Ancient Cult Files #9 -- The Seventh Victim (1943)

   During the 1940's, producer Val Lewton made a name for himself producing B-grade horror films for RKO Studios. He famously saved the company from going under with his 1942 breakthrough film, Cat People, which has in subsequent decades been hailed as a psychological/horror/noir masterpiece. The next year, he made an equally as suspenseful and shadowy film, but this one is possibly even more influential.
   The Seventh Victim was released in 1943 by RKO Studios, it starred Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, Erford Gage, Huge Beaumont, and future Oscar winner Kim Hunter in her first film. It was fourth film in the myriad of Lewton's low-budget horror classics.
   The story begins with a doe-eyed student at Highcliff's School for Girls named Mary Gibson (Hunter). Mary's parents died when she was very young, and was raised by her elder sister, Jacqueline (Brooks), whom is a successful business woman with a cosmetics company. However, Jacqueline has not paid Mary's tuition in six months, and she has not written to her for even longer. Despite being given the option of living at the school as a tutor to pay off her debt, Mary heads to New York in search of her sister.   

   At the cosmetics factory, her sister's partner, Esther Redi, tells her that she hasn't seen her sister in months and that Jacqueline had sold the company to her. After Mary is shooed away by Redi, she is told by one of the employees, Frances Fallon (Jewell), that she saw her sister going into a restaurant a few weeks ago and tells her where it is. 

Mary and Mrs. Redi at the factory.

Once there, the owners of the restaurant tell Mary that Jacqueline and a man came to rent out a room above the restaurant and then left. Upon looking into the room, the only furnishings her sister ever placed in the room was a lone chair,and the only decorations being a noose hung from the ceiling.

   Fearing for her sister's life, Mary follows several connections to her sister which include Jacqueline's lawyer and secret husband, Gregory Ward (Beaumont), a failed poet Jason Hoag (Gage) who falls in love with Mary, and Dr. Louis Judd (Tom Conway), who was Jacqueline's psychiatrist for depression. Mary is shocked by her sister's bizarre obsession with suicide, and her drifting presence with so many strange people. Upon finding out that her sister basically gifted to company to Redi, Mary becomes suspicious that they may be holding her sister hostage. She breaks into the factory one night with the help of a private investigator who took an interest in the case while overhearing some of the details of Jacqueline's disappearance. A room that is never opened becomes their target, but both are frightened by the darkness of the factory at night. 

Mary, alone in the dark.

Eventually, the private investigator goes down the hallway to look into the room, but when he comes out, he has been stabbed through the chest. Mary runs away and gets on a subway to process what she has seen, and spies two men getting on the train, seemingly carrying a drunk friend home. She is horrified to realize that the man is actually the dead investigator. Mary tries to alert the watchman, but the three men disappear mysteriously.
About to give up on the search, Jason and Ward convince Mary to stay and keep trying. The three continue to do research on Redi and her associates, and discover that Jacqueline had been attending a private club in Greenwich Village, called the Palladists. After talking with Frances again at the factory, the three deduct, with Dr. Judd confirming, that they are a society of Satanists. Judd also reveals that he knows where Jacqueline is, heavily implying that they have been having an affair, and has been

Jacqueline and the Palladists.

hiding her because the Palladists have a strict code about keeping their society a secret, and anyone who breaks that must die. Jacqueline has disobeyed this code by talking about the Palladists activities in therapy, the 7th person to have ever broken this rule, hence is to be the 7th one to die, as in the title. He finally takes Mary to her sister, who is obviously mentally unstable, but is safe. However, the group of Satanists track her down and kidnap her, condemning her to death, via drinking poison to fulfill their oath to non-violence and to appeal to Jacqueline's obsession with suicide. The rest of the film concerns Mary trying to help her sister, Ward realizing that he's fallen in love with Mary, and Jacqueline deciding her own fate.
   The film has been hailed since its release critically for its shadowy cinematography and rather controversial themes of suicide and Satanic religion. Though both of these would become fairly common themes in horror, the 1940's had very strict sensors on what themes could be allowed. Lewton reportedly got around these because the studio asked him to make a horror film without a message of any kind. However, he later said that the film did have a message: "Death is good, and we shouldn't be afraid of it." The most stunning

part of this film is the camera work. Lewton knew how to cast

The Gibson sisters reunited at last.

shadows and make us feel the uncomfortable tension that Mary does throughout the film. The incorporation of sudden loud noises after periods of silence was a new technique that he mastered and became a standard in horror and thriller cinema throughout the next decade. Kim Hunter would go on to originate the character of Stella Kowalski in Tennessee Willaims' stage version of A Streetcar Named Desire and won an Academy Award for her portrayal of the character in the 1951 film. Tom Conway's character, Dr. Louis Judd, also appears in Lewton's first picture Cat People, which has caused many fans to hypothesize that the two story lines take place in the same universe and could be connected.
   Another, very forward theme in this film is

Frances pleading to Jacqueline.

the homosexual undertones between Jacqueline and several of the female cult members, most notably Frances. Frances is one of the only Palladists who seem to genuinely care for Jacqueline, and when the society is discussing how to go about having her die, one member points out Frances' obvious affection with the line: "I know this is difficult for you because you're in love with her." Later, when Jacqueline is being held hostage to drink the poison, Frances suddenly bursts out for her to hurry up and do it because she can't bear to watch her suffer under the torment of the other members. When she actually makes an attempt to drink it, France snatches it away and begins to sob hysterically, saying that she "can't let her die since the only happy time of her life was when they were together". Jacqueline seems to be very open sexually in general, apparently having affairs with Judd and Frances while being married to Ward, which he was fully aware of.

Redi threatening Mary in "The Seventh Victim"

Helena Markos in "Suspira"

   One factor of the film which has been overlooked by many is how much of the imagery and plot devices influenced other horror film directors. Three main films that I have picked out that were obviously inspired from The Seventh Victim are Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, and Dario Argento's Suspiria. The motif of one sister looking for another is one of the driving plot points of Psycho, and it contains a scene in the shower (pictured below) which obviously inspired some of the shadow work in the infamous shower scene from the master of suspense. Rosemary's Baby also takes place in New York's Greenwich Village with a society of Satanists targeting a naive young girl. Suspiria perhaps borrows the most from this shadowy masterpiece, using the theme of occult activities and the setting of a girls boarding school. 

Janet Leigh's shower at the Bates Motel.

One of the scenes in The Seventh Victim that inspired both Suspiria and Psycho with a scene in which Redi is seen behind a shower curtain when she comes to try and discourage Mary from continuing on her search for her sister. Psycho uses this for its infamous kill scene while the giallo classic uses it for the climax of the film.

   All and all, this is an excellent film. It's very well-shot, well-paced, and an atmospheric trip through a world of danger and evil settled right in the middle of everyday America. This is one of Val Lewton's best and my personal second favorite of his films. 

Five stars, check it out.

"Your sister had the belief that life was not worth living unless one could end it" - Gregory Ward

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 #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. 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 #4 -- Prophecy

   John Frankenheimer is a widely acclaimed film-maker who throughout his career has made social drama and action/suspense films that have brought challenging political situations and historical happenings to the forefront. In the year 1979, he made a film that provided a provocative story-line involving the treatment of American Indians and the consequences of having industrial factories in a world that did evolve with their pollutants, in this case paper production. Now, in what way can those two themes be woven together in a plot that intersects properly on all critical levels?
   Add in a mutant grizzly bear of course!
   Prophecy was released in 1979 by Paramount Pictures and starred Robert Foxworth, Talia Shire, and Armand Assante, along with a supporting cast of Victoria Racimo, Richard Allen Dysart, and George Clutesi. The plot is set in Maine, even though grizzly bears don't actually live in that region at all.

   The story begins with Robert Verne (Foxworth), an inner city doctor that has become cynical from dealing with poverty stricken patients, taking a job with the Environmental Protection Agency to do a report on a forest in which the interests of the Native American residents and a nearby paper factory are butting heads. The conflict has apparently turned violent and the situation will soon completely spiral out of control without a federal ruling. He travels to Maine with his

Maggie Verne, Isely, and Dr. Robert Verne

wife Maggie (Shire), who has recently discovered she is pregnant and is afraid to tell her husband since he is strongly against having children after seeing so many emaciated families in his previous line of work.
   The Verne's are greeted by paper mill director Bethel Isely (Dysart) who explains that all the conflict is over the acquirement of a large sum of the forest for logging for the paper mill. This area of forest is part of the traditional homeland of the Native Peoples, or Opies (a shortening for Original Peoples), and that they have been the perpetrators of the violence after refusing to let the loggers through. He says that radical members have even committed murder on some of the mill's lumberjacks and the search crew sent to find them after the fact. They encounter some of the Opies guarding the entrance to the forest, lead by John Hawks (Assante) and his wife Ramona (Racimo), and a vicious fight ensues. Both Verne and Maggie are horrified by the level of hostility between the two parties.

A mutated tadpole

   Maggie attempts on several occasions to tell her husband that she is pregnant, but is continuously interrupted by the strange goings-on in the forest. There are salmon large enough to swallow ducks, a raccoon without rabies seeking to kill people, and various other abnormalities in the ecosystem. 
   Hawks and Ramona eventually persuade Verne and Maggie to come and see their side of the story; the state of the Opies suggests that some sort of pollution has been causing increased mental illness, stillbirths, and children born with mutations in their people since the time the paper plant was built. This seems to be linked to other strange growths in the forest since both the Opies and the wildlife get the majority of their food from the river, which the paper mill uses to float their lumber down to the factory. They also hear the native legend of the coming of Katahdin, a mythic spirit guardian of the forest, from Ramona's grandfather (Clutesi) who claims that the deaths of those in the woods were the deity acting in protection of their natives lands.
   Verne soon discovers that the paper mill has been using Methyl Mercury as an anti-fungal agent for logs they must store before processing. This acts as a mutagen to the entire food chain of the river system and has been know for causing devastating mutations over time, and even eating a small amount of an animal that contains the mutated genes will effect pregnant creatures. This dismays Maggie, who ate a fish Verne caught earlier in the film.

Mutant bear cub

They go to investigate the scene of more murders in the forest and discover two mutated bear cubs washed away in a storm, one of which is still alive. They conclude that the mother of these cubs has been committing the murders and Verne becomes determined to keep the lone cub alive in order to provide evidence of the paper mill's pollution. However, the mother bear attacks the group and kills mercilessly trying to recover her baby. The rest of the film revolves around the characters struggle to make it back through the woods alive.
   Prophecy did not earn back what it cost to make, and Frankenheimer noted that this film was without a doubt the lowest point in his career (during which time he was struggling with alcoholism). To be frank, it's hard to argue with him.

Katahdin (mutant grizzly mama)

   While the plot has some good ideas (mutant bear in the woods with no where to hide), it seems to suffer from poor pacing and predictable script choices. It takes far too long to see the monster (an entire hour in fact) and when they finally reveal the beast, it is such a ridiculous kill scene that you can't help but laugh. The sub-plot with Maggie's pregnancy takes far too long to play out as well; most of Shire's screen time is her looking dreadful of revealing her secret to her husband, and by the time she finally does, we've been begging her to for the last half hour. The creature effects are a bit goofy, but honestly its good to have a laugh after being subjected to the boring affairs of the human characters for the majority of the film.
   The redeeming factors of the film are the beautiful scenery (shot in British Columbia, Canada) and the (few) moments of atmospheric tension. The scariest scene in the whole movie to me is when the characters are in a underground shelter and just listening as the

The Verne and Hawks couples waiting in fear

monster is heard above ground destroying the campsite and murdering the remaining people. No one says a word and they all just stare at the ladder leading to the surface, and we find ourselves wondering the same as their faces convey; can it get down here?
   But other than those few moments of enjoyment, the movie is quite slow, and sometimes you forget you're watching a horror movie, until the bear just shows up out of the blue. Perhaps the greatest legacy of this film was that the creature Katahdin was the inspiration for South Park's ManBearPig. 
   All and all, if your really into monster movies and want a truly unique monster, Prophecy delivers (after the first hour of course). This film may also be fun to view at one A.M. when you have absolutely nothing else to watch, but otherwise, you may want to choose something a bit more exciting.
   Two and two-thirds of a star, check it out if you're really interested!

Human road kill

Ancient Cult Files #2 -- Attack of the Puppet People

   Bert I. Gordon (or Mister B.I.G.) is a film-maker who sees the big picture, literally. Throughout his career, he specialized in making films where he utilized rear-projection and process shots to make the desired object (grasshoppers, spiders, bald guys, etc.) appear enormous in comparison to the surroundings and characters. In the latter half of the 1950's, he made some of his most remembered films in rapid succession. However, there was a film in this 

giant-themed period of his filmography that was just the opposite;

shrunken creatures, in this case people. Attack of the Puppet People (or I Was a Teenage Doll, Six Inches Tall, or The Fantastic Puppet People) was released in 1958 as a double-feature with Gordon's other film that year, War of the Colossal Beast. It starred John Agar, John Hoyt, June Kenny, and was the first motion picture appearance of Gordon's daughter, Susan.  The film centers around the office of the eccentric but kindly doll-maker Mr. Franz (John Hoyt), who makes amazingly lifelike dolls and pays close attention to every detail of their clothes, hair,

Mr. Franz and Sally

and accessories. Though a bit unsettled by his fondness for his dolls, Sally Reynolds (June Kenny) takes up the job opening as his secretary since her predecessor vanished and has not been heard from. Her employment under Franz goes fairly well despite his odd nature, until a salesman named Bob Westley arrives and goes about trying to woo the young beauty. Though initially irritated by his advances, Sally warms up to Bob as he begins to assist Mr. Franz with making his dolls; all during this time, both Sally and Bob grow more and more curious about what their employer keeps in his back room, which has a sign warning all to keep out. It is also revealed that Mr. Franz was once a successful marionette performer but abandoned the occupation after his wife left him, causing him to obsess over his doll making.

Bob and Sally's drive-in proposal

   Bob and Sally's  relationship heats up in the most romantic place the 50's can offer, a drive-in movie (showing Bert I. Gordon film The

Amazing Colossal Man), and the two decide that they love each other and that they will return to Bob's hometown and marry immediately (remember, it is the 50's). However, the next day, Bob disappears, and Mr. Franz has begun to market dolls of identical likeness to him. Sally's suspicions reach a breaking point and she goes to the police; but they are soon brushed off by Franz who then attacks Sally after the detective leaves, rendering her unconscious. 
   She awakes to find that Franz has shrunk her down to the size of the dolls he makes. Sally also finds that Bob and others who had known the doll-maker previously have been shrunken as well. Franz keeps them in capsules where they are drugged to keep them in a state of suspended animation while he keeps them as trophies on a

Mr. Franz's "special" doll collection

shelf in the office and, when he feels so inclined, takes them out and throws parties for them (complete with mini-champagne bottles). The rest of the film is the struggle of the captives to entertain their insane host and try any attempt to get to the machine which Franz uses to shrink people to return to their normal sizes and go for help. The film features some of Gordon's traditional uses of his special effects with scenes in which the shrunken characters have to avoid normal sized animals.
   The film was released for the drive-in market, which was advertised in the film itself, and was met with poor critical reception for its weak plot and poor special effects. This is a film whose charm is not in the accolades it received, but rather in the time period it time-capsules. The entire film screams 1950's: the style of clothes and hair, the music and dancing, the forms of entertainment, people's manner of speech, the social customs. 

Bob and Sally battling a "giant" dog

   In some ways, it even puts an unfavorable light to some of the encouraged attitudes of the time. Mr. Franz became mentally unstable and abandoned his life's work only after his wife left him. He then became obsessed with the picturesque lifestyle of the time with nicely dressed and polished people, all under control. Many things in the plot are not explained, such as how exactly Franz manages to create such a powerful machine when the only areas of expertise we know of him possessing are marionette performing and doll making. What scientific explanation that the film attempts to give makes no sense at all.
   The special effects are laughable by today's standards of CGI wonderment and explosions, but they add to the cheesy goodness of the film. A good part of the film's inspiration was actually based on the success of The Incredible Shrinking Man a year prior, and American International Pictures wanted to cash-in on the "shrinking" craze.
   But all those technical things aside, this is a fun, convoluted, absolutely delightful B-Movie. To truly enjoy Attack of the Puppet People, don't focus on the details of the plot or the quality of the effects, just smile at this beautiful piece of 1950's entertainment courtesy of Mr. B.I.G. 
   A three star B-movie classic.
   Oh, and just so you won't be disappointed, the "puppet" people don't actually attack anyone.

The next time you wake up on the wrong side of the bed,
remember how Sally must have felt.