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Post by andydecker on Aug 9, 2020 15:55:46 GMT
This seems to be a lovely edition. I have only seen the original in a terrible copy. A commentary by Newman and Gatiss sounds like fun. Recently I re-watched the Hammer remake. I liked it more than the first time. While it sacrifices atmosphere for CGI, the stage is well done in this kind of Ghost-Messiness which seemingly has become the norm.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Aug 9, 2020 16:10:15 GMT
This seems to be a lovely edition. I have only seen the original in a terrible copy. A commentary by Newman and Gatiss sounds like fun. Recently I re-watched the Hammer remake. I liked it more than the first time. While it sacrifices atmosphere for CGI, the stage is well done in this kind of Ghost-Messiness which seemingly has become the norm. I'm quite fond of the Hammer version. It overdoes it a bit, but there are definitely some effective moments, and it looks great. My favourite version - even more than Hill's book - is the stage play, but the Kneale/Wise version isn't far behind.
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Post by bluetomb on Oct 3, 2020 10:58:36 GMT
An alternate history I have been musing on lately : What if Hammer had found more success with their non classic monster related films and so pursued those newer fields more vigorously? Recent viewings of The Nanny, which I thought a fine suspense creeper but also a sharp feminist critique surely worthy of more serious attention than it has had, and Straight On 'Till Morning, kin to the Stateside psychotronic serial killer/proto slasher films of the time but with downbeat kitchen sink realism instead of gore and sleaze, led me to this musing. Of course you could also add Seth Holt's earlier Scream of Fear, which I've not seen for years, or the Quatermass trilogy and These Are The Damned (one of the most chilling endings of any film?) as avenues.
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Post by andydecker on Oct 3, 2020 17:05:48 GMT
This is an intriguing question.
The influence of Hammer on the European horror movie is so big that it is hard to imagine how things would have gone without it. From Rolin to Bava, from Tigon to Amicus, maybe they would never have materialized. Jimmy Sangster maybe would have become a screenwriter regardless, but what of Cushing and Lee, not to mention all the girls?
Even in literature the repercussions would have been felt. John Burke? Peter Saxon? Even NEL. The horror literature in France and Germany would also have developed in other directions.
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Post by andydecker on Oct 13, 2020 10:09:42 GMT
I really hated the new Haunting of Hill House last year. A hypocritical mess. So it was more with morbid curiosity that I tried the new one, The Haunting of Bly Manor. The James story still has a lot of potential, so what did they do with it? I really like the classic The Innocents, even if today I don't have a lot of patience with some major elements.
After seeing the first two episodes, I am on the fence. While it followed the story in a reasonably way, there were also some silly bits which made my eyes roll and don't work at all. On the whole I thought it absolutly boring, though. I don't know if I will see the rest. To watch another 8 episodes of this just to bitch about it seem not to be a worthwhile undertaking. For the life of me I can't understand the accolades it gets. Have those people never seen a ghost story before?
I wonder what they adapt next. Maybe Casting the Runes? Or Lost Hearts?
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Post by bluetomb on Oct 13, 2020 17:48:24 GMT
This is an intriguing question. The influence of Hammer on the European horror movie is so big that it is hard to imagine how things would have gone without it. From Rolin to Bava, from Tigon to Amicus, maybe they would never have materialized. Jimmy Sangster maybe would have become a screenwriter regardless, but what of Cushing and Lee, not to mention all the girls? Even in literature the repercussions would have been felt. John Burke? Peter Saxon? Even NEL. The horror literature in France and Germany would also have developed in other directions. Sobering thoughts. I'm not familiar with pre fame Hammer but if they had hit big with their 30's through mid 50's work who knows if we would be here today? I think the pre 60's horrors and a bit of parallel evolution might might have been enough for Bava and the similar older Europeans, and then they might have gone along on a similar path, just perhaps more outré without the sober hand of Hammer as a guide. But then they might not have had the audiences to stay afloat without Hammer, and certainly the more derivative would be in trouble for basic inspiration. Also the loss of Amicus and Tigon would be dire. As for Cushing and Lee, I suppose it would have depended on how well they could be ordinary. Cushing I can see without too much difficulty (I can imagine him a schoolteacher, dad, policeman and so forth confronted by contemporary nightmares) but Lee is harder. Then again villainous aristocracy is hardly limited to the days of yore. Would science fiction or at least creature feature influence have taken up the slack in the literature? Things gotten sleazier and nastier in the paperback bestsellers faster? I'm not as well versed here as I am in the cinema. But it would sure have been interesting.
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 14, 2020 12:21:05 GMT
As for Cushing and Lee, I suppose it would have depended on how well they could be ordinary. Cushing I can see without too much difficulty (I can imagine him a schoolteacher, dad, policeman and so forth confronted by contemporary nightmares) but Lee is harder. Then again villainous aristocracy is hardly limited to the days of yore. I don't know... I think Lee's acting range might actually have been broader than Cushing's. He did a lot of non-horror films, including war, historical, and crime thrillers, and also a fair bit of TV work (he cropped up in an old Avengers episode on TV the other night). Not sure how often he strayed from an aristocratic type - but he could definitely play a convincing hero (e.g. The Devil Rides Out, and is possibly the only actor to have played both Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes in films) and could even turn his hand to comedy (e.g. Gremlins 2, and he once guest-hosted "Saturday Night Live" in the US).
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Oct 14, 2020 15:17:39 GMT
After seeing the first two episodes, I am on the fence. While it followed the story in a reasonably way, there were also some silly bits which made my eyes roll and don't work at all. On the whole I thought it absolutly boring, though. I don't know if I will see the rest. To watch another 8 episodes of this just to bitch about it seem not to be a worthwhile undertaking. For the life of me I can't understand the accolades it gets. Have those people never seen a ghost story before? I wonder what they adapt next. Maybe Casting the Runes? Or Lost Hearts?
With The Haunting of Bly Manor, they've used a number of Henry James ghost stories apart from The Turn of the Screw as the basis for the script, as TTotS would have lasted about 2 episodes and not the 9 of the series. I enjoyed it, overall, with some grave misgivings, and it took a few episodes for me to get into it. Very much a curate's egg. I suspect I'd have found it far more effective if they'd set it in America instead of trying to pretend it was England - the red double deckers and flat capped extras in the London scenes felt like it was a spoof of films trying to fake their locations, and the attempted English and Scottish accents of some of the cast really undermined some key scenes so it was hard to take it seriously. But I liked some of the character stuff a lot as it moved on, and found it more touching than frightening. If M.R. James was to be the basis for another series, I'd like to see the approach of using elements from different stories rather than stretching one tale to breaking point.
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Post by andydecker on Oct 14, 2020 19:01:34 GMT
With The Haunting of Bly Manor, they've used a number of Henry James ghost stories apart from The Turn of the Screw as the basis for the script, as TTotS would have lasted about 2 episodes and not the 9 of the series. That is interesting. Not that it would be the first time that they wrote a new story based on some concepts. I never read James stories except Turn. Guess I will give it a chance.
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Post by andydecker on Oct 14, 2020 19:22:28 GMT
I don't know... I think Lee's acting range might actually have been broader than Cushing's. He did a lot of non-horror films, including war, historical, and crime thrillers, and also a fair bit of TV work (he cropped up in an old Avengers episode on TV the other night). Not sure how often he strayed from an aristocratic type - but he could definitely play a convincing hero (e.g. The Devil Rides Out, and is possibly the only actor to have played both Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes in films) and could even turn his hand to comedy (e.g. Gremlins 2, and he once guest-hosted "Saturday Night Live" in the US). I am with you there. Lee had a lot of range. One just has to watch a movie like Taste of Fear to see that could do more than just be the villain going through the motions. Or the hero.
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Post by jamesdoig on Oct 14, 2020 20:11:47 GMT
After seeing the first two episodes, I am on the fence. While it followed the story in a reasonably way, there were also some silly bits which made my eyes roll and don't work at all. On the whole I thought it absolutly boring, though. I don't know if I will see the rest. To watch another 8 episodes of this just to bitch about it seem not to be a worthwhile undertaking. For the life of me I can't understand the accolades it gets. Have those people never seen a ghost story before? Quite right, Andy - the last episodes are ridiculous and drag on interminably.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Oct 15, 2020 13:04:51 GMT
In Reborn (2019) on the Horror Channel last night, the actor characters kept referring to film director Peter Bogdanovich with great reverence. They must have pandered to his ego so much that he turns up in the last scene. While his critical reputation has been dead for about forty-five years he looked like he's been clinically dead for a year at least.
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Post by helrunar on Oct 15, 2020 18:04:13 GMT
That's hilarious about Bogdanovich, Michael!
A couple of years ago I finally got to see his first feature film, Targets, with Boris Karloff leading an ensemble cast. I thought it was staggeringly good. I also have very good memories of Paper Moon, though I only saw it once back when it was initially released. Madeline Kahn was so good in that. I still mourn her early death.
My impression which is super vague is that B's career never recovered from this disastrous film called At Long Last Love, which I never saw--I do not think it stayed out in distro very long.
I hardly see any current films and no TV at all to speak of so I enjoy it when you folks comment on the current frou-frou.
cheers, H.
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Post by andydecker on Oct 15, 2020 18:42:17 GMT
Bogdanovich is a mystery to me. I just saw him yesterday in a re-run of How I Met Your Mother. I often saw him as a day-player on tv-shows, and he mostly had memorable roles. Still remember him from his role in Law&Order: Criminal Intent where he played a Hefner stand-in. And did it remarkably well.
For someone who was - as far as I gathered, maybe I am wrong - hailed as a genius director back then I guess this must be a strange way to earn a living.
I never saw Paper Moon, though. The description sounded like a tearjerker.
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Post by helrunar on Oct 22, 2020 1:14:15 GMT
"Batbaby" is a song Fred Schneider and some friends recorded a few years ago. The video is shot in the style of a late 1950s drive-in horror B-movie as remade and directed by John Waters. I always watch it as Halloween approaches. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnsPFi3-s1oJust to show that there is the occasional gem emitted over here on this side of the Atlantic. cheers, H.
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