Uh, would you believe... 21 Nights of Terror?

Maybe I need to change the name of this blog to 21 Nights of Terror, because this marathon is officially over.

I made it through 21 movies in 21 nights, sometimes struggling to stay awake. When I started all of this I didn't realise how tough it would be. A movie a night - easy right? Well, as it turns out... no. Try fitting in 90 minutes to two hours of free time every night, regardless of what else is happening in your life (including working a 40-50 hour week) and regardless of how tired you are.

Anyway, enough feeling sorry for myself. Last night I decided enough was enough. Twenty one days was a damn good effort if you ask me, and I'm glad I did it. I finally got around to watching some of the movies that have been on my "to watch" list for ages, and I got to see some old favourites again.

I'm a sucker for punishment though, and I've already thought up a future method of torture. Next year my birthday falls on Friday the 13th. I've been a fan of the Friday the 13th movies since I was in my early teens. Add to that the fact that I've always wanted to do a 24-hour movie marathon (having done two separate 12-hour marathons at home - yes, I'm a geek). So, my plan is to watch all 12 Friday the 13th movies (yes, I'm including Freddy vs Jason as the 12th entry in the series) back-to-back and in order. With food and bathroom breaks I figure it'll take 24 hours (the 12 movies add up to somewhere around 19-21 hours).

I'll be watching a couple of horror flicks on Halloween night - I usually pop in either the original Halloween or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, although it kind of depends on who turns up on the night. I'll probably end up reviewing whatever I watch and throwing it on here, so while the 31 Nights of Terror marathon fell a little short of the mark, it doesn't mean the end for the blog.

October 21 - The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake [1959]

The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)

Director: Edward L Cahn

Starring: Grant Richards, Eduard Franz, Henry Daniell

Now this is the kind of old school horror that I really dig. There's just something cool about watching a decent black and white horror movie from the 50s and 60s - the kind you can imagine introduced by some kind of television ghoul. The kind where the trailer has overly dramatic music with big words like "Shocker" or "Terror" smashing into the screen.

The plot involves a family with a "curse" involving Amazon witch doctors and head shrinking. It seems ol' great-grandad killed off some tribe back in the day, and since then adult Drake men have mysteriously died on their 60th birthdays. Even more strange, their heads mysteriously disappear. Enter Jonathan Drake, whose brother dies this way, and now he's next in line. Throw in an American cop and Drake's hot daughter, who try to solve the mystery.

One of the things that surprised me about this movie was how gory it was for the time. We get beheadings, headless corpses, and not in the turn-the-camera-away style that was popular in the day. Director Cahn does a great job of building up the mystery and suspense - this reminds me of an over-long episode of The Twilight Zone. The acting is top notch, except for the guy who plays the Amazon witch doctor with his mouth sewn shut - I can't look at that guy on screen without laughing.

Overall, this is a great piece of 1950s horror. Definitely recommended.

October 20 - Planet of the Vampires [1965]

Planet of the Vampires (1965)

Director: Mario Bava

Starring: Barry Sullivan, Norma Bengell, Angela Aranda

From yesterday's A Blade in the Dark, directed by Lamberto Bava, we jump today to a sci-fi horror movie directed by Lamberto's father, the legendary Mario Bava.

By 1965, Mario already had a string of successful horror movies under his belt, including Blood and Black Lace, Black Sabbath and and Black Sunday, when he turned to a mix of scifi and horror, with "Terrore nello Spazio" (Terror in Space), known in the US as Planet of the Vampires.

In the near future the two spaceships Argos and Galliot are sent to investigate the mysterious planet Aura. As the Galliot lands on the planet her crew suddenly go berserk and attack each other. The strange event passes, but the crew soon discovers the crashed Argos - and learns that her crew died fighting each other! Investigating further, the explorers come to realize the existence of a race of bodiless aliens that seek to escape from their dying world.

Despite the use of the word vampire in the title, this is more of a zombie movie, as dead rise from their graves to attack the living. Watching Planet of the Vampires, it soon becomes apparent how much this movie (along with It! The Terror From Beyond Space) influenced Ridley Scott's Alien (1979). There are a few sequences which were clearly lifted for Alien, such as when the astronauts discover the Argos and investigate.

Bava's iconic camerawork is used to full extent, along with his love of using resplendent colours, resulting in a film that is beautiful to look at but chilling at the same time, something that can't be said for many 1950s-60s scifi-horror movies.

Planet of the Vampires is an excellent little film, and one that all scifi/horror fans should check out, especially those with a love for the Alien movies (and let's face it, who doesn't?).

October 19 - A Blade in the Dark [1983]

A Blade in the Dark (1983)

Director: Lamberto Bava, Andrea Occhipinti, Anny Papa, Fabiola Toledo

Ah, the first giallo of my marathon. For those unfamilar with giallo, they're a genre of Italian horror movie popular in the 70s and 80s. They're a kind of gory crime thriller, always with a mystery killer who's revealed at the end, and are famous for stylish camera work. The most famous giallo directors were Dario Argento, Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci.

A Blade in the Dark (that's the US title, the Italian one was Casa con la scala nel buio, which translates as "House of Dark Stairs") is directed by Mario Bava's son Lamberto, probably best known for his series of Demon movies.

Sadly, Lamberto's effort here doesn't measure up to that of his father or Argento. It's stylish enough, with some good suspense moments and an intriguing "whodunnit" aspect, but there's just something missing. I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but A Blade in the Dark falls short of what I expect from a giallo.

This is worth watching for the giallo completist, but if you are new to the genre, look elsewhere first. Start with a classic like Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) or Twitch of the Death Nerve.

October 18 - Scarecrow [2002]

Scarecrow (2002)

Director: Emmanuel Itier

Starring: Tim Young, Todd Rex, Tiffany Shepis

It finally happened. Last night I fell asleep during a movie for the first time since I started this marathon 18 days ago. That was partly due to having been up since 4am that morning, and also partly due to this movie failing to keep my interest.

Now, I quite like a good killer scarecrow movie. I enjoyed 1988's Scarecrows. I found 1995's Night of the Scarecrow watchable. Here we get a cool Scarecrow boogieman (the costume itself is top notch), above-average production values, and from what I saw, some decent kills.

What lets Scarecrow down is the abysmal script. The plot is run-of-the-mill - nerdy guy gets picked on, is killed, his soul transfers to a scarecrow and that scarecrow gets revenge against everyone who wronged him. There's potential there for a watchable low-budget slasher, but unfortunately, director Emmanuel Itier doesn't do a great job of developing it. The writers have to take some blame too, because the dialogue is terrible.

The killer scarecrow spits out one-liners and jumps around like some kind of ninja. He ends up coming across as some kind of kung fu Freddy Krueger ripoff. And what's with the "teens" in the horror movies I've been watching lately? Part of this movie is set at a high school, and I swear the "teens" there are more likely to have a mid-life crisis than teen angst. Hell, the lead guy doesn't look close to high school age.

So, I missed the end of Scarecrow, but I don't think I missed much. 

October 17 - Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers [1988]

Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1988)

Director: Michael A Simpson

Starring: Pamela Springsteen, Renee Estevez, Brian Patrick Clarke

This movie - in fact this whole franchise - is one of my main guilty pleasures. Sure, I realise that they aren't exactly great movies, but there's just something about them I really enjoy.

A few years back I bought the three Sleepaway Camp movies in a swank boxset which looks like a first aid kit. I've seen all three flicks before, but until tonight hadn't cracked open the boxset. I decided to skip the first movie (1983) because it's the one I'm most familiar with, having viewed it at least half a dozen times. And no, the shock ending doesn't get any less shocking with each viewing.

The sequel joins a new summer camp, where the first movie's killer is all grown up and working as a counsellor. She's still crazy, and hates campers who do anything immorale. Naturally, they all get up to mischief, so she starts punishing (ie killing) them. 

The kills are fun - one girl gets drowned in a grotty long-drop toilet, two girls who like getting "baked" on drugs get barbecued, literally. There's even a homage to other slasher movies, when two boys dress up as Freddy from Nightmare on Elm St and Jason from Friday the 13th to try to scare the killer, but she outdos them, dressing as Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre and chainsawing them to death.

I guess my enjoyment of this movie might be enhanced by the fact that I used to work at a summer camp. Not that I wanted to kill any of the campers... much. Ahem, but yeah, there's fun to be had watching this movie's kills, the 80s nostalgia (the music, the mullets galore etc) and the fact that some of the campers are played by actors closer to 30 than 13.

Interestingly, the two main leads are played by women with famous brothers. Pamela Springsteen's brother is The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, and Renee Estevez is the sister of Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen.

I'll be watching Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland later in this marathon, and to say I'm pumped to hear they're making the fourth movie, Return to Sleepaway Camp, is an understatement.

October 16 - Mad Cowgirl [2006]

Mad Cowgirl (2006)

Director: Gregory Hatanaka

Starring: Sarah Lassez, James Duval, Devon Odessa

Wow, I'm not quite sure what to say about this movie.

I will say this though - imdb.com's interpretation of this as a horror movie is a loose one. It's definitely a mindf**k, and it involves some graphic-ish murders, but there's nothing really "horrific" about it. Well, except if you're a vegetarian - then you might watch from between your fingers.

Sarah Lassez plays Therese, who is diagnosed with a brain tumour (or is it Mad Cow Disease? That's never really answered). Essentially the plot follows Therese as her life falls apart. Not that she's too ordinary to start with.

The murders don't come until right at the end - the majority of the movie Therese spends her time either a) eating meat or b) having sex. And she has LOTS of sex - with a priest, with a chick, with her brother (eeeeew), with a stranger in a porn theatre, with her ex-boyfriend etc.

I think director Hatanaka was trying to show some kind of correlation between eating red meat and having sex, but it was all so vague. It's hard to tell what's reality and what's going on in Therese's increasingly-deranged mind.

Mad Cowgirl isn't a bad movie. It's got some great Tarantino-esque camera work, and Lassez is a fantastic actress. There's an almost David Lynch-like quality to it, but by the end you'll probably end up scratching your head and wondering what the point of it all was.