous house, where Leatherface and his family carry out their ghastly deeds, is a triumph of low budget horror aesthetics, emphasising filth and rot and further adding to the discomforting physical nature of the movie.
So  Hooper's film looks and feels unpleasant, features unpleasant characters (even the victims are pretty loathsome) and involves even more unpleasant deeds and consequences/ So why watch it at all?
Well no reason at all, except that "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" is as valid a work of art as any film known to me. Very much a product of it's turbulent age, the movie is both a groundbreaking work of realistic violence and an effective allegory for a country in the throes of social unrest and cultural conflict. So there's that.
Getting back to old Leatherface, despite his hideous appearance, he does not fit into the usual category of slasher monsters/villains. It's true he tends to murder easily and without mercy but unlike say Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers, I don't believe he's truly evil. What we have here is, clearly, a mentally challenged adult raised in a violent abusive home filled with degenerates. If you watch closely you'll see that almost everything he does is motivated, not by sadism or cruelty, but fear. Fear of discovery by the outside world and fear of punishment and abuse from his cruel brothers(?).So have a little sympathy for the big guy, he's doing his best in a bad sitruation.

Two more things:
Only one person in the movie is actually killed with a chainsaw.
The film's final shots are suprisingly striking and evocative. See if you don't think so.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 27

"What an excellent day for an exorcism."

THE EXORCIST  (1973)

Directed by William Friedkin

Of all the movies on this list of 31, this is the one that frightens me the most. This is the one that makes me turns the lights on when it's all over. This is the title that I prefer to not think about when I'm trying to fall asleep at night. So, I'm very glad to be able to write about this film and explain exactly what it is I find so unsettling about this film.
I don't believe in the Devil, or devils. I don't believe in possession. I don't believe that evil is a force that exists outside of the human mind. This Catholic stuff basically rolls right off my back. I find "satanic" subjects no more disturbing than any other kind of scary story. (Actually, I think "The Omen" is kind of a hoot.) So it's none of that.
What is it then? It's simply this. Over the course of two hours we watch the very convincing transformation of a sweet innocent child into the most horrible, profane creature imaginable. It is this physical manifestation of all things horrible and malignant that I've never been able to shake off. Demon Regan gets under my skin like nothing else in the movies. The combination of Linda Blair's performance, Mercedes McCambridge's voice work and Dick Smith's extraordinary make-up unite to create the most profioundly disturbing onscreen monster known to me.
Of course, it helps that director William Friedken and screenwriter William Peter Blatty take their time establishing an everyday naturalistic world filled with recognizably human characters in the film's first act. This makes it all the more disturbing when the full blown horror of the possession kicks in at around the halfway mark.
Interestingly, modern audiences don't react to this film the same way. On it's last release it was reported that younger audiences, perhaps un-used to a straight-faced non-ironic approach to horror material, often laugh during the movie's most intense moments. Well, that's one way of dealing with the challenge of  "The Exorcist."
All I know is, this is the film that makes me, at least for the duration of it's running time, believe in evil. Pure, unadulterated malicious evil.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 26

"You gotta be fucking kidding."

THE THING  (1982)

Directed by John Carpenter

There were two classic science-fiction films released in 1982 that were underrated or despised by critics and largely ignored by audiences. The first was Ridley Scott's majestic"Blade Runner", the second was this startling explosion of visceral horror from John Carpenter. It seems in the summer of "E.T."  the public was unprepared for an alien encounter of uncompromising bleakness filled with graphic and disturbing violence. If you're unaware, this story of scientists in Antarctica encountering a hostile alien lifeform is a remake of a classic fifties monster movie of the same name. Critics hauled out the ridiculous old argument that "less is more" when it comes to onscreen horror, while simultaneously using the, admittedly very fine, original to beat this superior movie into submission.
Well, I liked the film right away (and "Blade Runner" too, but that's a story for another time) recognizing that Carpenter had created a ground breaking new classic of paranoid fear and traumatic body horror. Rob Bottin's practical make up effects are unmatched, to this day, in their creativity and versatility. No CGI could ever match the level of craftsmanship he brought to the many and varied transformations that occur in this film. The protean creature at the heart of this story will never reach the iconic status of say, H.R. Giger's Alien design, but is all the more disturbing for it's lack of consistent physical form. It is anything and anyone and will do whatever it takes to survive.
Kurt Russell is, as always, a solid manly hero and despite the claims of critics, the characters are fairly well developed considering the nature and pace of the story. Carpenter is smart enough to cast memorable character actors who are able to flesh out the characters within the, admittedly limited, parameters of the plot. Cinematographer Dean Cundy does his best ever work in a Carpenter film, capturing an overpowering sense of claustrophobia and all encompassing cold. The great Ennio Morricone contributes a minimalist score that effectively underlines the increasing hopelessness of the situation.
As with all the films on this list, I could go on, but I'll say just one more thing. If I had to name John Carpenter's masterpiece, it would be a tough call but I would probably say "The Thing." That being said, although it's close, it is not my favourite film from his very rich filmography.
That is still to come.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 25

"Bones are bent outward, like he exploded from the inside."

ALIEN  (1979)

Directed by Ridley Scott

Of course, "Alien" is as much a masterwork of science-fiction as horror, perhaps even more so. That's okay though, the two genres have been linked since the very beginning. After all, Mary Shelly's novel "Frankenstein" is a story of science run amok, not supernatural horror. Besides that, "Alien" is a truly frightening movie with one of the best and most profoundly horrifying monsters in the history of cinema.
The story is familiar to all by now. The crew of the deep space freighter Nostromo is awakened early from "hypersleep" to investigate what seems to be a distress call of unknown origin. They investigate and discover something....indescribable. Terror and death ensue.
The visuals are so self-assured that it's amazing to consider that this was only the second film from director Ridley Scott. The Nostromo is a masterpiece of design, a truly lived-in spaceship filled with dark corners and narrow corridors in which any horror could hide. The cast is an A-list of great character actors who manage to make real people out of potentially one-dimensional victims. Then there's the title creature, as grotesque a nightmare as I ever hope to see on screen, but also, strangely compelling and fascinating.
This is film-making of the highest order, genre or otherwise. Ridley Scott will always be a director of interest, but once upon a time he could be ranked among the very best. Here's hoping he still might have a masterpiece ir two left to give us.

Speaking of sci-fi horror, wait'll you see what I have for you tomorrow.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 24

"Susie, do you know anything about...witches?"

SUSPIRIA  (1977)

Directed by Dario Argento

The horror movie as dark fairy tale. A visually ravishing story of innocence and beauty threatened by corrupt and unclean evil, with a narrative that seems to follow the logic of a dream.
Of course that's just a fancy way of saying this is a beautiful film that doesn't make a lick of sense.

Here's the thing though. Horror, especially supernatural horror, is a genre that can allow for poetry (in this case overpowering visual aesthetics) to supplant prose (a coherent plot) while still effectively accomplishing the filmmakers goal. In this case, to frighten and disorient the audience, echoing the prediction of the heroine. That heroine is Susie Bannion, well played by Jessica Harper, an American ballet student studying abroad. Once she reaches the prestigious Italian academy where she's meant to study, it doesn't take her long to realize that there is something profoundly wrong with the place. (Or is it normal for ballet schools to have rooms filled with razor wire? I gotta plead ignorance here.) Anyway, the plot thickens. Something about witches and ancient evil and, you know, the usual.

Dario Argento seems to have slipped in recent years, but this is one of his masterpieces, made at the height of his creative powers. The juxtaposition of lovely colourful visuals, sensuous camera movement and absolutely brutal violence is strange, jarring and entirely cinematic.
This is pure film.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 23

"Hello Danny. Come and play with us. Come and play with us, Danny. Forever...and ever...and ever."

THE SHINING  (1980)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Any collaboration between sensibilities as disparate as those of Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick was liable to create something muddled if not outright schizophrenic. Sure enough, "The Shining" is thematically and  narratively kind of a mess. Is it a psychological thriller or a haunted house movie? Does the evil exist as a real force or does is it inherent in the character? What does Grady mean when he tells Jack that he's "always been the caretaker"? Who let Jack out of the dry goods locker? Does the hotel want Jack or the boy? If it wants the boy, then what does the photograph at the end signify? What exactly was the guy in the bear (dog?) costume doing to the man in the tuxedo? What does this movie mean?!?

Know what? It doesn't matter because "The Shining" is a masterpiece. No horror film is better shot, better utilizes sound and music or has a more coherent sense of  it's environment. The Overlook Hotel is one of the best explored settings in film history, lending verisimilitude to the eerie, inexplicable events of the story. Stephen King has huge problems with Kubrick's interpretation of his work and that is certainly his right but, if anything, the coldness and emotional starkness of the film is a little more effective than King's warmer, more literal minded novel. Sorry Steve, just my opinion.

Here's another opinion that'll put me firmly in the minority. Jack Nicholson is terrific in the movie, but he's out acted by Shelly Duvall. Yeah, yeah I know, she's weak and annoying. She's also real, and as the Grady ghost(?) points out, far more resourceful than she seems.

Also, another great movie with a weirdly shitty poster.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 22

"Groovy."

EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN  (1987)

Directed by Sam Raimi

The first time I watched Sam Raimi's original "Evil Dead" film, it scared the hell out me. Despite the crudeness of some of the effects work it was (and remains) an intense, and wildly inventive, piece of horror cinema. Therefore, it pains me top say that it did not make it onto this list. It very nearly did but in the end I went with the even more inventive, and surprisingly hilarious, sequel.

Evil Dead 2 is officially a sequel but, as often as not, feels like a remake of the ferocious original played for comedy. All the wild camera tricks and over the top the top gore effects are amped up to the point of hilarity. Furthermore, in this film we witness the birth of a great comic actor.
Before this sequel he was just the guy from "Evil Dead", but after this film he became BRUCE CAMPBELL beloved cult star, comedy action hero and all around geek icon. His performance in the film is inspired lunacy, hitting all the right notes of comic desperation at the edge of madness. Campbell particularly shines while performing the very painful looking physical comedy. Clearly this was an actor willing to go the distance.

Still, this IS a horror film. It is filled with violence, gore, a few good jump scares and unpleasantness of all sorts. If you don't mind all of that (and I assume if you're reading this you don't) then "Evil Dead 2" is a truly a great time. The third sequel "Army of Darkness" is even goofier but still worth a look for Campbell, if nothing else.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 21

"He has his father's eyes."

ROSEMARY'S BABY  (1968)

Directed by Roman Polanski

The same year George Romero released his revolutionary independent production, a major Hollywood studio gave us a horror classic of a very different kind. "Rosemary's Baby" is a subtle, elegantly constructed film filled with sly humor that also manages to be profoundly creepy and unsettling. Roman Polanski is a master of psychological suspense (in fact, he has two other films that almost made this list) and this film is one of his masterpieces. The slowly mounting sense of dread and paranoia surrounding helpless waif-like Rosemary Goodhouse is powerful and unnerving, building to one of the great endings in cinema, period. Ruth Gordon won a supporting actor Oscar as the "helpful" old lady next door but John Cassevetes is equally strong as her self-absorbed, opportunistic husband.
Another must see.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 20

"They're coming to get you, Barbara."

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD   (1968)

Directed by George Romero

The granddaddy of the modern zombie film; it all begins here.
Apart from that, this is a radical low budget masterpiece that changed the horror genre, and American film making, forever. Clearly, there's no way that we can understand today how shocking and transgressive it must have appeared in 1968 but, nevertheless, "Night of the Living Dead" remains a powerful and gripping film. Romero's direction is somewhat crude but always effective, grounding the outrageous premise in grim realism, and the story is never less than completely absorbing .
I could go on, but I'm trying to keep these short. If you haven't already seen it, now is the time, and the season, to treat yourself.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 19

"God! God! Whose hand was I holding?"

THE HAUNTING   (1963)

Directed by Robert Wise

There are several memorable haunted house movies I could have included in this project including "The Innocents", "The Changeling" and "The Others" but for me the quintessential film on the subject is Robert Wise's "The Haunting." The oldest film I've included, it remains a genuinely chilling and creepy experience and I'd stack it up against any modern ghost story. This is a film that generates fear entirely through sound, shadow and suggestion. The ambiguity of the supernatural elements may be annoying to modern audiences used to being spoon fed answers, but to hell with those people anyway.
Great movie.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 18

"I'm twelve, but I've been twelve for a long time."

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (LAT DEN RATTE KOMME IN)  (2008)

Directed by Tomas Alfredson

I once described this film as a lovely story about the burgeoning friendship between two lonely children, one of whom happens to be a vampire. That's an okay description, but hardly captures the elements that make "Let the Right One In" so special. Director Alfredson maintains a mood of quiet desperation and subtle menace throughout, never losing the emotional reality of the story amongst the potentially sensationalistic genre trappings.
A film that proves that there is still horror, magic and poetry to be found in vampire stories.

For the record, the American remake "Let Me In" is actually very good, successfully recreating much of the mood and quality of the original. The problem is that it is completely redundant and evidently audiences thought so too, as it was a complete box office flop. Maybe if the vampire sparkled in the sun......nah that would just be stupid.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 17

"Silver bullets my ass!"

THE HOWLING  (1981)

Directed by Joe Dante

This modern classic is the product of two talented but perennially under appreciated American filmmakers. The smart, darkly comic screenplay is by indie pioneer John Sayles, and it's directed with style and wit by underrated genre master Joe Dante. A strange story of werwolves and quack psychology, "The Howling" works equally well as straight up gory horror and biting (pun sorta intended) satire. The performances are mostly strong and Rob Bottin's cutting edge make up effects still hold up today. These are some of the best lycanthropes ever commited to celluloid.

Interestingly this was one of two ground breaking werewolf films released in 1981.
More on the other one later.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 16

"Many of you will die."

THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE  (EL ESPINAZO DEL DIABLO)  (2001)

Directed by Guillermo del Toro

Lovely, poetic ghost story from the great Guillermo del Toro. Set in an orphanage during the last days of the Spanish Civil War, this beautifully crafted film has several good creepy scenes but is, ultimately, more interested in moving us than delivering scares. Guillermo Navarro's cinematography is outstanding whether he's capturing the harsh, bright desert landscape or the eerie Gothic interiors of the crumbling institution. I don't want to give away much of the plot, but I will say, in this film del Toro and his team give us one of cinema's great ghosts in Santi, a forlorn figure of great pathos
A really wonderful movie.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 15

"I'm an English teacher, not fucking Tomb Raider!"

THE DESCENT  (2005)

Directed by Neil Marshall

"The Descent" is the first and only movie to almost make me flee the theatre. Not because of violence or creepy critters or anything like that; rather it was the palpable sense of being trapped beneath tons of earth and stone. If you haven't seen it, the film involves a group of lady spelunkers who find themselves lost in a vast network on unexplored caves, and it turns out they're not alone.
Neil Marshall directs with his usual sure hand and the all female cast register strongly in well defined roles, preventing this from becoming just another body count film. Be careful if you have any suspicion of latent claustrophobia. I'm serious.
Also, great fucking poster!

The OCTOBER PROJECT Part 14

"I get this ache...And I, I thought it was for sex, but it's to tear everything to fucking pieces."

GINGER SNAPS   (2000)

Directed by John Fawcett

In 2000 horror was in a pretty rough state. A combination of redundant, amped-up remakes and an unfortunate tendency towards smirking irony was bleeding the genre of any power or relevance. So, it was an incredible breath of fresh air to encounter a truly character driven piece that gave an interesting new spin on a classic horror scenario. The two sisters in "Ginger Snaps" are realistic, three dimensional characters who the audience truly becomes invested in, making the underlying tragedy of the story that much more powerful. The connection screenwriter Karen Walton makes between lycanthropy and menstruation is, admittedly, potentially icky, but she and director John Fawcett handle it with wit, style and genuine pathos.
Does this movie have the cult following it deserves yet? If not, sign me up.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 13

" There was...there was this guy; he had knives for fingers."

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET  (1984)

Directed by Wes Craven

Freddy Krueger is, without question, an icon of horror, even though many sequels, and a remake, have largely diluted his impact. Somewhere along the way he became a wisecracking anti-hero, more a figure of fun than fear. This makes it all the more startling to return to the original film and realize how scary it actually is. Freddy is genuinely frightening and disturbing in his first outing and the premise of the film, that of a creature that can kill you in your dreams, was exciting and original.
If you haven't watched it in a while maybe give it a revisit, director Wes Craven and star Robert Englund really did create a classic.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 12

"You don't came back from Villa Graps!"

KILL BABY KILL  (OPERAZIONE PAURA)  (1966)

Directed by Mario Bava

When I decided to compile a list of horror films I knew I'd have to include at least one by the great
Mario Bava. The only problem is, the Italian maestro has a very large and notable filmography from which to draw. I considered his Gothic masterpiece "Black Sunday", as well as his excellent anthology film, "Black Sabbath" but settled, finally, on this chilling ghost story with a ridiculous title.
Anyway, despite it's age (and the garish title), this story of a cursed village haunted by the ghost of an evil child, still has the capacity to creep you out. Not only that, but this unsung classic remains influential to this day. "The Sixth Sense" and "The Devil's Backbone" are just two examples of recent films that borrow visual and thematic elements from "Kill Baby Kill".
If you're interested in the horror genre and you haven't seen any films by Mario Bava, give yourself  a treat and check him out as soon as possible.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 11

"You play a good game boy, but the game is finished, now you die."

PHANTASM  (1979)

Directed by Don Coscarelli

A personal favourite of mine, this wacky low budget horror/sci-fi mash up is one of the the most unusual films you'll ever see. A young boy investigates creepy goings on at the local funeral parlour and discovers...well, that would be telling.
 Wildly inconsistent in tone, with amateurish acting and dialogue, "Phantasm" is more weird than scary, but it's always a lot of fun. How can you not love a film where a severed finger in a box turns, for no discernible reason, into a monstrous fly? Angus Scrimm as "The Tall Man" is an unforgettable mixture of creepy and campy and is clearly having the time of his life.
So enjoy, but if you see a flying silver ball...duck!

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 10

"You know, there are rules. You should be more careful, you might upset someone."

TRICK 'R TREAT  (2007)

Directed by Michael Dougherty

For a film with a lot of violent onscreen death (including children), "Trick 'R Treat" feels surprisingly light, even charming. A clever portmanteau of Halloween tales, this is the perfect film for an entertaining October evening. The script is witty and fast paced (if not terribly original) and the cinematography really captures the unique ambiance of a spooky Autumn night. With any luck this film will go on to become a seasonal perennial, the Halloween equivalent to "A Christmas Story."

Incidentally, the little fellow on the above poster is "Sam" (short for "Samhain"), the living embodiment of Halloween and a great new character who, in my opinion, deserves a place in the horror pantheon.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 9

"What's been happening with me is strange...far too strange to share with anyone."

THE BROOD  (1979)

Directed by David Cronenberg

A truly disturbing tale of manifest rage, "The Brood" is David Cronenberg's first masterpiece. In several interviews over the years he has ironically referred to this film as his version of "Kramer vs Kramer" and indeed it is a remarkably "Cronenbergian" take on a bitter divorce story.
Samantha Eggar plays a mentally disturbed woman undergoing a revolutionary new pychotherapy intended to physically purge the patient of negative emotion. Her estranged husband, in an effort to protect their daughter, tries to uncover the secrets of her treatment, but a series of brutal murders derails his investigation. The perpetrators of these attacks are revealed to be strange deformed children.
I've already told you too much.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 8

"Words create lies. Pain can be trusted."

AUDITION (ODISHON)  (1999)

Directed by Takeshi Miike

At their best (or worst?) Takeshi Miike's films get under your skin like nothing else. Gifted with a truly disturbing imagination, his work can be exploitative and cruel but also extraordinarily powerful. In "Audition" a widower is talked into using false movie auditions as a method of meeting women. He finds the perfect woman, or so he thinks. Later things happen...with needles...and piano wire...and I don't want to talk about it anymore.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 7

" The last sound you hear on your way to hell, is gonna be your guts snappin' like a bullwhip!"

NEAR DARK  (1987)

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow

The great American vampire film of the 1980's is not the cheesy, dated "The Lost Boys" or even the very entertaining "Fright Night", but rather this moody stylish genre bender from Kathryn Bigelow. A minor masterpiece of atmospheric storytelling, "Near Dark"s mixture of Gothic and western elements remains one of the coolest and most original takes on the vampire myth in film history. The entire cast is great but Lance Henriksen is particularly bad ass.
Crappy poster though.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 6

"There is no fuckin' ice cream in your fuckin' future."

THE DEVIL'S REJECTS   (2005)

Directed by Rob Zombie

The murderous redneck fiends from "House of a 1000 Corpses escape a police raid and go on a sadistic killing spree. Fun for the whole family ensues.
If I had to describe this film in just one word it would be "skanky". It's crude, mean-spirited, visually grimy and just an all around unpleasant experience. So why is it here?
Frankly, it's kind of a blast.
The characters and dialogue are foul as can be, but also hilarious and over-the-top. This sort of hillbilly black humour is, for better or worse, rapidly becoming the signature of director Rob Zombie and if his intention was to capture the tone and texture of a gritty seventies exploitation film, then I have to say he accomplished this brilliantly. Clearly, many will be turned off by the film's mixture of extreme violence and low comedy but I couldn't help but me entertained by the obvious affection Zombie has for these ugly and extreme characters. Whether you like his work or not, Rob Zombie proved with this film, that he is a genuine filmmaker.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 5

"Come. It is time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man."

THE WICKER MAN  (1973)

Directed by Robin Hardy

A strange classic once referred to as the "Citizen Kane of horror films." Well, I wouldn't go that far, but this is definitely a unique piece of work. For most of it's running time the film maintains a tone of bright cheerfulness and absurd humor so when the shocking conclusion finally arrives, it's a devastating punch in the gut. Excellent performances from Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee and a witty, literate screenplay by Anthony Shaffer help make this a must see for fans of cult cinema.
 Incidentally, unless you have a fine-tuned sense of irony, do not watch the remake with Nicholas Cage, it is hilariously awful!

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 4

"You're going to be fine, both of you....."

THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL   (2009)

Directed by Ti West

A wonderful throwback to the days of "slow burn" horror films and suspense thrillers. Director Ti West deliberately recreates the style of a low budget, slightly grungy 80's film, but not in an indulgent or fetishistic way. A fairly standard babysitter-in-peril scenario is treated with maximum subtlety and restraint, creating a minor masterpiece of incrementally growing dread. That is until the climax, which does not disappoint. Has a very good performance from Jocelin Donahue in the lead and an amazing, uber-creepy turn by the amazing, uber-creepy Tom Noonan as her employer. Good, under appreciated modern horror gem.
See it.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 3

"We have such sights to show you!"

HELLRAISER  (1987)

Directed by Clive Barker

An unscrupulous adventurer opens a mysterious puzzle box only to release the Cenobites, demons devoted to the pursuit, and mingling of, ultimate pleasure and ultimate pain. With this film, director (and successful novelist) Clive Barker introduced a new universe of twisted sexuality and sadomasochistic kink to the mainstream horror genre. Some of the dialogue and acting is a bit hammy, but overall this a mature and powerful dark fantasy. Pinhead (pictured above) and his fellow Cenobites went on to become deserved icons for both horror fans and practitioners of "extreme" sexual practices. Quite a legacy for a first time filmmaker.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 2

"Death, Death, Death, the whore."

CEMETERY MAN (DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE)  (1994)

Directed by Michele Soavi

The story of a sensitive young man living in a small Italian town who ponders important existential issues while searching in vain for true love. Also, he kills zombies.

This one-of-a-kind art-house horror comedy plays like the twisted offspring of George Romero and Fedrico Fellini and if that doesn't intrigue you I don't know what will. The lead performance by Rupert Everett is strong and Michel Soavi's direction is elegant and visually striking. Even if you're finding yourself growing weary of zombies, this is a real hidden gem.

THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 1

31 HORROR FILMS IN 31 DAYS

Hey it's me, back from my extensive hiatus which included, starting a new job, a trip to the East Coast and the beginning of the school year. No excuse for 3 months of silence but there it is. Anyway, the fall is my favourite time of year, especially October, so I'm back just in time for a big month long Halloween celebration!

Over the next 31 days I'll be recommending a new horror film every day. Just a few sentences about each but hopefully enough to interest and intrigue you. To make it clear from the get go, this is not a "best" list. Not everything I include will be a classic but all will be of interest, that I promise you. To make it easier on myself I have included no films predating 1960 very few made before 1970. This is not because I don't appreciate the older horror films, on the contrary I love and cherish many of them, it's just that it's going to be hard enough to whittle the list down to 31 films released in the last 40 (!) years.

So, unfortunately no masterpieces of German Expressionism,  no Universal Monster Classics, none of the great Hammer Studios productions and none of the Roger Corman Poe films (personal favourites of mine). It pains me to not include these, but it's going to be tough enough without them. Also, let's face it, as great as many of these movies are, how scary are they really?

I just want to reiterate this is no meant to be in any way a comprehensive list of the greatest ever horror movies. It is a completely arbitrary collection of films, broadly categorized as "horror", that I like, or at least find interesting. You will be annoyed by my many omissions, and indeed it was annoying for me to make them, but 31 really isn't as large a number as you think.

So lets begin with a doozy:

"All that blood and violence! I thought you were supposed to be the love generation!"

LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT   (1972)

Directed by Wes Craven

Almost 40 years later this film is as transgressive and provocative as ever, even if it has lost much of it's shock value. I hesitate to actually "recommend" this movie as it's, to put it bluntly, crude, artless and exploitative. It's also unquestionably powerful. A primal story of rape, murder and revenge, audiences in 1972 must have been completely unprepared for it's unblinking portrayal of violent atrocity and it's uncompromising bleakness. All the fears and resentments of the Vietnam era, those between young and old,  the lower and middle classes and conservative and liberal are all fodder for the filmmakers. The horrors of war were being splashed across TV screens nightly so Craven and company wisely asked themselves, "What sort of film would we have to make to get through to a culture so inured to violence and cruelty". Well they came up with one.
I've always been personally ambiguous about the movie, so why am I even writing about it? It's simply one of the most important films of the genre, one that broke new ground in ways both good and bad. Director Craven went on to make a career in horror with slicker, more artful films but never one as brutally effective as this.

Kill your own f*cking television! Vol. 2

LOUIE

One area where television is currently completely kicking the ass of the movie industry is comedy. Sure, there's still plenty of mediocre sitcoms polluting the air waves but in this post Seinfeld/The Office era there's also a more than usual amount of smart, unique and innovative shows to choose from. "Parks and Recreation", "Community", "Bored To Death", "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia", "Eastbound and Down" and the still funny "Curb Your Enthusiasm" are just a few of the titles out there at the moment. Towering above them all as clearly the best in a strong field is FX's "Louie"

Starring, written, directed and edited by comedian Louis C.K., "Louie" is one of the purest examples of auteurism in any current medium. If you're not familiar with his work, Louis C.K. is one of the most successful and respected stand up comedians working today. His style is honest, acerbic, self-effacing, observational and confrontational. With George Carlin he shares a love of both language and the puncturing of pomposity and self importance combined with an almost Cosby like conversational style. His humor encapsulates all subjects from the meaning of life and death to fart and dick jokes, all equally funny. In the industry he's universally respected as a "comic's comic".

Despite his mastery of the stand up form he's had little success in film or television. He has directed many short films but his feature debut as a writer/director was the notorious "Pootie Tang". Now, by all reports "Pootie Tang" was a much interfered with production and was more or less taken away from him and re-cut into the form it exists today so he's not entirely to blame. To his credit, however, C.K. has not disowned the film entirely and admits that even if his version had survived it wouldn't have been anything like a great film, or even a very good one. He just wishes he'd been given the chance to succeed or fail on his own merit.

His next major project was "Lucky Louie" for HBO, a not entirely successful experiment in deconstructing the traditional sitcom format. Shot multi-camera, with old fashioned video tape on cheap looking sets in front of a live audience, "Lucky Louie" looked and felt very much like an old fashioned network sitcom, but it's subject matter was deliberately shocking and profane, laced with cursing and even nudity. Both audiences and critics were confused and turned off by the show's ugly aesthetic and willful vulgarity and it only lasted one season. Which is too bad because, despite it's off putting elements, "Lucky Louie" was often laugh out loud funny. More than that, it was, like C.K.'s stand up, almost painfully honest in it's portrayal of the difficulties of being married with a small child and not enough money. Louis and his TV wife Pamela Adlon were a great team and a believable couple as well, and happily she has shown up on the new FX show. Although I cannot bring myself to recommend "Pootie Tang" (which is not without interest but still a god awful mess) I absolutely do recommend "Lucky Louie" at least if my description doesn't turn you off.

On second thought, maybe it's for the best that "Lucky Louie" didn't succeed because it freed it's creator to spend the next few years further refining his comedic voice and allowing him to produce some of the best stand up of his career. It's from this newer, stronger comic perspective that "Louie" his brilliant new show emerged. It is forever to their credit that despite his shaky record in the medium the FX network basically gave C.K. carte blanche to do whatever he wanted within the agreed upon budget. The form and content of the show was up to him and him alone. This is almost unprecedented and has left more than a few of his contemporaries scratching their heads in wonder (and privately seething with envy I imagine).

So what is "Louie" anyway? Basically, it's a series of short films (usually two an episode, sometimes just one) with only the barest strand of continuity. Louis plays a sad sack version of himself, a single comedian and divorced father of two young girls and this is the one real constant throughout. Stand up performances are sprinkled throughout the episodes, somewhat like early Seinfeld, often commenting on or enhancing the filmed stories. This loose format allows C.K. as a writer to wildly vary the the tone of the comedy. It is often arduously realistic but can turn on a dime into absurdism or surrealism, it can be subtle or wildly exaggerated, it can be extremely vulgar, even offensive, but also poignant and sensitive. What this format lacks in cohesiveness or consistency it more than makes up for in invention and unpredictability. Over the course of thirteen episodes Louis is able to create as full and rich a comic universe as I've ever seen. On top of this it's one of the best directed and most cinematic shows, comedy or otherwise, currently in production, often resembling a low budget seventies film, and if you know me at all, you know what a profound compliment that is.

Series highlights for me would include, a humiliating encounter with a bully that takes a genuinely surprising and moving direction, a fall-on-the-ground funny cameo by Ricky Gervais as an offensive doctor, a chilling scene of Catholic school children being terrorized by a realistic description of the crucifixion, Louis' narcissistic Mother (who's portrayal is completely different in a later episode) coming out of the closet, any scene between Louis and Pamela Adlon as a single mom he befriends, Louis eviscerating a female heckler and a great scene where Louis and his friend comedian Nick Dipaolo come to blows over politics only to immediately become friends again when one of them is injured. Anyway, I could go on because it's all good. I don't exaggerate, the entire first season is great, every last episode. Last week the second season started and I'm happy to report it looks to be as strong as the first. The first episode was very good overall and contains one the the best and least gratuitous fart jokes ever recorded. Ya gotta see it.

I've often said that I'm far more of a comedy snob than a music snob. I really don't care what kind of music people listen to but it frustrates and angers me when people laugh at lazy, unfunny bullshit. In this era where between TV and the Internet we have a greater choice of quality comedy than we've ever had before, it pains me that the number one comedy in North America is the abysmal "Two and a Half Men". As a cable show with fairly edgy content, I know that "Louie" will never be able to rival a show like that but I hope, at least, that it manages to carve enough of a niche for itself that it stays around for a few more seasons. Also, when it does finally end I hope Louis C.K. is allowed to take what he's learned on this show and use it to make films. If he's given half a chance I think he could one day stand beside Woody Allen and Albert Brooks as one of the great modern comedy auteurs.

Anyway, kill your own f*cking television. I need mine to watch "Louie".

Me and Jim: A Literary Memoir for Bloomsday

"Welcome O life. I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race." (Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)

When I'm asked, as I am on occasion, to name my favourite author and/or book, I always feel hesitant to answer. It's not because I don't know, am not sure or find the question foolish, although those are all perfectly legitimate positions. Rather I've grown used, over the years, to a certain incredulity in the questioner when I finally do answer. The unsaid feeling being that I'm being somehow pretentious, dishonest and self aggrandizing as if I was trying to one up the other person by choosing the most difficult and rarefied subject to admire
Admittedly, I'm probably just being neurotic but, still, it gives me pause. The answer, by the way, is easy for me and has been for some time. My favourite author is James Joyce and my favourite book is his epic adventure of the everyday, "Ulysses".

I suppose I should include some kind of biographical sketch of Joyce but, I'll be honest, that would be boring and I'm too lazy, so click here thank you:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce
Good enough? Okay then.

"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of our last end, upon all the living and the dead."  (The Dead).

Lets back up a bit. In preparation for this post I've been trying to remember exactly when I first become aware of James Joyce. I remember that "Ulysses" was the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question but I don't think that was it. Actually, somewhere in my teens I became fascinated by Ireland and all things Irish although I'm not sure where or when that began either . I remember being struck by the physical beauty of the country in Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon" and that was definitely part of it, but it's clear to me that the greatest factor influencing my Irish obsession was the music of The Pogues.

A quarter century after discovering them The Pogues remain at the top of my favourite all time bands, particularly the albums, 'Red Roses For Me",  "Rum, Sodomy and the Lash" and "If I Should Fall From Grace With God". Their songs, mostly written by lead singer Shane MacGowan, are filled with references to Irish history, mythology and literature performed with a punk sensibility fused with traditional Irish instrumentation. Great stuff, can't recommend it enough, and it solidified my decades long obsession with all things Irish. Joyce actually appears on the cover of their third album, the great "If I Should Fall from Grace With God".

Now parallel to this I'm sure I'd read at least some Joyce, perhaps selections from "Dubliners" or a first attempt at "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and I can pinpoint exactly the individual work and the surrounding circumstances that made me an admirer. It was reading "The Dead", late into the night one Christmas Eve. "The Dead" if you don't know, is the last piece in "Dubliners" a lengthy, rambling story centred around a Christmas Eve dinner party attended by Dublin artists and intellectuals. Like all the stories in "Dubliners" it is not driven by narrative but by the astute observation of character and behaviour and by the uniquely Irish (or better, the uniquely Dubliner) flow of conversation. It is also a masterpiece, one of the greatest short stories ever written. I'm not going to discuss the plot but I will say that the last few pages contain some of the most beautiful prose in the English language. I was engrossed in the story anyway but the concluding passages, an extended meditation on love and death, were transporting. Alone in my bedroom I was moved to tears (and I'm not an easy cry, or at least I wasn't then) and still get goosebumps thinking about it. Joyce and I (I call him Jim) have been pretty close ever since.

"(A writer is) a priest of eternal imagination, transmuting the daily bread of existence into the radiant body of everlasting life" (Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man)

After the rapture of "The Dead" it was definitely time to reattempt Joyce's great autobiographical novel; "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man". I remember being primarily struck by the early passages about the young hero Stephen Dedalus' struggles at school as they were moving and easy to identify with. Needless to say the subtleties of Irish politics and history were largely lost on me and were aspects I would only learn to appreciate later. Another vivid passage is a sermon on hell that appears late in the book, terrifying and vivid even to a non-believer like myself. 
There where however, several passages, particularly a complex discussion on aesthetics during Stephen's college years that were baffling to me. This was frustrating because, in the arrogance of youth, I had a relatively high opinion of my intellect and reading level at the time and it was more than a little humbling to discover how little I knew or understood. So amongst the many other valuable things I learned from Jim was a sense of humility, an important and underrated aspect of being a serious student, or for that matter a reader, of literature.
Needless to say, I've re-read "Portrait..." many times over the years and my appreciation of it has grown alongside my increased knowledge of Irish history and politics and the particulars of Joyce's own life , as well as my own life experience. It's one of my favourite books and one I'm happy to recommend to almost anyone.

"The supreme question about a work of art is out of how deep a life does it spring. Paintings of Moreau are paintings of ideas. The deepest poetry of Shelley, the words of Hamlet bring our minds into contact with eternal wisdom; Plato's world of ideas. All the rest is the speculation of schoolboys for schoolboys." (Ulysses)

"Oh rocks!' says Molly Bloom, drumming her fingers in impatience. 'Tell us in plain words." (Ulysses)

So now we come to the reason behind this rambling and self absorbed post. Today is June 16th, so Happy Bloomsday! June 16th 1904 is the day on which James Joyce's great masterpiece "Ulysses" takes place.  All over Dublin today, but especially in Sandymount, people are celebrating the life, work and characters of James Joyce, particularly, of course, those of "Ulysses". June 16th 1904 was also the day on which Joyce met the great love of his life Nora Barnacle, the woman who would be his companion for the rest of his life, so it's safe to say that the date was not chosen at random.

"Ulysses" has dozens of memorable characters but it focuses primarily on three, Stephen Dedalus, returning from "Portrait..", Leopold Bloom, a lower middle class advertising agent of Jewish extraction and Molly Bloom, his earthy, sensuous wife. Bloom is the "Ulysses" of the title and it's his day long peregrinations (his "Odyssey") that make up the bulk of the novel's narrative. Stephen serves as a sort of Telemachus as he wanders a parallel course around Dublin and Molly is a bawdy, witty and adulterous Penelope.

The simplest narrative imaginable is given the the most complex treatment. Every chapter corresponds to an incident from "The Odyssey" of Homer, has it's own symbol as well as being symbolic of organs of the body, various disciplines of the arts and  a specific literary technique. The style of writing changes from chapter to chapter from relatively straightforward prose, to stream of consciousness, script (play form), catechism, newspaper headlines to complex pastiches of mythical and biblical speech, pulp fiction and in one chapter (Golden Oxen of the Sun), the entirety of English literature.

It's all this that gives the novel it's intimidating reputation and I'm not going to deny that it's a challenging read. I've read it several times and have even listened to a very good audio version and I'm certain that I have not gotten every allusion or enjoyed every nuance. If one approaches the book (or any book) as a test, the chances are you will not enjoy it, you'll resent and abandon it as a self indulgent piece of intellectual noodling. This would be a great pity because of all the books I've ever read, not only is it one of the most impressive and important but it's also one of the most fun.

First of all, it's a hilarious book. It's filled with the complex and witty wordplay true, but that sits comfortably alongside, corny puns, physical and scatological humor and the unique comic voice of the city of Dublin and it's denizens. For me the comic highlight is the chapter "Cyclops" in which Bloom is confronted by a drunken, anti-Semitic Irish nationalist. The chapter bounces back and forth between the point of view of a smart alec observer of the incident and a mock heroic narration in the style of ancient Irish myth, culminating in a pseudo biblical passage in which the triumphant Bloom ascends to heaven:

"And there came a voice out of heaven, calling Elijah! Elijah! And he answered with a main cry: Abba! Adonai! And they beheld Him even Him, ben Bloom Elijah, amid clouds of angels ascend to the glory of the brightness at an angle of fortyfive degrees over Donohoes's in Little Green Street like a shot off a shovel."
 
Even more than the humor however, what I love about "Ulysses" is it's in-your-face humanity. All of the literary genius and mastery of language would amount to nothing if Joyce didn't populate the novel with living, breathing human beings with all the faults and foibles that entails. Bloom is one of the great figues of literature not because he's brave or strong (although he is after a fashion) but because he's decent. As a husband, a father , a son and a breadwinner, he's everything a man can really be and more. He's not perfect, with a predilection towards voyeurism and an overall preoccupation with matters sexual, but he is unfailingly kind and empathetic, even to those who despise him.
Then there's his wife, one of the great women of literature. We should hate Molly for her unfaithfulness but we don't. If anything we understand (without actually approving) her needs and frustrations both personal and sexual. She's so funny and honest it's as easy for us to forgive her transgressions as it is for Bloom himself. The last chapter of the book "Penelope" is her internal monologue and it's a tour de force of writing, arguably the best in the book.  I would never presume to say that Joyce completely understood women, but he certainly understood Molly Bloom  (as well he should since she was based on Nora).

Other favourite chapters of mine include the opening chapter "Telemachus" which reintroduces us to Stephen Dedalus and spells out his current dilemma (in the words of the Clash "should I stay or should I go"), "Wandering Rocks", portraying various characters and their interactions, "Nausicaa" in which a voyeuristic encounter between Bloom and a pretty young women is rendered in a style aping pulp romance novels and "Sirens" the most musical chapter of the book, even including an an onomatopoeic overture.

For the record, for me the most difficult chapter by far is "Golden Oxen of the Sun". I always have to take it a page at a time as the style changes every few sentences and it seems to be written for maximum obfuscation. "Circe" written in the form of a play is also tough because of it's aggressively hallucinatory content but it's also very funny and fun to read. I've often wondered if an ambitious theatre director has ever produced it for the stage. I'll bet it's happened. I've seen "Penelope" produced as a one woman show called 'Molly" and it was brilliant!

Anyway, this is getting long and I'd really like to post it on Bloomsday, so I should wrap it up.  If you take nothing else away from what I've written here let it be this; don't be intimidated by Joyce and "Ulysses". By all means read "Dubliners" and "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" first. If you don't care for those, fair enough, no writer, no matter how great, is for everybody. However, if you do enjoy those, you must attempt "Ulysses'. Don't worry about getting every nuance, try to enjoy the language and spending time with the characters, Hopefully that will be enough.

Before I go, I have a confession. Even though Joyce is my favourite writer, I have never successfully completed his last, and some say his greatest, novel "Finnegan's Wake". It's combination of wordplay, literary, historical and mythical allusion and dream logic just completely defeats me. I'm literally not knowledgeable enough to read it. I have listened to some very old audio recording of Joyce reading from it and did enjoy the musicality of his reading but that's the best I've managed. Ah well, maybe someday when I have the time to read it side by side with a book of annotations, but until then I'll leave it alone.

Well, I hope this has been fun to read and has adequately explained why Joyce is so important to me. Some of my other favourite writers include, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, Honore de Balzac, William Faulkner, Vladimir Nabokov and Cormac McCarthy and I may write about all of them in the future. I would never presume however, to call any of them by their first name

Happy Bloomsday!

PS - A word about the photos. All these were taken during a trip I took with my wife, to Ireland in 2009. The first one is me with the statue of Joyce on O'Connel Street in the heart of Dublin, the second is a casting of Joyce's death mask from the James Joyce museum in the Martello Tower at Sandymount, the third is me with the bust of Joyce in St. Stephen's Green, the fourth is the Martello Tower in Sandymount, the setting for the opening scenes of "Ulysses" and the home of The James Joyce Museum and the last is me raising a pint of Guinness to my friend Jim in Davey Byrne's Pub which appears in the '"Lestrygonians" chapter of "Ulysses".

Thanks