Welcome To Our Nightmare II: The Return of Terror and Wooley

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I would have sworn the Shudder version used to be subtitled. That's a shame, I guess they had to switch prints or whatever. Streaming's a bitch.

You know which version has the Russian Language version both now and a month from now?
(Also no commercials)



When I was 7 or 8, I'm pretty sure I saw ANoES 3 on TV (probably USA), so censored and edited.
At that age, that movie was quite scary (as was 2 and 1).
As an adult, when I revisited part 3, decades later, it was clearly more silly.
That experience has me use, "what would 7 year old me find scary," as a good rubric for what I consider horror, because as an adult, even the goods don't really scare me. Disturb me or unnerve me, sure. But scare? No.



Victim of The Night
Here's something I like to drop every year.
When I was growing up I had, and wore the grooves out of, the "story record" for Disney's The Haunted Mansion. It was basically a walkthrough of the Disneyland attraction, but acted out with two teenagers as the audience avatars.
One of the teenagers is actor/director Ron Howard.
It's really a fun and wonderfully nostalgic thing, listening to the music and sound effects and the Ghost Host leading them through the Mansion, where they are informed "you will not be harmed... but you will not be released... until you take a tour of my home."
It has Madame Leota and the graveyard and everything. Especially the song. I've been listening to it the last few days and it really is worth the time.
So, "Welcome, foolish mortals... to The Haunted Mansion."







Crypt of the Vampire
aka Terror in the Crypt (1964)


Sheridan le Fanu's Carmilla is not the household name that Dracula is, but it must be the second-most adapted vampire story, right? Am I forgetting an obvious one?

Anyhow, this is another film based on the Carmilla/Karnstein story and it's a relatively faithful one. The lesbian element, while not explicitly expressed, is still surprisingly prominent given the age of the film. This also benefits from the use of Christopher Lee's actual undubbed voice which is not always the case with his European films. It's pretty light on vampire action, but the castle is creepy, the gowns are billowy, there's a hunchback, a candelabra made from the severed hand of said hunchback, and an occasional skeleton chained to a wall. I was entertained.



Pretty sure I'll be coming back to the Karnstein story before the month is out.



Victim of The Night



Crypt of the Vampire
aka Terror in the Crypt (1964)


Sheridan le Fanu's Carmilla is not the household name that Dracula is, but it must be the second-most adapted vampire story, right? Am I forgetting an obvious one?

Anyhow, this is another film based on the Carmilla/Karnstein story and it's a relatively faithful one. The lesbian element, while not explicitly expressed, is still surprisingly prominent given the age of the film. This also benefits from the use of Christopher Lee's actual undubbed voice which is not always the case with his European films. It's pretty light on vampire action, but the castle is creepy, the gowns are billowy, there's a hunchback, a candelabra made from the severed hand of said hunchback, and an occasional skeleton chained to a wall. I was entertained.



Pretty sure I'll be coming back to the Karnstein story before the month is out.
Wow, that looks nice!
That's the kinda thing I like to see in October, spooky settings, lightning, a coffin, a skull... how can you lose?
Haven't seen this one.
You gonna be doing some
WARNING: "so spoilery" spoilers below
Vampire Lovers
action later?



Ha,ha,ha,ha! dying for the comedy in horror movies.



You gonna be doing some
WARNING: "so spoilery" spoilers below
Vampire Lovers
action later?
I think so. Crypt of the Vampire has inspired me to read Carmilla again. So after I'm done I'll probably watch my spiffy new Blu-rays of the Hammer trilogy.



Given your love of Boggy Creek, you might appreciate (if you've not already seen) Force On Thunder Mountain, @Captain Terror.



I only saw it the once, about 20 years ago, a blind buy for a crappy horror night with friends but, as I remember it, If you enjoy cheap 70's films and stock footage of nature, it might be right up your street.

This has only been up for less than a month, so I might take the opportunity of trying to watch it again.
__________________
5-time MoFo Award winner.



Given your love of Boggy Creek, you might appreciate (if you've not already seen) Force On Thunder Mountain, @Captain Terror.



I only saw it the once, about 20 years ago, a blind buy for a crappy horror night with friends but, as I remember it, If you enjoy cheap 70's films and stock footage of nature, it might be right up your street.

This has only been up for less than a month, so I might take the opportunity of trying to watch it again.
That does indeed appear to be 100% up my street, thanks.


I'm well acquainted with that American National Enterprises intro with the eagle. A sure sign that you're about to see lots of stock footage of woodland creatures. They were responsible for one of the greatest Bigfoot docs ever. An all-time classic.



Victim of The Night

This has been a favorite of mine for many years and one I always consider as a Halloween Night watch (I have a short-list for that).
If I was gonna recommend a Bela Lugosi film, other than Dracula, to someone, it would almost certainly be this movie.


(Plan B would be Return Of The Vampire or The Ghost Of Frankenstein, btw)
When I think of the seminal Zombie movies, I think of this as one of the few and the OG. The progenitor of all zombie movies.
A beautiful young bride, Madeleine, has arrived in Haiti, where her fiance, the largely useless Neil, works for a wealthy sugar-plantation owner, John Beaumont. Madeleine and Neil are to be married at the seemingly gracious Beaumont's plantation house/castle/eerie-ass home.


Along the way their carriage runs across wandering zombies and a mysterious European man who takes some notice of the young bride. But it turns out Beaumont himself is smitten with Madeleine and enlists the strange European, Murder Legendre's help to steal her away from Neil that very night.
Beaumont does not know who he is dealing with.
It turns out Legendre is a kind of sorcerer who studied all the Voodoo secrets under Haiti's highest "Witch Doctor"... and then zombified his own master! And the former High Executioner of Haiti, Chauvin:


In this story, Murder Legendre has essentially quietly taken over the entire island of Haiti and is basically its master since he has an army of the Undead to do his bidding and can turn anyone into a zombie. Including Madeleine!


She is now the titular White Zombie and Legendre even sends her to kill her own fiance.


Such an enjoyable little film, even if its budget is quite low and the existing print is made up of two or three of varying quality cut together. There are a lot of good shots in this (and some that don’t work so well) but there’s one that made me think about how they did it in 1931 or ’32. I think it's literally the camera-on-the-end-of-a-long-stick shot.
But ultimately this all rides on Lugosi, who delivers a performance that should be too hammy but is actually also so sinister that it ultimately not only works but ends up as my second-favorite Lugosi performance. Murder Legendre is just one of the most evil motherf*ckers ever committed to screen. And that's what I'm here for.



White Zombie is great.

The sequel, Revolt of the Zombies, is terrible. Do not watch.