What I’m Watching: to commemorate the season, a lot of horror

Date: 10/15/2019

What I’m watching: this month, a whole lot of classic horror.

As a kid, horror films were my kryptonite. I hated them. By the time I was getting interested in movies in more than a casual way, I decided to overcome my aversion to scary movies.

I started watching them and it changed my life. Through horror movies I discovered actors and directors who I then realized made many other kind of movies. Horror films were my door to a larger world of cinema.

My youthful exposure to the genre resulted in a lifelong fanboy crush on the following performers: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee.  

I was lucky enough to interview Price, meet and chat with Cushing and ask Lee a potentially embarrassing question.

Every October I vow to watch scary movies that are new to me and those classics I need to watch again. Some years I’m successful and some years the events of my life overtake my best intentions.

So, allow me to share some selections that are well worth watching this October. If I get the chance I’ll be following my own advice.

(Disclaimer: some of the following films are in black and white and may be made before 1990, therefore are “old.” I hope you actually give them a chance.)

“Bride of Frankenstein:” Director James Whale allowed himself to create a sequel to his 1931 hit “Frankenstein” that is tremendously entertaining in dark ways and is a highly idiosyncratic film. Full of dry British humor, Whale presents a story of the Frankenstein monster becoming human enough to seek a mate and coercing Frankenstein to make him one. A classic performance by Boris Karloff is one highlight of this production.

“The Wolfman:” The 1941 production stars Lon Chaney Jr. as a young man who becomes cursed when bitten by a werewolf. A wonderfully atmospheric film with a great cast – Claude Raines plays his father – this film sets the mold for other werewolf films to follow. Chaney was an actor with limited range, but he shines here.

Almost anything film produced by Val Lewton: Lewton was an intelligent, literate producer at RKO in the mid-1940s who was stuck making horror films for the RKO low budget unit. He made the most of the experience with truly creepy scripts brought to life by young directors. Check out “Bedlam,” “The Body Snatcher,”  “I Walked with a Zombie” and “The Seventh Victim.”

“Horror of Dracula:” The first Dracula film produced by the British Hammer studios remains one of my favorites. Peter Cushing is the heroic Van Helsing and Christopher Lee is the vampire. Both men brought great energy to their roles, transforming how the public thought of these characters. For a bonus vampire double-bill, watch Hammer’s “Kiss of the Vampire” and “Brides of Dracula.”

“Witchfinder General:” Vincent Price made a lot of horror films, but this one is marked with a very strong and ruthless performance from him as a self-appointed witch finder during the English civil war. It’s a tough film at times, but has one of Price’s best roles.

“The Abominable Dr. Phibes” and “Theater of Blood;” Here is a Price double-bill that has plenty of dark humor as well as thrills. In “Phibes,” Price plays a revenge-obsessed doctor out to murder the people he blames for the death of his wife. In “Theater” he is an actor who does to a group of theater critics what many actors wish they could do to critics.

“Night of the Living Dead;” The original zombie apocalypse films is still among the very best. Director George Romero and writer John Russo created not just a film, but also a genre that has flourished over the years. Almost every zombie movie or TV show you see today is influenced by this 1969 black and white classic. For the most insane contemporary zombie outing, find “Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead.”

“Blair Witch Project:” One of the first – but not the first– found-footage films, “Blair Witch” was a phenomenon in 1999. A successful Internet marketing campaign convinced many people the movie was essentially a documentary, making audience reactions to it even more intense. I found the film terrifying as it punched buttons of mine I barely knew I had. It holds up well today, even though there have been plenty of films that have used the same premise.

I could go on, as there are plenty of classic horror films out there waiting to give you a thrill. Check these out, though. Drop me a line at news@theminder.com and tell me what was your favorite fright film.