Aeronautic Primates and Other Delights

Finished Assassin's Creed: Origins and hopped right back to Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. Bad story choices aside, I'd really missed Ancient Greece. I really think this is one of my favorite games in recent memory.

I've been slowly working through Season 4 of The Good Place during lunch on Sunday-Monday-Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday are reserved for Batman '66 (my bat-time, if you will).

I played a very weird D&D one-shot with settiai DMing last night. Still not entirely sure what I made of it. Didn't cast a single spell or get into any combat at all (which is probably for the best, because my character was built for hugging).

Movies I've seen before are in italics.

Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)
Wait Until Dark (1967)
Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
Blood and Black Lace (1964)
Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)

We finished off the Hammer Dracula series with the one non-Lee entry, the horror/kung fu mashup Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. As usual, it's Fine. It doesn't have the best parts of either genre, so it kind of muddles along. Of the eight "major" Asian characters, only two have actual lines, which is ridiculous for a movie made in Hong Kong with Hong Kong financing.

I was going through a box of old DVDs when I ran into Wait Until Dark and even though it's not strictly horror, we watched it anyway. Still a very effective little thriller and Audrey Hepburn is splendid as always. Alan Arkin does a real uncomfortable sociopath.

Slumber Party Massacre is a curio in that it's a slasher film written by a feminist icon (Rita Mae Brown) and also directed by a woman. It's not a particularly outstanding example of the genre, alas. The killer, for one thing, is a real non-entity, despite his hilariously phallic weapon of choice.

sol_se  wanted fashion in her horror, so asked about Blood and Black Lace, which we watched on Amazon Prime. It's a giallo, an Italian subgenre of mystery-horror that was, in many ways, the forerunner of the slasher film in America. As with all films directed by Mario Bava, it's very striking visually.

Given our deep dive into Dracula last week, I thought we should do the same for the Hammer Frankenstein series. Peter Cushing (or PCush as sol_se likes to call him) is one of the best actors of all time, fight me. Curse of Frankenstein remains my favorite in the series, but I gained a new appreciation for Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, which fires on all cylinders (with the exception of one regrettable scene that sol_se and I agree Did Not Happen). We skipped Horror of Frankenstein because no Cushing (and also $4 on Amazon).

For those curious, we are currently 27 films deep in our plan to watch 31 spooky movies in October.

This week's theme was Foreign Horror. It didn't go off as well as I thought it would because as it turns out, I sold off or gave away huge chunks of my foreign horror collection a few years back. Oops. The week ended up being very heavy on Italy and Barbara Steele movies.

Films I've seen before are in italics.

The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933, Germany)
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003, South Korea)
Black Sunday (1960, Italy)
The Long Hair of Death (1965, Italy)
An Angel for Satan (1966, Italy)
Count Dracula (1970, Spain / West Germany / Italy / Liechtenstein / UK)
House (1977, Japan)
Embodiment of Evil (2008, Brazil)
Black Christmas (1974, not part of the theme) w/sol_se 
Deep Red (1975, Italy)

I also watched about half of a Japanese movie called Ugetsu before realizing that it was A. not horror and B. not my thing.

I'd put off watching A Tale of Two Sisters because I theorized (correctly) that it would scare the crap out of me and that I'd have trouble with the dark for a bit. Luckily, it was only one night of uncertain terror, but frankly that's plenty. It's very good. I called what was happening, then uncalled it, then called it again. The film kept me guessing.

While watching Black Sunday, it occurred to me that despite the fact that I've seen the film several times, I had a hell of a time recalling what happened in its back half. Turns out that it's because the film doesn't hold up that well. It's very spooky and gothic, but it's not one of Mario Bava's better films.

I had a Barbara Steele double feature DVD with The Long Hair of Death and An Angel for Satan. Both were convoluted in their own special ways. One featured a ridiculous murder plot that became more ridiculous with each passing minute. The other had a twist at the end that rendered the whole film fairly meaningless.

For being low budget and directed by Jesus Franco (a man better known for his abundance of work rather than his abundance of talent), Count Dracula is a reasonably faithful adaptation of Stoker's book with a solid lead performance by Christopher Lee. They make some weird choices and some of the shot framing highlights the low budget rather than hides it, but ultimately I enjoyed it.

House is another classic that I found somewhat disappointing upon my return to it. It's still bats**t crazy and a film experimentalist's dream, but a lot of the novelty wears off in repeat viewings. I sometimes just wanted them to get on with it.

I love Black Christmas and it still holds up. It definitely terrified the crap out of sol_se.

This week's theme is Whatever the Hell I Want. Any and all horror is valid, as long as I do at least one a day through the 31st).

I went into this Escapade a little apprehensive -- I didn't have the best time last year, although there were bright spots. However, I really had nothing to worry about, as it turns out.

I had such an amazing time this year. A lot of it was just from the fact that it was my second year at the con, but there were other factors. I was staying with roommates this year (anoel, elipie, and kuwdora) who I could hang with. I knew more people. But more importantly, I saw a con that was more open and friendly, even (especially) to the first-timers around us.

( In which I talk about the con )
( In which I talk about the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me at a con and I still can't believe it actually happened )

I just want to give my thanks to the con organizers who did an amazing job. And I am so pleased that I was able to hang out with such a diverse group of folks. Just a small sampling of some of the people who made my weekend more awesome: Franzeska, Elipie, Kuwdora, Anoel, heresluck, laurashapiro, killabeez, feochadn, mlyn, melina, kerithwyn, nakedbee, renenet, amalthia, arallara, everyone who came to my birthday party (and I apologize that I can't name you individually for I was very drunk -- you were all lovely), and everyone who attended the panels I modded (even the one where I didn't show up because I was in the wrong room). There's some other folks with whom I had significant interactions, but I can't remember their names/find their journals, but you are not forgotten. Except for the name part. That I probably did forget.

American Cinematheque hosting 10-day marathon of Mario Bava films in Hollywood.

Can't... resist... Bava.

Y'know, some day I'm going to install a blogging feature on Classic-Horror.com so I stop using my LJ to blather about the site. By my guess, about 5-10% of you read these posts because you're actively interested in the site, another 35-50% read them because you're actively interested in me and the site is just part of that, and the rest probably just skip the C-H posts.

Anyway. I digress. I haven't started and I digress.

Classic-Horror is now full throttle into the Shocktober Classics, a look into the films of five master horror directors. The staff has been prepping for this since late July when we first voted on which directors to honor. We've been stockpiling the reviews, because this promises to be the most we've ever published in a month since we implemented content standards. Twenty-three Shocktober reviews, plus 2-3 bonus reviews. On top of that, we'll be posting what promises to be a normal slate of non-Shocktober content, including reviews for the films in Warner's Twisted Terror set and the New Zealand horror-comedy Black Sheep.

By my math, we'll probably end up with a full 31 reviews, if not more. Some of those reviews will be by familiar LJ faces like midnightfae and timjr.

My part is largely done -- all five of my reviews are written, although they have yet to be put through the editing process. I still have two bonus reviews to write, plus the intros for Weeks 2-5. At this point, however, I'm just waiting impatiently for the last six reviews still outstanding to roll in.

Author/film historian Tim Lucas, who wrote this (f--king brilliant) book on Mario Bava, has promised to swing by the site during our tribute to Bava. I'm a little nervous about that. Okay, a lot nervous.

This month is going to be huge. Please do stop by.