Fright Night (2011) Horror Vampire

Fright Night (2011) - My Netflix queue is a long road with many twist and turns. When Fright Night 2 (2013) showed up at my house I felt the only rational thing to do was to revisit the remake Fright Night (2011) which I barely remembered seeing a couple years back. Since so many films are being remade these days it seems inappropriate to go any further without mentioning what started it all. I remember really liking the original when it came out in 1985. Over the years revisiting it and realizing what campy fun it really is. Written by Tom Holland a wonderful actor, writer and director who also wrote Child's Play (1988) and Thinner (1996) it is a genre staple with a unique personality. The original with capture more of my youth with it's Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall), a face I knew so well. Not from the first role I saw him in as Galen in Planet of the Apes (1968) and a couple later films in that series but from a film I loved as a kid, The Legend Of Hell House (1973), but you have to understand this guy was showing up on our little black and white screen all through my life. Appearing in probably every popular TV show for fifty years. His appearance in Fright Night (1985) was almost nostalgic. Not only that but he was so good as the washed up horror a host who reluctantly finds the courage to help a kid with a vampire living next door. In recent viewing that film was a bit too tame for my liking, I think my exploration of the Italian Giallo and other more hard core gore filled genres has broken me a bit when it comes to this campy, fun style of horror. Still this film holds a place in my heart. When the remake came out I really had no interest in it. I stuck it on my 300 movie long Netflix queue and forgot about it. It was a re-imagining and intended to scare more than to be heart warming. I was luke warm in my desire to see the film but was surprised at the quality of it.
 . The film changes some of the setting and wisely does not try to reproduce the Peter Vincent character. Instead of a washed up horror host Peter Vincent (David Tennant) is a hot magician doing a vampire themed act in Vegas. An expert on vampires according to his website leading to Charlie (Anton Yelchin) recruiting him when the Vampire Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. Screenwriter Marti Noxon does a good job in transplanting he story to Las Vegas, one a large city with unrestrained growth into the surrounding dessert, capturing a time when the house bubble has exploded leaving neighborhoods mostly empty and easily preyed upon by the vampire. In the early scenes we see Charlie at school and the teachers in his classes doing roll calls each day there are more missing students from the classes.  At home his isolated community has a stretch of desert between it and Las Vegas. Charlie's Mom (Toni Collette) is a real estate agent on hard times, with more people moving away than in. Her husband has abandoned the family and she conveys a woman trying to hold it together she is not a quitter. Charlie is still a former dorky tween and now a senior in high school who is leaving his childhood friends behind as he pursues a different social circle. He is hanging with popular kids group and dating Amy the pretty girl who likes him. Amy was well played with a very attractive confidence by Imogen Poots. What's great about her character is she has real agency, she wants to date  Charlie because he is different. Even when shit hits the fan she is a capable persona ready to take action and make her own decisions. The character development is well thought out and written in a way that makes sense, Noxon is a professional and has lots of references and side comments that fully round out the characters and how they came to be. Charlie's left behind friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) was so hurt being left behind, that he was quite justified as Evil Ed as trying to get some payback. I liked that the character stuff that enveloped  Charlie was realized and resolved including the abandonment issues. I loved Ferrell getting to play alpha male in his interactions with Charlie and challenging Charlie's new found coolness and manhood. The weak parts of this film and there are only a few things that bothered me in a really good script are horror tropes that show up everywhere in the genre. Firsst being the coincidence that Jerry was the same vampire that killed Vincent's parents. Then after Charlie figures out what Jerry is, he has an opportunity to tell both his Mother and Amy while the day is young. Instead he researches in the library before trying to recruit Vincent. I was frustrated at the risk he put the other characters in. It creates a night encounter with Jerry that almost cost them all their lives. In this encounter there is another of those decisions where as they escape instead of heading into the city they head further out into the desert. Both decisions are designed to get to really good set pieces. Not telling the girls creates the fight for survival that night and heading into the desert allows a serious "fight the vampire' scene. They are just a bit obvious in getting there. The special effects are more numerous and enjoyable in this remake and the cameo from Chris Sarandon was great.
  There is a bit of a long action filled third act for this movie that was enjoyable even if you know what ultimately is going to happen. This is a recommend from this blog because although a different beast from the original this is a really fun film with scares, effects, story and character that will leave the viewer very satisfied. So if you have not seen it yet rent it and enjoy.

Manhattan Baby (1982) Horror Egyptian Curse

Manhattan Baby -aka "Eye of the Evil Dead" -  Well that was something. The film directed by Lucio Fulci reminds me of other things but does not seem to be an homage to any of them. There is this entirely sort of Exorcist beginning where Archaeologist Father, George Hacker (Christopher Connelly) and Wife Emily (Laura Lenzi) are visiting the pyramids in Egypt with daughter Susie (Brigitta Broccoli). While George is off investigating a cursed tomb, almost to his demise. Mom a journalist is taking pictures leaving little maybe 11 or 12 year old Susie alone in the ruins. Susie is visited by a blind woman who hands her a stone amulet that looks like the Eye of Horus then disappears into thin air. There are small details that I found amusing in this opening scene, when the old woman appears to Susie the girl reaches into her pocket and holds out what looks like money to the old lady. Such an American thing to do. Is the air thin in Egypt? At the same time a local dies directly after saying "Tombs are for the dead" as he and George enter the cursed tomb.Right before this they turn a symbol of a snake on the wall to reveal the secret passage they go down. There is this moment where the symbol pops off the wall and a cobra pops onto the floor near them. So was that just a place where cobras always nest? Or was that a four thousand year old cobra? There George sees another eye a symbol on the wall, suddenly blue laser beams shoot out and blind him.  He stumbles from the tomb blind.
  I can see not really getting into the death of the local in the tomb. We are setup to see George and his family and so when in the next scene George is being examines by a doctor back in NYC it is no big shock. He will be blind for about a year says the doctor but his sight will return. What follows is a less than coherent plodding film that tells the story of the effect the amulet has on the family and those around them. The stinger on the end is made to make it seem that there story is a cycle that has happened many times before.
  Included as ideas are that the Amulet that Susie has creates a doorway back to Egypt, and possible through time and that She and her little brother Tommy (Giovanni Frezza)use it to travel from there room and back. When someone tries to intervene with the magic the amulets power seems to possess the young girl bringing her close to death. The portal idea is a cool one but it also proves to be very dangerous. Sure there are some more innocent things like sand being deposited in the room, or Tommy bring back a 3rd century Anubis statue. There is also though a friend of Emily's disappearing through the bedroom door and transported to an untimely death in the desert of Egypt. The same for the Au-pair Jamie Lee (Cinzia de Ponti) who vanishes through the portal never to be seen again.
  Fulci not known for films that always go from point A to B is all over the place on this one. It is really two story parts that crisscross throughout the film. One of Mom and Dad as they try to figure out what is happening in there house. Their part though often feels detached from the plot. They do not regularly interact with their children and thus it takes most of the film before they are really clued in to what is going on. They almost lack agency when it comes to the plot. Even when they do find out about the amulet it is because they are contacted by the amazingly serious Mercato ( played over the top ominously by Cosimo Cinieri with voice dub by Edward Mannix). He is the exposition about what the amulet does and how it can possess the wearer, in this case poor little Susie.  The children and Au-pair are on the other track of the story and we get to see lots of strange happening during their scenes. including the demise of Jamie Lee. At know time even though two different people disappear do we ever see the police of for that matter any real concern by the Hackers. Instead the add in Mercato takes the curse off the girl at a grave cost to himself and she is freed to heal. Again the family seems to have no agency, things are just happening to them.
  The discombobulated sequence in which the scenes play out is off putting to the viewer. The acting is a bit cardboard for all except little Tommy who is little brother annoying and Mercato who is doing his thespian best to make sure the furthest seats can read his emotions. The building the family lives is is at the corner of East End Ave and 86th St. in NYC and you can see it today on google maps street view. I read in the Wikipedia that not only was this film poorly received but that Fulci was very unhappy with it and that contributed to him breaking from longtime producer Frabrizio De Angelis. He was quoted saying something to the effect that he had to make the film he was asked to make.       Someone like me who sort of likes even the bad Lucio Fulci films does not mind watching this film or even owning it. As far as a recommendation for the casual viewer, I would not go that far. I find it worth it for the elevator scene alone but again it is a real commitment if that is the only reason you are watching the film. It is a throw away scene but how it is executed is a wonderfully terrifying experience. No one in the film really addresses that horrible death either or the fact that they now have to walk up and down stairs to their sixth floor apartment. That may be the crux of the problem this movie lives with, there are things in it of value but overall it just does not come together coherently enough to make it good.
  

Feral (2017) Horror Zombie

Feral (2017) - This is an incredible detailed spoiler filled commentary I wrote while watching this film. I am not really reviewing it as I am experiencing it and writing my thoughts as I progress through the plot. So if you have plans to watch this film and don't want it ruined then stop reading now. Six twenty-something medical students get more than they expect on a camping trip when they find themselves face to face with zombies. The first scene is a man watching a woman turn into a zombie like creature, tied to a bed once she turns he puts a bullet in her head.  The other early scenes are all about set up, get into the woods do some simple character development and then hear some noises so they can get nervous. The director doesn't try very hard to show these youngsters know anything about camping, they are all walking with backpacks on but waist belts undone. Of course some can't figure out how to set up the tents, of course they have a fire that night and all have beer to drink. A practiced camper knows that beer bottles weigh too much, so if you are going to drink on a trip which is not recommended you bring distilled liqueur and switch it into a canteen. You don't have campfires, leave no trace camping is preferable and routes are planned these guys are just following one guy who "thinks" the lake is this direction. Enough complaining about poor set up, they have their fire and we get to know them and then it is time for bed.
  This is a perfect time to give us just enough about the characters couple by couple so we can get on with the scary. Alice (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Jules (Olivia Luccardi) talk about Alice not being able to come out to her bible belt father. Jules is from NYC where it is not such a big deal, she also worries that Alice has slept with most of the people on the trip. Jesse (Brock Kelly) and Gina (Landry Allbright) are at odds because Jesse thinks Gina is going to ruin the trip. She gets her character development by wearing a fur coat at the fire and sort of bitchily saying she is going to bed. Jesse is upset that Alice "is a lesbian now" and Gina feels like the girl he is seeing because he can't be with Alice. Matt (George Finn) and Brienne (Renee Olstead) are a very handsome couple, Brienne is Alice's best friend and their dialog fills in how Jesse is jealous of Alice coming out. The get engaged in this seen and so we have all the dynamics for a film. (or at least all you are going to get from this film.

  Matt taking a piss is attacked by a humanoid creature and so the fun begins with a scene of his guts being ripped out. Of course Brienne goes looking to come upon the gruesome scene and is chased while screaming. When the others hear the screaming they rush out and find her unconscious a bite on her face. We see a bit more in who the characters are with Alice taking charge of treating her. Both Jules and Gina are scared reaction people not showing much agency even after finding Matt's body. Jesse is there to butt heads with Alice. I loved the ridiculous bite in Brie's face all around her eye like the creature was trying to bite out her eyeball. It's going to leave a mark. Then the stupid scared girl line by Gina. "What if whatever did this is still out there and comes back." Hello, of course it is still out there! Then they all go back to bed? WTF! Now would be the time to build that fire and post a guard. What about Matt's body?
When morning is arrives we come in late on the scene of the group talking to local Bill Talbot (Lew Temple) who is sorry for their loss. WTF it looks like 10am and they just got up. Not hiking the fuck out at dawn no what a stupid premise. Instead of heading out to civilization they go to his remote cabin. Jesse and Jules are going to hike out to get help. Now the logistics of this are absolutely insane. Let's assume the group hiked all day to their original camp, without strapping their backpacks on correctly. That means they were one day from the parking lot. Now after going from there camp to the Talbot cabin they learn following the trail will take them to a service road that leads to the parking lot, but it is 20 miles long. Slow hiking is a mile an hour, that with rough terrain in the mountains, even in shape without packs the two could cover 20 miles probably in a long day. The terrain looks hilly but not mountainous. Jesse says if they cover four mph they can get out and back before sundown. That would be ten hours until sundown? meaning even in the height of summer it can be no later than say 8am. This means it must have been just sunrise when they met Talbot and headed to his cabin. But if the casual nature of there hike the day before is to be believed, the group probably did no more than ten miles into the wilderness and it they were lost probably did less than that. So assume they are eight miles from the car when they meet Talbot, then they carry the unconscious Brie for three hours to the cabin, probably a mile an hour to reach a cabin with a trail that is twenty miles long. That must be a trail that goes close to ten miles out of the way as it meanders back to the service road. Then in the very next scene we see mountains, so none of this is going to work. They don't take packs, water, snack or anything else. they are just going to follow a trail.
  Cut back to Brie awake and mourning Matt and Alice and Talbot now back where Matt's body used to be. "He didn't just get up and walk away." says Alice. Or did he? We cut between the that and Jules and Jesse arguing about Alice. It is just a way to get Jesse caught in a bear trap. As if the impossible logistics of the hike were not enough. There is this masculine toxicity with his character where he can't believe Alice is really gay because he slept with her. Is he worried he turned her gay by having bad sex? Now unable to free him from the bear trap Jules has to go back to the cabin. She does not make it before the sun sets. Even though Brie is awake she does not tell them that she was attacked by a humanoid creature. Does she not remember?  Alice and Gina don't trust Talbot and considering the first scene, we sort of know he knows what is going on in the woods.
  The overnight has Jesse stuck in the bear trap, Jules trying to find her way back to the cabin but hunted by one of the creatures. At the cabin a confrontation where Alice has Talbot's gun and trains it on him when he is standing over Brie with syringe that he says is antibiotics. "I have no choice." he says trying to give the shot, before she shoots him in the shoulder to stop him and knocks him out with the butt of the rifle. Gina is useless and afraid and when Alice goes outside to check on a noise she heard she leaves Gina with Talbot. At least we get some exposition about the virus that Brie has and Talbot escapes into the woods. So lets assume Talbot stayed in the forest after doing in his infected wife. He knew the creatures were around but did nothing to fortify his cabin. So maybe he knows the nature of the infliction. He stated that the virus was taking over Brie and that she would turn into something else. Since the opening scene took place in the cellar of the cabin as Alice and Gina find the space we know that he is not just a loner in the woods. He has potions that make one think he may have caused the zombie like creatures or at least was trying to find a cure. When Jules returns to the cabin just past the half way point this knowledge sets up the third act. So where are we, Jesse is in the bear trap hours away from the cabin and is soon dispatched by one of the creatures. The four women are in the cabin armed and caring for one of their own who will soon be a creature. Matt and the other creatures are roaming around outside somewhere and may run into Talbot wounded but at least in the know about the dangers around him.
  So what happens at the cabin? They all go to sleep, yep that is it. Next morning Alice and Jules leave the useless Gina with the gun and alone in the cabin with the changing Brie. They hike to Jesse and find him already turned on the ground but unconscious. The yellow eyes should be an indicator but they carry him back to the cabin anyway because he has a pulse.I appreciate that they are still taking moments to do further character development. We learn that Alice is a strong competent young woman with a good heart. All back at the cabin we are ready for the third act. Since they all sleep and do not lock anything up it is a perfect time for Talbot to get the drop on them.
  Lots of parts should build into a frenzy rather quickly if this is to be executed in a satisfying way. Talbot reveals his son is a creature, Jesse transformed rises from the dead, Jules sneaks up on Talbot with a knife. Useless Gina wakes and starts looking for Jesse scared as ever. This is a tiny cabin and the noise of Gina being attacked by Jesse, full creature now, gives the other girls a chance to jump Talbot. Jesse escapes jumping out the bedroom window, Gina is bitten and Alice and Jules are going to get answers from Talbot. I have to say I hate when the line "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you." just before giving the all too believable information that fills in the participants of said scenario. The "Feral Virus" as Talbot calls it, very science smart he was trying to find a cure for the first creature his son Ben. They are nocturnal and the virus transforms them into the creatures. The women know that both Gina and Brie are going to turn. All the creatures will come to the cabin because they want to feed on the living in classic zombie trope. So are we safer in the cellar or the upstairs. Is this "Night of the Living Dead"? Sure is close but with fast zombies. Also the trope of should the they kill their friends which is wonderfully played out comes into play. So locking Talbot in the cellar they have to make it through the night, virus goes dormant in the day which will give them a chance to escape.
  I like that the earlier character development comes into play in the argument about whether they should execute Brie. It is a natural conversation considering the circumstances and since Alice is the alpha it will eventually be up to her to make the decision. Joining Talbot (tied up) in the cellar and also tying up Brie they try to wait out the night seems like a smart idea. But leaving Gina unbound but sleeping is a mistake. Then the really big mistake. when Alice hears noises upstairs she goes to investigate. Maybe necessary for plot purposes but how many horror films does it take to know that you never go investigate noises, alone armed or not it is just crazy. I would think that having two zombies in the cellar with you and three more trying to get in could in itself be a really exciting climax. You would also have the antagonist of Talbot waiting for his chance to take control of the situation to spice things up further. Instead while Alice is creeping around upstairs Talbot is getting over on Jules who does not seem too bright in the scene.
  So instead of a action packed attack scene we have a slow burn creeping around the house. There is tension which is great but I hoped for more. Alice takes out a couple of the creatures so according to my count there is still one left up above and two potentials in the cellar. When Alice come down the stairs Talbot is waiting for her. she is knocked out falling literally down six steps. Talbot leaves her locked down there only to sacrifice himself to his son upstairs. When Alice come awake she sees the Gina creature hovering over her girl Jules and with a baseball bat in hand we get a fight to the death. Where she was never really friends with Gina anyway she does not hold back. One down stair and possible two upstairs. Brie waking and screaming gets the upstairs son of Talbot creature breaking into the cellar. The woman make a plan and Alice will handle the creature while Jules flees for her life. (Instead of double teaming the creature?) Alice is getting better at this and succeeds in finishing it off but now she is separated from Jules and the Talbot creature is on the loose. I dislike when you set up rules about the transformation and then break them. This is the case in this film where Talbit changed way faster than any other character that was infected.
  Then of course Alice has to decide whether to kill her girlfriend when she is infected by Talbot creature before he is killed. I have to hand it to the film maker, he plays the setup and scene for all it is worth. Unfortunately everything creeps back to a crawl meaning Jules turns very slowly and it is daylight before the end. this uneven action plotting where there are burst of action but no steady build to a climax is just unsatisfying for me. Our final girl gets to walk out in the light but of course the obvious omit of leaving Brie to finally change over  is revisited in the hopes of a sequel. Let me remind you she was the second person bitten and yet is the last to change. I think there was a giant opportunity for a third act that was missed in this film. It was filmed and cut well enough but I am not sure the script was good enough. (Who am I to judge right? someday I will write something and put it out into a cruel and critical world and then see how I feel about my critiques) I think Director Mark Young did what he could with it but maybe some more development could have helped.Well not really a pleaser for me. It is not horrible but it is also not one I would recommend.
 
 

The Haunting of Helena (2012) Horror Tooth Fairy Ghost

  The Haunting of Helena (2012) - This Italian product from One More Pictures in Italy, has a complex plot with a twist ending that should make it a winner. Why it is not really a winner in my eyes will take some explaining. The plot is not to be complained about here. A young girl at the point of losing her first baby tooth gets haunted by a ghost who is looking to regain her own teeth that were pulled out in a horrific crime. The film does a decent job of feeding us the back story of Battista Greco a violent man who pulled all the teeth from his wife's mouth and left her to die in a closet. She, The Ghost uses the timing of little Helena's first tooth loss to start haunting the girl and her Mother Sophia. Now there have been a couple other instances where the plot of a vengeful spirit goes after the teeth of children. In Darkness Falls (2003) Falsely blamed for a couple dead children, a good woman is burned to death and her curse is to come and retrieve the last baby tooth a child in the town loses. If you don't look at her you are okay but...  The other is The Tooth Fairy (2006) where a child on vacation learns of the local tooth fairy myth but the myth comes for her teeth. This film is different enough in origin story for it to not seem like a rip off.
  The first act of this film is all about that haunting. Sophia (Harriot MacMasters-Green) and Helena (Sabrina Jolie Perez) move into an apartment after Sophie leaves her husband Robert (Jarreth J. Merz). This is a creepy old house with a creepy old man Mr Ferri (Paolo Paoloni) in the neighboring apartment. When Helena loses her first baby tooth her Mom tells her about the tooth fairy and plans to make the tooth disappear replace by a coin. When she attempts this the little girl is awake and says the tooth fairy already came. The mystery deepens when Helena is caught at school buying other children's teeth for old coins. She insists that the coins are from the tooth fairy and that she wants Helena to get her more teeth.  Mr Ferri fills in some information talking to Sophie about the murder that happened in the house. Battista Greco (Marco Fattibene) killed his wife after pulling out  and hiding all of her teeth. He locked her in a closet until she died. Could the ghost of his wife be the tooth fairy. There is quite a bit of spooky and the monotone music is sometimes overbearing playing stingers even when there is no reason for them. When the ghost arrives in the apartment and comes for teeth Sophie does what any normal people would do and flees with her daughter. It actually is a decently staged scene with a piano in the way and the creepy ghost closing in. We are a third of the way through the movie and this is a major climax. Through out the film the music is scary serious and because of it there is this pall over the whole film. It could be that I noticed the stronger music by Michele Josia, when it swelled but there really was very little action connected to it. It seemed more that a mood was being created and that mood was seriously ominous.
  The second act takes place eighteen months later in an adult psychiatric ward of a hospital. Little Helena has not spoken since the frightening events and Mom is naturally so concerned that hospitalizing her seemed necessary. In this act we have a horrible trope come to life, where we are asked to consider if Sofie is actually a crazy person and all of this is in her head. To get there the Writer/Director Christian Bisceglia in a shared directing credit with Ascanio Malgarini brings back Robert to be the antagonist, being absent on all this time he really only serves to question his former wife's sanity. When Sofie calls him an asshole he responds "I would rather be an asshole than be crazy". It is not clear whether Sofie is a patient too or just staying with her daughter. She is seeing a psychiatrist who adds to the theme around her sanity, revealing that Sofie's Mother killed herself in a psychiatric hospital. This section culminates with her doubting herself "I might be the fairy?"  The end of the act has a great reference to Poltergeist (1982) when Sofie and Helena are watching television and the screen goes to static, and Helena says "She's back Mom."
  The final act not only clears up Sofie's bad relationship but fills in the all the details of the crime that created the tooth fairy ghost. Robert probably should not have stayed around and I'll leave it to your imagination as to why. There is a full story here so be prepared for a long climax where we learn to get rid of the ghost Sofie has to find her teeth for her, not any teeth will do. This draws her back to the apartment building and creepy Mr Ferri oh but there is so much more. Several really effective scare scenes featuring the little girl and her father actually make this film interesting. after what you think is the films climax you get a twisty twist that takes the film in another direction. I won't spoil that here since this is one of those films on the fine line of a recommendation. There are drawbacks though, something about the single tone of the music and the pacing of the directing make the film feel slower than the plot development would make you think it should be. The cinematography by Antonello Emidi is pretty stagnant also it seems to be stationary most all the time. This could be the director's call so I would not put it totally on him. He is an experience technician with a varied list of credits on IMDB.  Listen I am not an expert at this stuff but there is just something a bit off in the presentation. So I am on the line about this film, I found it to be a bit less than I hoped but there are things in it of real horror value. You make the call.
  

Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005) Horror Thriller

Do you like Hitchcock? (2005) - Do you like homage? Well if you don't you will probably want to avoid this slightly less than clever tribute to Alfred Hitchcock. Giulio (Elio Germano) lives in a neighborhood similar to that of Jeff Jefferies (Jimmy Stewart) in the Hitchcock classic Rear Window (1954). Looking out his window he can see into all the apartments surrounding his building. As people appear to lack shades or refuse to use them little private vignettes of life in the city are on display for Giulio to view. An attractive girl arguing with her mother young couple kissing, people coming and going, watching television or making love all within sight of his room. Now this being a film directed by Dario Argento there is a male gaze that is very female focused. Sasha (Elisabetta Rocchetti) the beautiful girl across the way makes a point to pose in front of the mirror as well as in the window in the near nude. The excited Julio not only peeks but uses binoculars so that the audience can get a close up view of the lovely young woman. Where Hitchcock in Rear Window acknowledges that it is wrong to invade the privacy of others in this film it is used to titillate the main character and the audience and is done in a way making all participants leering creeps.
At the local video store Giulio creeps further on Sasha as she and another attractive women Frederica (Chiara Conti) exchange pleasantry about the Hitchcock film Stranger's on a Train. As the film plays out it centers around Giulio making connection between that film and the meeting of the two young women. When Sasha's mother is murdered in the apartment where she and her daughter live he is sure that the plot of that film is playing out before his eyes. His investigation becomes more important than anything else and he takes risks about finding out if Frederica did in fact kill Sasha's mother.
  Argento obviously loves Hitchcock and he really is trying to worship at his feet with this film. The film is full of references and from Dial M for Murder to Psycho there is a bunch to pick out as homage to the master. It takes a while to play out but Giulio's snooping gets results, learning that Federica had stolen money from her company and is being blackmailed for sex by her boss. Motives seem to abound and he is sure but can't really prove anything. There is a climax and a false climax in this film. Argento trying to be clever turns the classic story a bit on its side by introducing another player to threaten Giulio as he nears figuring out the intrigue. It could wrap up there, killer caught and story over but there is more. The climax is classic Rear Window with his girlfriend Ariana (Christina Brondo) playing the Grace Kelly Role and going across the street to Sasha's apartment while the killer is there. Giulio who has hurt his leg watches helplessly as Jimmy Stewart did in the Hitchcock film.
  All in all I think this film works, it is derivative but tries to add some twist to make the ideas fresh. It is obvious Argento loves the material he references and gives us an entertaining mystery that is not equal to the films it pays tribute to. I think this film is worth a watch. I have recently had a Mandela effect concerning Dario Argento. I have this memory of hearing that he died and being very sad about it. fact is that he is not dead and this can not be a real memory. Whether it came to me in a dream or I am confusingly substituting one person for another in it it is quite unsettling. I would be sad if Dario were to pass away but why I was so sure he had remains a mystery.

Zoltan: Hound of Dracula (1977) Horror Demon Dog

Zoltan: Hound of Dracula (1977)  A group of Soviet soldiers out looking for treasure blow their way into a tomb in Romania. All the names on the tombs are the family Dracula. These soldiers leave a poor soldier behind to guard the find while they settle in for the night meaning to explore more in the morning. Tremors in the night shake the tomb dislodging caskets from the tombs. In the one the soldier decides to open is something under some sheets that has a large wooden stake through the center of it. Apparently the soldier has never heard stories of vampires and so he does the one thing you should never do. He pulls the stake out to look at it. Unfortunately for him that stake was keeping the vampire dog Zoltan from rising and removing it allows the gray doberman to jump from under his sheets to kill and drink the blood of the stupid soldier.
 Reggie Nalder) say telepathically to the dog. A 'fractional larmia' is the term given to this character basically a Renfield character who will seek out the last remaining Dracula living on earth. In this case Michael who lives in Los Angelas CA. We learn about this because the Major running the operation Maj. Hessel (Arlene Martel) and Inspector Branco (Jose Ferrer) have long exposition filled scenes where they explain the plot points. At the end the Inspector is instructed to look up Michael Drake (Michael Pataki) and try to intervene before Smith could turn him into a vampire? Smith and the dog arrive in LA via ship with the dog playing dead (undead) in a shipping container. Since he only becomes active at night, like a vampire Smith can get him past customs by saying the dog is being returned home for burial.

In a dog memory flashback, yes I just said that, we learn that Zoltan was bitten by Dracula in bat form after the dog interrupted the vampires desired feast on a local village lovely. He becomes controlled by Dracula a hound of the living dead. The smart dog then opens the casket of his former master who must have been turned by Dracula and the two leave the tomb to "...find our new Master." as the risen corpse Veidt Smith (
  Michael is a forty something father of two living is a nice a neighborhood, his wife (Jan Shutan), daughter (Libby Chase) and son (John Levin) are getting ready to go on a camping vacation. They decide to bring their two beautiful German Sheppard dogs even though one is still nursing a litter of pups. a big deal was made about Michael bringing his handgun so we can be sure that it will come into play at some point. The ominous music as they pull out followed by a hearse leads to the viewer down the road that things are going to get interesting on this camping trip.
Branco arrives in LA via airplane while they are camping. Very casual in his approach considering Smith and Zoltan took a frigging steam boat.  It must have taken them weeks to sail from Romania to LA. but Branco flies in rents a sweet convertible  and heads out to find the Drake family as if there was no rush at all. He easily could have been there weeks before and prepped Michael about arriving ghoul and vampire dog. It is a slow burn this film. With Smith and the vampire dog looking for an opportunity to get to Michael but along the way having other kills. Zoltan converts some of the dogs to work with him, including the Drakes own shepherds and they start closing in on the Drake family. After a close call where Linda is attacked, Michael and family are ready to go home. Branco finds them as they pack up and explains his connection to the Dracula issue and his family history.  Michael sends his family home while he and Branco stay to confront the pack of dogs. They hold up In the shabbiest of shacks and the night looks dire when the dogs attack. They barely make it through fighting off the dogs with fire. Zoltan though eventually makes his way in, but the sun is rising and it chases him off.
  The climax of this film is Michael against four vampire dogs and even guys arriving with guns can not help him. He must be the one to deal with Zoltan and end the threat. Branco deals with Smith and then arrives just in time to help with the dog pack. Michael though must face off with the titular character but it is a really shitty final confrontation. So disappointing in fact that even the silly see you for the sequel ending can't save this slog of a film. What to take away from this film?  Well some of these actors are great. Maybe not in this role but there is a place in my heart for the work of Jose Ferrer, Both Martel and Shutan appeared on Star Trek, the original series. Still this really is not a very interesting movie. So with really no Dracula and a lame disaster of a plot this is not a recommended film.

Mausoleum (1983) Horror Possession Curse

Mausoleum (1983) What a wonderfully weird little film. This is one of those older films that is not objectively good but that I found entertaining anyway. Don't mistake that to think it is in any way campy fun it is not. It takes itself seriously and executes an uneven strange mix of practical effect and disjointed plot in a way most people will balk at, just not this person. The fact that I can still find old films that I have not seen is amazing to me I have been devouring the horror genre for a good forty plus years. Maybe it is nostalgia for the time period, maybe the ridiculous gratuitous nudity or that really wonderful practical effects, I just enjoyed watching this film.
  It is the story of Susan Walker played as a child in the opening by  Julie Christy Murray in her only film role who at her Mother's funeral runs off and enters the family crypt. Little does she know that there is a curse on the females of her line and by entering the mausoleum she allows herself to be possessed by a demon. glowing green eyes being the main indicator of the possession well that and the bum who happened to be hanging out in the tomb, who after frightening her runs away because she causes his head to burn up from the inside. You think this is a decent opening to the movie and you are going to see this teen  dealing with the possession but no. The film abruptly cuts to Susan as a thirty year old woman now Susan Walker Farrell played by the lovely Bobbie Bresee married to overworked and often traveling Oliver Farrell (Marjoe Gortner). Bresee a former Playboy Bunny made a short career in genre films during the 1980s. She was married to voice and radio actor Brank Bresee who later worked behind the scenes in television and created adult games like Frank Bresee's Pass Out which can still be found today.
  Now why the film waits to tell the story more than a decade after the possession is odd. Maybe the original story written by Katherine Rosenwink was reworked by Robert Madero and Cinematographer Robert Barich to fit the cast they had planned. I don't know this so don't take it as fact. The version of the film I watched was on Amazon Prime with no extras. They explain away the gap in time saying that now that Susan is the same age as her mother at the time of her death that the changes start a happening and the demon comes to the forefront.  This change primarily has three characteristics, glowing green eyes and demon face, a tendency when in the shape of Bobbie Bresee to be scantily clad and an appetite for praying mantis style sex with whatever man happens to be around.
  The protagonist seems to be Susan's long time therapist Dr. Simon Andrews (Norman Burton) who slowly figures out what is going on and executes a plan to save her from the demon before it is too late. These parts drag a bit but we learn of the family history and the curse and how it has killed generations of Walker women. When we get to the long awaited climax it has to do with placing a wreath of leaves on Susan's head which will trap the demon back in the mausoleum. A bit clunky in getting this information to us and an internal struggle for Dr. Andrews to believe this is a solution. Still the anti-climax climax and ending leave the viewer knowing the producers of this film were hoping for a sequel. Directed by Michael Dugan, the film strongly rooted in the male gaze would not even come close to taking the Bechdel-Wallace test never mind passing it. I can't really recommend the film as a work of art but in my viewing enjoyed it for the thing it is.