Frankenstein (1994 movie, post read a long, long time ago)

It really is the first, or most famous, Zombie story. Mary Shelley supposedly won a personal contest between Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley with Frankenstein for it being scary. However, the movie that was filmed in 1994 based, fairly closely, on the book is not a 'horror' movie. It is not filmed to be particularly scary; not in the instantaneous, creepy way that is expected in a horror movie and not to a modern audience.

Still, the concept should be more scary in todays world than in Shelley's: Science has become pretty much as arrogant as her novel predicts. We aren't re-animating people, but we do have a few wackos trying to 'cure' aging. Which could be an even scarier story. But still not in the 'horror' genre style.

Perhaps I am being to limiting to the genre, but Frankenstein feels more like a dark, scary, and a little gory drama movie and it drops the scariest element of Shelley's book. The 'monster' is vilified far more than Victor is, though he is rather stupid. Everything is grandiose, white and clean or dirty and evil, and very "Melodramatic". There were a few movies made in this visual style in the 90's and 00's, such as Van Helsing or Underworld; but it also reminds me a little of Kill Bill, though that was at least supposed to be a parody (I hope...).

I don't really like the movie. Victor Frankenstein is a little too much of a retarded scientific genius for me. The plot moves forward mostly because of his idiocy (which I don't remember from the book, but it has been several years) or for some sort of dramatic confrontation. But, it is cheaply entertaining. I would like to see the Old One.





Analysis (spoilers will follow):


In the end of the movie, Victor wants to save his late wife because she died when he took both pistols out of the room with him to hunt his monster instead of just staying there with his weapons and protecting her. So he decides to cut off her head, with her brain in it, and sew it on to the corpse of one of their friends.

When next you see her, There are jagged scars running over her face just like his first creature. Now, I wonder, why are those there? Just to make her look horrid and deformed? Why would you need to do anything to her face? Her head had all the components you could possibly want for a head. It was just her body that was without a heart.

This is what I mean by 'melodramatic' action. Most parts of the film are done for their dramatic potential as long as the audience isn't thinking too much or completely ready to accept anything the movie offers. My own ability to suspend disbelief is pretty good, but I would like a little credit for being a thoughtful individual.

Silent Hill (2006 movie, never played the game)

Out of the three horror movies I watched around Halloween, The Exorcist, Frankenstein, and Silent Hill, the last was, by far, the most scary.

I didn't go into it expecting much from the movie. It was adapted off of a video game, after all, and those rarely go very well (I would mention Alone in the Dark, but I haven't actually seen it). But I was surprised. Not only is Silent Hill a scary movie, but it is fairly thought provoking, has some philosophical elements, and succeeds in being entertaining.

Silent Hill is almost entirely populated by women. If anyone has any feminist ideals, you could take this good or ill: on the one hand, it's a horror movie with a bunch of helpless women, no wonder everything's going wrong; on the other, these aren't weak women. Half of them are the evil powers, one or another, and the other half are the rescuing powers.

I hope that doesn't spoil anything. The eventual cruxes of the plot are reveled in a little spot of narration, which is really the biggest problem with this film. They couldn't figure out how to reveal everything without just sidetracking and telling you what happened. It's also a little weird when they use some computer-animated footage from the game. Sometimes, this is unnoticeable, but often it is a little distracting.

Silent Hill is a "Damn Creepy" movie and I found it to be really rather good. However, there don't seem to be a lot of people who share my view, so perhaps proceed with caution.

The Exorcist (1973 movie)

The first horror movie I watched this Halloween season was the famous Exorcist. The version never seen in theaters!, apparently, with extended material and whatnot.

It is a "Freaky Movie". The soundtrack, which isn't so much 'music' as horrific noise, lends itself to creepy-ness just as well as 'subliminal messages' accomplished with watermarks and flashes of satanic, demonic images. But at it's core, the Exorcist is about a child being grossly abused which makes all but the most psychotic a little uncomfortable.

The movie starts slowly enough. Setting the stage a few thousand miles from where the story actually takes place. However, this somewhat unconventional approach works well, especially when it is in the mystical and dangerous landscape of the middle east. The birth of Judeo-Christian religion as well as Western Society in general.

The movie makes me wonder, idly, if it is because of Horror movies like this that there is such a hatred of anything christian. It's been associated with the squirmy feelings of a horror movie, even if they are (usually) battling the forces of darkness. Watching Silent Hill a few days later just made this thought more prevalent in my mind.



Short Analysis (spoilers):


Especially since the Exorcist doesn't actually have the warriors of God win, really. Not through their faith. Despite all of its christian symbolism, it doesn't make a stance that Christianity is the true religion opposed to such dastardly things. The priest has to go to the point of killing himself; taking the demon into his own body and then destroying it to rid the girl of her possession.

A reappearance of Christian themes, but the demon won.

I suppose there aren't a lot of Horror movies with happy endings...

Spirited Away (2001 movie)

Another film from Hayao Miyazaki, another testament to his ardor for the environment.

Another brilliant work in its own right.

Of course Spirited Away is a good movie. Many people consider it Hayao's best movie out of a very impressive lineup. It is up there, but I still like Totoro a little more for it's quietness. Totoro is a very contented movie.

Spirited Away is halfway between the two types of movies I have seen from Miyazaki: his epic fantasy movies set in a more unearthly environment and his 'this-is-sorta-earth' movies. The 'this-is-sorta-earth' movies are more homey feeling, even though I have never been to Japan. They usually have more dynamic, less extreme personalities populating the animated landscape.

Spirited Away moves from earth to the spirit world (faery) and then back again. It has a very similar balance between fantasy and reality as one would see in a Neil Gaiman work (such as Coraline). It is very good at pulling emotion out of the viewer as Chihiro, the main character, reacts as one would expect as her world begins to be destroyed around her. That doesn't mean that this is a sad movie (throughout), for she adapts and grows and becomes much stronger.

The movie means a lot of things. Some of them blatantly, some of them not so much. It has an ideology which it pushes, but it also has characters who have purposes and motives and things just happen, like in real life. There are a lot of lessons which can be learned here.

The Little Rascals (1994 movie)

The point of The Little Rascals is almost entirely to watch cute little kids between 4 and 9 playing on your TV screen a little more large than they ever would in real life. And for what ever reason utterly without parental appearance.

They are cast as acting like grown-ups, which is the source of the humor in the movie.

That sounds a little cynical, but it isn't. That's just what the movie is. It is a "cute, funny, quick and entertaining" movie. It succeeds in everything it tries to do.