Christopher Lee Remembered

Fuck

This is what everyone had to wake up to; a living legend no longer among the living.  Yet my own personal feelings of sadness override the thought that Sir Christopher Lee will always be with us through his various works.  It’s strange to be connected with an actor in such a way, through the medium of his films that we feel like we are personally involved with his life, despite never even meeting him.  Many fans never got to meet Lee but that doesn’t do much to stop the sadness.  If there is any kind of solace to be had it’s in the fact that we never really knew the real Christopher Lee.  That privilege was granted to a select few; his wife, his daughter, friends, family, and numerous work colleagues.  The Lee we all know and love is immortalized in the films we’ve watched countless times.  Whether it be a crude monster created in a laboratory, or a vampire deadset on killing Peter Cushing, these films are timeless and harken back to a time where an actor’s success wasn’t dictated by their youth or physical appearance, but on their experience, imagination, and instincts.  Lee knew exactly what he was.  Having openly admitted that acting school can only teach you so much, his mannerisms and acting style was entirely his own.  In a sort of steadfast confidence, Lee absolutely stole the show in every film he was ever in.  Stillness.  That was a trademark of the Lee brand.  “Never move unless absolutely necessary”.  Peter Cushing would have a slightly different philosophy.

It’s scary every time

I sort of took Lee for granted, honestly.  I grew up with his films and figured as long as he kept making them, he’d live forever.  I remember the first time I became aware of him as an actor.  My mom had taken me to see the film Sleepy Hollow and at some point later she told me, “you know the actor who played the burgomaster?  That’s Christopher Lee, the guy who played Dracula in all those old Hammer films.”

I didn’t believe her.

Back then I had no IMDB to check the facts but sure enough, Horror of Dracula came on one Saturday morning after a stellar Mystery Science Theater 3000.  His name shown bright red on the credits, not to mention his colossal silhouette at the top of the staircase in the count’s Technicolor debut.  Though he had only about 9 lines of dialog throughout his debut as King of the Undead (and zero in the follow-up), Lee cemented himself, next to Lugosi, as the archetype for Dracula; something that would be used as template, but never quite recaptured, in the countless revisions of the famous vampire tale.

Halloween costume goals

I’d like to briefly identify three specific films Lee made while with Hammer Film Productions.  Of course, many associate the actors longevity with the company with playing the Dracula character but these films, I find, better illustrate Lee’s acting talents and overall charisma.

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

Made a year after his debut as the Count, The Hound of the Baskervilles was a Sherlock Holmes tale that was given a healthy dose of gothic, fermented in melodrama, and left dripping with mood.  Opposite good friend Peter Cushing who played Holmes, Lee, while not necessarily playing a bad guy, still manages to get under the audiences skin.  Lee had a disdain for playing the hero as he found it rather boring.  His character in this film, Sir Henry Baskerville, was weak, rude, and arrogant, something Lee pulled off effortlessly.  We are first introduced to his character when Holmes and Watson (played by Andre Morell) meet Sir Henry at his hotel in London.  He immediately mistakes them for the managers of the hotel and demand to know where his missing boot is (talk about getting off on the wrong foot).  After making his round of apologizes, Sir Henry falls in love with a poor farm girl who lives close to his newly acquired residence at Baskerville Hall.  But the jokes on him when he finds out she’s his cousin!  Oh, and also she wants to kill him.  Overall, a healthy amount of dialogue and screen time feel refreshing when compared to his time as the Count.  I think I’ve watched this film over 200 times as it was on every day on Showtime during my senior year.  The routine never got old: come home for lunch, watch The Hound, go back to school, come home, watch it again.  You really can’t get sick of this movie.

You handsome bastard

The Gorgon (1964)

Want to see Lee play the lead role which was most likely written for Cushing?  Then watch this fairytale-like horror film where Hammer borrows from Greek mythology to try and create their own monster.  Up until this time, Hammer relied on retellings of the Universal monsters, with much success, but had failed to come up with their own signature creature.  While there were notable attempts (the Reptile, maybe even Rasputin), I’ve found The Gorgon to be the most original.  The story isn’t too crazy: little off-the-beaten-path village has people turning to stone and no one wants to talk about why cause the villagers all live in fear of a snake headed lady spirit.  You know…that old chestnut.  Lee plays Professor Meinster, a somewhat dashing college professor who decides to help out his TA by going to Vandorf to solve the mystery of these murders.  Cushing plays the villain and seems to have adopted Lee’s trademark stillness in the process.  Lee, while now a good guy, still manages to inject a bit of intolerance into the character.  While being a lesser known film, it still stands as one of Hammers best and a film lovers treat as we watch Lee and Cushing trying to out act each other.

“Give me your lunch money, Peter”

The Devil Rides Out (1968)

Also known as the Devil’s Bride, because American’s might have thought it was a Western, The Devil Rides Out is widely thought of as one of the last classics Hammer ever put out.  Lee plays the Duc de Richleau (Nicholas) and with friend Rex Van Ryn (Leon Greene) they try to pull their friend Simon from the clutches of Mocata (Charles Gray), whom has tempted Simon into the dangerous world of black magic.  Lee is confident as hell in this one.  He knows exactly what he’s doing and has a no-nonsense approach to combating the forces of evil.  The film itself, which I enjoy thoroughly, has its ups and downs.  One moment the special effects could really wow you, while others seem simply mundane and ill thought out.  The same can be said about the pace of the film.  One thing I really do like about it, which deviates from others in the Hammer canon, is the film jumps into the action almost as soon as the opening credits are run through.  The music, per Hammer regular Bernard Robinson, is superbly sinister.  If the extremely religious undertones of the film don’t put you off, this film is a great break from the monsters and vampires we are used to seeing with Hammer, and sends us down a darker sort of path.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So what are you waiting for?  Grab your favorite red wine, get your favorite horror buffs together, and spend a quality night with Mr. Lee.  And while reciting every line and recounting fun facts for all your friends, try to imagine Lee and Cushing reenacting these films in heaven.  Okay, that was lame…just keep watching the films, dammit, and never stop.  If we do, the Count can never truly die.  RIP big guy.

Dissecting…Fantastic Planet (1973) [La Planète Sauvage]

Every once in a while, I’ll come across a film that is a. under-appreciated, b. largely unknown, c. ahead of its time, d. widely open to interpretation, e. timeless.

Break it down!

The under-appreciated said film may be too conceptually abstract for the general public to grasp its concepts.  So it goes widely unknown but because of the production quality, layered with its gripping story arc, it’s rediscovered through out-of-print DVD’s, limited TV showings, and holier-than-thou hipsters.  This usually occurs years later and, in all likelihood, should have never happened but because it was ahead of its time, it takes people awhile to appreciate the vision and execution of the film.  Film critics and stoners alike will likely dissect the fuck out of the given film (because they’re both probably stoners) and look for the “hidden meaning” or other interpretations other than what is initially on the surface. Because of it’s above-average quality and production, which keeps us interested, and the potential for an infinite amount of interpretations, it develops a timeless feel to it and thus rendering it a bonafide Cult Classic. 

That’s where this film comes in.

Fantastic Planet, released in France as La planète sauvage, was a Rene Laloux directed film that took 5 years to complete.  Laloux was the only member of the production team that was not Czechoslovakian.  I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it but legend has it the Czech team tried to have Laloux removed early on and replace him with their own Czech director (Czech yo self, Loux!).  I guess that really didn’t work and this movie actually got made.  One of the production crew, Roland Topor, was the production designer for the film, and responsible for the films surreal and unearthly design.

No one’s accusing Topor of using LSD

What’s Going On Here?

Okay, so believe it or not, this film actually DOES have a solid story arc.  I know it kind of looks like Dr. Seuss smoked crack before he dove into a bowl of Lucky Charms, but you’d be surprised how well put together this film is.

We’re introduced to a woman running with a baby clutched in her arms.  She’s picked up and dropped by a giant blue hand.  Panning back we see three adolescent Traags (giant blue aliens) playing with the Om (human).  When they see Master Sinh and his daughter Tiwa approaching, they scatter like teenagers caught with a Playboy.  Sinh, who is somewhat of an elder among the Traag community, lets Tiwa keep the baby Om as a pet.

This is when Terr, the name given to the baby Om by Tiwa, begins narrating the story.  Terr is kept as a domesticated pet, complete with a remote controlled collar and dressed up in ridiculous fashions by his owners.  This reminds me of when my grandmother use to paint her dogs nails.  Terr observes the Traags frequently in a meditative state where their consciousness seemingly floats away from them in a bubble.  He also notes of the Traags learning methods.  Using electronic headbands, Traags are able to learn any subject they choose.  He eventually runs away with one of these learning devices and goes to live with the wild Oms in the park.

The costume my dog is wearing for Halloween 2015

Terr eventually educates a band of wild Oms in the park with the learning headband he stole from Tiwa.  With it, the Oms learn to read Traag writing.  When the Traag’s decide to de-ominize the park (similar to an exterminator bombing your apartment to kill all the lady bugs), the Oms quickly see the writing on the wall and flee, warning several other neighboring groups.  Through continuous use of the learning device, the Oms build rockets and ascend to Ygam aka the Fantastic Planet.  This is where the Traag’s consciousness come to mate…yeah, it’s weird.  They do a sort of meditation where their soul, for lack of a better world, floats in the form of a bubble to the Fantastic Planet.  These bubbles then rest on the neck of headless statues and they begin to do some sort of pre-mating dance with others.  If that didn’t make any sense to you, see below.

Did you use to have this music box?

Once armed with knowledge and a desire to equalize their oppressors, the Oms organize an attack on these dancing, mating statues, completely ruining the Traags mid-day meditation (major Traag, dude).  The Traags, recognizing the potential and advancement of the Om species, calls a truce where the Oms and Traags can live in peace together.  It all seems very foreign and bizarre, but there are actually quite a lot of interesting parallels that we can relate to in our own world.

The days when rock, paper, scissors simply wouldn’t suffice

Things I’ve Noticed (or have stolen from other people)

This movie is considered to be the first film to address speciesism.  When you kill a bug in your house, most likely you don’t try to drink the pain away later.  But why is that?  Is a bug’s life worth less than say a dog, or a cat?  Simply saying the bug is smaller doesn’t really justify anything, besides; a goldfish is pretty small too.  Well, perhaps it’s because the bug wasn’t invited into your home to begin with.  In that case, if a stray cat found its way into your place, chances are you’d probably just bonk its head with a newspaper, directing it strategically towards the door.  This film forces you to think about these things, and if the right to live is based on size or intelligence, in the absence of justice for the sake of convenience.

The daily meditation ritual the Traags perform kind of reminds me of virtual reality and, in today’s standard, seems like a modern equivalent to the internet.  They all just seem to download their consciousness to this “fantastic planet” where they can hook up with other Traag sphere-heads (kind of like online dating).  It’s an interesting parallel that predated the internet by about 20 years.

Speaking of which, Terr escapes the domesticated lifestyle he has with his Traag owners and brings one of their learning devices with him.  This device helps educate the wild Oms to be able to read Traag writing and avoid their own extermination.  Slowly, with the aid of the device, the small tribes of Oms are able to launch a counteroffensive, equalizing the Traags power.  Does this remind you of anything that’s relevant today?  Something that is so crucial to the progression and sustainability of a culture that if it disappeared or fell into enemy hands would render its users defenseless?  A hint, you’re on it right now…the internet!  You see, this film was so ahead of its time that it predicted the fall of Western civilization by our over utilization of technology.  Imagine if a sect were to use the power of the internet against such a massive juggernaut such as, oh I don’t know, the United States?  It would truly be David versus Goliath but now David has the same firmware that Goliath’s using.  Could this happen?  If this film is a prophecy, it has yet to be seen…but is interesting nonetheless.

Mr. Bubbles meth addicted cousin

Highlights

It’s visually stunning and the soundtrack is a cross between Pink Floyd and a porno soundtrack.

The animals are out of this world…literally, we don’t have owl/anteater/tree bark hybrids on Earth.

Multilayered concepts and ideas that pertain to even today’s societal standards.

Lowlights

Stoners and hipsters will claim it as their own.

The voice acting is good but sometimes feels a bit out of place.

The end is somewhat abrupt and anti-climactic.

Learning device of the Traags

The Verdict

Overall I think the message of this film is about peace and co-existence.  At the end, there wasn’t a huge battle to see who would win Middle Earth or Mel Gibson antagonizing the English, but a mutual truce to prevent further harm to either species, the Traag’s or the Om’s.  It’s a message I don’t think we see a lot in today’s film making and that it turn gives it a refreshing twist.

This is a highly original film, one that should be viewed at least once in one’s lifetime (I think I’m on 28).  I give it 4.7 out of 5 Traag learning devices, only because .3 of them were stolen by Terr.

-SC

Review: House on Haunted Hill (1959)

I go crazy every Halloween.  Like, batshit crazy.  I decorate my apartment from head to toe, I eat a diabetic amount of candy, I even buy products based solely on their Halloween packaging (I’m looking at you, Ghoul-Aid).  I also tend to have a theme for the films I watch all month (or four [cause Halloween starts in July when they start putting out candy]).  Last Halloween, it was Vincent Price.

Proof the Kool-Aid guy is filled with the blood of children

House on Haunted Hill was one of the films I watched, and embodies what I think could be the linchpin for the increased popularity of Halloween.  Scary things are introduced to us when we’re younger but are usually in the form of something non-traumatizing and child friendly (see candy pales from your local McDonald’s, circa 1995).  Throughout the years as we grow through adolescents into adulthood, we’re fed more of the “scary” aspects of Halloween, sort of like a drug we develop a tolerance to over time.  It also sort of explains why lots of horror directors are going for the most intense, bloodbastic films they can possibly make.  As children, I’m sure their parents sought counseling.

“Someone unplug grandma”

That’s why I’ve always been high on this film.   House on Haunted Hill is a lot of fun but provides some genuine scares to keep the audience engaged (Jesus, did you see that deaf lady?!).

Year 1: Halloween pail. Year 2-9: Sandcastle maker.

What’s It About

Frederick Lauren (Price) throws the ultimate house party by renting an enormous mansion, inviting only five guests, and totally dropping the ball by not booking a house band.  His guests, while enticed by the $10,000 they receive if they stay the night, can’t help but question the eccentric millionaires motives.  At the start of the film, we are introduced to the brave souls willing to spend a night at the House on Haunted Hill:

The Lucky Charms/Twilight Zone crossover episode.

Watson Pritchard – Drunk guy who doesn’t seem to have any deep connection to the plot.  This is the guy you invited to your 10th birthday party but immediately wished you hadn’t.

Lance Schroeder – Flight pilot, handsome, makes fun of Pritchard for looking like a leprechaun.

Ruth Bridges – Columnist, gambling addict, Price awkwardly hits on her 15 minutes and 40 seconds into the film.

Nora Manning – Works for Lauren, needs the money, succumbs to typical 1950’s hysteria very early on.

Dr. David Trent – Of course there’s a doctor…

We are also introduced to Price’s wife, Annabelle Lauren.  She openly, if only to him, would prefer to see Price dead in the interest of money.  Price’s disdain for her, his fourth wife, is apparent in his playful, yet sinister remarks geared towards his wife’s impending death.  They both fucking hate each other, pretty much sums it up.  The party becomes a sort of cat and mouse game where each spouse is waiting for the other to make the first move.  The guests in the house are basically pawns.

If you find a Vincent Price going through your trash cans, call animal control, they’ll come take him and release him into the Hollywood Foothills.

Things start getting creepy when Nora and Lance go down to the basement and encounter an inline skating caretaker who hasn’t conditioned since Bela Lugosi last turned down a role.  This is the genesis of Nora starting to lose her fucking mind…oh, she also finds a severed head in her bag, which may have had something to do with it.  While she proceeds to alienate herself in her room, so does everyone else.  The doctor seems quite angry with Price’s treatment of his wife.  You almost would think they’re having an affair!….Haha, silly, right?  RIGHT?!

Major Spoiler.

They are.

Someone keeps outbidding me for this.

Annabelle is found hanging at the top of the stairs, an apparent suicide.  Everyone’s suspicion turns to Price.  While Lance and Dr. Trent untie the rope and lower Mrs. Lauren, Price does his best “Didn’t see that coming!” impression.  After being grilled for questions by the other guests about the apparent suicide, Price himself admits that he believes his wife was murdered.  Tensions grow as all the guests start suspecting one another.  They retire to their respective rooms in anticipation of the morning hours when the caretakers arrive.

Poor Nora just so happens to see Annabelle’s ghost hanging outside her window and does the only logical thing possible and starts running around with a gun, eventually making her way to the basement.  She eventually runs into Price who she shoots in her confused state.  Dr. Trent is first on the scene and while no ones around, decides he’s just going to throw Price’s body in a vat of acid.  Price, alive because trigger happy Nora’s gun was filled with blanks, does some kind of kung-fu move and in goes Dr. Trent.  The very much alive Annabelle journeys downstairs soon afterward to find a skeleton walking around.  It creeps her out so bad, she’s literally frozen with fear.  It then gives her a skeleton high five on the shoulder and she too goes into the acid bath.  The skeleton?  Price is later revealed to have controlled the skeleton with wires and pulleys.  Would this work in real life?  Absolutely.

When you hear your town is getting a Five Guys

Highlights and Lowlights

The film is essentially an (eventual) murder mystery dressed as a haunted house story for added atmosphere, and maybe some misdirection.  I like how it’s never really confirmed if the house is really haunted, that part they leave up to the viewer.

The personalities, while sometimes simple and stereotypical,  really give the film the diversity it needs to keep you guessing.  Price is in top form, as usual.

There’s a genuine eeriness about the set that makes the performance all the more authentic.  The music only emphasizes the creepiness.

Anything bad?

It’s only 75 minutes long.

And the ending is rather abrupt, kind of leaving you wanting more (is that really such a bad thing??).

Conclusion

Overall, this move is great.  It doesn’t take it self too seriously with a slight leniency to the campy-ness of a classic haunted house film, while maintaining a serious tone of a classic murder mystery.  While there is a colorized version out there worth checking out, this film really thrives in black and white.

This film gets 4 Necronomicons out of 5…or at least until I can figure out a better grading system….

-S.C.