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Sunday, November 1, 2015
Saturday, October 31, 2015
Happy Halloween from The Signal Watch!
As we now conclude every Halloween, let's wrap it up with the Queen of Halloween! Ladies and Germs... Elvira, Mistress of the Dark!
Franken-Watch: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
This year on the 80th anniversary of the release of The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), I wrote a post celebrating the film. You're welcome to check out what I said there about the movie.
Each Halloween I now make it a habit to watch a string of horror films from across the past hundred years, and while the rest of what I'll watch I might change up, I always include the first two Frankenstein films from Universal Studios, Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein. Of course I just watched Frankenstein (and I really do recommend catching these movies in the theater, when possible), but I found no listings for the movie here in Austin, so I busted out my BluRay copy.
Friday, October 30, 2015
Halloween Watch: Elvira - Mistress of the Dark (1988)
I'm a firm believer that the 1988 film Elvira: Mistress of the Dark is both underrated and was ahead of its time. Fortunately, in the ensuing 20-something years, the movie found its audience on VHS, cable and DVD.
While certainly there were female-centric comedies in the 1980's (see: the career of Goldie Hawn), Elvira's persona was considered something more to gawk at during her first wave of popularity when seen through the filter of media like The Tonight Show than it was seen for its own merits or as something folks were bothering to pay attention to. Sure, she had genuine fans out there, and the oddly specific nature of Elvira translated surprisingly well to beer ads, etc...
Franken-Watch: Frankenstein (1931) with the Univ. of Texas Wind Ensemble
I don't think it's a secret that Frankenstein (1931) is one of my favorite movies. For the past 15 years or so, I've watched the movie about annually, and definitely for the last decade that's been true.
For a long time, The University of Texas music department has found Halloween-related activities to put on, and for years one of the faculty would play the organ along with the Chaney-starring Phantom of the Opera, but I never managed to see it. About a month ago, I figured out that this year, Frankenstein was showing at the Bass Concert Hall, the big theater where travelling Broadway shows often set up camp in Austin.
For a long time, The University of Texas music department has found Halloween-related activities to put on, and for years one of the faculty would play the organ along with the Chaney-starring Phantom of the Opera, but I never managed to see it. About a month ago, I figured out that this year, Frankenstein was showing at the Bass Concert Hall, the big theater where travelling Broadway shows often set up camp in Austin.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Happy Birthday, Elsa Lanchester
Happy Birthday to The Bride herself, Elsa Lanchester. She would have been 113 today.
Halloween Watch: Revenge of The Creature (1955)
Firstly, yes, this movie absolutely features a very young Clint Eastwood as a scientist in a walk-on part. My jaw was on the floor.
Secondly, there is no Julie Adams in this movie. Lori Nelson is fine, but... yeah.
Thirdly, apparently you can see this movie as an episode of MST3K, so you know what I'm doing with my Thanksgiving break.
I literally have no idea why (a) it seems like Universal really struggled with making a good Creature of the Black Lagoon movie after the first movie, and (b) why someone hasn't remade a Creature movie in recent years when, frankly, the formula shouldn't be complicated. He's a super strong lake-monster with claws and a penchant for destruction. Get on it, Universal.
I promised myself I'd watch the two remaining Universal Creature sequels this Halloween season as I'd owned them for about 10 years and never watched them, always totally happy to watch the first film. The first sequel screening went a little poorly. For me. But I'd watched the movies out of order, jumping from the stellar first to the third film which killed the franchise.
Tuesday evening I took in Revenge of the Creature (1955), a sequel released just a year after the 1954 original.
The logic of the set-up isn't that crazy. We had survivors in the prior film, and the stories they told spawned interest in the Gill Man. Thus, someone finances a hunting expedition of sorts to the Black Lagoon to capture or kill the creature and bring him back to civilization. It was the middle of the 20th Century. We could shoot or kill or displace whatever we wanted to for science.
Whereas the first film took place on the creature's home turf, we've duped ol' Gill Man into our trap and within 20 minutes we're somewhere in Florida in this movie, placing Gil in a tank at a proto-Sea World.
Secondly, there is no Julie Adams in this movie. Lori Nelson is fine, but... yeah.
Thirdly, apparently you can see this movie as an episode of MST3K, so you know what I'm doing with my Thanksgiving break.
I literally have no idea why (a) it seems like Universal really struggled with making a good Creature of the Black Lagoon movie after the first movie, and (b) why someone hasn't remade a Creature movie in recent years when, frankly, the formula shouldn't be complicated. He's a super strong lake-monster with claws and a penchant for destruction. Get on it, Universal.
I promised myself I'd watch the two remaining Universal Creature sequels this Halloween season as I'd owned them for about 10 years and never watched them, always totally happy to watch the first film. The first sequel screening went a little poorly. For me. But I'd watched the movies out of order, jumping from the stellar first to the third film which killed the franchise.
Tuesday evening I took in Revenge of the Creature (1955), a sequel released just a year after the 1954 original.
The logic of the set-up isn't that crazy. We had survivors in the prior film, and the stories they told spawned interest in the Gill Man. Thus, someone finances a hunting expedition of sorts to the Black Lagoon to capture or kill the creature and bring him back to civilization. It was the middle of the 20th Century. We could shoot or kill or displace whatever we wanted to for science.
Whereas the first film took place on the creature's home turf, we've duped ol' Gill Man into our trap and within 20 minutes we're somewhere in Florida in this movie, placing Gil in a tank at a proto-Sea World.
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