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.