Frankenstein (1931) - Lisa's Reviews

Frankenstein is always a story I've loved.  This is 1 of my 2 favourites, the other being the 1994  version with Kenneth Branagh.  There are different things to love about each movie.  With this 1931 version, there is a romanticism.  Even though the story is a horrific, frightening and even sad one, it manages to be beautiful all at the same time.

Boris Karloff is the perfect monster and has the iconic image we all know and love.  I've also always felt empathy for the monster and the plight he finds himself in.  Obviously that's the general idea, but of all the movies I watch, the character of the monster is one that has always fascinated me.  His downfall has always left me feeling incredibly upset as I suppose there is a real affection for him.

The Exorcist - Lisa's Review

With my affection for horror movies, it's quite a strange one that I hadn't seen The Exorcist until I was an adult.  I had seen clips here and there, but I actually sat down to watch it when I was about 19.  Remarkably unimpressed, I tried again in my early 20's. again in my mid 20's... that many people can't be wrong, right?  I gave it a rest completely until somewhere in my 30's.  I maintained the same opinion throughout.  So, I wasn't feeling any great enthusiasm at the prospect of watching it again it has to be said, but I did...  So did I draw the same conclusions this time?  Ummmm, I'm afraid so.

The Shining (1980) - Lisa's Review

The Shining has been one of those movies that has never fallen off my Top 20 Movies List.  Once upon a time it was in the top 10, but since then I've seen A LOT of movies, so it is a testament to how good the movie is to still remain so high in my estimation.  I'm generally not a big Kubrick fan, but this is his finest work IMHO.

The Shining is a movie I would expect everyone has seen.  Giving a detailed premise seems redundant, but for the sake of any future young 'uns who may happen upon this blog, here is a basic idea.

We follow frustrated and ex alcoholic author, Jack Torrance, who is looking for somewhere quiet and secluded, where inspiration may strike and enable him to do some writing.  A perfect opportunity comes up for Jack to act as a winter caretaker at The Overlook Hotel, which is closed from November to May due to severe weather conditions.  Jack is delighted to be offered the position, and despite warnings from the hotel manager about the previous caretakers meltdown and experience of cabin fever, he feels strong enough of mind to handle the seclusion.  He has the company of his long suffering wife Wendy and young son Danny over the period.

Jack is a very sullen and troubled character and his wife Wendy appears to be very put upon.  Jack seems to hold her responsible for his lack of success and inability to hold down a job since he lost his teaching career due to his violent tendencies.  With all this in mind, it was perhaps, not the best decision to take his young family to the seclusion of Overlook Hotel.

Psycho (1960) - Lisa's Review

This is a movie I've watched several times and the same thing remains true every time I've seen it... I only ever remember 2 scenes (both of which you'll catch in any horror movie countdown).   Try as I might (and I did again tonight), I can't retain any kind of attention for this movie.  I find it dull, dull dull!!!  Yes, I know, I know!  Hitchcocks best film (bollox), a work of art (cough).  I just don't like it.

I will happily concur with the fact that the films score by Bernard Herrman is outstanding.  It is without doubt that the use of the soundtrack was what made the famous shower scene so effective (that's one of the scenes that I manage to retain).  It sets a mood for the whole movie and manages to keep everyone perpetually on the edge of their seats, allowing for a few spectacular jumps.

Alien (1979) - Lisa's Review

I have great memories of sitting in front of the sofa on the floor and watching this movie with my dad when my age would still have been in single figures.  Let me get this out there now - I don't like sci-fi movies as a whole.  I'm not a fan of the copious amount of sci-fi programs out there and I generally get bored pretty quickly if they start talking in sci-fi language.  That out of the way, I LOVE this movie (and several of its sequels).

For starters, the alien referred to in the movies title was designed by none other than one of my favourite artists H R Giger.  It was like nothing we had seen before and was ground breaking, influencing so many movies that followed.  It obliterated the template for science fiction movies and brought so much that was new to the genre.  There was so much more to offer here.  I won't go into a plot or premise, as the likelihood of anyone reading this having not seen Alien is non-existent.  I will say that even if you don't like sci-fi, give this one a go anyway.  It has a great script, fantastic acting, amazing cinematography and a set design like I've never seen.  Everything from how the Alien came to be on board the ship Nostromo, to the attempts to destroy it with limited options available, to how the story ended, was pretty near perfect.  You won't watch this movie and feel that you wished they'd done anything different.  This movie is pretty much as near to perfect as you can get for a science fiction movie.

The Thing - Lisa's Review

So tonight I finally managed to watch all of The Thing.  I have started to watch it many times in the past, as pretty much everyone and their aunt fanny rant about how good it is.  Sadly each and every time I've tried, I've grown so incredibly bored I've had to give up.  Tonight I was on a mission... I WILL WATCH THIS MOVIE!  So how did it go?  Well lets say I fell asleep more times than I was able to count in the end and I had to scan back my DVD over and over and over.  In the end I spent all damn evening watching it!!  Let me tell you, I can think of much better uses of my time on an evening.  Nope, I was indeed not wrong the first time I sat down to watch it, nor any of the others.  It just IS exceedingly boring!

I can hear the nay-sayers already.  How dare she?!! The Thing is an awesome movie!  Well I'm afraid I disagree.  For me the only saving grace was a perv at Kurt Russell, but even he wasn't enough to hold my interest after a while.  Let me put it to you like this.  I switched it off at one point and a program about the Manchester Midland Hotel was on the TV.  This woke me straight up and was riveting viewing in comparison!

Rosemarys Baby (1968) - Lisa's Review

This is a movie I was convinced I had seen several times.  In actual fact I sat down last night to review it whilst I was watching it as I just wanted a bit of a reminder.  Believe it or not, I managed to get it confused with 'The Hand That Rocks The Cradle'.  *Facepalm*

So, what did I think?  I'll get that out of the way early on.  I absolutely loved this movie.  I feel that even though aspects of the movie have dated (hair, make-up and fashion), for the most part, I feel it has just as much of an impact today as it did back in 1968.  It doesn't rely on special effects or make-up to instill terror in the audience, but instead specialises in psychological horror as you empathise with the main character.

Rosemary in the story is played by the very beautiful Mia Farrow.  Her delicate innocence and feminine fragility made her perfect for this role.  She is a woman men could easily fall for and women would love as their friend.  As Rosemary she is instantly likable and relatable.  Her husband, Guy is played by John Cassavetes.  I didn't like the character of Guy at all, even from the start.  It makes me wonder if Cassavetes deliberately played the role as someone the viewer would feel suspicious of immediately or if he just doesn't play 'nice' very well.  So, to a premise I suppose...

Halloween (1978) - Lisa's Review

Halloween is a favourite of an awful lot of people I know.  I wouldn't say it was a favourite of mine, but it is a movie I would recommend any horror fan watch.  It was the first that spawned a lot of similar teen slasher style movies.  I'm thinking Friday the 13th / Nightmare on Elm Street.

The teenagers in these movies can pretty much be taken or left, replaced by the next young hopeful in the queue.  I think a lot of guys may disagree with me here seeing as Jamie Lee Curtis plays our innocent young schoolgirl Laurie in this movie.  The slasher is Michael Myers.  We never see an adult face, only that of his 6 year old self with the murder that started it all.

When Michael was 6 years old he murdered his sister on Halloween night with a very big knife whilst wearing a clown costume.  The murder scene itself in this movie is something that was incredibly weakened for me by the need for the sister to be shown naked after she'd been murdered, ok, so she'd just been shagging her boyfriend, but for me it turned what could have been a creepy, dark scene into something for the boys.  Also the ridiculous flailing about by his sister, the lack of any attempt to get up from her seat to get away or push her 6 year old brother over was a bit of a laugh.  It's sad really as the movies start is very strong, but would have been much stronger had these couple of elements been changed.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) - Lisa's Review

This is a movie I have watched a few times.  It does remain one of the better 'of the dead' movies.  Hey, the remake wasn't even that bad.  In all honesty I've never been a big fan of zombie movies, but I happen to be married to someone obsessed by them, so I've had to watch my fair share of them.

When I recommend this movie, it isn't a recommended for a general movie fan, but rather one for a fan of older horrors or more notably fans of zombie horror.

Our story follows 2 SWAT teams (yes, 2!) and a couple who work for a television company and their fight against the ever-growing epidemic of the rise of the undead.  The main location for the movie is a shopping mall which has escaped most of the zombies.  Our four leading characters are TV Exec Francine (Gaylen Ross), her boyfriend - traffic reporter Stephen (David Emge), SWAT member Roger (Scott H Reiniger) and his friend Peter (Ken Foree).  The four manage to rid the mall of the existing zombies, build a false wall which constructs a corridor that conceals the entrance they had been using and they took out trucks to block all the other entrances.  While showboating on one of the truck rides, Roger ends up getting bitten, but the remaining three try to care for him at first.  For a while they live it up, availing of everything you can do inside an empty mall.  This freedom leads to feeling not so free after all when they realise they are trapped inside due to the zombies outside.  They begin to think about taking their chances on the outside, but since there wasn't a complete consensus within the group they stayed, at least until Roger eventually snuffs it and starts to reanimate.  Peter does the needful and pulls the trigger.

Jaws - Lisa's Review

It seems kind of redundant to be reviewing a movie like Jaws.  Who on earth out there hasn't seen this movie??  Possibly some really young movie fans? but when you do some reading or find out anything about the movie, then you would most definitely watch it.

Jaws was released in the year of my birth.  I was a kid when I watched it thanks to my old dad and his horror fixation.  It is taken from a book by Peter Benchley and as good as I'm sure the book is, I doubt it managed to convey the absolute terror that the movie instilled in everyone over a certain age.  I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't either love or be terrified of this movie,, or both!!  The mere mention of the word Jaws, or even shark, will prompt a rendition of the most simplistic yet most effective musical score in any movie EVER.

Don't Look Now (1973) - Lisa's Review

This is a movie my husband recommended to me when we first got together, so it's just taken me 10 years to get around to it.  Well, truth be told it would probably be another 10 years if I was watching this one for my own viewing pleasure.  Unfortunately the life of a movie review blogger means we must watch dull movies and boring movies as well as the good ones and the great ones.  We also watch movies we otherwise wouldn't have done and find in actual fact we were missing out on a great movie.   I wish I could say this were the case for 'Don't Look Now'.  In my opinion, it most certainly was not.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - Lisa's Review

I watched this one (forcibly) a few years ago as I'm married to a big Romero fan.  Having thankfully forgotten most of it, I was unfortunately forced to sit through it again tonight.  So I would imagine from those few words you can guess what I thought to the movie.  Yup, it sucked.  To be fair I'm not a fan of old zombie movies.  Dawn of the Dead is about as old as I go but that one is a stand out good 'un.  Anyways, I suppose we need a premise of sorts.

We concentrate on a group of people accidentally brought together in a farmhouse when hiding from a hoarde of zombies.  As with most of these movies, there are bad decisions, slightly less bad decisions, dramatic saves, ridiculous deaths, hammy overacting, rubbish effects but in a complete turnaround there is actually a pretty good ending.  I would be surprised if any horror fan hadn't seen this movie or any non horror fan were reading this blog, so there isn't much reason to hide the ending.  If however in a strange twist of fate, you actually haven't seen it and want to... avoid the next paragraph.

The Innocents - Lisa's Review

So, we travel back in time again for 'The Innocents'.  Right back to the early 60's.  I will admit, since I started having to watch particular movies for review, there have been some old movies that I have enjoyed.  Movies that I otherwise would never have chosen to see.  This movie however is most definitely not in that category.

There isn't much to the movie plot wise.  A young attractive lady called Miss Giddens (played by Deborah Kerr no less) is hired to become governess to 2 young children.  They are orphans and are under the care of their uncle who doesn't want to be bothered by them.  He is a very affluent man so he basically throws money at the situation to make it go away.  He hires Miss Giddens, who admits to having no experience whatsoever, seemingly purely based on her looks.  When she arrives at the childrens home, she makes a friend in the housekeeper Mrs Grose and loves Flora, the little girl she is to care for.  The little boy Miles is at boarding school so we don't see him until a bit later in the movie.

Miss Giddens is under the impression she is going to love her job, but she starts to see people who then turn out not to be there.  When Miles arrives home from school, things start to take an unpleasant turn with more strange happenings and some very odd behaviour from the children.  Mrs Grose doesn't seem to want to answer the questions Miss Giddens puts to her and almost warns her not to delve any deeper.  She knows something is very wrong with the children and the house.  This is pretty much it apart from giving away what was going on.

Carrie (1976) - Lisa's Review

So, another favourite of mine this week! We're on a roll!  Carrie is a movie I saw many years ago when I was about 10 or 11, thanks again to my dads Stephen King collection.  It was released a year after I was born, so by the time I saw it, the 70's vibe was a bit dated, but I was too young to worry about such things.  Had I watched it from my late teens onwards, I'd have loved the whole look and feel of it anyway :).  I suppose what I'm trying to say is, for me, this movie can't date as I have a soft spot for the whole era. 

Carrie is a movie which I would imagine absolutely everyone has seen.  They even did a remake in 2013 which I watched and reviewed here.  I wouldn't envy anyone who tried to get near to the original.  In this case, it is most definately, the best.

Carrie follows the story of Carrie white, a 17 year old schoolgirl and daughter of a superstitious and deeply religious mother.  Carrie doesn't fit in at school.  She has no friends and has no idea how to relate to her peers as everything that is of importance to a teenager is forbidden to Carrie.  In one upsetting scene (the opening scene in fact) Carrie is shown having her period for the first time.  Unfortunately due to her upbringing, she has no idea what is happening to her and thinks she is dying.  She runs towards the other girls, arms outstretched and hands covered in blood, screaming.  Of course the other girls know what is happening and are repulsed.  They all end up laughing, chanting at her and throwing tampons and sanitary pads at her as she lies sobbing in the showers.  The scene is harsh and upsetting, but is a perfect introduction to Carrie and the feel of the movie.  Even though this scene is shot in a girls shower room and all the women are naked, there is nothing gratuitous or sexual about it, which seems impossible, but is absolutely the case.

An American Werewolf in London - Lisa's Review

I think I should say right from the off, this is probably going to be a very biased review as 'An American Werewolf in London' is right up there amongst my favourite movies.  It's easily the best werewolf movie ever made.  The effects, so groundbreaking in 1981 are still just as jaw dropping today, which is something given the lack of CGI effects then which are common place today.

The movie follows best buddies David and Jack as they leave their native America for the Yorkshire Moors in a backpacking trip.  Sadly, although they are supposedly in the moors, filming was carried out in Wales and Surrey.  Having lived in Yorkshire for quite a few years, I see no reason why they couldn't film there, but hey ho!  Anyways, whilst hiking, they decide to go into a local pub (The Slaughtered Lamb) as it's getting a bit dark.  If you're paying attention you'll see no other than Rik Mayall in there as one of the yokels.   It's one of those bars where you walk in and a 'stranger' spotlight must appear above your head as the entire bar stops to stare.  I still think of this scene when I enter a bar where I wish I'd never set foot.  So, upon asking about a Pentagram sign on the wall of the pub, the locals aka yokels, make it clear American tourists, David and Jack are not welcome.  A concerned barmaid is concerned that they are going out into the moors in the dark, but they are sent on their way and told to keep to the path.  Unfortunately when they leave they are so busy talking about where to go and what to do, they veer from the path and onto the moors.

The Haunting (1963) - Lisa's Review

Finally I get down to the review of this movie.  It has only taken me 3 attempts to watch it.  It's a movie that requires quite a bit of attention and I found it is quite easy to find the mind drifting throughout.  After having to hit the scan back button more than once, I gave it a rest for the evening, again, several times.  Last night I finally managed to watch it all.  Did I agree with Martin Scorsese, that it was the scariest movie ever made?  Ummmm nope!  Did it scare me even a teensy bit?  Ummmmm nope!  I suppose a premise of sorts is in order.

The movie centers around Hill House, a mansion that was built by a man called Hugh Crain, for his new wife.  Unfortunately, she never got to see the home built for her, dying in an accident enroute to the house.  Hugh married again, but his second wife died falling down the stairs in Hill House.  There must be something very unlucky about Hill House as not content to be witness to 2 deaths, it also sees another one with Hughs daughter Abigail dying as she calls on her nurse maid.  She never left the nursery in Hill House for her entire life.

Understandably, the house had a bit of a reputation; one which attracted the attention of Dr Markway, who wanted to conduct a paranormal investigation there.  He is given permission by the owner on the condition that her son (and heir) a skeptic, accompanies him.  He invites 2 individuals - Theo, known to be a psychic and Eleanor who has 'abilities' and was plagued by supernatural forces as a child when stones rained down on her house for 3 solid days.

Audition - Lisa's Review

I became a Japanese horror fan 12 or 13 years ago and Audition was one of the first movies Japanese movies I watched.  I had watched a couple before this so was prepared for the odd style, which is just as well, as Audition is probably as odd as it comes.  From the off I'll say it.  I love this movie.  It's all kinds of strange, the words of an old rock song by a band called Crimson Glory sum it up quite succinctly... "Strange and beautiful... wicked and wonderful".  I'm deliberately not going to go into much detail on the story as it's a movie a lot of people won't have seen and they really should change that as it is well worth a watch.  It is also a movie where a lot is left to the viewers own interpretation.  There are quite a few interpretations of the movie to be found online, one of which I am most definitely on board with.  Again, it's not something anyone who hasn't seen the movie should read beforehand.  It's better to go into this movie with as little knowledge as possible.  I'll happily talk about my interpretation if any reader (are there any out there??) wants to know after having viewed the movie.

The Omen (1976) - Lisa's Review

The Omen is one of those infamous movies that pretty much everybody has seen.  Anyone too young to be bothered has probably seen the crappy 2006 remake.  I say crappy, but to be honest, I'm not that big a fan of the original.  I'll shoot from the hip right from the start, I found the original movie extremely dull, save for a few key scenes.  I found the 2006 remake hilariously bad.  Given that, I'd be very surprised if there was any horror fan who hadn't watched this movie, it isn't one I'm going to bang on about for too long.

Nosferatu (1922) - Lisa's Review

This is an oooooooooold movie, a SILENT movie for gawds sake!  I'd managed to successfully avoid watching this one up until tonight.  You see, this is probably one of my husbands favourite movies.  It's most definately his favourite vampire/vampyr? movie.  A bit of information first.  This was the first movie based on the 1897 Bram Stokers Dracula.  Given our modern ideas on vampires, this is quite surprising as the vampire depicted in Nosferatu is very, very different.  Bram Stokers widow denied permission for the movie to be made, but undeterred, F.W. Murnau continued with his version of the famous book.  He did change the names and made subtle differences to the storyline, but anyone who had read Stokers book or who had any knowledge of it, would be quick to make the connection.  Upon finding this out Stokers widow demanded all the copies were destroyed.  Fortunately for film history, a copy had made it's way to America, so the movie was saved and so is able to be enjoyed today.

So, why Nosferatu when the main vampires name is Orlok?  Well a little bit of reading tells me that Nosferatu is a Romanian word synomymous with Vampire and with the location being Transylvania... there you go!

Our movie starts depicting the happy relationship between our star Thomas Hutter and his beautiful wife Ellen.  They have a very simple relationship, one that shows an almost dependence upon one another, so when Hutters boss Knock sends him to Transylvania to secure a sale with a new customer, Count Orlok, Ellen is unsure and reluctant for Hutter to go.  Of course he doesn't have an option but to go, even with the reputation the place has of being full of phantoms and evil spirits.

The Fly - Lisa's Review

I'll start this review by saying, I'm not a fan of David Cronenberg.  I did mention this previously in my review of Videodrome.  I did also state that there were a couple of his movies that I loved.   The Fly is, in my humble opinion, the best thing he's ever done.

I hark back yet again to my late pre-teens and early teens and beloved family memories of Saturday nights sat around the toploader VHS with whatever gem my dad had picked up from the local video store.  We generally ended up watching a horror movie and I very vividly remember my mums discomfort and embarrassment at some aspects of nudity and sex scenes in this movie.  Having watched it again a few times since then, I can see it is not sexually graphic at all, but it was certainly enough to leave me red-faced and have my mum reach for the remote and the FFWD button back then.

So, the movie... I will make no bones about it.  I adore this movie.  I'm a massive Jeff Goldblum fan.  Not only is he a wonderfully talented actor with an imposing presence, but he is absolutely beautiful with a voice that makes my lady parts sing!  Although he became much more attractive in later years, he is definately appealing in The Fly.  As the movie starts Jeff plays Seth Brundle, a socially awkward but immensely intelligent scientist, with a nervous tension that only comes with being an eccentric scientist.  I've always found this kind of character oddly appealing and Jeff Goldblum plays it perfectly.