My original plan was to mention the Canadian movie Pin during the 31 Days of Horror. It is a fun little look at schizophrenia that scared the bejesus out of me when I was a teenager. Now that I have revisited it I spent some time trying to decide whether or not I’d recommend it. I’ve let it sit just floating around in my mind since I watched it back in the beginning of October and contemplated over it. I had pretty much decided to do the write up until this past weekend when I came across Michael Powell’s 1960 horror thriller Peeping Tom.

In the opening scene of Peeping Tom we witness a solitary man (Carl Boehm) walking up to a lone woman standing in the street. On his way to her the camera focuses in on his front and we we see that he is holding a video camera. The view switches to that of the camera being held and we are witness to him picking up the prostitute and heading to her room near by. Once in the room she begins to undress while making some small talk. As she sits on the bed a strange look comes to her face as a bright light shines down upon her, she screams and we cut away. The woman has been killed and we learn from the police that they have never seen anyone look as scared as she did. We watch later as the killer views the film in a dark room.

One evening on his way home the killer watches a birthday party taking place through a window. He enters into the house and starts to head up stairs. It is at this point that we learn that his name is Mark Lewis when he is invited in by Vivian (Moira Shearer) who’s birthday it is. Mark is shy and turns her down citing that he has to work. Vivian is attracted to Mark and comes up to see Mark. Mark at this point has already gotten ready to watch his film. He quickly cleans up and invites her in. The two hit it off and Mark is able to overcome his shyness when she wants to see his films. Mark proceeds to show her a film which his father filmed while he was growing up. Even with Mark being quite strange and the film obviously shows that Mark had a very difficult childhood Vivian is not deterred.

He wants a relationship with Vivian and sees her as something perfect and is unwilling to ever film her. While his relationship is growing he continues on his path of murder. He makes friends with a stand in at the film studio for which he works with the offer of filming her and making her into a star. This leads to her eventual murder and the police linking the two murders by the similar look of terror on her face.

The police are getting closer to tracking down Mark and he knows it but it does not bother him. He continues on his planned path with the intentions of finishing his “documentary”. Everything builds up to the point when Vivian finally views Mark’s film and her finding out just what Mark scares his victims with.

While Pin provides an excellent look at schizophrenia Peeping Tom does so much more that provide a look into a mentally unstable person. It touches on Freudian aspects of the relationship between Mark and his father and how someone like Mark could be created and delves into. Mark is quite the sympathetic murderer. We truly care for him and want him to be helped yet we also cant help but be drawn into watching the acts that he is committing. This is most interesting aspect of the film as it deals with the voyeurism. It is very easy to draw a relationship between the audience of Peeping Tom sitting in a dark room watching Mark murder women to that of Mark himself sitting the dark room viewing himself committing the murder.

At the time of its release Peeping Tom was panned by the critics en masse. Now, 48 years later it is one of the classics of British Cinema and is lauded by critics and film maker alike. Martin Scorsese himself commented:

“I have always felt that Peeping Tom and 8½ say everything that can be said about film-making, about the process of dealing with film, the objectivity and subjectivity of it and the confusion between the two. 8½ captures the glamour and enjoyment of film-making, while Peeping Tom shows the aggression of it, how the camera violates… From studying them you can discover everything about people who make films, or at least people who express themselves through films.”

Long before Peter Jackson was known as the guy who brought Lord of the Rings to the screen he was known for his B movies. In 1987 he wrote, directed and produced Bad Taste, then in 1989 brought us Meet the Feebles and then in 1992 he wrote and directed what is likely the most gory and bloody zombie movie ever: Braindead which was released in North America as Dead Alive.

Just like several later horror movies Braindead opens with a scientist discovering a rare monkey and attempting to bring it back into the city. Like the rest of the movie this first scene uses a fair amount of humour interspersed with the horror. The scientist threaten off the local natives who want to keep the animal from getting out. After the initial chase scene the scientist ends up being bitten and his guides hack him apart with a large machete. The murder of the of the scientist is bloody and funny as hell.

After we return from the credits we discover that the guides still want money so they take the monkey to the city anyway and hand it over. From there we zoom over to the city of Wellington where Lionel Cosgrove lives with his overbearing mother and Paquita (Diana Peñalver) the local shopkeeper is told by her fortune telling grandmother that she will fall in love with Lionel but that he lives with death. Darkness surrounds Lionel. Lionel and Paquita go out on a date at the zoo and Lionel’s mother, who is spying on him gets bit by monkey. According to the zoo keeper the monkey is actually a Sumatran Rat-Monkey, a hybrid that resulted from the rape of tree monkeys by plague rats. Lionel’s mother first gets sick and then slowly turns into a zombie.

Lionel has to deal with his mother who is a zombie. Instead of trying to kill her he instead decides that it would be better to keep her sedated the entire time. This of course fails and slowly over time he ends up with more and more zombies under his control. Each of them is kept sedated and tied up but hijinks of course occur. Everything happens from the catholic priest and the nurse zombies having sex all the way to zombies turning into super zombies.

Braindeadis another one of those great over the top midnight madness movies that is a real blast to watch with a large crowd. The reason it is such a success is that it is also a pretty smart movie when it comes down to it. The humour is hillarious. The highpoint of which has to be when Lionel takes the zombie baby out to the park. Watching both Lionel’s reaction to the baby escaping and the other mothers at Lionel’s eventual capturing of the baby had me rolling in stitches.

I don’t think any review of Braindead would be incomplete if the lawnmower is not mentioned. Once the zombies are running through the house at full force Lionel comes in to battle them, not with an axe or bat but instead a lawnmower tied upside down in front of him. I have never seen this much blood and gore thrown around. This is a classic scene that just needs to be seen to be believed. I do not think I can do it justice by trying to describe it.

If you are looking to be scared I suggest looking elsewhere. I did not jump once during the movie. What I did do was have a total blast of a time and was laughing my ass off for the majority of Braindead. In many ways I would love to see Peter Jackson return to these smaller B movies. I doubt it will ever happen which is a shame as this one is truly a classic.

What happens when you take the concept of a zombie movie and replace the zombies with children? Well, you end up with a smart and chilling Spanish horror movie called Who can Kill a Child? (¿Quién puede matar a un niño?). In Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s 1978 horror movie a pair of British tourists arrive at a small rural island only to discover that all the children have turned on and killed all the adults. You might be thinking right now, “Oh great, an old Children of the Corn flick” and I’ll tell you that nothing could be farther from the truth.

The initial few minutes of Who Can Kill a Child? will let you know right off the bat that this is not a simple horror movie. During the opening the audience is provided with a montage of documentary footage that depicts atrocities that have been committed against children throughout the world. This is the only explanation we are ever given for what is to happen to, Tom (Lewis Fiander) and Evelyn (Prunella Ransome) and the children themselves.

When Tom and Evelyn arrive at the island they immediately encounter several of the children. The children mostly ignore the two adults. The young boys are somewhat sullen and the girls all grin and play in a creepy way. When Tom and Evelyn can not find any adults Tom comments that they must be off at a local festival. What makes this entire initial scene work is a combination of the stark daylight and the simple absence and loneliness of the village. Tom and Evelyn’s vacation changes fairly quickly when they discover a young child murdering an old man down the street. They realize that that everything is not right and they are soon running for their lives from the children.

I’ve already mentioned the daylight aspect of Who Can Kill a Child?. The entire movie takes place during the day and it completely proves that horror movies should not rely on the dark to create atmosphere. The bright of the afternoon can be just as chilling as the night. The second aspect of what makes this movie a success is the question proposed in the title. Throughout the second half of the movie this question comes into play. When Tom eventually kills one of the children Evelyn has a strong reaction to his actions. There was nothing else that Tom could do but this does not matter to her. This is not a horror movie where you cheer and applaud when the killer’s are taken down, instead you have to question whether you yourself would be able to kill a child.

In the scene where Tom kills the one child the rest of the children back off, not out of fear but out of caring and concern for their fallen comrade. It is in this scene that Serrador’s point is pushed home. All of the horrors adults have committed against children has finally found an outlet. It has taken over the children. The children are not mindless they still care about each other but they want revenge against the adults for all of their inhumanity they have shown in the past.

Imagine waking up to find your father ranting about being an agent of God and that he has been charged with murdering sinners. This is the basic premise behind Bill Paxton’s 2001 horror Frailty.

The movie opens up with Fenton Meiks (Matthew McConaughey) wanting to speak to FBI Agent Doyle (Powers Boothe). Meiks believes that his brother Adam (Levi Kreis) is the notorious “God’s Hand” serial killer. He continues to explain that he needs to tell the story of his father and brother now that his brother has committed suicide because he was unable to stop all the “demons”. He explains how he took his brother’s body and buried it in a rose garden as he had promised to do when they were children. The boy’s father explained to them that he was given the power by and angel to know when someone is truly evil. If he touches them he will know and has to act. The angel gave him three objects to help with his quest. He was given gloves to wear so that he can interact with people without always seeing, a lead pipe to knock them unconscious, and an axe to kill them with. The two brothers reacted to this news in completely opposite ways. Adam accepted what his father has to say and wanted to follow in his footsteps. Fenton refused to believe in his father.

The story of the brothers and father is told in flashbacks during the conversation between the older Fenton and Agent Doyle. Both Fenton and Adam are pushed by their father to first witness the killings of these evil beings. Their father tells them that what he is doing is not murder because they are not truly human. By the time the boys have witnessed and participated in a few of the killings Fenton has had enough and he calls the Sheriff in to stop his family. His father kills the Sheriff and blames Fenton and says that it is actual murder because the Sheriff was a good man and that Fenton himself is actually a devil. His Father then tells Fenton that he was told by the angel to destroy Fenton but after Fenton begs for mercy he is locked into the cellar by his father to starve.

A fair amount more happens as the brother’s grow up and Frailty has a fair amount more to say than one would initially believe. It touches on the themes of good versus evil, father and sons and the relationship between brothers. It is a smart classy horror movie that did fairly well in the box office and ended up with pretty positive reviews but for some reason it just fell off the radar once it ended up on DVD. For me it is one of those great WalMart bargain bin finds. It has a strong compelling story with enough scare factor to be a really good horror movie. Plus it does not hurt to have Bill Paxton as a lunatic father waking his kids up in the middle of the night in order to tell them about murdering evil people. I can just imagine my son screaming and running under the bed if I ever woke him up in the middle of the night like that. He would never sleep again.

In today’s post I’m going to talk a bit about Haute Tension which is also known as High Tension and Switchblade Romance. Instead of talking a fair amount about the plot and why I really get a kick out of this movie I have decided that it would be more fun to go into spoilers and give you my opinion about how I feel about the ending of the movie. Today’s post is going to be very heavy into the spoilers so only read on if you have seen Haute Tension or if you are just in for the gore and do not really care about the story.

The basic story follows two college friends Marie (Cécile de France) and Alex (Maïwenn Le Besco). They are taking some time off and visiting Alex’s mother and father on a remote farm in France. During the evening a lone driver (Nahon) comes up to the door knocking. When Alex’s father answers the door the driver brutally murders him. What we get next is a home invasion movie that follows a different path than most invasion horrors but I’ll leave the rest for you to discover.

Spoilers follow below and in the comments:

I know more than a few people who get half way through this movie just loving it and then when the twist just happens they hate it. I on the other hand really get a kick out the twist and I applaud Alexandre Aja heading down a different path and while it may just feel like a twist for twist sakes by some people for me the twist elevates the story. For the first half of the movie we watch as Marie and Alex deal with the killer. Alex has been captured by her and Marie is doing everything in her power to rescue Alex. All that changes suddenly when we see the video recording of Marie killing the gas station attendant. For the next while you should be completely confused as to what has been actually happening but by the end of the movie it has become clearly evident that Marie is actually schizophrenic and that everything you have witnessed has really only happened in Marie’s mind.

There was no invasion by some lone driver, Marie murdered Alex’s family and then left with Marie prisoner in the van. This eventually leads to the showdown between Marie and Alex. I can understand why some people who get annoyed by the fact that what they had all watched really did not happen the way it was shown. Much like, the whole it was all a dream sequence from Dallas oh so long ago the audience can either run with it or they will probably end up hating it. For me I am one who is able to run with it. If it had felt like Aja did not have an actual plan and that he was just throwing the twist in to finish the story because he had no clue what to do I would hate it. I do not feel that Aja was doing that. He was telling the story of what happened as Marie believed it to have actually happened.

Perhaps, it would be interesting to see a sequel to Haute Tension where we actually witness what truly happened throughout the entire ordeal but for me personally I was fully entertained the entire time and I am more than willing to run with what Aja has created for us.

I jumped away from the classics yesterday to mention May but I want to head back into that territory again today. Up until the night before last I had never seen Les Diaboliques. Henri-Georges Clouzot classic 1955 thriller is an amazing example of how a movie that shows incredible restraint can still have you on the edge of the seat.

In Les Diabolique Véra Clouzot stars as Christina Delassalle is a former nun and now teacher at a small private boarding school that she has funded. Her husband, Michel (Paul Meurisse) is having an affair with another of the teachers Nicole Horner (Simone Signoret). He is charismatic and abusive with both his wife and his mistress as well as treating the other staff poorly. Christina can not bring herself to divorce Michel as it would be a sin. After Nicole shows up for class wearing sunglasses in order to cover up her bruised eye she starts to convince Nicole that they need to do away with Michel. Nicole wants nothing to do with it until Michel forces himself on her after supper.

Under Nicole’s prodding the two hatch a plan to drown Michel in Nicole’s bathtub and then they will dispose of the body in the school’s pool with the plan that everyone will just figure he drowned during the night in a drunken stupor. The plan goes off without a hitch until the body disappears from the pool. The two women have to deal with either Michel still being alive, a hidden thief who has stolen the body or perhaps even worse in that Michel is now a ghost who is haunting them.

When the credits of Les Diaboliques roll a request is made not to spoil this movie for later audiences and I shall follow this.

“Don’t be devils. Don’t ruin the interest your friends could take in this film. Don’t tell them what you saw. Thank you for them.”

Watching it now these many years and many movies later the whole twist really did not come as a surprise but I can imagine the stir at the time that this great thriller would have created. For me though what makes Les Diaboliques is the way it is able to build tension. Plenty of time is given for both women to first decide and accept what must be done. Christina is left alone to wait for Michel to show up and then when he does the film does not jump immediately into the drowning. After Michel has been murdered a fair amount of time is given to the women disposing the body and then after they do place Michel’s body in the pool tension is allowed to build while the both women wait for the body to be found. The climax of the movie is also the most nail biting scene that I have seen in a long time. I was sure how it was going to end and I was sure that a 1955 film would not resort to a jump scare but I was still sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see just what was going to happen.

Les Diaboliques is one of the most influential love triangle thrillers of all time. Its basic story and themes have been used over and over again. I would give anything to be able to go back and watch this film with the initial audiences but even though that is not possible I can not help but recommend it enough.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Day 18 of the 31 Days of Horror.

If there was only one movie that I felt I just had to include in the 31 Days of Horror it would have to have been Lucky Mckee’s 2002 May. This is not because it is some horror classic or because of some particular scene but simply due to the fact that I’ve been using part of the one sheet for my avatar in all the comments. I’m not using the avatar because of my love of the movie but just because of how creepy the character and the picture of May is. Now, given that May is a smaller and not well known enough horror movie that I really enjoyed.

In May Angela Bettis is May Dove Kennedy a lonely awkward woman who never had any friends as a child because of her lazy eye and her mother forcing an eye patch on her. May’s one and only “true friend” is a doll called Suzy. May is never let to truly play with Suzy as she is always kept behind a class case in order to keep her perfect. May, now in her twenties works for an veterinarian and has with the help of first glasses and then a contact lens corrected her lazy and eye and while she is still shy and a bit quirky is quite attractive in the geeky girl way.

Even though she is shy May manages to find two people who are attracted to her. The first is Adam (Jeremy Sisto), a local mechanic and all around nice guy. Adam is into quirky things, he was even an amateur film maker when he was a student. May also works with Polly (Anna Farris) who is also attracted to her. Things seem to be going fine with Adam until point where he shows her his film “Jack and Jill”. In the film Jack and Jill head off to a picnic at which point they start to eat each other. After the movie when things start to get hot and heavy between them, May bites Adam’s lip drawing blood and starts to smear it around on her face mimicking the film. This grosses out Adam, apparently only likes his girlfriends to be a certain level of weird and he breaks it off completely with May. After the breakup with Adam, May ends up being comforted by Polly (after one other dating experience) who seduces her and everything seems to be going fine until Polly cheats on May.

May eventually takes her “revenge” on everyone she knows and this may sound like you standard indie horror fare but there is actually a lot more going on. A strong emphasis is placed on the relationship between May and Suzy. There is one scene in particular which is extremely disturbing that takes place when May takes Suzy to a school for the blind as a form of show and tell. In addition another theme which is carried through the entire movie is May’s love of specific body parts on people. She always seems to be attracted to one particular aspect of those around her. The hands of Adam and the neck of Polly are just two examples. This love of specific body parts is the emphasis for a quite shocking conclusion that draws the whole experience to a close.

It is the idie horror films like May that often make being a fan of the genre worthwhile. While the plot sounds like a generic fish out of water horror film like we have seen hundreds of times there is a lot more going on in May.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Day 17 of the 31 Days of Horror.

It sounds like people are appreciating the older horror films showing up in the 31 Days of Horror. I also am a fan of the older horror movies but I do not want to just focus on them. There is a lot of good movies from all periods and also from all countries. Day 15 is going to focus on the Spanish ghost story El Espinazo del diablo (The Devil’s Backbone). The Devil’s Backbone

 is director Guillermo del Toro’s 5th movie from 2001. It was sandwiched in between Mimic and Blade 2. It tells the tale of Carlos (Fernando Tielve) a war orphan and the orphanage which he is sent to during the Spanish Civil war.

When Carlos arrives at the orphanage he discovers a large bomb that was dropped from a plane but did not explode. It has been diffused but it is an ever present reminder that the orphans are not safe from the war. Carlos quickly makes both friends and enemies within the orphanage. One of the enemies he makes is Jacinto (Eduardo Noriega), a former orphan who now works at the orphanage. Jacinto is sleeping with Carmen (Marisa Paredes), the head mistress of the orphanage as he believes that there is a hidden golden treasure within the orphanage. His plan is to steal the gold and run off with his girlfriend Conchita (Irene Visedo). In addition to Jacinto and Carmen the orphanage is also run by the much older Dr. Casares (Federico Luppi). Casares cares deeply about Carmen and is a good friend to the children. As you can already see there is more happening within The Devil’s Backbone

 than a simple ghost story.

In addition to a great small scale ghost story we get del Toro doing what he does best by taking a real world situation and combining it with the dark fantastic. Do not get me wrong this is not Hellboy nor does it have the creatures from Pan’s Labyrinth but what it does have is the dark atmosphere of a wonderful ghost story meshed together with the real life drama of the children and adults who are suffering because of the war. When you consider treating Jacinto as a metaphor for Facism, Carmen and Casares as the socialists and the children as the general people the The Devil’s Backbone

’s ending is able to then take on even more significance as we are left with the question of what will happen to the children now.

Looking back now it would be easy to start making comparisons between The Devil’s Backbone

, Pan’s Labyrinth and The Orphanage. Each of these movies deals with children who have lost their parents and have a very strong dark fairy tale feel to them. While all three movies are wonderful, I do prefer Pan’s Labyrinth the most as it is a near perfect fairy tale. The Devil’s Backbone

 comes a close second for me as it is feels less glossy and has a stronger story than The Orphanage. Any of these three would be a fine addition to my 31 Days of Horror but for this list I chose to focus on the lesser known yet still haunting The Devil’s Backbone

.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Day 16 of the 31 Days of Horror.

In the opening scene of the 1960 French horror Eyes Without a Face Louise (Alida Valli) helps disposes of a corpse by dumping the body into a small body of water. This initial scene opens with lighthearted jazzy music which only helps to increase the sense of horror of what you watching. This music plays over and over again each time Louise drives her car seeking the next victim for Dr. Génessier (Pierre Brasseur) to attempt a Heterograft where he removes the skin off of a victim’s face in order to graft it on to his daughter, Christiane’s (Edith Scob) deformed and burnt face.

After what can only be a failed attempt at a grafting Louise manages to trick Edna Gruber (Juliette Mayniel) to come to the doctor’s villa in the suburbs with the offer of a room to rent. Once there Génessier manages to sedate Edna and we witness the Heterograft procedure. 58 years after this scene was initially filmed comparisons can not help but be made with the recent “torture porn” (a term which I hate) films. The grafting scene could easily be taken right out of one of the Hostel or Saw movies and it is only the lesser amount of blood that differentiates it from the modern day movies. We witness in full gore the scalpel sliding under the skin of the face and the Doctor pulling the skin off.

Unfortunately for Christiane the skin graft does not take and another victim will be needed. In the time between the kidnapping of Edna and Paulette Mérodon (Beatrice Altariba) who is set to be the the next victim we discover that Christiane does not seem to fully realize on at least some level just what her father is doing each time. It is only with the eventual death of Edna that decides that she would rather die than go through the process again. The kidnapping has already been set in motion though and Paulette ends up on the Doctor’s table which leads up to the final showdown between Paulette, Christiane, Louise and the Doctor. There is much more going on in addition to this all but Eyes without a Face is the story of Christiane more than anything.

In addition to the extreme surgery scene and the quirky kidnapping scenes the one other feature of this movie that truly stands out is the mask which Christiane wears through the majority of the movie. The mask is very similar to the pale blank face masks but somehow through it Edit Scob is able to convey emotions. 20 years later when John Carpenter was creating Halloween he even mentioned how the mask from here influenced him in the creation of the Face. The movie also was a strong influence on Jesús Franco which can be seen in his movie Gritos en la noche, and also eventually his own version called Faceless.

It is amazing how well Eyes Without a Face has been able to stand the test of time. It is a wonderful creepy dark horror thriller that entertains on many levels.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Day 15 of the 31 Days of Horror.

Before I dive into the 13th of 31 posts I want to mention that I am laughing at myself right now for two reasons. First I actually had my hopes up pretty high for Quarantine and secondly why did it take me 13 days to realize that if I could remember the date I could then know what Day I am currently on. I was actually opening up a second browser window just to see what number the post was from the previous days. Enough poking fun at myself today’s movie is a very somber and serious movie. I felt that after mentioning Freaked yesterday it was only fitting to go the complete opposite route and to talk a bit about Peter Weir’s 1975 film Picnic at Hanging Rock.

On St. Valentine’s Day 1900 a group of girls from an exclusive private school travel to Hanging Rock in Victoria’s Mount Macedon region. During the picnic three of the young girls and one of their teachers disappear without a trace. No reason is ever given for the disappearance and the one girl who does return can not remember what has happened after falling and hitting her head. Picnic at Hanging Rock tells of the tragedy that took place on that Valentine’s day.

What makes Picnic such a masterpiece and a true classic is the combination of taking what could really be a true story and adding on a sense of dark fantasy and unease. The original novel is written as if it is a true account of a disappearance and Peter Weir’s film is also able to create that feeling. We all know that this did not really happen now but I have no doubt that many people who originally saw this would have felt that it is a true story. Throughout the entire movie there is almost a feeling of Alice in Wonderland; things just do not feel right. This is most evident when the three girls first wander off into the mountain. You know right away that something bad is going to happen just from the atmosphere that Weir is able to create. Nature itself is working against the picnic party and it is going to claim the three girls.

Picnic at Hanging Rock is not an easy movie. It is art house with a capital A. Do not expect any easy answers on why or how the girls went missing. Go into this one to partake in the atmosphere that soaks through the entire movie and you will not be displeased.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Day 14 of the 31 Days of Horror.

So, I have been sitting here in front of the computer for the past 20 or so minutes trying to come up with a way to describe the 1993 movie Freaked. Of all the movies I’m going to mention this one is probably the least horrific and it is also probably the dumbest but you know what it is also one of the funnest. I can not think of another movie with giant eyeballs that wield machine guns, Mr. T in drag as a transsexual, Bobcat Goldthwait as a man with only a puppet hand for a head, a giant half man half worm, a half man half cow, a man with a giant nose for a head, Randy Quaid as mad scientist who looks like the Colonel from KFC and finally a guy in a scuba suit. This list doesn’t even actually cover a few of the extra freaks in this bizarre midnight madness type movie that was originally supposed to be a vehicle for The Butthole Surfers but was picked up by 20th Century Fox. Unfortunately after initial testing the studio only gave it a real limited release and the real reason it is still available is due to the whole kitsch cult factor.

I was going to give a brief synopsis but you know what… screw it. This is one bizarre messed up movie that makes good use of practical effects to create some amazingly bizarre (in a humorous way) characters. It doesn’t rely on just sick humor but it also possesses some really well thought out gags. Don’t get me wrong it does have a lot of really sick shit in but it is all good in my book. While I can fully understand why a movie like Freaked would totally fail when it came to market testing I also think the studio missed their chance to create a true cult classic. Freaked is a perfect Midnight Madness movie where fans of genre cinema can get together and have one hell of a fun time.

Oh and if I haven’t sold you on this one without really telling you much about it I will also add that you need to see this for Ortiz, the Dog Boy. Once you watch this let me know how long it takes you to figure out the actor.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Day 13 of the 31 Days of Horror.

It is “good” to know that much like today Hollywood has always grasped onto ideas and pounded them into the ground. Back in the 1970s a string of horror movies came out which focused on the Church, Satan, possession and devils. A lot of bad horror movies came out around this time that contained very similar themes but in addition to those bad ones there were a few really strong entries into the Horror genre. The most famous of the successes are The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, but in addition to these two there is a lesser but still strong religious horror movie called The Sentinel.

Before diving into the movie itself I thought it would be fun to list off the cast. Chris Sarandon, Cristina Raines, Ava Gardner, Burgess Meredith, Jose Ferrer, John Carradine, Eli Wallach, Martin Balsam, Arthur Kennedy, Christopher Walken, Jerry Orbach, Beverly D’Angelo, Tom Berenger, and Jeff Goldblum. I can’t think of another horror movie with this strong of supporting cast.

In The Sentinel Christina Raines stars as Alison Parker a model with a very troubled past. She has attempted suicide in the past after discovering her father having an affair and is now living with a caring boyfriend, Michael Lerman (Chris Sarandon). While Michael is out looking for a larger apartment for both of them to move into after they are married, Alison is looking for a smaller apartment which she can move into. Alison wants tells her friend that she needs to be independent for a year or two before she can settle down and marry Michael. After some searching Alison discovers an beautiful furnished apartment that is affordable and she moves in. She immediate meets her next door neighbor an old friendly eccentric (Burgess Meredith). Later she meets her downstairs neighbors, a pair of women. Her initial visit with them does not go well as one of the women starts to fondle herself right in front of Alison. Eventually she is invited to a birthday party fro the eccentric’s cat where everyone but the lone blind priest who lives in the attic is attending. That night she is haunted by noises coming from the room above her. Alison seeks out the real estate agent to complain about her bizarre neighbors and she is told that other than herself and the blind priest there is no one living in the building. The rest of the movie deals with whether Alison is hallucinating and whether or not the house is haunted.

What makes The Sentinel a success for me is a combination of a few things. First off the wonderful cast can not be ignored. Burgess Meredith as the friendly eccentric, Beverly D’Angelo as one of the lesbians in the basement, to John Carridine as the blind priest in the attic all help to contribute to a wonderfully quirky dark cast. Also when all hell breaks loose director Michael Winner chose to go the controversial route and use actual deformed people to represent demons and devils. This creates a very real dark feeling to a scene which could have been quite silly if they had gone the completely fake route. The final aspect which turns the The Sentinel into something more than just an Exorcist knock off is its potrayal of the Catholic church. Even though there are very few scenes involving the church itself The Sentinel still manages to create a sense of grandeur and presence which many other movies of the same ilk fail to achieve.

I remember when I was a kid I saw just a few scenes from this movie. The main one I remember is the introduction of the lesbian couple in the downstairs. I remembered it as being some major sexy scene. Now when I revisited this movie recently I see just how nasty, creepy and dark the scene is. Overall The Sentinel is just that, dark, nasty and creepy and it really is an overlooked horror gem.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for Day 12 of the 31 Days of Horror.