Hello, boils and ghouls! October is upon us and that means one thing:
HALLOWEEN! While most holidays get a measly day or two of formal
recognition, orthodox Monster Kids prefer to celebrate it in the
tradition of our people: By watching tons of horror movies. This month
at THE COLLINSPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, we're going to be discussing some
of our favorites every day until Halloween. So, put on your 3-D spex,
pop some popcorn and turn out the lights .... because we're going to the
movies!
By PATRICK McCRAY
After the Monster Movie, is there any greater staple of classic horror than the Haunted House movie?
That’s not a rhetorical question, but rather a quiz; and there is a correct answer: no. But where to go? People say, THE HAUNTING. But THE HAUNTING, despite the boon of Russ Tamblyn, is missing tales of depravity, PSCICOP-style action, sex, and Roddy McDowall. Okay, maybe it’s not the best, but there are none finer. Need more encouragement?
I am going to do a pitch about THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE. This pitch begins with two words:
Richard Matheson.
If you’re perplexed, then, in the words of the immortal Dewey Cox, “take my hand.” Imagine a Mt. Rushmore of the American Imagination. If every face on it were Richard Matheson, it would be appropriate to say, “Yeah, that’s about right.”
He sent Richard Collier somewhere in time, made a legend of Robert Neville, and put the creature on the wing of William Shatner’s plane.
Some titles (original or adaptations):
The film tones everything down a bit -- unfortunately, zombie rapes don’t make it in -- but the implications are enough. It still tells the story of an eccentric millionaire, desperate to know if there is life after death. To gain proof, he hires a team of very different occult experts to investigate and, perhaps, conquer the Belasco House. It’s not just a haunted house. It is the most evil house in history. The prior expedition left the few survivors forever crippled and twisted... except for one, a burnt out shell of a mental medium, Ben Fischer (an unusually forceful Roddy McDowall). Brave Doctor Barrett (Clive Revill) is the original ghostbuster, eager to try out a new machine he believes will neutralize the psychoelectric energy of ghosts, wiping them from the mansion. Joining them are, Ann, Barrett’s unsatisfied and privately nymphomaniacal wife (Gayle Hunnicutt) and Pamela Franklin as Florence Tanner, an ectoplasm-spurting, Christian medium.
In most haunted house movies, the house is as much the star as the actors. Director John Hough (TWINS OF EVIL) keeps the effects to a minimum. This isn’t to create ambiguity so much as to keep any shortcomings form being a distraction. While the house has plenty of crashing objects and telekinetic terrors, its main weapons are the investigators, themselves. Each has private fears, desires, prejudices, and assumptions, and the house expertly uses those to weaken the team from within.
At the heart of the house is the legend. Decades before, it was run by a mad eccentric named Belasco, who invited impossibly rich layabouts to his home for an extended stay and provided the most libertine of environments. At first, all was well, but the booze and lack of limits did what you would expect: turn the atmosphere of sophistication into a 24-hour orgy. At least until the cannibalism set in. And then things began to decline. Until all souls were lost and Belasco was nowhere to be found. It is exposition chillingly related by Roddy McDowall that does the heavy lifting for the rest of the film’s events as it corrupts and confuses the team.
Everything works in THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE. While it’s not as frightening as the book, it moves with an energetic and erotic urgency. It’s all too rare that we see science-vs-the supernatural, and it’s almost as if I’m seeing James Randi take on the Winchester House. The other stand-out feature of the film is McDowall. Who doesn’t enjoy his cameos? But they’re always just cameos or apes. In this, he’s the reluctant hero, showing dimensions of strength, resolve, and will that he not only pulls off, but does so with power, virility, and conviction... while never losing his quietly sophisticated articulateness.
And the ending makes sense. No, “there are some things men are not meant to know” malarkey. Matheson is too generous for that. It’s his generosity that I appreciate more than anything. Whereas other writers fall short of their imaginations, Matheson engaged it fully, and then shared that with the audience, daring to show them everything possible. A fan? This is marvelous viewing, especially as a companion to the book. If this is the first work of his you’ve seen, I envy the journey to come. He’s an American Institution, and this house of madness, naked depravity and roiling evil is one of our nation’s greatest treasures.
PATRICK McCRAY is a well known comic book author who resides in Knoxville, Tenn., where he's been a drama coach and general nuisance since 1997. He has a MFA in Directing and worked at Revolutionary Comics and on the early days of BABYLON 5, and is a frequent contributor to The Collinsport Historical Society. You can find him at The Collins Foundation.
After the Monster Movie, is there any greater staple of classic horror than the Haunted House movie?
That’s not a rhetorical question, but rather a quiz; and there is a correct answer: no. But where to go? People say, THE HAUNTING. But THE HAUNTING, despite the boon of Russ Tamblyn, is missing tales of depravity, PSCICOP-style action, sex, and Roddy McDowall. Okay, maybe it’s not the best, but there are none finer. Need more encouragement?
I am going to do a pitch about THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE. This pitch begins with two words:
Richard Matheson.
If you’re perplexed, then, in the words of the immortal Dewey Cox, “take my hand.” Imagine a Mt. Rushmore of the American Imagination. If every face on it were Richard Matheson, it would be appropriate to say, “Yeah, that’s about right.”
He sent Richard Collier somewhere in time, made a legend of Robert Neville, and put the creature on the wing of William Shatner’s plane.
Some titles (original or adaptations):
- THE NIGHT STALKER
- I AM LEGEND (and consequently THE OMEGA MAN, THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and I would argue, LEGALLY BLONDE)
- WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
- SOMEWHERE IN TIME
- STIR OF ECHOES
- THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN
- TRILOGY OF TERROR
- ROD SERLING’S NIGHT GALLERY
- DUEL
- THE DEVIL RIDES OUT
- STAR TREK
- TALES OF TERROR
- THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (Corman)
- TWILIGHT ZONE
The film tones everything down a bit -- unfortunately, zombie rapes don’t make it in -- but the implications are enough. It still tells the story of an eccentric millionaire, desperate to know if there is life after death. To gain proof, he hires a team of very different occult experts to investigate and, perhaps, conquer the Belasco House. It’s not just a haunted house. It is the most evil house in history. The prior expedition left the few survivors forever crippled and twisted... except for one, a burnt out shell of a mental medium, Ben Fischer (an unusually forceful Roddy McDowall). Brave Doctor Barrett (Clive Revill) is the original ghostbuster, eager to try out a new machine he believes will neutralize the psychoelectric energy of ghosts, wiping them from the mansion. Joining them are, Ann, Barrett’s unsatisfied and privately nymphomaniacal wife (Gayle Hunnicutt) and Pamela Franklin as Florence Tanner, an ectoplasm-spurting, Christian medium.
In most haunted house movies, the house is as much the star as the actors. Director John Hough (TWINS OF EVIL) keeps the effects to a minimum. This isn’t to create ambiguity so much as to keep any shortcomings form being a distraction. While the house has plenty of crashing objects and telekinetic terrors, its main weapons are the investigators, themselves. Each has private fears, desires, prejudices, and assumptions, and the house expertly uses those to weaken the team from within.
At the heart of the house is the legend. Decades before, it was run by a mad eccentric named Belasco, who invited impossibly rich layabouts to his home for an extended stay and provided the most libertine of environments. At first, all was well, but the booze and lack of limits did what you would expect: turn the atmosphere of sophistication into a 24-hour orgy. At least until the cannibalism set in. And then things began to decline. Until all souls were lost and Belasco was nowhere to be found. It is exposition chillingly related by Roddy McDowall that does the heavy lifting for the rest of the film’s events as it corrupts and confuses the team.
Everything works in THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE. While it’s not as frightening as the book, it moves with an energetic and erotic urgency. It’s all too rare that we see science-vs-the supernatural, and it’s almost as if I’m seeing James Randi take on the Winchester House. The other stand-out feature of the film is McDowall. Who doesn’t enjoy his cameos? But they’re always just cameos or apes. In this, he’s the reluctant hero, showing dimensions of strength, resolve, and will that he not only pulls off, but does so with power, virility, and conviction... while never losing his quietly sophisticated articulateness.
And the ending makes sense. No, “there are some things men are not meant to know” malarkey. Matheson is too generous for that. It’s his generosity that I appreciate more than anything. Whereas other writers fall short of their imaginations, Matheson engaged it fully, and then shared that with the audience, daring to show them everything possible. A fan? This is marvelous viewing, especially as a companion to the book. If this is the first work of his you’ve seen, I envy the journey to come. He’s an American Institution, and this house of madness, naked depravity and roiling evil is one of our nation’s greatest treasures.
PATRICK McCRAY is a well known comic book author who resides in Knoxville, Tenn., where he's been a drama coach and general nuisance since 1997. He has a MFA in Directing and worked at Revolutionary Comics and on the early days of BABYLON 5, and is a frequent contributor to The Collinsport Historical Society. You can find him at The Collins Foundation.
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