6 weird horror movies

Image via Wikipedia

This is a short list of horror movies that I thought were a little stranger than usual.

1. Parents (1989) Leave it to Beaver with gore.  1950s suburban boy suspects his parents are a bit odd in their meat-eating habits.  The only vegetarian horror movie I’ve seen.

2. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) El Laberinto del Fauno.  Young girl finds fairy allies against vicious stepfather/army officer during the Franco dictatorship. Technically not a horror movie but it’s the grimmest fantasy film I’ve seen in a while.  Returns to the earlier visions of faeries as dangerous as well as entrancing.

3. The Frighteners (1996)  Paranormal investigator faces off against murderous ghost. Starts off as a spooky sit-comedy and morphs into nastiness toward the end.  There is no audience this is meant for.  I still liked it.

4. Cemetary Man (1994) Dellamorte Dellamore. Caretaker Frances Dellamorte blows away zombies that pop up each night in the local cemetery.  All part of the job. The group I watched it with came up with an interpretation but not everyone enjoys movies this anti-linear.

5.  Chinese Ghost Story (1987) Sien nui yau wan.  Tax collector encounters a cursed town inhabited by unusual people.  The mid-film rap song by the swordsman was a deal-breaker for some of the people watching it. This was So Much Fun.

6. Uzumaki (2000).  High school student Kirie slowly comes to realize that her small town is haunted by spirals.  Yeah, spirals are out to mesmerize and kill everyone in town! Kind of lame as horror but it is still highly, highly entertaining.

The Orphanage (2007)

Image via Wikipedia

El Orfanato or The Orphanage is my new favorite Halloween movie.

Haunted Houses are my favorite kind of scary tale.  This one was light on the gore, so I especially liked it.  I also scare easily and the final part of the movie had me holding my viewing partner’s hand. But for regular people, I think it’s just suspenseful.

A young family moves into an old house that used to be an orphanage.  The parents are planning to open a home for kids who are disabled.  Needless to say, the family finds it is NOT ALONE.  Something super-spooky is the house and is threatening their family bonds and ultimately their lives.

Like all the best horror movies, this one is more about human fear and human relationships than it is about the supernatural.  The main relationship under the microscope is the one between cute kid Simon (Roger Princep) and his warm-hearted mother Laura (Belen Rueda).  Rueda gives a great performance in the panicking mother role that I usually dislike but I was rooting for her throughout the movie.  The house, though just a set, is beautiful to look at.  The story effortlessly moves between a kind of twisted fairy tale and contemporary story of a family melt-down.

I re-watched the movie with a women from Madrid.  Some trivia I gleaned: she used to play the “1,2,3 knock on the door” game.  When the boy asks if Santa Claus is a lie, he’s really asking about the three wise men who are the gift-givers.She said that Rueda used to be a television personality, very bubbly and cute.  Now I’m doubly impressive.

I hope, hope, hope that this not the last effort by this director.

Gatekeeper books 1&2

Book cover via Amazon

Except for some Star Trek books, I not read many media tie-in books.  Though this partly due to snobbery, it’s also because I just didn’t think it could be the same experience.  So, I picked up the first two books in the Gatekeeper trilogy written by Christopher Golden and Nancy Holder.  The first volume is called Out of the Madhouse and the second volume is

It is engrossing, though it’s more about adventure than it is about the interpersonal stuff.  The storyline is set at the end of season three, I think.

The first and second book deal with Buffy and gang hunting for a way to protect the gatekeeper who is the only one who can seal the portal to the afterlife.  I liked that the story moved back and forth in time (such as to the Renaissance) and also that they travel to Boston and even overseas.  This opens the story and makes it richer.  I preferred the original characters such as Michaela Tamasi to the canonical characters.  I also enjoyed the concept of the Gatehouse – holding monsters from all dimensions within a single house.

I will probably read the third volume if I encounter it but I’m not going to hunt for it.

More Not-Too-Scary Halloween Movies

Ghost and House

Last year I posted a short list of movies that were gore-free and jump-free, yet still quickened the pulse enough to match the season.  Here are some more.

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Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter(1974)  A young ex-soldier and his companion travel across England killing vampires and picking up cute girls.  This is more of an adventure than it is an outright horror movie.  As if Buffy Summers were a blond man in the 18th Century.  A bit of blood at the end but no real jump scares.

Corpse Bride (2005)  Tim Burton’s usual fair with some Gothic romance thrown in.  A bit icky about physical decay but that’s all.  Stop-motion.

The Orphanage (2007)  A mother’s young son goes missing in a haunted house.  One gory scene involving a car crash but mostly intensely creepy.  Spanish language.

Stir of Echoes (1999)  A young family man in Chicago starts hearing and seeing things that are not there.  A few scary appearances of ghostliness but no slashing or hacking.

The Haunting (1963) A group of psychic spend some time in a supposedly haunted house.  One or two definite jump-scares but not gory.

1001 Movies (162-221)

You know that book, “1001 movies you must watch before you die”?  When I was reading through the lists, I was thinking that if I were going to die in say, a year, I wouldn’t actually spend 2 hours out of my last 365 days on some of these movies.  So, I’m going through and deciding whether I think the movies on this list are all that great.  Fine morbid fun.

Movies 1-60 ::  Movies 61-100 ::  Movies 101-160 :: Movies 162-220

Movies 221-260 ::  Movies 261-300

On the rating system:
Watch anytime:  Superb entertainment
Repeat viewing: Good entertainment
Worth once: if you’ve nothing better to do
Historical significance: not for pleasure

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163. Shadow of a Doubt 1943
Type: mystery
Rating: worth once
Comments: This is worth watching but it’s not a necessity. See my full comments.

165. Meet Me in St. Louis 1944
Type: period
Rating: repeat viewing
Comments: I think this is like Little Women – a kind of all-American must-see for girls. I don’t know about the boys.  It’s my favorite Judy Garland musical – even better than Wizard of Oz. Fav moments: the Trolley song and the heartbreaking scene with the snowmen.

167. Laura 1944
Type: mystery
Rating: historical significance
Comments: This did not work for me.  But you could watch if your life is that meaningless.  See my full comments.

168. Gaslight 1944
Type: suspense
Rating: worth once
Comments:Fun woman-in-jeopardy film but not a must see.  It’s also amusing to see Angela Lansbury as a very young woman.

171. Double Indemnity 1944
Type: crime
Rating: repeat value
Comments: YES YES YES – I don’t really like film noir that much and I LOVED this one.  The storytelling is still razor-sharp, and the characters are fascinating.

182. Brief Encounter 1945
Type: romance
Rating: historical significance
Comments: This one made me gag.  Everyone appears to love it.  They’re probably right.  But…the only character I liked was the cuckolded husband.  I don’t think he deserved his stupid wife.

187. Beauty and the Beast 1946
Type: fantasy
Rating: repeat viewing
YES. This should be seen by anyone who enjoys fairy tales or fantasy.

188. Big Sleep 1946
Type: mystery
Rating: repeat viewing
Comments: This one is my favorite Humphrey Bogart movie.  It’s perfect for him, which makes it perfect for watching.  I prefer watching movies in groups but this one is best watched alone on a rainy evening.

194. It’s a Wonderful Life 1946
Type: fantasy
Rating: repeat viewing
Comments: Yeah – I know it was running each Christmas for years.  But it’s still quite good.

195. Gilda 1946
Type: crime
Rating: worth once
Comments: I haven’t seen this one in a while.  As I recall, it was a well done piece of drama.

197. Out of the Past 1947
Type: crime
Rating: worth once
Comments: Solid movie.  See my full comments.

198. Ghost and Mrs. Muir 1947
Type: fantasy
Rating: worth once
Comments: This one drags in the last half hour but charming enough at the beginning.  A nice contribution to the Gothic/Paranormal romance with a couple of well-drawn characters.

206. Rope 1948
Type: crime
Rating: historical significance
Comments: Dull. Dull. Dull.  I can believe that some incredibly sensitive and thoughtful people have had their life changed by this movie.  Didn’t work for me.

220. The Third Man 1949
Type: spy
Rating: worth once
Comments: In a humanity-is-worthless kind of way, this is very much worth seeing.  My full comments.

After the break is the full list from 162 to 221:

Flame of Recca, disc 6

For the first time since I started watching this series, the pre-fight posturing bored me.  Then again, that could be due to watching disc 7 first.  It made me impatient.

The leader of Team Ku,  Kukai, was dull.  He was dull as the saint and dull as his later incarnation.  His backstory was boring.  Bleh.

I liked Saicho.  I not only liked his personality but I liked that he recites poetry to build up his chi.  It’s difficult for me to think of a USA movie with poetry-reciting fighter, other than Aragorn in G. I. Jane.  And in reference to the poetry, the joke about Tokiya’s snobbish attitude made me laugh.

The best scene was when Yanagi realized that she’s a cipher in the storyline.  Her healing power has all but been dropped by the writers.  Nevertheless, Recca, perhaps mindful of potential nookie, attempts to bolster her flagging self-esteem.  It works because they go sparkle-vision for each other.

Ultimately, Recca plays with his fire-dragons and people get the hell knocked out of them.  Not surprising but very satisfying.

TV Tropes – website

The time I usually set aside for finishing my post, I spent reading the TV Tropes Wiki instead.  It’s amazingly entertaining – and one of the better resources on current fandom that I’ve found.

Here are a couple of tropes that I found particularly entertaining:

Red String of Fate – couples who get together just because.  Something I find tiresome.

Bishie Sparkle – a webcomic that demonstrates.

Uncanny Valley – explains why I used to hate those store mannequins when I was a kid.

Hatedom – people who enjoy to hating a book or film, etc.  So often these feelings get diverted from the work to the people who enjoy it.

It makes me regret publicizing my reaction to Stephenie Meyer’s New Moon.  I don’t feel any differently about the book but I dislike adding, even in a small way, to the general disparagement of young women.  I’ll have to think about this.

Finally, Everything’s Better with Princesses.  Inarguable.

Moon Child (2003)

Gackt

When I was a child and a young teen, I avoided scary movies at all costs.  But when I started college, I began to watch horror movies on a limited basis.  That left me with a lot of unwatched horror movies.

Last Halloween, I attempted to watch all the best horror movies of the 70s and 80s.  The horror movies of the 70s (e.g., Jaws; Carrie; The Exorcist) were pretty good but I didn’t care for the slashers in the 80s (exceptions: Nightmare on Elm Street; Evil Dead).  I offended my friends by dismissing their favorite movies, so I won’t be discussing them here.  People are too sensitive about their slasher films.

HYDE

At any rate, this year I decided to watch classic movies and Asian horror films.  The classic movies have fallen by the wayside but I have watched some Asian horror movies.  I have watched Ringu and Ju-On but that’s about it. My comments on Whispering Corridors and Charisma came out of this effort.

I thought I’d take a break and watch Moon Child.  This movie features pop stars Gackt and Hyde in the lead roles.  I imagined the movies would be vehicle along the lines of Crossroads (saw trailer) or Glitter (saw one scene).  I expected a bunch of pretty vampires wafting their way through a lightweight story with musical interludes.  That’s not quite what Moon Child is.

There is a duet, of sorts, between the 2 leads.  It has got a vampire but that’s more of an affectation than condition of being.  The story, though wildly inconsistent, is meant to be serious.  I think.

Sho (Gackt) is an urchin who is defended by an ailing vampire.  Sho latches onto the vampire named Kei (Hyde) and he grows up to become a gangster.  Sho and Kei make a pretty couple and they gather a makeshift family around themselves.  Kwok (Yi-Chen), a mute Taiwanese woman, becomes a sort of love interest but she’s not that interesting.

Things then take a turn for the worse.

Perhaps if they had chosen a more mundane story, it might have been more effective.  The little bits such as the kidding at the lunch prepared by Kwok or while Kwon is patching them after a shootup, were actually quite nice.

Or when they smirk over the European delighted with his new tattoo in kanji that reads “Kitchen” instead of “Ninja.”  That was cute.

The most effective story-line was that of the strong friendship between Sho and Kei.  It could be seen to have romantic undercurrents.

I’m not a fan of either singer.  I didn’t know which character was played by which singer till the end of the movie, to be honest.  But I have to say that Gackt was fun to watch. His voice has an interesting quality and his eyes are rather strange, somehow.  I think it’s the eyeliner.

Moon Child could work for as a mockamon but I didn’t laugh myself silly† as I had expected to.

After the cut are links and spoilers a few things that puzzled me.          †and one part that did make me laugh.

Charisma (1999)

A police officer, Goro Yabuike (Kouji Yakusho), is forced to go on vacation and he travels to a remote place in the country.  There he finds the inhabitants obsessed about an unusual tree.  Yabuike must take a side in the conflict and choose a philosophy that he can more-or-less die for.

In short, it’s a movie about a tree.  A tree named Charisma.

Whispering Corridors (1998)

Despite some lukewarm reviews I read, I found this movie thoroughly enjoyable.

At an all-girl high school in South Korea, one girl is attacking people in the evenings. It could be the artist Lim Ji-oh (Kim Gyu-ri), the shy girl Youn Jae-yi (Choi Se-yeon), the smart girl (Young-Soo Park?), or the surly-looking girl Kim Jung-sook (Yun Ji-hye). There is also a young, unsure teacher Hur Eun-young (Lee Mi-yeon) who has returned to teach in her former school.

All the characters have painful secrets. However, the attacker has preternatural speed and strength, which means she is not entirely human.There are some gory bits but it was mostly about the atmosphere and mystery.

My first and strongest reaction was, “Surely, Korean schools aren’t that tough?” The girls are almost entirely compliant but the teachers have nothing but contempt for them. They physically abuse the girls (hitting them with rulers, knocking them to the ground). One of the teachers, Mr. Oh, is constantly making sexual advances to the girls. If the girls whisper to one another, he accuses them of being “degenerate.”

High school as a metaphorical hell has never been quite as blatant.

According to some of the things I’ve read (Metropolitician and Pop Matters ), the movie was protested by the South Korean teachers’ organization. The director Park Ki-hyeong discusses his film – short and worth reading.  It’s been ten years since the film was made, and these issues may be moot.

All the girls were individuals and were neither perfectly sweet nor perfectly vile. In the world of the movie the girls are faced with a struggle both in high school and further on in life. While I didn’t exactly like all of the girls, their problems made them interesting. I also liked that the relationships between women, good and bad, were at the center of the story.

I don’t believe I’d seen any Korean films before this one, so it was a new and intriguing experience for me. It made me interested in seeing the sequels to this movie and other South Korean movies not in the horror genre. Recommended.