Invisible Man Chiller Theater Double Feature!

Here are reviews of a pair of films that are perfect Halloween viewing, since they feature liberal mixes of humor and horror. They're also classics that star horror movie legends!

The Invisible Man (1933)
Starring: Claude Rains, William Harrigan, Una O'Connor, Gloria Stuart, Forrester Harvey and Henry Travers
Director: James Whale
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Chemist Frank Griffin (Rains) develops a formula that turned him invisible. He goes on a homicidal rampage in rural Britain after it also drives him insane.
 

"The Invisible Man" is another true classic from the formative years of the horror genre. It's quite possibly the first horror comedy and it's black humor holds up nicely even today--arrogant scientists, simple country bumpkins and incompetent cops never go out of style!

The film's special effects also hold up surprisingly well, with simple techniques employed here that were used over and over until CGI came fully into its own but rarely used as well as they were here. (Yes, there are a few places where one can see the matting, but the "invisible action" here is depicted better than it is in many films made with much more sophisticated special effects technology.)

And finally, the film has a literate, finely honed script with loads of tension that effectively translates the mood of H.G. Wells' original novel to the screen. The characters seem well-rounded and believable, and this, even more than the special effects, make the movie such a pleasure to watch even now. The film even manages to capture the point about loss of identity resulting in loss of connection with the world around you and ultimately insanity (even if the movie attributes Griffin's madness first and foremost to the chemical concoction he's created).

Lovers of classy horror and sci-fi films owe it to themselves to check this one out. The same is true if you have an appreciation for dark comedies.

 


The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
Starring: Vincent Price, Cedric Hardwicke, Nan Grey, Cecil Kellaway, John Sutton and Alan Napier
Director: Joe May
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

A wrongly convicted man (Price) uses an invisibility serum to escape execution and find the murderer who framed him. But, even with the help of his loving fiance (Grey) and his loyal best friend (Sutton), can he track the killer before he is driven mad by the substance that renders him invisible?
 

"The Return of the Invisible Man" is a well-conceived sequel. It's got significant ties to the original, retains some of the same basic themes, but presents a completely different and unique story. Too often, sequels either shoehorn connections to the film into the story in an artificial manner or have so little to do with the original that one wonders why a connection was even drawn (well, aside from naked greedy attempts to ride on the coat-tails of another film's success).

A well-scripted mystery is added to the invisible man shenanigans... and although it's a bit slow in getting started, it is a gripping tale once it gets going. The mystery isn't terribly hard to solve for those who like playing along--there really is only one suspect and the film never launches any serious attempt to divert the audience's attention from that villain. However, plenty of suspense arises from watching the invisible man start to lose his mind even as he identifies his prey.

The great cast of the film is also to be credited with its success. Most noteworthy among the actors are Vincent Price lends his distinctive voice to the film's unseen protagonist, and Cecil Kellaway who appears in a rare dramatic role as the inscrutable Inspector Sampson of Scotland Yard.

The only complaint I have with the film are the invisibility effects. Whether due to a lack of budget or creativity on the part of the director and special effects crew, there is nothing here as impressive as the cinematic tricks used to sell the presence of an invisible character on screen as was found in the original "Invisible Man" nor in the "Invisible Woman", a comedy dating from the same year yet featuring far more impressive effects. (Nothing in "The Invisible Man Returns" comes close to the bicycle stunt in "The Invisible Man" or the stockings scene in "The Invisible Woman".)

However, the solid story and excellent cast make up for the shortcomings in the special effects department.

Halloween is coming...

 ... and, to help everyone get in the mood, Vampirella is making her traditional weekly appearances here at Shades of Gray! Look for her every Wednesday between now and Halloween!

This year, as an extra treat, this year, half of the featured portraits of our favorite alien blood-drinker are by the great Tim Vigil. So if you only stop by once a week this month, make sure it's on Wednesdays!

It's International Blasphemy Day...

 ... and we're celebrating it with an appearance from Jesus and Mo.

Click here to read about the origins of International Blasphemy Day. 

Click here to see why this blog is banned in Pakistan (along with more from "Jesus and Mo").

The Avengers: A Touch of Brimstone

A Touch of Brimstone (1966)
Starring: Diana Rigg, Patrick Macnee, Peter Wyngarde, Carol Cleveland, Michael Latimer, and Colin Jeavons
Director: James Hill
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

The charismatic leader of a modern-day Hellfire Club (Wyngarde) intends to topple the British government through a mass-assassination plot, and only secret agents John Steed (Macnee) and Emma Peel (Rigg) can infiltrate his group and stop them.

This is an episode of "The Avengers" that people who were reading "X-Men" comics in the early 1980s is familiar with in a round-about way, even if they didn't even know there was such a thing as a television series called "The Avengers. In the early 1980s, Writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne based the look and nature of a group of evil mutants on the Hellfire Club in this episode--in particular a the Black Queen. That character's look and outfit was inspired by one sported by Emma Peel in this episode... even if the Black Queen was even more skimpily clad than Peel was. 

Although Peel was only dressed in the costume for a few minutes--including the climactic battle where she fights for her life against the villainous leader of the Hellfire Club--it caused quite a stir back in 1965. The episode was edited by censors for its original broadcast in Great Britain, broadcasters in continental Europe and in Australia fielded complaints from viewers, and the whole thing was deemed to risque to even air in the United States. One interesting tidbit about the outfit is that actress Diana Rigg had issues with some of costumes she had to wear as Emma Peel, but this is one she designed herself.

As for the bulk of the episode, instead of just the costume that launched a thousand trips to the fainting couch and jump-started a thousand puberites via comics or the airwaves, it also ranks as one of the stronger in the series due to its very well-paced action, well-developed supporting characters (with the leader of group, John Cartney played by Peter Wynngarde, being one of the most palatably evil characters to even appear on the series), and great banter between John Steed, Emma Peel, and just about anyone they encounter during their investigation. This is also another episode where Diana Rigg gets to shine as an actress, due to the variety of situations that her character Emma Peel must navigate as the story unfolds. The final fight scenes between the bad guys and our heroes is also among the best of the series.

Whether you just want to see one of the better episodes in the series; whether you want to watch Diana Rigg parade around in not a lot of clothes (while carrying a snake); or whether you are the modern-day pearl-clutching type who wants to be outraged and feel like your spiritual ancestors in the 1960s felt, this is the episode to check out.

Here are a few more images and publicity stills from "A Touch of Brimstone", just because.

Starbucks Coffee's Pike Place Roast

It's National Coffee Day, so here's a bonus coffee review! (You can see other ones I've done recently by clicking here.)

STARBUCKS CORPORATION: PIKE PLACE ROAST

I have never considered myself a coffee snob, nor anyone who cared all that much about what was in my cup. Recently, I have discovered that is not true. At least not anymore.

I think my transition away from "so long as it has caffeine, I'll drink it with as much milk or creamer added as needed" began when a friend brought me Costa Rican coffee that had been roasted in Costa Rica; it was literally the best coffee I'd ever had.

Lately, I've been drinking a lot of coffee from the Bones Coffee Company, including their Costa Rica blend. While it wasn't quite as good as what my friend brought me, it reminded me of the coffee that was literally Costa Rican in every way.

I have known for years that my preferred coffee is a medium roast. My favorite used to be a couple varieties from Seattle's Best--one with vanilla flavoring and one that was straight. When they got absorbed by Starbucks and those were no longer easily available, I have regularly gotten Starbucks' Pike Place Roast and was quite happy with it... so long as I loaded it up with creamers and/or almond milk of various stripes.

Today, September 29, it's National Coffee Day, and Starbucks was giving away free cups of Pike Place Roast if you brought your own reusable mug into the store. So I did, they filled it, and I walked away happy. I hadn't really intended to do a review of the Pike Place Roast... until I tried it, for the first time since my experience with the Costa Rican medium roasts from some mountain-top roaster from Costa Rica and the Bones Coffee Company (not to mention the various flavored varieties which are mostly based on medium roasts).

Visiting the Starbucks Mascot at home (with Milo Manara)

I took my travel mug full of hot Pike Place Roast and added some sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer--roughly the same amount I added to the Costa Rican blends mentioned above, and what I've been putting in the flavored coffees I've been posting about. I would like to say that I enjoyed my free beverage, but I can't say that I did. At least not as much as I've been enjoying the Bones Coffee Costa Rica blend... or the Sumatra blend for that matter, which was a dark roast.

Until today, I've often been insulted on behalf of Starbucks' roasters when coffee snobs complained about their coffee tasting bitter or burnt. To me, their coffee tasted great... or at least better than some of the stuff I'd get at 7-Eleven and gas stations. The bags I would get of Pike Place Roast for home brewing purposes generally also turned out tasting better than whatever random grocery store roast I picked up to try (barring that lovely Seattle's Best Vanilla whenever I'd spot it on the shelves). But, since I've been brewing and drinking Bones Coffee blends at home pretty much exclusively since mid-May, maybe my tastes have... changed? Become more refined? I now know EXACTLY what the coffee snobs meant when they said that Starbucks coffee tastes burnt.

The Pike Place Roast I drank today was the very definition of burnt. Unlike some of the subtly flavored Bones Coffee blends, and VERY unlike their Costa Rican blend, this coffee tasted bitter and burnt. For the first time ever, after being shocked at how bad I thought this tasted, I looked up what Starbucks says the Pike Place Roast should taste. They say it's supposed to be a smooth, well-balanced medium roast that carries flavors of chocolate and nuts. I've never really noticed any such thing, and I certainly did not notice it in the cut I drank today.

Bottom-line, I find that I am unable to recommend the coffee that used to be one I described as my favorite. Maybe I just got a bad batch--I went in around 2pm, so maybe it had been sitting there simmering all day?--but given that I now can identify with the coffee snobs out there who always dumped on Starbucks, maybe I've just outgrown my one-time favorite?

I will still occasionally end up at Starbucks, but I'll probably stick to the Chai Lattes. Maybe, in the not too distant future, I will get myself a bag of Pike Place Roast and brew up a pot for old time's sake... and to see if it's the coffee that's terrible or just the way they make it at my local Starbucks store. 

Of Wolves and Girls in Hoods

We're closing out this month's Little Red Riding Hood theme with some artistic' visions of the story of the girl, wolf, and gramma's house.

Of Wolves and Girls in Hoods: Walt Disney

Before he ascended into legendary status as a producer and entertainment industry mogul, Walt Disney was himself an animator and created his own cartoons. Based on his "Little Red Riding Hood" adaptation, we think he made the right decision to move from being a creator to the guy who hired and managed the creators, and eventually to managing those who managed those who hired the creators. He had great talent for the latter, but not so much for the former.

Case in point: Walt Disney's adaptation of "The Little Red Riding Hood" fairy tale.

Little Red Riding Hood (1922)
Director: Walt Disney
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Little Red Riding Hood leads to Grandmother's house, but the Wolf sets his lustful sights upon her.

"Little Red Riding Hood" takes the well-known fairy tale and updates it to modern (well, 1920s modern) times. It's an animated short film of historical significance because it's an early work of Walt Disney--the first of six he made for the Laugh-O-Gram series. (We already reviewed the last one he made... because we're all organized and stuff.) Beyond that, there isn't much to recommend you spending time on it; there are some good ideas here, but they are mostly badly executed.

The opening sequence with a creative donut-making method goes on for too long, and it's a shade of things to come: There isn't a portion of this film that doesn't outstay its welcome, no matter how cute or clever it seems at the outset, be it Red Riding Hood's dog-powered car, the Wolf making his way to Grandmother's house, or the climactic rescue sequence where the Wolf ultimately gets what's coming to him. If this six-minute film had been three or four minutes long, it may have been far more entertaining. As it is, it just drags on and on and on...

And that's a real shame, because the ideas in each those bits are actually quite good and had all sorts of potential. The aforementioned donut-making sequence starts out funny and ultimately leads to an amusing, if a little macabre, gag, but it drags on and on. Gags that take place during the driving sequences featuring either Little Red Riding Hood or the Wolf are amusing, but they are also padded beyond their ability to be entertaining.

The one saving grace of the film is its villain. We don't get to see much of him, but what we do see paints him as an obnoxious womanizer with cool magical powers. He's also clearly a rapist who intends to force himself on Little Red Riding Hood, but she fend him off in an epic battle that literally threatens to blow the roof off Grandmother's house. Of course, we don't get to see any of it this fight--only the outside of the house in which it takes place, because that might actually be entertaining.

If you have a few minutes to waste, you can check out Disney's "Little Red Riding Hood" by clicking below. 

 

Musical Monday with Cher

Next month, it's 26 years since Cher released her version of Marc Cohn's immortal "Walking in Memphis". While I personally prefer Cohn's version, Cher's cover has a lot to recommend it. Depending on your tastes, the hints of Elvis Presley's vocal styles that creeps into her performance here are one of those positive things.

Elvis impersonations are also what makes the video for this song interesting to watch. From Cher's Elvis-like facial expressions and lip-curling while sitting and singing on the steps of bus, to her straight-up cross-dressing as Elvis in other sections, it's something to see!

Walking in Memphis (1995)

Starring: Cher 

Director: Marcus Nispel

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Bones Coffee Double Feature!

Today, I'm reviewing two different flavored blends from Florida-based Bones Coffee Company. Each was made from Arabica beans, and each is a medium-roast. The coffee consumed for these reviews was brewed from pre-ground, 4-oz. sample packs.

Danny Kaye and Grace Kelly. One for two, just like this post.

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: COOKIES AND DREAMS
The coffee in the open package smelled of something sweet, maybe cookies? Some sort of baked good came to mind. While the coffee brewed, the smell was not as intense as it's been with some other blends, but the aroma of something sweet it eventually make its way down to my office after having filled the kitchen.

Since this blend was inspired by the ice cream flavor Cookies and Cream, I was expecting it to be very sweet with a bit of chocolate in the mix. It did not meet my expectations.

The initial sips of blend with without any almond milk added has the taste of coffee front and center, with a leading bitterness with a little of the edge taken off by the medium-roast. There is, however, a hint of chocolate and vanilla that might be enough to satisfy those who drink their coffee black with perhaps just dash of sugar or creamer added. For me, who's known to have half a cup of coffee to half a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, it needed to be cut with a little something else.

When I drank a cup with unsweetened almond milk added, all flavors seemed to retreat. The coffee taste remained dominant while only a hint of chocolate remained and there was not even a hint of vanilla. When I had a cup mixed with vanilla-flavored unsweetened almond milk, the result was the same, except that the vanilla flavor was a little stronger than expected.

Drinking this blend cold and over ice, whether with or without the two varieties of almond milk used above, yielded similar results. The taste of coffee remains strong and the other flavors added  a bit of sweetness but it was never in doubt that you are drinking coffee and not some soft drink with this blend.

Whether you like your coffee hot or over ice, if you want the coffee flavor strong but smooth with just a touch of sweetness, I think you'll like Bones' Cookies and Dreams.

BONES COFFEE COMPANY: PEACHES AND SCREAM

Where the Cookies and Dreams blend kept the coffee flavor front and center, the Peaches and Scream blend is the opposite. In fact, it captured the flavor of the dessert it was inspired by--peaches and cream--more effectively than any other Bones Coffee blend I've tried. In fact, it may have captured the flavor it's inspired by better than ANY coffee blend I've tried.

In fact--and I never thought I'd say this-- the flavor of caramelized peaches may actually be TOO strong. The peach flavor is so sweet and overwhelming that this almost didn't taste like coffee. In fact, you can't taste the coffee at all for the first few sips while drinking it hot and fresh from the pot. Interestingly, the coffee flavor seemed to creep back in as I kept drinking and/or the coffee in my mug cooled, but the peach flavor never wavered.

The flavor of peaches was barely diminished when I added unsweetened almond milk, but the flavor of cream and coffee seemed to emerge a bit more clearly. I didn't try it with the sugar-free Italian Sweet Cream creamer or the unsweetened vanilla almond milk, because I really don't think adding more flavors would do anything but harm the experience of drinking this.

So how does this blend fare when you drink it iced? This is where it really excels. Hot, the dominant peach flavor is almost too sweet and too overwhelming, but iced it seems just right. In fact, cold, the flavors of peach and cream flavors both seem evident and it tastes even more like the dessert the blend draws its inspiration. For the same of consistency, I did try it with unsweetened almond milk, and I thought that the addition detracted more than it added.

Bottom line: The Peaches Cream blend needs to be enjoyed over ice, and if you like your flavored coffees sweet and barely tasting of coffee, enjoy it you will.

Saturday Comics by Sala

Here's a brief Peculia story that's among those that have not been collected in anthologies.

The majority of Sala's "Peculia" short stories were collected in this book, and her novel-length encounter with vampires can be read in this one. Peculia has wandered into some of Ricard Sala's other titles, including his final anthology "Poison Flowers & Pandemonium". I hope to post a review of it in October or November over at the Terror Titans blog.