WHEN THE FAMILIAR BECOMES TERRIFYING

I think that's what the basis of Stephen King's genius was, turning horror on its head. Showing us the familiar can be fraught with nightmares!

Salem's Lot: No need to go to Translyvania for a good bloody dose of vampires. No! They come to a town that looks familiar, a town you kind of 'know.'

You start to wonder about that. About some monstrous being arriving on the proverbial doorstep. Your mind spins off into all sorts of directions as you think monsters can be anywhere! They can be on the train you take late at night. Perhaps in the last car. When will they come forward?

Creep comes to mind. A young woman finds herself locked in London's Underground Tube Station late at night. There are some horrific goings on there and the worst nightmare she can imagine.

I do remember an earlier film than Creep though. Death Line or Raw Meat (US). The gist of this grisly horror flick was there were cannibals existing on London's Underground.

Frankly this film was more horrifying (I thought) than Creep. A very interesting film if you haven't seen it.

The idea of something being out there, something dangerous, lethal--horrific is horrifying. And when it can be in your town or city it is terrifying.

Vampires next door? Zombies waiting to get you as you walk your dog. Maybe they're hiding in the back of the car. That's right check the rear view mirror now!

Creatures like Pinhead might be lurking in the washroom at work. And let me tell you if you ever pulled a night shift in a hospital or hotel it's damned scary and if you are a horror fan your imagination might cause you to think of some horrible things!


Is there something under the bed in an empty hosptial room, waiting for you? Are you sure those are security guards and not zombies?

I think the fear of something lying in wait for us within our own environment is the most terrifying nightmare I can imagine.

But, hey! That's silly, right? You never would think twice about opening a closet or turning the lamp off and going to sleep. You didn't really hear anything outside your door. It's the house settling.
That's right, just go to sleep.  

HAPPY DREAMS!         

The Immortal Bathory and Film!

As Bathory continues to exist, she sees a world she feels more comfortable in, one in which  there is increasing scope for her depravity and fantasies. One can even make money in such a world!  So it is when she and Anton discover the dawn of motion pictures...!

EXCERPT:

"We frequented great nickelodeon palaces on Union Square, remember? We saw our first films in little machines that you looked into. It was all so primitive by later standards. We met a man who impressed us by saying he knew how to make celluloid photographic films.

We had him over to show him what we did.

“I suspected you were different,” he said. Well-chosen words, I thought. We showed him our playroom and asked him if he’d care to stay the night. He said he’d love it.

By that time, we had a different coven with some very beautiful females and males. As we didn’t know his preference, we offered him both kinds. He loved the females. We sent in two and didn’t hear a peep out of him until the next night! They fed on him and though he laughed about it, he kept rubbing his cock. “I won’t be using that for a while,” he said.

It wasn’t long before he suggested the most amazing thing to us. “I venture to say,” he said. “You both look like good business people. Have you ever thought of using film on your premises?” Film? What would we do with that, we said?

But then I noticed the excitement in your eyes. “Damita! Think of it! All that goes on here...we can film it!” It hit me then. The fucking and feeding. The orgies—all of it on film! I agreed. We made plans after he told us all about his techniques. “I will be an observer,” he said. “Speak to your performers...” What a wonderful word! Performers. You thought we should let all of them see this invention..."

5 stars! Her best work yet!

As one blood-soaked page follows another we are pulled further and further into the depths of depravity to which Bathory is prepared to sink in order to fulfill her widlest sexual fantasies and murderous lusts.

5 stars! Vampires...blood baths!

Solid Gothic Horror from Gill

AMAZON 

99 cents thru Saturday

REVIEW: The Horror of a Fatal Attraction!

Fatal Attraction was released during the height of the Aids hysteria and hysteria it was. I saw the film at that time first and I remember thinking Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) looked like a human representation of the virus. There she was, showing up in all the wrong places at all the wrong times. She was dangerous, possibly homicidal, too. She looked like she could easily kill Dan (Michael Douglas) or any of his family.

She wouldn’t take no for an answer. The casual sex was no longer casual. It was serious. Dan might not come out of it alive. Alex was hazardous to his health. We all got that.

Now, watching it as I did the night before, I saw it differently. It was just as gripping and powerful, but the hysteria was gone or at least subdued. Now, she was a woman a married man slept with who didn’t want the relationship to end. She's still scary but in a different way.

She becomes a stalker. Clearly she isn’t dealing with a full deck. I mean why let two opera tickets go to waste? She bought them hoping, let’s face it, she could manipulate Dan into going with her. But she couldn’t. For goodness sakes, Alex, you could have taken a friend or sold the damned things—instead of sitting in your darkened loft apartment turning the lights on and off! That’s dumb!

The film is superb. The acting and directing and the soundtrack, too. Remember the drums when Dan realizes Alex has cut her wrists? Sure, not deep--she just wanted to scare him I always thought.

The wife's (Anne Archer) terror when she can’t find her daughter at school was palpable. We all felt it. The tension was excruciating.

There are some great moments that question Dan’s morality. When Alex asks him why is he there, with her, I always feel like applauding. He's been telling her he never meant for the affair to go on. So the question is like a sucker punch just for Dan.

HEY DAN, WHY ARE YOU THERE? She didn’t force you. You went willingly! Okay, now you can’t get rid of her. But there are reasons. She’s got a borderline personality disorder or two. But definitely.

She lies, manipulates and, let’s face it, lets herself get pregnant. But then again, Danboy didn’t ensure that he wouldn’t get a STD nor did he ensure that Alex would not get pregnant.

Dan bears responsibility. Yes, Alex is nuts but Dan isn’t a choirboy. He cheated on his wife and then when he tried to dump this crazy woman, he found he couldn’t.

The climax is shattering, it was almost too much to watch.

This film is a classic and even when our perceptions change, a classic remains a classic.

Director: Adrian Lyne
Writers: James Dearden (screenplay),
Stars: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer

If you haven't seen it, by all means, see it!

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1955): Classic Sci-Fi But Also Timely!

Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a classic sci-fi film that may be more than it seems. Hang on, I'll get to that in a moment.

So what is it about? Dr. Miles Bentell returns to his small California town and discovers something is wrong. People are coming to see him in dire need of valium or something stronger! Even his girlfriend, Becky Driscoll is upset about her cousin, Wilma thinking her uncle Ira isn’t her uncle! The fear is mounting and just when we want things to happen and for it all to be fixed, everything’s okay! Wilma laughs and says Uncle Ira is fine.

HUH?

Her uncle is smiling and smoking his pipe, looking like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. We’re supposed to be relieved—in fact, we are a bit relieved. Perhaps Wilma had a bad dream or imagined something…But wait! The paranoia begins to spread. A boy is terrified of his mother, no soothing in the world helps but then, he’s okay.

Next up are pods--like giant sea pods they’re described. They seem to be all over the place, brought to your house by someone you know. Well, someone who knows you and wants you to CHANGE! Becky’s father is one of THEM.

THEY’RE EVERYWHERE!
Picture if you will Miles when he understands the horror that is taking place in his town.

"Mr. Mayor: I have a list of 134 people that are no longer human beings, but are alien pod people come to earth—they are working and living among us…they must be rooted out or they will take over!"

*

No, that line is not in the film—but that’s where I see a connection with politics. The film could almost go there. It was made in 1954, a very scary time.. There had just been The Army–McCarthy hearings which were a series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations between April 1954 and June 1954. Senator Joseph McCarthy was the guy with the list of those people he said were communists.

The novel, by Jack Finney was serialized by Colliers magazine that very same year and the film followed.

I happen to think the author was inspired by current events to write that novel. After all, there was a climate of fear. Some of it quite justified. There were spies in the U.S. and abroad. In time, McCarthy lost any credibility he might have had when he started. There is that famous interchange between him and Special Counsel to the Army, Joseph Welch where Welch asks, “Have you no decency?” McCarthy’s charges were baseless as he had accused a highly regarded member of Welch’s own team, hence the question and the memorable interchange.

Let us remember Hollywood had already had its purge—and whatever your beliefs, I think we can easily imagine what the fear factor felt like.

The novel has everything. There is conflict—the pods, the strangers (where are they really from), the discovery by Becky and Miles of a huge farm: PODS R US. They are on the run and so fearful of falling prey to this terror.. Suddenly, they hear the most beautiful music. They are hopeful. But it doesn’t last because as they approach this supposed haven with the beautiful, spiritual music, they discover it to be a huge pod depot! It's like an Amazon warehouse but for pods!

They take flight. Will they make it? I am not telling you just in case you didn’t see the film. I can say that the last scene is superbly jolting. It ties everything up and is most unsettling.

But here's the thing: can fear be a good thing? Should people think about what’s happening around them periodically and assess whether it is a good thing or not? What if a similar film had been made in the 1920’s and shown in Germany? I’d have liked that. Maybe it would have been really good if the people became highly suspicious of what was happening around them and questioned who looked likely to take over some day.

Just a thought. What do you think?