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Stephen King wrote a book called The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Well, I am The Guy Who Loves Stuart Gordon (R.I.P.).
I posted my Dagon review a while back. Here are few more reviews of his movies that I've written:
From Beyond -
Like Stuart Gordon's preceding movie, Re-Animator, From Beyond is about scientists playing with the laws of nature who don't realize the consequences of their actions until it's too late. Re-Animator vets Jeffrey Combs as the more skeptical scientist and Barbara Crampton as his psychiatrist are in their prime. You could say the same about the creature effects of Nightmare on Elm Street vet Mark Shostrom, which are easily on par with Rick Baker and Rob Bottin's work. It's not a classic like Re-Animator and the ending is a little too pat, not to mention employs an oft-parodied cliché than dilutes its tension. Even so, it deserves credit for being full-fledged and filler-free in spite of being borne from a short story that is only 7 pages long.
Dolls -
While Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator and From Beyond have been heaped with praise, and rightly so, Dolls is arguably on par with them. It has all the qualities that have made Gordon's preceding movies endure, including an artisanal, handcrafted look and feel, strong performances from the entire cast and scares that give you chills and make you laugh at their audacity. Speaking of the cast, the standouts are Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, who makes Rosemary equally loathsome and funny and Stephen Lee as Judy's childlike ally Ralph. All the same, Carrie Lorraine - who actually resembles a doll herself - is the MVP for how well she expresses her desire to be understood, and well, parented. Also, the handcrafted quality I mentioned is most evident in the doll effects, which thankfully avoid the uncanny valley that typically mars horror movies like this one. The movie is also valuable as a cultural artifact for how it depicts what got on people's nerves during the late '80s: in addition to Judy's yuppie parents, the Hartwickes' cadre of uninvited guests include a pair of punk rockers. Some of the worldbuilding is confusing, and while that may be on purpose, it took me out of the movie a few times, and Mr. Hartwicke's moralizing at the end seems redundant. Regardless, it's still a very entertaining and thoughtful exploration of the fear of your toys coming to life and the possibly even worse fear of your parents never or never desiring to understand you.
Castle Freak -
This Stuart Gordon horror yarn is about the American Reilly family - John (the legendary Jeffrey Combs), Susan (Barbara Crampton) and their blind daughter Rebecca (Jessica Dollarhide) - who inherit a castle in Italy. Already damaged by a death in the family and John's alcoholism, an uninvited guest in the castle's basement makes matters even worse. While not a classic like Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator, it's still a very satisfying entry in his filmography, mostly because of the castle's creepy vibe, the freak's unnerving depravity, the father's Jack Torrance-like volatility and the Reilly family's foreign alienation. Also, Combs once again proves that he's one of the best horror actors in the business.
I posted my Dagon review a while back. Here are few more reviews of his movies that I've written:
From Beyond -
Like Stuart Gordon's preceding movie, Re-Animator, From Beyond is about scientists playing with the laws of nature who don't realize the consequences of their actions until it's too late. Re-Animator vets Jeffrey Combs as the more skeptical scientist and Barbara Crampton as his psychiatrist are in their prime. You could say the same about the creature effects of Nightmare on Elm Street vet Mark Shostrom, which are easily on par with Rick Baker and Rob Bottin's work. It's not a classic like Re-Animator and the ending is a little too pat, not to mention employs an oft-parodied cliché than dilutes its tension. Even so, it deserves credit for being full-fledged and filler-free in spite of being borne from a short story that is only 7 pages long.
Dolls -
While Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator and From Beyond have been heaped with praise, and rightly so, Dolls is arguably on par with them. It has all the qualities that have made Gordon's preceding movies endure, including an artisanal, handcrafted look and feel, strong performances from the entire cast and scares that give you chills and make you laugh at their audacity. Speaking of the cast, the standouts are Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, who makes Rosemary equally loathsome and funny and Stephen Lee as Judy's childlike ally Ralph. All the same, Carrie Lorraine - who actually resembles a doll herself - is the MVP for how well she expresses her desire to be understood, and well, parented. Also, the handcrafted quality I mentioned is most evident in the doll effects, which thankfully avoid the uncanny valley that typically mars horror movies like this one. The movie is also valuable as a cultural artifact for how it depicts what got on people's nerves during the late '80s: in addition to Judy's yuppie parents, the Hartwickes' cadre of uninvited guests include a pair of punk rockers. Some of the worldbuilding is confusing, and while that may be on purpose, it took me out of the movie a few times, and Mr. Hartwicke's moralizing at the end seems redundant. Regardless, it's still a very entertaining and thoughtful exploration of the fear of your toys coming to life and the possibly even worse fear of your parents never or never desiring to understand you.
Castle Freak -
This Stuart Gordon horror yarn is about the American Reilly family - John (the legendary Jeffrey Combs), Susan (Barbara Crampton) and their blind daughter Rebecca (Jessica Dollarhide) - who inherit a castle in Italy. Already damaged by a death in the family and John's alcoholism, an uninvited guest in the castle's basement makes matters even worse. While not a classic like Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator, it's still a very satisfying entry in his filmography, mostly because of the castle's creepy vibe, the freak's unnerving depravity, the father's Jack Torrance-like volatility and the Reilly family's foreign alienation. Also, Combs once again proves that he's one of the best horror actors in the business.
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