favorite movie #61 - halloween edition: the return of dracula

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #61 - The Return of Dracula (1958) - Another film that impressed and scared me as a kid was The Return of Dracula, with Francis Lederer starring as the bloodthirsty count. The vampire film ditched the usual Transylvanian setting for bright, suburban California. I originally saw the film on my family's black and white television, so didn't know about the color insert scene until many years later. I think what scared me most was the sheer banality — Dracula could be someone posing as an uncle and living upstairs. He could gain access to your bedroom at night if you were so foolish to sleep with the window open. The last scene was pretty gruesome, too - I probably hadn't seen anything like it at the time. Lederer is effective, too —  just the right amount of charm and outsider-ness to make the squeaky clean characters find him off-putting. Bonus — the whole, remastered film can be viewed on YouTube.

favorite movie #14: bram stoker’s dracula

Favorite movies that have had an impact on me - #14 - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) - There are some clunky moments, but overall this is an amazing visual experience. Director Francis Ford Coppola channels Gustav Klimt and goth and splatters it all with buckets of blood. Gary Oldman has the time of his life and chews victims and scenery in equal measure. The Oscar-winning costumes by Eiko Ishioka are beyond memorable. They’re art.

zombie-palooza

I don't know what it is, lately, but I have been drawn to watching zombie movies. That may not seem such a big deal, with today's post-apocalyptic zombie-heavy film offerings, but it is a real departure for me. I really don't like zombies. I have watched and loved horror movies from an early age. I've loved Dracula and all of his minions and incarnations. Frankenstein, aliens, creatures from black lagoons and other environs. Ghosts, devils, werewolves, you name it. But I have always drawn the line at zombies. Those brain-craving ghouls have always freaked me out, without any of the thrills that accompany other classic horror monsters.

Night of the Living Dead: "They're coming to get you, Barbra ..."

I think I can trace my fear of zombies to George Romero's classic low-budget black and white horror film, Night of The Living Dead. I saw it at a tender age, on television, like most other horror movies I was introduced to, with my dad and the rest of our family nearby. But it was so creepy, so scary, so ... possible. Yes. It still gives me shivers just thinking about it. It also was one of those movies that pissed me off, as it, like so many others that seem to always kill the back guy.

What I didn't realize at the time, was that Romero actually intended the film to be his own interpretation of author Richard Matheson's horror novel, I Am Legend. I had already seen two other film versions of that classic story with dear old dad — The Last Man on Earth, with Vincent Price, and The Omega Man, with Charlton Heston. I loved both versions. The Heston one was flashier and less serious and somber than the Price version, so was probably my favorite of the two.

The other night I finally saw the most recently filmed version of the story, I Am Legend, starring Will Smith as the last man on earth. I liked it, although it was most interesting as a study in loneliness. It was truly heartbreaking when Smith found himself truly alone around the middle of the film. The vampire/zombies were more typical movie bad guys than truly frightening.

I Am Legend: Just a story about a man and his dog ... and hordes of the undead

World War Z: Brad Pitt, trying to remain calm in many, many storms

I saw I Am Legend just a few days after finally getting up the courage to watch World War Z, which had been gathering dust in my Netflix queue for ages. I have always been a big Brad Pitt fan, so it was definitely the zombies which kept me from checking it out any sooner. I have to admit that I loved this movie. I'm still thinking about it. It was tense. And intense. I literally sat on the edge of my seat through some of the sequences. I never read the original novel by Max Brooks (son of Mel), so the variations from its oral history style didn't bug me.

I really liked World War Z's globe-trekking nature, which reminded me a bit of Bram Stoker's Dracula, where the action goes from England to Transylvania and back again. Pitt plays Gerry, a former UN investigator, who is coerced into tracking down the origins of a zombie plague which is sweeping the world. His love for his family and his fears for their safety are strong motivators. His questioning mind is also a big factor. He can't help but be fascinated by this terrible situation. There are some thrilling sequences: the family's initial witnessing of the zombies attacking in Philadelphia, Gerry's travels to South Korea,and Jerusalem, and an amazing zombie attack mid-flight. The show-stopes may well be Gerry's attempts to elude sound-sensitive zombies in the silent corridors of a World Health Organization labyrinthian lab in Wales.

I saw the unedited cut of World War Z, because that's what's on offer from Netflix. I'm not a big fan of gore, but the story and acting was compelling enough to keep me watching, even when blood may have been spurting. There is already a sequel in the works, set to be released in 2017. For once, thanks to Brad Pitt and Game of Thrones' recently thrilling depictions of wights and White Walkers, I have to say, I am going to be looking forward to seeing a zombie movie. Who knows, maybe I'll even get up the courage to see this one in the movie theater.

throwback - 70s paperback books based on movies - thursday

Movie novelizations were a big thing when I was a kid. I remember everyone reading the books of the top movies that were out, whether they saw the movie or not. Not surprisingly, these were all horror or science-fiction novels.

I read each of these books, some which preceded their film versions.

The Deep — I think my dad like Jacquie Bisset (and her wet t-shirt) so much he took us all to see The Deep, although we never saw Jaws, which also started as a book by Peter Benchley. I'm pretty sure I read that one too, but this made more of an impact on me, with the sex and the archaeology subplot of the young couple finding undersea treasure.

Jacqueline Bisset and Nick Nolte in The Deep

Close Encounters of the Third Kind — Everyone had to see this film, with Richard Dreyfuss unforgettable as a regular guy whose life is changed by a very special alien encounter. Who could forget the mashed potato Devil's Tower? I guess I had to relive the movie with this novelization, which credits Steven Spielberg as the writer.

Stephen King's Carrie got passed around my Civics class. I'm not sure I read the whole thing, but I do remember the infamous girls' locker room period scene.

The Omen — This book was actually very scary, and I loved trying to unravel the supernatural puzzle along with the protagonist, Ambassador Thorn, played by Gregory Peck in the movie.

Lee Remick tries to shield Damien (Harvey Stephens) in The Omen

Dracula — Where it all changed for me was falling for Frank Langella's sexy Count Dracula on film and then wanting to read the original Bram Stoker novel. This was no mere movie novelization, but an introduction into gothic horror, which I still love to this day.

dan curtis' dracula

Just released on Blu-ray, Dan Curtis' Dracula features Academy Award winner Jack Palance (City Slickers, Shane, Barabbas) in the title role of the Transylvanian count. Produced and directed by Dan Curtis of Dark Shadows fame, the film adds a more romantic spin to Bram Stoker's classic tale, with Dracula obsessed with a beautiful young woman who resembles his long-lost wife. The film was written by science-fiction and horror legend Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Box, Trilogy of Terror), who pared down Stoker's epistolary tale to a fast-moving, but still scary 98-minute film.

The always charismatic Palance is impressive as Dracula.  ...

Jack Palance as Count Dracula

Fiona Lewis as Lucy, after she has spent some time with the Count

... Considered one of the scarier versions of the tale, even co-star Nigel Davenport seemed put off by Palance's take on Dracula, "I was pretty frightened of that gentleman, because he was so bloody tall! He was six-foot-four and, as he wanted to look like Dracula, he had three-inch lifts in his shoes, so he was like six-foot-seven ..."

Dan Curtis' Dracula, although adapted from Stoker, made some changes to the origin story that turned up in subsequent vampire films. Dracula's search for his lost love was not only similar to Curtis' anti-hero Barnabas Collins love for Josette from Dark Shadows, but was also echoed in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula and Gary Oldman's more romantic take on the Count. Coppola's Dracula also followed Curtis' version in taking Stoker's inspiration for the character, historical figure Vlad the Impaler, and making him and Dracula one and the same. With an emphasis on scares, and even (gasp) blood, it's great to re-welcome Dan Curtis' Dracula to the filmed pantheon of the infamous bloodthirsty Count.

You can read my complete review on Cinema Sentries

halloween marathon: dracula

Friday night premiered a re-vamped (ha) Dracula, starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as the bloodthirsty count. Except he may not be a count in this version. Or reboot. Or mish-mash. Dracula was completely ridiculous, mixing vampire lore from previous movies, a Buffy-esque female slayer, Steampunk-inspired Victorian modernity, Tesla and Edison references, and some ninja-fighting on London rooftops. It was also a complete hoot, and I will definitely be tuning in for more vampy hijinks.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Dracula — let him in.

Fans of the Bram Stoker epistolary novel (like myself) will be happy that Victorian London is once again the main setting for the series, but they might want to let their familiarity with the rest of the original plot go and just sit back and enjoy the ride, as Dracula uses all the same major characters, but presents them in very different ways.

Warning: some spoilers abound if you haven't caught the first episode ...

Dracula (Rhys Meyers) is awakened from the dead and turns up in London in 1896 (a year before Stoker's novel was published — coincidence?), posing as a rich American named Alexander Grayson. Sporting an "Uhmuhrrican" accent, Grayson is on a mission to bring free electricity to the world, and crush a secret syndicate known as The Order of the Dragon, which makes its riches on petroleum. Note: "Dracul" means "Dragon." Sitting here in the modern still-petroleum-based world we may see Drac/Grayson as less of a visionary than a crazed idealist, especially when it is revealed that The Order has doing its bad deeds for centuries, and are responsible for the death of Drac's wife. Revenge is his main motivation, and throat ripping and blood-drinking aside, he is a sort of hero, so far.

Grayson holds a big party inviting all the rich snobs of London, where we meet the rest of the cast:

Renfield - Nonso Anozie (Xaro Xhoan Daxos from Game of Thrones) is impressive as Dracula’s handler and confidante. It's kind of nice to see a Renfield who isn't obsequious and constantly whining "Master, Master!" while trying to catch flies for lunch. But I wouldn't rule out a growing appetite for bugs as the series progresses.  

Mina Murray - In a nod to Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mina is the spitting image of Drac's long-lost love of his life. So far the actress (Jessica De Gouw) playing Mina is a little on the dull side. Paging Winona!  

Lucy Westenra - It took me a moment to recognize Katie McGrath (Morgana from Merlin) as a blonde. She is so far presented as Mina's outspoken friend, and very aware of Grayson's (so far unrequited) charms. She (the actress and character) has a lot more personality than Mina (sigh). Movies based on Stoker's book have mixed up the girls and their relation to Drac, so anything goes here.

The supporting cast, CW: Thomas Kretschmann, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Nonso Anozie, Victoria Smurfit, and Katie McGrath.

Jonathan Harker - Harker (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) is a journalist in this version, as well as Mina's insecure boyfriend. It's not clear if his being a journalist will have any payoff for the story yet, although it did offer the opportunity for a beautifully-lit daytime interview scene in Grayson's manse, where Rhys Meyers had to dodge enormous rays of sunlight. 

Lady Jayne Wetherby - Victoria Smurfit plays a vampire hunter (not from Stoker's novel, and where did those other London vamps come from if Dracula has been asleep for 400 years?) who likes to sport a lot of cleavage. She is immediately hot for Grayson (and who can blame her?), and not shy about turning thought into action.

Abraham Van Helsing - In the biggest twist of the night Van Helsing (Thomas Kretschmann), who also lectures at the medical school where Mina is a student, turns out to not be the ultimate Dracula foe, but the hooded figure who woke him up in the opening scene. If anything he, not Drac, may be the architect of the grand revenge quest, as he also has an axe to grind against The Order of the Dragon. We'll see how smoothly their partnership plays out in future.

Mina (Jessica De Gouw) and Dracula — hopefully their relationship (and she) will become more interesting as the series progresses.

Dracula looks great, as does Rhys Meyers. I'm not sure how long he will keep up the American accent. But then, switching to British (for this native-born Irishman) wouldn't be exactly right, either, would it? Will we get flashbacks in a Transylvanian accent? When I first heard that Rhys Meyers would play Dracula, I was both excited and disappointed for the actor. Here he was again, in a larger-than-life role, after his turn as Henry VIII in The Tudors. Is he destined to always play the outsiders, the weirdos? Maybe. He is clearly having fun with the part, focusing his smoldering gaze on every cast member, as a predator would his prey. There are also hints that like Angel and other more modern vamps, he might want to eventually shake off his vampiric existence and lead a "normal" life.

The filmed-in-Budapest Dracula has definitely taken the "throw everything into the pot" approach. So far, it's done with flair, color and humor, and a minimum of splatter. Just enough. We'll have to wait and see what rises to the surface, but I'm on board for this (so far 10-episode series) as long as the extremely watchable Rhys Meyers is involved. Invite him in.

happy birthday bram stoker

I have always liked scary movies, since I was a kid. My dad encouraged this enthusiasm, and would watch them with us, mostly on late-night television. The whole family got excited when Dracula starring Frank Langella came out in the movie theater. Finally, a scary movie on the big screen. My Anglophile mom was thrilled that Laurence Olivier was involved. My cousin Barbara was a huge Langella fan, and I quickly followed suit. Dracula was scary and sexy. My dad was probably a bit uncomfortable sitting through some of the love scenes with his kids a seat away, but we all survived.

A few days after watching the movie I saw a book with Frank Langella as the Count on the cover in Waldenbooks and begged my mom to buy it for me. I thought it would be a novelization, a way for me to relive what I had just seen on screen. But it was a repackaging of Bram Stoker's original novel, and I'm so grateful to the fabulously sexy Langella for helping to introduce me to this classic Gothic epistolary novel. It became one of my favorite books that summer. I still have it, although it's a bit worse for wear.

More than a little dog-eared, but still loved. The back cover included the phrase, "His love is eternal ... His embrace a throbbing dream."

A 24-page color insert!

I have read plenty of vampire stories since, by Anne Rice and many others (although I have not been tempted by Twilight), but none can compare to the original Stoker novel. Stoker never traveled to Transylvania, or anywhere near there. Maybe as the daughter of a newspaper man, I connected to a novel written by a reporter. Stoker was a theater critic and wrote for the London Daily Telegraph.

Before writing Dracula, Stoker met Ármin Vámbéry who was a Hungarian writer and traveler. Dracula likely emerged from Vámbéry's dark stories by Carpathian mountains. Stoker then spent several years researching European folklore and mythological stories of vampires. Dracula is an epistolary novel, written as a collection of realistic, but completely fictional, diary entries, telegrams, letters, ship's logs, and newspaper clippings, all of which added a level of detailed realism to his story, a skill he developed as a newspaper writer. — Wikipedia

I may have originally bought Bram Stoker's Dracula for the color photo insert of Langella & Co., but the book ended up making a huge and lasting impression on me. Reading Dracula led me to other horror writing, by authors like Sheridan Le Fanu, M. R. James, H.P. Lovecraft, Theodore Sturgeon, and Edgar Allan Poe. Thank you, Bram Stoker, for your indelible character of Count Dracula. A character who will undoubtedly continue to inspire countless versions in the future.

welcome to the hotel transylvania

The more Adam Sandler movies that I see (and I seem to be seeing a lot more these days than I ever thought possible) the more I think that I get his appeal. Of course the easy answer is that he makes people laugh. But I think there is something else going on in his movies. Sandler, whether consciously or not, is trying to hold onto what it feels like to be a kid, to be silly. That makes for some seriously juvenile humor at times, which can be a turn-off for many. But being in touch with your inner eight year-old also creates a feeling of goodwill. Sandler's comedies are silly and fun. Just as many jokes miss as hit their mark, but no one, especially Sandler, takes things too seriously. His approach seems to be that if this bit doesn't work, sit tight, something else is sure to. This comic benevolence extends to his roster of acting cohorts, who keep turning up to work with him.

Hotel Transylvania takes this relaxed approach and cast full of familiar Sandler pals and matches it with some truly colorful and attractive animation, courtesy of director Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack) in his feature film debut.

Sandler voices Dracula, a widower and extremely overprotective parent who is raising his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) in the Hotel Transylvania. Tartakovsky has Dracula glide around the castle — calm on the outside, but anxious and desperate to protect his only child in his every word and action. The hotel has been designed as a place where the world's monsters, who are actually fairly non-violent, can be safe from the dangerous and dreaded human population.

Once a year Dracula invites his fellow monsters Frankenstein (Kevin James), the Invisible Man (David Spade), the Mummy (Cee Lo Green), and the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), among others to come and celebrate Mavis's birthday. This year Mavis is turning 118 and is getting curious, to point of distraction, about the world outside the castle walls. Dracula and Mavis will find both of their world's rocked when an unexpected human guest, a backpacker named Jonathan (Andy Samberg), shows up at the castle one evening.

Reviews have been mixed, but as usual Sandler can laugh all the way to the bank, as Hotel Transylvania had the highest-grossing September opening weekend, and is still going strong in its second week. Like Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, the makers of Hotel Transylvania have a love of old horror and monster movies, and viewers will have to pay attention to catch all of the many film references and movie monsters. The hotel is staffed by witches, zombies, and shrunken heads. I also spotted  a giant spider and octopus and a crawling hand, all favorites from '50s horror films. The kid loved the movie, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of chances to catch all of the other creatures when it eventually comes out on DVD.

When I was about my daughter's age I remember seeing The Mad Monster Party on television. I loved it, with all of the monsters and goofy, silly humor. I suspect that Sandler & Co. did too, and this is their take on the movie monsters they loved to be scared by as kids.

twilight zone

I just saw the movie Twilight on cable. It's not as bad as critics or haters of runaway successes would have you believe. It's not great, either, but it was very watchable. And almost classic, in some ways. As I watched it, I was waiting for a scene or scenes that I might want to shield my daughter from (who was already tucked into bed), but there really weren't many. There were a few scenes of menace, and she would have found the penultimate fight scene scary, but she could see it in a few years (or tomorrow, with her eyes covered until given the all-clear, as I used to watch monster movies with my dad). Mostly it was pure fairytale. I haven't read the book(s), but have notice and liked the bold cover graphics, the illustrated forbidden fruit referencing remembered childhood fairytales.

What is interesting to me about this "vampire fad" is not the romantic or even sexual aspect of the stories, which, unless you were completely asleep, were always there. It's that vampires are just a device to tell the fairytale story. Twilight's lead vampire, Edward Cullen, is part handsome prince, part sleeping beauty. Bella, the heroine, awakens him from his slumber, and lets love into his life. The fact that they can't consummate their love (he might lose control and vamp out) may be frustrating for moviegoers, but completely in-sync with the chaste kiss that culminates most Cinderella, Snow White, etc. stories. Little girls love to swoon and imagine all things romantic, but are slower to actually want to let things get real. Pretty kid-appropriate, apart from the vampire angle. With a female heroine who drives the paper-thin story, no wonder girls are flocking to this tale. Much like their re-christening of Aladdin "Jasmine," Twilight is another princess story, just not by Disney.

After finding movie vampires attractive since my childhood—Francis Lederer in The Return of Dracula was exotic and sexy (I hadn't seen Bela yet), Frank Langella in my teens made becoming a vampire an option worth considering (and made me read the original novel by Bram Stoker), and Gary Oldman—well, he was creepy and Gary and sexy all at the same time—he made Coppola's over-the-top mix of genius design and embarrassing acting worth watching—a vampire romance seems pretty par for the course. Not to mention my love of all things Angel and the inimitable Spike.

Edward may be a de-fanged vampire, but his blatant channeling of James Dean, the ultimate inscrutable, frustrating, and oh-so-attractive movie male and teen icon is dead-on and absolutely appropriate for this demon without a cause. Dean died tragically young and will always represent teen angst. Edward died at seventeen and has been pent up and frustrated pretty much ever since. He may represent the ultimate teen dreamboat/horny boyfriend. Angel & Spike may have been juvenile at times, but were men for the most part, trying to find their way in the world of good or evil, depending on which show, which season, you were watching. Edward and Bella's romance is not only this generation's vamp couple, but may speak more directly to a teen sensibility. Buffy was set in high school, but was more sophisticated, adult in tone. Buffy didn't have the luxury of living a fairy tale. She was in a monster movie from the get-go. What if Angel had attended Sunnydale High? It would have been a much different story. Edward seems to want to go to school. live in the world. He's even sort of a science geek. He's that weird but attractive guy with the family problems that no one wants to talk to. You know he's trouble, but . . .

For folks who would argue that Edward's fascination with Bella is creepy, stalker-like—are you that disconnected from teen romance? Obsession is the name of the game. What about how Edward's attraction to Bella is directly linked to his thirst for her blood? Hello, pheromones. But he's a blood-drinking monster—killer of little bunnies and Bambis (he and his vamp family consider themselves vegetarians). Well, to reference Some Like it Hot, nobody's perfect. Most fairy tales are creepy. Cinderella was treated as slave labor by her family. Snow White's step-mother was constantly trying to murder her because she was jealous of her beauty. Sleeping Beauty falls in love with the first guy she kisses (even sees.) These are not role models. But they are classic stories that feature girls and women and magic and fantasy. Children need make-believe, and stories where the boy is always the hero are all too common. Some may find Bella's obsession with Edward dangerous and inexplicable. Sort of like love. Can love ever be explained rationally? Should it? Is she losing herself in him, is she making bad choices? Probably. Is it entertaining to watch? Definitely.