Killer Charm

One of my all-time favorites. Made in the 70s but set in the 60s in an uber-catholic world during the Kennedy administration, this movie is about catholic killings. It's magnif. Paula Sheppard is incredible, a wonderful actress at so young. Gotta love Brooke Shields. Such aplomb. She's like her own damn cult. The direction is many-layered. Asides like the landlord downstairs feel so right. That scene in the stairway when the aunt is stabbed is amazing. You can watch events on two different levels. The music is choice. A young girl is murdered during her first communion, right there in the church. Her barely-psycho sister is blamed but it doesn't quite fit. This is only the first murder.

Bette Davis plays the 1930s version of a femme fatale, in which the fatal part is because of a curse rather than because of her fatal allure. La Davis plays a Broadway actress who has brought her every man, producer and play to ruin because she's cursed. Now no one will cast her in a play so she drinks herself into oblivion. Enter goody two-shoes Franchot Tone who's going to save her, until he falls in love with her. Bette Davis is mesmerizing; she's so fun to watch. The movie itself, though, is so dated that the abruptness of emotions and reactions are false. It's that last scene - the absurdity of the ending is the movie's biggest downfall.

A sun-drenched joy in the happy-family parts and a gloomy horror in the sad work-slave parts. This is one of a trio of newish Charles Dickens adaptations that I just love. This one, like Polanski's Oliver Twist and Mike Newell's Great Expectations, is readily available to the sensibilities of the millennial viewer. There isn't a sour note in the whole movie, well, okay, maybe one. Talking to you, Miss Anne Hathaway. This is the story of a mother, brother and sister who travel to the city to ask the recently dead father's rich brother to help. He doesn't; if anything he hurts. I don't quite understand why.

This is a basic b-flat flick if ever I saw one. I’m thinking, these are talented actors, but it seems like they and the whole movie are just going through the motions. It feels like, "Well, we better make a horror now." The flick gave me no fear, no tension, just run of the mill – play by numbers horror. If I've seen the steps gone through in this formulaic horror once I've seen them a thousand times. The characters don't take any logical action in response to their environment. I mean, what Daddy is going to don headphones while he's home alone with his young child who needs to be supervised, especially once spookiness enters the picture. A widower and his young daughter move to the country to get a new start when mommy dies. The twist is so common a twist that it's not even a twist.

A woman wakes to a nightmare scenario; she's hurt, kidnapped, locked in a room, alone, and she has no memory. The man who has her walks in and announces that he will not let her go until she falls in love with him. She doesn't know what to think. How could she? As days go on she starts to piece things together a bit. Much of the storyline is absurd but just as much of it is absorbing. The cast is about as spare as they come, with only a handful of actors, but the two stars are spot-on.

I just love this movie, but, I think it might be the American version I prefer. When I first saw this flick I fell hard. I hesitate to label Tourneur's movies as B-movies. They may be low budget, but the choices made in these flicks make them art, and when I first saw this I fell, hard. That is until the very end when the monster is revealed. At that moment I was bitterly disappointed, but it was lucky the demon isn't revealed until the end and therefor the movie is still golden. HOWEVER, I have since watched the British version with the entire running time. In this intact version the awful abomination of a not-scary-to-the-point-of-silliness demon is revealed almost immediately, destroying the mood as well as any tension/fear. Any fool knows Tourneur's movies are built on mood. You gotta trust the process. An American professor goes to London to debunk a paranormal entity that turns out to be real and has him in his sights. The noir look and moody beauty of this movie is a thing to behold.

An orphan goes from the horrendous life of the orphanage to the abusive life in a foster home, all in the Victorian era. He escapes from the undertaker who was fostering him and walks for seven days until he reaches London. There a child gang of cut-purses and pick-pockets takes him in. When two of them are caught stealing from a gentleman they run, leaving Oliver to take the fall. Instead he gets adopted by the gentleman. The story is mostly about the gang stealing him back and trying to keep him, all against his will. This is the best adaptation I've ever seen of this story, so much so that I love it. For so long, when it came to Charles Dickens, seems like my choices were either TV quality or so old that they seemed to be made in the Victorian era. I don't know what to think of the musical. In the new millennium wonderful adaptations of Dickens have made him more accessible, or, actually, more fun.

Wonderful B horror written and directed by the Cairnes brothers, Strine horror directors. These two have written and directed a low budget gem. It's all about a late night tv show from the 70s, Night Owls with Jack Delroy. It's a low budget show that gets second place and no higher in the ratings repeatedly. No matter what, the host of the show is sweet, sincere and honest. He mines his life for content, but not in a detrimental way. When the devil comes acalling Jack Delroy has no sins to worry about. The whole movie has a wonderfully realistic 1970s look and feel to it. The particular brand of corn peddled on Jack Delroy's show is SO 70s. On Halloween night of their sixth season the guests include a James Randi type professional sceptic, and Dr. June Ross-Mitchell, and June's latest subject, 13-year-old Lilly D'Abo who is purportedly possessed by a demonic spirit. Once things get going the devil inside the girl, who may be Abraxas, gets a little full of himself and starts to making trouble.

That Val Lewton! He is something else. This is pretty much a basic b-flat flick until you add in the deep noir of the Lewton Unit and you get this visual feast. B horror master that he was, some of Val Lewton's deep dark shadow-play becomes other worldly, with shadows appearing at wacko angles reminiscent of supernatural horror. He really is the best part of this movie, lifting it. A goody two-shoes Kim Hunter goes alooking for her sister who's been missing lo these last six months, unbeknownst to her sweet self. Kim plays Mary, and Mary is sweet and she's young, just finishing school (she drinks milk at the diner, foisted on her by Hugh Beaumont of all people) but she's developing a backbone. She's finding her voice and it's because she has to use it to find her sister. So she's off to the big, shadow-filled city, encountering characters as only a noir horror can provide. She finds out her sister is mixed up with a satanic cult. So now it's Polly Purebred vs. The Devil, a mild mannered devil, but still.

This is the 50s remake of the 30s classic screwball comedy. This remake feels more like TV than the slick 30s comedy does. The slick is about the only part that is still in this 50s version, and the screwball. This is, more than anything, a silly flick. A spoiled rich beautiful family falls hard for their new butler, Godfrey, played by David Niven. The younger daughter (June Allyson) brings him home after a scavenger hunt. He doesn't judge and helps wherever he can, best of all he isn't perfect. Even though this is such a silly flick, for some reason at the end I had a big smile. Silly is important.