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Reviews
The Others (2001)
One of the Few Truly Classic Films Ever Made
Anyone caught spoiling this film should find themselves lost forever in a thick fog...
This story, so very well written, directed and played, will really make the viewer think about things we all often like to hide in darkened corners, well away from the light.
The best "shunned house" story ever told. What may be amazing to the avid reader of the Gothic tale is that the subject matter had never before been broached.
Slow-moving, atmospheric and the very opposite of Ed Wood camp. Unbelievable story! Truly a classic in the tradition of great films such as "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Citizen Kane".
Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972)
Horribly Frightening
I was nine, and extremely impressionable. Moreso than most, I'd say. All I saw of this film was the t.v. spot, and I had both nightmares AND daymares for several years afterward. Reading the comments on the film tonight, I am terribly relieved to find that the very worst of my childhood "horror factories" was a campy film manned by bickering Hippies. Sounds like the Monkees meets Dario Argento. Or something.
In any case, if my comment is allowed to remain, I highly recommend to all parents and guardians that they pay very careful attention to what their children are watching and listening to. For their OWN benefit if not for the children. Not many parents enjoy sitting up at all hours of the night holding the sweaty palms of their little ones, protecting them from the Devil, wiping their copious tears, hugging their shaking little frames.
Little wonder that I'm a horror writer now, eh?
~ Skadi meic Beorh
The Raggedy Rawney (1988)
The Riveting Caoin
A brief comment on the caoining (keening) done in the film by the Gypsies when the mentally challenged boy dies:
The BEST example of Celto-European caoining this reviewer has ever witnessed in film. It is an ancient tradition in many cultures that the dead find their way through the darkness by hearing the caoining of their loved ones. Yet, these wails serve as not only a "light" for the departed, but also as a way for those left behind to sing their sorrows where words absolutely fail to express the loss.
In every other way, too, this is a fine and very colorfully photographed film. Bob Hoskins plays Darky, leader of the Gypsy caravan. This brilliant artist also directed and co-wrote the screenplay.
The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
Where's the Blood?
That Robert Bloch (of PSYCHO fame) wrote the short stories making up this film is perhaps the only salvific aspect of the entire production. The photography is good and "gothic", and the best acting in the entire film is done by 10 year old Chloe Franks, who plays the very sweet witch who dispassionately kills her frightened, and therefore overly stern, father (played by Christopher Lee).
The premise of the story is that a cottage in the English countryside (a beautiful old red brick Gothic structure)"reflects" the personalities of the various people who decide to rent it, each one meeting death in one way or another. But the story doesn't work because the viewer is not at all convinced that the old house has anything at all to do with the sins and destructions of its hapless inhabitants.
And, is this film a horror or a comedy? Comedic horror is great (as with "The Spirit Is Willing", William Castle, 1967), but abject terror one minute followed by side-splitting camp the next destroys the spooky atmosphere for the viewer hoping for a good horror flick worthy of the name Robert Bloch.
Rent this film before you buy it.
Seems to be rated for children.
Suspiria (1977)
Beautifully Photographed Horror
SUSPERIA stands as truly a beautifully photographed film, far surpassing the later INFERNO carrying the same theme of the Three Mothers, or witches, who control the entire world from their three homes in Rome, New York and Germany (where this film is set).
If one, however, were to read 'The Witch's Dream' by Florinda Donner-Grau or the even more frightening and revealing 'The Art of Dreaming' by Carlos Castaneda, the witches portrayed in this film are novices... even the terrifying Mother of Sighs (Mater Susperia) with whom the protagonist dancer tangles in the final scene. This being said, there is not a moment in this well-wrought masterpiece that is not riveting. There is enough for the splatter-punk as well as for the viewer interested in a more traditional ghostly "houses of the damned" atmosphere.
INFERNO, the second film in the "Mater" series, is highly recommended, however, for a clearer understanding of the Three Mothers concept.
SUSPERIA is given a 10 for photography, an 8 for acting, a 10 for abject visceral horror, a 10 for atmosphere, a 10 for originality of storyline, and a 6 for executed plot... awarding a 9 for its entirety.
As this reviewer will not be reviewing INFERNO, the viewer may want to note that the mysterious beauty in the musicology hall in Rome is the same girl who plays the ill-fated baby-sitter in Lucio Fulci's THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY. Fulci even uses the same "seductive eye shot" with this gorgeous actor, giving an obvious nod to our brilliant Poe-influenced director Dario Argento. Too, Fulci "samples" the "bat in the hair" scene from SUSPERIA, but makes it more gory in CEMETERY.
Though SUSPERIA does not turn out to be the "faerytale for adults" that Argento had hoped for, it is certainly worth seeing more than once. Children and other impressionable persons should not, however, view this film. It should be added that Argento, as with many horror storytellers, banks upon the fear of death for impact. If, though, the receiver of the story has in some way conquered this fear, though the visuals still have powerful effect, the storyline itself loses much of its impact.