Dan's DVD Dumpster Diving

Didn’t expect a Showtime love fest. Is there also a fanbase for Hollywood Homicide?

The Terror (1963)



Now we come to a movie I was very interested in watching despite having minimal expectations in terms of quality. The Terror had a rather famous production. B-movie master Roger Corman was near the end of shooting The Raven and decided, rather than let the expensive sets go to waste, he'd shoot extra scenes with star Boris Karloff that could serve as the basis for another Gothic horror movie. Then the rest of the film's script was written and Corman outsourced direction to a revolving door of young filmmakers, including Monte Hellman and Francis Ford Coppola. Corman then cut the half-dozen different directors' footage together and shot an additional scene with Jack Nicholson and Dick Miller to tie the story together. That's a fun peak into the wild world of low-budget exploitation filmmaking, and the film was further immortalized when Corman tasked Peter Bogdanovich to take leftoverfootage from The Terror and shoot more scenes with Karloff to create another movie, which led to the self-reflexive thriller Targets.

All that to say, The Terror is a fun piece of film history and that alone made a viewing worthwhile. But somewhat to my shock, I actually enjoyed the movie on its own terms. Despite the disorganized production, the story still holds together pretty well. It's not exactly a tight screenplay, lots of plot developments come from out of nowhere, but the film does tell a coherent story involving a French soldier investigating a ghostly apparition and the dark secrets of The Baron. The film also has a strong Gothic atmosphere - I can see why Corman was keen to reuse those sets as they're quite nice - and even towards the end of his career, Karloff is a magnetic screen presence. It's a fun little watch, and I say that as someone whose viewing conditions were far from ideal. I own The Terror by way of one of those cheap multi-pack DVDs of public domain horror movies and it shows. The source footage is clearly a VHS rip in 4:3 rather than the 1.85 : 1 The Terror was shot in. I would normally never watch a movie in the wrong aspect ratio but decided to make an exception for this series. I'm ultimately glad I did, but it's possible I might enjoy The Terror even more if watched properly. Beyond the inherent interest in the film's production, The Terror is a solid little B-movie.

B-

THE TERROR (1963)



Starring Jack Nicholson, co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola and directed by Roger Corman, The Terror is a 1963 public domain horror movie about a French soldier caught in the middle of a conflict between a ghost, a witch and a baron. The baron is played by Boris Karloff and the ghost is played by Nicholson's then-wife, Sandra Knight. The Terror is notorious for being greenlit when Roger Corman made The Raven under-budget and used the left-over money to make The Terror quick and cheaply. Reportedly, he made the film as the sets for The Raven were being torn down around him. Because of this, The Terror isn't as polished as the other Roger Corman horror movies of the era, and it's an easy target for criticism. But all things considered, the film turned out really well. The story isn't an incoherent as people claim. Jack Nicholson, even in his youth, was awesome. Check him out in another Roger Corman movie, The Little Shop of Horrors. The guy is a natural talent. The sets and costumes are recycled, but they still look good. The cinematography, editing and music are good too. For a film that essentially had no script and was made quickly with cash laying around, The Terror is very impressive.

Not to mention being originally cast as Aragorn.

All the stranger that his big directorial effort was a United 93-inspired protest movie.

That is Doomsday’s favorite Ernest movie.

Interestingly enough, this is Doomsday’s favorite Jim Carrey movie.

We getting Ernest Scared Stupid?

Nine and 1/2 Weeks (1986)



This is another movie I thought might have some potential. Adrian Lyne's filmography is far from spotless, but he is a capable craftsman whose made a handful of really entertaining movies. Nine and a half weeks is certainly part and parcel with the man's style, a slickly made movie with a rather dodgy script which crosses eroticism and danger. The plot follows a recently divorced woman (Kim Basinger) who enters a sexually submissive relationship with a stranger (Mickey Rourke) that expands and challenges the thresholds of her desires. There's a potentially intriguing premise in there, but the film doesn't actually seem much interested in its characters, who are woefully underwritten. Of particular disappointment is the lack of introspection into Basinger's protagonist Elizabeth. The narrative through-line is supposed to be how Elizabeth responds to the increasingly sexual games she and John play, but the film doesn't actually care to explore those feelings. To give an example, in their first sexual encounter, John blindfolds Elizabeth, strips her half naked, and begins sensually rubbing ice cubs on her body. A big leap for a woman who thought the mere idea of owning a vibrator was scandalous. But before the pair actually have sex, the film fades to black and we cut to the next day. How did Elizabeth respond to this intense sexual encounter? How did she feel in the aftermath? The movie doesn't care to show us, and it betrays the fact that it isn't interested in Elizabeth beyond how she can be foregrounded in images of erotic spectacle.

To that end, Lynne brings his glossy, high impact visual style, the film defined by bold shafts of light and heavily air-brushed bodies. There is value in that, individual images are sensational, but it's also a limitation. Lynne can't seem to bring any form of intimacy to the screen that doesn't adhere to a masturbatory fantasy. Exploration beyond that just doesn't seem possible. Lyne's style is slick enough that the film remains watchable, and the leads make for a strong screen presence, but all the same, this was a disappointment.

D+


Adrian Lyne remains a bit of an oddball to me. Most of his filmography consists of trashy, if entertaining, sleaze, but then also the harrowing despair of Jacob's Ladder. Weird.

Christmas Evil (1980)



Christmas Evil, originally titled You Better Watch Out, is a film which entered my DVD collection much later than most of the movies in this Dumpster Dive. I was in the second year of my undergrad when I attended a horror-themed event with some mates around the holidays and at the after party there were wrapped Christmas presents for guests. Naturally I immediately sought out the packaging shaped like a move and lo and behold this cult Christmas classic entered my life.

From appearances, I assumed Christmas Evil a straightforward Santa-themed slasher movie. That the film was released just two years after Halloween certainly seemed to suggest this just another holiday variation on genre formula. And I suppose that assumption wasn't entirely wrong. The film does indeed feature a deranged man dressed as Santa Claus who goes on a killing spree, and classic tropes like a voyeuristic P.O.V shots are included, but the first murder doesn't happen until almost an hour into the movie. Writer/director Lewis Jackson is far more interested in the damaged psychology of his main character. On Christmas Eve in 1947, young Harry Stadling witnessed his mother getting felt up by Santa Claus, believing it to be the real Saint Nick and not his dad in a costume. The mix of adult sexuality with childhood whimsy crossed some wires for the boy, leaving irrevocable damage. As an adult, Harry both fetishizes and wishes to become Santa Claus, spying on the local children and curating his own naughty and nice lists. Harry also works for a local toy factory, building his ire towards the owners for not truly caring about the kids. When Christmas Eve rolls around, Harry dons his Santa costume, to spread good will to those who have been nice, and punishment to those who haven't.

If there's any 70s movie that inspired Christmas Evil, it's not Halloween, it's Taxi Driver. Both films are these slow-burn character studies of unstable men whose grip on reality only becomes more tenuous as time goes by, and both quietly count down to an unhinged act of violence. The horror comes less from a bloodletting Santa than it does watching this sadsack of a man crumble away before your eyes. Even when the film crosses over into slasher territory, a lot of the tension still comes from uncomfortable social interactions, and the strange hypnotic sway Santa holds over children. The actual psychology of the character is not entirely convincing, in part because of the prologue. I like the scene in isolation, it's well-shot and provocative, but creating such a clear traumatic event to inform the Harry's psychology is limiting and I wish they kept it more ambiguous. Still, the character works as a perversion of Christmas imagery, all the more compelling because Jackson does not rely on vulgar extremes. Instead, he shines a lot on the aspects of Santa which are inherently creepy. "He sees you when you're sleeping" is already voyeuristic, the sorting of naughty or nice already suggests an authority who lords over his subjects. This movie only needs to tweak things slightly to make its horror.

Audiences looking for a Christmas-themed slasher movie might be disappointed, but those looking for an offbeat horror film more interested in theme and mood than moment to moment thrills should definitely give Christmas Evil a look. For the right audience, I can absolutely see the cult appeal. It was certainly a lot better than I expected. Great ending too.

B