HAPPY HALLOWEEN

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2021. 

If you can do without the Covid crowds just stay home on Halloween and watch some good -- or so bad they're good -- horror movies. This week we've got a fresh crop of films to watch and books to read on both this blog -- and in a few days -- Great Old Movies as well. 

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS

WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (2006). Director: Simon West. 

Jill Johnson (Camilla Belle) is hired by a doctor and his wife to babysit their two young children, who are asleep upstairs in their luxurious estate complete with aviary and goldfish pond. Jill begins to receive strange phone calls in which she hears someone breathing, and then a sinister and threatening voice. She gets a shock when she discovers exactly where the calls are coming from and engages in a fight for survival for her and her two charges against a maniacal intruder. 

When a Stranger Calls is loosely based on the original film of the same name, which in turn was based on a film short by Fred Walton. Instead of merely remaking the first movie, which had three acts (much of which had little to do with a terrified babysitter), Stranger manages the admirable feat of expanding the short into a full-length feature of just one setting and one act (aside from a brief prologue). What is even more amazing is that the film is able to sustain  tension and suspense over an hour and a half, building inexorably to an exciting and frightening climax.

When a Stranger Calls is not a slasher film and gore geeks will be disappointed, but the film is well-made enough that it doesn't need the lopped-off limbs and spurting blood so frequently seen in modern-day horror films. Camilla Belle's performance is at times on the amateurish side, but even that doesn't harm the movie too badly. With slick direction from Simon West, high-class cinematography by Peter Menzies, Jr., and an effective score by Jim Dooley, this one is a winner all the way. 

Verdict: Well-made, creepy and absorbing thriller. ***.  

POPULATION /436

POPULATION /436 (2006). Director: Michelle MacLaren. 

Census taker Steve Kady (Jeremy Sisto of Law and Order) shows up in the bucolic small town of Rockwell Falls, where he discovers that year after year the population remains exactly the same: 436 people. As Steve leisurely interviews the assorted townspeople, he finds himself falling for a pretty young lady, Courtney (Charlotte Sullivan), who happens to be keeping company with the friendly Deputy Caine (Fred Durst). Steve discovers that odd things are happening in Rockwell Falls and an act of sudden and shocking violence makes clear to him why the population always stays the same. The question is: can he and Courtney ever get out of the place? 

Jeremy Sisto

Population 436 borrows from numerous sources -- The Lottery, Harvest Home, The Stepford Wives, The Wicker Man and even Brigadoon -- but on its own terms it's a suspenseful story, bolstered by some good photography (Thomas Burstyn), music (Glenn Buhr), and good performances from Sisto and Durst (who is especially notable) and several members of the supporting cast. Maybe it's the overfamiliarity of the plot -- another "small town with a dread secret" -- or a lack of true intensity, a kind of TV movie feel, that keeps this from being more memorable, although it is nevertheless compelling for most of its length.

Verdict: Perhaps not quite top-notch but worth a look. **3/4.   

THE SCHOELLECTION

THE SCHOELLECTION. 2021. Encyclopocalypse publishers. 

Will the horror never end?

Yes, all of my eight vintage horror-suspense novels have been re-published in paperback editions. The titles -- Things that Go Bump in the Night, Shivers, Late at Night, Vicious, Saurian, Dragon, The Pact, Fatal Beauty -- can be bought separately as trade paperbacks, or combined into one mass market paperback, with two books in each volume:

The Schoellection (I love it!) 

Volume One: Things that Go Bump in the Night and Shivers.

Volume Two: Late at Night and Vicious. 

Volume Three: Saurian and The Pact. 

Volume Four: Dragon and Fatal Beauty. 

Each title is also available as an e-book from Cemetery Dance publishers. 

You can see all the editions of my books on Amazon. 

NOTE: My most recent novel, Monster World, is also available on Anazon for Kindle. (Paperback coming soon!)

I'LL ALWAYS KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER

Brooke Nevin and David Paetkau

I'LL ALWAYS KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (2006). Director: Sylvain White. 

At a 4th of July celebration in a small town in Colorado, a prank that revolves around a series of slayings years ago turns into a tragedy and a resulting cover-up.  A year later Amber (Brooke Nevin), her boyfriend, Colby (David Paetkau) and their friends receive "I Know What You Did" text messages and eventually find themselves stalked and murdered by the fisherman-with-a-hook killer of the first two films in this series. 

The cast discover a corpse

I'll Always Know is, surprisingly, not a remake of I Know What You Did Last Summer, but the second sequel to the film, and it refers to events in the first two movies. The fisherman killer has been turned into a kind of supernatural force -- a la Freddie, Jason and Michael Myers -- which may explain the character's ability to cheat death but is most likely an attempt to create a new horror franchise. This is unlikely, given that the film is mediocre, has an off-putting lack of style, as well as a lack of energy and thrills, and is poorly directed and edited. Horror fanatics may watch it until the end -- and it does hold the attention for the most part -- but it's not a memorable entry in the slasher sweepstakes. 

Verdict: One summer you don't need to revisit. **. 

A QUIET PLACE

Emily Blunt

A QUIET PLACE (2018). Director: John Krasinski. 

In the near-future the world seems to have been virtually wiped out by strange, fast-moving creatures that are attracted by sound. Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt of Irresistible) and her family -- husband Lee (John Krasinksi, who also directed), daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), and son Marcus (Noah Jupe) -- periodically leave their isolated home for food raids in the nearby town, but one afternoon their little boy (Cade Woodward) is snatched and never seen again. Evelyn is pregnant, and the family -- while remaining as quiet as possible -- must figure out a way to keep the screams of an infant from attracting the monsters when the baby  arrives ... 

In the grain bin

A Quiet Place has an interesting premise and other notable attributes. The film is well-cast with actors who not only have talent but great expressive faces, which along with the script help add a strong emotional component to the movie, something missing from most monster flicks. At times there's a Perils of Pauline quality to the movie, with one desperate incident piled on top of one another, and memorable scenes include the grisly sacrifice of one major character, a harrowing sequence set in a grain bin, the birth of the baby, among others. The film also boasts striking cinematography by Charlotte Bruus Christensen.

However, there's no getting around the fact that the film features contrived situations made to maximize the suspense and tension, so the moody film won't work for everyone, but in general it's a worthwhile thriller with several good sequences. I was hoping that the sequel would go in a different direction and offer some explanation for the creatures' existence, but instead I hear that this is simply a continuation of the first film. In other words, more of the same. 

Verdict: Sort of like a high-class Roger Corman movie. ***. 

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)

Dana Wynter and Kevin McCarthy

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956). Director: Don Siegel. 

In the small town of Santa Mira, the recently divorced Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) rekindles a romance with the also recently divorced Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter). However, their relationship has to take a back seat when there seems to be an epidemic of people insisting that their loved ones are not their loved ones. Miles believes this may be a form of mass hysteria, until his friends Jack and Theodora Belicec (King Donovan and Carolyn Jones) call him after they discover what appears to be a weird corpse on their pool table, a corpse that resembles a not-fully-formed version of Jack. Then they discover huge seed pods inside which duplicates of the townspeople are growing ... 

Something frightful on the pool table

This classic horror science-fiction movie has gotten even better with age. It packs a lot into an economical 80 minutes, and is beautifully paced and directed. McCarthy gives an especially passionate performance as a desperate man trying to not only save the woman he has always loved but the town and indeed the world as well. Wynter also gives a fine performance, along with Donovan and many others; Jones is particularly notable. Indeed the film is packed with interesting fifties performers, including Jean Willes as Miles' nurse, Sally; Virginia Christine as Becky's cousin, Wilma; Dabbs Greer, Larry Gates and others. Whit Bissell and Richard Deacon feature in the film's framing sequences, which were omitted in re-release.

Paranoid? Kevin McCarthy

Credit must be given to Daniel Mainwaring's script, Carmen Dragon's evocative score, and especially Ellsworth Fredericks' superb cinematography in "Super Scope." Although he did turn in fine directorial jobs on other films, this remains the high-water mark in the career of Don Siegel. The greenhouse sequence when all the pods are discovered with its off-kilter angles is only one of several notable sequences. The film's one great flaw is the utter illogic of Becky's "conversion" and one wishes the filmmakers had handled it much differently, but by no means does it strip the film of impact and enjoyment. 

Verdict: This is a real creepy treat. This is as much a well-crafted suspense thriller as it is a classic horror sci-fi film. ***1/2. 

LAW AND ORDER UK

Bradley Walsh and Jamie Berber

LAW AND ORDER UK British television series; 53 episodes. 2009. 

The American series Law and Order had just about wrapped up its twenty-year run, when producer Dick Wolf came out with this British version which ran for five seasons and 53 episodes. The series reused storylines from the American show but the scripts were re-written, with occasional changes in plot or outcome, and of course the characters of the cops and prosecutors were all different, making this essentially a completely different series despite the utilization of some familiar premises. A mainstay throughout the entire series was Bradley Walsh who superbly played detective Ronnie Brooks in every single episode. Like Lennie Briscoe in the American version, he was a reformed alcoholic, but there the resemblance ended. Ronnie had more compassion than Briscoe and he never made quips over dead bodies like Briscoe did. Jamie Berber was also outstanding as Ronnie's first partner, Matt Devlin. 

Daniels, Agyeman, Paterson

The original prosecuting team consisted of Ben Daniels as James Steel, Freema Agyeman as Alesha Phillips, and Bill Paterson as George Castle. (Like Jack McCoy on the original L & O, Steel had affairs with numerous co-workers, and left the series after being put on trial for misconduct.) Other fine actors appeared as replacements for both cops and ADAs over the years, but the original team was arguably the best. As good as the acting could be on the American version, these British actors had them beat. 

Among the more notable episodes were: "Vice," in which a cop is found dead in his car and in a compromising position; "Unsafe," in which Steel grabbles with a sociopath brilliantly played by Iain Glen; "Buried," in which a woman has memories of her father murdering a childhood friend; "Alesha," in which the prosecutor is raped by a gynecologist; "Shaken," which poses the question of which person shook a little baby to death. In "Crush" a prostitute's client is accused of her murder. "Intent" asks if a man murdered a couple at his parents' old house when he was drunk. "Survivor's Guilt" has the murderer of a major character  put on trial. In "Paternal" a deadbeat dad  is shot in his hotel room. "Hard Stop" examines the murders of a mob boss and several witnesses. "Haunted" poses an interesting dilemma: a man offers up a deathbed confession, but another suspect has already been convicted of the crime. Every episode of the series is available on Amazon Prime. 

Verdict: Possibly a bit better than the original series, with some great acting and stories (even if recycled). ***. 

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW A. J. Finn

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW. A J. Finn. William Morrow;2018.

Anna Fox suffers from agoraphobia and lives by herself in an East Harlem townhouse. Her husband left her and took their daughter with him, but Anna stays in communication with them. She spends her time -- in addition to heavy drinking and pill popping -- watching her neighbors, including a couple across the way who have a troubled teenage son, Ethan. One afternoon Anna is helped by, and gets to know, Ethan's mother, Jane, but some time later she appears to see Jane being stabbed through the window of the other building. However, the police think it is all an alcoholic, drug-influenced fantasy. Ethan's mother shows up -- and is a completely different woman from the one Anna met before. The Woman in the Window is well-written and it initially holds your attention, but the twists in the story -- and the identity of the true villain -- are so obvious that it pretty much ruins your enjoyment of the novel and you're just turning pages to get it over with. There are way too many recycled ideas in the book, but once it got bought for the movies (on Netflix, at least) it was destined for bestseller-hood. Serious fans of mystery and suspense books will find this a major disappointment. 

Verdict: Badly overhyped -- paging Agatha Christie. **1/4. 

BARE BONES

BARE BONES 7. Summer 2021. Edited by Peter Enfantino and John Scoleri. 

Bare Bones is a thick trade paperback quarterly periodical that covers genre films, books. magazines, and comics in both a scholarly and entertaining fashion. The latest issue, in which I'm very happy to be a contributor, includes an article on filmmaker Stuart Gordon's Lovecraft adaptations by Matthew R. Bradley; a roundtable on Quentin Tarantino's novelization of his film Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood; a look at comic book adaptations of popular genre movies by yours truly entitled Fantastic Comics of the Silver Screen; "Sleaze Alley," Peter Enfantino's reviews of paperback crime fiction titles; David J. Schow on movie novelizations; and more on crime digests, pulp magazines and the like. The magazine is printed on thick paper stock and is well worth the price at only $9.95. it can be ordered on amazon. 

The cover of Bare Bones 7 is taken from the cover of Gold Key's excellent movie adaptation of King Kong, which was published decades after the film came out.

SATAN'S TRIANGLE

Doug McClure and Kim Novak

SATAN'S TRIANGLE (1975 telefilm). Director: Sutton Roley.

A Coast Guard copter comes across what appears to be a deserted yacht, although there are corpses -- and one live female -- on board. Lt. Haig (Doug McClure) tries to rescue Eva (Kim Novak) but the cable snaps before they can be lifted into the copter. Back on board, Eva tells Haig her story: they are in a part of the sea known as the Devil's Triangle, and supernatural things began to happen after a priest (Alejandro Rey), who survived a plane crash, is taken on board. Haig insists that there is a natural explanation for all of the deaths, including the sight of the corpse of the ship's wealthy owner, Hal (Jim Davis), which appears to be simply floating in mid-air in his cabin. But Haig may be in for a very rude awakening ... 

Alejandro Rey

Satan's Triangle is yet another movie about the Bermuda Triangle, even though it is never referred to by that name (nor as Satan's Triangle, either). It has a creepy premise and a good ending but the direction is so mediocre that what might have been a nail-biter is just another flaccid Movie-of-the-Week. We also have such cliches as the priest who councils a fallen woman, the former prostitute, Eva -- these two nearly make out in a scene which might at least have been interesting --  and some of the outdoor scenes seem to be shot through a smeared and grimy lens. The musical score is hopeless and aside from Rey and Michael Conrad as Haig's co-pilot the acting is generally poor as well. Rey portrayed the playboy in The Flying Nun TV series and he's quite effective in this. 

Verdict: Sort of like an EC comics horror story but not as good. **1/4.