31 Days of Horror-Day 29: Poltergeist (1982)

(dir. Tobe Hooper)

*First time viewing

     Almost as long as humans have been telling stories, there have been tales of ghosts, of supernatural forces that for one reason or another are incapable of moving from the land of the living into whatever comes next. We’ve seen this story play out in a variety of fashions over the years, in stories that inspired and were inspired by this film. But few have tackled the material with such spectacle as Poltergeist. In the film, a suburban family must deal with ghostly forces that take their daughter into their dimension.

     A strong argument could be made that Poltergeist is the first true blockbuster horror film. It’s full of the kind of special effects and large shifting set pieces that dominate the summer seasons. While Hooper was no stranger to the horror genre, Poltergeist definitely feels like at Spielberg film. Not only did Spielberg develop the story and script, but he also storyboarded the film and set up the shots (Spielberg couldn’t direct himself because of his contract with Universal which released E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial that same year.) The film is rooted in its familial relationships and is full of Spielberg’s humor, and kid-friendly antics (its legacy can be seen in the more frightening, but no less family-focused, The Conjuring.) While some of the special effects are dated, the climax holds up really well and remains surprising in all that it achieves. It may not scare you, but it will certainly entertain.

Scare Factor: 2/5 Poltergeist feels like more of a family horror-adventure than a traditional horror film. It’s proof that with the right talent and a solid story, PG-13 (or in this case PG, since this film helped lead to the creation of the PG-13 rating) horror films can work successfully without feeling like watered down versions stripped of their R rating. Poltergeist is full of the imagination for which Spielberg and his productions were so celebrated in the 70s and 80s. The film is a wonderfully orchestrated and charming take on the fun of the horror genre.

31 Days of Horror-Day 28: Re-Animator (1985)

(dir. Stuart Gordon)

     There is something compelling about the mad scientist, be it Victor Frankenstein or Dr. Moreau, we are entertained and frightened by the idea of someone who will do anything in the name of science and discovery. Based on H.P. Lovecraft’s short, story “Herbert West-Reanimator”, Re-Animator is one of the best mad-scientist films there is. The film tells the story of a medical student, Herbert West, who develops a serum to bring the dead back to life. But, the imperfect serum makes the dead hostile and uncontrollable, until West’s professor, Dr. Hill, steals the serum and finds a way to control the lifeless bodies.

     Re-Animator is undoubtedly campy, and at times even ventures into slapstick (through it’s more restrained in this than say Evil Dead II). But the clever humor works in the film’s favor, creating a stark contrast to the morose subject matter but never softening the elements of horror (a severed head has never been so fantastically used as it is in this film). Jefferey Combs’ performance as Herbert West is the true-standout, his understated comedy works particularly well with David Gale’s over-the-top performance as Dr. Hill. Overall, the film plays like a throwback to the monster and mad-science movies that Universal and Hammer made so popular before Psycho (which the film rather ironically borrows its musical cues from). It’s a wonderfully absurd cult classic, and its offbeat tone make it one of the most original horror films of the 80s.

Scare Factor: 2/5 Re-Animator is a darkly funny film, but it spares no expense on gore. While the film isn’t overtly frightening, it’s consistently entertaining and well-crafted. You can read Lovecraft’s original story here.

**Available to watch on Netflix Instant 

31 Days of Horror-Day 27: The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

(dir. Charles B. Pierce)

*First time viewing

     Two years before John Carpenter’s Halloween, there was The Town That Dreaded Sundown, an early step in what would later become the slasher-film phenomenon. Given what I’d heard about the film, my expectations were a little high. So I’ll tell you now right, that despite the awesome title and the poster for the film, temper your expectations my friends. Based on real life events, the film focuses on the town of Texacana in 1946 as police try to apprehend the Phantom, a mouth-breather with a sack over his head who takes pleasure in killing teens on lover’s lanes.

     As someone who can appreciate dated horror movies (even ones of low-quality), The Town That Dreaded Sundown was too much even for me. Do you remember the great opening narration that began The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Now imagine if that narration was delivered by a guy who sounds like your earth science professor and that it kept popping up at random times during the movie, explaining what you’d just seen. That’s what this film does. Coupled with music that sounds like it came from The Brady Bunch episode where the Bradys were stuck in a ghost town, and a plot point that involves police officers dressing up as women to lure the Phantom, you’re left with a movie that is completely incapable of being taken seriously. 

     The real-life events the film is based on are chilling, and there are a few scenes involving the Phantom that work well. The rest of the film surrounding them is so filled with attempts at comic-relief and bland dialogue that it damages the overall intent to frighten. Things do pick up a little near the end (before the narration kicks in again), and if the whole film could have been as consistent as that, it really could have been a stand-out effort.

Scare Factor: 1/5 While the film’s drive-in quality looks great, The Town That Dreaded Sundown won’t scare you and for the most part it may barely hold your interest. It may be one of the first of the slasher sub-genre, but it makes a lot of the classics that followed look all the more innovative in comparison.

**Available to watch on Netflix Instant

31 Days of Horror-Day 26: The Collector (2009)

(dir. Marcus Dunstan)

*First time viewing

     What was originally supposed to be a prequel to Saw, before the idea was scrapped, became another exercise in torture: The Collector. The story follows Arkin, a handyman by day and a burglar by night. Hired to steal a ruby to save his family from loan-sharks, Arkin breaks into a house only the find that someone else has broken in first and has filled every room with deadly traps. Arkin must struggle to escape the house and save the family he was hired to rob.

     The Collector is very clearly Saw-influenced in everything from the traps to the lighting. But unlike Saw, Dunstan’s film lacks a compelling narrative to go alongside all of its traps and gore. There’s no real central mystery to the story, and the Collector is basically motivation-less. We’re told he only collects the people he wants and he kills the rest but we never get any insight into why he’s after the people in the film. And if he’s collecting them, why go through all the torture and traps first? It’s a film that seems like it was never able to seperate itself from its initial pitch, and without Jigsaw the writers never figured out how to build an interesting story around their villain. What’s left is a film that assumes that blood and guts will be enough to satisfy horror audiences. And for some maybe it will, but a film that’s only composed of flesh and lacks a skeleton does not make a particularly memorable ride.

Scare Factor: 2/5 Most of the film’s tension comes from the traps and ensuing gore and while it’s entertaining at times, the lack of a compelling story makes The Collector feel tedious after the first forty minutes. While the sequel, The Collection, is said to expand upon this film, as a single entity The Collector is lacking.

**Available to watch on Hulu 

31 Days of Horror-Day 25: The Brood (1979)

(dir. David Cronenberg)

*First time viewing

     In The Brood, David Cronenberg explores the psychological and physical body horrors that would come to define his career. Not content with making a straight horror film, The Brood combines elements of horror, pseudo-science, psychology, and melodrama to create a well-delivered allegory exploring the link between mental ailments and physical abnormalities. The story centers on Frank Carveth, a father trying to care for his daughter, Candice, while his wife is undergoing psychoplasmics (a form of psychology that allows patients to release their psychological trauma through physical manifestations.) When deformed and genderless children start murdering those close to Frank, he fears for his daughter’s safety and seeks out the truth behind psychoplasmics.

      The Brood, similar to Scanners, utilizes a brilliant concept that causes a bit of slowness and heavy exposition in the first half of the story, but allows for a tremendous climax. While the film isn’t quite as visually competent as some of his subsequent films, the final scenes (featuring an impressive and disturbingly unconventional birth-scene) do contain some of the most wildly horrific images of Cronenberg’s career. Beyond visuals, the film is held up by an imaginative story about the manifestations of rage and the fallout of childhood abuse. Like most of Cronenberg’s films there is a sense of isolation, as if the characters were hermetically sealed off from the rest of the world, making the consequences more personal and the events more frightening.

     The acting is oddly emotionally detached at times for a story so centered on the power of emotions (the exceptions being Samantha Eggar who plays Frank’s disturbed wife Nola, and Cindy Hinds who plays Candice). It’s difficult to tell if this was intentional (the fact that Eggar and Hinds are the most emotive actors in the film does fit the theme) or if it’s just a result of acting quality. While the acting does make some moments of the film humorous when they should be otherwise, it does add an interesting wrinkle to the ideas that Cronenberg is communicating.

Scare Factor: 2/5 The Brood is effectively eerie and while parts of the film drag, the body horror that’s delivered in the end makes the whole thing worthwhile. It’s a gloriously nasty piece of work and you can see Cronenberg flexing his muscles for the visions of his later films. While it’s clearly the work of someone in the early stages of his career, The Brood is essential Cronenberg.

**Available to watch on Hulu Plus

31 Days of Horror-Day 24: Sisters (1973)

(dir. Brian De Palma)

*First time viewing

     Throughout his career, Brian De Palma has focused explicitly on themes of voyeurism, obsession, and the infliction of psychological trauma. While his shifts in character perspectives and plot twists sometimes come at the cost of creating a tonally consistent film, De Palma has always been one of the most entertaining directors of thrillers and horror films. Sisters focuses on reporter, Grace, who witnesses a man’s murder in the apartment across from her. The police don’t believe her story, leading her to investigate on her own. Grace becomes caught in a deadly tale of Siamese twin sisters, whose separation resulted in disturbing psychological consequences.

     De Palma’s film is part Rear Window and part Psycho, but the story lacks the impact of either of those masterpieces. Though De Palma has paid tribute to Hitchcock throughout his career, his films are always a little trashier (in the best sense of the word) and more exploitative than Hitchcock’s. Still, the schlock value is usually mixed with important sociological and psychological ideas. Sisters deals with race in the eyes of the police, female agency, and identity. While none of these concepts are given enough attention to really say anything significant, they prevent De Palma’s film from just being a pulp piece.

     Part of what makes De Palma’s films (Sisters in particular) so unique are his creative camera choices and shot constructions. Sisters is filled with neat flourishes, notably the use of a split screen two show a scene from two different perspectives. This makes the initial murder all the more striking. Later in the film, De Palma delivers exposition in a clever way by inserting Grace into another character’s memories through a very surreal form of hypnosis. Despite the fact that the twist becomes predictable in the third act and the ending note doesn’t have the resonance it should, De Palma’s directorial ability elevates the film.

Scare Factor: 1/5 While it falls more on the thriller end of the spectrum than genuine horror, there are still some thrills to be had. If you’re a fan of De Palma’s work, it’s well worth a watch. If you’re a De Palma virgin, Carrie and Blow Out are better examples of what he can achieve with a stronger script, but Sisters adds a nice sense of progression in the context of his career.

*Available to watch on Hulu Plus

31 Days of Horror-Day 23: Them (2006)

(dirs. David Moreau and Xavier Palud )

*First time viewing

     While the home-invasion horror film can no longer be considered original, I think they are the most consistently frightening. The destruction of sanctuary, the twisting of familiar spaces into something strange and dangerous is an understandable human fear based on evidence and not superstition or paranoia. Them destroys the sense of safety in every sense, and creates a chilling portrait of isolation. The French-Romanian film follows recently instated teacher, Clem, and her boyfriend Lucas, as they are attacked in their home by a group of hooded visitors who proceed to torment them throughout the night. When the hoods come off, Clem is faced with how dire her struggle to survive really is.

     Story-wise Them shares a number of similarities with The Strangers (which was released two years later) including its claim that it was based on a true story. There’s no evidence of its factual basis, but the film creates a convincing scenario. Them is a less cinematic feature than Bertino’s film, but there is a more realistic, albeit less frightening quality to it. While there are no creepy masks, Moreau and Palud make great use of sound, giving the visitors the means to make distinctly inhuman noises that keep their identities vague. The film’s twist ending is genuinely surprising and makes the events that transpired all the more disturbing.

Scare Factor: 3/5 It lacks a certain slickness in terms of visuals, but Them is gripping and it’s brief hour and sixteen minute runtime helps the film maintain tension. The film is relatively bloodless, and scares are a result of the characters’ fear at the possibility of being harmed, rather than harm done. While the story isn’t new, it still proves to be an effectively terrifying scenario.

**Available to watch on Hulu Plus