So, a brief glance at my blog informs me that I haven’t written in almost two months. Since I like to post a weekly post, that should be some indicator about how well I’m juggling my time this semester (translation: not well at all.) However, Spring Break has (happily) descended upon me, and with Spring Break comes at least a little time to breath, and some horror-movie filled nights. Now, I’ll credit Michael: Invasion of the Body Snatchers was actually his idea. We were strolling the video store, when he mentioned the title. However, this turned out to be a fortuitous idea. More than some of the other films we’ve watched over break, Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a fairly rich film that yields a lot of fun, exciting stuff to write about. In fact, I have many pages of notes, so I’m not sure where I’ll start. We shall find out! Continue reading “Invasion of the Body Snatchers Invades my Spring Break”
classic film
A Tale of Two Mummies: The Mummy in 1932 and 1999
It’s interesting to think, as a culture, what we deem scary. We have a diverse collection of nightmarish creatures with which we’re fascinated. They star in our favorite horror movies, and gentler versions of their faces get stuck to the windows of suburban houses the entire month of October in celebration of Halloween. Plucking these beings – ghosts, vampires, werewolves and the like – from various cultures and myths, we embrace them and re-invent them as our own, simultaneously fearing and worshipping horror creations that may be remarkably different from the original version of the entity in question. It’s a bizarre practice, if you think about it, and one that may not be as prominent in other cultures. It might make us wonder: What is horror? What can we learn about ourselves through the monsters we create? Continue reading “A Tale of Two Mummies: The Mummy in 1932 and 1999”
Crazy for Caligari: Exploring Early Horror Cinema
I suppose I’ve been intrigued by The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ever since I realized it took slot #1 on Rotten Tomato’s Best Horror Movies of All Time List. Unsurprisingly, this list is heavily contested. Commentators will complain, for example, that King Kong sits in slot #5, even though it’s not technically a horror movie. The same might be said of Abre Los Ojos – the Spanish version, and, for that matter, the original version of Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky – and Frankenweenie, which I can only assume doesn’t fall under the category of true blue horror. Still, every ranking is subjective, and even if I questioned the list maker’s assessment, I still had to see what it was about this old, silent, black and white film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, that makes it such a monumental hit according to a major contemporary movie review site. Continue reading “Crazy for Caligari: Exploring Early Horror Cinema”
justdreadfull.com 