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Midnight in The Twilight Zone - The Howling Man

"The prostrate form of Mr. David Ellington - scholar, seeker of truth, and regrettably finder of truth. A man who will shortly arise from his exhaustion to confront a problem that has tormented mankind since the beginning of time. A man who knocked on a door seeking sanctuary, and found instead the outer edges of The Twilight Zone."

When pressed to name my favorite episode of The Twilight Zone, one of the first few titles that comes to my mind is The Howling Man, the series' forty-first entry. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a video of the episode free online, though it is available on DVD via Netflix and retailers on a disc entitled More Treasures of The Twilight Zone. It's an episode that sits apart from the majority of the show's tales. While most of the series' best episodes focus around battles between good and evil, right and wrong, or moral and immoral, very few did what The Howling Man did - focused their attention squarely on the pitfalls of religion.

The Howling Man begins with David Ellington, an average American man, directly urging the audience to hear his story. As he relays it, he was hiking through central Europe a few years back, "just after THE war", and came across a monastery where he sought refuge from a storm. Following a Hitchcock-esque zoom in on the monastery (probably stock footage, but it's well used stock footage!) Ellington stumbles through the door and, after inquiring about a strange howling, passes out on the floor. This leads to Serling's opening narration that is listed above.

Narrators are usually right, which means that Mr. Ellington wakes to find himself in the midst of a dilemma. He quickly finds the source of the hound-like bellow, an imprisoned man who looks like a harmless sort and who's very persuasive. His claim is that the monk in charge, Brother Jerome (played by the legendary John Carradine), is a madman who's wrongly holding him hostage for a minor offense that his religion frowns upon. But Brother Jerome has an opposing story. He claims the nice man who's locked away isn't a man...but is the Devil himself.
One of the first things that I thought of while watching this episode unravel for the first time was that iconic quote from The Usual Suspects: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist." The catch of Charles Beaumont's story here is exactly what that movie was considering - the rise of skepticism in modern culture. When Jerome begins to rave about the problems of the world and the effects that man in the cage has had on the world, we understand completely why Mr. Ellington would doubt his main point. That point - that the man in the cage, devil or not, is dangerous - is lost in the details of the story that Ellington simply can't fit into his world view.

I know a lot of people who have trouble with the concept of religion today, a whopping FIFTY years after this episode first aired, and the reasoning is often the same. There are many who approach people they want to "convert" with fanatical rantings and statements of certainty that they truly believe in, but they offer little understanding of what the person they're preaching to is willing to hear. David Ellington, like so many people today, is simply unsure he can believe these statements - which leads him to act against them in fear of his world changing if Brother Jerome is correct.
I won't say who's right or wrong in The Howling Man's conflict of interests, as that's something I hope you'll find out. But it's not a spoiler to say that the final scene of the episode accurately predicts a trend in society that continued after the war that was alluded to in the episode's opening and has continued in the decades since. Humanity, in total, has done a poor job of keeping the things that could be a danger locked away. Until we find a way to do so, we'll continue to go in circles. And while we're trying to figure out who's right and who's wrong, the deadly tools at our disposal will only lead to further conflicts.

Though it's dated and a bit cheesy, The Howling Man is a story about the views of our world today as much as it's a story about that central European monastery. And that is more than enough to make me see it as one of the definite treasures of The Twilight Zone.

THE BLOB WAS ON THE OSCARS!!!!!!!!

I am fulfilled.

(Hopefully there'll be a better video soon.)

(And just so this post isn't a total waste, here's what I had to say a while ago about why The Blob matters!)

Midnight Top Five - Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack The Ripper Special Edition!

With Black Women in Horror History month closed at FMWL, I was having trouble coming up with a theme for the upcoming month. Luckily, an email from the folks over at Dreamcatcher Interactive brought to my attention an upcoming XBox 360 game that mixes two of my most curious interests - Sherlock Homes vs. Jack the Ripper. Thus, I quickly decided to proclaim it Midnight Mystery March at FMWL, and figured I'd start the proceedings by looking at some of my favorite films featuring the fictional detective and the real-life slasher.Murder By Decree (1979, Bob Clark) - When the idea of Holmes and the Ripper together pops up, this is the place to start. Five years removed from the iconic slasher Black Christmas, Clark made this fascinating tale of Holmes and Watson (played by Christopher Plummer and James Freakin' Mason!) taking on the Ripper case. It's a movie that's a little longer than it needs to be, but it features a dynamite cast and provides an interesting take on what could have been if fiction met reality.Anything with Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson - A lot of people are down on these flicks, produced between 1939-1946, for being a far cry from Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. Plus, if you think the Saw series is bad, you should know that there were a whopping FOURTEEN of these movies made in that seven year span. But I just love the dynamic between Rathbone and Bruce, and anything with Bruce, really. When I think of Watson, it's impossible to not picture him and smile.Time After Time (1979, Nicholas Meyer) - What if, instead of Holmes, the person pursuing the Ripper was H.G. Wells, of Time Machine fame, and the setting was San Francisco, 1979. That's the question posed by this one, in which David Warner's Ripper is chased through time by Malcolm McDowell's Wells. It's one of my favorite films, thanks to the charming script and its original concept - which exceeds any expectations.Jack The Ripper (1988, David Wickes) - I remember watching this TV miniseries when I was just a little tyke, and was entranced by not only the mystery of whether or not Michael Caine ends up finding Jack the Ripper, but also by some memorable scenes featuring an impressive portrayal of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Armand Assante. Looking back now, it's still an impressive TV achievement.The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975, Gene Wilder) - Fresh off of one of my five favorite films, Young Frankenstein, Wilder teamed up again with Marty Feldman to make this spoof of the Holmes character. It's not entirely successful, sadly, but the chance to see Wilder and Feldman battle the diabolical Moriarty (Leo McKern of The Omen!) is too cool for me to pass up.

There are too many honorable mentions I could list, so look for more Holmes and Ripper coverage over the rest of the month, plus a few looks at some other classic and modern mysteries that make The Mike smile and wonder. And, if you're interested in the video game that inspired me to run this series, check out the link on the sidebar or click here. Thanks to the folks at DreamCatcher Interactive for partnering with From Midnight, With Love for a sleuth-filled month of mayhem!

Midnight Movie of the Week #9 - Killer Klowns From Outer Space

Despite the fact I grew up watching the now nonexistent Clownhouse on a weekly basis, my first experience with Killer Klowns from Outer Space occurred on Christmas Eve 2001. I received the DVD as a gift from my father that night, making it one of the first few horror films to land in my collection, and assumed a love affair was about to begin. Unfortunately, it didn't work out right away. The movie surely entertained me, but the goofy actors and the PG-13 status of the flick rubbed me the wrong way. When looking up info for this review on IMDB, I even found that I had scored the movie 2 stars out of 10 back then. Luckily, it turns out my younger self was kind of an idiot.

Over the years I've looked back at that Midnite Movies DVD from MGM repeatedly, and each time I have more fun with the film. And when Rhonny Reaper from Dollar Bin Horror recommended it as a potential Midnight Movie of the Week during my recent contest, I needed no other excuse to give that beloved disc another spin. Now that I'm a little wiser and a lot more cinematically open-minded, I recognize that Killer Klowns from Outer Space is essentially a remake of The Blob, without a blob. (Which is kinda what Rob Zombie proposed, only he's a foolish director.)
The story, if you really can't guess, follows a few teens (aged 26-29) who see an object fall from the sky and assume it's something worth finding. Of course, a farmer who probably didn't have much schooling and his dog (played by veteran character actor Royal Dano and a dog) stumble upon the crash site first, and are quickly spun into cotton candy by intergalactic circus folk. It's kinda like that play about racism called Spinning Into Butter, only with cotton candy and klowns instead of butter and racism. (Oh, and with an entirely different plot.)

From there on the Blob formula continues, as the unteen-teens find the site and discover the evil on the loose and try to get help from cops that are either old and obtuse or young and helpful. As they get involved in their youthful game of "Can We Trust Those Rascal Teens?", the Klowns run around town disposing of people in random hilarious ways. Most memorable are the "biker gang boxing" scene and the "hand puppets of death" scene, but my personal favorite is the "see-through lingerie babe unimpressed by pizza delivery" scene. And there are also some creepy moments for clownophobes, particularly a great scene with a little girl in a burger joint who may be convinced to come play with a klown she thinks is a clown.If you're wondering what the difference between klowns and clowns is, I think it's that klowns a) come from outer space in a meteor/circus tent; b) are kinda bulbous, looking more like the lovechild of Charles Barkley and Jabba the Hut than any normal clown; and c) aren't so creepy as clowns are.

Aside from the klowns' kooky kills, the highlight of Killer Klowns from Outer Space is John "Dean Wormer" Vernon, of Animal House and "Double Secret Probation" fame, as the consistently irritated Officer Mooney, who has a Dirty Harry attitude that's only matched by his inability to consider anything said by people younger than 30 (or maybe 40 in real years) as less than complete lunacy. It's a great "those damn kids!" role for any actor, but Vernon really hams it up wonderfully. (Especially considering the fact no one else in the movie could act their way out of an episode of The Facts of Life.)
Like I recognized years ago, Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a movie that's no cinematic treasure from a technical standpoint. But with everything from the practical effects to the silly plot to the awesome musical score, it's clear that the Chiodo Brothers had a ton of fun making this movie. Looking back, I know now that if a filmmaker can succeed at having fun and at the same time produce something as memorable and goofy as Killer Klowns from Outer Space, that's a film I'm gonna keep coming back to, and that's a movie that should be a Midnight Movie of the Week.

(One last thing: Next time you watch this one, try to figure out how long Debbie spends in the shower. I'm thinking it's at least three hours.)

I'm a Mr. Horror Blogospherer!

Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the blog.

And thus, I'm up for Mr. Horror Blogosphere, a friendly pimping competition run by Chuck over at Zombies DON'T Run, who's a master of getting others in the blog community involved. You can read an interview with myself at said site, in which I talk about my horror preferences way more than my female preferences (Sorry ladies, but you know I love you) and relay how my parents made me awesome.

How do you read said article, you ask? Click the image below!
And if that's not cool enough, read one of my reviews or lists. They're OK too, sometimes.

While She Was Out - The Perils of Gender Roles in Horror

2008, Dir. by Susan Montford.

There's something about a film like While She Was Out that instantly appeals to me as a horror fan. A housewife-trying-to-survive-immoral-punks flick like this is designed to capture one of the things I adore about horror movies in its purest form. That which I desire, fair citizens, is a simple thing - the chance to see women given the kind of brutal power that cinema normally reserves for large males. But there's a moment I look for in a film like this, the kind of moment where the balance of power shifts and the whole film gets knocked off its axis. And, despite extremely competent work from all who're involved, I never found that moment in this film.

I guess I need to look at my expectations for 1) a film that had nary a theatrical release and little fanfare when it hit disc; and 2) the woman-in-peril-who-fights-back film. For starters, there's the movie itself. Written and directed by first-timer Susan Montford, whose only Hollywood experience before this film was a producer credit on the machismo-fest Shoot 'Em Up, it's a more than capable film visually, and the idea behind the story is a nice variation on a timeless tale. The acting, led by Kim Basinger as the Red Riding Hood character and Lukas Haas as the not-so-big-or-wolfy Bad Wolf is also sufficient - no one's going home with a statue for this one, but the cast doesn't take away from the film's effectiveness. The biggest problem with the film from a technical standpoint is that it seems to meander a little - dragging its feet from scene to scene with little emotional punch. The film never really seemed focused on what its characters were doing, with Basinger's lead doing something brave and/or violent, then degenerating back to the point of being a sniffling mess.

But is my problem with the film's portrayal of its lead, or is my expectation of what the lead should be like the problem. In the male-centric classrooms of cinema, we're taught that the way to survive is to get bold, to to shed your fears, to "cowboy up". But am I doing the women involved an injustice by hoping for them to show these male traits? Is it less impressive for a woman to survive an ordeal if she doesn't throw out a few one-liners or stand with her legs at shoulder-width while the camera frames her from the knees up?

When I look at a film like this, I want to see the female lead make a stand and buck the stereotypes that we've been force-fed for as long as cameras have been rolling. But what I came to consider while watching While She Was Out is that I'm also hoping for them to step into another stereotype that has been overused. In hoping for the empowered female takeover, I may have come to expect something that fulfills my expectations more than it fulfills their needs.

Sure, we all want to see Ms. Bruce Willis with a bow on her head and screaming a variation of yippe-kai-yay, but that doesn't mean it's the best example of what a woman in peril situation would or should look like on film. In the case of While She Was Out I'm not sure it matters - the film never establishes itself as a special survival flick regardless of gender - but I'm grateful that the film got me thinking about gender roles in cinema and the perceptions that viewers like myself bring to the table when viewing these films. Women deserve to be given a strong voice in horror, and films like While She Was Out are the instruments that can make that goal a reality.

State of the Midnight Address: Vol. 1 - Quick Thoughts from The Mike

As a new month begins, I'm again reevaluating where I'm at in blogging. The first two months of 2010 have been really exciting for me and the blog, and I thought I'd take some time to send an update from my underground lair, so you all can know what to expect as the blog rolls forward.

• For starters, a gigantic THANK YOU to everyone who's been hitting the blog in February. Between the Bloody-Disgusting contest, the three new theatrical horrors I've been able to review, and the slew of cool bloggers I've come to know through their sites, Twitter, and Facebook, it has been an extremely rewarding month for me. It was around this time last year that I grew tired of my first attempt at running the blog, and I think it's safe to say that I'm having a lot more fun this time around. But I couldn't do what I'm doing without everyone that's been providing me inspiration and ideas, so all of you deserve a bit of thanks.

• That said, the discussion board on From Midnight, With Love's Facebook page is open, and waiting for any suggestions you all have for the site. Also, you can always email me at frommidnightwithlove@gmail.com if you have suggestions. I'm aware that I can get a little obscure at times, and I'm working on that, but I hope you've enjoyed reading about some of the movies I've tried to bring light to.

• I haven't mentioned it here yet, but I did recently make the Blu-Ray upgrade - a gigantic step for someone who's dropped a small fortune into the DVD market. My first purchase was, of course, my favorite horror film - Halloween (anyone who mentions Rob Zombie so gets e-punched) - and last night I got in my first real horror viewing on the Blu with Dario Argento's The Bird With Crystal Plumage. If you haven't seen Argento in Blu, I do recommend it so. (Of course, if you haven't seen Argento on DVD, try that too.) But seriously, click that image below to see what Blu can do for you.

• Going along with the above, excpect a few posts on Italian Horror in March. No real reason, except that I just pulled in a ton of titles from the likes of Argento, Bava, Fulci, and more and am looking to give that movement a closer inspection. You've been warned.

• As for the future of FMWL in other terms, look for the Midnight Movie of the Week posts to continue, and I hope to put together a few more Twilight Zone posts and Midnight Top Fives in the near future. I've been hoping to do another "Why Midnight Movies Matter" essay soon, but have yet to come up with something that grabs my attention. Also, look out for a couple of features on The Mike to potentially pop up on some other blogs soon, and of course for the reviews you've come to expect.

That's about all I've got for the evening, but I wanted to let everyone know how grateful I am for their support, and that I can't wait to see where we go from here. Here's to many more midnight viewings of justice!

Black Women in Horror History Month - Week 4 - I'm Calling You Out, Hollywood!

When February started, I set out to do something different and focus on Black Women in Horror History to shake things up and cover both of the groups being recognized this month in one fell swoop. I consider myself to have a fairly thorough knowledge of horror movies, and didn't think this would be an issue. But, like that 64 oz. fountain soda from the gas station or completing the filmography of Stuart Gordon (Castle Freak? Robot Jox? Really, man?), that turned out to be a bad idea. Unfortunately, I was more likely to find a copy of Bacon Busters magazine than a slew of strong black women in horror films.Don't get me wrong, there are a few black women in horror films I could have mentioned. Naomie Harris in 28 Days Later... was an obvious pick, but I wasn't comfortable calling that a historical entry when my first post on Jada Pinkett/Demon Knight covered the same things I would say about her performance. I considered a few more recent performances, like Halle Berry in Gothika or Aaliyah in Queen of the Damned, and maybe there was something to say about their performances - except the films are both pretty awful. There are other '70s blaxplotation horrors like Blackenstein or more stylish films like The House on Skull Mountain, but none really seemed to focus their attention on creating memorable female characters. I even grasped at last week's Midnight Movie of the Week, Dead of Night, looking at the lounge singer played by Elisabeth Welch who appears in the film's final segment, but that was a bit part only notable for being the earliest appearance of a black woman in a horror film (an English horror film, to be fair).

When I tried scouring the internet for more ideas, the first google result for Black Women in Horror was....my own blog. The next best thing I could find was a post from over at Pretty-Scary, which confirmed what I was thinking...between 1930-1960, when cinema was at its classic peak, there were a couple of opportunities for black women to play voodoo priestesses...and not much else.

Worse, after the blaxploitation craze of the 1970s, the slasher-driven '80s didn't provide much for black women in horror either. Really, would it have been that hard for one commercial slasher to put an African American actress in a survivor girl role? Was American Cinema so caught up in stereotypes that they couldn't pull it off? Apparently, the answer is yes.

The 1990s and 2000s have been at least offering more chances for the likes of Pinkett, Berry, and Harris as leads, but there are still awful characters like Kelly Rowand's in Freddy vs. Jason that enforce the race and gender stereotypes that are too prevalent in society. The recent remakes of Friday the 13th, Halloween, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre have, like their predecessors, maintained an all-vanilla flavor with their female characters, also.

Hollywood has sent a message, and it seems independent filmmakers have followed it. With the exception of "Hood" based horrors that go DTV, black women aren't getting chances in horror. I hope that I'm wrong, that I'm simply too stuck in the middle of Iowa to see the good stuff that's out there, but the fact that so many horrors are being produced and almost all of them are continuing to ignore the abilities of black women is terrifying and insulting.

Here's to hope that we can see progress in horror over the upcoming years. There are a lot of fine black actresses working today, and I'm sure there are plenty more that are fighting for their chance too. The ball's in your court, Hollywood. Break the stereotypes, and we can open a new chapter in horror history. I'm certain that there are a lot of women out there that won't let you down.

Congratulations to our Giveaway Winner....

Chosen by the folks over at Random Line Picker, and the new owner of DVD copies of two fantastic horror movies about horror movies: Popcorn and Targets!That winner is.....Cory from Cory's Crappy Cinema!

Thanks to everyone who participated, expect to see some of your suggestions showing up as Midnight Movies of the Week in the future! In the meantime, here's too more fun stuff at From Midnight, With Love, and to Cory and his incoming goodies!

(And, as a cheap plug, if you want to read my ramblings on either of these movies, click on these links.)

And, as a gift to everyone else reading....here's a picture of a baby gorilla.

The Crazies (2010) - A Small Town Iowan Perspective

Overture Films' remake of The Crazies, out this weekend in theaters and starring two of my favorite people working (Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell), is set in a fictional small Iowa town called Ogden Marsh. The town used for much of the film, Lenox, has a recorded population of 1401 people, though the fictional town is listed in the film as having 1360 people. Somewhere, 41 God-fearing Iowans are pissed off. (As a random aside, there is actually an Ogden, Iowa - which is located about 120 miles from where the fictional Ogden Marsh would be and about 110 miles in a different direction from Lenox.)

Though I don't often pimp it, I was born and raised in a similarly sized Iowa town, whose last recorded population was 1349 people - a few less than The Crazies' Ogden Marsh. Thus, it was incredibly difficult for me to watch Breck Eisner's film without considering how realistic the setting was, and if the population could be as easily controlled. Don't worry, no major spoilers here.

For starters, I want to look at the image of the town that's presented. The images of main street Iowa are very well-captured, which is good when you consider that it was filmed on an Iowa town's main street. However, the rest of the film shows only homes that are in secluded rural settings. That's fine to an extent, I lived most of my youth in two rural homes that were about 7 miles outside of the "city limits", but it seems to me there would be someone involved with the plot who lives within the town itself. A town of that population would be somewhere around 1-2 square miles in size, and it would have made more sense to me if we had seen more of the town and the impact on it outside of the main street setting.

In line with that thought I'm not sure how, even in that small of a town, the military could quietly sneak in the middle of the night, round up everyone, and put together a containment zone at the local school and NOT have anyone notice. The containment area is shown to be near the school's football field and overhead shots again make it seem to be a rural area, which isn't unlikely. But even if we're able to get past them getting everything set up without anyone noticing, how on Earth could they get everyone together so easily? Sure, we aren't party animals, but 1360 people spread between the town and rural areas would take a bit of effort and the film's jumping to this neatly wrapped up point seems a bit silly.

The safe haven available to the folks of Ogden Marsh is Cedar Rapids, Iowa's second largest city, and the movie makes it seem that the city is within 30-40 miles of town. If this were the case, like was the case with my small town and the neighboring "cities" a large portion of Ogden Marsh's population would work in Cedar Rapids or whatever towns are in the area. The area around Cedar Rapids is full of small towns, each ranging from 5-10 miles from another. So the film's view of Iowa's distance between cities is also a little off.

Lastly, there's the marsh portion of the film, which was obviously NOT filmed in Iowa (according to Wikipedia, that and other portions of the film were made in Georgia). That kind of marsh existing in this state would be akin to a film about Australia that shows off the polar ice caps. Obviously, this is necessary for the film's plot to happen, but it's just really ridiculous.

Oh, the film you ask? It's watchable. Suspension of disbelief took care of most of the above issues for me, even though I was hyper focused on the details, but it was more difficult to deal with some of the plot's moves. The final act is particularly full of gimmicky twists and turns and action set pieces that seem (and probably were, considering the reshoots the film underwent) tacked on. Olyphant and Mitchell are fine leads, and relative unknown Joe Anderson gives a marvelous supporting performance as the deputy to Olyphant's sheriff. The film's got beautiful visuals and some excellent gore, but never seems to overcome how contrived it really is.

George Romero's original The Crazies is one of my least favorite films of his (it's definitely not as bad as the likes of Bruiser, but it's far below the first two Dead films and Martin), so I wasn't going into this one with malicious intent. And on the whole, I think I liked what this bunch of Crazies had to offer as popcorn entertainment. Just don't go into it looking for a deep psychological terror - or for an entirely accurate portrayal of small town Iowa. (I mean, more of us than just the sheriff have cell phones and internet. We'd notice when you shut us down.)

Oh, the end credits sequence from Cedar Rapids news station KCRG - features Cedar Rapids actual news broadcast. Congrats to them on making the big screen!

(P.S. - It's interesting to note that the act of setting the infected area in eastern Iowa allows the film to make reference to fans of the Iowa Hawkeyes' football team - as crazies! GO STATE!)

Midnight Movie of the Week #8 - Dead of Night

When listing my favorite horror movies of all-time, the least known title I usually bring up is 1945's Dead of Night - which is to me the ultimate in horror anthology flicks. A production of England's famed Ealing Studios (a favorite of my Masha!) that's pieced together by a whopping FOUR directors (Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer; if you're counting), it's the rare anthology that is seamlessly linked by a central story.

Our story starts with a man named Walter Craig (Mervyn Johns) who arrives at a country estate for a job and is instantly struck with fear. The setting and its people are already common to him...because he's seen them in a terrible dream. When he attempts to relay his concern to the guests, led by a doctor of psychology who's entirely skeptical, each of the guests start to relay their own dreadful experiences of deja vu. Whether it's the race car driver who foresees an ominous hearse and its memorable driver or the young girl who meets a phantom boy at a Christmas party, each character has a piece of Walter's puzzle. And as his dream's warnings begin to mesh with reality, the stories escalate to a twisted ending.Each segment of the film has a distinct feel from the others, but they're arranged to build suspense well. There's a crescendo throughout the first three stories and the scenes that connect them, leading to my favorite bits in the final reels. Most well placed is the comedic ghost tale "Golfing Story" from Crichton, which is adapted from H.G. Wells. It stars the comedic duo of Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne, who'd been first paired by Alfred Hitchcock in The Lady Vanishes, and their legendary rapport works well in lightening the mood for both the audience and the characters.

But calm never lasts in a film called Dead of Night, and the final act rises to the unforgettable "Ventriloquist's Dummy" segment, starring Michael Redgrave as a young ventriloquist who seems to have trouble controlling his wooden pal Hugo. Ventriloquist tales are a common terror in horror fiction, but Cavalcanti's work here does a great job of providing some of the iconic imagery that goes with that inherent fear. Redgrave is also fantastic at what he does here, particularly his voice work.

The most impressive aspect of Dead of Night is its connecting narrative. While many anthologies that would follow later, like Amicus' Tales from the Crypt or Romero's Creepshow, would only briefly focus on the characters outside each segment, this film gives us a story that's both ties the segments together and enhances the psychological aspects of the terror. Though each piece of the film is shown to be like a bad dream - with no consequence to the central character in their real life - the narrative brings fear into reality and makes the viewer question the line between our dreams and our lives.Thus I present Dead of Night as this week's Midnight Movie of the Week. If you're a fan of classic horror tales, you can't find many with the haunting imagery and psychological depth of this one.

Reminder - FMWL's First DVD Giveaway is open NOW!

(Reposting this to remind you all you can participate to win TWO fantastic out-of-print movies on DVD! Just follow the steps below!)

BUT WAIT, there's more. Amidst the terror in the aisles, I came across a copy of recent Midnight Movie of the Week selection Popcorn! Now, I know what you're thinking....Hey The Mike, you already have that movie. What gives? Well, here's what gives. I spent 20+ bucks on a copy of this out-of-print slasher lately, and the lowest priced copy on Amazon these days is over $40. I am damn sure not letting some ungrateful fella of this town steal up a copy for $4.
As the fine folks of Alcoholics Anonymous say, we keep what we have by giving it away. Thus, I offer up From Midnight, With Love's First DVD Giveaway!

Here's what's going down: One lucky reader will have the chance to win a DVD copy of Popcorn (it's a former rental, of course, but the disc looks to be in really good shape, and I'll be sure to check it before sending it away) PLUS one bonus Midnight DVD chosen by The Mike! What do you need to do to win? Just complete the two steps below:

1) Click Follow on the side of the page to become a follower of From Midnight, With Love (if you haven't already). Or, you can become a fan of FMWL on facebook, if that's more you're style.
2) Post in the comments below suggesting a movie (or more than one) that you'd like to see featured as Midnight Movie of the Week on FMWL. Also, include an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner!

The winner be chosen randomly one week from today, February 28, at high noon CST. (I always wanted to schedule something for high noon. Mission complete.)

As always, thanks to all my readers, and here's to a lot of new horrors that'll probably be featured on FMWL in the future!

(And if you commented on the last one, don't worry, you're still in the contest!)

Midnight Top 5 - Robots That Are Cool As A Cucumber

Robots get a bad rap. Whether it's the T-800 and ups from the Terminator series or 2001: A Space Odyssey's HAL-9000, they're often the aggressors to some pretty noble dudes and dudettes. But somewhere aside from the metal terrors of films like Hardware and Runaway (I LOVE ME SOME RUNAWAY!), there are some robots who the ladies might say are pretty fly. With no further ado, I look at my Top 5.
Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still - If you have to ask which version of this movie I'm talking about, quit reading my blog and go watch the 1951 classic. Then, be quiet. Anyway, if robots were professional wrestlers, Gort would be the late-WCW superstar Goldberg - because when he shows up, he shuts EVERYTHING down. The unstoppable Gort is quite a menacing presence, but we know he's on the side of good and only steps into action when the noble Klaatu is at risk. If that doesn't Barada your Nikto, check your pulse.Robby the Robot from Forbidden Planet - Look at that sly devil! If it can please Anne Francis, it's good enough for me. Plus Robby's got a ton of fantastic features and, like Gort, is only volatile when the situation requires it. And then there's the alcohol production thing, which isn't my style, but which many enjoy responsibly. Kudos to you, Roberto Roboto.
R2-D2 from the Star Wars trilogy (What do you mean "prequels"?) - Yes, this is too easy. But do you think you could put up with C-3PO for three movies? Yeah, I couldn't either. Plus he can always use the pickup line "Is that a holographic Princess Leia in my pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" 60% of the time, it works every time.XG-7000 from Robot Repair, et al. (via Saturday Night Live) - OK, this one definitely has trouble staying cool. If you haven't seen the skit, it's the undeniably awesome Phil Hartman who plays the robotic star of "Robot Repair", a mistitled show in which he repairs everyday items - not robots. Like I said, he loses his cool as his producers continue to change the show's misleading title with disastrous results (my favorite is Let's Repair, Robots), but who hasn't wanted to kill the producers of a wronged TV show at some point? That's very cool.GERTY from Moon - Voiced by Kevin Spacey, GERTY is one of the most shockingly cool robots of our time. Unlike the HAL-9000 types he resembles, GERTY really shows a care for Sam, his human companion, up to the point of making sacrifices on behalf of him. Plus, if you can find the DVD Easter Egg, he's a heckuva ping pong player!

Got some icy cool robos you love? Hit up the comments!

Shutter Island

2010, Dir. by Martin Scorsese.

I debated with myself thoroughly as to whether or not I should post a review of Shutter Island here. A 140 minute film from Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese that features a list of major Hollywood stars (I count six former Oscar nominees in the cast) generally isn't a Midnight or Cult movie. In the end, I decided I would feature the film because of a) its horror movie stylings (though I'd argue that the film is not, in fact, a horror movie) and b) the fact that it's really, really, ridiculously good.

From the moment Shutter Island begins, we are certain that something's rotten in the state of Denmark. As our lead character, a U.S. Marshall played by Leonardo Dicaprio, and his partner (Mark Ruffalo) descend upon the mysterious titular island, where an asylum for the criminally insane is housed. As the musical score hammers down on the deep end of the scale, we're informed of the rocky cliffs that surround the estate, and the next conversation informs us of the layout, complete with an old civil war fort and an abandoned lighthouse. By the time the marshalls get inside and a storm begins to brew outside, it's pretty clear that some sort of deadly game has been set.

That game is one of cat and mouse, but which is the cat and which is the mouse? As we learn more about the doctors in charge of the island, played by veteran heavyweights Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow (who I believe has possibly had the greatest career of any actor ever), we're not sure who's leading who in the investigation of a missing patient who "vanished through the walls". And as the Marshall digs deeper into the crevices of the island, encountering a string of unique characters who each have a different piece of the puzzle, things become more and more muddled.

Expertly crafted by Scorsese, Shutter Island is a thriller that is among the most engrossing I've ever seen. Once that mood of ominous dread is set in the opening moments, the film never relents. Dicaprio dives into the role of investigator with vigor, and the cast around him does a fantastic job of adding to his character's mental quandary. Most effective are Jackie Earle Haley as a dangerous inmate, Emily Mortimer as the missing girl, and Ted Levine (aka Buffalo Bill!) as the Warden, each of whom provide an assist in key scenes.

Among the mystery of Shutter Island are several haunting dream sequences, in which Dicaprio encounters his late wife (played by Michelle Williams), who was killed in an accident years earlier. These sequences are filmed beautifully by Scorsese and director of photography Robert Richardson, featuring a rich color palette and some wonderful visual effects. These dreams also play off of the lead's past traumas with his wife's passing and his WWII service, and provide a lot of food for mental thought. As the movie unfolds in the final reels, it gets a little tongue-tied yet still manages to leave a few loose ends that leave the viewer wondering. While things seem to come to an implausible ending, the psychological ramifications of the film seem all too real.

In fact, I think Shutter Island is strongest when it's considering the pulse of society in the post-WWII years. Dicaprio's character is not only a war veteran, but one of the soldiers who encountered a German concentration camp, and the horrors of what he saw are relayed vividly during the film. Other characters discuss their fears of the changing world, including everything from television boxes in which people appear and talk at you to hydrogen bombs that can destroy entire cities and the cold war. Meanwhile, the doctors speak of the changing culture of psychotherapy and how even these renowned doctors don't agree on how to proceed with the new breed of violent psychotic. The story, from author Dennis Lehane and screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis, seems to place all of society's uncertainty regarding the new world into Dicaprio's character and the asylum's doctors - and they carry the weight of the world into the film with vigor.

As Shutter Island wraps up with an ambiguous final line and a suggestive lingering shot, the film's intrigue is still thick as can be. It's perhaps the most psychologically enthralling story I've seen since Hitchcock's Vertigo or Kubrick's The Shining, and a triumphant achievement by all involved. I can't wait to check out Shutter Island again and try to piece together more of the film's mysteries, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a chilling piece of drama as a must-see cinema event.

Midnight & Cult DVD Christmas! (Plus, FMWL's First Reader Giveaway!)

OK, we all know that Netflix and Redbox are killing the video industry as we know it. It makes me sick, and it's awful. As a former video store employee, I don't believe there's any way that perusing a touch screen or computer screen or gaming console can ever replace the cinephile experience of wandering the aisles of a wall-to-wall hall of cinematic goodness, reading quotes on boxes and trying to make sense out of those little blurbs on the back that always seem to tell too much or not enough.

That said, when I heard that our local Hollywood Video store was going down for the count, I set my sights on capitalizing upon its doom. Once my horror-deficient cohort Jason from Box Office Boredom told me that there "was nothing left but crap" in the store, I screamed yahtzee. Sure enough, when I got to the store every section had been picked over (seriously, the best flick in the Sci-Fi section was Mars Needs Women, and if you thought I didn't already own that you're balls-faced crazy.) - except the delectable horror section. It was indeed ON.

Thus, I present the following DVDs, each of which I acquired for the meager price of 3.99 American dollars. If you're my mother, you should probably avert your eyes now. (Love you Masha!)First up we've got the Amicus produced And Now The Screaming Starts!, an anthology film that's been on my wishlist for a long time. It stars no less than the great Peter Cushing and the gorgeous Stephanie Beacham, so it was a must. It's followed up by David Lee Fisher's 2006 "remix" of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which I've been told is a nice companion piece to the silent masterpiece. Then there's what might be the most exciting find of the bunch Jacques Tourneur's Curse/Night of The Demon, one of the most revered classic horrors I'd yet to see.

The second bunch has Lucio Fulci's controversial Don't Torture a Duckling, which I've heard I may hate but decided to take a risk on as a fan of Zombi 2. Then we've got Spanish legend Paul Naschy starring in Exorcismo, no doubt a ripoff of The Exorcist that's sure to be full of ham. And last, another controversial film, Larry Cohen's God Told Me To, which I'm told is one of the most brutal movies out there.

Next up we've got the Italian legend Mario Bava with Hatchet for the Honeymoon, Ida Lupino's classic noir The Hitch-Hiker (restored by Kino, always a great sign), and the movie I'm most excited to finally see - Hammer Films' Horror of Frankenstein. I've had this out-of-print Franky tale on my wishlist for a long time, and finding it for one-tenth of the Amazon used price makes me squee. Last up are two more OOP titles - Paul Bartel's sicko comedy Private Parts and the hospital based slasher Visiting Hours, which I've always wanted to see so I'd know what a William Shatner/Michael Ironside horror film would look like.

BUT WAIT, there's more. Amidst the terror in the aisles, I came across a copy of recent Midnight Movie of the Week selection Popcorn! Now, I know what you're thinking....Hey The Mike, you already have that movie. What gives? Well, here's what gives. I spent 20+ bucks on a copy of this out-of-print slasher lately, and the lowest priced copy on Amazon these days is over $40. I am damn sure not letting some ungrateful fella of this town steal up a copy for $4.
As the fine folks of Alcoholics Anonymous say, we keep what we have by giving it away. Thus, I offer up From Midnight, With Love's First DVD Giveaway!

Here's what's going down: One lucky reader will have the chance to win a DVD copy of Popcorn (it's a former rental, of course, but the disc looks to be in really good shape, and I'll be sure to check it before sending it away) PLUS one bonus Midnight DVD chosen by The Mike! What do you need to do to win? Just complete the two steps below:

1) Click Follow on the side of the page to become a follower of From Midnight, With Love (if you haven't already). Or, you can become a fan of FMWL on facebook, if that's more you're style.
2) Post in the comments below suggesting a movie (or more than one) that you'd like to see featured as Midnight Movie of the Week on FMWL. Also, include an email address so I can contact you if you're the winner!

The winner be chosen randomly one week from today, February 28, at high noon CST. (I always wanted to schedule something for high noon. Mission complete.)

As always, thanks to all my readers, and here's to a lot of new horrors that'll probably be featured on FMWL in the future!

Midnight Movie of the Week #7 - The Omen

One of the first old-school horror movies I encountered in my teen years was The Omen, a recommendation from my Aunt Kelly who knew that my sister and I were always searching for more "scary" movies. Around that time the film was nearing its 20th anniversary, which wasn't a big deal to me - I'd spent my grade school years watching black-and-white horrors and had already declared the (then) 40-year-old thriller Rear Window to be perhaps my favorite movie (it still is). The film struck me as fresh, original, and engaging despite its age (and the age of its star, Gregory Peck, in one of his final leading roles), and I'm glad to say that it still holds that power today.

Billed as the third film in "The Unholy Trilogy" (alongside Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist) by horror buffs, The Omen introduces us to Robert Thorn (Peck) on a morning in which he's rushing to the hospital as his wife is giving birth. As he arrives he's informed that the child has passed, but that there's a special prize behind Door #2 - a newborn boy whose mother has died and can be theirs for the taking. I'm assuming Thorn didn't want to disappoint his younger wife Kathy (Lee Remick), as he chose the latter and we're then introduced to their new son, Damien.

The gift of montage moves us ahead five years, and we find that Robert is moving up in the world of politics. Damien, aside from an incident of wandering off alone and a friendship with big scary dogs, seems to be growing up to be a normal young boy. That is, until his fifth birthday party when his nanny makes a grand proclamation - "It's all for you Damien." - right before hanging herself in front of the entire party.

From that point forward, things go differently. A new nanny, Mrs. Baylock, arrives unannounced, and seems to hit it off with Damien from the start - even predicting that Damien probably won't enjoy a trip to church. Kathy begins to notice strange behaviors from Damien that are designed to torment her, as well as a few scary occurrences like a trip to the zoo that ends in their car being attacked by baboons. Meanwhile, Robert is approached by a determined priest (Patrick Troughton, giving a fantastic little performance) and a photographer (the always welcome David Warner) who seem to be concerned about Damien's impact on others.
As the film moves forward, it becomes evident that the "it" which Damien's first nanny referred to in her last moments is the world...and that Damien is possibly the son of Satan himself. This is the type of plot that could easily become cheesy or unbelievable, but The Omen, thanks to a strong sense of direction by Richard Donner and an excellent script by David Seltzer, stays conceivable throughout. A lot of the power comes from excellent performances by Peck and Trouhgton, especially when Troughton delivers this ominous warning -

When the Jews return to Zion, and a comet rips the sky,
and the Holy Roman Empire rises, then you and I must die.
From the eternal sea he rises, creating armies on either shore.
Pitting man against his brother, 'til man exists no more.

- which is later deciphered by the photographer to refer to the events that occured five years earlier on the morning of June 6 - the time at which Damien was born.

The Omen is probably the least impressive member of the Unholy Trilogy from a technical standpoint, aside from Jerry Goldsmith's Oscar winning music. But what it lacks in flair it makes up for with an omnipresent sense of dread that surrounds Damien and the things he and his minions might be possible of. Young Harvey Stephens has the thankless task of portraying the Antichrist, but the film does everything it can to help make him seem a threat by teaming him with Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw, giving another great performance) and a demonic rottweiler that protect his best (or would they be worst?) interests.

It's been more than fifteen years since that excellent Aunt sent a copy of the movie my way, but The Omen continues to be one of my favorite horror films thanks to the thought-provoking story, an incredible sense of dread, and a memorable and haunting villain. Now that the film's nearing 40 and has had a failed remake (with one of my favorite actors, Liev Schreiber, in the lead), it's still as powerful as it's ever been - and is a no-brainer for me to add to the Midnight Movie of the Week roll-call.