by prfsnl_gmr Wed Sep 28, 2022 12:22 pm
It’s almost here!
I’ve been warming up with a few movies:
Bloody Pit of Horror (1965) - This is a hilariously awful Italian gothic horror film. In it, a muscle-bound man dons a red mask and tight red pants before torturing people in the silliest, most flamboyant way possible. It is so, so bad, but never boring, making it perfect MST3K fodder. While never the subject of a MST3K episode, there is a Rifftrax version available on Prime Video. Very funny and highly recommended if you need a good laugh.
It Comes at Night (2017) - This is basically a zombie movie without the zombies. An incredibly virulent plague has wiped out most of humanity, and a family is struggling to survive in a remote cabin. An intruder disrupts their status quo, and things generally go off the rails from there. It’s a very solid film, and it’s particularly interesting to see a pre-pandemic view of a global pandemic. Streaming on Kanopy.
The Haunted Palace (1963) - This would be my favorite Roger Corman/ Vincent Price Edgar Allen Poe adaptation…if it were actually based on the work of Edgar Allen Poe. Rather, it is named after an Edgar Allen Poe poem, but based on “The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward” by H.P. Lovecraft. As a result, it’s a very early attempt to put a work of cosmic horror to film. It doesn’t work quite as well as something like, Quartermass & The Pit, and it still relies heavily on mid-1960s Poe adaptation tropes (i.e., fog, period costumes, torture chambers, etc.). Still, the story is more interesting than most Poe stories, and it has some really eerie moments. (Also, Debra Paget still looks amazing in her final film role.) Streaming on Prime Video.