The Nesting (1981) Horror Ghosts

The Nesting (1981) - This is the story of a agoraphobic writer Lauren (Robin Groves) drawn to a house to write only to solve the mystery of the house's history and her own as well. Lauren is experiencing agoraphobic anxiety attacks whenever she leaves her house. You have to like her attitude though, she is attacking the problem with her therapist and thinking about getting out of the city where the attacks are more common. So whatever is going on emotionally for her she is seeking solutions and in this case she heads out to a small town Dover Falls and rents a house where she can complete her book. Surprising to her is when she gets to the house it is the same one that is on the cover of her last book. An Octagon shaped place so unique that it couldn't be a coincidence could it? In real life the place is called the Armour-Stiner House and is just a beautiful piece of architecture.  We can glean from her therapy sessions that she has had some kind of trauma in her past. She is reluctant to be romantic with her friend Mark (Christopher Loomis) a wise cracker who is so in the friend-zone he does not stand a chance with Lauren.
 John Carridine) and managed by his grandson Daniel (Michael David Lally) the house has been empty for years so renting it out to Lauren seems reasonable. When she meets Col. LeBrun he takes one look at her and has a stroke. Later we learn this stopped him from saying who she looks like. So we have a haunted house, a woman with a mysterious past and an old man who has his own secrets.

In the cold open we see the house back in the 1930s or some such time and know from that scene that some murders took place there. So this appears at this point to possible be a haunted house movie?  If it were that simple I suppose we would all be very disappointed. This is a house with a history, once a brothel it is owned by Col. Lebrun (
  As haunting kinds of things happen in the house, Lauren who is still fighting her fears is sort of stuck there. Her plan might not have been the best when it comes to a house full of ghosts. I mean its scary when you are standing in front of the mirror admiring your own breasts and a pair of ghostly hands decide to cop a feel. That freaks her out enough to get her therapist Dr Webb (Patrick Farrelly) to rush out to the house. He finds her frantic on the roof of the house, its a story of how she got there but while trying to help her Webb is accidentally killed.
  The dying and the haunting does not stop there, it continues revealing to the audience the nature of the brothel. We see Lauren as part of the brothel workforce? Is that really her, is she losing her mind? All this is answered and more but first a bit of masculine hostility. After being rude to the handyman Frank (Bill Rowley), Lauren invites him to tea to apologize for her behavior. Well Frank being a horrible human makes it clear that if she talked nice to him she must want his cock in her. Lucky for Lauren the ghost intervene before Frank can get too far, frightening him out of the house and eventually to his demise.

  There are holes in this film and on IMDB it is only rated at a 4.8 of 10 still it tries to present a cohesive story. It's not that the film is bad but it weaves a tale that does not always make sense. In all this is a story about how Lauren returns to the house she was born in and this event initiates the ghosts of the former brothel get revenge on the men that slaughtered them. Lauren's arc is overcoming her fears and learning her own personal history. For the Colonel, Frank and Abner (David Tabor) it is about paying for your misdeeds in this case against their wills. The spooky is not spooky enough (One good birds jump scare early on), the crazy closer to being up to par. Especially Abner the murderous louse who chases Lauren in cars in what has to be the strangest car chase I have ever seen, it reason is so small for such a big event. In the end though I did not come away thinking this movie was anything special so I am not going to recommend it.

The Sentinel (1977) Horror Gate of Hell

The Sentinel (1977)  It's a strange thing how there are some movies that despite all the negative reviews and comments that they are still your favorites. This film was panned when it came out, too slow, too derivative, religiously offensive. It may be that those things but I think it also is creepy and well written. It could be in that sweet spot where  I remember it as a teenager so it is nostalgic. The novel by Jeffrey Konvitz was adapted to a screenplay by he and Director Michael Winner about a portal from hell in Brooklyn that is guarded by a priest/nun to keep the evil where it belongs. Of course it is a bit more complex that that. The guardian must be a condemned soul who has then chosen God. So the Church, when a new guardian is needed, funnels a person who has attempted suicide to the building, they are the condemned for the attempt but can be redeemed if they become the new guardian. Demons in Hell knowing that a chance to break through haunt the apartment building attempting to make the chosen one choose death over God. This is where our story begins. The old priest Father Halliran (John Carradine) must pass on his duties. The Church through realtor Miss Logan (Ava Gardner) find a young model Alison Parker (Christina Raines) to the building making the amazing apartment too good to be true for $400 a month.  A dream come true for the price. She is a conflicted girl having attempted suicide twice. Traumatized by a horrid wealthy Father (Fred Stuthman), deceased but still haunting her with memories his sexual antics and events that precipitated her first suicide attempt. The seventies, and 80s for that matter seemed fixated on the idea of mental illness being caused by seeing your parents in sexual situations. So many slasher killers had this hang up and here it is again where finding your dad in bed with a couple naked ladies having a good time can make a teen try to take her own life.
  It certainly informs the character Alison. She is noncommittal to her boyfriend Michael (Chris Sarandon) suggestion to live together or possibly marry. It comes directly from her living with her lecherous father and that his unfaithful marriage informs her sensibilities. She does not want to be like her Mother who when asked why she stayed in the relationship said that she had no place to go. Maybe also she senses something in Michael that may be like her father, for he is not all smiles and love. We learn his secrets before the end of the film and they are not small. Hell he is an awful person callus and hurtful. So instead of moving in with him she takes the bottom floor of the apartment building where Father Halliran lives on the fifth.
  She starts to meet the neighbors, Mr Chazen (Burgess Meredith) alight with energy and a bit nosy like the Castevets in Rosemary's Baby. Gerde Engstrom (Sylvia Miles) and her lover Sandra (Beverly D' Angelo), the Clotkins and the Stinnets as well as Mrs. Clark. You don't really get to know these characters mainly just Chazen who interacts the most with Alison. SPOILERS: They are manifestations from hell sent to drive Alison to suicide, each a murderer condemned to hell for eternity. There is though a scene with Engstrom and Sandra that was most talked about at the time but fits with Alison's uncomfortable relationship with sexuality. She is visiting them and Engstrom leaves the room to get the coffee. Sandra then masturbates in front of  Alison never saying a word to her. When she cums she smells her hands which I thought was a strange choice by the actress and/or Director. We get to see the shear uncomfortable reaction and the quick departure from the apartment, but more it is a trigger to Alison's teen years with her suicide attempt. The ghost from hell are not going to go easy on her.
  Strange dreams, fainting spells, and noises upstairs are having an effect on Alison. In an attempt to ease her anxiety she asked the realtor about her neighbors and is told that she and Father Halliran are the only residents in the building. But she went to the other's apartments so she knows it is not possible. Miss Logan shows her the other apartments, not furnished as Alison remembers them and with cobwebs and different furniture. Her hold on reality starts to slip at this point. Michael tries to help her but he has his own secondary story involving the death of his wife, a private dick who works for him and some cops that don't want to leave her death a cold case suicide. Still he moves the plot along after Alison starts seeing only a latin phrase in a book in one of the abandoned apartments. "Tibi sortu cursus Tuum vigilia que severa munus"  which in Google translate is "The function of which is strict, the course of your watch, and you get lots of" but that could just be a poor translation, what the film gives us is
"To thee thy course, Thy lot is given charge and strict watch, To this happy place no evil thing approach or enter."  which is similar to the Milton from Paradise Lost, “Gabriel, to thee thy course by lot hath given Charge and strict watch that to this happy place No evil thing approach or enter in."
All of this to point the audience to the fact that there is a doorway to hell in the building and that Alison is chosen to be the next to defend it.
  What is a slow burn for most of the film really ramps up in the third act. Alison could go either way and on the day she is to decide the neighbors are back and with friends to try to drive her mad. The final scenes where she is being pursued through the apartment building filled with circus freaks, her father, her dead neighbors is just great. While most people probably don't dig this film I really do and think everyone should watch it. Alison is put in the position of either choosing death or receiving the mantle from Father Halliran and it is just great. I love the idea of this story, that there could be a gate to hell somewhere and that whatever church has to have a guardian to keep the world safe. I could totally get behind a remake of this film, like the idea in The Nun where perpetual prayer is needed to keep the demon in the convent. That could be the new version for a remake of this film. Where are you James Wan?!

31 Days of Halloween 2018

October 13:

  Dorm of the Dead (2006) Writer Director Donald Farmer brings us this loooooooow budget video gem about a zombie outbreak at a college. How can that happen you as. Well a professor at the school decides instead of telling the student he is sleeping with that the relationship is over he gives her zombie blood from Haiti which turns her into a zombie. She bite and then the people she bites bite and before you know it you have an outbreak. Allison (Adrianna Eder) and Sarah (Ciara Richards) are friends going to the school and unfortunately they laugh at the wrong girl, Clare (Jackey Hall) who also uses the zombie blood to change Sarah from vegan goth to meat eating zombie. This little act of revenge seems a bit over the top, as is most of this film. It has a story but the rough filming style and editing leave this in the not so good category. Add in what seemed many beginner actors and you have a film that is hard to get through. On top of that the hard rock shots of Sarah walking around looked to be added just to extend the films running time. To get some name recognition into the film they hired Tiffany Shepis to play Amy a woman turned into zombie who spend most of her screen time being a zombie. The film is a bit of a mess with scenes of nudity for nudity sake all from the point of view of the male eye. It is not well acted or directed or edited for that matter but it is a zombie film and this is the 31 Days of Halloween so it will have to do.

October 14:
Jack-O (1995) - Halloween is upon us and so it's time to view a film with the holiday in mind. The setting of a small Florida neighborhood on Halloween night is not necessarily the creepiest of settings but it will do for this story of a cursed family and a pumpkin headed demon seeking them out. Steve Latshaw made this unique attempt of a film with some skill but also some obvious money issues. Some unprofessional actors including I think his son as the lead child as well as a script that leaves even the professionals sounding flat; reducing this film from what could have been an entertaining independent horror film into a clunky attempt. Still somehow he managed to get some great horror actors like John Carradine, Linnea Quigley and Brinke Stevens to appear in the film. It is true the nature of Carradine and Stevens is unclear to me. Where they are featured in a film within the film it could be borrowed footage? Of course I over rate these actors because I do love me some low budget films and they are staples in those films. Quigley though playing the protective babysitter can't save this film. As stated above this film is not hapless. Latshaw creates a clear well defined mythology for the curse and even though I am pretty sure some of the logic of is it flawed; this writer is not willing to watch a second time to find the flaws. Still it was impressive that some of the actors in the film were bigger horror name people.Because the film is less than top quality it is even more impressive.
  The story goes as we see through some flashbacks that there was a wizard in the small town who was found out and killed. He cursed the town and in particularly the Kelly family. A monster called Jack-O terrorized the town in the early 1900s. Arthur Kelly managed to trap the beast in a shallow grave with a magical cross through the creature's heart. Then there is some stuff about the sixth son of Arthur could do the demon in for good and stop the curse but that seemed tacked on later in the film. So the Monster trapped under the ground for six generations is accidentally freed by a few partying teens and the killing starts anew. The Kelly family, the Dad, David (Gary Doles) a Halloween crazed fellow with a corny haunted garage knows the legend. As does his wife, Linda (Maddisen K. Krown) and son, Sean (Ryan Latshaw) In fact the whole town has the mythology down. It is part of what makes the film a bit interesting. Like the chant we hear in A nightmare on Elm St. this film does a nice job making the legend believable. It gave the film probably more potential than it may deserve. Everyone can recite the sayings around the pumpkin man and do somewhat regularly.
  The Monster a larger pumpkin headed fellow with a scythe as a killing tool is certainly menacing enough to fit the myth. Add to this the character of Vivian (Catherine Walsh) a descendant of the wizard who has come around to help end the curse. It all plays out as expected, derivative of other horror films and in the end just a routine film with low production values.
  The plot of the film after the killer is raised from the dead is a hunt and slash variety. Jack-O is drawn to young Sean Kelly the sixth generation Kelly. On the way he slices and dices his way through town folk with the intent to kill the kid that can extinguish the curse. A boy of about 10, Sean is going out trick or treating with his babysitter Carolyn (Linnea Quigley). As the killer moves through the town looking for Sean he is out walking, trick or treating. Eventually the family and Vivian realized the truth about the curse being alive and well and go out hunting for the kid also. There is not a lot more than that, run, hide, almost die, repeat. The kills are not very impressive with practical effects and stretegic cutting so not to show too much happening but more the effects of the violence. You see the scythe swing, then cut to it in the gut of the victim, then the face close upwith a blood spit. This is really where the low budget of the film shows itself. Latshaw knows how to shoot these scenes but the nature of the lower budget just does not make it the most satisfying scenes.What it does have is what seems a required Quigley shower scene and also a flash of breasts by the actress player her sister Rachel Carter. This writer would be the last person to say that these scenes add anything to the film.
  When we finally get to the the climax and we have the slowest burying alive scene in the history of film, it is an underwhelming and quick finish. Overall this film is not really up to par and can not get a recommendation from this blog. Too many flaws and lacking the biting satire or depth that could get a low budget film a recommendation. It really does not even have any humor except the unintended kind. So you can probably skip this film unless you are punishing yourself for something.

Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975) Horror Vampire

Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary (1975) - Christina Ferrare probably known as a Max Factor spokesperson a former fashion model she has worked in TV and fashion. Later she might be seen for her working as a frequent guest on the Oprah cable TV network cooking and sharing recipes.In this early work which she has many credits on IMDB; she stars as Mary a vampire traveling through Mexico struggling to find love and success while still meeting her need for blood. It is a strange tale where she has managed for many years to survive on her own as a painter of some notoriety while at the same time leaving a trail of bodies drained of blood. The turning point for Mary is when she meets Ben (David Young) a charming hitchhiker who is easy to fall for. Now she must balance the desire for blood with the counter desire to not eat her lover. After the first scene of there meeting the film gives us the goods on Mary, we see her turning her flirting charms on a man she has picked up in a bar.  She drugs the victim with a dose of something she keeps in a locket around her neck. She stealth-fully slips it into his drink and waits for it to takes effect. Then with a pin knife she keeps her hair up with she deftly punctures his jugular and drinks her fill.
  Director Juan Lopez Moctezuma does some interesting stuff with a story by Don Henderson, Malcolm Marmorstein and Don Rico even though there is not a lot in it. The story is pretty basic, we join the main character after she has established her life as some what successful artist, who uses already has a method of killing and drinking that has worked for her. There could be another story here that would also be interesting enough for a movie. I thought of the film "Let the Right One In", where the vampire creature was an 11 year old looking creature. She had to deal with the logistics her underdeveloped body created for her. I kept thinking that the more interesting time of Mary's life must have been her tween to teen years for Mary when her father had first left. Did she always need to drink blood and if so did her Father supply her? How did she cope when he was gone? When her Dad realized he could not stay was it because she was still not infected with this form of vampirism and his desire to drink was too great to stay around his still normal daughter? What was it like to develop the need? How did she survive in those early years before becoming a beautiful woman? Unfortunately this is not that story but instead the story of when she was almost found out.
  More though and this was indeed interesting it is a look into a time in Mary's life when she chose to love knowing that the cost would put her at risk. When she meets Ben and they become lovers the "seduce and kill" method she had been using to feed becomes much more difficult. Its just hard to explain to your partner that you need to leave alone for several hours every week or so. Also it changed her mobility and she was more stationary in the time of the film, shrinking the hunting grounds and making the similar deaths of the victims more noticeable to the police. So this could be the story of how love doomed Mary, but it is even more than that. At around this time Mary is stalked by a masked man in a green Mustang who kills and feeds in a similar was. This only makes the trail for the police more obvious and creates a climax that can be guessed. Ferrare does a very good job capturing the internal struggle as her life pattern sort of falls apart. She is in anguish over the desire to feed but not wanting to lose her love to that need. Young is a bit cardboard as the man in her life but has his own issues as they stay together.
  The police on Inspector Cosgrove (Arthur Hansel) of the FBI on loan to the Mexican Lieutenant Pons (Enrique Lucero) are smart enough to see that Ben has been around the locations of most of the murders. In an act of amazing sexism they never connect Mary in the same way but focus on the American drifter as their main suspect. He was on the beach when a fisherman died. He was in the town where the female hitchhiker was killed and where someone killed the morgue worker. He was at an art exhibit of Mary's work when Greta (Helena Rojo) was killed and drained of blood. Still Mary is not the focus but instead her boyfriend. Speaking of Greta, it was such a heartfelt death in this film porttrayed with excellent warmth by the two actresses. She for years longed for love with Mary and sent Ben out from the party to buy tequila in order to get Mary alone. Mary upset that Ben vanished thought he might have abandoned her and in her dismay is comforted by Greta. As Greta expresses her love for Mary with a kiss Mary for the first time gives into desire and feeds from someone she knows. It really is so well done by Ferrare and Rojo and a crucial turning point in the film.
 This connection is something even the dumbest of police can't miss, but unfortunately for Ben they are blind to the idea a woman could be the killer.  When the police decide to tail Ben the third act unfolds rather quickly. Mary also under that surveillance needs to feed but is hard pressed to find a time when she can. She is oh so tempted as Ben sleeps next to her but instead attempts to sneak out. All kinds of crazy happens from here on out as Ben chases after Mary and masked killer is hot on her heels, with that the cops are also chasing. Up into the hills of Mexico where the masked killer is revealed and some of the story behind Mary's condition is heard. In the end though this can not truly be anything but a tragedy. I won't spoil it since it is a more rare vampire story and many of you might want to see it. It is not the greatest of films but I say worth recommending for its unque take on the genre.
Odds and ends
 - Mary's art was painted by Rosa Rosenberg
 - The director went on after this film to make a couple other films I know, the incredibly screamy and strange "Alucarda" and "The Mansion of Madness"
 - One of the victims actress Susana Kamini plays a main character in Alucarda.
 - The masked killer ends up being one of the greatest character actors in history John Carridine, he really is a bit player in that we only see his face in the last sequence and thus I suspect he was hired for his name.
  - The copy I have of the film comes with both a 3D and normal version of the film. Neither of the versions are widescreen and the 3D version was too dark to enjoy.
 - Although in the scenes where she connects with other actors, Ferrare's portrayal is solid there are other times where she has to be the cold killer. In some ways this makes sense. She is a predator when she needs to feed but still wants to have another connected life when the desire is not so great. Still in the last act the way she seems almost helpless as she is chased by the masked killer seems really out of place.