Columnists
Entries from June 2012
Cinema Retro columnist Dean Brierly has a great article on his blog: classic quotes from legendary actors and supporting actors. Here's a good example from Bela Lugosi:
(On Dracula) “In playing the picture I found that there was a great deal that I had to unlearn. In the theater I was playing not only to those spectators in the front row but also to those in the last row of the gallery, and there was some exaggeration in everything I did, not only in the tonal pitch of my voice but in the changes of facial expression which accompanied various lines or situations, as was necessary. But for the screen, in which the actor’s distance from every member of the audience is equal only to his distance from the lens of the camera, I have found that a great deal of repression was absolutely necessary.â€(1930 Hollywood Filmograph interview)
Click here to indulge in many more
By Todd Garbarini
In August 1981, at the age of twelve, I
viewed my very first horror film, Dan Curtis' 1976 theatrical outing Burnt Offerings, based upon the 1973 novel
of the same name by Robert Marasco. I
was immediately impressed with the film's spooky quality and the performances
by Oliver Reed, Karen Black, Bette Davis, and Burgess Meredith. One area that
stood out most was the chillingly icy score by Robert Cobert. I was eager to
discover other works directed by Mr. Curtis and it would be nearly 30 years
before I would finally see episodes of what is arguably his most popular
production, the soap opera/thriller Dark
Shadows. Running for nearly five years on ABC-TV from 1966 to 1971 and consisting
of 1,225 episodes in total (some of which were in black and white), Dark Shadows is an enjoyably spooky
production that was shot on videotape. It stars Jonathan Frid as Barnabas
Collins, Joan Bennett as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, and Lara Parker as
Angelique. Genre fans will recognize the
late Ms. Bennett from as Celia Lamphere in Fritz Lang’s Secret Beyond the Door… (1948) and as Madame Blanc in Dario
Argento’s Suspiria (1977). Like many of Mr. Curtis’ other creepy
productions, it was scored by Robert Cobert as well.
For those of you who were watching this
series when it premiered 46 years ago, your opportunity to view uncut and
uninterrupted episodes is now possible thanks to home video. There are two newly released single DVDs (Dark Shadows: Fan Favorites and Dark Shadows: Best of Barnabas), each of
which contain nine of the most loved episodes by the millions of fans who tuned
in to it daily. These DVDs were released
to coincide with Tim Burton’s film version of the show starring Johnny Depp and
give new viewers a taste of what the series was like. While it is a far cry from such current
vampire fare such as HBO’s enormously popular True Blood, it still possesses (no pun intended) an air of Gothic creepiness
and in my humble opinion the entire series should have been shot in black and
white. Eagle-eyed viewers will catch a
glimpse of a boom mike here and there, and it’s a hoot to see that the show’s
costumes were provided by Ohrbach’s, a department store I recall from my youth
in the 1980s. Actresses Kathryn Leigh
Scott and Lara Parker provide introductions
to the individual episodes which are a nice added value for the money
spent.
If you’re a rabid fan and need to have
every episode, the complete series is due out on DVD in July 2012. If you’re looking for a sampling of the show
prior to seeing its complete run, these two DVDs are the perfect appetizer prior
to the entrée due out next month.
The success of the show led to two theatrical
offerings: House of Dark Shadows (1970)
and Night of Dark Shadows (1971),
also directed by Mr. Curtis and scored by Mr. Cobert.
Click here to order Fan Favorites DVD from Amazon
Click here to order Best of Barnabas DVD from Amazon
Click here to order deluxe limited edition entire series DVD set
By
Adrian Smith
The Cabin in the Woods takes its
inspiration from the endless number of horror movies that begin with the killings
of unsuspecting teenagers at summer camps, lakeside log cabins and other remote
locations. Joss Whedon is a writer, director and producer who will be familiar
to any fans of genre television from the last twenty years, having been
responsible for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, Firefly and most
recently the box office smash Avengers Assemble. Whedon and his
co-writer Drew Goddard (who also directed the film) identified the main tropes
of the genre; teenagers go to cabin to take drugs and get laid, get killed off
by psychos, demons or zombies until one lone survivor (usually female) fights
back and destroys the evil forces. Whedon and Goddard questioned just why
audiences keep going back to this over and over again. What possible pleasure
do we get from seeing teenagers being butchered in ever more inventive and
outlandish ways? Are the films reactionary, punishing the kids for their
immoral behaviour? Thankfully Whedon and Goddard don't necessarily set out to
answer these questions. The Cabin in the Woods is not a treatise on the
evils of horror films, like that delivered by Michael Haneke in Funny Games
(1997). What they have done is to create a film which follows these conventions
whilst simultaneously presenting their own version of the truth behind why it
is all happening. To say any more at this point would be to give too much away.
This is a film best enjoyed when you know as little about it as possible.
'The
Cabin in the Woods: The Official Visual Companion' is a book that you should
only look at once you have seen the film, as no twist or turn is left
unspoiled. The book contains the complete original screenplay illustrated with
dozens of stills from the movie and also includes scenes that were not shot for
budgetary reasons. What the book does best, however, is cover the writing and
filming process in detail through an extensive interview with Whedon and
Goddard, accompanied by plenty of behind the scenes photos and design sketches.
They discuss the problems of trying to shoot a summer movie in Canada during
the winter (snow!) and how they divided up the writing between them, providing
fascinating insight for any budding screenwriters. A large section of the book
is given over to the design of the film, with interviews from key players and
hundreds of photos, models, sketches and on-set photographs. The filmmakers
insisted on using physical effects over CGI wherever possible, meaning that
almost one hundred craftsmen and technicians were involved in putting the film
together on a relatively low budget and tight schedule.
The Cabin in the Woods was completed in
2010 but sat gathering dust on a shelf owing to the financial problems of MGM,
and was finally distributed by Lionsgate earlier this year. It really is a must
see not only for horror film fans, but for anyone interested in genuinely
intelligent and original filmmaking. 'The Cabin in the Woods: The Official
Visual Companion' is an excellent opportunity to pour over the intricate design
process and enjoy every last detail that may have been missed in the breathless
rush towards the film's conclusion. Just don't look at the book first.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON
By Adrian Smith
(This review pertains to the British Blu-ray release)
With a career spanning over fifty years,
from early British silent film to glossy Hollywood studio fare,Alfred Hitchcock
rarely faltered in presenting audiences with glamour, wit, excitement, scares
and thrills. To celebrate his achievements, the British Film Institute is
holding a four month long celebration in 2012 entitled The Genius of Hitchcock,
with screenings, events and major restorations of his early work. Eureka’s
release of the restored print of Lifeboat
is well timed.
One of Hitchcock’s more unusual film
experiments, Lifeboat was an attempt
to shoot an entire feature in one location, in this case a ragbag of survivors
adrift in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Their ocean liner, bound for
England, is torpedoed. Luckily, before it went down, they fired back and sank the
enemy vessel alongside their own. Newspaper reporter Connie Porter (Tallulah
Bankhead) is in the only remaining lifeboat, and is soon joined by several
other survivors, including crew members, a woman still clutching her drowned
baby, and in a shocking twist, a German, the only survivor from the Nazi U-Boat.
Tensions soon rise as they squabble over what to do with him, and how they are
going to survive as their food and water slowly runs out and they don’t know
which way to navigate to dry land.
The film is a technical triumph and deals
with Hitchcock’s familiar themes of mistrust, vengeance, betrayal and murder,
whilst still providing entertainment and moments of wry humour (including his
ingenious cameo appearance on the front of a newspaper). Bankhead is delightful as the socialite
reporter who desperately attempts to remain glamorous despite the hostile
conditions she is subjected to. At many points she is the voice of reason,
particularly as she is the only passenger able to speak to their captured Nazi
in his native tongue.
Imaginatively shot in Academy ratio 1:37:1,
Hitchcock explores every inch of the lifeboat from every conceivable angle, and
despite the close physical proximity of the passengers, he still demonstrates
the gulfs that lie between them, whether through class, politics, race or, in
the case of the Nazi, mistrust. The film features moments of humour to help
relieve the tension, something that Hitchcock was gifted at doing in all of his
films. Lifeboat is a tremendously
entertaining and exciting piece of filmmaking as it communicates the ultimate
futility of the conflict and the devastating effect it has on those who are
left behind. This new Blu-ray release includes two short films that Hitchcock
also directed, which may viewer may be unfamiliar with.. Bon Voyage and Aventure
Malgache were both shot in Elstree Studios in the UK in 1944 and deal
primarily with the French resistance. They can be seen as interesting
propaganda pieces and whilst not as timeless as Hitchcock’s more familiar work,
they are fascinating nonetheless and make terrific extras. The Blu-ray also
comes with a booklet featuring analytical essays for each of the three films.
By David Savage
NYC’s
Film Society of Lincoln Center Screening a Whole Summer’s Worth of Midnight
Movies
Midnight movies have been, in effect, the homeless
orphans of filmdom for the past 20 years.
Since the demise of their theatrical homes -- second or third-run movie houses
and drive-ins -- back in the 1980s, they've been regarded as too niche for corporate cable channels like IFC or TCM.
With no local-channel late shows in
existence to air them, their only home has been the home video market and the
art-house repertory circuit in cities like the New Beverly Cinema and
Cinefamily in Los Angeles, NYC's Anthology Film Archives, and a handful of
other venues around the country. In these politically sensitive times, there
are only so many places that will host a screening of Torso (1973).
This is strange, because midnight movies are not, in fact, unloved orphans.
They are obsessively loved, collected, talked about, fetishized, blogged,
tweeted and traded by a huge swath of filmgoers, basically anyone old enough to
remember attending one in their heyday of the early 60s--late 80s. But their
theatrical outlet remains severely limited due to a number of factors, mostly
due to the shortage of amenable venues, screenable prints (their fan base is
slow to warm to digital projections) and difficulty in marketing to younger
generations. But their influence
continues to be felt in everything from fashion and advertising to more
mainstream feature films, particularly those of Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino
-- both of whom owe their careers to the recreation of the midnight movie
phenomenon and aesthetic. (It was through Tarantino's enormous generosity that
the New Beverly Cinema was rescued from closure when he quietly bought it from
the owners in 2010 but allowed them to continue running it as they saw fit.)
This is one reason why museums and cultural institutions around the country are
taking notice and
programming midnight movies into their film calendars, in effect, giving these
genre films a second home in the 21st century, and in so doing elevating their
stature through the critical lens of the museum imprimatur.
Another reason is that these same museums and cultural
institutions contain millennial-generation
staff, for who anything from the 1980s is sacred. That is a less a scientific
observation than
an anecdotal one, but I'm standing by it.
I saw a screening of
Zardoz (1974) at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art last March in a Mystery Science 3000-inspired format,
including a hilarious trailer reel as an intro, before an audience of mostly
twenty-somethings. And NYC’s Museum of Art and Design in 2010 devoted an entire
week to Italian zombie films, which they called Zombo Italiano. The trend is picking up heat elsewhere.
Which leads me to my main point: The Film Society of Lincoln Center is
presenting a new series of Midnight Movies every Friday night, all summer long!
Now through August 31st.
In total contradiction to my above thesis, Film Comment Editor-in-Chief
series co-programmer Gavin Smith says: "Sometimes I sit in my office and
wonder why Béla Tarr couldn’t have filmed a live-action version of the game
Sodoku. Because if he had, we would program it in a second. But since he hasn’t
(at least so far, anything’s possible), we might as well throw The Texas
Chain Saw Massacre and Fritz the Cat on the screen and see what
happens."
Among the rarely screened gems in the series are: Logan's Run (June 15);
Lost Highway (July 6); The Evil Deada nd The Evil Dead II
(July 13 and 20, respectively); and The House by the Cemetery (August
3).
Films and showtimes: http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/midnight-movies
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