It starts out quirky and dark as the sisters act out their own elaborate death scenes in an almost shockingly gleeful way. That caught me off guard, but it wasn’t long before the black humor reached me and I was drawn into their world.
Little do most men know or understand the secret lives of teenage girls—it’d be really creepy if we did. But the point is that some forms of fiction, be it books, television or movies sometimes give us a peek into that mystery that we could only guess at.
GINGER SNAPS is, easily, one of the best werewolf movies ever made, but what makes it so much more intriguing is that the female leads, the sisters who have to deal with one of them going through the change (get it?) of lycanthropy, are so completely and strangely unique in how they are drawn.
Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle are flawless.
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):
Anytime you're the heavy and Dracula is one of the baddest of the bad,
you're going to come into conflict with nearly everyone you meet.
They've got blood, you eat blood, there's the rub...
To that end, I've compiled a large collection of images depicting the Lord of Vampires in conflict with other characters in book, film, television and comic books.
Have a look...
Possibly the worst film ever made of the potentially greatest story concept! Sadly this is one of Lon Chaney, Jr.'s last films. It's so bad, it's almost watchable.
Not a bad story for a very off-beat idea--one to watch if given the chance one day.
I wish I could say I've seen this one, but I'm honestly not even sure if it exists or some fan made this thing up as a joke.
Which is the case with the above "poster"--one well worth a look if it did exist!
Dracula beats up everybody!
Drac and Frankie have to team-up to take on the man of steel!
Mr. T--'Nuff said!
The green-skinned Hulk vs white-face Dracula!
Zorro prepares to take down the Prince of Darkness!
Vlad vs Arthur for all the marbles!
Dracula doesn't like this particular child of the night!
I think it's because Chris Claremont liked Dracula that he showed up a few different times during his long run as X-writer X-traordinaire!
The two above show how it is attractive to pit such a heroic character as Holmes against such a dark one.
Don't know how the battle comes out, but it sure looks promising!
Mr. Colan was probably asked to draw this strange crossover and Mr. Palmer was called in to ink!
I expect more trouble between these two...
Ah, here we go! Mr. Frank Frazetta's painting of Dracula battling the Wolf-Man!
Hard to believe there was a two issue arc in the pages of THOR just before Mr. Simonson did is legendary run in which Dracula bites Sif and has enhanced power because of it. Never fear, as Thor soon shows up, properly outraged, and battles the blood-sucking fiend until he has to retreat into the darkness from whence he sprang!
Much like the tales of Mephisto versus Norrin Radd, this one seems more high-brow than most battle issues!
Immortal mutant versus immortal vampire--my money's on Vlad.
These two are natural enemies and often come into conflict--
it's a tough road to hoe for Stephen Strange!
Here we have two stories that mix the mafia with monsters!
Sadly, the Dracula depicted in Buffy was a joke compared to the vast majority depicted in the media usually.
Bad idea for Superman to attempt to take down Dracula without some help from Zatanna!
As is always the case, if you exist in pop culture, sooner or later you will meet Batman!
A quick programming note to all my readers...
on TCM today, Sun. Oct. 27:
2pm -- THE BAD SEED
4:15pm -- CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED
6pm -- THEM!
1am -- THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
3am -- DIABOLIQUE
And this time we end our little get-together with...
OCTOBER 22 ON TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES 9:30 am – The Ghoul (1933) 1:45 pm – 20 Million Miles To Earth (1957) 3:15 pm – Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956) 1:00 am – Cry Of The Werewolf (1944)
If you are a late night interneter or an early morning webcrawler, hopefully this message will find you before THE GHOUL climbs out of his crypt to stalk the early hours of the day.
With a vaguely similar theme to Karloff’s earlier THE MUMMY, THE GHOUL involves an Egyptologist who believes that if he makes a proper offering to Anibus, he will be granted immortality. It is a film that was lost for over thirty years and has only recently been released in it’s proper format with restored footage. In a very strange way it has been resurrected...
Can't look at Karloff here without thinking Solomon Grundy!
Should you be lounging tomorrow after lunch at around 1:45pm and happen to stroll by TCM on the dial you will come across one of the most recognizable creations of one Ray Harryhausen... the beast brought back from the planet Venus on a doomed spacecraft in 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH!
Yep, you'll recognize the creature before you will the title of the film!
Following the above feature, we have another film Harryhausen shaped, EARTH Vs. THE FLYING SAUCERS! The story of a misunderstanding leading to a war of the worlds, EARTH Vs. THE FLYING SAUCERS takes a lot of it's story from WAR OF THE WORLDS, but the look of this film is ahead of it's time...
Get some, Will Smith! INDEPENDENCE DAY has nothing on this film!
Finally, if you happen to be up past midnight and the moon appears in the sky outside your window, you might think to tune in for the first female werewolf in CRY OF THE WEREWOLF at 1:00AM. It is the story of a female werewolf who only kills to protect the secret that she IS a werewolf! If only her culture were more forward thinking, she wouldn't have to eat so many innocent people... Oddly, unlike her male counterparts, this she-wolf can transform at will and seems to have full control over her wolf form. Creepily similar to the tale of the Hulk and She-Hulk, isn't it?
Well, there you go, another day wasted in front of the tube! But what were you planning anyway... those leaves will be there to rake next weekend too!
