Do You Dare Look into The Hypnotic Eye?

We open on a gorgeous, young blonde, dressed in a nightgown walking into frame. A bath towel is draped around her neck and she holds a bottle of shampoo. The odd thing is that she's not coming from or going to the bathroom. She stops in the middle of her apartment, pops the bottle cap and proceeds to lather her hair. A few seconds later she turns on the gas stove range. Instead of putting the kettle on for a spot of tea, she dips her head in the flame and turns herself into a human torch.

That's the first scene of 1960s The Hypnotic Eye - and brother, if that doesn't grab you by the boo-boo, I don't know what will. Written by William Read Woodfield, a professional Hollywood photographer and part-time magician/entertainer, and his wife Gitta, The Hypnotic Eye is the story of super square Detective Sergeant Steve Kennedy (Joe Partridge), his cute-as-a-button girlfriend Marcia (Marcia Henderson) and French hypnotist "The Great Desmond" (Jacques Bergerac). Kennedy's investigating a recent rash of self-mutilations performed by good-looking young women, the latest victim being Marcia's friend Dodie (Merry Andrews). In what should be glaringly obvious to our hero, the heavily-accented hypnotist and his assistant/lover Justine (Allison Hayes of Attack of the 50ft. Woman fame) are behind these terrible crimes.

In addition to being a fun horror/mystery movie, The Hypnotic Eye is also a prime example of gimmick horror. Taking a page (or stealing a page) out of the great William Castle's book, the Woodfields and director George Blair concocted "HypnoMagic" a state-of-the-art film making process in which the viewing audience would be hypnotized during the middle of the movie. During that sequence of the movie, the only thing the audience will be compelled to do is giggle. But The Hypnotic Eye is not an Ed Wood movie. In fact, with some casting changes, a script polish and little more money, this movie probably could have been a classic contender. Blair's direction is competent, the cast is game, the story is good and the effects work is downright scary and gory. Add in lots of cigarette smoking, poorly performed jazz, a doctor who sounds like he should be pitching pennies in an alley, a criminal psychologist who likes to walk around in his robe showing off his man boobs, "The King of the Beatniks" performing his howlingly awful poem "Confessions of a B-Movie Addict" and, of course, one hypnotic eye, and you've got the ingredients for the perfect midnight movie.

If you miss the days of Saturday afternoon UHF monster movie shows or were too young to experience them, pick up a copy of The Hypnotic Eye, available for the first time ever on DVD from the Warner Archives Collection.

Why Do We Love 'The Blob'?

I could be snarky and say that I love The Blob because "It creeps and leaps and glides and slides across the floor". Honesty could prevail and I could simply admit how much I love B-movies (oh boy, do I!). Still, the answer to the titular question is quite a bit more nuanced than a simple singular answer could account for. Let's examine the parts that make up the whole that is The Blob.

Filmed in 1957, The Blob was intended to be the B film in a double bill with I Married a Monster from Outer Space, but it turned out that more people were paying admission to watch a gelatinous monster absorb unfortunate townsfolk and so their roles were reversed. It had a very modest budget of $240,000 and featured a then unknown Steve McQueen, who famously took a flat payment of $2,500 dollars instead of ten percent of the film's gross. He didn't think the film was going to perform well; it made ten million dollars at the box office. It was the first movie role, in a career that would span decades for Aneta Cirsaut and the last role of a character actor who began in the silent era of cinema, Olin Howland. It's this mix of well travelled character actors and upcoming young actors that gives The Blob a great small town feel, to which many could relate and some long to return to, but which didn't feel forced. The side characters however ARE goofy and in some cases, poorly acted (I'm looking at you Mr. Fire Brigade Chief), to the absolute delight of Blob fanatics.

To complete the small town feel, Valley Forge Studios scouted filming locations in the surrounding towns. It was this masterstroke that really gives, what is otherwise a goofy monster picture, it's grounding, it's heart. In particular, The Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania has become a fixture of Blob fandom. It's been restored to it's majestic 50's kitsh and holds an annual Blob-Fest celebration, which the whole town gets in on. The Downingtown Diner, location of the climactic scene, doesn't quite look the same, but I'm told the famous basement is still much as it once was.

Still, if this were all The Blob had going for it, we'd likely not be discussing it with the same reverence. What is it about this film that so captures our attention and fond recollection? Teenagers, terrorized by a monster, who try to warn adults, who refuse to believe them. That could be applied to an incalculable number of films. Where this one is different, I feel, is in it's portrayal of both the teens and the adults. Unlike many of the "teenagers in rebellion" pictures coming out at the time, the teens in The Blob aren't "stupid rebellious". Certainly they race their hot rods, they play jokes on each other, but it's never malicious or mean spirited. The adults aren't quick to trust the teens, but some actually do listen and consider what is being said, quite unlike most other films, especially of the horror and science fiction genres. There's a feeling of playfulness between the cops and teens, rather than hate and spite, which otherwise infects the entirety of both genres now and is in fact completely expected. And the film pervades hope as well. Hope that by banding together we can save ourselves.

There's plenty of conjecture that the message of The Blob is of the dangers of Communism and defeating it with cold(what an ironic conjecture). I don't buy it. To quote Tim Curry from Clue, "Communism is just a red herring". Besides, if you started out clear, it stands to reason that you too would become more and more blood red as you absorbed squishy human-fodder.
I'll stop gushing now. The Blob is a fun flick. A really great example of 50's drive-in monster cinema. Check it out and let me know what you think. See you at Blob-Fest!

Do You Like Scary Movies? A SCREAM Retrospective

What constitutes a rip off? Same themes or genres? Maybe a similar plot device? We all know there’s no such thing as an original story. Now, don’t get sad. There hasn’t been anything original for some time. All media, literature and the like fall under just a few categories of story; Man vs. man, man vs. himself or man vs. nature. There’s no new permutation of plot and character that cannot be boiled down to one of these three categories. It’s sad when you first realize its true… but then it becomes freeing. Knowing that the story you are about to see has already been told enables the viewer to enjoy the ride and judge a piece on its merit, be it acting, writing or direction.

"Never say "who's there?" Don't you watch scary movies? It's a death wish. You might as well come out to investigate a strange noise or something." - Ghostface

Noting one of the better examples of using this reality to its advantage takes us back to 1996 and the now unjustly maligned Scream, written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. By taking the very clichés and tropes of the slasher genre and cleverly using them against the audience, the film is at once an homage, inside joke and genuine celebration of everything stab-y.

The first scene is still chilling in its raw effectiveness. What starts as a flirtatious conversation becomes harrowing for an above the title actress. The tightly scripted dialogue makes this scene so revelatory. Like a horror-geek infused Aaron Sorkin, Williamson displays his knowledge (or research of) the genre's history. His words inform the audience of where they’re about to be taken, while simultaneously relating the current events of the scene to our heroine's increasingly tense plight. Craven ratchets up that tension with his collected knowledge of what an audience expects. In less capable hands the constant popping of popcorn and startling ringing of a phone could be gimmicky.

Before a drop of blood (or in this case, entrails) is spilled, we're already on the edge of our seats, taken in by the moment. What makes this special? They told us what they were doing, while it was happening, and it still worked!

"It's the millennium, motives are incidental." - Randy

The movie doesn't stop it's frenetic pace, layering in its structure with familiar caricatures and settings. A virginal heroine, a bad boy boyfriend, the slutty best friend and so on. They're even noted as such by our inside man, the at times annoying character of Randy. Randy explains to the uninitiated what you should be looking for while also making sure the rest of us know he's in on the joke. It's novel now, but at the time, a structure that all but breaks the fourth wall was a breath of fresh air. What's even more impressive is in establishing these characters' knowledge of events, there's a false sense of security throughout much of the proceedings. That is, until the proverbial shit hits the fan. Scream is a self aware satire that succeeds at being as tense and scary as its predecessors.

"Life is like a movie. Only you can't pick your genre." - Billy

Over the last decade, the Scream franchise has become something of ridicule in many circles. Partly due to the sub-par sequels and largely due to the fact that it ushered in a sub-genre of teen slasher movies, boasting young casts and hit pop songs. Ironically, an endeavor that highlighted the genre's clichés with humor and tact ushered in so many offensive copy cats. Like a snake eating its own tale, a popular effort to elevate the genre became a feeding frenzy of shoddy, cheaply produced and poorly scripted clones. As soon as the marketing machine got a hold of it all, we were seeing entities like MTV co-finance genre films for young audiences. At that point, all hope seemed to be lost. Disturbing Behavior, anyone?

"...don't you blame the movies, movies don't create psychos, movies make psychos more creative!" - Billy

With the arrival of a third sequel, we're forced to question if this franchise has any juice left. What was once a welcome breeze has become a point of contention for what was wrong with horror in the millennium's first decade. From the influx of Japanese remakes to the plethora of Saw wannabes, for better or worse, it started in 1996. A modicum of respect is due and was hopefully restored this past weekend.

Did you see it? What did you think?

Night of the Demonic Convent Nun Killers

If you're reading this then you probably agree that the recent Night of the Demons remake was about as good an idea as that time you tried to syphon gas out of your buddy's car as a joke; there was a lot of sucking and it stunk, big time. Sure it had the always luscious Jessica Alba, but it balanced the scales by parading around a slovenly, over the hill Edward Furlong as one of the protagonists. It's even more of shame because I fondly remember watching the hell out of him in the campy 90s horror flick, Brainscan (sorry, guilty pleasure). Rather than go on about how terrible the Night of the Demons remake is, I'd rather discuss a film which I feel is the spiritual successor to the original and why it succeeds (and why you should watch it).

The Convent was released in 2000 in Spain and Germany, but was never able to secure a distributor Stateside (ironic since it was made here). I was extremely lucky to catch a rare 35mm screening of it at the now defunct Hoyt's theater, in a double bill run by the crew at Exhumed Films (Featured with Night of the Comet). Directed by Mike Mendez (directed The Gravedancers and an episode of Masters of Horror), who really recognized all of the genre tropes and executed them perfectly here.



Let's do the list:
An abandoned location where bad things happened long ago?
Yes! For Night of the Demons, that place is Hull House, a former mortuary in which the whole family was mysteriously slain by one of their own. In the case of The Convent, the "bad thing" is the most excellent Nun Combat scene yet released. I say "yet" because I've not yet seen Nude Nuns with Big Guns.

Stupid teenagers who go there for a stupid reason while drinking, screwing and doing drugs?
Yes! For Night of the Demons, Angela Franklin invites Stooge and the gang up for a spooky, alcohol fueled Halloween party. For The Convent, it's some frat goons who want to paint their letters up on the abandoned building while doing drugs and each other.

Wait, are the teens killed and possessed one by one, in awesomely grotesque fashions?
Of course! I mean, why else would we be watching?

The parallels here go beyond the standard fare, which soak the genre like so much delicious gore. Throughout The Convent, there is a gleeful celebration of the genre going on. Just as is clear with Kevin Tenney's original NOTD, there's a merry sense of "Yes, we know this is a gore filled demon movie with hot teenage victims. Yes we think this is awesome too. Now watch THIS!" It pervades both films and is, frankly, why I had so damned much fun watching them.

So now you're probably asking why you should watch The Convent, since you've already seen the original Night of the Demons dozens of times. What the hell kind of cheesy horror film fan are you? Fine, I'll indulge you.

Check this out, Adrienne Barbeau as a bitter, alcoholic, terminatrix, demon killer. Bill Mosley and Coolio in supporting roles that steal the scene they're in. Ridiculously inept, sexually confused satanists, whose bumbling just makes the situation way worse. Even better? The Convent is seventy-nine minutes, clocking in a full eleven minutes shorter than Night of the Demons. This is good news because, as you might recall, there's a point near the end of the second act where NOTD really drags, slowing down the pace of the film. So a quicker pace, genre and 90s favorites, pretentiously fake hot topic goths and oh, did I mention a whole load of teenagers get horribly slaughtered by their possessed friends? Yeah that happens too.

You can rent The Convent from Netflix or pick it up from online retailers such as Amazon. The DVD from Lionsgate has a very clean transfer and offers exotic special features such as "interactive menus" and "scene access". It's an upgraded from my VHS copy, which offered hot "fast forwarding" action, but not by much. How ever you get your mitts on it, see this movie. If you have a sense of humor, you will not regret it. And for you dedicated cine-masochists out there, the 2009 Night of the Demons remake is available to watch instantly on Netflix. Don't say that I didn't warn you.

Just a drop In Roger Corman's bucket

Midnight Cheese continues its salute to this week's birthday boy Roger Corman with a look at his 1959 social satire/fright flick A Bucket of Blood. Starring B-Movie badass Dick Miller, A Bucket of Blood is the twisted tale of Walter Paisley, busboy at the boho chic coffee house The Yellow Door. Square Walter yearns to be an artist like the beatnik poets and sculptors he serves every night. Unfortunately for Walter, he possesses no artistic skills and is mocked by the coffee house clientele on a nightly basis.

One night while trying to sculpt in vain, Walter accidentally kills his landlady's pet. Too upset with himself, Walter decides to hide the pet's body by covering it in clay. While doing so, Walter realizes that may be creating art. When he displays the corpse/statue at the coffee house the following evening,Walter's work is met with praise. Critics crown him the king of cool and demand to see more of his work. Walter decides to oblige them with my creations via the only muse he knows - murder.

Made at a time when the burgeoning beatnik scene was laying the foundation of the hippie counterculture of the sixties, Corman and screenwriter Charles B. Griffith spare no expense at skewering pretentious pop art posers and beatnik bozos. Artists who once branded Walter a tool of the establishment, begin to to heap praise upon him when they realize they can benefit from clinging to his coattails. Characters that discover the secret to Walter's "art" decide to turn a blind eye to his misdeeds once they realize they can profit from them. Add in poorly-written poems, drugged-out intellectuals and some really bad art and you've got a nifty little knock at Eisenhower-era hipsters.

In addition to satire, the Corman/Griffith team and their company of players deliver the chills, too. Walter's artwork is especially creepy and several of the murder set pieces are eerie. Miller is especially fine as Walter. During the first act of the movie, Miller wrings every drop of sympathy from the audience. We root for the mistreated busboy and are genuinely frightened for him when he commits his first accidental murder. By the end of the movie we loath Walter. Miller transforms him into a madman as well as a hipster consumed with being the art scene darling. Although Miller's acting resume is enormous, Walter Paisley is the actor's signature role. Miller and this character are so beloved by cult movie director Joe Dante that he's cast Miller in several movies as unrelated characters named Walter Paisley.

A Bucket of Blood is worth checking out if you haven't seen it. It's also a worthy addition to any B-Movie lovers DVD collection. You can still get the MGM distributed DVD from Amazon and other online retailers. It features the original trailer and a nice transfer. There are also a few public domain DVDs floating around but their quality is crap. A Bucket of Blood is also available from Netflix instant watch.

Friday Flick Pick: Who Can Kill a Child on the Island of the Damned?

A married couple venturing in from out of town. A town strangely devoid of adults. Creepy killer children out for blood. This might sound like the set up for 1984's Children of the Corn (or the 1977 short story from Stephen King from which it draws inspiration), I'd actually like to draw your attention to 1976's Who Can Kill a Child? From director Narcisco Ibanez (genre aficionados might remember him as the director of the sleazy, dirty and awesomeThe House That Screamed).

If you aren't familiar with the film already, it concerns a vacationing husband and wife to a small, picturesque island. They immediately realize something is wrong when they can't find any adults and only run across children who are acting in a most peculiar manner. The children are kill crazy and hunt and chase the couple all over the island. To exacerbate matters, Evelyn is pregnant. Now I don't mean "Yay surprise!" pregnant; I mean 20 pound bowling ball pregnant.



So why should bother with this kitsch Spanish production? I could tell you that it's beautifully shot, with cinematography that works very hard to maximize the tension using color and claustrophobia in equal measure. Or I could treat you to a study on sound as used to build terror and its excellent minimalist use here. I could also talk about the exotic location, the feeling of isolation or it's delicious grind house feel. But what really makes this film excellent is the acting of the two principals.

Tom is played by Lewis Fiander (Dr.Phibes Rises Again, Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde) who originated the John Adams role for the London stage production of 1776. He's a legitimately talented fellow, who is put through the ringer of emotions for our entertainment. His journey is our ride and it's rare in our genre to have such a well written and executed protagonist to identify with. His on screen counterpart, Evelyn, is
played by Prunella Ransom. She excellently portrays the strain of having to flee whilst very pregnant and also the sorrow of what sometimes must be done to survive. She is also the center of probably the most horrifying scene in this schlocker, which I won't ruin for you here (pregnant women and men with weak stomachs need not apply).

The denouement here is also the answer to the question posed in the film's title. Again, I won't spoil anything here, since I really do want you to check out this film. I will say that there a good number of chuckles imbedded in here as well, at least for the sicko late night horror crowd (a part of which I gleefully count myself), but you may want to fast forward through the first six minutes, which is wall to wall documentary footage of the horrors of real war on children. It felt like poor attempt to shoehorn a meaningful message into the flick. It really doesn't work.

Who Can Kill a Child? was released under several different and fun titles(check out some of the posters at the bottom):

In the U.K.
Would You Kill a Child?
Death is Child's Play (Zing!)

In the U.S.
Trapped!
Island of the Damned

The films was not treated to home video distribution until a few years ago, with the release of an excellent DVD. It's available via disc rental from Netflix or for purchase from our friends over at Diabolik DVD here.

Check it out and then let me know if you could kill a child.

Bonus! Check out some of these cool posters for the various releases:

Happy birthday Midnight Cheese and Roger Corman!

The Midnight Cheese is a new blog dedicated to the campy, corny, cheesy horror flicks of yesteryear; the likes of which were featured on USA up all Night, brought to you by vaunted horror hosts and shown at places like Exhumed Films and First Friday Fright Night. They are the VHS rentals you didn't let your mom know you had and traded copies of with your friends. We're going to remind you why they were awesome and why you should watch them again. A daunting task, I know.

It seems fitting that we launch Midnight Cheese, by wishing a happy 85th birthday to the maestro of the mundane, Roger Corman! We hope you'll join us in celebrating Roger Corman day by viewing one of the man's many campy , quickly made films. You could, for instance, watch "Little Shop of Horrors" (1960), rumored to have been shot in less than three days on bet that he couldn't do it. It features a young Jack Nicholson and is available to watch right now on Netflix instant watch.

Got a taste for the macabre? Corman collaborated with author Richard Matheson("I Am Legend" among MANY others) on adaptions of over half a dozen of Edgar Allen Poe's stories for American International Pictures in the '60s. Of those, three are available to watch right now on Netflix's instant watch: The Tomb of Ligeia, The Mask of the Red Death and Tales of Terror. While all three are excellent, turn your attention to "Tales of Terror" as it stars three horror megastars in Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone.

Looking for something a little more recent? Corman is still active and producing, most recently working on the SyFy channel originals "Sharktopus" and "Dinocroc vs Supergator"(You can likely catch these sandwiched in-between episodes of wrestling on the former Sci-Fi channel). He also recently re-teamed with Joe Dante (Piranha, The Howling, Gremlins) to co-direct a web series called "Splatter", which(you guessed it) is also available for your instant consumption via Netflix. It stars Corey Feldmen, so right there it gains a +6 to it's cheese factor. It also features genre favorite Tony Todd(Candyman, Night of the Living Dead remake). You can't loose.

All told Roger Corman has produced over 300 films and directed over 50. Just take a look at his crazy IMDB page here. Considered the king of b-movies, he's had a serious impact on the cinema scene for over 5 decades. Happy birthday Mr. Corman!

To the rest of you, raise a pint of karo syrup to Roger Corman and stay tuned for more midnight cheese