It's a Type O Negative Halloween!

"Ah, the Children of the Night. What sweet music they make."

[Dracula does the Batusi]

The Big Day is here--it's Halloween! We hope you enjoy the day of ghouls, ghosts, and goblins! Here's a certified classic song and video from Type O Negative--Black No. 1 (1993)--to get you in the mood!

Musical Monday with FKA twigs

In the spooky music video for "Video Girl"--which is embedded for your enjoyment below--a man being executed is visited by someone during his final moments. Is it Death? Is it a devil that's come to claim his corrupt soul? Is it an angel that's come to bring him to Heaven because he's paid for his sins? I don't know... but maybe someone out there does! If you do, let me in on the secret by commenting here.


Video Girl (2014)
Starring: FKA twigs and Daniyar
Director: Kahlil Joseph
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

(We hope this chilling video helps get you in the right spirit for Halloween, which is lurking just ahead!)

'House of Horror' contains both good and bad

House of Horrors (1946)

Starring: Martin Kosleck, Rondo Hatton, Virginia Grey, Robert Lowery, Bill, Goodwin, Alan Napier, and Joan Fulton

Director: Jean Yarbrough

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Marcel (Kosleck), a sculptor of meager talent, manipulates a psychopathic killer known as The Creeper (Hatton) into murdering critics he feel ruined his career as an artist.

"House of Horrors" is a well-acted, fairly well-written film that is elevated by stylish camera-work  stylishly shot with sets and camera angles and lighting that takes full advantage of the black-and-white medium. Like most the Universal horror films from the 1940s and 1950s, it's a film that's worth watching for the quality cinematography alone. It makes this already briskly paced film go by even faster. The chilling scenes where Rondo Hatton's character is preparing to kill Virginia Grey and Joan Fulton respectively are also definite highlights of not only this movie, but horror films of the 1940s in general.

Among other highlights are Alan Napier (perhaps best remembered as Bruce Wayne's butler in the 1960s "Batman" television series) as an art critic you'll want to see murdered; fine performances by Martin Kosleck and Rondo Hatton as a pair of very different maniacs; and Robert Lowery and Virginia Grey who have a sort-of lowkey on-screen chemistry that make them very believable as a couple in a steady relationship.

So why did I only give "House of Horrors" a Six of Ten rating? 

Well, for one, the script moves a little too briskly. While I got that the psychopath was so grateful to the artist for saving his life that OF COURSE he's willing to kill those who have done harm to his new (and only) friend. What I want to know is how did Marcel know that the psychotic killer he fished from the harbor would be willing to kill for him?

Second, while I like the fact the film has a sort of in media res feeling vis-a-vis Rondo Hatton's serial killer character, I still think the film would have stronger if they'd filled in a little more of his backstory. It might have given an opportunity to explain why Marcel knew he would "weaponize" him successfully. (On the other hand, it allowed me to fill in the blanks with something  far more interesting than what the writers probably would have provided. Still, there is such a think as leaving too much to the imagination, and I think this is an example of that.)

Finally, although generally well-written, I found some of the actions taken by the film's heroine, played by Virginia Grey, to be so annoyingly stupid they almost ruined the character entirely. I can't get specific, but they fall squarely in the Stupid Character Syndrome (SCS) that's caused by writers who are either too sloppy or lazy to make their plot flow , so one or more characters has to do monumentally stupid things to make sure the story keeps movie toward the resolution. When Grey's character does the first stupid thing, you may think she's just hungry for a scoop to fill her weekly arts column, but when she does the next stupid thing, you'll see the full-blown case of SCS for what it is. It's a shame more care wasn't spent on those parts of the plot, because it drags the whole movie down. 

Although not perfect, "House of Horrors" is still well worth our time, especially if you're looking for some light viewing to get ready for Halloween.

Halloween is coming...

... and here's a little treat of a film to start getting you in the spirit for the season where ghouls and goblins are lurking in every shadow... even in the laundry room!

The Midnight Cycle (2016)
Starring: Lauren Calhoun
Director: David Westphal
Rating: Six of Ten Stars



For more a differen mini-fright film every day this month, visit our sister blog Terror Titans!

'Witching Hour' is a fun collection of horror shorts by great writers and artists

Showcase Presents: The Witching Hour, Vol. 1 (2011, DC Comics)
Writers: Steve Skeates, Mike Friedrich, Sergio Argones, Maury Boltinoff, and more 

Artists: Alex Toth, Nick Cardy, Don, Heck, Tony DeZuniga, Dick Giordano, and more

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

"The Witching Hour" was one of DC Comics' long-running horror anthology titles. This massive, low-cost volume reprints more than 500 pages of content and covers from the first 21 issues, showcasing artwork from some of the comic book mediums true masters in glorious black-and-white.

As a kid, I loved DC Comics' horror anthologies, what few of them I ever gained access to. I'm not sure what my reaction would have been to "Witching Hour" if I had come across back in those days, but as an adult and a lover of anthology films, I thought the majority of this book was an exceptionally fun read. The early issues of this title should be counted among the best horror anthology comics ever published.

A standard for a comic book horror anthology has always been a host character giving a little introduction and epilogue to the stories, and some titles would take it further and start the issue with a page or two establishing the host with a couple of puns and a gag situation. It's also typical for the host to make some joke or ironic comment at the end of each story.

But with "The Witching Hour," editor Dick Giordano took this convention a little further and brought it in line with produced a title that followed the standard set by horror anthology films, placing the titles' hosts in a wrap-around story that sometimes tied all the stories together thematically, but that always provided a prologue, epilogue, and amusing interludes in each issue.

"The Witching Hour" was hosted by three witches, which appear to be loosely based on the Weird Sisters from "MacBeth" and which also had fun with the notion that the younger generation never has any respect for the older generation and visa-versa. Two of them are the stereotypical slovenly hags with warts and pointed hats while the third one is a sexy, swinging, college educated chick who keeps her wardrobe and rooms as fashionable and clean as her older sisters keep theirs tattered, run-down, and vermin infested. And while her sisters boil their witch's brew in the traditional large iron pot over a live flame with ingredients gathered from the swamp surrounding their home, their younger (adopted, they are quick to point out) sister happily lets hers simmer in a pan on an electric range using frozen ingredients from the grocery store.

The framing stories featuring the sisters often involve amusing arguments over modernity and tradition as it relates to witchcraft, and over what makes better stories... old school fairy tales and twist-ending chillers, or more modern and futuristic stories with sci-fi angles. The generation gap jokes are full of 1960s and 1970s slang and outdated technology, but they're still amusing, especially with the recently passed "Okay Boomer" craze.

Unfortunately, after Dick Giordano was replaced as the title's editor, the framing sequences are reduced and eventually phased out. The stories remain interesting--and a few of the best ones in the entire book can be found in the back half--but I still missed the side stories with the sisters, as well as the subplot involving their hideous servant. (The promise of readers getting to see his face, and the payoff of that promise, is one of the funnier running bits I have come across. It's too bad the editors at DC Comics didn't keep that approach going.)

Artwise, the quality is universally top-notch, with a virtual whos-who of comic book greats providing it. The black-and-white presentation and superior printing and paper quality makes it even easier to admire the line-work. Of particular note is the many pages by Alex Toth, who drew many of the framing sequences, and even the majority of the short tales in some issues as well. The art on those Nick Cardy covers especially benefit from being in black-and-white.

"DC Showcase Presents: The Witching Hour" is an anthology of anthologies, and it's a book I highly recommend if you like well-done comics and horror short stories. With Halloween coming up in a few weeks, it even be the book to get you in the proper mood.

The first horror movie?

The Cook's Revenge (1900)

Starring: Georges Méliès and Jeahanne d'Alcy
Director: Georges Méliès
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

The accidental decapitation of an evil cook (Méliès) is only the beginning...

A couple weeks ago, I posted about "The Temptation of St. Anthony", a film that has been described as the first religious movie. Upon watching "The Cook's Revenge", from the same filmmaker, I wonder if he can also be credited with making the first straight-up horror movie?

Georges Méliès was the first filmmaker to recognize the medium's use for telling fantastic stories and creating scenes and events that could not be created without the use of various forms of trick photography. Severed heads that continue to talk (or otherwise behave in bizarre ways) was a mainstay in many of his films, but I've yet to see any of them be quite as gruesome and horrific as what we have in the film embedded below.

What do you think? Is this film that opens with a cook trying to force his sexual attentions upon a waitress and ends with a brutal murder the first horror film? It's surreal and darkly comedic, as are many of Méliès's films, but the action here is something that would be perfectly at home in one of the "Evil Dead" films or series episodes. It's not even a minute long, so how about your check it out below and tell me what you think, either in the comments section, or on my Facebook page.

It's a great-looking package... but it's empty

Darling (2015)

Starring: Lauren Ashley Carter, Brian Morvant, and Sean Young

Director: Mickey Keating

Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Darling (Carter) is hired to be the caretaker of a townhouse while its owner (Young) is away. The house as a reputation as being haunted, and the previous caretaker killed herself, but that's just superstitious gossip and coincidence, right?

"Darling" is a stylish, beautifully shot movie that puts you in mind of the psychological horror films from the period in which it appears to be set--the late 1960s or early 1970s. The technical crew and director takes full advantage of the black-and-white medium and each shot is expertly framed and beautifully balanced. The use of sound (and its absence) is also used with great effect throughout the film.

Unfortunately, for all the technical excellence on display here, the film is ultimately unsatisfying because not enough attention was paid to character and story when the script was written. I have no fundamental issue with the fact that everything is left vague and there is lots of that here. For example:

Is Darling unbalanced as the film starts, or is she driven mad by evil entities in the house? Is the man Darling meets who she thinks he is, or is she just a lunatic? Is the homeowner aware of the evil in the house, and is she sacrificing young women to it? 

I could go on, but I'd be venturing into spoiler territoriy if I did. Still, the even the open questions I listed are important questions to the story. If the situations are handled correctly, they don't necessarily need to have a clear answer... but in  the case of "Darling", they aren't. In fact, as the end credits start to scroll to hard rock music, I wondered if writer/director Keating had even given any thought to those questions whatsoever, or whether he was just so set on showing off his talent for creating striking visuals and framing scenes that the fact his movie needed some semblance of a story, and that the main character needed to be more than just another part of the sets.

Actually, having seen Lauren Ashley Carter in a couple other films (the comedic horror short "Once Bitten" springs immediately to mind), I wonder if Keating wasn't directing her as if she was part of the scenery. Carter is capable of more than just the three modes we see in this film--emotionless, hysterical, and murderously flipped-out--and I think "Darling" could have benefitted greatly if she had shown some of that range. For example, if we had seen Darling having a semi-normal reaction to something, or even engaging in some activity that didn't seem like she going through a set of stage directions while wandering through the house--like listening to the radio while reading a book, or watching television while eating lunch. Instead, she is behaving strangely from the get-go. I have no idea if this is the case, but I wonder if Keating is a George Lucas-style director in the sense that characters are secondary to visual spectacle... and the actors are only there to make scene compositions look better.

In the end, I find myself unable to recommend "Darling" (and these days, I am trying hard to only watch and review films that I can recommend, because I am trying to be an oasis of positivity in a world's that's going to Hell). I love the moodiness of the picture, and it's spectacularly filmed... but it's ultimately hollow. Maybe that's exactly what the writer/director was going for? If so, perhaps I am just missing the point of it all--and I certainly missed the point of the "big reveal" at the end when Darling finally breaks into the mysterious locked room she was told by the home owner to never enter. I couldn't decide to whether this was a 4 or a 5 on my 0-10 ratings scale, but I eventually settled on the higher of the two. There's no denying that this is a visually impressive and atmospheric film.

"Darling" is included as one of the free streaming movies for Amazon Prime subscribers, so if you want to check it out--for the visuals, or to double-check my take on it--it might not cost you anything but time.

'The Portrait' is a well-done early horror film

The Portrait (1915)
Starring: Andrey Gromov and Ivan Lazarev
Director: Wladyslaw Starewicz
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A young artist (Gromov) buys a painting to liven up his cramped rooms. He soon comes to regret his choice, as the painting begins to change and come to life...

"The Portrait" is a rare silent horror movie that holds up to modern viewing in almost every respect. Sure, the main character is a bit over the top in his emoting, but he's not as bad as what I've seen in other films of this period. The practical effects are well done, and all the bits of business surrounding the painting coming to life are creepy and well staged. It's almost perfect.

Almost.

Unfortunately, this is one case where I desperately wanted there to be the sort of "shocking" surprise twist-ending" that's usually anything but surprising that I so often complain about in the reviews I post to Terror Titans. This film would actually have benefitted from something--almost anything--else than its actual ending. I understand why it ended the way it did... I just wish it hadn't.

But what don't you judge for yourself. Check out "The Portrait" below, and let me know if you agree with my estimation of the ending.

Writer/Artist Richard Sala passes away at 61

Cartoonist, and creator extraordinaire of creepy comics, Richard Sala passed away last week, at the age of 61. We present this gallery of his drawings, as well as some pages excerpted from his "The Bloody Cardinal" graphic novel in his memory.

TRAIL OF THE CARDINAL

Richard Sala's 2017 graphic novel "The Bloody Cardinal" opens with was is presented as pages from the journal of the notorious and murderous madman know as the Cardinal. We offer those pages below. We encourage everyone who enjoys the sorts of mystery and horror films that are covered in this blog to get copy of this very excellent work by clicking here.

For more about Richard Sala, his works, and many more samples of the great art he has left behind for us to enjoy, you can visit his blog and his Tumblr pages. (You can also enjoy pages of the series he was working on when he passed away, "Carlotta Havoc versus Everybody".)

'Dissolving Classroom' delivers large doses of social commentary with the horror

Dissolving Classroom (2017, Vertical Comics)
Story and Art: Junji Ito
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Whereever handsome Yuuma and his hideous little sister Chizumi go, horror follows in their wake. Beautiful young women are left disfigured, classrooms of students are reduced to mysterious puddles of slime, and the all residents of entire apartment buildings vanish mysteriously. Guilt-ridden Yuuma is constantly apologizing to those who are doomed while Chizumi cackles madly and prances about. What is the terrible truth behind these happenings?

Many of horror master Junji Ito's stories deliver bits of social commentary along with the creepy scares. In "Dissolving Classroom", these messages are more front and center that is usual, and they are the driving force of them. There are two issues tackled in the five stories of "Dissolving" cycle--which are all collected in this volume--and these are that it's sometimes difficult to recognize who is the abuser and who is the abused in relationships; and the ever-growing popularity of call-out culture and the attendant displays of empty apologies. This dual messaging and commentary on how damaging it is to individuals and society as a whole are most clearly on display in the second story, "Dissolving Beauty", and the final tale "Interview with the Devil", which wraps up the cycle with a literally cataclysmic event.

The "Dissolving" stories bear a resemblance in their nature to Ito's most famous cycle of stories, Tomie: In each story, the recurring characters visit doom upon the hapless individuals who cross their paths. Ito was wise in wrapping this one up quickly, though, because there's no mystery behind Yuuma and Chizumi and why people are meeting gruesome ends around them--Yuuma's apologies are actually rituals that sacrifice people to Satan. There's also nothing sympathetic about them; as monstrous as Tomie is, there's an occasional glimmer of humanity that the reader can sympathize with... and her victims sometimes are deserving of their fates. Although Ito tries to inject some humanity in Yuuma and Chizumi toward the end of the cycle, it's too little and it's too late.

Aside from the five "Dissolving" stories, this anthology contains two brief tales. I'm going to take a guess that they were inspired by headlines or news articles that Ito read, and they are both quite thin and at the low end of the quality spectrum that we can expect from him. ("The Return" is curiously touching while "Children of the Earth" is nonsensical--not to mention covering ground that he's already trod more effectively in other stories).

The stories collected in "Dissolving Classroom" aren't among Ito's best work. They're still better than the majority of horror comics that have been published over the years, but there were were none of the moments of dread I've felt reading his previous works. In many ways, Ito has delivered a cycle of stories that felt more like standard horror comics than his usual work. Artistically, there also wasn't much that impressed--nothing was bad, but the only truly standout images were the ones where Ito drew Satan as Yuuma perceived him.

If you're familiar with Ito's work, and you've read everything else, this book is worth checking out. If you're a newcomer, "Uzumaki" is his greatest work to date. "Frankenstein", "Smash", "Shiver", or "Flesh-Colored Horror" are all short story collections that will give you a view of the range of horrors he can deliver when he is at his best.

'Night of the Demon' is terror-riffic!

Night of the Demon (1957) (aka "Curse of the Demon")
Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall McGinnis, Liam Redmond, and Athene Seyler
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

An American (Andrews) travels to England to help investigate a demonic cult, and he finds himself targeted by supernatural forces unleashed by the cult's leader (McGinnis).

"Night of the Demon" is a by-the-numbers horror film where a skeptic is beset by supernatural forces and the only way he can survive is to turn the tables on those who have unleashed them. The fact that it's straight-forward with only one unexpected and shocking moment isn't a strike against it, because the story is expertly paced and structured, and so excellently acted by ever cast member that the predictability of the story becomes irrelevant.

The mood grows increasingly intense as the film unfolds, and the trainyard climax is perhaps one of the best finishes to a horror film I've ever seen. What's better, the film delivers its scares through quality acting, lighting, sparse use of soundtrack music, and perfect pacing; who could have imagined that a piece of paper fluttering away on a breeze could be such a source of suspense? I highly recommend this film to anyone who likes their horror with a minimum of gore.

With all the praise I'm heaping on the film, you may be wondering why I'm only giving it a rating of Eight Stars? It's because of the film's one and only misstep; it establishes right from the beginning that the supernatural powers of the villainious cult leader (played with just the right amount of slimeness and pomposity by the underappreciated character actor Niall McGinnis) are real. While on the one hand, it accelerates the viewer's sense of apprehension for the death-marked hero, it undermines takes away any mystery in the story. We don't even the a startling reveal of the demonic creature, as that, too, is shown to us in the very beginning. It's hard for to judge if the film would have been better with the more standard "is it all a hoax or is it supernatural forces" approach, but I leaning toward thinking it would have. Therefore, I am assigning it a rating of a High Eight.

"Night of the Demon" was released in the United States in 1958 under the title "Curse of the Demon", with a running time that's roughly 7 minutes shorter than the original British version. The most recent DVD release contains both cuts of the film, and I was sure that part of the cut material would be from the opening sequence where we see a character get killed by fire demon. I was wrong; instead, character building bits, and a crucial exposition scene were cut from the film.

Read the Review, Watch the Movie: 'Seven Footprints to Satan'

The subject of the following review was released to movie theaters exactly 90 years ago today! (The Year of the Hot Toddy is truly a year of happy coincidences. When I initially chose this movie from among the many Thelma Todd-featuring films I'll be writing about during 2019, to watch at this point, I didn't realize I would have the opportunity to post the review to coincide with such an anniversary!)


Seven Footprints to Satan (aka "Satan's Stairwell") (1929)
Starring: Creighton Hale, Thelma Todd, Laska Winter,  Sheldon Lewis, Sojin Kamiyama, William V. Mong, Angelo Rossitto, Nora Cecil, Dewitt Jennings, Loretta Young, and Charles Gemora
Director: Benjamin Christensen
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

While he is deep in the throes of a midlife crisis (Hale) and his girlfriend (Todd) are find themselves victims of a kidnapping during an elaborate heist at an exclusive  art auction... and then things go from bad to nightmarish.

"Seven Footsteps to Satan" is one of those films that's hard to review without spoiling it. I think it really works best if you come to it cold, not knowing really what to expect... because the impact of the film revealing what it's really about and begins to spiral into fantastic and creepy weirdness is all the greater. (You THINK you're watching a crime drama, but then....)

With that in mind, all I can say about the film is that in addition to an impressive, fast-moving and twist-laden storyline, the film sports creative camera work and editing (I especially like the way wipes are used), spectacularly elaborate sets, elegant costumes (mostly evening gowns and tuxes but the other outfits that show up are really neat), excellent monster make-up jobs, and some really fine acting from the principals in the cast.

I thought the performance by star Creighton Hale, who, once again, is a bespecled and unlikely hero, was excellent. Unlike the comedic character he played in "The Cat and the Canary", here he's quite competent and extremely brave at every turn. Actress Thelma Todd, also impresses, showing that she was as good a dramatic actress as she was a comedienne.

By the way, The film has a very large supporting cast (so large, in fact, that it sometimes feels like costar Todd is just another face in the  crowd), but among them we have Loretta Young standing out with a memorable performance in one of the film's most intense and frightening scenes, and an honest-to-god Asian actor playing a sinister Oriental Mystice, Sojin Kamiyama. (Maybe someone forgot to tell the Danish director that he should use white guys in make-up for the Asian characters.)

"Seven Footprints to Satan" was one of three silent thrillers/horror films directed by Benjamin Christensen for American studios, and until just a few years ago, it was believed to be lost. Now, however, several versions are available to watch online. None are of stellar quality, but given how many of these great old movies are gone forever (or hard to access because they've not yet been digitized and released online or on DVD), lovers of this sort of material are lucky we're getting this much.

If you like silent movies, especially ones of the more "trippy" variety, you need to watch "Seven Footprints to Satan". I highly recommend the version I've embedded below: It's the complete film, it's it was digitized from filmstock that was in relatively good shape, and it features an all-new, modern musical score that adds greatly to the experience.



By the way, if there's a film that could do with a remake, it's this one. It's got all KINDS of elements that would appeal to modern audiences, especially lovers of horror films. (Hell, I think this film may even be an ancient ancestor of the Torture Porn subgenre!)

The heroes and villains of "Seven Footprints to Satan"

The Complete 'Tomie' in One Big Book

Tomie: Complete Deluxe Edition (2016, Viz Media)
Story and Art: Junji Ito
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

High school girl Tomie is found dismembered by an unknown killer. When she later shows up at school, alive and well and insisting she doesn't know anything about being murdered, it's the beginning of an ever-expanding web of madness, violence, and murder.

"Tomie" is the best known and most commercially successful work by Japanese horror comics writer and artist Juni Ito. It lasted for 20 installments in the magazines "Halloween Monthly" and "Namuki", running from 1987 to 2000, and has so far been adapted into seven live-action horror films (the first in 1999 and the most recent in 2011). It has been translated into English and published in collected volumes a number of times, most recently by Viz Media.

The series revolves around its title character, who, although she is mostly absent in a few of the stories, is always at the center of a maelstrom of lust and violent murders. Invariably, Tomie herself ends up murdered herself... but she never stays dead for long. (While I would normally consider that a spoiler that aspect of the series is given away on the cover of the collection this review is about.)

Whether she's a demon, the manifestation of an angry spirit, or some sort of evil parasitical creature that feeds off lust and homicidal violence, Tomie is both the beauty and the beast in this series. She uses her beauty to fill men and women with obsession and spur them onto committing murderous acts against each other and Tomie herself, all in an attempt to possess her, or to keep others from possessing her.

The latest English-language edition of "Tomie" collects all the stories that Junji Ito did with the character, in one big 700+-page book. They are a fascinating read, because you get to see how Ito's improved as an artist from his first professional work (which was also the first Tomie story) through to when he perfected his style. Reading all these stories also gives you a survey of the themes that are common in this writer/artist's tales--obsessions turning into madness, horrific bodily transformations, and mysterious terrible horrors that arrive unexpectedly and remain forever unexplained. This complete collection also lets readers see that the Tomie stories come full circle, in the sense that the series opened with a series of linked stories that mixed science and the supernatural, and it ends with a series of linked stories that mix science and the supernatural.

Sandwiched in between these are other multi-part stories, and many single episodes... all of which are deeply horrific. In some other reviews of I've done Ito's work ("Gyo" and "Uzumaki", the latter being his greatest work so far), I've stated that he is among the very few creators whose horror comics are actually scary on the level that a movie can be scary. That great talent is on display time and time again in this book. If you are a fan of well-made horror films, and you haven't experienced Junji Ito, you are missing out, big time. A few of the "Tomie" stories are the typical twist-ending, poetic justice type affairs that make up the bulk of horror comics, but the vast majority of them are far beyond that.

Some of the most chilling stories I've read from Ito are included in this volume, and my most favorite are "Revenge" (where a search-and-rescue team find a naked girl in a snow storm, and solve a mystery), ""Little Finger" and "Boy" (stories that show Tomie at her monstrous), "Gathering" (where Tomie tries to break a man who is immune to her powers), "Moromi" (where a pair of men try to dispose of a dismembered Tomie in a creative fashion... with disastrous results), and "Waterfall Basin" (where strange happenings in a village culminate in a bizarre nocturnal parade).

Another aspect that I've always liked to the Tomie stories, and which is front-and-center in a number of the ones in this book, is the way that pieces of Tomie will grow into a full-fledged Tomie who then goes out in the world to wreak havoc. She's almost like a virus that keeps spreading. ("Gathering" reveals that someone can resist the Tomie Virus... but that even those who fight it off will be impacted by it. It also shows that as long as there is vanity, lust, and greed in the world, Tomie will never be stopped.)

"Tomie" is a must-read for horror fans... and that includes those who otherwise might be put off by the art style that is usually associated with Japanese comics. Ito's visuals fall closer to what until the past decade or two was the standard story-telling techniques in American comics. The only drawback I see to the book is that it is presented to read from right-to-left and back-to-front--opposite with how Western books and comics read, but in keeping with the original Japanese version. I still don't care for such half-assed translations, but it's long since become the standard, and I'm willing to accept it when it gives me access to great works such as the stories in this collection.



One final note: Junji Ito's favorite Tomie story ("Painter") was one that I could take or leave. It contained almost all the elements that are found throughout the various tales--which is why it may be Ito's personal favorite--but I thought it was average for this book and way below average for Ito's output in geneal.

Horror movie giants at their best

The Body Snatcher (1945)
Starring: Boris Karloff, Henry Daniell, Russell Wade, Bela Lugosi, and Edith Atwater
Director: Robert Wise
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

In this loose adaptation of a Robert Louis Stevenson short story, a young medical student (Wade) becomes drawn into the twisted relationship between a brilliant but coldhearted surgeon (Daniell) and a strange coachman who moonlights as a body snatcher to provide the doctor with research specimens (Karloff).

"The Body Snatcher" is a one-stop spot to discover why producer Val Lewton, actor Boris Karloff and director Robert Wise are held in such high regard by horror movie fans and filmmakers.

Lewton's touch is all over this film, and there is barely a scene that doesn't feature terror technqiues that filmmakers copy and rely on to this very day. Karloff gives one of the very best performances of his career, oozing greasy charm and quiet menace with every word and gesture. And then there's the very chilling scene where he's just choked a man to death, is sitting over the corpse, and then reaches out to stroke his pet cat. And, finally, Wise mounts a brilliantly structured film where the mystery and tension keeps mounting until the end, and every scene is perfectly paced, framed and lit. Much gets said about film noir, but the use of light and shadow in black and white horror films like this one is far more important that in crime dramas, and here Wise uses the medium to perfection.

And, of course, the stars are backed up by an excellent supporting cast, including Bela Lugosi in his final horror role for a major studio. Lugosi's role is small, but he brings a level of raw creepiness to his character, creepiness born more of stupidity than the evil that wafts from Karloff's character.

In retrospect, the fact that Lugosi dies in a very key scene in the film is something of an allegory for his career, as well as Karloff's. In the scene in question, Lugosi ends up dead on the floor and Karloff reaches out to pet a cat in a very creepy moment. This was the second-to-last film Lugosi made for a major studio, and his career and life were mostly a downward spiral from here, while Karloff's career in horror films continued to flourish.

'Gyo' is nightmarish but not horrific

Gyo (Viz Media, 2015)
Story and Art: Junji Ito
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

While vacationing in Okinawa, young couple Tadashi and Kaori are set upon by bizarre, murderous fish with legs. Soon, all of Japan is under attack by the mysterious creatures from the sea.

Junji Ito has the honor of having written and drawn some of the very few (perhaps the only?) comics that are scary on the level of the pure written word, movies, and live performances, with "Uzumaki" being his masterwork. While 3-8 page comics stories can sometimes come close to competing with other genres with the level of horror they might inspire in readers, so far no other long-form comics I've come across have managed to do so. That includes "Gyo."

"Gyo" was originally published in serialized form in the Japanese anthology title "Big Comics Spirit" during 2001 and 2002. It was Ito's final excursion into horror before taking a decade-long break from the genre (returning to horror by writing and directing a film adaptation of his most famous series, "Tomie" in 2011, and afterwards to comics). The art is as solid as in any of Ito's prior work--with some scenes being every bit as nightmarishly disturbing as the best found in his "Flesh-Colored Horror" anthology. Unfortunately, that's as far as it goes.

There is nothing in "Gyo" that rises to the level of dread, and outright horror that leaped off page after page. The best we get here is creepy transitioning into disgusting, but no actual horror; "nightmarish" is the best way to describe the events of "Gyo", I think. This may stem from the fact that a character we're supposed to feel sympathy for is so annoyingly, repulsively neurotic that the reader is almost delighted when she suffers her predictable fate. (All I could think about while suffering through her hysterically berating her very patient boyfriend over and over and over was, "The sex must be great"--but I'm not sure he getting much of that, so I don't know where their could possibly have been a relationship between these two main characters.)

Art-wise, "Gyo" is up to the high standards of Ito's other works. The illustrations are crisp, and even the most chaotic, bizarre scenes flow clearly and are easily followed by the reader. Further, his style remains a nice bridge between "manga" and more western-looking art, so even those who claim to hate Japanese comics should be able to enjoy his work. (Just know that there are better examples of it.)

The Complete Universal Pictures Mummy (+1)

If you're looking to warm up for Halloween, a great way to do it would be to watch all the classic mummy movies at the rate of one every evening starting next Friday. This is a grand total of total of seven movies, although some of them are probably just old more than "classic." Nonetheless, they are the works that solidified the mummy that is still present in horror fiction, comics, and movies to this very day.

In this post, I review all seven of these films. If you order them from Amazon in the next couple days, you'll have them in plenty of time for the nightly viewings, even when picking the free shipping option! (I put links at the end to make it easy for you.)

 The films covered in this post can be divided into four separate groupings if you want to limit or organize your viewing. First, there's "The Eyes of the Mummy, " the Plus One described in the title of the post. It can possibly be skipped. Then there's Universal's 1932 "The Mummy", a true classic. It was followed by the 1940s "Kharis" series, the four films that solidified the mummy in pop culture and the horror genre. They have nothing to do with the 1932 film, and they vary widely in quality. Finally, there's "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy," which was Universal's send-off and send-up of their once-great money maker.

"The Eyes of the Mummy" can possibly be skipped--it should be watched if you're endeavoring to see the films for an overview of how the movie mummy came to be, but its entertainment value may be low for many modern viewers--but the rest are all available in a single package that is a great value. Further, "The Mummy" remains one of the best mummy movies ever made, and it's a film you'll want to watch again and again.



The Eyes of the Mummy (1918)
Starring: Pola Negri, Harry Leidtke, Emil Jannings and Max Laurence
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Albert Wendland (Leidtke) rescues Ma (Negri) from Radu (Jannings), a maniac who kidnapped her and who has been passing her off as a living mummy in an Egyptian tomb. The girl finds fame and fortune as the artist's model and a cabaret dancer in a major European city. However, Radu pursues them, intent on claiming what is his through any means necessary.

"The Eyes of the Mummy" has been touted as the first mummy movie. It seems like a bit of stretch, as there appears to be no mummy action in the film and no supernatural element at all.

Or is there? Is it more subtle mummy action that what we have grown used to?

There are hints in the film that Radu is more than just a scammer, kidnapper and rapist. In one scene, he seems to appear in spirit-form in Ma's bedroom, and he later commands her through nothing more than the power of his mind. What might these scenes mean?

A generous and imaginative viewer could take these elements and combine them with the story Ma tells for having been dragged from the riverbank by Radu and waking up in the tomb as proof that the spirit of an ancient Egyptian queen dwells within the girl, brought back to life by Radu through magic--her being dragged away from the river was her being brought back from the spirit world to this one.

A less-generous viewer might say that the movie is the cinematic equivalent of an inkblot and little more than a poorly defined melodrama that features a loosely stitched-together selection of gothic fiction elements tossed in with no more thought beyond "well, this'll creep 'em out!"

Whatever the case, "The Eyes of the Mummy" is an unevenly paced movie that may not evoke enough chills in the jaded modern audience. It also suffers from uneven pacing, but one of the hidden advantages of silent films is that one can run the DVD at 2x speed when things get too slow, and its hardly noticeable. The strongest aspect of this film is the acting, as it seems more modern than what is found in many movies from this period.  Stars Emil Jannings and Pola Negri are especially fun to watch. Negri's exotic dances are more snicker-inducing to modern viewers than they are sexy, but she shows herself to be both a good actress, dancer and stunt woman--watch for that fall down the stairs near the end of the movie!

"The Eyes of the Mummy" is a must-watch if you're wanting to view movies important to the development of the iconic Egyptian movie monster, or if you love silent movies, but otherwise you may want to skip it.



The Mummy (1932)
Starring: Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners and Edward Van Sloan
Director: Karl Freund
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

After an archaeologist accidentally restores him to life, a cursed ancient Egyptian high priest Imhotep (Karloff) sets about likewise reviving Princess Anckesen-Amon, so they can resume their forbidden love affair. Unfortunately, she has been reincarnated, and her spirit is currently residing within Helen Grosvenor (Johann), the daughter of a British diplomat. Imhotep hasn't let the natural order of things stop him in the past, and he's not about to let it get in his way now.

"The Mummy" is the best, most intelligent mummy movie ever made, and it's more of a gothic romance set in Egyptian surroundings than a monster movie, with Imphotep trying to recapture a love that he lost 3,700 years ago.

The actors in this film are all perfectly cast, and they are all at the top of their game.

Karloff is spectacular, conveying evil, alieness, majesty, and even a little bit of tragedy in his character with a minimum of physical movement. (Unlike most mummy movies, Imhotep isn't a bandage-wrapped, shambling creature, but instead appears like a normal human being; he is still dried-out and somewhat fragile physically, though, and Karloff does a fantastic job at conveying this.)

Johann likewise gives a spectacular performance, particularly toward the end of the movie as Imhotep is preparing to make her his eternal bride, and she has regained much of her memories from when she Anckesen-Amon. Johann is also just great to look at.

The two remaining stars, Manners and Van Sloan, are better here than anything else I've seen them in. Manners in particular gives a fine performance, rising well above the usual milquetoast, Generic Handsome Hero he usually seems to be. (Even in "Dracula" he comes across as dull. Not so here.)

The cinematography is excellent and the lighting is masterfully done in each scene. Karloff's character is twice as spooky in several scenes due to some almost subliminal effects caused by lighting changes from a medium shot of Manners to a close-up of Karloff... and the scene where Imhotep is going to forcibly turn Helen Grosvener into an undead like himself is made even more dramatic by the shadows playing on the wall behind the two characters.

There are some parts of the film that are muddled, partly due to scenes that were cut from the final release version, or never filmed. Worst of these is when Imhotep is interrupted during his first attempt at reviving Anckesen-Amon, and he kills a security guard with magic during his escape. However, he leaves behind the spell scroll that he needs for the ritual. Why did he do that? It's a jarring, nonsensical part of the movie that seems to serve no purpose other than to bring Imhotep into direct confrontation with the heroes. (The commentary track sheds light on what the INTENTION was with that development, but it just seems sloppy and badly conceived when watching the movie. And I'm knocking a full Star off because it is such a badly executed story element.)



The Mummy's Hand (1940)
Starring: Dick Foran, Wallace Ford, Peggy Moran, George Zucco, and Tim Tyler
Director: Christy Cabanne
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A pair of hard-luck Egyptologists (Foran and Ford) discover the location of the long lost tomb of Princess Ananka. Unfortunately for them, an evil cult leader (Zucco) controls the immortal, tomb-guarding, tanna leaf-tea slurping mummy Kharis, and he's hot afraid to use him to keep the secret of the tomb.


More of an adventure flick with a heavy dose of lowbrow comedy than a horror film, "The Mummy's Hand" isn't even a proper sequel to the classy 1932 "The Mummy."

This movie (and the three sequels that follow) are completely unrelated to the original film, despite the copious use of stock footage from it. The most obvious differences are that the mummy here is named Kharis, as opposed to Imhotep, and has a different backstory. Then, there's the fact he's a mindless creature who goes around strangling people at the bidding of a pagan priest where Imhotep was very much his own man and did his killing with dark magics without ever laying a hand on his victims.

If one recognizes that this film shares nothing in common with the Boris Karloff film (except that they were both released by the same studio), "The Mummy's Hand" is a rather nice bit of fluff. It's also the first film to feature the real Universal Studios mummy, as Imhotep was an intelligent, scheming, and more-or-less natural looking man, not a mute, mind-addled, bandaged-wrapped, cripple like Kharis.



The Mummy's Tomb (1942)
Starring: Wallace Ford, Turhan Bey, John Hubbard, George Zucco, Dick Foran, Isobel Evans and Lon Chaney Jr.
Director: Harold Young
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

Thirty years after the events of "The Mummy's Hand, the High Priest of Karnak from the last film (Zucco), who, despite being shot four times and pointblank range and tumbling down a very long flight of stairs, survived to be an old man. He passes the mantle onto a younger man (Bey) and dispatches him to America with Kharis the Mummy (Chaney), who survived getting burned to a crisp at the end of the last movie, to slay those who dared loot the tomb of Princess Anankha. (Better late than never, eh?)


Take the plot of "The Mummy's Hand" (complete with a villain who has the exact same foibles as the one from the first movie), remove any sense of humor and adventure, toss in about ten minutes of recap to pad it up to about 70 minutes in length, add a climax complete with torch-wielding villagers and a mummy who is just too damn dumb to continue his undead existence, and you've got "The Mummy's Tomb."

Made with no concern for consistency (Ford's character changes names from Jenson to Hanson, the fashions worn in "The Mummy's Hand" implied it took place in the late 30s, or even in the year it was filmed, and yet "thirty years later" is clearly during World War II... and let's not even talk about how the mummy and Zucco's character survived) or originality (why write a whole new script when we can just have the bad guys do the exact same things they did last movie?), this film made with less care than the majority of B-movies.

Turhan Bey and Wallace Ford have a couple of good moments in this film, but they are surrounded by canned hash and complete junk.



The Mummy's Ghost (1944)
Starring: John Carradine, Ramsay Ames, Robert Lowery, George Zucco, and Lon Chaney Jr
Director: Reginald Le Borg
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

Modern day priests of ancient Egyptian gods (Zucco and Carradine) undertake a mission to retrieve the cursed mummy of Princess Ananka from the American museum where she's been kept for the past 30 years. Unfortunately, they discover that the archaeologists who stole her away from Egypt broke the spell that kept her soul trapped in the mummy and that she has been reincarnated in America as the beautiful Amina (Ames).


"The Mummy's Ghost" starts out strong. In fact, it starts so strong that, despite the fact that the priests who must be laughing stock of evil cult set were back with pretty much the exact same scheme for the third time (go to America and send Kharis the Mummy stumbling around to do stuff, that it looked like the filmmakers may have found their way back to the qualities that made "The Mummy" such a cool picture.

Despite a really obnoxious love interest for Amina (played with nails-on-a-chalkboard-level of obnoxiousness by Robert Lowery) and a complete resurrection of Kharis (boiling tannith leaves now apparently reconstitutes AND summons a mummy that was burned to ashes in a house-fire during "The Mummy's Tomb"), and a number of glaring continuity errors with the preceeding films (the cult devoted to Ananka and Kharis has changed their name... perhaps because they HAD become the laughing stock among the other evil cults), the film is actually pretty good for about half its running time. The plight of and growing threat toward Amina lays a great foundation.

And then it takes a sharp nosedive into crappiness where it keeps burrowing downward in search of the bottom.

The cool idea that the film started with (Ananka's cursed soul has escaped into the body of a living person... and that person must now be destroyed to maintain the curse of the gods) withers away with yet another replay of the evil priest deciding he wants to do the horizontal mambo for all eternity with the lovely female lead. The idea is further demolished by a nonsensical ending where the curses of Egypt's ancient gods lash out in the modern world, at a very badly chosen target. I can't go into details without spoiling that ending, but it left such a bad taste in my mouth, and it's such a complete destruction of the cool set-up that started the film, that the final minute costs "The Mummy's Ghost" a full Star all by itself.



The Mummy's Curse (1944)
Starring: Peter Coe, Lon Chaney Jr, Kay Harding, Dennis Moore, Virginia Christine and Kurt Katch
Director: Leslie Goodwins
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

A construction project in Louisiana's bayou uncovers not only the mummy Kharis (Chaney), but also the cursed princess Ananka (Christine). Pagan priests from Egypt arrive to take control of both. Mummy-induced violence and mayhem in Cajun Country follow.

What happens when you make a direct sequel where no one involved cares one whit about keeping continuity with previous films? You get "The Mummy's Curse"!

For the previous entries in this series, Kharis was shambling around a New England college town, yet he's dug up in Lousiana. (He DID sink into a swamp at the end of "The Mummy's Ghost", but that swamp was hundreds of miles north of where he's found in this film.)

He also supposedly has been in the swamp for 25 years. For those keeping score, that would make this a futuristic sci-fi film with a setting of 1967, because the two previous films took place in 1942. (And that's being generous. I'm assuming "The Mummy's Hand" took place in 1912, despite the fact that all clothing and other signifiers imply late 30s early 40s.) Yet, there's nothing in the film to indicate that the filmmakers intended to make a sci-fi movie.

And then there's Ananka. Why is she back, given her fate in "The Mummy's Ghost"? There's absolutely no logical reason for it. Her resurrection scene is very creepy, as is the whole "solar battery" aspect of the character here, but it is completely inconsistent with anything that's gone before. And she's being played by a different actress--but I suppose 25 years buried in a swamp will change anyone.

There's little doubt that if anyone even bothered to glance at previous films for the series, no one cared.

Some things the film does right: It doesn't have the Egyptian priests replay exactly the same stuff they've done in previous films for the fourth time (although they are still utter idiots about how they execute their mission), it manages for the first time to actually bring some real horror to the table--Kharis manages to be scary in this film, and I've already mentioned Ananka's creep-factor--and they bring back the "mummy shuffling" music from "The Mummy's Ghost" which is actually a pretty good little theme. But the utter disregard for everything that's happened in other installments of the series overwhelm and cancel out the good parts.

"The Mummy's Curse" should not have been slapped into the "Kharis" series. If it had been made as a stand-alone horror film, it could have been a Six-Star movie. As it is, this just comes across as a shoddy bit of movie making where I can only assume that anything decent is more by accident than design.



Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marie Windsor, and Eddie Parker
Director: Charles Lamont
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Abbott and Costello (Abbott and Costello) are a pair of down-on-their luck adventurer who try to get a job escorting an an archaeological shipment as their ticket back to the US from Cairo. However, before they secure the job, the archaeologist is murdered, the most important part of his find goes missing--the mummy Klaris--and Costello ends up with an ancient medallion that is the key to unlocking a lost treasure. Soon, the hapless pair are the the targets of every shady character in Cairo, including rabid cultists sworn to protect the treasure, a dangerous femme fatale (Windsor) who will do anything to possess it, and even the risen mummy himself (Parker).

I don't think "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy" deserves quite the level of scorn that many reviewers heap on it. While Abbott and Costello certainly aren't at their best in it, it is a very amusing spoof of the string of mummy movies from Universal--and those films that would follow when the British studio Hammer returned to that same oasis a few years later--and it's got plenty of hilarious moments. (The "pick-pocket routine" where Costello visits the villainess in her den, the chase scene in the secret hideout of the mummy cultists, and the various bits with the multiple mummies at the movies climax are all comedic highpoints that should evoke chuckles from even the most jaded viewers.)

The film is far from perfect, however. I already mentioned that Abbott and Costello aren't exactly at their best in this film--which was, in fact, one of the last times they worked together--and an attempt to reinvent the classic "who's on first" routine with some digging implements is about as uninspired as I think the pair's work ever got. Finally, the mummy costume in the film is about the worst that I've ever seen--and not at all worthy of even the cheapest film from Universal Pictures.

I recommend "Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy" to lovers of the classic monster movies who have a sense of humor about them, as well as fans of classic comedy. There are better examples of this type of film out there, but this one still has enough good bits to make it worth seeing.

Classic Cinema: The Man Who Changed His Mind

This time around in Classic Cinema, Boris Karloff plays an obsessed scientist who has found the secret of the human soul and how to preserver it and transfer it between bodies. He summons his prize student, played by Anna Lee, to help him in the final stages of his research... but that's when things start to go horribly wrong.

"The Man Who Changed His Mind" is a spectacular early sci-fi/horror flick from England. The script is expertly paced and hits all the right notes, humorous, dramatic, and horrific. The cast all give fine performances, the script hits but Anna Lee is the true stand-out among the cast. Watch for the scene where she teeters on the brink between brilliance and madness herself -- it's a powerful bit of acting that's done purely with her eyes and facial expressions.

Click below to watch "The Man Who Changed His Mind" in its entirety, or click here to read my review first.

'The Cat and the Canary' is a cool silent flick

The Cat and the Canary (1927)
Starring: Laura La Plante, Creighton Hale, Martha Mattox, Tully Marshall, Gertrude Astor, Flora Finch, Forrest Stanley, Arthur Edmund Carewe, George Siegmann, and Lucien Littlefield
Director: Paul Leni
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Twenty years to the hour after the death of millionaire Cyrus West, his relatives gather for the reading of his will; West loathed all of them, and he was determined to make them wait to pick at his dead reamins. His strange will leaves everything to his niece (La Plante) but only if she is certified sane by a doctor before dawn. If she is not declared mentally fit, a back-up heir--supposedly unknown to any living soul as the name is on a paper in a sealed envelope--will receive West's estate. As the relatives spend the night, soon the mansion becomes filled with strange and terrifying events... which may or may nt be in the mind of the young heiress--or perhaps even caused by her! Is she insane, or is someone attempting to drive her insane, so that they might gain the West fortune?

The grand-daddy of all Dark Old House mystery films and a collection of what would become standard fare in 1930s horror flicks and B-thrillers--gnarled grasping hands, masked killers, vanishing bodies, secret doors and passages, stylish damsels in distress, inept leading men, and just about anything else you can think of--this film is great fun and a must-see for anyone with a serious interest in the horror genre as an art form, or just a love for the gothic horror genre.

Your level of enjoyment of the early part of the picture will be dictated by your tolerance for the acting style of silent movies, but once the will has been read things start revving into high gear and the tension and action keeps building until the "big reveal" of the villain at the end. What's more, the bits that were supposed to be suspenseful in 1927 remain so today, and the same goes for the bits that were supposed to be funny.

There are a couple of disconnects story-wise--such as the point where one character talks another out of going for the police by saying that she'll do it and then never goes anywhere--but those are more than made up for by scenes such as the one with the main character fleeing in terror down a curtain-lined hallway, the stylish arrival of the police on the scene, and the action-filled climax that is equal-parts funny and frightening and which cuts back and forth between a milk-cart speeding through the night and a furious battle between the comic relief character who's emerged as the film's hero and the caped, murdering madman.

If you enjoyed just about any horror film from Monogram Pictures or "The Old Dark House", you should check out this flick, even if you have yourself convinced you "hate silent movies."