Halloween Horror Watch #1: Curse of the Werewolf and Valley of the Gwangi

It's everyone's (my) favorite time of year! I'm going to try to maintain my horror write-ups as in years past, but we'll see how many I get to this year. I optimistically stacked the first 31 slots of my Netflix queue with appropriate movies, so the intent is there. I promise.

The Curse of the Werewolf -- Terence Fisher



Thanks to my good friend Howard, who transferred his PAL version to NTSC (who's the real pal, huh?), I was finally able to check out Hammer's The Curse of the Werewolf. Hammer movies hold great appeal to me even though they don't tell particularly compelling stories. There's great style and sets. The actors are all awesome and people you've seen elsewhere dozens of times. The blood is more vibrant than any I've ever seen on screen. The advertising is amazing and they don't shy away from cleavage. What more could you want?

Curse is probably one of the best I've seen. There's unnecessary narration and the prologue is only faintly necessary, but it has a unique and interesting take on werewolves. The best part is the delay in showing the monster. We live in an era where every horror movie needs to have that pre-credit scare where you catch a glimpse of the monster, but Curse takes its time. Very refreshing. Young Oliver Reed is as terrific as older Oliver Reed (though I suspect less drunk) and the wolf makeup is pretty badass. Many people would suggest you dive into Hammer with the Dracula tales starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. I can't say they're wrong (unless it's Dracula A.D. 1972), but I submit Curse of the Werewolf (the only werewolf film Hammer made) as an equally entertaining and representative entrance point (if you can find it).

The Valley of the Gwangi -- Jim O'Connolly



The story if familiar, probably overly so, but one cannot deny the greatness of Ray Harryhausen. The attention to detail is astounding. His creatures are never static to the degree that one wonders how he (and his crew) can keep track of all of the moving parts.

A group that runs a cowboy and indian show finds a tiny horse-like animal thought to be extinct and want to use it in their show but it's stolen by some gypsies who fear a curse if it's taken from the Forbidden Valley. Obviously, the entertainers follow it into the mysterious land only to find dinosaurs roaming the earth. Double obviously, someone gets the bright idea to capture a live one and King Kong it up. Like I said, familiar. But the acting is pretty good. Even the little boy isn't obnoxious which strikes me as a massive victory before we even see the dinosaurs. But the dinosaurs are the show and if they disappoint, then I question your existence as a human. Even with the degrading of the image due to the special effects processing, I can't imagine why anyone would rather see a CG crapfest than this amazing work.

A final note: I love that the curse the gypsies fear is directly caused by their decision to interfere.

OCTOBER!

Stay Off the Moor at Night: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)

I remember in 7th grade my English teacher talking about how nearly all novels have many unanswered questions in the end (in retrospect, I really don't know what that means because of course they do, but maybe he meant mystery novels). However, he said that The Hound of the Baskervilles has only one. This sent me straight to the book to find out what that was (this was probably better than assigning the book to read because I never really got into the habit of reading for my classes as I like to read for pleasure whereas reading for classes feels like a race against the clock). I still don't know what that remaining question is, though I'm certain I had more than one when I finished it. That also marks the last time I spent any time with The Hound of the Baskervilles... until now.



I feel as though it's hard to screw up a Sherlock Holmes story as long as one sticks fairly close to the source material. There's something far more satisfying to watching Holmes work as opposed to anyone on CSI or something like that. Perhaps it's the fact that Holmes doesn't have to use high tech machinery and crazy forensic analysis. He goes by his wits and his gut and we feel as though we can figure the mystery out if we pay close enough attention without having to wait for results to get back from the lab. And Hammer does a damn fine job here. Sadly, audiences weren't ready for non-monster Hammer films and the planned series of Peter Cushing starring Sherlock Holmes movies was abandoned.

Cushing strikes me as the perfect Holmes. He basically plays the know-it-all authority in every movie he's in for Hammer. He's a master of exposition only here the exposition is more interesting because it's how he solved a case instead of the history of Dracula (which he's given at least five times) or something similar. I particularly like portrayals of Holmes where he's a bit of a prickly pear. He doesn't have time for nonsense and doesn't put up with foolishness. Holmes is even a jerk to his host, Sir Henry Baskerville (Christopher Lee), when he knows it will benefit in the long run. It's very enjoyable and more than a little amusing. Cushing also does a masterful job of looking like he's always observing. His eyes wander and his head darts around to everything. One gets the sense that this is a man who can't help but obsess over minutiae.

I like to think that the Hammer Holmes series would have featured Cushing and Lee in every film with Lee playing a different character all the time. It's nice to watch a movie where he's not a bad guy and is actually normal. Due to his most famous role as Dracula, he always carries a sinister air about him, but he does a pretty good job a keeping it to a minimum. I can definitely see why he wanted to avoid being pigeonholed as Dracula.

There are a few red herrings floating around, but I don't think there's any real surprise as to who the guilty party is even if you haven't read the book. There's also some silliness with a Tarantula that is explained away fairly reasonably, but remains silly nonetheless. Sherlock is absent for most of the first act, as well, which is a little disappointing. But it's Sherlock Holmes! In color! By Hammer! Fun times are had by all.

Now, if I can just get someone to write a mash-up of The Hound of the Baskervilles and An American Werewolf in London. American Werewolf of the Baskervilles... I like that.