October Horror Movie Marathon

[Justin101]

A quick catch up of my October so far.
4th - The Black Cat (1934 version)
5th - Ghoulies
6th - The Awful Dr Orlof
7th - Rosemary’s Baby

It’s been an interesting one for me so far, 7 films I’ve not seen before (apart from Ghoulies, but that was around 25 years ago so may as well have been new). Tonight’s film being the best so far, although it’s going to difficult to top as it is a bonafide classic!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

A quick catch up of my October so far.
4th - The Black Cat (1934 version)
5th - Ghoulies
6th - The Awful Dr Orlof
7th - Rosemary’s Baby

It’s been an interesting one for me so far, 7 films I’ve not seen before (apart from Ghoulies, but that was around 25 years ago so may as well have been new). Tonight’s film being the best so far, although it’s going to difficult to top as it is a bonafide classic!

The Black Cat? Well what was the verdict?

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The Black Cat? Well what was the verdict?

I enjoyed it, the film looks amazing and Karloff was great as well. It was certainly a bit violent and sexy for its age as well I thought! One which I’ll no doubt watch again! Hopefully there will be a nice Universal HD remaster sometime soon.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

October 7th

Count Dracula (1977)

This BBC adaptation is the perfect remedy to yesterday's tepid Dan Curtis production.

The casting is uniformly excellent. Frank Finlay is perhaps the definitive Van Helsing and Louis Jourdan perhaps surprisingly has just the right amounts of menace and dark sensuality to portray the Count and most interestingly, he feels right in the role without even the slightest bit of camp in his performance. One defining moment is his seduction of Lucy. As he's biting her and she's clearly in orgasm, you can see the blood mixed with spittle on his mouth and her neck and it all looks a little bit too realistic. The other stand out is Jack Shepard as Renfield who peels back the histrionics and portrays the character with sympathy as a tortured soul in some cracking scenes with Seward. Judy Bowker as Mina, and Susan Penhaligan as Lucy are also delightfully played.

Part filmed at Whitby, this tv version is beautifully atmospheric and features some genuinely chilling sequences - Van Helsing fighting off the vampire brides whilst trying to protect Mina, borders on the terrifying and there are several other unsettling scenes throughout which i won't spoil for anyone wishing to give this a go. The sets and settings feel just right too, from the creepiness of Castle Dracula to the windswept graveyards of Whitby.

As far as the story goes this is i feel the most faithful to Bram Stoker's novel and all the better for it. At two and a half hours it's long, but i thought it flew by - the opening hour felt like 20 minutes - and the more i think back about the production the more i feel just like with the tv version of Frankenstein (2004) - starring Luke Goss - that this may be the best Dracula to date.

[Inspector Abberline]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

October 7th

Count Dracula (1977)

This BBC adaptation is the perfect remedy to yesterday's tepid Dan Curtis production.

The casting is uniformly excellent. Frank Finlay is perhaps the definitive Van Helsing and Louis Jourdan perhaps surprisingly has just the right amounts of menace and dark sensuality to portray the Count and most interestingly, he feels right in the role without even the slightest bit of camp in his performance. One defining moment is his seduction of Lucy. As he's biting her and she's clearly in orgasm, you can see the blood mixed with spittle on his mouth and her neck and it all looks a little bit too realistic. The other stand out is Jack Shepard as Renfield who peels back the histrionics and portrays the character with sympathy as a tortured soul in some cracking scenes with Seward. Judy Bowker as Mina, and Susan Penhaligan as Lucy are also delightfully played.

Part filmed at Whitby, this tv version is beautifully atmospheric and features some genuinely chilling sequences - Van Helsing fighting off the vampire brides whilst trying to protect Mina, borders on the terrifying and there are several other unsettling scenes throughout which i won't spoil for anyone wishing to give this a go. The sets and settings feel just right too, from the creepiness of Castle Dracula to the windswept graveyards of Whitby.

As far as the story goes this is i feel the most faithful to Bram Stoker's novel and all the better for it. At two and a half hours it's long, but i thought it flew by - the opening hour felt like 20 minutes - and the more i think back about the production the more i feel just like with the tv version of Frankenstein (2004) - starring Luke Goss - that this may be the best Dracula to date.

now im sure I've seen this,did the BBC do adaptation of Frankenstein around the same time...??? And is there a scene in this where some eats a lite candle...???

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline

now im sure I've seen this,did the BBC do adaptation of Frankenstein around the same time...??? And is there a scene in this where some eats a lite candle...???

As far as i'm aware the BBC have never done Frankenstein. No candle eating in this either.

[Inspector Abberline]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

As far as i'm aware the BBC have never done Frankenstein. No candle eating in this either.

Buggar....must of been a post Al Adamson induced dream then....

[Rik]

I remember first watching that version of Dracula when I was about 12 and absolutely loving it. It’s definitely one of the best and a favourite of mine, certainly better than both the Jack Palance and Frank Langella versions, neither of which I particularly like


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[Nordicdusk]

Have a backlog of reviews today should get them up tonight.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Inspector Abberline

Buggar....must of been a post Al Adamson induced dream then....

I really think you'd enjoy this production, Inspector. It's everything the Curtis f**k up isn't.