Shadow of the Vampire (2000) directed by E. Elias Merhige

 I saw this film in the cinema on release and remembered liking it quite a bit. Seeing again recently, I realized I forget how good it really is. Basically a comedy with some tension and drama thrown in, the movie is a "what if" sort of story positing that when Murnau filmed the silent classic Nosferatu, he used a real vampire. 

I originally was tempted to the cinema because Eddie Izzard was in it and his small role does merit going to see it the film but it's Willem Defoe who shines and stands out as the vampire. His appearance is beyond perfect and he without doubt spent some time studying Max Schreck in the original role - copying his physicality and postures to perfection. Murnau has told the cast and crew that Defoe is a method actor and will appear only at night and in full make-up, never dropping character for the entirety of the production. His odd behaviour and attacks on crew members quickly brings a few to conclude that he is, fact, a member of the undead. Thing like pulling a bat in flight out of the air and eating in front of people was a clue for example, though in that case Udo Kier's character simply states... "Max, you must be the greatest actor ever!"

The vampire seems to be under the control of Murnau through most of the runtime but it becomes clear that is not the case by the end. Defoe manages to go from comic to genuinely terrifying in a split second and the stakes change completely. 

Quirky might not cover how odd this film is and you will have to sit through a rather long opening credits sequence before the movie starts but it's all worth it.  As a little extra info,  Nicolas Cage produced this film and was to play Schreck but gave the role to Defoe when he showed interest. Good choice! 

The White Reindeer (1952) directed by Erik Blomberg

This is a fantastic film debut for Erik Blomberg the director. The cinematography is stunning, turning the barren snow covered landscape into a mystical, beautiful land of mystery. It is the story of a young woman who feels her new marriage needs a little extra and goes to a shaman to get it but ends up with more than bargained for when the prescribed sacrifice goes wrong and she becomes an irresistible temptresses who also transforms into a white reindeer… and a supernatural killer. 

This killing spree leads to her being accused of witchcraft and she is chased by the village men leading to a sad end at the hands of her husband. 

This film is considered folk horror and I suppose that is as good a des as any. It also shows many of us a way of life alien and fascinating as the Finnish actors get around in skies and sleds and live in a world of perpetual snow and cold while living life to the fullest. Prita the doomed woman is a force of nature, skilled and strong and full of life. There is a real sense of companionship and love between her and her husband, making the events of the film more tragic. The folklore presented is a welcome breath if cold fresh air that doesn’t have any of the tropes of what we might traditionally think of as Gothic or folkloric horror. 

Conquest of Space (1955) directed by Byron Haskin

 

Another George Pal sci-fi extravaganza from the 50s. Like many of his sc-fi films it brings with it some novel ideas at the time that were very forward thinking. Circular rotating space station, a ship to mars built in space, the time and distances involved in space travel along with the dangers. Of course other aspects are way off but easily forgiven since we had no idea what the Surface of mars looked like and the biggest sin space movie make even today... while on Mars the crew would take off their gloves and touch the dirt! NO concern for bacteria, exposure to the cold etc... they did keep the rest of their spacesuit on though. 

In the film, a crew on "the wheel"  has been in training for a long time for a trip to the moon but as time grows near they are told the moon is no the real objective, Mars is. This is so they can see if they can exploit materials there as Earth is running low. Why they had to lie about this at all is never explained. There are asteroid hits and near misses and the crew is almost killed by the ship captain who turns into be a religious nutcase en route and thinks they should all die for "Blaspheming" and other planet he thinks God does not approve of them visiting. Before this happens he quotes from a bible, something many Pal films do and I wondered what his religious affiliations were. Apparently they were not that strong but he felt that he had to put bible citations in his science orientated films to avoid controversy... though making the villain of this movie a religious crazy pants seems to indicate he wasn't all that into the subject himself. 

The crew has to deal with loss of water from sabotage done by the captain and they can't leave Mars until Earth in line with their trajectory home. A lucky snowfall saves them and they manage to take off despite an earthquake as they try to leave. 

I would say this is an OK film, the least of Pal's films in this genre. The dated effects are fine to watch but the characters are terrible and annoying. The acting is not great and the interactions are forced, especially the "comedy". No one is qualified for a trip to Mars! The only women we see are on a video screen and there is one Japanese crewman ( brave for that so close to the end of WWII) but no other people of colour who are missing in his other sci-fi outing as well. 

I initially the movie got no so great write-ups in the press but in later years it was considered much more favourably, mostly because of the high production values. I am siding with the earlier reviews on this one. It drags and the human interactions are painful at times. Not unwatchable but not memorable either. 

Nosferatu (2024) directed by Robert Eggers

 

This long awaited remake of the 1922 classic film by Murnau was finally released Christmas day this year. The plot is not different from the original but the details and execution make this film very much it's own thing. A real estate agent is sent to meet a certain Count Orlock in in the carpathian mountains to sell him a property for a large sum of money. He arrives, and Orlock is an undead creauture that decides it will take control of the agent's new wife. The agent escapes and gets back home just before Orlock to warn his wife, who because of her odd connection to the monster already knows he is coming. The rest of the film is a race to destroy the menace somehow before the entire village dies from him or the plague he has brought with him. 

Spoilers: 

I was not sure this would work. I saw The North man and it was OK, but basically had the same plot as Conan the Barbarian. It was well filmed with great performances but had its faults. Luckily, this movie is not a copy of the original and keeps away from many of the expressionistic trapping of that one (though not all of them which is good) and relies much more on true gothic horror and the folklore of the Carpathian region involving vampires to create something new and terrifying for a modern audience. Orlock is really nothing like Max Schreck in the silent version physically. Schreck has a slim monstrous beauty in a way. Bill Skarsgård is a walking corpse with a voice that give you nightmares and is unrecognizable in any way from his real life appearance and voice. The original was considered one of the most scary films at the time due in most part to the look of Nosferatu and this new version gives us a new image to lose sleep over. 

Visually I also had some trepidation. Eggers is a master of camerawork and transitions and I am always afraid he will slip into something that looks great and takes me out of the film. He doesn't do that, in fact i would say as fantastic as the cinematography is, it stays in service of the story from start to end - pulling the viewer through the events until the conclusion. Too many films look like video game segments with sweeping impossible camera moves that are far too smooth and really distracting. See The Lord of the Rings Trilogy for example and almost any new horror movie. This film lives in its darkness and takes you into it without dragging you along, you go willingly and it's seamless. 

The sound design in the film is great. I didn't notice the soundtrack much to be honest but there are all sorts of crazy, disturbing noises woven into the shots that add to the fear and sense of unrest.

The folklore has to be addressed since Eggers is famous for his research and Nosferatu has some nice nods to the actual legends rarely seen. A horse is used to find the grave of a vampire and I've only seen that in the disappointing Dracula with Frank Langella. They use iron stakes, nice touch! The vampires are walking rotted corpses not sexy teenagers. Nosferatu is pure evil, without morals or a dumb backstory to make you "understand him better". 

The cast is all stellar. Skarsgård  is the stand out, he can't help but be and Lily-rose Depp really gets her role and her character as well as manages to freak you out with her fits of hysteria as they were called. I was hoping Willem Defoe would be Nosferatu before production started as he was so good in the role in "Shadow of the Vampire" but he was better as the eccentric vampire hunter, a role that recently I have come to really detest how it is interpreted. Francis Ford Coppola had Anthony Hopkins as a mean, perverted Van Helsing and Laurence Olivier's turn at the part was cold and underwhelming. This was a good balance of dedicated and crazy. 

As a life long fan of the Murnau film, I can say I was impressed by this version and I also love the Herzog version which is, again, a totally different take on the same story. Believe it not, a lighter version. Eggers brought the silent film into today while keeping it's look and feel firmly rooted in the past and gothic horror traditions. it could have easily gone over the top or into cliché after cliché but made it's own way instead. This is a bleak, tense often violent film so it is not for everyone and not for anyone who wants anything that resembles most vampire tales. If you want the real deal don't miss it. 

Forbidden Planet (1956) directed by Fred M. Wilcox

 

(my interpretion of elements of the film)

 Inspired by Shakespeare's "The Tempest", Forbidden Planet is film with a list of firsts in Science Fiction  cinema. It was the first science fiction film to depict humans traveling in a man-made faster-than-light starship.It was also the first to be set entirely on a planet orbiting another star, far away from Earth and the solar system. Robby the Robot character was more than just a dumb machine that walked and has a distinct personality. The film was groundbreaking as the first of any genre to use an entirely electronic score. The film was nominated for special effects and for good reason, they are really over and above other films at the time. The design of the saucer shaper spaceship is iconic and stands out to this day. 

The story centres around a crew from Earth sent to discover the fate of an expedition on the Planet Altair which was lost 20 years previous. After arriving in orbit, they warned off by Morbius telling them their safety cannot be guaranteed if they land and he has no need of them. They do land as per their orders and discover every one of the expedition except for Morbius and his daughter, who has never seen other humans, are all that is left. 

Spoilers:

It turns out the previous crew were all killed by a mysterious force when they tried to leave the planet and for reasons unknown Mobius and his daughter were spared. They feel immune to the attacks but also do not think the threat has gone away by any means. The residence they live in is on top of the entrance to what was a super advanced civilization that all died out thousands of year ago overnight. Morbius has been trying to understand how and why and learning how their tech works. His daughter seems happy enough but even he realizes she must return to earth at some point to have a normal development. 

The visiting ship is attacked and people start dying from an unseen force which turns out to be an invisible monsters which is briefly seen as it breaks though the force field around the ship as it kills several more crewman. 

The daughter decides to leave with the earthmen and the monster now seems to be after her as well. In a really great twist, it turns out the machines that Morbius has been using to boost his intelligence has tied him into the very system that doomed the origin race, the Krell. It was supposed to let them make their thoughts become real with no need of physically making things but their "Id", the subconscious mind, hid horrors and violence that an advanced race could suppress but not rid itself of. The monster was produced by Morbius himself to avoid leaving the planet and to keep his daughter in his control. When he realizes that he is at fault he he tries to unsuccessfully disown the monster of his Id but is killed in the process, but not before he has the ship captain set off a series of explosion that will destroy the planet and keep this technology away from mankind before they too disappear. 

If you have never seen Leslie Nielsen as anything other than Frank Drebin from the Baker Gun films and series this is a great film to expose you to his career as a handsome young leading man in serious films. Robby the Robot has been in so many movies and films you might not know this is where he was first seen and his design and character are fantastically realized. Ann Francis is an odd character, both naive and very aware and in control of herself and not a screamer in search of a man to save her, though she of course falls in love with the captain and they head back to Earth as a couple. 

As recent as November 15th of 2024 there was word of script for a remake but I am not sold there needs to be one, this holds up on its own! 

When Worlds Collide (1951) directed by Rudolph Maté

A George Pal production that almost seems to be part of an unintentional trilogy including The Time machine and War of the Worlds to me. Not in subject but in tone. Maybe that's just me. 

Astronomers have spotted a sun with a companion planet streaking at incredible speed towards the earth and have calculated that the planet will pass us first, causing massive destruction and death, followed by the sun finally engulfing our planet destroying it completely.  As science-y as the film tries to be it is a product of its time and this scenario seems preposterous with what we know about the universe now. it is all presented in a serious enough way that you can just go with it.

The characters are pretty interesting, the scientists are trying to save what the can of humanity by building an ark to land on the passing planet, hoping life is possible there while the pilot hero falls in love with his daughter who is a scientist in her own right. There is a selfish, handicapped billionaire who agrees to fund the ark as long as he can be on it and many minor characters fleshed out more than this type of movie  typically does. There is a love triangle, that I thought was used to show emotions connected with knowing the world is going to end in a few months and not just there for show. 

Pacing, like most Pal movies is good and we get some dated but effective disaster scenes. New York getting flooded from a tidal wave is particularly effective. 

Spoilers:

 For me a disaster film is usually a natural unstoppable event is the source of the disaster, like earthquakes, fire, tidal waves etc. so this could be one of the first disaster films. No magical do-hicky is miraculously invented at the last minute to save us all, the world does get destroyed. The ark also gets to the new planet and while the getting there and landing are pretty awesome, the final shot is a bit confusing and seems tacked on. They land on a snow covered valley but when they step out, on to a not very good painting, it's like a spring day and they watch the sunrise on the new world and NEVER mention the massive buildings and structures directly in front of them. The place is already inhabited and no one notices! This was based on book with a sequel, neither of which I read so I hope that is addressed in second book. 

Fun, exciting and while maybe a slightly lesser Pal film, it's still going to keep your attention. 

Sylvie et le fantôme (1946) directed by Claude Autant-Lara

 

Sylvie is obsessed with the portrait of her grandmother's lover in the family estate and is distressed when her father sells it to pay some bills. There are stories that Alain, the man in the portrait haunts the estate and he does in fact do just that. Before the painting is hauled off he leaves it and begins walking around the house and sort of stalking Sylvie in a way not cool by today's standards. 

To make her feel better, her dad has a 16th birthday ball for her and hires a ghost visit her so she can feel better about losing the painting. Robbers and the son of the man who bought the painting are caught creeping around the estate one night but are mistaken for actors hired to play the ghost. The real actor arrives and they decide that 3  is better than one since he can instantly appear in different locations. The real ghost is till walking about as well. 

This is sort of needlessly complicated and I can see that it's light enough to watch and find some charm in it but I found it a bit banal. The best thing in for me were the effects. They used the same reflection effects Disney's Haunted mansion uses to make it appear translucent ghosts are integrated into the sets and its very well done.  Not a must see but maybe light enough to watch before bed. 

Flow (2024) Directed by Gints Zilbalodis

A cat walks though the forest, avoiding a pack of dogs but almost gets trampled by a stampede of deer. The cat lives in an abandoned house where a cat obsessed artist has left sculptures from small to enormous all over the land. The cat sees the running deer were escaping a coming flood which covers everything up to several stories. 

As the flood rises the cat finds refuge on a boat which already has one occupant, a capybara. Before long several more animals, a dog, a secretary bird, and a ring-tailed lemur have joined the crew as they explore a world empty of people and flooded by water. They learn to co-operate to live in a changed world.

The plot is simple but the story told is more profound, though, like his last film "Away" hard to pin down specific meanings. The cat's point of view is our point of view so we never know where the water came from or why or what happened to the people or how the resolution happens. This could be frustrating but it's really not. It's intriguing and beautifully animated using Blender, a free software and a smallish team that shows it doesn't take 150 million$ to make something meaningful and striking visual. 

Its rare you look forward to a film and it meets and exceeds expectations. This certainly did for me. As with "Away" Zilbalodis has created a world to explore, again very Myst-like in its beauty and mystery. It's not a typical "its the friends we made along the way" trope of a movie, though it is that. There is death but handled in a way that won't be traumatic to children and through the eyes of the main character, a cat, so its not from a human perspective. While I would love to know more about the backstory of this world it's better not to know. It might not even be earth to be honest or at least it might be an alternate one. One animal is familiar but not like any version of such a creature we see in our present world. 

If you can see it, please do and buy the Blu-ray when/if it comes out. We need a lot more films like this to be made. 

Godzilla VS Biolante (1989) directed and written by Kazuki Ōmori

 

I recently caught this on a cable network just as it was starting and decided to watch. I swore I had not seen it but I think I did. I did remember it being one of the later Godzilla films people thought were good and above the earlier sillier films from the 70s but... I have to disagree. 

The film has some interesting elements, like the giant plant monster is at first OK except for the giant flower on top which makes it a bit silly but it transforms into a pretty awesome looking creature at the end. It doesn't move all the well I thought but it was pretty complicated and I give credit where it's due. 

The story which got such praise was simply ridiculous, complicated and with the same characters we have seen in other lesser Godzilla films. People we really couldn't care less about other what their stories are. There is an international spy thriller part that just made me laugh out loud and a "touching" story about a scientist father who loses his daughter in a terrorist attack and does what any loving father would do. He takes her DNA and misses it with a plant and Godzilla cells and turns her into a giant plant monster. For some reason she is conscious in the creature for a bout 5 minutes then she seems to fade away, probably so  no one will root for the plant monster over Godzilla during the fights. At the end her face appears in the sparkly remains of the monster and flies into space where the particles reform into a giant flower in orbit. 

The crazy earlier films from the 60s and 70s had a charm this one was missing as it tried to be a lot more than it was. 

Dracula (1979) Directed by John Badham

 

This could easily have been called "Frank Langella's Dracula" since his presence is the driving force throughout. After rising to fame on stage in the role that was electrifying on Broadway and on tour for years (yet somehow never revived since) a new film version HAD to feature Langella. 

The film is not a film version of the play which had amazing hand drawn sets by the infamous gothic artist Edward Gorey and instead became much more like a Hammer studios reboot, adding a good amount of gore and some over the top set pieces but none of the humour we had seen on Broadway. Dracula is graceful and articulate, no Transylvanian accents here and a high budget allowed for interesting, if not always effective, special effects and costumes. 

Things to love about movie are the John Williams score (though his self "referencing" from other of his score is very noticeable) and the locations are beautiful dripping in gothic horror elements and the lovely matte painting work involving Dracula's Carfax Abbey. I guess the interiors of Carfax Abbey are also striking, but also they seem to be trying to replicate Gorey's illustrations in the real world which doesn't really work. There are bats, including a GIANT bat head at the rear of the main hall. Who built this place? It's way over the top where most of the other locations and props are less prone to self parody. 

Things to love less are the lack of connection or sympathy for any of the characters. They and the scenes they are in vary in tone and never congeal into more than a series of events. The characters of Lucy and Mina names are switched, Renfield has no role in the story. The movie starts with Mina somehow leaving her room unnoticed in a violent storm to get to a boat she saw crashing into the shore from her window where she sees a wold jump off the boat and go into a cave where she find not the wolf but Dracula? It's hime but we only see his hand take hold of her hand then...  it's never mentioned she was there or how Dracula got from the cave to his new house and Mina doesn't seem to know him at all when he visits later on. The end is equally nonsensical. After a complex series of events to save Lucy that isn't terrible but goes on a little long, the count is killed after being hoisted up on a hook to the sunlight on the boat he is trying to escape on and is burnt by the sun. We only see the start of this process and the shot makes it seem that he transformed in to a kite and flies away over the ocean? Lucy seems free of him but she sees the kite-count and gives an enigmatic smile. What? 

While the film doesn't really work, Langella 100% does his best despite the efforts of maybe Badham to rob the vampire of all mystery and repeating shots over and over. We see Dracula's feet only leaving a carriage etc, a shot which leads to seeing him completely at least three times. There are multiple shots though a web with a spider on it as a character walks beneath. We get it, they are caught in Dracula's web... move on. It's frustrating to see the real potential of a great film wasted but it's worth taking a look for the good elements if you can handle the bad ones.