BLADED VAMPIRES, CRITTERS AND REAPERS TOO!

Another group of sketches from the month of October,

a pretty good mix of vampires, monsters and aliens

for your viewing pleasure!

Count Orlock of NOSFERATU fame hanging out waiting for a manicure...

Vampire Hunter D prepares for battle.

A particularly nicotine addicted Critter from the CRITTERS franchise.

Grim from the cartoon--he appears miffed at one of those young'uns!

Morbius the Living Vampire prepares to pounce on a passerby!

A reimagining of Blade the Vampire Hunter--given a more funky look.

THE COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 20

(Vivid Vampire Visuals)

Click for a closer look

THE COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 16

(Free Films For Fido)

Films based on Stoker's novel DRACULA have been countless (heh) and can vary greatly from the source material.

To be able to use the general plot from the novel, German Expressionist filmmaker F.W. Murnau, was forced to change names and other details of his 1922 film.  Count Dracula became Count  Orlok, vampire became nosferatu, etc.  Stoker's heirs still sued and won the day, forcing the studio to destroy all copies of the film.  Luckily for us, one print survived.

And, dear viewers, here is the most complete version of the movie, clocking in at about 93 minutes, around 8-9 minutes longer than the other version you can find just below this one.  Not sure if I like the color or style of the fonts used in this version, btw...

Here we have the shorter version, but without all the odd fontery (that's not a word?!!?):

And, whenever one goes swimming around on the internet, the youtubes and the like, it's not hard to get many different versions of the thing one is looking for.  In this case, another adaptation of the masterpiece...

And another... BBC take...

And one more 'gain... by that Ford Coppola fella...

And, finally, Mel Brooks' parody of the Coppola version

And now for something completely different:

THE COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN: DAY 10

Random stuff...

All I can summon up for the night, kids!

Later.

MONSTER MASH MONDAYS on TCM: Countdown to Halloween (Day 3)

Monday, October 3rd begins TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES’ month long parade of horror films building up to that finale of finales, Halloween. As usual, TCM does not disappoint, starting off with a focus on the work of Stephen King, a quick jaunt into the realm of Frankensten, Freaks, Jekyll & Hyde. And then taking things past the witching hour with would-be vampires, Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu and even that romantic fellow, the Phantom.

Here’s the line-up:

OCTOBER 3
8:00 pm – A Night At The Movies: The Horrors Of Stephen King
9:00 pm – Frankenstein (1931)
10:15 pm – Freaks
11:30 pm – A Night At The Movies: The Horrors Of Stephen King
12:30 am – Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932)
2:15 am – Mark Of The Vampire
3:30 am – The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari
4:45 am – Nosferatu
6:15 am – The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)

Of these films, it is FRANKENSTEIN that resonates best with your humble blogger. It is the story, a much deformed and mutated take on the source novel of Mary Shelly, but it is mostly the moving performance by Boris Karloff as the abandoned newborn monstrosity that makes the film stand out. He is innocent as the newborn babe he is and in his powerful body as dangerous as any wild animal. It is no wonder this version of the monster is the definitive one. It haunts us to this very day.


Fredric March shows great range as Jekyll/Hyde (and boy must Hyde have been a charming bastard to have even a lady of the night join him for cash).


Freaks is as compelling a revenge picture as you can find, with a more colorful cast than you'll usually see.


Mark of the Vampire is as close as we’ll come to a fully realized version of London After Midnight as that film was destroyed years ago


The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is probably the most innovative film of the silent era.


Say what you will about Lugosi’s Dracula, but Nosferatu is probably the vampire I’d least like to run into in a dark alley.


Lon Chaney was so far ahead of his time when it came to creating a look for his characters, that, in and of itself, is scary! The Phantom’s reveal is probably one of the most memorable creepy of all time.


So you really can’t go wrong tonight on TCM, unless you stay up all night and have to miss work tomorrow...