We're going to have time to watch a quick horror movie the last week in October. I've narrowed it down to two. Both are classics. Both are good, fun films. And both are significant components of American film history. So here are your two choices. You can vote for your choice using the buttons over to the right of the screen.
First: Someone asked in class about zombie movies, and I said the the first 'modern zombie movie' must be the original The Night of the Living Dead. Is it a little dated? Yes. Does it still deliver? Yes, it most certainly does. I used to show it to my American lit class when we studies American gothic literature. It fit prefectly into the unit and, more improtantly, students enjoyed it. Here's the trailer...
Second: This is a family favorite of mine. And when I say 'family', I mean my particular family. My dad saw this in the theater when it first came out back when he was a little kid. He says it scared the crap out of him and he ran out about a third of the way in. I saw it when I was a kid, and now I watch it with my kids every year. Yes, it's funny. It stars Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, and if you don't know who they are, well, then that's reason enough fo you to vote for this film. They are classic comedy legends, and everyone owes it to themselves to see at least one Abbott and Costello movie before they die. But Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is more than just a silly comedy. It stars Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula and Lon Chaney, Jr., as the Wolf Man. And as the actors who originally played these two iconic roles, these two guys are horror legends in their own rite. Imagine, I don't know, Jack Black and Seth Rogan starring in movie directed by Wes Craven and written by Stephen King. Spooky, creepy, silly fun. I'll say this again just to be clear: this movie has Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, and Dracula...plus a surprise mystery monster. Here's the trailer...
Be sure to vote for your favorite. Use the polling box to the right of the screen.
When I was a kid, my parents bought me real nice hard cover book about horror movies entitles The Best, Worst, and Most Unusual HorrorMovies by Darrell Moore. This was the early to mid 1980s, so Poletergeist was about as modern as it got. Anyway, I read that thing religiously and rented whatever titles I could from our local video stores. (Crystal Video, Corner Video, and Dollar Video - all extinct now, naturally.) I hunted these things down like a big game tracker. This is how I discovered Altered States, The Shining, and, yes, the original King Kong.
Up until then, I had settled for the cheesy 1970s Dino De Laurentis version, for which I still have a soft spot.
You've got to admit, it takes some guts to call a sequel of a 1933 film the "most exciting original motion picture of all time." It's kind of like calling the McRib the "tangiest, tastiest slow roasted pork barbeque sandwich ever made in the history of the universe." Which it isn't. Although it is pretty damn good, especially with the pickles. Whoever thought of throwing pickles on a McRib is some kind of mad genius. Speaking of mad geniuses...
The two most intriguing entries of Moore's book had to be Tod Browning's Freaks and Thomas Edison's Frankenstein. (Yes, that Thomas Edison. Thomas "The Lightbulb Guy" Edison made the world's first Frankenstein movie.) The book explained how in 1910 Edison's company produced a fifteen minute silent adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and how since then all copies of the film had been apparently lost. People even forgot the film existed until the 1960s, when some guy found a picture of an actor ion full creature make-up playing the film's moster. There was suddenly a mad rush to find an existing copy of this legendary film...but none had ever been found.
And that's where I left off with the story. The 1910 Edison Frankenstein was one of my few personal cinematic holy grails. That is until Brandon sent me a link to a copy of the film on Youtube. (See what happens when you limit your research to books that are over two decades old? I should have known...try the Internet! So studpid!) So here it is. Enjoy and let me know what you think. (And thanks a million, Brandon. Extra credit, my friend!)
There's pretty good history of the film by Rich Drees over at Film Buff Online here.
While I'm thinking of it, here are two more silent German fantasy classics you might enjoy along with our study of Metropolis. The picture quality of each is less than spectacular, but both of these feature length films probably rival Metropolis in terms of cultural significance and historical importance. The first is Nosferatu (1922), an early take on the story of Dracula.
The second is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919).
Now that I think of it, every movie I mentioned in this entry was in that book. Man, that was a good book. I'm going to go home and see if I can find it. And by the way, if you've never heard of Browning's Freaks, good luck.
