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It's common knowledge that when I mention a Turner Classic Movie marathon, I mean business. Being a film major has allowed me to have a huge appreciation for old movies right along with the history and trivia of them and the great histories of the Hammer Company, Universal and RKO. It's easy to say that you like Tod Browning's Dracula with Bela Lugosi or Frankenstein's overt horror that Universal embellished but a true film geek appreciates the "so bad they're good" movies made out of kitsch and poor props, settings and anomalies.
This list focuses on those movies, or rather October 2010's Hammer Horror marathon, having gone into their 76th year with a DVD collection and in light of that, filled nights up with fantastic horror marathons.
5.
These Are the Damned
(1963)
Not one hundred percent solid, but probably the most accurate of the "American tourist problem" in England, mean teddy boys from the 60s (not really), throw in a little gang of radioactive children who probably never graced the camera ever again and you have Joseph Losey's "These are the Damned" out of Hammer Horror Production.Probably not as horrorific as Hammers adaptations of Dracula or Frankenstein, but the suspense of how MacDonald Carey's American Simon Wells and his British lover Joan will deal with the children they discover while on the run from Joan's creepy incestuous brother, Bernard (who you oddly end up liking by the end) and his teddy boy gang who is bent on beating the crap out of Simon. But in all, the villains get what they deserve and you feel horrible for the radioactive little kidlets.
4.
Blood from the Mummy's Tomb
(1971)
Well, anyone who knows me knows why I like this movie given the beautiful buxomish lady on the poster. But in the pure tradition of the soft-focus camera horror that the 70s gave us along with sexploitation themes running all over in the movies (Beyond the Valley of the Dolls for one) I put this in the same grouping of Vincente Aranda's Spanish reworking of Carmilla, The Blood Spattered Bride (La Novia Ensangrentada). Spun off of Bram Stoker's Jewel of Seven Stars, "Blood..." is centered around the reemergence of an Egyptian Queen oddly preserved after being found in an archaeological dig. Being brought back to England, the Queen Tera (played by a gorgeous Valerie Leon in dual roles) takes archaeologist's daughter as a body for her soul with slight Sapphic imagery between the two roles. It's kinda hot. Despite that, I have a fascination with any archaeological-based horror film and this held my interest from looking up its trivia on imdb until the very end.
3.
Dracula, Prince of Darkness
(1966)
To one sexual actor to another, the incomparable-incomparable Christopher Lee who plays a better Dracula as a horror figure versus Bela Lugosi's creepy European Dracula (but I love them both for their separate reasons). Why the "Prince of Darkness" versus the other seven Dracula films that Lee has been in? Because the man doesn't have any dialogue in the film! But it's like Lee to be a visual force of nature without words. In this Dracula, a group of visitors finds themselves at the Count's castle and unknowingly revives the dead Count (supposedly killed from the fall in the first, The Brides of Dracula [another great one]) as some die, some live and the Count once more supposedly dead by the end. Just remember, the man doesn't speak any dialogue, but it's Christopher-fucking-Lee, he can do anything, even play Willy Wonka's father.
2.
Homicidal
(1961)
Post-Psycho in its ambience and one of the first instances of a new type of murderer in a horror film, you never see the ending coming. While not from Hammer, but one of William Castle's best kitsch, I must unfortunately speak of the spoilers to speak of Homicidal's greatness.
Still interested? Keep reading...
Helga Swenson just suffered a stroke, confined to a wheel chair with a nurse, Emily, to take care of her. Miriam Webster is suspected of foul play of getting Helga's millions as she flees the Swenson estate, brother Warren staying behind with his wife, Emily, who continues to threaten Miriam that she will go to the police with the information that Miriam is planning to kill Helga for her millions. But Emily isn't who she says she is entirely....
Jean Arless plays dual roles of Emily and Warren being both sincere from the very beginning then treacherous to the end is insanity, or gender reversal in its finest. Anthony Perkins has nothing on Homicidal. While for some people the ending seems predictable, this film can be argued for the Transsexual (it is quite noticeable that Warren isn't entirely in his right mind) being "evil," "the other," as many films of its time suggest the LGBT community rightfully is. But the fact that this is more insanity than transvestism, this is the first and only of its kind.
And of course, it's not a William Castle film without having one extra special marketing tool, and this one is more effective than other Castle devices. As the poster suggests, the fright break comes at a perfect time and helps the Hitchcock-esque suspense as you let yourself scream yourself silly until the end. I wish I was alive in that time to experience a Castle movie in the theater...
1.
Freaks
(1932)
Some call it a frightening movie (being directed by Dracula's Tod Browning), some call it a drama of the reality of being handicapped, impaired, or not what the status quo asks; but Freaks is my number one despite just seeing it the first time of the first horror marathon of this year. Stephen King named Freaks, Monday evening, as one of the films that built his fascination with the horror of cinema without having to do much.
Known for its scene towards the end with the impaired circus-friends bent on revenge coming after and inclosing on the real freaks, Olga Baclanova's Cleopatra and Henry Victor's Hercules who is after Hans's, the midget played by veteran actor Harry Earles, millions. This is a film about a circus family taking care of their own knowing the "normal" vindictive villains are the real freaks. "Gooble Gobble, we accept you, one of us." as the famous quote of the movie goes known more for its face-value horror of the handicapped circus performers. I think this is more of a frightening movie in its cultural impact in showing humanity's fear of "the other" off the camera. That is what makes the best horror film, in my opinion, outside of the supernatural or superstition.
Notables: The Devil Rides Out (The Devil's Bride), Mr. Sardonicus, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Gorgon, Bucket of Blood, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
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