Tag Archives: 4/5

#212- Suspiria

Quick recap: A young woman joins a prestigious ballet academy and realizes she should have done some research first about all of those murders.

With a place as red as this, you'd be crazy NOT to do all of your murdering here

With a place as red as this, you’d be crazy NOT to do all of your murdering here

Fun (?) fact: The director’s original idea was for the ballet academy to host little girls, but when he noticed the horrified looks on the crews’ faces, he decided to change the characters to women. Not wanting to exert any extra effort because let’s face it, writing in all of those murders takes a huge chunk of your time, the director kept all of the dialogue as is.

death by barbed wire, totally appropriate for little girls!

death by barbed wire, totally appropriate for little girls!

My thoughts: On my ever-changing, wildly biased and sometimes inaccurate list of monsters that scare me, witches tend to rank at the bottom. With the exception of the Blair Witch Project, witches seem more cool to me than scary. Not saying I advocate murder, but I like the idea of being able to cast whatever spells I want and get people to do my bidding. And if you know me, you know I have TONS of bidding that needs to be done. The witches in Suspiria (SPOILER ALERT: They are witches) fall more in the ‘scary’ spectrum than ‘not scary’, but I’m still not convinced I should be fearing for my life.

If you are someone who loves gory stuff, Suspiria is perfect for that sort of thing. There are many wonderfully bloody deaths from the get-go, which kept the plot interesting but didn’t really freak me out. The manner of deaths were also creative, which gave the witches a chance to show off. What impressed me about the film was that it was the little details that stuck with me, such as the creepy little boy and the maggots raining on all of the girls’ heads (that part wasn’t so little, I suppose). The color in the movie was also very off-putting. It reminded me of an old technicolor movie, but more vivid hues and less eye sores. Of everything mentioned though, it was the musical score that creeped me out the most. It’s hard to describe, but it totally sounds like a horror movie soundtrack. The director apparently played the score while filming and it even creeped out the actors.

The one drawback to the film is the acting. As mentioned before, the director didn’t feel like editing the script after changing the characters, so the dialogue seems weirdly childish. It didn’t bother me too much, but it also meant that I wasn’t very invested in the characters. I won’t give away the ending, but when Suzy figures out the academy’s secret purpose, I realized that I didn’t really care one way or another if she lived or died. There was never any background on her and it just seemed like if they didn’t kill her, it would be some other unlucky ballerina. On the other hand, the witches killing whomever they liked made the movie slightly scarier than if they just targeted her.

Final review: 4/5. Worth watching if you love horror movies

Up next: HorrorFest!

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#210- Rosemary’s Baby

Quick (recap): A woman (Rosemary) unwittingly births the anti-christ.

such a touching moment....capturing what all mothers look like when gazing upon their children for the first time.

such a touching moment….capturing what all mothers look like when gazing upon their children for the first time.

Fun (?) fact: Let’s play Six Degrees of Evil! Ready? Ok, so Roman Polanski directed Rosemary’s Baby. A year later, his wife Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family. Charles Manson titled the killing spree, ‘Helter Skelter’, after a Beatles song. One of the Beatles, John Lennon, stayed in the apartment where this movie was filmed. He is also responsible for writing the song ‘Dear Prudence’, about Mia Farrow’s (Rosemary’s) sister. Bam! Thanks to whoever at IMDb figured that one out.

yes, she was getting assaulted by satan at this time, but nonetheless, this looks very comfortable

yes, she was getting assaulted by satan at this time, but nonetheless, this looks very comfortable

My thoughts: America, you confuse me. Many of you refused to see The Exorcist, on the grounds that it was blasphemous. Which, sure, I could see that with the dialogue of the demon. But he was a DEMON and the Catholic church came and cast him out and good won. So, if anything it is a very religious movie. And then you have Rosemary’s Baby, which doesn’t have near the same hatred as The Exorcist, even though it involves the birth of satan’s son. What gives? Personally, this movie was much more creepy to me than The Exorcist and had a downer of an ending, which I always appreciate in horror films. Add to that, all of the real life stuff that went on a year later with Sharon Tate and Charles Manson and you have a damn good scary movie.

Well, scary in theory, at least. Most of the film is a slow build up where the audience knows what is going on, but the main character doesn’t. She figures it out at some point, but it’s very hard to grasp that your husband has made a deal with your witch neighbors to have satan rape you and impregnate you with his spawn. That’s years of marriage counseling right there. The ending, as Rosemary tries to escape is exciting as well as ultimately futile. What I loved most about this film is how far Rosemary goes to protect her unborn child, not knowing that she is essentially protecting evil and the eventual destruction of Earth. It’s kind of hard to predict these things, although I suspect an ultrasound might have picked something up, if it had been around in the 60s.

My one complaint about the film is how the devil worshippers are portrayed in the end. All of the ‘hail satan!’s were a little on the campy side, as well as the choice to put the demon baby in an all black bassinet. It was a little overkill. I mean, obviously he is the son of satan, but do we to be reminded of it every second?It was a little disappointing not to get a good look at the baby, but knowing this crew, he was probably decked out in devil horns, a pitchfork and an Iron Maiden onesie.

Woodland_Critters_south_park

Final review: 4/5. Quite scary!

Up next: HorrorFest continues!

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#208- Stella Dallas

Quick recap: Stella marries Stephen Dallas, a former millionaire. They have a daughter together, but shortly afterwards, everything falls apart and the two separate. Stella devotes her life to Laurel, her daughter, and is willing to do anything for her happiness, even if it means giving her up and never seeing her again.

Throughout the movie, all I could think about was how much Bette Midler looks like Barbara Stanwyck. Come to find out, Midler later starred in an adaptation of this movie!

Throughout the movie, all I could think about was how much Bette Midler looks like Barbara Stanwyck. Come to find out, Midler later starred in an adaptation of this movie!

Fun (?) fact: The movie later became a radio serial that lasted for 18 years.

Our kind of serial is a bit different than what people in the 30s wanted.

Our kind of serial is a bit different than what people in the 30s wanted.

My thoughts: I think the most remarkable thing about Stella Dallas is that it was as hokey and sentimental as you can get, and yet I didn’t feel the need to roll my eyes at all. I don’t know, maybe I’m getting soft. I think part of this amazing feat is due to the fact that the acting was so well done, except for John Boles who basically just had to smoke his pipe and smirk at the camera. The character of Stella Dallas wasn’t my favorite, but I did love Barbara Stanwyck and her ability to make my heart break into pieces. Laurel Dallas, played by Anne Shirley also did a phenomenal job and went well above her role as ‘sad teen with a heart of gold’.

Stella Dallas was also more complicated of a story than I thought it would be. On one side, you have Stella, who hunts Stephen down and marries him, only to realize they had different goals. The synopsis I read said that Stephen tried to make Stella into someone glamorous, but considering that she sought him out after finding out that he was a former millionaire, I think this was the lifestyle she wanted. Stephen, on the other hand, wanted a family and quiet life. It was interesting how the two separated because it wasn’t some big event; they just drifted apart. I might have misunderstood some of the scenes, but it seemed to me to be a balanced view of the ending of a relationship.

I felt sorry for Stella’s character moreso than any other one in the film. She started out in a very strict household, only to move on to a man who didn’t stick around for very long. She had a great relationship with her daughter, but it was also extremely sad to see that her choices hurt Laurel. There were many sad scenes for me, but the worst was when Stella and Laurel were at the resort, and all the teens were badmouthing Stella while Laurel was within earshot. When the truth finally came out, it was devastating and led to Stella making Laurel go live with her father so she would have a better life. Her own life was a hot mess in every sense of the word and although it seems extreme by today’s standards, it really was for the best back then.

Final review: 4/5

Up next: The Big Sleep

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#204- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Quick recap: Girls from the City are evil creatures who wreak havoc on everyone they come into contact with. Avoid at all costs.

She's stealing his soul!

She’s stealing his soul!

Fun (?) fact: The city scenes were all filmed on a set, not an actual city.

You mean they weren't really walking straight into traffic? Nothing is real anymore.

You mean they weren’t really walking straight into traffic? Nothing is real anymore.

My thoughts: Despite what my 1001 Movies book says, Sunrise is TOTALLY a melodrama. A farmer has an affair with a Girl From the City (she doesn’t have a name and neither does any other character), which crushes his perfectly sweet wife. He’s totally a jerk about the whole thing, even rushing out to meet her while his wife is cooking dinner. She puts it in his head that he needs to kill his wife during a boat ride, which is about as melodramatic as you can get. During the ride, the wife figures the whole thing out and manages to escape. She pouts for awhile when they get to the city because, you know, she was almost murdered and that can bring anyone down. The farmer continues to beg for forgiveness, at one point even offering her a whole plate of sandwiches. I’m not sure what was socially acceptable back then, but I imagine that most people would have a hard time getting over attempted murder with a plate of sandwiches. Anyway, while pouting, the couple heads into a church where a wedding is taking place. The farmer has a revelation that he shouldn’t have been such a jerk, and the two fall madly in love again. Awww.

Alexis Bledel is a time traveler, apparently.

Alexis Bledel is a time traveler, apparently.

But wait, there’s more! As the ‘newlyweds’ head back to their farm in the boat, a storm comes out of nowhere and irony upon ironies! the boat flips over and the Wife is presumed to be dead. I’ll admit that the film had almost won me over until this point, and then I lost interest because I’m just not a melodramatic kind of person. Thankfully, all of this happens at the very end so I didn’t have to endure for very long. And it was worth watching because the Girl From the City meets up with the Farmer, thinking he went through with the plan. She expects him to say that he’s ready to move with her, but instead he strangles her and it’s kind of awesome. And of course, the Wife was not actually drowned and was found perfectly fine. They all lived happily ever after, except for the Girl From the City who was strangled.

Silent films tend to be overally emotional due to the fact that the actors must physically show how they feel since they can’t say it. Sunrise is no exception, but it mostly worked for me and wasn’t annoying. In the beginning of the film, the Farmer walks around like his boots are made out of lead, to represent the struggles he is dealing with (mainly him being a jerk). I appreciated watching his unhappiness rather than just reading it on a title card. And as I stated before, the Wife is about as perfect as anyone can get, so there’s no mistake as to who is ruining the marriage (actually there is , because it’s 1927, so it’s the city girl’s fault and not the poor Farmer’s doing). The scenes where the husband and wife reconnect are pretty silly, but also seem genuine and I really enjoyed them. For a melodrama, there were many moments that could’ve been over the top, yet came across as sweet and innocent. Still not a fan generally, but this one was rather ok.

Final review: 4/5

Up next: STAR WARS

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