Movie Posters with Skulls in them!

Just thought Id try something fun today and post a couple of posters that have used skulls on them in one way or another. Turns out, theres been a huge amount of them! Heres a couple of the coolest ones I could find, hope you find them fun. Remember: Death watches over us all!

Visiting Hours (1982)

The Supernaturals (1986)

The Screaming Skull (1958)

The Punisher (2004)

The House on Skull Mountain (1974)

The Descent (2005)

Squirm (1976)

Simon Says (2006)

Shrooms (2007)

The Legend of Hellhouse (1973)

Pathology (2008)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest (2006)

Inferno (1980)

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn

Ghost Ship (2002)

Ghost Rider (2007)

From Beyond the Grave (1973)

Though Shalt Not Kill...Except (1985)

Laid to Rest (2009)

The Skull (1965) (DVD Cover)

Mario Bava's Baron Blood (1972)

Title: Baron Blood (1972)

Director: Mario Bava

Writer: Vincent Fotre

Stars: Elke Sommer, Joseph Cotton, Massimo Girotti

Review:

On this film Mario Bava wanted to go back to making the old gothic horror movies that he worshiped and loved so much. By 1972, he’d already made a slasher or two (Bay of Blood (1971) for example) and he wanted to go back to those types of horror films he’d made in the past. Films like Black Sunday (1960) and Black Sabbath (1963), both of which were tributes to old Universal monster movies and basically, old school horror films in general.

The story revolves around a young man who decides to go and search out his family roots. So he visits a Castle in Vienna which belonged to an old ancestor of his; the bloodthirsty torture loving Baron Otto Von Kleist know to all for the many victims he tortured under his reign of terror! This evil Baron was cursed by a witch to an eternity in the darkest pits of hell. Unfortunately, through the use of a magical parchment and some magic incantations, the evil Baron can be brought back to life! Which is what our two protagonists do. By mistake they resurrect the evil Baron, joking around with the parchment and the magical incantations, thinking it’s all a lot of silly superstition. Unfortunately for them, the incantations were real! And so the Baron comes back to life to continue with his bad habits of torturing people. Can the Baron be stopped? Will he ever get sent back to the fiery pits of hell?

"Excuse me, are these the try outs for the new Freddy Krugger movie?"

This movie has its moments, but I doubt it’s an accurate representation of Bava’s genius behind the camera. Don’t take that the wrong way because there’s lots of good things to be seen in a mediocre Bava movie. For example, this movie has the lush atmospheric visuals that Bava is known for. He plays around a lot with lighting techniques on Baron Blood. There are a lot of streaks of light coming out of backgrounds, and lots of play with shadows and light. Speaking of shadows and light, the mysterious Baron Blood is kept in shrouded darkness for practically the whole movie. All we see is a glimmer, a dark blot, a shadowy figure moving about in silhouette. In this way the titular Baron reminded me of characters like The Phantom of the Opera and Sam Raimi’s Darkman (1990). You know, tragic characters hiding behind hats and trench coats.

Baron Blood has all the ingredients necessary to make an interesting character, unfortunately, he isnt really fleshed out and is reduced to running amongst the shadows of the castle. He's kind of a Vlad the Impaler type of guy. Everyone feared him because of his love of torture and murder; he is portrayed as a sadistic individual. His resurrection sequence brought to mind the resurrection of the evil Igor Javutich in Mario Bava’s own Black Sunday (1966). And this is something that Baron Blood is known for. Apparently Bava quotes himself a lot on this film, repeating images and situations from his previous films. Baron Blood himself is compared to the cloaked killer in Blood and Black Lace. There is a sequence in which Baron Blood uses an Iron Maiden-like coffin to kill one of his victims, just like the Iron Maiden-like mask seen in Black Sunday. In fact, after a character is killed in the Iron Maiden, we see his face and it looks just like the face of the witch in Black Sunday, a face filled with holes due to the effects of the Iron Maiden. Connoisseurs of Bava might instantly recognize the repetitiveness on this film. Are these signs of wear and tear in Bava’s directorial career? Was Bava running out of ideas and therefore repeated many things he’d done in the past? You be the judge. But we need to keep in mind that Baron Blood came real late in Bava’s career. He was as they say, on his last legs. And like many horror directors during their last days, Bava wasn’t at his best by this stage. Three more movies after Baron Blood,  and Bava's long fruitful career was over.

 

My main problem with Baron Blood was that it had many interesting elements going for it, yet it failed to be a great movie. The film was shot in a real life castle in Vienna which was a perfectly spooky and atmospheric for the story to unfold. We have the story of the resurrection of an evil supernatural entity. We have Iron Maidens, witches, and yes…even zombies! But unfortunately, all these elements do not add up to an exciting motion picture. To me the real problem with this film was its pacing; the film is way to slow! And for a movie about a character called Baron Blood, there is very little blood on this film! Save for a scene in which we see blood coming in through the cracks of a door, there isn’t much blood on this flick. Even the body count is low as hell. I wished they would have made the Baron a more formidable foe. I wished he would have been portrayed as a more interesting character. Unfortunately all the Baron does is run around the shadows, scaring Elke Sommer until she passes out.

Story wise, the movie could have gone in a more interesting route. Unfortunately, the film is just about the evil Baron being resurrected, him killing about three people, and then being sent back to hell. The story is so simple; you can tell some scenes are just there to stretch things out. Some scenes go absolutely nowhere which is kind of infuriating for me. One example of this is one scene where a clairvoyant invokes the spirit of the witch that put a curse on the Baron. This is an interesting scene because we see this witch come out of the fire, talking to us "from beyond the grave". After this ghostly apparition helps the protagonists, they leave. But the clairvoyant is visited by the Baron himself. But we never know what happens to the clairvoyant after she gets a visit from the Baron. Was the clairvoyant killed by the Baron? Did she use some magic to protect herself against him? Sadly we never know what happened for all we see is her covering herself with her arms and Bava cuts to something else entirely, never returning to that scene! What happened there? I wanted to know! Signs of wear and tear in deed.

One of the most visually interesting moments in the film

This film counts as Elke Sommer’s first collaboration with Bava; the second one was Lisa and the Devil (1974). She is not hard on the eyes I can tell you that! With all its flaws and slow pacing, Baron Blood can still end up being a rewarding watch. Even though it’s slow paced, and the story is paper thin, the film is drenched in Bava’s signature atmosphere and beautiful imagery, so at least it has that going for it. Unfortunately it sins by being boring, and I can honestly say its not one of Bava’s best.

Rating: 2 ½ out of 5

 

The original title translates to: "The Horror at Nuremberg Castle"

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Title: Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Director: Tim Burton

Stars: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover and Alice Mia Wasikowska

Written by: Linda Woolverton based on Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Review:

I miss the days when fantasy movies were real. I know that sounds like a contradiction of sorts, because by nature, fantasy is not real. It’s imagination running wild. What I’m referring to is that I miss the days when fantasy filmmakers actually went through the trouble of building sets to make their films, in this way making their fantasy world more tangible, and in a way real. I miss the days when to make whatever fantastical creature the script called for they would resort to puppets or animatronics. Even stop motion animation felt more tangible then computer generated images. But as they say, times are a changing; and I have to learn (reluctantly so) to adapt to that change. I guess. Plus, I’m sure studios are resorting to movies dominated by computer animation for monetary reasons. It must be a hell of a lot cheaper to build a set on a computer, than it is to build it for real. Still, I miss that level of “reality” in fantasy films. Films like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland sometimes make me feel disconnected from them. But whatever, I’m not going to bitch and moan about that, because in a strange way, computer animation is a great way to go for films like this one. I just wish there was more of balance. Im of the mind that not every single little frame of the movie has to be computer animated! There should be a balance. My favorite fx movies are those that use computer animation only when its absolutely needed. Whenever its used excessively, it simply feels like lazy filmmaking to me.

In Alice in Wonderland everything save for the actors is completely computer animated, and it shows. Granted, there is artistry involved in the animation, the film and its visuals are filled in every corner with color and detail, and it is dazzling to look at (specially with those nifty 3-D glasses) but still, I couldn’t help the feeling of detachment from the film. This feeling I’m sure was not only due to the films computer animated nature. I’m thinking it also has to do with the way the story was told. Tim Burton has said that he didn’t want Alice in Wonderland to feel as if Alice was simply going from one weird character to the next. That he wanted to make a movie that we could connect with. Sadly, in my opinion, he did the exact opposite of that! The way I saw it, Burton made a very disjointed film. It did feel as if Alice was jumping from one weird character to the next, from one bizarre situation to the next, without a sense of cohesiveness to the proceedings. In my opinion, the movie didn’t flow. It felt to me like Alice just went from one crazy character through the next without any character development, without knowing exactly what makes her tick. It had a glimpse of character development in one scene where Alice realizes that she is dreaming, she knows this is all happening in her head, but that moment is brief. In my opinion, there should have been more introspective moments like that one in a movie that happens mostly inside of a characters mind.

I guess my main gripe with this movie was that it felt cold and detached. But did I enjoy any other aspects the film? Well, Tim Burton is an artist, and as such, he pays special attention to the artistic elements of the film, the visuals. Once you watch this movie you definitely feel like you are in Tim Burton territory. That gothic nature to Tim Burton’s films is there with the crooked trees and the strange dark characters, so I enjoyed that familiar Tim Burton Universe feel. I also dug Johnny Depp, who has become a permanent fixture in Burton’s cinematic escapades. Depp is known for playing quirky, off beat characters in Burton’s films and The Mad Hatter is a welcome addition to Depp’s weird characters file. He is the one thing that gives the film a bit of emotion. Helena Bonham Carter was perfectly cast as the Red Queen, she adds many funny moments to the movie specially whenever she screams “of with his head!”

This time around, Wonderland, or Underland as it is referred to on this movie is a bit darker then the one we might remember from previous Alice in Wonderland movies because this film shows us an underland that’s been ravaged by the evil government of the Red Queen. Everyone is poor, suffering, the houses are burned down and basically, Underland is falling apart. Except for the Red Queens castle of course which is filled with servants and luxuries. In this way, the film is actually very subversive in nature. I’m surprised at just how many subversively themed movies are coming out lately (check out my review of Shutter Island to see what I’m talking about) and Burtons Alice in Wonderland can be counted amongst those films that display a hatred for the government and the way things are being handled by it. Mad Hatter and his friends are all a gang of rebels who play at being mad, so the authorities won’t harm them. “Never mind him, he is mad” the Red Queen says at one point not realizing the Mad Hatter and his friends are the ones she should be fearing the most. It’s a common thing to show the subversive rebellious character as being “mad” and at the same time very sane…again, read my review for Scorcece’s Shutter Island (2010) or Falling Down (1993) to see what I mean.

The Mad Hatter, leader of the revolution

Also, there was a scene that I found pretty edgy thematically, and its one when The Mad Hatter actually suggests that Alice should kill the evil Red Queen. I thought that was a pretty bold statement from Burton right there. Kill the Queen, replace her with the good queen, and let the kingdom be happy and merry again. Normally, I warm up to films of this nature cause I like subversive films, the ones that go against “big brother” and all that. And I did enjoy the themes Alice in Wonderland was playing with, but I still couldn’t warm up to the film itself. Things got worse as the movie progressed into a predictable third act with Alice going up against the Red Queen and her evil dragon. I was kind of bored by this point. To me even though this movie was interesting visually, it was just a movie going by the numbers from one plot point to the next, without reaching out to the audience for some emotional connection. I didn’t really dig that. Movie directors need to remember that when a movie is on, they have the audience’s full attention and that this is the moment which they need to use to connect with them. I didn’t feel this so much with Alice in Wonderland.

One of the big questions with this movie is: Is it too scary for kids? Because after all, this is a Disney movie, and Lewis Carroll's book is a childrens book. My answer to that question is that Lewis Carroll's Wonderland stories were always dark and strange to begin with. They were trippy from the get go. So if you couldnt take Lewis Carroll's books, chances are, you'll probably find this one too scary for kids. Me? I thought it was weird and strange, but not all that scary. The one scene that I thought went a little too far for a childrens movie is one scene in which Alice has to cross a body of water to reach the Red Queen's castle, and the body of water is filled decapitated floating heads. Which Alice begins to walk on in order to get to the Queens castle. But again, Alice in Wonderland was always a surreal trippy experience and this film does hold true to the original book in that sense.

From a visual standpoint, the movie is pure eye candy. The whole 3-D experience has really taken off now. It’s making Hollywood more millions then ever this time around because they have actually perfected the whole 3-D thing. Many people out there think that 3-D is a gimmick, and it is, but I’m of the opinion that 3-D works wonders on certain kinds of films. Like fantasy films for example, or sci-fi, or simply films in which special effects take center stage. When Alice falls down the rabbit hole, it’s an experience. 3-D isn’t a new thing, it’s been around since 1890! It took off with horror films during the 50s, mainly Vincent Price horror movies like House of Wax. 3-D has always been around in one form or another, but only now has it reached its full potential in theaters. It doesn’t give you a headache, the glasses give the images a depth that you don’t get when you are watching a regular film and it’s a trippy fun experience. This is really the only way in which the film worked for me. Its not Burtons worst film (Planet of the Apes still holds that place, and I don’t think it will ever loose it) but it isn’t his best either.

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5

Interview with Horror Director Dante Tomaselli

Dante Tomaselli is a horror film director who has made his mark in the horror genre with his three independent horror films: Desecration (1999) Horrror (2002) and Satan’s Playground (2006). Now he is gearing up to start production of his next horror feature entitled Torture Chamber, which according to Tomaselli will be his goriest and most frightening film yet.

Tomaselli’s films have a surreal nightmarish vibe to them. They are cerebral, hallucinogenic. Like having a horrible nightmare while under the effects of LSD or something. Tomaselli’s films are of the “religious horror” variety, where Catholicism and its religious icons are seen as horrifying and frightening. Bloody ghost like nuns, religious leaders who hypnotize their followers, satanic rituals, torture devices (such as the ones used during the Inquisition) and a huge, evil looking black goat are some of the images that you can expect to see in a Tomaselli film. His new film, Torture Chamber will still focus on religion as a tool for telling a horror story. Torture Chamber centers itself around a fragmented religious family, with a rebellious son.

This religious horror vibe in Dante’s films make perfect sense when you take in consideration that he is cousin to Alfred Sole, the director of Alice Sweet Alice (1977) which is also a religious themed horror film.

Dante has got horror in his blood. He is slated to direct the remake for Alfred Soles Alice Sweet Alice.

The Film Connoisseur had a chance to interview Dante Tomaselli, to get to know what makes him tick as a horror director, and to see what he has in store for us horror fans in the near future. But first, Id like to tell you guys a bit about his first three films, just in case you haven’t heard of them yet.

Desecration (1999) - Is the story of a young boy named Bobby who is being tormented by his mothers death and his repressive Catholic upbringing. Bobby accidentally kills a nun. This death triggers a chain of supernatural events that lead Bobby on a path that leads straight to hell! Pretty soon, he is tormented by the ghost of the dead nun and horrendous nigthmares. The boy must pay for his sins. His destiny? Hell! This is a very hallucinatory film, Bobby has many visions, many nightmares, and Dante Tomaselli wastes no time in showing them to you.

Horror (2002) - Horror is about a group of teens who escape a drug rehabilitation clinic. Unfortunately for them, they choose to hide out in Reverend Salo Jr’s household, a mad priest who has invited them to his home. This reverend is an evil religious leader who enjoys torture, drugs, and like many religious leaders, promises his followers "salvation" . Will the group escape the clutches of the evil preacher? Will they escape their own horrific nightmares and drug induced hallucinations? Another fine trip down the psychological corridors of hell. This movie has some cool visuals and lots of surrealism. Stars, non other then real life mentalist “The Amazing Kreskin” as Reverend Salo Sr. In one amazing scene, Kreskin actually hypnotizes a large group of people, for real!

Satan’s Playground (2006) - This story revolves around a family going out into the woods for a bit of R&R with the family. Unfortunately, they never reach their destination because their car breaks down and they come face to face with the Leeds Family, a family of wacked out psycho’s. The family is warned that outside in the woods a deadly invisible force lurks! Could it be that the legend of  'The Jersey Devil'  is real? Will they ever escape these haunted woods? This film is heavily influenced by films like Evil Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it stars Ellen Sandweiss (Evil Dead) and Edwin Neil (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp). It is Dante Tomaselli’s tribute to slasher films from the 70s and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead.

And now, on with our interview with horror director Dante Tomaselli:

How did your career as a horror film director begin?

When I was about 3 or 4-years old, actually. Since then I've been fantasizing, visualizing...being a film director, specifically, a horror film director. I lived in a fantasy world. My dreams and nightmares were spinning out of control. I had bona-fide out-of-body experiences where I'd leave my bedroom and float out the window and glide over my neighborhood. All my book reports in school were about the supernatural, every topic, every book I read, every movie I watched. It was a lifestyle, I lived in a parallel universe. My room was decorated like a carnival funhouse. I definitely marched to the beat of my own drummer. I didn't really fit in and I felt isolated...alien...I had some friends who were loyal but I was very happy just going deep into the woods alone, getting completely lost. I loved nature...Trees, rocks, soil, wind, birds chirping, clouds, lakes

Dante on the set of Desecration

...Outdoor landscapes...Of course my favorite holiday growing up was Halloween. It was my favorite movie too. Every day for me was Halloween. I had a huge collection of masks and horror posters. When I graduated high school, it was just a natural progression for me to major in film. I took courses at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and lived on campus. After a few years I transferred to the NY School of Visual Arts and graduated with a B.F.A. When I was out in the real world all I could think of was going back to my horror movie roots. I didn't want to direct commercials. I wanted to direct my own films. I placed an Ad in the NY Village Voice Bulletin looking for a film crew to work on a horror film. From that Ad, I met many key people who worked on my shorts throughout my early and mid twenties. After my short version of Desecration was screened at the IFFM, The Independent Feature Film Market, I met my investor for the full length version.

How was your experience directing your first film, Desecration?

Frightening, magical. Since I made so many Desecration shorts, I had the film, the full length film...so planned out...the images were like slides projected in my mind...When we were shooting the feature there was never an awkward debate. I was just following what my inner voice was telling me. I knew there were lots of images and sounds to conjure on an ultra low budget. Faceless nuns, psychedelic nightmares, ghostly woods...a boy with a damaged relationship with his parent...and a psychic bond with his grandmother...All flickers of my own childhood. I feel like the movie made itself. The visions were like shattered glass in my psyche...I was seeing the colors of emotional violence. Making Desecration was an intense experience...It was like an Ouija Board session. Something else was speaking through me. Desecration was like automatic writing.

You consider yourself an old school horror director? Who are your influences? I see a little bit of Argento, Bava and Lynch in your films.

I'm really not influenced by one director...I don't know...I mean of course I've been unconsciously influenced by many horror films across the spectrum. Overall, I feel my visions are my own. Argento, I love him. I idolize him. Suspiria is one of my favorite films, though I didn't see it until my twenties. Sometimes I feel that the movies I grew up with are the films I am most inspired by, like John Carpenter's Halloween and The Fog. I was 9 and 10 when I saw those films...and in heaven. Brian De Palma's Carrie...I'm in awe of it. 1976. I was 6. David Cronenberg's The Brood...deeply unsettling. Also Drive-In horrors like The Sentinel and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I'd cut out all the newspaper movie Ads for horror movies I loved and and taped them to the refrigerator. In the 70s, as you know, there was a boom of horror treats, one week after another. I was only six years-old in 1976, but I already saw The Omen at a Drive-In. My family went to Drive-Ins all the time. I saw everything. My mother took me because she knew how much I loved these movies and she knew I wanted to be a horror director. Everyone around me knew. I didn't have to dress in all black or look a certain way to be strange. I'm conservative...physically...it's what's inside my mind that's completely, umm...out-there. In my twenties and thirties, I was introduced to the films of Italian horror directors like Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci. Beautiful horror poems. Incredible. Black Sunday...Black Sabbath...The Beyond. Wow. They were master craftsmen. They don't make directors like that anymore.

Which directors do you think are making good horror films today? Where do you see the horror genre going in the next couple of years?

A filmmaker named Chris Garetano is doing really hallucinogenic films. Also Jeremiah Kipp, Adam Barnick...I think horror is going to enter an experimental stage. A wave a dreamlike horror films...I hope...

How has your experience as an independent horror filmmaker been? What are the ups and downs of making independent horror films?

It's full of strange highs and strange lows. I remember being 26 years-old and taking a plane trip from New Jersey to be a guest at The Chicago Underground Film Festival. This was for my short version of Desecration. I felt such anxiety leading up to the screening, I was ready to combust. I was crawling out of my skin...My body went into all-out panic mode. It was really my first dramatic semi large-scale film festival screening experience. When the lights dimmed and they announced my film, I noticed that the volume was low...way too low...And the lights were still on...People were talking...walking in and out...The screen looked dim and none of the colors popped. It sounded bad, I couldn't really hear it! I was in Hell. I wanted to die. I left the screening in a huff and just stalked the Chicago streets...And...on the other end of the spectrum...the world premiere screening of the full length Desecration at the Fantafestival in Rome Italy. That's another story.

Would you say you have evolved as a horror director over the past few years? Do you think your films have changed somehow?

I hope I've evolved. I think you'll see my films take on a more serious, darker tone.

How do you plan on making horror films worth watching, since there is such a large amount of bad horror films being made out there?

I have to listen to my own inner voice. When the time is right, I know I'll be aligned with a horror film in the stratosphere. I guess what I mean is...theatrical release. Not limited, but, you know top 5 movies for the week. That sort of thing. I know it's in the cards. Inadvertently or not...at some point of my career. One of these low budget horror films...One of them...I just want to keep making my films. I'm a Scorpion. We move between the rocks in the shadows.

What would you say is the one element that makes a Dante Tomaselli film a Dante Tomaselli film? What element in your films gives them your own personal stamp?

I guess certain themes threading through my films...Adults as monsters, madness, imprisonment, weird family dynamics, repression, anxiety, drug addiction, paranormal nightmares, hypocrisy, religious fanaticism...I like a lot of swirling fog, mist and pulsating lights. I want scenes to segue into the next. I see doll-like dream figures teetering on the edge of consciousness...Colors. I see colors in my mind...that I cannot separate from the image. And certain sounds trigger certain colors. Or patterns. Hazy light...silhouettes. Even though my films are very low budget, I try to place a big emphasis on atmosphere, mood. I'm trying to construct a nightmare in which we experience the protagonist's damnation. Visually, I like to pack each frame with a lot of detail...a stylish gothic horror film. When the vision is working, it glows, like it's electrified. Hopefully, the eye can move all around the frame and find texture and stimulation.

I've noticed that most of your films have some sort of religious theme tied to them. Why is that? Do you find religion terrifying somehow?

Absolutely. I think religion will be the death of us!

Which of your three films is your favorite? And Why?

Umm...I really see attributes and deficits in all three for different reasons. It's like saying which child do you favor over the next. Maybe Desecration, though. Desecration.

Teaser Poster for Torture Chamber

The next film you start shooting is called Torture Chamber. It sounds really interesting! Want to fill us in on Torture Chamber? Give us some juicy details!

Torture Chamber is about a 13-year-old boy possessed by unspeakable evil. It's an independent horror film in the vein of The Exorcist. The demon manifestation attacking the child is called Baalberith, which if you believe in demonology, tempts its host to blasphemy and murder. This troubled boy, Jimmy Morgan, is a pyromaniac, horribly disfigured from experimentation with drugs. His mother believes he's unholy. His older brother is a priest who tries to exorcise him. This is a Catholic family in deep psychic pain. When Jimmy murders his own father, he burns him to death. After this, he's sent to a children's mental hospital. While there, Jimmy dominates the other kids from the burn unit. Together, they escape and Jimmy finds an old abandoned castle for shelter. That's where the burned kids find a secret passage way that leads to a medieval, cobwebbed torture chamber.

You got any future projects lined up? I’m personally still looking forward to seeing The Ocean get made at some point.

Well, I'll be shooting Torture Chamber next month. April 19th...we'll start principle photography in Connecticut, New Jersey and upstate New York. The budget is around the range of my other films. I've been waiting more than a few years to shoot a movie, so I'm excited. I feel electric. I feel aligned with who I really am when I'm on the set, directing one of my hallucinogenic horror films. The Ocean...is in the cards. Torture Chamber, my first all-out horror shocker, will pave the way.

Shooting 'Horror'

Your advice to future horror directors and filmmakers out there?

The Law of the Universe...or the Law of Attraction says what you put out...you get back. The vibration. I firmly believe that. Send out those rockets of desire to the universe and it will obey. Negative feelings of believing that it's impossible, you'll never do it, it'll never happen...blah blah...those feelings will hold you down and create blockages in alignment. Keep making films. Try to be a decent person, worry about your own business...and keep fantasizing about what you love to do. Visualize yourself as a magnet.

Well, there you have it folks, Dante Tomaselli! I want to thank Dante for giving us this great interview. Be on the look out for more information on Torture Chamber on this blog in the near future and if you havent checked out any of Dante Tomasellis films and are in the mood for something surreal and trippy, then waste no time and check them out!

Ghost Story (1981)

Title: Ghost Story (1981)

Director: John Irving

Cast: Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Houseman, Melvyn Douglas, Alice Krige

Writers: Lawrence D Cohen, based on a book by Peter Straub

Review:

There are only a handful of ghost movies that I categorize as being good ghost stories. Among them are The Changeling (1980), The Ring (2000), The Others (2001), The Orphanage (2007), What Lies Beneath (2000) Carnival of Souls (1962) The Devils Backbone (2001) and a couple of others. It takes just the right amount of atmosphere and just the right story to get me spooked out by one of these. Mainly because I don’t believe in ghosts. I like the idea of ghosts and the supernatural, but I don’t believe any of it for a second. Still, watching a good ghost story reminds me what it was like to be afraid of invisible beings looking at you from another plane of existance. Taunting us from beyond their graves. In my book, Ghost Story can be categorized as one of the best ghost stories ever made.

Story centers around a group of elderly friends who have always called themselves -even since their college years- “The Chowder Society”. These old friends like to gather around the fireplace and spook the hell out of each other telling ghost stories. Deep down inside though, they are just looking for a way to forget a horrible event from their past. Something keeps bugging these four old gentlemen in their sleep. Something is giving all of them nightmares, disturbing their slumber. The past has come back to haunt these four individuals. Will they survive?

What this movie does extremely well is set the atmosphere. From the very first shots of the film, we start on the right place. Four old guys sitting in front of a fireplace telling each other ghost stories. The room is lit only by a campfire and some candles. Outside, a snow storm. And a full moon. The cinematography on this movie is top notch, making everything look creepy dark and cold. This is one of those ghost stories that takes place during the winter, which is really a perfect setting for a ghost story. So, heavy atmosphere, spooky looking houses, creepy looking woods and lonely roads make up an important part of this flick.

This movie harkens back to the days when older people were making movies. Don’t know if this has happened to you guys and gals out there, but sometimes when I watch older films, like from the 60s, 70s and early 80s I notice how older people use to star in them. I mean, mature actors make movies today (only not as often) but back then, even mainstream commercial films had older actors. Just look at anything from the 70s, you wont see young “it” boys and girls starring in films. Back then, filmmaking was an art dominated by 40 something’s. It feels strange, specially when todays films only star the youngest, hippest, hottest, people on the planet. Ghost Story’s cast is composed of four elderly dudes, which made me think immediately that a movie like that would never get made today. Today they would make this movie with four teenagers dealing with the same problem. The fact that four elderly movie stars starred in this movie made me expect a mild horror film, a ghost story with a spooky vibe and some old school storytelling. Boy was I taken by surprise to see that this movie had an actual edge to it!

This film has a very sexual angle to it that I was not expecting at all. There is lots of nudity on this movie, in this sense, it kind of reminded me of Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce (1985) because its main female protagonist is practically nude through out the whole freaking film! This type of thing works only if the main actress is extremely beautiful, and I gotta tell you gents out there, actress Alice Krige really had what it takes to make her nude scenes work! Some of you might remember Alice Krige as "Christabella" the villanious ghost lady in Silent Hill (1999), only on Ghost Story she's like 30 years younger and a whole lot hotter. As a counter point we also have to endure full frontal nudity by actor Craig Wasson, whom some of you might remember as the guy who throws holy water on Freddy Kruggers bones in A Nightmare on Elm Stree III: The Dream Warriors (1987). After watching Ghost Story, I can see why he was chosen for that role! Dream Warriors and Ghost Story have lots in common as well! I have no doubt this film influenced the makers of  Dream Warriors. Another thing I wasn’t expecting where the awesome make up effects! Whenever we get to see the vengeful ghost, it’s through a rotting, decomposing corpse that scares the shit out of you whenever it appears! I loved it! Every time we see the corpse its in a worse state then the last time we saw it, in this way the film reminded me of An American Werewolf in London (1981). So be ready for some nifty make up effects.

Best part about this movie though is the story. It’s very layered and complex and unravels at just the perfect pace for this kind of film. The deeper down the mystery we get, the more crazy the story gets. The movies main theme is, the past will always come back to haunt you, no matter how far you try to run from it. This is one of those movies where a lot is explained through flashbacks and nightmares. I haven’t read the book the movie is based on, so I can’t really tell you guys and gals how faithful to the book the film was, but I can tell you the best part of the movie is the spooky story itself. After seeing this movie, it made me realize just how much What Lies Beneath was influenced by it. Im willing to bet that Robert Zemeckis the director of What Lies Beneath was a huge fan of this movie! You’ll notice I have avoided getting too specific with story details and that’s because I don’t want to spoil anything for you guys. Trust me, this one is a keeper, go and check it out!

Rating: 5 out of 5