"The plague of the zombies" 5/10

The first zombie was actually quite frightening. The rest was... blah.

House of Usher (1960)

A Poetic Poe Adaptation.

>>: B+

flight of the phoenix

The Wolf Man.

The Innocents (1961)

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The film starts with Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr), a nineteenth century British governess, is appointed to take care of two children, Flora and Miles. Upon arriving at the bleak mansion she meets the housekeeper and also Flora. Miles arrives a few days later from school. The children seem like little angels but, following a series of bizarre events and examples of the children's wicked impulses, Miss Giddens begins to suspect that all is not what it seems. An unresolved mystery that charges the events of this Gothic story with a dreadful sense of uncertainty far more thrilling than the simple supernatural chills of a typical haunted house movie.

The film made masterly in every way with a great performance from beautiful Deborah Kerr as the troubled Victorian governess, superb black-and-white wide screen photography by Freddie Francis and Georges Auric's truly distinguished soundtrack of laughs and whispers. Not forget to add the remarkable performances by the two children, and we're given a ghost story that stays with us not because of spring-loaded frights, but because of how it tingles our nervous system throughout the eerie, unsettling finale. Truman Capote's screenplay centered on the question: are the two children really possessed by the ghosts of the dead, or is their governess merely imagining everything? Producer-director Jack Clayton keeps the film firmly grounded in reality, so that the essence of this psychological study strikes far more strongly.

The Innocents is one of the most intelligent and evocative ghost story filmed in those golden years of cinema when the audience around the globe witnessed some brilliant celluloid works on English Gothic and Psychological horror ever made. This film adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw is like a lost Titanic that sunk into the middle of the phenomenal success of Psycho (1960), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and The Haunting (1963).

>>: A

Good review, Ros.

And I agree.

sink the bismarck

Godzilla, King Of The Monsters



Awesome movie

Dead of Night (1945)

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Directed by 4 different directors Dead of Night is absolutely one of the best horror anthology ever made. When an architect--Walter Craig, shows up on an assignment at a country house full of people, he's disturbed to find that practically he never met them before but remembers from a recurring nightmare. A psychiatrist among them tries to convince him that his fears are unfounded, while the remaining guests proceed to share their own spooky stories one after another, followed by an amazing surreal conclusion.

All five stories are effective in their own way, but two stand above the others...The Haunted Mirror and The Ventriloquist & his Dummy! The guy who played the role of disturbed Ventriloquist did a brilliant job, to some extent I think he was as great as Anthony Perkins was in Psycho (1960).

Still today what really elevates Dead of Night from any other anthology pieces is the framing story, which not only ties all the individual tales together, but also succeeds in trumping all of them in originality and surely it left a definite influential effect on the genre. The movie that starts with one of its character's confession about his bizarre repeating nightmare finally ends up becoming the viewer's own nightmare. The surprising twist at the end that goes a long way after the screen fades off, and makes it a must-see for fans of classic horror films.

>>: A-

I'm not sure whether there is any remake already made or not but if there will ever one I think William Macy can do a fairly decent adaptation of the role of the main character Walter Craig. But is there anyone can do the ventriloquist like that actor of the original? I don't think so...therefore the remake may eventually lead to another disaster like Psycho.

Loving these reviews, Roshiq!