Tag: horror film

horror

Suspiria

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Image credit: Suspiria, 1977

Summoning all my courage and pouring a stiff drink, I finally took a reluctant step into the world of Giallo horror this week. The entry point: Dario Argento’s tale of a coven of murderous witches at a German ballet school, Suspiria (Disc/Download). Having already watched and enjoyed the 2018 remake by Luca Guadagnino, I felt comfortable with the subject matter, but fearful about the level of horror awaiting me. Were things a lot more gruesome in 1977? I was about to find out.

Starring Jessica Harper as the naïve dancer who unknowingly steps into the coven’s lair, Suspiria is visually stunning from the very first frame. It’s like if Wes Anderson teamed up with Gianni Versace to make a picture that’s all symmetry, color, and gold leaf. The rooms have intense red lighting, garish murals, and neoclassical styles mingling with baroque, but the way it’s shot is very controlled. The school is both scary and beautiful, and the same could be said about the movie itself. Yes, there are grisly scenes, such as a girl being trapped in razor wire while her throat is slashed, a rain of maggots falling from the ceiling, and a truly horrifying bat attack, but with the arresting soundtrack by prog-rock band Goblin and the otherworldly set designs, you just deal with the gore because it’s all part of the experience.

Speaking of gore, I’m still mulling over the sticky red drink served at the school, which looks suspiciously like blood. Maybe it’s Campari, but… maybe not???  While you’re watching Suspiria, aim for something more appetizing with this Serpent’s Eye cocktail.

Serpent’s Eye

1 ½ oz Apple Brandy

1 ½ oz Dark Rum

½ oz Campari

1 oz Lime Juice

½ oz Grenadine

2 oz Blood Orange Juice

Blood orange slice (Garnish)

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill, then strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a blood orange slice.

In addition to its impressive visuals, Suspiria also offers an interesting commentary on power. The only way to eliminate the coven is to remove its leader, which is akin to cutting off the head of a snake. One wonders if it works that way in real life with other dangerous cults and movements, or if history is always doomed to repeat itself with new snakes and new heads. By the end of this movie, I was cheering for the world of Argento: a world where evil can be defeated by a powerful American woman. That’s the world I want to live in, maggots and bats and all. Cheers!

Classic Films

Cat People

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Image credit: Cat People, 1942

I confess: I am not a cat person. Frankly, they terrify me. So when I heard about Jacques Tourneur’s 1942 B-horror film Cat People (Disc/Download), I assumed I’d have to close my eyes through most of it. However, I was delighted to discover that it’s actually the perfect level of spooky, supernatural fun during this Halloween season. Really, the only scary thing is how long I waited to watch this charming classic!

Starring Simone Simon as a Serbian illustrator who believes she’s descended from a line of “cat people”, the movie takes place in a bustling Manhattan where the female characters have a surprising amount of agency for the time period. We see career gals instead of housewives, and indeed, even after Irena marries a nautical engineer, she’s still a fairly independent person (albeit a troubled one, under the care of a psychiatrist). You see, Irena believes that if she becomes aroused with strong emotion, she’ll turn into a jungle cat and attack. This becomes inconvenient for her husband, and it isn’t long before he’s looking at his female co-worker with straying eyes. Here is where the film becomes more domestic soap opera than supernatural horror, and probably why I enjoy it so much. Although we see plenty of zoo cats pacing in their cages, and hear frightening hisses from the shadows, the audience is spared any encounters with gore. The horror is achieved by building tension and fear, much like Rosemary’s Baby would do decades later.

One of my favorite lines is when Irena gets hissed at by a kitten and laments, “Cats just don’t like me.” Same girl, same. However, one “cat” I do get along with is of the cocktail variety! While watching Cat People, I recommend drinking a Black Cat.

Black Cat

1 oz Vodka

1 oz Cherry Brandy

3 oz Cranberry Juice

3 oz Cola

Maraschino cherry (garnish)

Fill a glass with ice, and top with vodka, cherry brandy, cranberry juice, and cola. Stir well to combine, and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

If you’re looking for sexy supernatural fun this week, I’d suggest doing a double feature of Cat People and I Married a Witch, the Veronica Lake classic from the same year. Both feature strong female leads, ancient curses, and glamorous costumes, and as an added bonus, neither one is frightening enough to keep you up at night. Cheers!

Dramas

Don’t Look Now

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Image credit: Don’t Look Now, 1973

I thought I was through with being scared by Nicolas Roeg after watching Anjelica Huston peel her face off in The Witches, but it turns out, there was one more bit of nightmare fodder waiting for me. Don’t Look Now (Disc/Download) is a gorgeous, moody thriller based on the story by Daphne du Maurier, and perfect for those times when you want a dash of sexy sophistication with your horror.

Although I love the Venice of David Lean’s Summertime, Roeg’s Venice in Don’t Look Now feels much more authentic to the Venice I’ve personally encountered. This is a decaying city, full of narrow dark alleys, crumbling mosaics, and murky water. It’s also the perfect place to stage a horror film because one never knows what’s hiding in the shadows, or what you’ll find around the next corner. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie are fantastic together, playing a married couple still grieving the death of their young daughter, living in Venice while Sutherland works to restore a church. During a lunch break, they encounter a blind clairvoyant who informs them their dead daughter’s spirit is still with them. Also… danger is imminent. Roeg plays with time in a really interesting way, flashing backwards and forwards to knock the viewer off balance. You aren’t really sure where you are until the thrilling climax makes everything clear. In one second, this ghost story becomes something much more sinister.

Don’t Look Now is filled with flashes of red, usually in the form of a little girl’s raincoat. Let’s make an appropriately macabre Italian cocktail with a splash of Campari and a few grapefruit bitters. While watching Don’t Look Now, I recommend drinking this Death in Venice cocktail.

Death in Venice

½ oz Campari

3-4 dashes Grapefruit Bitters

5 oz Prosecco

Pour Campari and grapefruit bitters into a chilled flute and top with Prosecco.

This film caused a lot of controversy at the time of its release because of its very “aerobic” sex scene, a scene I actually thought was well-constructed. Roeg cuts back and forth from wild passion to the mundane task of getting dressed for a night on the town, from biting and clawing to putting on socks. This scene represents a lot of what I like about this movie—it mixes the terror of death with the everyday business of living. Maybe that makes it even scarier, for that flash of red can appear on even the most ordinary of days. Cheers!

Dramas · Uncategorized

Crimson Peak

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Crimson Peak
Image credit: Crimson Peak, 2015.

I’ll admit, I definitely watched Crimson Peak (DVD/Download) expecting a spooky Jane Eyre. While it wasn’t that, I’m still not exactly sure what it hoped to be. Gothic romance? Grisly horror? A cinematic ode to velvet? While this film is certainly beautiful, in the end I was left with the old Gertrude Stein quote rattling around in my brain- there is no there, there.

While I normally eschew horror, I gave this a shot because the visuals promised to be absolutely incredible. And, they are. From a turn-of-the-century American industrialist’s mansion, to a rotting estate in the barren English countryside, Crimson Peak is all about the production design. For me, it was love-at-first-clawfoot tub sighting.  But then there’s all the velvet. SO. MUCH. VELVET. Pants, capes, dresses, and hats in the most beautiful jewel tones. These characters stand out against their decrepit surroundings, not because they’re saying anything interesting (they’re not), but because someone has taken the time to drape and tailor their clothes to perfection. I wish there were more substance to this story of a girl falling victim to a marriage-murder plot, but there’s just not. Will I keep watching for glimpses of her puffed sleeves? Of course. Do I wish I’d just turned the sound off halfway through? Kinda, yeah.

One sinister note Crimson Peak employs is the use of the color red. From a spray of blood to a river of blood, this color saturates everything.  Time to drink a color-coordinated cocktail that references all the poisoned tea being served at Allerdale Hall.  While watching Crimson Peak, I recommend drinking a Bloody Mar-tea-ni.

Bloody Mar-tea-ni

1.5 oz Sweet Tea vodka

1.5 oz Pomegranate juice

1.5 oz Blood Orange juice

½ oz Luxardo Maraschino syrup

To prepare glass, drizzle Luxardo maraschino syrup around the inside. Set aside. Combine vodka, pomegranate juice, and blood orange juice in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled, then strain into prepared glass.

Bloody Mar-Tea-Ni

For fans of scary movies, you could do worse than Crimson Peak. There are some genuinely frightening moments when angry ghosts try to get their revenge, and a lot of suspense around the fate of the family papillon (at least for a dog-lover like me). But luckily, the acting and dialogue is so campy that I never really felt that nightmare-inducing grip of fear. Next to the dog, the only other thing I truly cared about in that house was the velvet. Please- no blood splatter on the velvet!!!!! Cheers!

Classic Films

The Invisible Man

LizLocke2 Comments

The Invisible Man
Image credit: The Invisible Man, 1933.

For my final “man” film, I’ve chosen to reach all the way back to the 1933 James Whale classic, The Invisible Man (DVD/Download). Although considered by many to be one of the best early horror films, it’s not so much scary as it is fascinating. How the hell did they make Claude Rains invisible, with no computers or digital technology??  I’m still scratching my head.

Based on the novel by H.G. Wells, Rains plays a scientist who’s injected himself with a serum that causes both invisibility and dangerous psychosis. He’s got a soft spot for Gloria Stuart (hey, old lady from Titanic!!), but even that can’t save him from the monster inside. I must say, it’s terrifically creepy when he peels the bandage off his face to reveal an empty hole where a nose should be. And the maniacal laugh as he strangles his victims will haunt my nightmares for weeks.  In the end, I’ve decided the only thing scarier than a villain is the villain you can’t see.

What does mad scientist Dr. Griffin use to become invisible you ask? Monocane. Working with some British spirits he might have had at his disposal, I’ll be putting my beakers and flasks to use this week. While watching The Invisible Man, I recommend drinking a Monocane cocktail.

Monocane

1 oz Pimms No. 1

1 oz Rye

1/2 oz Lemon Juice

3/4 oz Simple Syrup

Twist of Lemon

Mix ingredients together in your favorite scientific glassware. Pour into a tumbler over a large ice cube. Garnish with twist of lemon.

Monocane

The thing that’s great about this classic film is that it doesn’t need blood and gore to inspire terror. Just a few bandages, a disembodied voice from the backseat of a car, some floating props, and boom- instant lifelong fear of an “empty” room. Go ahead and shiver. Cheers!