Ancient Cult Files #8 -- Dario Argento's Phenomena

   Dario Argento is one of horror's finest and most inventive directors from the latter twentieth century, specializing in the film subgenre of giallo (thriller murder-mysteries) as well as dabbling in the supernatural world with his The Three Mothers trilogy, among them the surrealist masterpiece Suspiria. During the seventies, eighties, and first half of the nineties, he was hailed as a modern Alfred Hitchcock for his unique visuals and story-telling techniques. It was hard to choose just one of his films to first share here, given that each one carries its own style and unforgettable moments. After much consideration, I have decided to start with the film that has stuck out to me the most out of Argento's work, and has since become one of my favorite films period.
   Phenomena (Creepers in the United States) was released in 1985, and was the first leading role of cult darling and mainstream beauty Jennifer Connelly. It also starred Argento's frequent collaborator Daria Nicolodi and Donald Pleasence, known famously from the Halloween series and as a James Bond villain.

   The film is set in the beautiful region of Switzerland known as the Swiss-Transylvania, where mountains and lush forests seem to flow like water. It begins with a young tourist named Vera Brandt (played by Argento's daughter Fiore) missing the bus that tours through the valley. She attempts to chase after the bus but is unsuccessful, and

A house tucked into the valley

then stays on the now empty road as the wind picks up, vexed by her situation. She spots a house nearby, which she goes to for help. She enters the house, which seems to be empty. The girl is then attacked with a chain by an unseen person, stabbed with a pair

of scissors through her hand, and flees. The killer corners her at the glass viewing area behind a waterfall (which was most likely why the bus stopped there) and kills her, then throws her decapitated head into the water while dragging the rest of the body away.
   Eight months later, Inspector Rudolf Geiger and his assistant Kurt are consulting the entomologist John McGregor (Pleasence) for clues after finding Vera's decapitated head in a lake, having finally been found and now significantly decomposed by insects. McGregor explains that given by the progression of the number of generations of maggots which have lived and then reproduced there suggests the date the girl died. It is also revealed that multiple other girls have disappeared since, including McGregor's young assistant Greeta.
   Meanwhile, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the famed actor Paul Corvino, Jennifer (played by Jennifer Connelly) arrives from the United States to attend the Richard Wagner International School for Girls while her father works on a film in the Philippians. En-route to the school, a bee gets into the taxi, which causes the school official sent to collect her, Frau Brückner (Nicolodi), and the driver much distress. But Jennifer calmly catching the winged insect, which does not sting her, much to the surprise of the older woman. The girl simply explains that insects never sting or bite her, furthering Brückner's bewilderment.

Jennifer and a new friend

   Jennifer arrives at the school and meets her new roommate Sophie and the headmistress, who seems to be extremely wary of her. The girls spend the evening bonding, mostly talking about Jennifer's father who Sophie founds very attractive. Sophie admits that she is happy to not have to sleep alone any longer, revealing to the newcomer that a murderer has been on the loose taking girls around their age and hiding the bodies. 
   Later that night on the school grounds, another young girl is being apprehended by the unseen killer. She attempts to take shelter in the abandoned wing of the school, but is only chased further. At the same time, Jennifer begins to sleepwalk through the academy and out onto the roof, where she then sees the killer murder the girl by stabbing her through the back of the head and through her mouth. 
   She flees the school, still in the trance of her sleepwalking, and wanders into town, ultimately ending up alone in the forest. She then encounters McGregor's pet chimp Inga, who takes her back to the professor. He helps her recover from her journey from the school, which she remembers nothing about, and notices her gifted ability with insects.

A sleepwalking nightmare

   The next day at the school, the headmistress believes Jennifer's behavior is a sign of a serious medical problem and forces her to take a EEG test, which brings back flashes of the murder. Frightened that the killer will now come after her, she attempts to get in touch with her father's agent to come and remove her from the school, but is unsuccessful. She asks Sophie to keep an eye on her the following night so she won't sleepwalk again.
   However, Sophie herself sneaks out to meet her boyfriend and is ultimately caught and killed by the murderer. After awaking from a failed attempt at sleepwalking, Jennifer goes to look for her friend and is lead to the only thing left behind of Sophie by a firefly; a glove infested with maggots, which cause Jennifer to see flashes of her roommate dead.
   Following Sophie's disappearance (since the headmistress convinced the police that Jennifer was unreliable for information), she again goes to McGregor for support. He examines the glove and confirms that it indeed belonged to the killer since it has been obvious throughout the case that they keep in physical contact with

Jennifer and the firefly

the corpses. She divulges the truth about how she found the glove and explains that she has always had an odd effect on insects and vice versa.
   McGregor comforts her and explains since insects are telepathic in their communication methods that she must also be telepathic in some capacity and is able to communicate with them as well. He encourages her to think of it as a gift instead a curse. When she returns to her room at the school, the headmistress along with Brückner and several other teachers and students have raided Jennifer's belongings and have found a letter she was writing to her father detailing what she has discovered about her abilities with insects.
   The students then all torment Jennifer, calling her insane, with the administrators doing little to stop it since they all agree. Jennifer pulls away in tears, and then using her powers, summons a swarm of insects which surround the school. She then passes out from the experience and is set to be taken away to a mental hospital as ordered by the headmistress, but manages to escape back to the

The swarm of Jennifer's friends

professor.
   McGregor then explains that Jennifer could help stop the murders forever with her powers and gives her a fly that can sense dead bodies over expansive areas, which won't be afraid of her and will lead her to the area where the killer is hiding their victims. She then takes the bus route that Vera took in the opening and the rest of the film concerns Jennifer trying to discover the identity of the killer but also stay alive.
   Phenomena was released in January of 1985 in Italy and was a financial success. For its U.S. release, it was re-titled Creepers, heavily edited and was sent to the drive-in market. It was shot in English, but then dubbed into other languages. This was Connelly's first leading role before her most memorable film as a teen actress in Jim Henson's Labyrinth.
   This film is absolutely gorgeous. It was filmed on location in Switzerland and features breathtaking landscapes, all of which Connelly moves through like a figure in a painting. There are so many shots of her just walking through a scene that, with many of Argento's films, presents the location itself is a character and we are seeing through its eyes as we observe the human characters. Argento also succeeds at building tension with all of the adults that Jennifer interacts with being all slightly eccentric and

Connelly in the zone 

threatening, making the audience feel her unease that we don't know whose eyes the killer may be watching her through. The music is another factor that makes the whole thing so majestic; Bill Wyman's track "Valley" which plays during the opening kill and whenever Jennifer is in the valley alone is so atmospheric that it signals to us when the tranquil atmosphere is plagued with such evil lurking everywhere. The main theme titled "Phenomena" by Argento's musical collaborator's Goblin invokes the references to the opera composer Richard Wagner whom the school is named for and the female protagonist but also entwines the fast-paced race to stay alive that the film runs. It has been described as a modern fairy-tale; a young girl going off into the woods and discover a kind of magic that is key to destroying the evil that casts a shadow over the land. Argento has called this one of his most personal films with using some plot elements from his own life (during the scene of Jennifer revealing how her parents split up) and using an actual reoccurring dream of walking through a passage full of closed doors for the sleepwalking sequences.
   Despite its amazing visuals and class A horror tension, this film is flawed. It suffers from not explaining all the plot points clearly, or in fact introducing them too late in the story. It took me at least two more viewings after my first to get the whole thing straight. Perhaps this was done on purpose to put the audience in the perspective of Jennifer who is thrown into the whole affair suddenly, but it just leaves you after the initial viewing confused. Some of the effects are much more successful than others, but overall they work with the somewhat surreal world they exist in.
   Even with these problems, Phenomena still manages to lure the viewer into wanting to discover the truth with its odd divine glow. The first time I watched it, I thought "What the hell was that?". I decided it was stupid for not being as straight forward as other horror films. But, as the imagery continued to linger in my mind, I decided to re-watch a couple of scenes, but then ended up re-watching the entire movie.
   There's a saying that true art never stops having something to say, and Phenomena fits that definition. Each time I watch this movie I find new symbolism and references that make it so good. It is amazing to see so many layers put into an hour and fifty minutes. 
   All and all, Phenomena is one of Argento's best along with Suspiria, Tenebre, and Profondo rosso. It is atmospheric, has over-the-top Argento gore, and a kind of poetry that only the viewer can see and hear in each and every frame.
   Five stars. Watch it.

"I love you. I love you all"

   
   
   

Ancient Cult Files #7 -- Recess: School's Out

   Yes, I'm doing a Disney film. But the status of cult doesn't always pertain to the production studio that it was created by; a media's status of cult is defined by its loyal fan-base long after its initial release, and this film certainly has that. Walt Disney Studios produces good films that deserve praise, but they are often times are overly praised due to the advertisement budget and contracts with critics that Disney has acquired over the years. 
   It is a seasoned mega-corporation through and through, but sometimes they overlook some of their best work.
   Recess: School's Out was released in 2001 and was based off the hit television series of the same name. The show followed a friend group made up of T.J. (the scheming, cool boy), Vince (an athletic one), Spinelli (real name Ashley, a tough girl), Mikey (the huge but docile performing artist), Gretchen (the science prodigy), and Gus (a regimented army child). The series portrayed their navigation of academic, social and personal problems throughout the time spent in their recess play period at school.
   The story begins with the last recess of the school year and the gang pulls one last large prank; Spinelli, Vince, Gus, and Mikey catapulting stolen ice cream from the cafeteria onto the playground and T.J. imitating Principle Prickly with a voice-over machine provided by Gretchen making wise cracks about the school's administration and Prickly himself. The real administrator cuts the laughter short and takes T.J. to his office while the other children go back to their classrooms for their final period of 4th grade. Prickly is furious at T.J. but cannot punish him since it is the last day of school.
   With the ringing of the final bell, both the staff and students

School's out!

at Third Street Elementary are joyous over the beginning of summer. T.J. had already planned out the activities he and his friends will get to do, but is broken-hearted to find out that all of them are

going to various camps around the state to work on their skills;

Vince is going to baseball camp, Gretchen to space camp, Spinelli to wrestling camp, Mikey to a musical theater camp, and Gus to a military camp. All his friends say that they need these camps to prepare for their futures and leave on buses the next morning. T.J. rides about town doing the activities he meant to do with the gang in a depressed manner, but also rides by the school, where he sees unfamiliar personnel entering the school and is chased off by hostile security guards. He investigates further, and is horrified to see scientists testing some sort of ray-gun beam on a money safe, lifting it high off the ground. He rushes back to his house and tell his parents what he saw, but they dismiss it as a joke. He then tries the police and they give him the same reaction.

An unlikely ally

   Having no one else to turn to, he finds Principle Prickly at a local golf course and tries convinces him to come and check out the school. Prickly is angered to be removed from his vacation, but decides to go to the school with T.J. Upon their arrival, all the security guards are gone and everything appears normal. However, when Prickly tries to unlock the door, he is electrocuted by a green current and is de-materialized through the door. 
   Knowing now that something is definitely not right, T.J. convinces his older sister Becky (by threatening to post her diary on the internet) to help him in pulling his other friends out of their camps to come investigate the invaders of their school. Once

The tractor beam's blinding ray

he has rounded the gang up, they sneak onto the school grounds at night and steal a crate being transported into the building. However, it contains fairly mundane information; test scores, weather maps, and information about the school. His friends then turn on T.J., believing that he made up the story to bring them back from camp. However, just as they are about to leave, a larger version of the tractor beam T.J. saw being tested earlier, comes out of the school's roof and fires into the sky. It then retracts, and the children are left shocked, especially Mikey who proceeds to faint.
   The other five now believe T.J. and agree to help him keep an eye on the activities at the school with other kids covering for them at night and Becky driving them to and from camp during the day. During one of their stake-outs in T.J.'s tree house, the gang sadly realize

while hanging out in good spirits that their summers together are numbered, much to Gus's despair since this is his first summer with the gang. They lift each other's spirits by singing an old song that they learned together years before.

Phillium explaining something passionately

   While the others are away at camp, T.J. finds Principle Prickly's golf pants in the school's dumpster and sees one of the security guards pretending to be Prickly and going home to his wife every evening. This makes it clear that he is being held hostage in the school. That night, the gang break into the school to discover once and for all what is happening. They discover that their auditorium has been converted into a scientific laboratory for the tractor beam, and the man behind is Phillium Benedict (who on the television in the background earlier in the film was fired from being the U.S. Secretary of Education). The kids are discovered and attempt to flee, but T.J. is captured by the endless personnel (including ninjas) Phillium seems to have on the property. He is put in with Prickly, who reveals that Phillium once was his colleague and the principle of 3rd Street Elementary, but was removed for trying to get rid of recess, the same reason he was removed from his position in the federal government. Phillium then reveals his full plan to the two; he plans to use the tractor beam to move the moon's orbit closer to the earth, which will turn summers into winter-like periods, thus

Phillium's evil plan

forcing children to study instead of playing all summer and will improve test scores. Seeing that the former cabinet member is off his rocker, it's left up to Prickly, T.J. and the gang to save summer vacation.
   Recess: School's Out was both a financial and critical success and is fondly remembered by fans of the television series. James Woods voices Phillium and the voice actors from the show all were in the project as well. 
   The film has faded from memory for the most part, which I consider a loss. It gives a very interesting perspective of how education should be handled, questioning whether testing should be pushed aside to give students the chance to be children, and perhaps that is the actual recipe for quality citizens. It is a bit convoluted with the addition of ninjas, tractor beams, and the villain himself (though one could argue he's gone insane), but it is still geared towards children, so some imagination can be forgiven. The 1960's soundtrack used is amazing to convey the struggle between and underdog and the authority.
   It isn't completely necessary to watch the series before this film since the characters are fairly self-explanatory, though the show is quite good as well.
   Disney's buried treasure may not be as flashy as Frozen or Big Hero 6, but it gives a hopeful and relatable message about growing up and savoring childhood.
   Three and three-fourths of a star, check it out!

The Disney logo at the beginning of the film.

   

Ancient Cult Files #6 -- Wes Craven's New Nightmare

   In the 1980's, cinema was flooded with horror movies. Film makers had finally realized that horror was a favorite with younger audiences and set about marketing them on a massive scale, especially those in the slasher genre. However, they kind of went overboard. In the year 1989, over 60 horror films hit theaters

before the year's close, and various squeals to slasher franchises were all in theaters at once. People lost interest due to such over-saturation, and the slasher film fell out of favor overnight. 
   At the decade's turn, it seemed that slasher movies were as washed-up as haunted house films; predictable and too cliche to be taken seriously. But Wes Craven, who gave the genre one of the most memorable villains Freddy Krueger (a dream dwelling murderer who torments people in their sleep), breathed new life into the well-worn A Nightmare on Elm Street films with a new angle; self-awareness.

   Wes Craven's New Nightmare was released in 1994, ten years after the original, and rather than being a part of the franchise's story canon (this is technically the 7th in the series) is set in a fictionalized reality of our own, where the previous six films exist as films. The story centers around Heather Langenkamp (played by the real Heather Langenkamp), who is the actress who starred as the final girl Nancy Thompson in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street and is having to live with the fame of the successful franchise. She has married a special effects technician named Chase Porter (a completely fictional character) and they lead a fairly normal family life with their sensitive eight-year-old son Dylan (played by Miko Hughes)in Los Angeles. Heather has been being plagued recently by an obsessive fan who calls her on the phone and leaves cryptic notes in her mailbox on a nearly daily basis and has been

having odd nightmares about working on the set of an Elm Street film, where Freddy's glove comes to life and murders crew members. Her stress is intensified by a sudden series of earthquakes in the L.A. area, which leave large cracks in her bedroom walls that resemble the slash marks of Freddy's four-finger knife glove. 

Heather Langenkamp (fictionalized)

   She dismisses her fears and goes through with an interview about her career on a talk show while Chase goes to a job at a nearby film site, leaving Dylan with his babysitter Julie. Heather handles the interview in stride despite her recent experiences, but is startled again when Robert Englund (in his Freddy make-up) arrives unexpectedly at the interview.
   The strange occurrences continue with Heather suddenly being offered a job to be in another Nightmare film in which her character from the first film (Nancy Thompson) would resurrect Freddy. She refuses, then returns home to find Dylan watching the original 1984 film and upon turning it off, the boy screams at her. Horrified by the day's events, Heather calls Chase to come home, who has been actually been working on the prospective film (building the very glove Heather saw in her dream) unknown to his wife but agrees to come home. 
   On his way back to his family, Chase begins to nod off. Suddenly the glove he has been working on tears into him from under his car seat, killing him and crashing the car. Heather is horrified when she goes to claim his body that he has four slash marks across him. At his funeral, several other members of the Nightmare production circle pay their respects alongside the widow and her grieving son. All goes fairly normal, until a sleep depraved Heather suddenly falls

The funeral nightmare

into a nightmare in which Freddy appears in Chase's coffin as it is being buried and drags Dylan away. She attempts to jump after them, but it then switches back to reality where Heather has seemingly just passed out. She talks to former co-star John Saxon (played by the real Saxon) and confides her fears to him, who tells her that perhaps both she and Dylan should get medical attention for their strange behavior. 
   Though she attempts to comfort her grieving child, Dylan slowly reveals the Freddy has been tormenting him as well, and begins to speak lines from the original film (which seems to perpetually be on television) and behave like the villain by attaching sharp objects to the ends of his fingers. 
   Heather goes to Wes Craven (played by himself) for help, and he explains (though he states it as though he is pitching a movie) that an actual demon from hell who feeds on fear, pays attention to what terrifies mankind the most, and takes on that shape. At the current time, Freddy Krueger is the an image of fear that so many people

Freddy attacking Heather

recognize, that it has chosen that form, but has molded it to its own evil. Wes explains that the only way to contain the creature is to make another Freddy movie, because since the series end, the demon has been attempting to break into the real world but needs to get through the gate-keeper of Freddy's story: Nancy Thompson, who Heather played. The rest of the film details Heather trying to save her son and seal the demonized Freddy Krueger away for good.
   Wes Craven's New Nightmare failed at the box office, but received critical acclaim and has since been citing as a turning point in horror films and for meta-fiction for its self-awareness, something which Craven would do again with his Scream films. Heather Langenkamp (the real one) noted that some of the plot elements, such as having a stalker and being married to a special effects technician, were true to her personal life. She was also a young mother at the time, so she loved the idea of her character having a son. Miko Hughes who played Dylan fondly remembers his

Englund and Hughes behind the scenes

filming experience on New Nightmare, since Freddy Krueger was so popular among children as their "boogie man", he had already been a fan of the series before being cast and watched Robert Englund being put into his makeup every morning. Englund's makeup was altered for the film as well along with the characters costume which mirror more closely to what Craven originally intended for the character.
   This was the second sequel in the Elm Street series I ever saw and I always remember the scene where Heather and Wes have been talking about the demon Freddy and after he explains that they have to trap him in another movie, the exact conversation they just were having appears on Craven's computer screen as a film script. The film pays tons of homages to the original film, so I would highly recommend watching the first film then watching New Nightmare.
   All and all, this is a creepy, psychologically manipulative, amazing meta-horror film.
   Four and a half stars, check it out.

"All children know who Freddy Krueger is."

   

Icons of Cult Vol. II: Christopher Lee -- A Face, A Voice, A World Apart

   I hadn't thought of him in a while, the last time I had it was considering what to get out of the discount DVD bin. Godzilla double-feature or Hammer vampire essential? Decisions, decisions. In the end I'd chosen Horror of Dracula because I felt it would add more variety to my collection (I own nine Godzilla films already, the rest could) and because I had noted that my stock of DVDs was lacking a certain actor.

   I'm very glad I made that decision now.

   The other morning, I came down the stairs semi-ready for school and dreading a looming Physics final that had the potential to make or break my year's grades, when my mother gave me a sentence worth of information from the morning's headlines: "Annie, Christopher Lee died.". 

   Physics went to the back burner.  

   "What?" I asked, perhaps I'd misheard. 

   "Christopher Lee died. They just announced it." 

   I stopped in my tracks and took a moment to process the information. All at once, my mind was a flood of memories. 

   I was again sitting captivated at age five with him heralding the epic rally of evil before the battle of Helm's Deep in The Twin Towers.

   I was being mesmerized and terrified by his prowess and seductive nature as the lord of the undead as his red eyes claimed the will of a young girl.

   The feeling of being pleasantly surprised to hear his familiar rumble from the throat of the Jabberwocky made my heart drop into a deep pit.

   Thunderstruck by these fond moments, I realized that tears were streaming down my face.

   Sir Christopher Lee, who shared his talent with countless millions of people throughout his multitude of appearance throughout film, stage, and television, has died at age 93.
   I don't want to spend this article going through his life for two reasons; firstly, his career and personal life is so vast that I would have to spend hours upon hours just giving you the bare-bones breakdown, and secondly, there are countless other, more professional tribute articles relaying this information. I am but a humble teenager, not an historian by any means, and fear that I may give an inaccurate description.
   But I still wanted to write an article for Lee because I feel that this is a rather large milestone in the history of film; with his death, he cuts a link from an era that will one day be just a collections of images that will be a never-ending mystery. Like a portrait of a long-dead monarch, his legacy will become a hearsay of what he was like when he was alive, but no one will ever truly have the correct answer because no one will be living who knew him in the flesh.
   Time is a wily one sometimes.
   The strangest thing about Lee's passing, while extremely sad, is that it seems to have taken one of two routes: shock or rally.
   Christopher Lee lived a very long life, and to be honest, I and many other people were shocked to hear that he had actually died. He had become an immortal presence in films that we thought could never end. 
   The other side of the coin would be the rallying of the media; for many older celebrities, their media obituaries are primed and polished just in case of their sudden death and are added to every five years or so to keep them fresh. From what I gathered, many media outlets have had Lee's prepared for a long time, because they were all posted within rapid succession of the announcement being made public. Though this is common play in the world of reporting, I feel that somehow it makes his passing a bit less personal.
   So here I am jumping on the band wagon.
   I think the biggest reason why I feel so grieved by Lee's death is simply because he was a face that generations upon generations of film goers could recognize. In presence, voice, and tendency to just be amazing, Christopher Lee has become an idol for giving everything he touched a "performance of a lifetime" status. 
   His level of mastery will be sorely missed, but perhaps it is selfish of us to claim him as ours forever. Lee has left behind a great number of things to be proud of aside from his film characters: being a father, being married for over fifty years, having countless honors for charity work, being knighted, and being blessed with such a long, eventful life.
   After sharing such a large part of his time in this world creating characters that helped us escape from the struggles of our own lives, it's only due process that he now receive rest in the cradle of eternity for what seemed an endless age of impressive artistry.
   We will miss him.
   I have been watching him since I was five-years-old and have grown up with him being a cornerstone of the genres of films I love the most, and his passing is a marker that childhood is behind me. There will never again be a new character that Christopher Lee will animate with his unrepeatable style, and that as a fan, calls for a few tears to be shed.
   But he will never be forgotten. He is etched into the fabric of time in ways that will never crumble. Perhaps this is how, ironically, he will become immortal, as an icon for all time for a life spent engaging audiences in a way that others could only envy.
   Whether this is the way that existing forever is achieved for the living world or not, Lee is still off somewhere inspiring creativity in a world that we cannot comprehend because it is not a place for us at this time. We may join him someday, but we will never truly know, for like the Gray Havens, it is a one-way boat.
   After stars go out in the heavens, they still exist, their molecules becoming heavier as they become different elements, becoming a new form that we cannot see because we were given mortal eyes at our birth. But we know that something still remains after a spot in the sky goes dark, and it is left to our imagination what new flame is kindled in a galaxy far, far away.
   Rest in peace Christopher Lee, you will be missed here, but you are needed more wherever you are now.

Icons of Cult Vol. I: Robert Englund -- An Example of Dedication

  When I was thirteen-years-old, I couldn't go to sleep one Saturday night because of a horror movie I'd watched.

I tossed and turned all night long, unable to find rest due to the images flashes through my mind: evil smirk, grisly burned face, tipped hat to hide glowing cat-like eyes, and a voice that echoed undisturbed through my conscious mind. The phrase "Don't, fall, asleep." kept circulating as well, making me force my closed eyes to open every so often to ward off any slumber. I rolled over and stared up at my white stubble ceiling, I felt a shiver of fear; I could see the man in a pale silhouette on the painted surface, reaching down with his claws to touch me.

I sat up, shaking my head with my heart racing. The shape I'd seen had vanished, and now only the familiar shadows of my bedroom were there.

Feeling embarrassed at myself for being so startled at nothing, I laid down again, burrowing under the covers like a frightened child, attempting to shield myself from the irrational fear I'd contracted from the screen. 

I was too old for this, I knew that monsters from movies weren't real. 

But it didn't matter what I told myself, my imagination had a different rational.

I was afraid of him.

I dared not dream. He might be waiting for me.

   Before I became such a horror junkie, I was terrified of anything made after 1965. I had a problem with blood and malicious dialogue, so I had never seen Jaws, Night of the Living Dead, or The Exorcist because of my squeamishness toward more "grown-up" films. I was still into horror though, but this mostly consisted of Gothic classics with guys in capes and prehistorical reptiles destroying major cities (all good stuff in its own right). During James' Rolfe's Cinemassacre's Monster Madness during October which I loved, I couldn't go past the sixties, because that was my limit with horror.

   But then at age thirteen, as with many other things, suddenly everything kicked up a notch.

   Over my holiday break, I awoke in the wee-hours of the morning and went to go play some video games, but upon turning on the TV, I saw the ending of a movie. A girl was desperately trying to escape a man with a horribly burned face and a glove with knives for fingers, but no matter how hard she ran, he manipulated the environment and tormented her further, taking pleasure in her terror. As it turned out, the girl was asleep and what I was seeing was her dream. Still afraid of anything post-65, I quickly flipped the channel before I could see anymore, but I had caught the title: A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Englund as Freddy Krueger

   I'd heard of this movie before, and I knew that this the film I'd just seen a snip-it of was not the original (yes I technically saw the 2010 remake first, go ahead and stone me if you wish) and later that day sought out more information via the internet. I read about the original series and I was hooked: crazy dream world antics, kick-ass strong teenage female leads, and of course a demented, sultry, wise-cracking villain.

   Throughout my reading, a name stuck out; Robert Englund, "the only real Freddy Krueger" as many fans described him. After watching the first film and being scared out of my mind due to breaking my temperance of no gore (which ended promptly after), I thought he must be the creepiest guy in the world.
   But upon further internet research, I discovered quite the opposite.
   What I saw throughout the written and visual interviews with him was a kind, patient, and extremely enthusiastic man who loved his fans. He didn't act like his good fortune was pure destiny, but rather that it was all a happy accident as many things are in life.
   Robert Barton Englund was born and raised in the Hollywood area of California where he took an interest in acting from a young age, and ultimately studied it throughout his college career which included UCLA and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England (no pun intended).
  His acting career began with a series of low-budget films such as

From Eaten Alive (1977)

Buster and Billie and Sunburst throughout most of the 1970's and got his first leading role in Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive in 1977. Englund also has been a surfer his whole life, a passion which he got to portray in the film Big Wednesday. He also auditioned for Han Solo for the original Star Wars and encouraged Mark Hamill to look into the project (so yes, you can thank Freddy Krueger for giving you Luke Skywalker). His breakthrough however came with the NBC miniseries V in which Englund portrayed the friendly alien Willie. Still during his time with V in 1984, he portrayed the fictitious serial killer Freddy Krueger for the first time in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. 
   This sadistic character from the mind of Wes Craven was a child murder who was burned alive by the angry parents and now haunted their teenage children in their dreams, tormenting them before ultimately killing them. Freddy was unlike any of the other slashers on scene in the 1980's; instead of being hidden behind a man-made mask and a silent brute, Mr. Krueger had a face of charred skin and was more than proficient in his speech. 

On set of the original Nightmare

   Craven originally was looking for a stuntman to portray the murderer, but found that older men couldn't get into the character properly. He had his doubts about Englund when he walked in for the audition, but he won him over with his analysis and enthusiasm of the character and the rest is history.

   A Nightmare on Elm Street was an instant classic and Robert Englund would star as the dream stalker in six sequels, a meta-film about those who made the original film and an actual demon taking on the form of Krueger to terrorize the real world, and a crossover battle of the century with Jason Vorhees from the Friday the 13th slasher franchise.
   But now that the slasher genre has been bled out (pun intended) for mainstream audiences and many younger viewers refuse to watch films that predate 1995 or so, what has become of Englund?
   Well, he's never stopped working. In his autobiography Englund discussed his feelings towards his career:

"As for me, I'm still a working stiff and will likely be one until the day I die. Most of my work will probably be in the world of horror, and I have no problem with that.........If you wish to typecast me as a genre actor, so be it. Stumbling into this world was a happy accident that gave me a wonderful career." - Robert Englund, from his book Hollywood Monster

Englund in Fear Clinic

   Robert Englund has become a modern-day Boris Karloff, a representative of the horror genre who has become an ambassador for what goes bump in the night, and is damn proud of it. In addition to meeting countless fans every year and signing god knows how many autographs, he has starred in several modern cult flicks such as Hatchet and Strippers Vs. Werewolves and has crossed into the new age of motion picture technology in the web-series Fear Clinic. He often is a part of panels for various conventions and interviews, always happy to answer the same questions over and over again. His genuine gratitude towards his fans who have given him his career is evident in every book, photo, and tattoo he signs with a smile.
   If you still doubt his sincerity, here is a story from Hollywood Nightmare from his friend and collaborator Wes Craven:

"Once a psychiatrist wrote me. He had a young patient who had heard of Freddy Krueger and was having nightmares about him. I really wanted to help, so I got in touch with Robert and asked if he would say a few words to the kid into a vidcam. Not only did Robert do that, but he did it while he was being put into, then out of, his Freddy makeup, describing each step of the way how Freddy was nothing more than latex and glue and nothing to be worried about. Shortly after I mailed the tape to the doctor, I received a letter in return. The youngster was not only cured, he wanted to watch a Freddy movie!"

   After having to be taken in and out of that makeup over a thousand times, it wouldn't be surprising if he never wanted to talk about again, but he still does and does it with pride over the work he's put into the film industry.
   Robert Englund is 68-years-old today, and I'm glad I was born into the generation with him as our horror all-star. After watching the first film and reading and watching a good bit about Englund, I asked my parents to order his book used on Amazon, which I then read

With several generations of fans

with keen fascination (his book is wonderful by the way, I highly recommend it). His retrospective over his career was truly inspiring and left a socially awkward rising 9th grader with a hopeful message to not be afraid of whatever strange path life takes you, but embrace it as it embraces you. I was a shy, lonely middle schooler, but his description of being a theater kid in high school made me want to explore the dramatic arts; ultimately it helped me break out of my quiet little bubble and be more outspoken about my interests in cult, horror, and just who I am and what I like in general. So without Robert Englund, I might not even be running this blog.
   I can only send out so many good vibes with this article, so I'll sum up my feelings towards Englund as simply as I can: out of anyone I'd like to meet and tell how much they've changed my life, I'd pick him.
   Someone who can scare the living daylights out of you as a story-teller, and inspire you to be a better person in the real world, is perhaps the greatest kind of person one can be.
   Happy birthday Robert Englund, you rock dude.

"If only one of my movies survives the test of time, that's wonderful, but if I make you forget your problems for a minute or three, I've done my job." - Robert Englund, from his book Hollywood Monster

   

   

   

   

Ancient Cult Files #5 -- Black Sunday

   
   In the 1960's, a new era of fascination for the Gothic genre emerged in all forms of media. With the changing social times, the surreal settings and subtle erotic elements gave a fresh perspective to a younger generation than their excessively popular predecessors from the 1930's and 40's. In this new age of Gothic art, the violence and sexuality were going to be brought out

into the lime light and not shaded under implied circumstances. However, this was still a very early and in comparison what was to come, a fairly tame example.
   La maschera del demonio or The Mask of Satan or Revenge of the Vampire or (as I have always called it) Black Sunday was released in the year 1960 in Italy and was directed by the budding horror master Mario Bava who would eventually become the fore-father of the slasher genre. It starred Barbara Steele (and served as her breakout role), John Richardson, and Andrea Checchi.
   The film begins with the conviction of two occultist practitioners, Princess Asa Vajda (Steele) and her accomplice (or brother in the Italian version, censored for most English speaking audiences due to implication that they share an incestuous relationship) Igor Javutich in 17th century Moldavia. Their execution is overseen by Asa's own brother who also

Princess Asa at her execution

turned her in as a witch; he orders both have a bronze mask of nails be placed over the sinners faces so that for all eternity they will wear their true face, the face of Satan. Before she dies, Asa calls out a curse on the Vajda family and swears that she will live on, for her evil services have made her immortal. They attempt to burn Asa's body, but a storm puts out the fires before they touch her, so she is put in her family's crypt in a special tomb with a window facing a cross facing downwards at the masked face so that the power of Christ may keep the witch from rising again. Javutich is placed in an unmarked grave in the local cemetery.
   Two centuries later, a pair of doctors traveling to a convention, Thomas Kruvajan (Checchi) and Andre Gorobec (Richardson), travel through the region where the Vajda family resides and where the "witches ghost" is said to haunt the forest. Despite warnings from their coach driver to keep away if possible, they travel through the area where the execution was performed. After their coach has a problem with one of the wheels, Kruvajan and Andre explore the once lavish grounds of the Vajda dynasty, now crumbling into ruin. 

Katia Vajda

   In their survey of the area, the stumble upon the crypt where Asa was laid to rest. Kruvajan tries taking a closer look at the witch's mask, but accidentally breaks the stone cross keeping her evil contained in a scuffle with a giant bat living in the tomb. He also cuts his hand on the shattered glass of the window, dripping blood onto the oddly well-preserved corpse. Upon returning from the crypt, they meet a young woman who looks shocking like Asa, but is in fact one of the living members of the Vajda family, Katia (also played by Steele). The melancholy beauty explains that the reason the grounds are in such disrepair is that her father believes that the entire family is cursed because of the witch. They part ways; Andre is completely smitten by her, much to Kruvajan's amusement.
   Meanwhile in the tomb, Asa's spirit is revived with the nourishment of Kruvajan's blood, and sets about ordering her servant Javutich to rise as well. After clawing his way out of the earth and ripping the mask of nails from his face, Javutich sets about terrorizing the living Vajda family. He causes the Katia's father to go into a hysteric fit of fear upon bursting into his

chambers. Katia sends a servant out to the nearby inn to fetch Kruvajan and Andre to aid her father, but Javutich murders him and instead poses as a personnel from Vajda castle himself. He appears to the elder doctor telling him the noble has fallen ill and that Katia sent for him, swaying him to come to along.

Igor Javutich, risen from the grave

   Javutich instead leads him to the crypt where Asa slowly becomes more and more alive; she seduces him with her powers and turns him into one of the undead. Kruvajan goes to the ill Vajda prince and kills him instead, now a slave to Asa's evil will. Asa tells Javutich to bring her Katia; only through drinking her blood can she be fully restored, since she is apparently her reincarnation of some sort. The rest of the film involves Andre and a local priest trying to save Katia and destroy the witch for good.
   Black Sunday under all its titles was an international success both at the box office and with the critics, though it was censored and even banned in many places due to its (at the time) unusually gruesome violence. It launched the careers of both Mario Bava and Barbara Steele, even though the two were famously like fire and ice during production. The cinematography in the film is absolutely stunning; the shadows of the forest and the fog all create a foreboding dread that does let up for one second. Some of exterior and interior shots of the Vajda castle were filmed at a castle in the province of Arsoli.
 

Shot at a real Gothic castle.

 This film has been extremely influential; many modern directors have cited this film as being a major attribute to their own filming style. Tim Burton and Francis Ford Coppola both used imagery from this film in some of their biggest hits Bram Stoker's Dracula and Sleepy Hallow. The opening scene of the inquisition would become a staple of the genre after this film as well.
   I view this film as a transition piece; it feels like a Universal classic with its fog and forest, but its plot-line is much edgier and openly violent, as films would steadily become throughout the decade.
   Black Sunday serves as the bridge between two periods of film, and, in all honesty, has some of the creepiest scenery in all of horror.
   This is must see.
   A solid five stars.

The Mask of Satan