October 26
Watch ? YES...
Horror Express 1972 Eugenio Martin
How this Spanish horror thrilled eluded me for my entire life baffles me. It has everything a horror movie NEEDS. Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and, as an extra bonus it has Tele Savalis as a ....Cossack.
It also has a mad monk, brain melting, a prehistoric ape, an alien, Russian royalty, scientific mumbo jumbo, zombies (sort of) and some truly classic lines that I won't spoil the fun by repeating. It is like Murder on the Orient Express but not actually like Murder on the Orient Express. I kept thinking about the TV show, Kolchak, the Night Stalker. If Darren McGavin has shown up in a rumpled suit wearing a straw hat and carrying a 110 camera I would not have been surprised.
It is a little bloodier than episodes of that tv show to be sure.
This Spanish film moves at a brisk pace, has a number of breakdowns in basic logic but really who cares about that? Well, I care. I did keep thinking--"Why do the soldiers on the train have rifles with fixed bayonets?" That REALLY isn't a terribly effective weapon in a confined space. BUT, as usual, I digress. They keep this film moving. It isn't like many films of the era that build up to action with an hour of set up. This gets moving and keeps moving and is under 90 minutes.
It is fun, it works and it is professionally put together and, frankly, is a classic film of the era--although it seems like it is from a slightly earlier time when I think on it.
Watch ? YES...
Horror Express 1972 Eugenio Martin
How this Spanish horror thrilled eluded me for my entire life baffles me. It has everything a horror movie NEEDS. Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and, as an extra bonus it has Tele Savalis as a ....Cossack.
It also has a mad monk, brain melting, a prehistoric ape, an alien, Russian royalty, scientific mumbo jumbo, zombies (sort of) and some truly classic lines that I won't spoil the fun by repeating. It is like Murder on the Orient Express but not actually like Murder on the Orient Express. I kept thinking about the TV show, Kolchak, the Night Stalker. If Darren McGavin has shown up in a rumpled suit wearing a straw hat and carrying a 110 camera I would not have been surprised.
It is a little bloodier than episodes of that tv show to be sure.
This Spanish film moves at a brisk pace, has a number of breakdowns in basic logic but really who cares about that? Well, I care. I did keep thinking--"Why do the soldiers on the train have rifles with fixed bayonets?" That REALLY isn't a terribly effective weapon in a confined space. BUT, as usual, I digress. They keep this film moving. It isn't like many films of the era that build up to action with an hour of set up. This gets moving and keeps moving and is under 90 minutes.
It is fun, it works and it is professionally put together and, frankly, is a classic film of the era--although it seems like it is from a slightly earlier time when I think on it.
October 23, 2025
Watch? YES
Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan) 1960 Mario Bava
I was honestly getting burned out with my plan of taking breaks to watch horror movies because most of the films I watched were….ok. Not terrible (although some were terrible) but just ok. Sometimes I find “ok” to be more tedious than AWFUL. At least you can roll your eyes at awful.
Shivers inspired me to look for more Barbara Steele movies and I came up with Black Sunday. No, terrorists do NOT attack the Orange Bowl. This is a stylish, amazingly well shot, Italian horror film. Steele gets double duty and I honestly wish she had more screen time. It is a moody, dark film about vengeance from beyond the grave. The international cast are all solid actors (never a given in horror or scifi films).
I would watch this again just to see the cinematography. Plus it is creepy.
Watch? YES
Black Sunday (aka The Mask of Satan) 1960 Mario Bava
I was honestly getting burned out with my plan of taking breaks to watch horror movies because most of the films I watched were….ok. Not terrible (although some were terrible) but just ok. Sometimes I find “ok” to be more tedious than AWFUL. At least you can roll your eyes at awful.
Shivers inspired me to look for more Barbara Steele movies and I came up with Black Sunday. No, terrorists do NOT attack the Orange Bowl. This is a stylish, amazingly well shot, Italian horror film. Steele gets double duty and I honestly wish she had more screen time. It is a moody, dark film about vengeance from beyond the grave. The international cast are all solid actors (never a given in horror or scifi films).
I would watch this again just to see the cinematography. Plus it is creepy.
October 21, 2025
Watch? Maybe
Shivers 1975 David Cronenberg
I was trying to watch movies I hadn’t seen but I have a sneaking suspicion that I did see this. I don’t really remember it but the whole “parasite infecting people” was pretty familiar. This is kind of a throw-away “everyone’s getting infected” movie. Could be vampires, body snatchers…whatever.
It is short. It moves along relatively fast but there just isn’t much here. Aside from some creepy insinuations. It could be that I’ve watched two dozen horror films and the vast majority have been middling. There is THAT.
Barbara Steele has a small role in this movie. She was also in Black Sunday, 8 ½, Pit and the Pendulum and .
Watch? Maybe
Shivers 1975 David Cronenberg
I was trying to watch movies I hadn’t seen but I have a sneaking suspicion that I did see this. I don’t really remember it but the whole “parasite infecting people” was pretty familiar. This is kind of a throw-away “everyone’s getting infected” movie. Could be vampires, body snatchers…whatever.
It is short. It moves along relatively fast but there just isn’t much here. Aside from some creepy insinuations. It could be that I’ve watched two dozen horror films and the vast majority have been middling. There is THAT.
Barbara Steele has a small role in this movie. She was also in Black Sunday, 8 ½, Pit and the Pendulum and .
October 20
Watch? No
Nefarious 2023 Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman
Did you wake up today thinking "I want to see a right wing evangelical horror movie about possession"? Well then YOU are in luck because Nefarious is out there waiting for you. This is what happens when you just randomly watch something.
There is a cameo by...Glenn Beck...in this movie. Do you need to hear more?
A possessed inmate about to be executed gives a lengthy diatribe about abortion. It also seems to insinuate that executing the mentally ill is ok. Of course, most horror has a hint of the religious. Vampires fear crosses. Most are morality tales of a sort. The real surprise about this is that it isn't BAD. It is just tired. The film is about a condemned inmate who may be possessed or insane and a psychologist comes in to decide which it is. Sean Patrick Flanery turns in a solid performance as the inmate. Flanery was in Boondocks Saints and one of the Saw movies. All the acting is fine. It has just been done to death--every police procedural has an episode like this --with the supernatural element downplayed.
Watch? No
Nefarious 2023 Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman
Did you wake up today thinking "I want to see a right wing evangelical horror movie about possession"? Well then YOU are in luck because Nefarious is out there waiting for you. This is what happens when you just randomly watch something.
There is a cameo by...Glenn Beck...in this movie. Do you need to hear more?
A possessed inmate about to be executed gives a lengthy diatribe about abortion. It also seems to insinuate that executing the mentally ill is ok. Of course, most horror has a hint of the religious. Vampires fear crosses. Most are morality tales of a sort. The real surprise about this is that it isn't BAD. It is just tired. The film is about a condemned inmate who may be possessed or insane and a psychologist comes in to decide which it is. Sean Patrick Flanery turns in a solid performance as the inmate. Flanery was in Boondocks Saints and one of the Saw movies. All the acting is fine. It has just been done to death--every police procedural has an episode like this --with the supernatural element downplayed.
October 19, 2025
Watch? Yes
Countess Dracula 1971 Peter Sasdy
SO, another Hammer Horror film but no Peter Cushing OR Christopher Lee! Ingrid Pitt is on board and makes the lead character somehow vaguely sympathetic (despite all the murdering). Nigel Green stands in for Lee. He was tall, handsome and very very English, often playing soldiers with stiff upper lips in films like Zulu and Ipcress File.
Like many of the Hammer films it is concisely and professionally done with actors who know what they are there for (to look good and be a little scary). One of the things that often sets these films apart from horror of the era is that the actors are actually good. It reminds me of soap opera actors and how they have to sell the most preposterous plots and actions as real. Leslie-Anne Down, who appears in a small role, wound up in The Bold and the Beautiful.
This film has nothing to do with Dracula really. It is more akin to the story of Elizabeth Bathory. I suppose Countess Dracula was a better title than "Countess Bathory"? As usual they keep the plot simple. It all works, moves along well and while it may have been moderately scary to a kid in 1971? I didn’t have nightmares.
Watch? Yes
Countess Dracula 1971 Peter Sasdy
SO, another Hammer Horror film but no Peter Cushing OR Christopher Lee! Ingrid Pitt is on board and makes the lead character somehow vaguely sympathetic (despite all the murdering). Nigel Green stands in for Lee. He was tall, handsome and very very English, often playing soldiers with stiff upper lips in films like Zulu and Ipcress File.
Like many of the Hammer films it is concisely and professionally done with actors who know what they are there for (to look good and be a little scary). One of the things that often sets these films apart from horror of the era is that the actors are actually good. It reminds me of soap opera actors and how they have to sell the most preposterous plots and actions as real. Leslie-Anne Down, who appears in a small role, wound up in The Bold and the Beautiful.
This film has nothing to do with Dracula really. It is more akin to the story of Elizabeth Bathory. I suppose Countess Dracula was a better title than "Countess Bathory"? As usual they keep the plot simple. It all works, moves along well and while it may have been moderately scary to a kid in 1971? I didn’t have nightmares.
October 19, 2025
Watch? Maybe
Gretel And Hansel 2020 Osgood Perkins
See what they did there? Gretel comes first! Pretty innovative. I wish the film had been as innovative. It wastes a couple good performances, one being from Alice Krige who is a master at being creepy and threatening. The other is from Sophia Lillis of the new It movies and Asteroid City. She was also really good in the tv show I Am Not OK With This which, I regret, didn’t get a season 2. Samuel Leakey also does a good job as Hansel. He is a LITTLE annoying, like a little brother but he isn’t SO annoying you start wishing for him to get eaten. The film doesn’t meander and is concise but maybe TOO concise.
Part of the problem here is the limitation of the story. It is a morality tale and a simple one. This version abandons the original moral to the story for a new one and it basically works. I could have used a little more background and some more action. When you have a “bad” character maybe be a little more explicit and showing WHY they are bad. It is a brief film so you won’t get bored but it wouldn’t have suffered from another 10 or 15 minutes of action.
Watch? Maybe
Gretel And Hansel 2020 Osgood Perkins
See what they did there? Gretel comes first! Pretty innovative. I wish the film had been as innovative. It wastes a couple good performances, one being from Alice Krige who is a master at being creepy and threatening. The other is from Sophia Lillis of the new It movies and Asteroid City. She was also really good in the tv show I Am Not OK With This which, I regret, didn’t get a season 2. Samuel Leakey also does a good job as Hansel. He is a LITTLE annoying, like a little brother but he isn’t SO annoying you start wishing for him to get eaten. The film doesn’t meander and is concise but maybe TOO concise.
Part of the problem here is the limitation of the story. It is a morality tale and a simple one. This version abandons the original moral to the story for a new one and it basically works. I could have used a little more background and some more action. When you have a “bad” character maybe be a little more explicit and showing WHY they are bad. It is a brief film so you won’t get bored but it wouldn’t have suffered from another 10 or 15 minutes of action.
October 17 2025
Watch? Maybe
The Dunwich Horror 1970 Daniel Haller
There is an inherent problem with bringing HP Lovecraft stories to the big screen. He often describes the horror before us on the page “inexplicable” and “so horrifying it cannot be described”....stuff like that. How do you show THAT? There is also the issue of his racism but that isn’t obvious in EVERY story, only many of them. This one is loosely based on a The Dunwich Horror, very loosely, and it uses reaction shots of people being really HORRIFIED to get the scariness across.
The most interesting thing about this movie is the casting. Sandra Dee in a horror movie in 1970? I mean this could have been a new career for her (but it wasn’t). Dean Stockwell (who could curiously be cast in a later remake based on the same story) is also featured. He gives a strange performance–as a strange character. Who else shows up? Ed Begley. NO, not that Ed Begley, his dad, an Oscar winning actor who passed away less than a year after this film’s release. AND, if that weren’t enough, pre-Godfather Talia Shire, shows up in a cameo. Curiously with all these memorable actors, the film isn’t particularly memorable. It has some style and the basic story is simple enough to manage but, and I rarely write or think this, it could have been a LITTLE longer.
I was never bored but I wanted a little more? If that makes sense.
Watch? Maybe
The Dunwich Horror 1970 Daniel Haller
There is an inherent problem with bringing HP Lovecraft stories to the big screen. He often describes the horror before us on the page “inexplicable” and “so horrifying it cannot be described”....stuff like that. How do you show THAT? There is also the issue of his racism but that isn’t obvious in EVERY story, only many of them. This one is loosely based on a The Dunwich Horror, very loosely, and it uses reaction shots of people being really HORRIFIED to get the scariness across.
The most interesting thing about this movie is the casting. Sandra Dee in a horror movie in 1970? I mean this could have been a new career for her (but it wasn’t). Dean Stockwell (who could curiously be cast in a later remake based on the same story) is also featured. He gives a strange performance–as a strange character. Who else shows up? Ed Begley. NO, not that Ed Begley, his dad, an Oscar winning actor who passed away less than a year after this film’s release. AND, if that weren’t enough, pre-Godfather Talia Shire, shows up in a cameo. Curiously with all these memorable actors, the film isn’t particularly memorable. It has some style and the basic story is simple enough to manage but, and I rarely write or think this, it could have been a LITTLE longer.
I was never bored but I wanted a little more? If that makes sense.
October 14, 2025
Burnt Offerings 1976 Dan Curtis
Watch? No
Karen Black, Oliver Reed and Bette Davis. Has to be good right? No it does not. All the actors, including the very young Lee Montgomery and Burgess Meredith (who can always be creepy when he wants to be) give it their all. This is especially true of Davis but it just never clicks.
It is also interesting that Davis and Reed were in the same movie. I wondered how THAT went.
Davis afterwards referred to Reed as “the most loathsome human being I have ever had the misfortune to meet.” or something like that. It is interesting because these two actors had reputations for being difficult and consummate professionals at the same time.
The plot of this is just the same old haunted house thing with the weirdos who live there. It never creates much atmosphere nor is it ever really suspenseful. The plot is basically nonexistent.
Burnt Offerings 1976 Dan Curtis
Watch? No
Karen Black, Oliver Reed and Bette Davis. Has to be good right? No it does not. All the actors, including the very young Lee Montgomery and Burgess Meredith (who can always be creepy when he wants to be) give it their all. This is especially true of Davis but it just never clicks.
It is also interesting that Davis and Reed were in the same movie. I wondered how THAT went.
Davis afterwards referred to Reed as “the most loathsome human being I have ever had the misfortune to meet.” or something like that. It is interesting because these two actors had reputations for being difficult and consummate professionals at the same time.
The plot of this is just the same old haunted house thing with the weirdos who live there. It never creates much atmosphere nor is it ever really suspenseful. The plot is basically nonexistent.
October 14, 2025
Saint Maud 2019 Rose Glass
Watch? Yes
Is this a horror film? Depends on how YOU interpret it. I am pretty sure I know how you are supposed to? Or do I? That is a big plus to me in a movie when you have to stop and think about what you watched.
When I ask, is this a horror film? One response that pops into my head is “Well, it is certainly HORRIFYING on a number of levels.” I winced more than once. The acting here is head and shoulders above most horror films. The plot revolves around a nurse who comes to take care of a new patient while she is having some….life issues.
It keeps you engaged throughout. Well done.
Saint Maud 2019 Rose Glass
Watch? Yes
Is this a horror film? Depends on how YOU interpret it. I am pretty sure I know how you are supposed to? Or do I? That is a big plus to me in a movie when you have to stop and think about what you watched.
When I ask, is this a horror film? One response that pops into my head is “Well, it is certainly HORRIFYING on a number of levels.” I winced more than once. The acting here is head and shoulders above most horror films. The plot revolves around a nurse who comes to take care of a new patient while she is having some….life issues.
It keeps you engaged throughout. Well done.
October 13, 2025
Bride of Frankenstein 1935 James Whale
Watch? No
This is regarded as a horror classic. To me it just seemed like a pointless rehash of Frankenstein. I haven’t read Frankenstein for years but I believe this is based loosely on something that is actually IN the book but I'm not sure. I don’t care enough to look it up. There is some appalling acting and some competent acting in this but really there is nothing to it. James Whale, by the by, made some really good movies--horror and otherwise.
Hell Henry Frankenstein says “She’s ALIVE” in the same way as he did in the original. Of course in this movie it makes no sense since he is being forced to make the new monster. Also, the “Bride” is in it for about 10 minutes.
What the hell is that idiotic beginning with Lord friggin Byron?
Just because something is old doesn’t mean it is good.
Bride of Frankenstein 1935 James Whale
Watch? No
This is regarded as a horror classic. To me it just seemed like a pointless rehash of Frankenstein. I haven’t read Frankenstein for years but I believe this is based loosely on something that is actually IN the book but I'm not sure. I don’t care enough to look it up. There is some appalling acting and some competent acting in this but really there is nothing to it. James Whale, by the by, made some really good movies--horror and otherwise.
Hell Henry Frankenstein says “She’s ALIVE” in the same way as he did in the original. Of course in this movie it makes no sense since he is being forced to make the new monster. Also, the “Bride” is in it for about 10 minutes.
What the hell is that idiotic beginning with Lord friggin Byron?
Just because something is old doesn’t mean it is good.
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