Horror Flick of the Week: The Invisible Man (2020)

 

Shocking as it may be, this week I am featuring a film that is younger than twenty years old. For once. I didn't think there was a remote chance I'd enjoy this 4th remake (if you count the many sequels, then even more) of a film I'd only ever really enjoyed in its first incarnation. Especially given that in the trailers they seemed to be taking more of a Hollow Man approach - - and I was not a fan of that one, despite my love of Kevin Bacon. I was completely wrong, however, and this movie was far more delightful. The Invisible Man really became the monster of the piece, while the victim's point of view came to the forefront. It lent far more of a mystery element in some ways to a film that had never really had that before. It's sort of crazy realizing that a film about an invisible man had never really been much of a mystery before. For the most part the audience always knew where he was, save for a few sequences at the climax of Hollow Man.

Please, give this movie a chance as soon as possible. The atmosphere is perfect. The message in the story is relevant. The acting is superb. It's a film worthy of the Universal Monster universe, and even better is that it's in conjunction with Blumhause - - which has has very quickly seemed to become the king company of horror films these days.

5 More Horrific Soundtracks

This Halloween season has been pretty quiet. Oh, there's plenty of screams to wake you up at night, along with those pesky bumps. Then, of course, you've got the cackling witches in your backyard (why they can't get their own damned giant cauldron to chant Shakespeare quotes, I haven't a clue), but where's the music? The carols? The mood-setting tunes? They are, as always, in the movies. Bringing you back around once more for even more epic horror OST's, and here's hoping you have an awesome Halloween.

Oh, by the way, I did finally get around to watching Mephisto Waltz. It was good, but the score was better.

1. Suspiria

It would be a crime to forget Goblin on another one of these OST horror lists, and an absolute tragedy to forget Suspiria. Chilling, beautiful, and packed with atmosphere. There could have been no artists to rival the beauty of the movie and pair so well with Argento's masterpiece than Goblin.

2. Return of the Living Dead

Maybe I'm in a metal mood. A punk mood. An 80s mood. Or, maybe, just maybe--Return of the Living Dead has not only one of the most epic title songs in cinematic history (well, maybe not traditionally epic, but definitely awesome), but it's an arrangement of some of my absolute favorite music artists to boot.

3. Near Dark

Tangerine dream. There's just something about them. Even though synthesizers aren't generally my style, they somehow manage to take the style and create something absolutely beautiful. Another excellent example of a band that paired so well with the atmosphere of the movie, I can't imagine anyone else being quite so perfect.

4. A Nightmare on Elm Street part 3: Dream Warriors

Okay, so why didn't I pick part 1? That's where the original title song came from, isn't it? Yes, however, part 1 didn't have Dokken. Part 3 did. They have a lot more fun with rock in this one than the earlier two did, and it definitely shows in the somewhat 'metal' moments of the better character deaths.

5. 28 Days Later

When this film came out, my mom immediately rushed out to buy the cd. Neither of us had heard anything like it before, or seen a film quite so groundbreaking. Yes, say what you will about 28 Days now, but there's no denying that it transformed the genre of zombie films. I'd say maybe the same way Sam Peckinpah changed westerns. The music is jarring, gritty, and yet--absolutely beautiful, beginning to end.

Horror Flick of the Week: 13 Curses/Trece Campanadas

As I was preparing for our upcoming podcast episode (at long last), I recalled a movie I'd seen last year. Excellent atmosphere, an interesting story arc, and a good example of a movie on my incredibly long Netflix list that I had put off way too long before actually watching it.

13 Curses (Trece Campanadas) is the story of a young man going back to the town he spent his childhood in before a mysterious accident occurred one stormy night claiming the life of his father and the sanity of his mother.

His father was an incredible artist with inclinations towards the more morbid side of sculpting, which in itself is always pretty awesome when you're dealing with vengeful spirit movies. But of course, this is more than that. Much more. Luis Tosar delivers an incredible performance as the ghost and memory of Mateo, the main character's father. This was actually one of my first Luis Tosar films, and it's a great entry into his lexicon.

The Spanish language itself lends itself to incredible horror potential. There's something about the sound, the passion of the words themselves, and I just don't know if 13 Curses would have been nearly as good if it had been of the English fare. An absolutely incredible movie worth a watch on any night.

5 Horrific Soundtracks

Sometimes when I watch a new horror film, I think to myself...the score here really isn't anything to brag about. It hardly stands out as creepy or mood-setting, usually, and a lot of artists seem to have completely abandon orchestral works in favor of licensing popular pop songs or even covers of them. So today I'm going to take a moment to remind all of you about a few epic horror soundtracks from awesome movies that helped to make them so incredible.

1. The Mephisto Waltz

When I get a copy of this movie, I'll probably tell you a bit more about it. I've only read the book, though, so there's not much I can say about the film. HOWEVER, the soundtrack. Is. Incredible. I'd expect nothing less from Jerry Goldsmith, who is absolutely one of the most incredible composers of the last century in my opinion. Here's a quick sample of some songs from the soundtrack, and if you like it...I urge you to buy it.

2. The Fog (1980)

Any of you who may have watched John Carpenter's earlier films may remember that he generally did most of the composing for them. In fact, any time you hear heavy synths in a Carpenter film...that was probably his doing. While I'm not a major fan of synth music, I'll give Carpenter credit that he knew how to work those babies. Often I don't thing his movies would have been the same without them. It was difficult to settle on a sountrack in particular, but ultimately I decided on The Fog. (They Live gets honorable mention.) I'm not going to post one of the full videos of the soundtrack, but I will post my favorite iconic song from it.

3. Ravenous

With the recent passing of Antonia Bird, I was saddened to realize there would never again be another wonderful film made by that woman. But this one will always live on, and the music? Incredible. Composed by Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman, this soundtrack takes folk music to a whole new level beyond the disturbing quality of Deliverance. Each song becomes darker and darker, and so to does the story, tying the music and film together flawlessly. Here's an example of one of the darker songs.

4. High Spirits

Toning it down a little and bringing you one of the lighter hearted horror comedies, which really is less horror and more comedy. I mean...there are some ghosts. That's what classifies it as horror, but I say anything supernatural goes. There's really kind of just one song in this movie, with a few variations. But it stands out enough to set the mood pretty damned well, so it's going on the list. I'll give you guys the overture, which is generally a sampling of every song. For the sake of continuity and giving credit where credit is due, this was composed by George Fenton.

5. The Exorcist

So in a debate between films like Jaws, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13th, it all came down to Tubular Bells. I mean The Exorcist. Yes, I said I don't like much synth music, but there's no denying that it's done pretty good in this movie. Besides, it was the 70s, people were all about synths. Believe it or not, this isn't the full song. Tubular Bells runs 50 minutes in total. It's a damn long song. Steve Boeddeker does not do anything halfway.