Decemberdike December 16th
I initially watched Pool Party Massacre (2018), a fun film but as it went on i quickly came to realise it was a comedy with gore rather than a horror film of any sort. So whilst entertaining it didn't deliver on the Decemberdike scale.
On to an unseen classic i thought. Mark of the Vampire (1936)
What the hell was this? Tod Browning's film sets itself up as a typical Universal graveyards and vampires chiller, (Except it was made by MGM) it's script apparently following the lost film London after Midnight.
Bela Lugosi creates his Dracula image and Carol Borland becomes his vampire bride. However very quickly the film turns into a 'whodunnit' with a preposterous premise without any supernatural thrills at all.
Even by 1935 standards this film came across as dated. Universal with Dracula and Frankenstein frightened audiences and made them believe they were real, but Mark of the Vampire seems to come from the period prior to those films where monster were frauds, and it's twist ending was both disappointing and a film killer making it seem as if the preceding reels were a parody more than anything else.
I really need to watch this again with the Kim Newman / Stephen Jones commentary.
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