The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 31

It's Halloween.

We made it.

Another 31 Days of Horror Clips has come to a close. I'm honestly sad that it's over. Compiling these clips is a real treat for a horror nut. I hope all who stopped by enjoyed them as much as I did.

The final clip of The 2nd Annual 31 Days of Horror Clips brings this year's cycle full circle, aptly concluding where it began--with Halloween.

Enjoy the famous P.O.V. beginning of John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic, which introduced the world to a new boogieman, Michael Myers.


- Phil Morehart

This Week at the Cinematheque

Kick off your Halloween with the Chicago Premiere of...

Tokyo Gore Police

Fri., Oct. 31 -
Thurs., Nov. 6

Audition's Eihi Shiina stars in this wild, transgressive masterpiece full of filmic innovation and genre-busting weirdness. It will freak you out!

"Gooey, hilarious and seriously sick" (New York Times)

For info, tickets and more, visit the Cinematheque online.


And don't forget!

The Chicago International Children's Film Festival

Running through Nov. 2

This year, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival celebrates 25 years of introducing new, culturally diverse kids films from around the world to American youth.

Tickets & More Information


Facets Cinematheque, 1517 West Fullerton Ave., Chicago IL 60614 773-281-4114

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 30

Three different takes on the same scene--the death of Nosferatu.




The scene as originally presented in F.W. Murnau's masterpiece of expressionist horror, Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922), with Max Schreck as the famed vampire.




Werner Herzog's interpretation from his stylish remake, Nosferatu: Phantom of the Night (1979), with the great Klaus Kinski in the lead.




Finally, the scene as imagined by E. Elias Merhige in Shadow of the Vampire (2000), a fictional spin on the production of Murnau's film with Willem Dafoe as Schreck--an actor who may or may not be a real vampire.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 29

One of the scariest horror films in recent years comes straight outta Spain.

Following the leads of The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead, the 2007 film (REC) is a first-person immersion in terror told through the camera lens of a Barcelona TV reporter and her cameraman who witness a horrific series of events.

The film begins innocuously with the duo filming the workaday routines of a night-shift fire station for a local TV show. When a seemingly routine distress call from an apartment complex comes into the station, the firefighters race to the scene with TV crew in tow. What they find upon arrival is far from normal, though. The building's occupants are infected with something that drives them to kill. The building is swiftly sealed, quarantining all inside--including the TV crew who capture the ensuing nightmare on camera.

The film is truly terrifying. The shaky hand-held camerawork lends a frightening immediacy to the action, plunging viewers into a darkness that only reveals its hidden violence when the dim camera light is directly on top of it.

As is the case with most successful horror imports from abroad, (REC) received an American remake. Released just recently, Quarantine, starring the excellent Jennifer Carpenter of Dexter fame, follows the same track as (REC)--nothing more, nothing less, supposedly. This begs the question: Why not just release the original film state-side? I ask this question each time a remake of a foreign-language film hits our shores. And I'm still waiting for an answer.


- Phil Morehart

Straight from the Author's (Trench)mouth

One of Facets Features favorite new books is The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart, by Chicago author M. Glenn Taylor. The epic tall tale follows the life adventures of Trenchmouth Taggart, a wild, sly, disease-mouthed iconoclast straight from the West Virginia hollers who's as skilled with a gun as he is at pleasing the female nether-regions.

I love this book. It's honestly one of the best I've experienced in some time. Yes--experienced. However, I must be honest. For full disclosure: Glenn and I are close friends; former college housemates; occasional musical collaborators; appreciators of fine outdoor grilling--the list goes on and on. Simply: we're tight.

My biases notwithstanding, The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart is truly a wonderful read. I understand suspicions to my praise, though. So, if my word is not enough, consider accolades from Barnes and Noble. The national bookchain chose the book as one of its Fall 2008 Discover Great New Writers Selections--a designation given to only a handful of books each year. Believe it.

Glenn has graciously shared with Facets Features a list of his favorite films, which we're happy to add to our ever-growing collection of celebrity film lists. The diverse selections are a telling reflection of both his writing and personality, despite what he says otherwise...

"In no way does (this list) fully represent my true top ten (note: actually it's 11), but it's the best I can do right now with a dumb brain..."

Here goes:

The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Milos Forman, 1975)
Harlan County USA (Barbara Kopple, 1976)
Mo' Better Blues (Spike Lee, 1990)
Leolo (Jean-Claude Lauzon, 1992)
Abre Los Ojos (Alejandro Amenabar, 1997)
Soft Fruit (Christina Andreef, 1999)
Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
Joe Gould's Secret (Stanley Tucci, 2000)
Amores Perros (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2000)
Reprise (Joachim Trier, 2006)


The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart is published by West Virginia University Press.

Buy it. Read it. Immediately.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 28

Mario Bava's vivid supernatural thriller Kill, Baby...Kill! (1966) is one of the Italian director's best. The Gothic ghost story about the vengeful ghost of a little girl is full of chillingly memorable moments, but probably the most famous is the scene that finds actor Giacomo Rossi-Stuart frantically running through rooms in a dilapidated haunted mansion, each identical to the last, until finally catching up with his own doppelganger.

Fans of Twin Peaks should recognize this scene. David Lynch pays tribute to it in the final episode of the series, scripting Agent Cooper a similar encounter in the Black Lodge.

*Note: The clip is in Italian without English subtitles. The dialogue is brief, though, so it shouldn't be a hindrance. Enjoy.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 27

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, Sam Raimi's 1987 follow-up to his breakthrough horror-comedy hit The Evil Dead, finds everyman Ash (played to perfection by B-hero Bruce Campbell) in a lone cabin in the woods fighting forces of evil brought forth by the infamous book of the dead, The Necronomicon.

Sounds familiar, right? Well, it should--it's the same story told in the first film!

Dead by Dawn is a sequel in name only, essentially re-working the original film but with everything polished and amped to ridiculous degrees. The wilder and more infectious camera movements, spatter-FX, slapstick humor and catchphrases give the film a more comedic lean, but an unsettling quality still exists, allowing for screams between the laughter.


- Phil Morehart

Win a Czech New Wave Horror Classic!

Halloween and cinema were made for each other. Open your door to any trick-or-treater or head out to any costume party and you'll find a bevy of horror movie monsters staring back at you, from classic frighteners Dracula and Frankenstein to serial slashers Jason Vorhees and Leatherface. It's also a time of movie traditions, when certain horror films are watched and re-watched to get in that spooky mood.

As the season approaches, Facets Features asks:

Is there one horror film you must watch each year around Halloween? Why?

The best entry as picked by Facets' staff wins a DVD of Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, a surreal and sexual horror tale from one of the Czech New Wave's top directors, Jaromil Jires, released by Facets Video.

Send entries to philm@facets.org by midnight October 31st! Please include name, address and phone number (for shipping purposes only).

Good luck!

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 26

I had a long post written about the campy 1980 Amicus horror anthology, The Monster Club, starring John Carradine and Vincent Price, but this subpar blogging program decided to erase it.

When it's re-written, I'll post. In the meantime, just enjoy the clip. My apologies.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 25

What a way to break into the business!

In his first major film role, Johnny Depp starred in Wes Craven's 1984 horror great, A Nightmare on Elm Street, playing the part of lead Heather Langenkamp's boyfriend, Glenn. This was his character's only appearance in the Freddy-fueled series (apart from a brief cameo in the 1991 installment, Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare)--this clip explains why.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 24

Roger Corman's Edgar Allen Poe adaptations from the early '60s are a treat, especially when Vincent Price is in the lead. They're perfect Technicolor blasts of spookiness--who cares if they take mass liberties with the source materials?

The above clips from The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) find both Corman and Price at their best.


- Phil Morehart

This Week at Facets Cinematheque

Chicago Premiere!
What Remains of Us

Fri. Oct. 24 - Thurs. Oct 30

Shot without the knowledge of the Chinese authorities, using small digital cameras, this moving documentary by François Prévost and Hugo Latulippe allows us to see and hear what remains of the Tibetan people after 50 years of occupation.

An official selection of the Cannes International Film Festival.

Showtimes


The Chicago International Children's Film Festival

Running through Nov. 2

This year, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival celebrates 25 years of introducing new, culturally diverse kids films from around the world to American youth.

Tickets & More Information


Coming Soon!

Facets Seminar Series presents...
Federico Fellini's Clowns

Sunday, Nov. 9 at 10:00 am

Facets Seminar Series presents the very great Fellini film so few of us know - his magical tribute to circus clowns. Alternately intimate and personal, Clowns is as moving as Amarcord.

Bernard "Bernie" Sahlins, writer, director, comedian and co-founder of The Second City, will lead a post-screening discussion on the film, the elusive line between comedy and tragedy, and the role of the clown tradition in comedy.

FREE for Facets Patron Circle members, $10 for non-members
$5 for students with valid ID.

Click here for reservations

For more info, tickets and more, visit the Cinematheque online.


Facets Cinematheque, 1517 West Fullerton Ave., Chicago IL 60614 773-281-4114

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 23

I'm breaking from the clips once again for another trailer, because this one is just too good. Or too bad, actually.

In 1975, Nick Millard (also credited as Nick Philips, Philip Miller, Jan Anders and Clem Moser, among others) broke from directing typical, nudie exploitation fare to tackle horror--with weird results.

His guilty pleasure genre debut, Satan's Black Wedding, follows a man who runs into a gaggle of satanic vampires while investigating his sister's "suicide." It's bad stuff, yet definitely creepy--a quality owed more to its low budget, cruddy acting, mad amounts of blood and the vampires' large plastic fangs than any intentional direction.

Though Satan's Black Wedding is a stinker, it's trailer is excellent. Thus is the beauty of such advertisements (particularly with exploitation fare): the junk is cut leaving one minute snippets often superior to the films they tout.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 22

Tobe Hooper's 1986 follow-up to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, simply named The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, finds the murderous cannibal clan back in business--this time harassing a radio DJ while a lone ex-Texas Ranger (an expertly over-the-top Dennis Hopper) hunts them down.

The sequel was a cable fixture in the '80s, which probably explains why I saw it years before first seeing the famed 1974 original. I was struck by the vast differences between the two films that share a director and some cast. Rather than replicating the original's bleak unflinching nihilism, Texas 2 is a bawdy mix of broad dark humor, jump scares and gore. As a result, it's much less emotionally effective than the first film. However, it has a rambunctious "little brother" charm, which has given it long legs and a large fanbase.


- Phil Morehart

Sail On to the Night!

There are plenty of opportunities to Get Your Cinematic Ghost On here in Chicago, not only is the Music Box Massacre going down this weekend, but this Friday the Portage Theater kicks off a weeklong series of horror flicks, starting this weekend with the Monster Film Fest.

On Friday night, Lon Chaney, Jr. is Son of Dracula (the screening will feature a guest appearance from Svengoolie); on Saturday night Conrad Veidt is The Man Who Laughs, and on Sunday afternoon Abbott & Costello meet Jekyll and Hyde, and Frankenstein as well! (Speaking of Jekyll and Hyde, a reminder that the 1920 version with John Barrymore will be screening early on Saturday at the Music Box Massacre, pencilled in for 12:30 P.M. Not only will it have live organ accompaniment, but also will The Man Who Laughs at the Portage! (We are getting spoiled in this town). Since the Massacre is a come-and-go-as-you-please affair, enterprising silent film fans can have their cake and eat it, too.

And then for the stretch run leading all the way up to Halloween, the rest of the Portage calendar is a roller-coaster ride of thrills and chills under the banner of Halloween Havoc, featuring vintage toys and collectibles on sale in the lobby as well as a costume contest on Friday the 31st (judging to occur during the breaks between a triple bill of The Monster Squad, Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman, and Fright Night). Earlier in the week, bow down to Romero with the immortal (literally and figuratively) Dawn of the Dead on Monday, a rare chance to catch both the Howard Hawks and John Carpenter versions of The Thing on Tuesday, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre on Wednesday (accept no substitutions), and a tongue-in-cheek/lump-in-your-throat double bill of An American Werewolf In London (which has aged well, beware the moors) and The Lost Boys (which hasn’t aged well and as such has extra camp value – i.e. the Coreys and the soundtrack, with the exception of Echo & The Bunnymen’s cover of “People are Strange”).

-Dan Mucha

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 21

After yesterday's Christopher Lee spotlight, the sensual Dracula variations continue with Guy Maddin's incredible Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2003).

The Canadian's modus operandi of working within silent cinema traditions perfectly suits the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's interpretation of Bram Stoker's archetypal novel, accompanied by a Gustav Mahler score. And though the film is not horror per se, its images are as haunting as those from the Universal, Hammer and German expressionist heydays--grainy black and white wonders splashed with seductive blood red.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 20

Christopher Lee was one suave Dracula. Without saying a word and with blood-shot, three-day bender eyes, he gets the lady in Terence Fisher's 1966 film, Dracula: Prince of Darkness.

The film marked Lee's return to Hammer's Dracula fold after years of refusing to play the Count following his breakthrough in The Horror of Dracula (1958). The self-imposed exile didn't squash his grip on the role, though. He's still mesmerizing, even in a performance with no spoken dialogue whatsoever.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 19

Haxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages) is straight-up evil. Beautiful, glorious evil.

The 1922 Scandinavian silent directed by Benjamin Christensen is a historical study of witchcraft, superstitions, accusatory panic and mental illness, based at least in part on the Malleus Maleficarum, the 15th century witchcraft inquisition guide estimated to have contributed to tens of thousands of deaths across Europe (I knew that History of Witchcraft class that I took in college would pay off someday).

Haxan is an absolute marvel, complete with incredible, evocative Hieronymus Bosch-like imagery; graphic reenactments of rituals described in 15th and 16th century witchcraft trials; impressively costumed demons and devils (including Christensen as Satan); and a darkly humorous streak aimed at then-contemporary psychiatric practices.

Unfortunately, the clip featured above is without sound. However, the track The Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell by the late '60s British electronic band, The White Noise, may provide adequate auditory creepiness.*

*Open the song in a new browser window before playing clip. \m/


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 18

Yesterday's Lugosi clip begs a Karloff follow-up.

In one of his last films, Boris Karloff starred in Peter Bogdanovich's 1968 directorial debut Targets. The story of his involvement in the picture is legendary.

Roger Corman agreed to fund the film on condition that a part be written for Karloff, who still owed five days on his contract with the famed producer. Bogdanovich's resultant story is both a reflexive ode to cinema past and an atypical horror film steeped in the unrest of the late '60s that criss-crosses the lives of an aged horror film star and a young Vietnam vet-turned-psychotic sniper.

Karloff reportedly was so impressed with the script that he waived payment on any extra days required of him to finish the film. It was a wise move. The thriller marked Bogdanovich as a director to watch and served as a perfect send-off to the great Karloff.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 17

The aptly named 1944 film Return of the Vampire finds Bela Lugosi back as a bloodsucker thirteen years after his iconic performance in Dracula. He's not the famed Count this time out, though, instead playing Dr. Armand Tesla, a Hungarian vampire who returns to the world of the living after a Nazi bomb disturbs his final resting place. After crawling from the grave (literally), Tesla re-teams with his werewolf manservant and sets out on a revenge mission against those who staked him decades earlier.

While not as fun as monster tag-teams House of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, or House of Dracula, Return of the Vampire is still impressive. Lugosi is particularly strong, delivering a performance more sinister than his earlier, more famous one. Also of note is the propagandistic implication of the Nazis in the vampire's return. The film is sorely lacking in the werewolf department, though, as actor Matt Willis' performance and make-up are both underwhelming.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 16

1981 was a big year for lycanthropy in cinema. Along with An American Werewolf in London and Wolfen, Joe Dante's The Howling kicked some life into the werewolf subgenre with its winning mix of horror and dark comedy. While London got the kudos (and the Oscar) for its man-to-wolf transformation sequence, The Howling's is equally as effective, if not more gruesome.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 15

There are a bajillion screen adaptations and variations of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde with the doctor and his mad alter-ego taking many different forms, from the iconic portrayals by John Barrymore, Fredric March and Spencer Tracy in the 1920, 1931 and 1941 versions, respectively, to the not-so-distant cousins in the Nutty Professor films.

One of the more notable versions was produced just a hair over 25 years after the story's initial publication. Released in 1912, director Lucius Henderson's silent short, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, is an effective telling based on an 1887 stage adaptation that remains faithful to the familiar tale, but with added emphasis on the duality of the Jekyll/Hyde characters. The transformation scene featured here isn't as exciting as those in future versions, but it's still entertaining as a film and horror relic.

Even more interesting is that this particular version is the story's 2nd cinematic telling--the first being the Danish film, Den Skaebnesvangre Opfindelse (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), released in 1910!


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 14

The men behind cinema's most recognizable vampires--Max Schreck, Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Reggie Nalder...

Reggie Nalder?

Yes.

The noted Austrian character actor played a number of creepy types throughout his long career, but his portrayal of the vampire Kurt Barlow in the 1979 made-for-TV adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot put him in the horror history book.

Nalder's visage is an obvious homage to Schreck's Count Orlock in Nosferatu, miming the bald head, pointed ears and overall unattractive nature. However, Nalder's spin is decidedly more rat-like, vicious, and immediately repulsive; a marked difference from Schreck, who was more unsettlingly creepy (but still very frightening), and miles away from suave peers Lugosi and Lee.

Nalder's Barlow is the progenitor of the ugly, disfigured modern vampire and vampiric monster that emerged in the Blade films, The Descent, 30 Days of Night, and even the abysmal Van Helsing. These contemporary beasts are much more brutal, but the Nalder/Barlow bloodline is unmistakable.


- Phil Morehart

Sex, Blood and Rock and Roll

Lots of fun to be had later this month at the Music Box Theatre, under the auspices of Rusty Nails and the Movieside Film Festival! Mark your calendars for the 25th-26th and the 29th!

BLOOD

For 24 hours beginning at Noon on Saturday the 25th, the 4th Annual Music Box Massacre will be showering cinematic tricks and treats upon the good little boys and ghouls, who are encouraged as always to come in costume, bring sleeping bags, pillows, etc.

Special guests include the legendary Clive Barker, who will be presenting his Midnight Meat Train (gotta love that title, which sounds like it could also be filed under the "sex" category as well).

Being a crusty fusty, I'm looking forward to the oldies, and when I say oldies I am truly talking "old school" as in Boris Karloff as deranged butler Morgan in James Whale's 1932 classic The Old Dark House, and from 1920, John Barrymore as the titular Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde, with live organ accompaniment!

Perhaps most of all I am especially excited about the opportunity to see Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face. I should be publically flagellated for not having seen this yet, but hopefully seeing this on the big screen will be due penance (guess who grew up Catholic)?

Throw in Mario Bava's Black Sunday, Peter Jackson's over-the-top Dead Alive, Brian de Palma's cult oddity The Phantom of the Paradise, Texas Chainsaw knock-off Pieces, and a 9:30 A.M. screening (screaming?) of The Exorcist and you've got yourself a heapin' helpin' o' fright!

SEX

On Wednesday the 29th at 8:00, the lovely Tura Satana will be in person to present Russ Meyer's notorious exploitation classic, Faster, Pussycat! Kill Kill! (Also file under blood, but we all know what the main attraction is here, folks- after all, it IS Russ Meyer).

And hey! The Chicago queen of burlesque, Michelle L'amour, will be doing her thing before the film, so stock up on your Jujubes early and don't get caught waiting in line at the concession stand with your, uh, money in your hand.

ROCK AND ROLL

But wait, there's more! Also on Wednesday before the feature, in the interest of full disclosure I am proud to tell you that one of my old short films, Pure, Unadulterated Rock and Roll, will also be showing. It features my mom on the way to her first (and only) Ramones show, back in '94, explaining her fondness for their "down and out" rock and roll, a love seemingly at odds with her suburban persona. Watch and find out what Marky Ramone thinks of all this when she winds up backstage!

I'm not sure what my mom would think about being on the same bill with a Russ Meyer movie and a burlesque performance, but she'll be in Ohio and won't have to know about that part of it, right? RIGHT???

Also don't miss the afterparty at Liar's Club (free with ticket stub), featuring a KISS costume party judged by Tura herself!

More info for all of the above, including how and where to buy advance tickets, can be found on the Music Box website.

-Dan Mucha

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 13

I've tried to steer clear of using trailers in The 31 Days of Horror Clips, but the one for the 1971 Spanish cheapie The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman is just too perfect. The film has everything: the great Paul Naschy as cinema's most famous werewolf Waldemar Daninsky; a Barbara Steele look-alike as the Vampire Woman; a Gothic sensibility; blood and gore; and some softcore sapphic action.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 12

The second film in George A. Romero's zombie series, the 1978 horror landmark Dawn of the Dead, begins with a gruesome bang. After observing the chaos overriding a TV station during the zombie outbreak, Romero plunges audiences into an even more chaotic--and deadly--scene: a SWAT raid on a low-income housing block populated with residents and hungry undead.

The impressive sequence raised the gore FX bar with a display of mass carnage, complete with head explosions, body blasts, flesh-eating and more. It's an uncomfortable scene to watch, not so much for the gore (which is so over-the-top that it's almost cartoonish), but for the overwhelming tension and nihilism. Romero is the master of such moments, and this bit finds the director at his squirm-inducing best.

*note: As you probably figured out already, this clip is rather violent and gory.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 11

Silly? Yes. Chilling? Strangely so. Ladies and gents--the famous end-scene from William Castle's very entertaining, smash-hit 1958 horror vehicle The House on Haunted Hill.

Ever the gimmick-man, Castle developed a very special one for Hill's theatrical run. Called "Emergo," it involved a lit-up, plastic skeleton swooping above the audience while the skeleton on-screen pursues a screaming Carol Ohmart. The gag was popular, but it didn't last long, as the skeleton was the target of dead shot teens armed with sling-shots.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 10

I don't know who's more frightening in the clip from The Shining: the axe-wielding Nicholson or Duvall at her most hysterical?

Thoughts?


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 9

Yes, the 1977 Australian animated feature Dot and the Kangaroo is far from being a horror film, but it holds a dark place in the psyche for many my age.

Back in the early days of cable, the story of the little girl lost in the outback who befriends the animals was a constant fixture. A mix of live-action, animation and musical numbers, it was relatively benign family fare, except for one musical sequence warning about the dangers of the Bunyip, a nasty creature from Aboriginal folklore who would "get you" if you didn't rush home quickly.

It freaked the hell out of me as a youngster. When the Bunyip was onscreen, he was viewed only through slightly opened fingers held tight to the eyes. Of course, this didn't block out its loud, bloodcurdling, "bullfrog-of-death" cry--the Bunyip's most frightening feature.

Viewed in retrospect, the Bunyip has lost most of its bite. I understand its power, though. Despite being cartoony and somewhat silly, the bit is still undeniably creepy--at least enough to stay stuck in my head over thirty years later.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 8

Like yesterday's featured film, The Haunting, Dario Argento's masterpiece of the macabre Suspiria is a perfect symphony orchestrated to scare the bejezus out of audiences. But it's bloody as hell.

No director films blood like Argento (except maybe Terence Fisher, but that's another story). In his hands, the gooey red stuff is bright, vibrant and alive. Even amongst the kaleidoscopic colors in Suspiria, the blood stands out strong, becoming another character as unsettling as it is beautiful.

Please note: This clip is rather violent and gruesome. Fair warning given.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 7

No Halloween season is complete without a viewing of The Haunting. It's a tradition instilled in youth by my mother, who still swears by the film's spooky power.

Robert Wise's 1963 classic is one of cinema's truly unnerving films. Based on Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting adheres to the "less is more" adage as it follows paranormal investigators through one night in a haunted Boston mansion.

Sans cheap gimmicks, gore or blood, the film instead uses lighting, camerawork, sound design and suggestion to frighten audiences--proof that the unseen can be more frightening than what is seen.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 6

Talk about having a bad hair day.

Stylish Japanese director Sion Sono's Ekusute (released as Exte: Hair Extensions internationally) is an odd one even by J-Horror standards. When a batch of beautiful, but evil possessed hair makes its way into a salon's selection of hair extensions, all hell breaks loose for those wearing the naughty dreads. Yeah. Really.

I have yet to see Ekusute, but the bizarre premise (and even goofier, but still creepy clip) has me sold. This comes as no surprise, as director Sono (Suicide Club and Noriko's Dinner Table) knows his way around my kind of oddball horror. And having the lovely Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill, Battle Royale) in the cast doesn't hurt, either.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 5

Who hasn't fleetingly imagined taking extreme measures to silence those whose behavior distracts, interrupts or simply ruins a movie-watching experience? In this clip from the 1980 slasher flick for cinephiles, Fade to Black, obsessive young movie buff Eric Binford (excellently portrayed by Dennis Christopher) takes it to a whole other level, Richard Widmark-style.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 4

Before The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits and Star Trek, Tales of Tomorrow introduced the burgeoning television audience of the early 1950s to the wonders of science fiction through consistently engaging and original stories starring top-notch talent, including Paul Newman, Veronica Lake, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Warden and many more.

Like most early TV programming, Tales was broadcast live. The pitfalls of such productions were that gaffes, flubs and other slip-ups were visible to viewers at home. Some of the more infamous examples are found in Tales' 1952 presentation of Frankenstein. The underrated (but here supposedly over-inebriated) Lon Chaney Jr. stars as the Monster and he slogs his way through the already stiff staging.

Notwithstanding his performance, the episode is still a fascinating TV and horror relic, particularly for Chaney's unique Monster make-up, which is starkly different from the hulky, flat-topped head look popularized up to that point by past Monsters Boris Karloff, Glenn Strange and Bela Lugosi.

Tales of Tomorrow's Frankenstein is presented here in its entirety.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 3

Plague of the Zombies is one of my favorite films by Hammer, the British production company that cranked out atmospheric, Gothic horror flicks at a fever pace from the 1950s-70s. Foggy, creepy, paced and oozing that trademark Hammer Gothic-ness, Plague follows a doctor and his daughter to a remote Cornish countryside village suffering from an unexplained illness outbreak. Upon arrival, they find a community shrouded in mystery...and hiding an undead secret.

Plague is not your typical zombie flick, at least not by today's standards. Released in 1966, it predates by two years the era of the flesh-hungry modern zombie born in George A. Romero's masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead. Plague's undead fall in line with the cinematic representations of the zombie prevalent up to that point: the somnambulant dead risen by voodoo to do another's bidding. That doesn't stop them from being both fearful and dangerous, they just don't want to knaw on yer neckbone.


- Phil Morehart

The 31 Days of Horror Clips: Day 2

It's really a shame that the titular demon in Jacques Tourneur's 1957 classic, Curse of the Demon, looks so clumsy and cartoonish because the film itself is a masterpiece of supernatural cinema.

Dana Andrews stars as an American psychologist in Britain investigating an occult cult led by an Aleister Crowley-ish figure, who in-turn brings a Satanic smackdown.

Tourneur's directorial hand is ace here. The dread is thick and sinister, recalling his past Val Lewton collaborations Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man, where atmosphere, not gimmicks, brings the scares. Thus, it's no surprise that the visual addition of the "demon" was added at Tourneur's objection in post-production.

"The scenes where you see the demon were shot without me," said Tourneur. "The audience should never have been been completely certain of having seen the demon." (note: this is a Wikipedia sourced quote. If in err, I'll remove)

I understand Tourneur's concerns. Subtracting the demon would have made for a more nuanced, psychological horror film, but it also would have deprived cinema of a classic movie monster.

Tough call.


- Phil Morehart

We're Baaaaaack. The 31 Days of Horror Clips, Part Deux

It's Facets Features' favorite time of the year. Time to turn down the lights, lock the doors and get creepy.

It's time for The 31 Days of Horror Clips.

Last year's Halloween-inspired rundown was as successful as it was fun to compile ("chock-full of random brilliance," said The Guardian). Hopefully, this year's selections will be just as spooky.

The rules are the same...

31 days.
31 horror clips*.

Let's begin...



Halloween III: The Season of the Witch is the red-headed stepchild of the Halloween family. The third film in the series, it drops the Michael Myers slasher storyline altogether to focus on an evil costume company with plans to kill masses of children on Halloween night. How? With booby-trapped masks!

Halloween III was a dud both commercially and critically upon initial release, and it's not hard to see why. It lacks the terror and tension (and identifiable icon) of its predecessors, instead feeling more like a sci-fi flick, albeit one with some impressive, squishy gore. Regardless, the film has its creepy charms, particularly the innocent, but unsettling design of the deadly masks and John Carpenter and Alan Howarth's synth score.


- Phil Morehart

*Many with spoilers. View at your own risk.