30 THEATRICAL TERRORS: Frankenstein (Day 30)

This is the 200th anniversary of young Mary Shelley’s novel of hubris and creation, FRANKENSTEIN, and being that Frankenstein’s Monster is one of my favorite literary characters and that Boris Karloff is one of my favorite actors, well, this is what you get on Halloween night from this monster.

In 1931 FRANKENSTEIN was put onto the big screen by Universal Pictures—an instant hit with critics and the audience, director James Whale’s film made Boris Karloff a star virtually overnight.

Adapted from the play by Peggy Webling (and based on Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, FRANKENSTEIN; or, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS) the film tells the story of a scientist who attempts to create his own man from an amalgamation of corpses dug up from the graveyard and what happens when the experiment goes horribly wrong.

What spawned from Universal’s FRANKENSTEIN films and, thus, Shelley’s story is a pop culture phenomenon. The monster can be found everywhere, in many forms and fashions. Sometimes as less than, but most times as more than human in thought and action. He is a sad and lonely and, therefore, a totally relatable character.

Sadly for the character and his creator, he becomes the monster he was perceived as, because the world turns on him, rejecting him. His father hates him and so he hates his father and the world of the living. And, though he cannot speak, that is the magic of Karloff’s performance—what a critic called a bit of “acting mesmerism”.

As for Universal’s design of the monster, that was make-up artist Jack Pierce’s doing, in collaboration with Karloff. Every day, Pierce spent 4 hours applying the cotton, gum, greasepaint and collodion to the actor in order to give him that gaunt undead look that we’ve all come to know and love.

And here is a look at the trailer for FRANKENSTEIN…

TERROR TEE-VEE: A Countdown to Halloween (Day 15)

BERNIE

In mid-March of this year, 

we lost Bernie Wrightson.

If you know horror, you know of Bernie.

I met him twice at HeroesCon in Charlotte—

he was quiet and nice and it was a privilege to look at his art in person.

Bernie is known for his brilliant illustrative work on his adaptation of the FRANKENSTEIN novel.  It was a project he worked on for seven years.  He is also known as the co-creator of Swamp Thing, DC Comics very own muck monster—the most popular of all the muck monsters.  But what he should be most remembered for is the sheer quality of his line, the perfect attention to light and darkness and the genius of his compositions.

I’ll shut up and let some examples of his work speak for itself…

and, as always, CLICK the images for a real look at the details—

after all, the DEVIL is in there.

Monster Mush: Countdown to Halloween (DAY 30)

It came from the days of videotape…click—whir…

DRACULA AGAINST FRANKENSTEIN

AKA

DRACULA, PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN

AKA

THE SCREAMING DEAD

In the tradition of the classic Universal creature-features of the 30's and 40's now comes the ultimate blood-freezing monster rally. Take cover, because THE SCREAMING DEAD are here!

When a blood-sucking, parasitic evil returns to the village of Holfestein, wise monster hunter Dr. Steward journeys to nearby Castle Dracula to exterminate the infamous Count. But he soon finds himself pitted against the demented Baron Frankenstein and his monstrous creation as well. In no time the village is plagued by a wave of unquenchable blood-lust and bone-crunching terror as never before seen. Steward's only hope lies with the legend of the flesh-craving werewolf: Dracula's arch enemy. When the vampire, Wolf-man, and Frankenstein's monster ultimately collide, they wage an all-out, titanic terror-fest and battle to the bloody end!

Woe to the lad who read that VHS box sitting on a shelf in a newfangled video store in 1982 and thought to themselves that they’d struck movie gold.  “Pity the fool” had yet to become the slang for such a person, but, nonetheless, we must pity them!  We will spread the pity on as thick as the peanut butter budget will allow!

Sadly, though this movie does have appearances by the monsters mentioned above, their interaction is insignificant except for the clash between Frankenstein’s monster and the werewolf that is inconclusive at best.  As for Dracula, he barely touches mouth to throat in this one, looming around—looking annoyed and constipated.  

And the “screaming dead”, well there is a woman in this movie who seems to be constantly in agony—about every time the camera shines it’s light upon her she wails and screams and moans and groans like a thing possessed.  I’m going to guess that character had some sort of phobia about being filmed.  Otherwise, there doesn’t seem to be a reason for it.

The only highlight of this Jesus Franco film is the score, which is nicely done and tries, at least, to highlight the drama and action.  And the action is merely a series of scenes that don’t really add up to a story.  Do maidens get bitten by vampires?  Sure.  Does Dr. Frankenstein experiment with blood and bats?  Yes.  (BTW, they seemed to actually use real bats in these “experiments” and it was gnarly to watch)  Does Frankenstein’s Monster walk around and throw down with a werewolf?  Sure, he does.  It even looks like a fairly physical fight, but there is no resolution.  All the players are on the stage and they seem to have nothing to do.

A frustrating effort, obviously limited by budget and story.

A movie that is all build-up without a climax…

leaving this viewer feeling a bit… 

My Grade:

“Incomplete“

Here is the complete film boiled down to it’s bare bones (in about a minute):

Top 10 Movie Monsters: The Countdown to Halloween (Day 12)

I’m not really a “list” guy.  Not that I don’t enjoy a good listing of things good, bad or ugly, top, terrible or worst—they can be quite entertaining and informative.  It’s just that I’m pretty terrible about quantifying things from my own perspective.  I tend to take things as they come and find comparisons difficult and I usually think of another choice long after I’ve completed my list. 

So, for the moment, here is THE GOODS’…

TOP TEN

MOVIE MONSTERS

OF ALL TIME

GODZILLA

The King of the Monsters is a sheer force of nature who can be seen as good or bad, but always causes mass destruction.  He had to make my list due to the sheer success of the character, who appears in at least 29 films and an endless array of other media forms.

This is the one monster that is willing to take on any comers—he’s fought his own original villains, such as King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla and Destoroyah; and, he’s taken on the great King Kong, the Fantastic Four and Avengers.

And, as far as body-count goes, when you can squish trucks between your toes you’re going to walk away with that prize.  Tokyo knows what I mean.  Poor, flattened Tokyo.

PINHEAD

When one thinks of a threat to their very soul—that piece of themselves that is the core of who they are—one imagines the Cenobites, and Pinhead in particular, when it comes to film.

Cenobites are former humans who have been altered, transformed in an extra-dimensional realm (Hell?) via ways of extreme pleasure and pain, torture and titillation into demons who harvest souls via a puzzle box called the Lament Configuration.

Pinhead, as portrayed by Doug Bradley, is an articulate and seductive sadomasochistic demon with a grid of nails protruding from his head and dressed in black leather.

MICHAEL MYERS

Referred to as “The Shape” in the credits of the original HALLOWEEN film, Michael Myers began his life in horror at age six when he murdered his sister.  From that day forward Myers remains mute and unresponsive.

Fifteen years later, Michael escapes from the sanitarium  and returns to his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois to kill again.  Only this time while wearing a mask of William Shatner!  

Dr. Loomis’ observation of Michael was simple and scary—“I realized what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply…evil.”  John Carpenter sees The Shape as nearly a force of nature, a force of evil that is unkillable, unstoppable.

In a study by the Media Psychology Lab of California State University, Michael Myers was rated highest among movie monsters when considering how was the “embodiment of pure evil”.  I think that about says it.

PAZUZU

In the world of THE EXORCIST, young Regan MacNeil is a girl possessed by a demon named Pazuzu or Captain Howdy out to corrupt her very soul.  And it is the juxtaposition of the innocence of the girl and the absolute depravity of the demon that stuns the audience.

Pazuzu doesn’t work up that large a body count, but that’s not the goal of a demonic possession—it’s to drag just one innocent soul to hell.  And the difficulty of battling a demon for the sake of an intangible soul proves mighty troublesome—it costs three lives.

Even though I'm long since a believer in Biblical good and evil and am resigned to the notion that only people are responsible for their actions, this movie can still get to me.  It's just that effective and the performances are that powerful.

XENOMORPH

In space no one can hear you scream.

The tagline alone brings pause to a potential viewer, but it’s the truly elegant and intelligent design of these aliens that brings true terror.

H. R. Giger’s twisted hyper-sexual designs work to unhinge the viewer.  From the ripe fruit look of the egg of the alien to it’s scorpion-like delivery system, it just gives out freaky vibes.  And when a full grown alien rears it’s sleek, slimy penile-shaped head… well, it gets a visceral reaction.

And all that’s without even considering that you’ll be alive the whole time it’s young are growing inside you, getting ready to eat their way out of you.  That’s some primal shit, right there.

THE THING

If becoming a meal for a monster isn’t bad enough, how about hanging out with a monster and not even realizing it.  The Thing is a creature (creatures?) that is hard to define as it seems to be a series of independent cells that can work together or apart to mimic an entire organism.

And in close, working relationships it can be hard enough to get along with a guy without suspecting he’s an alien invader out to replace us all with sinister copies.  It plays on the mind as much as the body, the kind of paranoia this kind creature breeds.

The amorphous nature of this beast is what also adds to the creep-o-meter as they can seem to take any human or animal form—or any other damn form it pleases.  When a head simply melts away from a dying body and sprouts spider legs and walks off—that was a mind-bending moment in film!  And it only got stranger as Carpenter’s film went on down its dark path toward a frozen Mexican standoff. 

DRACULA

He has been portrayed in numerous ways over the nearly hundred years he’s been captured on film.  From the bald, pointy-eared wraith of Max Schreck’s Nosferatu to the seductive and charming Count of Bram Stoker’s Dracula as played by Gary Oldman—if nothing else, the vampire has range.

Icon-wise, Bela Lugosi will always be the public’s blood-sucker.  His accent and dramatic intonations, the cape, the widow’s peak hair, etc. are all plastered across popular culture.  And rightly so, Lugosi’s performance was spellbinding in its way.

As slick as that seductive monster can be, I find the portrayal  that reflects Stoker’s original best and most monstrous is Christopher Lee’s Dracula.  Tall, dark and silent and full of sheer menace, there’s no love story in his background, merely sin and damnation.

FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER

The tragic and, thus, sympathetic monster is always a compelling creature to behold and none can be more sympathized with than Frankenstein’s abandoned child.  It’s not his fault, after all, that he even exists, let alone that he looks as creepy as he does.

At least the iconic Karloff screen version wasn’t as intelligent as the one from Shelley’s novel—that poor bastard had it even worse.  He knew what he was and was far more aware of the tragic circumstances of his situation.  Ol’ Boris’ monster was more innocent, more child-like.  Still, by the time he cuts loose and really starts to knock heads, the viewer is more invested in him than the villagers who bring the torches.

Of course, this makes Doctor Frankenstein the real monster of the tragedy.

THE CREATURE

I’m sure, at some point, every teenage boy feels a little like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.  Full of all kinds of hormones and desperate to meet a girl, to find a true love and “live happily ever after” as it were.

The Creature is a prehistoric gill-man, a half fish, half man who has his own little lagoon all to himself.  The last of his kind who may or may not have ever seen a female of his own species.  And so, when beautiful Julie Adams takes a swim in his little lagoon, the boy straightens right out and learns real quick.

The real shame is that she doesn’t feel the same about him—the poor fella’s love is unrequited.  Unfortunately for the Gill-Man, he doesn’t take the message well.  Perhaps in his culture, you don’t take no for an answer.  It’s possible he just wasn’t taught good manners.  Whatever the cause, it soon brings the wrath of mankind down on his scaled little head.

KING KONG

Nearly everything that applies to the Creature from the Black Lagoon, applies to the great Kong of Skull Island.  He is the last of his kind, he seems to fall in love with a young human woman, it ends tragically for him.  Only it happened to Kong first.

 Kong, like most giant monsters, is a fighter.  Always in battle on Skull Island with one over-sized monster or another, Kong has truly earned the name “King” as he is worshipped by the natives.  He is like unto God to them, for they know his wrath and they make regular sacrifices to please him.

Like Godzilla, whom he proceeded, King Kong has appeared in tons of media formats over the decades and is known world-wide throughout pop culture.

He is a tragic an iconic figure who literally fell for the woman he loved.  Of all the battles he fought it was the battle for his heart that killed him, or, “It was beauty that killed the beast.”