The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
UK --- horror/science fiction

Dir: Terence Fischer

Riding on the success to 1957's 'Curse of Frankenstein', Hammer Studios produced a follow-up that is on par with its original. Peter Cushing reprises his role as Dr. Baron Von Frankenstein; mad scientist extraordinaire.

We pick up from the guillotine, where Frankenstein is seemingly on his way to damnation. Skip ahead to two graverobbers, who decide to rob Baron Frankenstein's final resting place, when its revealed he is not buried there, but very much alive. We soon learn that the Baron has relocated to the hamlet of Carlsbruck and assumed the alternative identity of Dr. Stein, assisted by his crippled dwarf (Ygor counterpart) Karl. He has assumed this personage of a philathropic doctor who helps the downtrodden, as well as incalls from the wealthy. One wealthy doctor who recognizes him, Dr. Hans Kleve, knows full well what he is all about, and volunteers to help the baron on whatever he needs.

Hans learns that Frankenstein has been recycling certain body parts from his ward patients. His newest plot this time is to implant the brain of Karl into the working constructed body of his latest creation. Karl, who longs for a normal looking body with properly working limbs. Once Karl's brain is successfully inserted into the new creation, however, things soon go awry.

Dr. Frankenstein and Kleve also get a new candystriper in Margret Conrad; a naive young woman who Karl falls for. She assists in his escape from the lab, and soon the now more humane Frankenstein's monster is unleashed. Not only do the monster's bodyparts begin to revert back to the deformities of Karl's affliction, the monster also has a new horrific taste for human blood.

This film takes the Hammer Frankenstein series into a new direction, focusing less on the monster and more and more on the banal exploits of Dr. Frankenstein himself. Though a lot less gory and violent than the other entries, "The Revenge of Frankenstein" again showcases Frankenstein as the villian. Even in one scene where the doctor denies to assist a pleading monster help him, which only further allows us empathy for the creature.

Jiang Tou (Black Magic) (1975)
HONG KONG --- horror

Dir: Ho Meng-Hua

All societies on the earth have pretty much dabbled in some form of the dark arts or another. Whether it be the infamous voodoo of the caribbean islands or the wiccan practices of Eastern Europe, being in league with the devil has no borders. In this such case, we turn our attention to the shores of Hong Kong.

Known primarily for the nigh endless droves of chop-socky forays such as "The 36 Chambers of Shaolin" and "The Five Deadly Venoms", the Shaw Bros. studio decided to expand out of the martial arts genre. Jiang Tou "Black Magic" is one of these efforts. A rich sexy widower, named Luo Yin who owns her late-husbands construction business, has designs on a young engineer named Xu Nuo. Xu Nuo has a fiance, while Luo Yin makes her intentions known to him, only to be denied a relationship.

Meanwhile, Luo Yin also has a suitor, in Mr. Liang Jiaje (played by Five Fingers of Death star Lo Lieh). A man struck with puppy love so bad, he goes to all ends to get the woman of his dreams, unfortunately his motives are ruled not of love but of lust, and worse off greed. He goes to the shady sorcerer-for-hire, San Kan-Mi, where he is told to gather some materials for the spell to work, for sinister love potion. After gaining the items, Liang returns to Luo Yin later on, and the potion mixed in a drink works for a night, but that is all. Realizing, she has been used, Yin coerces an answer out of Jiaje, and plots to use this black magic magician for her own purposes, such as gaining the love of Xu Nuo.

While Xu Nuo and his fiance plan marriage all the while, Liang gets his just desserts 'Tales From the Crypt' style and Luo Yin pays San Kan-Mi to put a powerful spell on her hearts desire. It all leads to a climatic confrontation between a benign wizard named Master Furong and San Kan-Mi. The film features, throughout some seemingly step-by-step instructions for the process of San Kan-Mi's potions and spells. Complete with gratuitous nudity, graphic violence and gore, Jiang Tou (Black Magic) is one of the better genre pieces from the Shaw Bros. studio.

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

UK --- horror/ science fiction

Dir: Terence Fisher

Mary Shelley's classic novel "Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus" changed the world of literature forever. The tale of a mad scientist bent on the prospect of creating new life from his bare hands has had long-lasting ruminations. The ideas of the basic storytelling conflicts are all here, be it in man -vs- nature, man -vs- society, or man -vs- himself. They're all right there in FRANKENSTEIN. The story has been put to film ever since film was invented, going back as far as Thomas Edison's foray into film production. Though many of the adaptations haven't come anywhere near to being 75%-100% faithful to its literary counterpart, including the famous Universal James Whale feature, some at least has brought some of the novel's gothic spirit.

This leads us to the 1957 Hammer Studios effort with "The Curse of Frankenstein". While it isn't the end-all/be-all of Frankenstein films, it is must definitely a shining hallmark for its graphic depiction of the iconic characters. Peter Cushing puts in an absolute pitch-perfect performance as a brazen power-mad (but no quite as loony as Colin Clive's) and downright evil bastard version of Baron Frankenstein.

The film is told in flashback, from the perspective of Baron Frankenstein, as he recites how he came to be imprisoned for the murders of several people. He pleads his innocense, stating that true monster is his creation, a reanimated corpse compiled of multiple body parts. The baron, assisted by the increasingly reluctant Dr. Paul Krempe, begins his strange experiments on animals first. Then forays into using human body parts. Whilst having an illicit affair with his maidservant, the baron is anticipating the arrival of his arranged wife to be Elizabeth. But all the while, he and Paul begin to collect body parts for the monster. Played by Christopher Lee, when Frankenstein's monster is finally given life, it is an insane creature that only knows murder, and the doctor is not above apeasing his creation's blood thirst. Frankenstein and assistant Paul eventually come to a rift in their beliefs, as Paul begins to show affection for Elizabeth and attempts to stop Frankenstein from his mad machinations.

The Hammer Studios has a long tradition of great horror films, being influential to Hollywood as well as the rest of the world. In hindsight, you can see parts of every great filmmaker from Mario Bava to Tim Burton in these early Hammer horror films. All worth exploring.

District 9 (2009)
SOUTH AFRICA --- science fiction

Dir: Neill Blomkamp

Immigration has become a hot button issue in the past decade. Most of it is due to two American incidents. One involving the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center with domestic planes. The other is a ripple effect of the first, being 911, when America turned its attention to the immigration issue of protecting our borders and "W" created the Homeland Security. Course, in my opinion it was just a rug over of the dirt, and didn't really do anything as we've seen in recent events.

In District 9, we get an allegory of sorts through the lens of director Neill Blomkamp. Shot in the style of a documentary entirely in Johannesburg, South Africa, but in actuality more of a mockumentary, we are taken into the world of beaucratic alien sympathizer Wikus Van De Merwe. He is a button-down Multinational United (MNU) (a private military corporation such as they really do have in South Africa) liaison between the extraterrestrial species and humanity. Merwe, however, is not a well-liked man for this reason, though his intentions on the outside appear decent, his job isn't all that great. He rides that thin line of being hated by both sides equally, kinda like a welfare or social worker.

While investigating the alien slums of District 9, he searches an alien home that appears to be hiding something. When nosing around, he then accidentally is infected by an alien serum, which happens to be a secret weapon. Besides instantly spitting up black fluid, over a short period of time, Merwe discovers his body is undergoing an abormal change. The biological weapon begins to transform him into a one of the aliens. After being admitted to the hospital to undergo tests, he is spirited away to a top secret (MNU) compound to undergo further tests. The scientists begin to conduct experiments on Merwe who now has one complete arm turned completely alien. They discover that the aliens' guns cannot be used by anything other than that species dna handling it, and this is confirmed thanks to the involuntary volunteer in Mr. Merwe.

Fearing for his life from both the humans and the aliens, he escapes the (MNU) compound and becomes a fugitive living in the shanty town of District 9. Eventually, he finds the answer to how he was infected when he joins with the creator of the bio-weapon. They come to a deal of sorts, that the alien will be allowed to return to his home planet and find a cure for Merwe and they soon launch a last ditch effort to resist the (MNU) and a crazed band of Nigerian gangsters.

District 9 has its roots in flavor to the videogame HALO. But the similarities end with alien designs as Blomkamp, actually based the film on a short film titled "Alive in Joburg". I think the thing that stands out about the film is, it's not afraid to go to absurd. A lot of scenes gave me flashbacks of "Futurama" jokes, and yet because of its successful blend of CGI and it's tongue-in-cheek yet realistic performances, it somehow doesn't become silly. The digital enhancement of the aliens is done in what Blomkamp describes as "Rotomation" which is a blend of rotoscope and motion capture. The very best part of the film is, it gets its point across. It is a clear parable about the prejudices and civil rights we deal with in our world. Like most great and poignant science fiction it is a social commentary that holds that mirror up to who we are.

The Gate (1987)
CANADA/USA --- horror

Dir: Tibor Takács

Well, this one isn't so ethnic in any direction. It's more American than anything. But I believe it was filmed in Canada. When it comes to kids in horror films, a lot of filmmakers shy away. Especially when we're talking about them being the protagonists. Well, they can easily be victims, and nine times out of ten they will be sexually active teenagers. But kids? As in the prepubscent kind or preteens who read comic books and boys have not yet found interest in girls kinda kids; no not really. Some classics that put kids in harms way have been made in the eighties, in the all-or-nothing pre-Columbine, pre-warning label days like The Lost Boys or tamer fare like The Monster Squad, but they're rare to find nowadays. Unless they're horror-lite like a R.L. Stine kinda film. This rears our attention to a rare little gem I used to watch alot on WPIX channel 11 in NYC as a kid . . . namely "The Gate".

A young Stephen Dorff (BLADE) stars as Glen, a boy who discovers a hole in his backyard made from a meteor. The hole happens to be a portal into a demoniac underworld. Glen's parents of course go away for the weekend when Glen and his friend Terry play some heavy metal backwards. This of course in accordance to Al Gore's wife, truly unearths the demons from the gate. What happens next is a kinda kid-friendly "Evil Dead". Glen and Terry must close the portal as they and Glen's older sister are attacked by droves of tiny demons. The special effects are decent enough to hold your attention and give some thrills throughout. It helps that the film doesn't talk down to the kids and just lets it play out as a nightmarish situation that must be stopped. Find this on DVD and give it a watch, you won't be disappointed.

Akira (1988)

JAPAN --- science fiction

Dir: Katsuhiro Ôtomo

After the so-called "Golden Age" of anime struck the U.S. in the 1960's through such television series as "Speed Racer", "Astro Boy", or "Kimba: The White Lion", the imports kinda slowed. Americans still received t.v. series, but we seldom got Japanese animated films. If we did get them, they were re-edited, renamed, and dubbed over to horrendous porportions such as Hayo Miyazaki's "Nausicaa".

When films like Akira (which I might add was much tamer than most stuff) came along in the late 1980's, they completely changed the landscape. Blockbuster Video actually made a section for their flood of Anime films and series being released on VHS. We were getting all the violence and sexually oriented fare that we just didn't get in the resurgent days of Disney-ized America. Film critics also took notice, and Akira was one of the hallmarks.

Based on his award-winning manga series of the same name, director Katsuhiro Otomo adapts his post-apocalyptic tale of a delinquent teen biker gang caught up in a government conspiracy of tampering with psychic research. The film takes place in the year 2019, thirty-one years after a nuclear explosion that causes World War 3. The motorcycle gang known as The Capsules, are in a gang war with a rival biker gang called The Clowns. During a high-speed brawl through the streets and on the highway, best friends Kaneda and Tetsuo get separated. Tetsuo, nearly runs down an elderly looking little boy, and crashes his bike. Surviving the accident, Tetsuo and the boy are spirited away by soldiers in a helicopter. The rest of the Capsules are arrested and taken in for questioning by local authorities.

Meanwhile, in a covert government facility, Tetsuo is found to be very special by a Colonel Shikishima and Dr. Onishi. He happens to possess extra-ordinary mental faculties, above and beyond ESP. They also happen to equate his power to another boy named Akira, who apparently had nearly omnipotent mind powers.

At the police station, Kaneda falls for a girl named Kei who is involved with the terrorist group. The two eventually strike up a friendship that leads to him uncovering what happened with his friend Tetsuo. Testsuo escapes from the government facility to see his girlfriend Kaori and steals Kaneda's bike as they plan to leave the city, but are ambushed by the Clowns, until Kaneda and the gang show up to rescue them. Tetsuo is captured once again by the government, and eventually begins to display and discover his new found powers, to which point he goes power mad. It leaves Kaneda in a situation where only he can attempt to rescue him.

Akira is a complex character study with visually arresting scenes. As an Anime film, it is one of the first more adult ones I've seen which left me with a feeling of something great just happened and I was too young to get it. Anime films have since followed in the tradition to keep up with the mature adult subject matter, even surpassing it in some instances. It, however, remains a visual masterpiece in animation.

Tales From the Crypt (1972)

UK --- horror

Dir: Freddie Francis

Had it not been for William Gaines’ EC Comics, the world would have no Alfred E. Newman, no crypt keeper, and and especially no Tales From the Crypt. The comic book horror anthology started in 1950, but only lasted till 1955 publishing 30 issues in total. It was filled with ghastly stories often about vengeance beyond the grave or twist endings that end in horror. The comic book featured art by the likes of Al Feldstein, Jack Kamen, Jack Davis, Johnny Craig, and many more. Each artist eventually had their own style to what kind of story they were telling. Gaines found that the hit comic originally called “The Crypt of Terror” should have sister publications such as “The Vault of Horror” and “The Haunt of Fear”. The comic book series was eventually attacked by censors who had followed guidelines of a controversial book titled “Seduction of the Innocent”, that suggested the idea comic books were ruining children’s minds, and William Gaines’ EC Comics were prime targets. Eventually, censorship were the main killers of “Tales From the Crypt”, as the comic book company folded due to restrictions of the Comics Code.

The legacy of “Tales From the Crypt” was never forgotten. It found it’s most popular resurgence in 1989 with the HBO television series, “Tales From the Crypt” which aired stories more from “The Vault of Horror” than its namesake inspiration. Before that series would ever see the airwaves, the British Amicus Productions made a 1972 horror anthology called “Tales From the Crypt” as well. The film weaved five stories together, with a wraparound. The stories however were not all from the “Tales From the Crypt” comic, but mostly from “The Vault of Horror”. Interestingly enough Amicus would produce a film of that anthology too, serving as a sequel to “Crypt”.

This version of “Tales From the Crypt” also featured a crypt keeper, played by Sir Ralph Richardson who’s dressed like a monk and is sans any ghoul makeup. Directed by Freddie Francis, the synopsis tells of five tourists who go missing from a group in a catacomb. The crypt keeper makes his all too mild mannered appearance when they discover they’re trapped. He begins to unfold upon them stories of their futures. Joan Collins stars in the first story adapted from a story in “The Vault of Horror” #35, “… And All Through the House”. This is probably the most famous and memorable tale from any of the line of comic stories, as Collins portrays a woman who murders her rich old husband on Christmas Eve, only to get a visit from an escaped convict dressed as Santa Claus. The thing about this version of the story (which was also adapted by Robert Zemekis on the HBO series) is Collins portrayal of the bitchy wife. This wife seems the perfect foil for this story; she deserves what’s coming to her, as Zemekis’ heroine is boring. Also this Santa killer is an older frail chap that looks like someone’s crazed old uncle, not the stocky Larry Drake who poses more of a threat. One thing that always bothered me about this story is, the wife makes no attempt to get an alibi and should want to use the Santa killer as an alibi for her husband’s murder. It, in itself could make a good feature length thriller if done right.

The next story is pretty dull as an adulterous husband leaves home and drives away with his mistress. They get in an accident and he awakens to get help, but everyone who lays eyes on him is instantly runs away in fright, even his wife. He finally pays a visit to his mistress when she reveals she was blinded in the very same accident he died in. The story folds back to just before the accident, as all this was just a premonitory dream. This tale actually comes from the comic “Tales From the Crypt” and adapted from “Reflection of Death”. It also bears a slight resemblance to another British horror anthology film “Dead of Night”. The third vignette stars Hammer horror alum Peter Cushing as a fairly eccentric neighbor of a snobby father and son who toy with his emotions. It ultimately leads to his suicide, and of course the son is the first recipient of vengeance from beyond the grave. The fourth tale is based on the famous W.W. Jacobs horror short story “The Monkey’s Paw” as a business man learns he’s lost his money, his wife discovers a Chinese statue and makes a wish for money. The husband dies in a car accident after being chased by a skeleton like figure on a motorcycle. So, she gets his money, regretting her first wish she uses a second wish to wish him back to life just as he was before he died. Her husband does come back to life, but in great pain because he’s already been embalmed. The final tale is another original “Tales From the Crypt” story called “Blind Alleys” and is easily one of the best of the film IMHO. A newly appointed director of a home for the blind deliberately forces unnecessary changes in the place due to financial cutbacks. These cutbacks include no heat, very little amounts of food and a change in that quality of food, while the new director and his pet German Shepard seem to be having the time of his life at the blind patrons expense. The residents decide to seek vengeance in their own way, building a small labyrinth in the basement and forcing the new director to traverse through with razor blades affixed to the walls of a narrow corridor. Meanwhile, the best surprise is left for last as the director’s dog is starved for hours on the other side of that corridor, as the residents make him a blind man by flicking the lights off in the labyrinth and releasing the dog.

The wraparound tale ends with the crypt keeper revealing to the tourists that premonitions were actually the reasons why they were there. As a cave opens to a white light and they discover they are in eternal damnation. Amicus made a style of producing quality anthology horror films, and this one remains one of their best, if not one of the best of the genre period. It would come to inspire followers like Creepshow and many other horror anthology films. Alls well, that ends well.