Saturday, September 29, 2012

Introduction to the Horror Movie Review


Oh horror movies, how I love you. I enjoy the old ones, the obscure ones, the gory ones, the crazy ones. All of them!
Well, not the 'found footage' ones (Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, etc) they're annoying and boring.
But the rest! How lovely it is to be scared, how interesting to see what horrors people can come up with.

October is the month for horror. Halloween is only a month away, are you getting excited yet? I know I am!
Australia lacks many Halloween things, it's viewed here as an "American holiday". They can't take it away from us though.

So for the month of October I'm going to watch a bunch of horror movies and give you a review. My reviews are also going to include spoilers, sorry about that but I'm a spoiler kind of girl. Reviews will range from all time periods, all genres. Do you have a favourite horror movie? Please tell me in the comments and I might watch it.

The above graphic I made with a still from the 1959 film House on Haunted Hill. Starring the lovely Vincent Price.

The film was directed by William Castle, who used to use a bunch of great gimmicks in his film. Back when the film was in cinemas a skeleton would fly over the audience during the film, giving everyone a fright. My favourite gimmick of his was during his film The Tingler. From wikipedia:

"During the climax of the film, The Tingler was depicted escaping into a generic movie theater. On screen the projected film appeared to break as the silhouette of the Tingler moved across the projection beam. The film went black, all lights in the auditorium (except fire exit signs) were turned off, and Vincent Price's voice warned the audience "Ladies and gentlemen, please do not panic. But scream! Scream for your lives! The Tingler is loose in this theater!" This cued the theatre projectionist to activate the buzzers and give several audience members an unexpected jolt"

There were buzzers set under certain seats, which the projectionist set off, what a great way to scare people!

House on Haunted Hill was probably one of the first horror films I ever watched. It's very creepy, and also funny at the same time. Lots of it's scenes seem outdated now, with plastic skeletons and visible strings, but if you really loose yourself in the movie then it's easy to get spooked out.

This was always my favourite scene, watch with the lights turned off:


 
 
How brilliant is that! I bet everyone wet their pants the first time it was ever shown. I love the way the old lady just glides along.
What's even funnier is that later in the movie the old lady is explained to be the (very much alive) housekeeper. I've always wondered why no one questioned her gliding, haha!
 
Do yourself a favour and watch House on Haunted Hill.
 
I hope you'll enjoy my future reviews.

1 comment:

Maria Alexander said...

Awww thank you so much for mentioning me in a post! I had no idea you'd do that, hah, thanks so much it made me smile!

I shall now comment on previous posts:

The cure party sound so cool!
I was in a military party before, and I have to tell you it's nothing special, unless people actually take it seriouasy which in your case I hope they will.

I just love those museum pics, everything looks so cool i would love to visit there!