The Ninth Gate

THE NINTH GATE-1999- Johnny Depp stars as Jack Curso an unscrupulous book dealer who agrees to authenticate a book, The Ninth Gate, which is said to have been co-written by the Devil, for a famous book collector (Frank Langella). Legend says the book can open up a gate to hell. He has sex with Lena Olin and then visits two other book collectors who also have a copy of the book. It was cool to see Jack Taylor, an American expatriate who played in many Euro-productions like HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES and NIGHT OF THE SORCERERS, as one of the collectors. The other is played by Shakespearean stage actress Barbara Jefford (who’s also in LUST FOR A VAMPIRE). They die and their collections are burned and Curso realizes he’s bitten off more than he can chew. Emmanuelle Seigner (also in FRANTIC with Harrison Ford) is “ The Girl” and James Russo is a book dealer who meets a grisly death. Allen Garfield has a cameo role.

Director Roman Polanski (married to Seigner in real life) made this a year before his much more critically acclaimed THE PIANIST. Seigner also starred in her husband’s BITTER MOON in 1992.

Thanks for reading!

Face Behind The Mask

FACE BEHIND MASK-1941-Another underrated masterpiece by French born director Robert Florey who almost directed the original FRANKENSTEIN in 1931. (He did co-write the screenplay but due to James Whales’s machinations received no credit)

Peter Lorre (also in the director's BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS) plays Janos Szabo, an innocent but hard working immigrant who’s horribly disfigured in a fire. Unable to procure a job after his accident he turns to a life of crime and becomes a successful gang leader. But he decides quit crime after meeting a blind woman (Evelyn Keyes). Betrayal, death and revenge follow. Don Beddoe and George Stone co-star. Frank Reicher as a doctor has an unbilled role. Lorre (who was in THE MALTESE FALCON and ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT the same year) gives a very moving portrayal. Florey made MEET BOSTON BLACKIE the same year. It was based on a play called INTERIM.

"More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginning of all wars -- yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman and thoroughly impractical method of settling the differences between governments."-Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Thanks for reading!

Panic!

PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO!-1962-Ray Milland (who also directed) goes on vacation with his family just as a nuclear bomb is dropped on LA. He decides the best thing to do is to head for the hills (literally!). He lectures his wife (Jean Hagen) about how he doesn’t want to be part of the breakdown of society and vows to return when order is restored. He likes to order his son (pre-Beach Party Teen idol Frankie Avalon) around and he steals some guns from a dealer (ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS hero Richard Garland) when he runs out of money. In a scene that’s quite ironic today Ray punches out a gas station attendant who has the unmitigated gall to charge 3 dollars a gallon for gas! Along the way they meet greasy thug Richard Balakyan and his two punks. They also pick up Joan Freeman and live in a cave for a while. When his daughter (Mary Mitchel; she was later in SPIDER BABY) is raped he seeks revenge.



Despite the minimal cast and unbelievable plot twists it’s more low budget entertainment from AIP. Also with Willis Bouchey, Rex Holman, Oz Whitehead and Russ Bender.

Academy Award winner Milland also starred in THE PREMATURE BURIAL for Roger Corman the same year and would star in Corman’s X-THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES the next!


"It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked"-Warren Buffett

Thanks for reading!

The Mist

THE MIST-2007-Not bad adaptation of Stephen King’s lesser known short novel especially the way recent modern horror movies have been but the dumb downer ending spoils the whole thing.

Thomas Jane (THE PUNISHER remake) stars as a fantasy artist with a kid who gets trapped in a convenience store after a storm just as a mysterious mist settles over the town and giant insects attack. It seems to the work of a nearby army base’s extra-dimensional experiments. Marcia Gay Harden is the religious fanatic who believes the whole thing is God’s will and Andre Braugher is a idiot “guy from the city” who gets cut in half. Big spiders cause problems too. Also with Laurie Holden, William Sadler Jeffery DeMunn and Frances Sternhagen.

Director Frank Darabont had scored with two previous films based on King novels, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE GREEN MILE. He also made the Jim Carrey flop THE MAJESTIC. He’d cut his teeth in horror films writing screenplays for NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3, THE BLOB remake, THE FLY 2 and Kenneth Branagh’s version of FRANKENSTEIN.

Thanks for reading!

Dummy Up!

DEAD SILENCE-2007-Sometimes some of the most cheerful and aspiring objects can be frightening. Clowns, dolls, religious statues and thanks to the anthology DEAD OF NIGHT and a couple of TWILIGHT ZONE episodes ventriloquist dummies also fit into that category which is where James (SAW) Wan’s DEAD SILENCE fits in.

After his wife seems to have been killed by a dummy they mysteriously acquired the husband (Ryan Kwanten) investigates the murder of a ventriloquist in his hometown to try and find some answers. His estranged father, a murder and tongues being pulled out all figure in the plot. It’s very well directed and uses some cool b/w flashbacks and gore. The only problem for me was the obnoxious idiot cop played by Donnie Wahlberg who dogs the husband’s trail thinking he's the murderer. You keep wishing he’d get killed. Then when he finally realizes the truth and teams up the husband and is killed off!

"If America were tempted to become the dictatress of the world she would no longer be the ruler of her own spirit"-John Quincy Adams

Thanks for reading!

Killer Kid

MILO-1998-Crazy but not too original horror story. A strange kid in a yellow raincoat named Milo kills a girl in front of her friends. Years later one of the now grown up girls Claire (Jennifer Jostyn) returns to the town to teach at the local grade school. Some of her (now grown up) friends die and Milo (who we are told drowned in the river) seems to be responsible…or is Claire just going crazy? Vincent Schiavelli is Milo’s father, a doctor who may be up to no good. It’s up to kid hating janitor Mr. Kelso (Antonio Fargas) to help her!

It’s not bad I guess but the climax goes on forever. The director Pascal Franchot made a few other movies and episodes of TV”s UNSOLVED HISTORY. Writer Craig Mitchell wrote and directed the reworked WHAT’S UP HIDEOUS SUN DEMON?

"The more original the discovery, the more obvious it seems afterward"-Arthur Koestler

Thanks for reading!

100th Post!

INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS-2004-This pseudo-documentary was probably influenced by THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT but it’s actually better! Producer Zak Penn (playing himself) is filming a documentary on the German director Werner Herzog (also playing himself). A long the way Penn decides to accompany the director as he shoots his latest project: an investigation of The Loch Ness Monster legend. Things go from bad to worst to wacky! It’s a lot of fun and very well done. But remember it’s all a set-up! Other real life movie technicians also play themselves.




EVILBREED: THE LEGEND OF SAMHAIN-2002-This movie is very bad. The director claims another director changed the ending but what about the rest of the film, huh?

A teacher takes some overage students (including porn star Jenna Jameson) on a trip to Ireland (yeah…right) and they learn about Samhain (pronounced “Sow-en”), sort of an Irish equivalent of Halloween. This really has nothing to do with the story, as the real culprits are the offspring of the infamous cannibal Sawney Bean. Ginger Lynn Allen shows up with a brogue and everyone (except “the shy nerd girl”) is killed. One guy (the weird red herring caretaker) has his intestines pulled out through his ass and then strangled with them. There’s some gore and a decapitation but way too much talk!



THE X FROM OUTER SPACE-1967-This very dumb and boring Japanese Sci-Fi movie has a group of astronauts venturing to another planet and bringing back a “space fungus” that mutates, after it infects an Earth animal that turns into a giant chicken rodent of some kind. It’s a very bad monster. Along the lines of the 1950’s THE FLYING CLAW! There’s an annoying love triangle thrown in involving an Asian Astronaut couple and an American female astro-scientist (Peggy Neal, also in BATTLE BENEATH THE SEA). Star Eiji Okada co-starred in THE FACE OF ANOTHER the year before. Director Kazui Nihonmatsu made only one other feature.

Thanks for reading!