Alien begins rather quietly. We see the interiors of a ship that is floating through space. It comes to life and we meet a crew…space truckers, so to speak. We do not know much about what they are hauling, though it does not matter much. We get that these are working class joes. This is not Star Trek. The ship has awakened the crew due to a distress message.
Going down to the planet, one of the crew members is attacked by a strange creature that attaches to his face. And so begins a terrifying trip for the crew as they try to eliminate the alien creature that evolves to become a greater and greater threat.
Alien is a expertly crafted “haunted house in space” tale. The ship is vast, yet it has a confined and claustrophobic feel. The design of the sets is that of a blue collar environment. It feels used, run down. It is an industrial, a utilitarian styled ship. It was assembled for it’s purpose, not it’s beauty.
The alien ship is unique and feels remarkably unearthly. The pilot, long petrified is inhuman and ominous.
Then there are the designs of the creature itself. The work of famed artist H.R. Geiger, the alien (later dubbed the xenomorph in the series) feels uniquely creepy and unearthly. A hard shell, with acid for blood, it seems to exist only to destroy.
The cast is terrific as weary workers just trying to get by, but being forced to deal with something beyond their pay grade. Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley steps up to the plate to lead the fight after the crew takes some losses. At this point the game becomes more one of cat and mouse.
Alien is a film full of surprises and character and manages to stand up to repeated viewings. It has become a classic for good reason.
A sci-fi thriller set aboard the International Space-station, Life is a competent film. The effects are good enough to allow for suspension of disbelief. The cast is quite likeable. The story is uncomplicated.
EC was the controversial publisher of crime and horror comics in the 1950’s. The comics code kind of killed them. Funny enough, the EC Comics stories were very “moral”. Each story involved people doing evil and getting their comeuppance. In 1972 there was a film based on the comics, adapting the stories. And All Through the House was included in the anthology…it was a very serious affair with Joan Collins. It is extremely serious. In 1989, HBO brought the Crypt Keeper to the television scream, I mean, screen. Using popular actors of the time (episodes featured Tom Hanks, Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Lithgow, among others). Some were big stars, some were rising stars, some waning and some unknowns who were discovered much later. It was a popular show that was eventually brought to the networks (albeit in an edited format) through syndication.
Tales from the Darkside was a creation of George Romero. It ran for four seasons, with each episode being half an hour. It was a more horror themed take on the Twilight Zone.
Of all the movies I have watched for this series, this Finnish production is the best of the lot. It is a terrific and creative movie. In the Korvatunturi Mountains two young boys spy on an excavation mission to locate the grave of Santa Claus. Pietari is concerned by this, as he still believes in Santa Claus. But he finds books in the attic telling the truth about Santa Claus. Santa and the Krampus are the same myth. Santa is not a perversion of sainthood here, but rather, a strange and frightening creature, long buried in the mountains. The excavation is a plan to raid the tomb of Santa.
Sint (known as Saint here in the United States) is a contribution from the Netherlands. In this horror film, Saint Nick was not such a nice guy. He was a disgraced Bishop who would lead his followers to slaughter and pillage villages. The people seek revenge and kill Saint Nick and his band of ruffians…but this causes a curse. The film jumps up to 1968 and a family relaxing on December 5th. The house is besieged by strange little monsters who kill all but one member of the family. Then the film makes one more jump to the present.
There are two memorable things about the movie Elves. It is about little Nazi monsters that are an experiment to create racial purity that seek to mate with some teen girls. Ew. It also stars Grizzly Adams himself, Dan Haggerty. Haggerty died back in January of 2016…and thankfully was able to bury this with 29 acting credits. Because I have seen Axe Giant: The wrath of Paul Bunyan and as terrible as that film is, it is the better of the two films.
Last House on the Left’s David Hess directed one movie. And To All A Good Night tells you why his directing career began and ended with this film.
A Christmas Horror Story is in the vein of Creepshow or the more recent Trick Or Treat. There are several stories, all loosely connected by by characters. For example, one story follows a teenager and her family, while her boyfriend is a part of another story. Three kids are trying to pull a Ghost Hunters types of investigation of a haunted school. They are watching video of a police walk through and one of the cops is the center of another story.
The same year we got Silent Night Deadly Night, we got Don’t Open Til Christmas. Unlike all the films we have seen here so far, this British film is not about a killer Santa. It is about a killer of Santas.
Tripping Through Gateways 