Horror movie.

I'm drinking Arizona Sweet Tea, suddenly not tired, watching Halloween on IFC, and I'm very much feeling in the spirit of the season. I'll take this time to recommend a great watch, perfect for this time of the year.

Jack Hill's Spider Baby, or the Maddest Story Ever Told (1968)

In a run down mansion way out in the country live the last remaining descendants of the depraved Merrye family: victims of a degenerative brain disease that causes its sufferers to, with age, regress to a state of violent instinctual behavior. They are watched over by the family caretaker, a kind-hearted gent named Bruno (in a sunset performance by Lon Chaney, Jr., and a touching, majestic performance at that), who, bound by his word, is forced to cover up their wrongdoings. When some distant "normal" relatives arrive to claim the Merrye family fortune, things begin to get even more troublesome.
While the material sounds fairly serious, don't let that fool you. The film is rife with screwball humor, quirkiness, and latent sexual tension.
In this campy horror masterpiece, we enjoy a wide spread of appeals. These include fantastically fun performances, including (other than Chaney, of course):

• Carol Ohmart as one of the greedy family members, particularly malicious and cunning.
  
• Jill Banner as Virginia, youngest daughter of the Merrye family, and one of the most violent. A favorite game of hers to play is the eponymous "Spider," in which she slices her playmate with two butcher's knives. She plays this role with a peculiar intoxicating quality. She is basis for most of the film's sexual undertones.
  
• Sid Haig as Ralph, eldest brother of the Merrye family. He drools a lot, wears funny clothes, and gropes Carol Ohmart's face, much to her dismay. Mostly he seems harmless, and is the most charming character in the entire film.

The most fascinating aspect of this movie, though, is its intentional naivety and innocence. There is really no objectionable content whatsoever, and in fact today would most likely get an upper PG, maybe lower PG-13 rating, even despite the sexual undertones. This juxtaposition makes for some incredibly unique and engaging character development and character relations, not only between the characters in the film, but between the audience and the characters as well.
Thanks to Hill's light-handed direction and obvious loving touch (a profound respect for the genre and the actors with whom he's working), and the performances (of course), there's such an incredible atmosphere produced it's quite easy to get sucked into this one.
And just to make it clear: while Spider Baby is certainly silly, campy, and fun, it has its share of genuine creepiness, too!

This for sure is one of my top 20 favorite horror movies ever, which is really saying something.

So if you're looking for something to really compliment the feel of the Hallowe'en season, or just a great (horror) film altogether, I highly, highly recommend this one.

Enjoy the trailer:


Netflix it!

Movie.

Since this blog is most likely going to be fueled mainly by boredom/indecisiveness/other things, I might as well start right off with a bit of inspired restlessness.

So, why not post a recommendation of one of my favorite films of all time?

Good point.

Anyway, here goes.

I just recently watched, for maybe the fifth or sixth time, Ingmar Bergman's Viskningar och rop (Cries and Whispers) (1972). The first time I watched it, I was dazzled by the look of it, and was left for days to ponder its depth. The second time, already being a step ahead by having analyzed the crap out of it, I was able to be a little less tense, and was giddy by the time it was over. The third, fourth, fifth, (and maybe sixth) time I watched it, my feelings continued on in this fashion.


The story, involving two women who return to their childhood home to visit their dying sister, is so simple, yet Bergman uses these bare bones to plunge headlong into the depths of spirituality, family, and, most importantly, the soul (and there's more, I'm sure). Or, as Roger Ebert stated in his review of the film, "[It] is about dying, love, sexual passion, hatred and death - in that order." Despite the brilliantly lush (and red. This is a very red movie.) cinematography by (one of my very favorites) Sven Nykvist and its old-fashioned composition, there is a visual element to the film that is incredibly disturbing and even horrifying. The use of emotional, mental, and physical imagery is nearly assaulting at times.



Really, after howevermany watches, I still can't claim to grasp every shred of meaning packed into it, nor will I ever, most likely. Like the strong majority of Bergman's films, Cries and Whispers is so intensely personal, there's an aspect to it that is impossible to possess, impossible to analyze and pick apart. You will watch, and sit back, and think. The pieces will come together. It will mean something to you. There are no compromises at all. You must take it as it is. And it is wonderful.



Oh! I almost forgot. The performances add a lot to all this "great film" business, too. Particularly Harriet Andersson as the dying sister, Agnes, and Bergman regular Ingrid Thulin as sister Karin. Ingrid Thulin also happens to be one of my favorite actresses ever:


Here is a lovely picture of her and Bergman.

Begin tangent:

Watching Thulin perform, for whatever reason, has always had an incredibly hypnotizing effect on me. She embodies her characters with such personality and depth. She owns them, but still gives them each their own uniqueness, so it's never like you're always watching Ingrid Thulin. At any rate, any movie she's in is worth a watch, if only for her performance.

End tangent!



So! If you had enough gusto to make it through that mess, then reward yourself by watching Cries and Whispers, seriously.

You deserve it.

Netflix it!