Elliot-10 Reviews

Superstition (1982)

Not-bad low-budget horror

[7/10 · 21 July 2000]

This low budget horror film is actually not bad for the first 45 minutes or so, as victims are dispatched by an unseen killer in a haunted house. But when the "secret" is revealed-- something about a witch who was executed centuries ago and is killing the descendants of her persecutors-- the whole thing gets silly (and the special effects get cheesier).

The Last House on the Left (1972)

The Worst

[1/10 · 21 July 2000]

One of the (maybe THE) only horror films I have ever walked out of in the middle. The rape and torture of two teenage girls is served up for our delectation. I have seen, and enjoyed, many disturbing and violent films, but this was much more (and less) than I was willing to sit through. No redeeming social value at all, IMHO.

The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)

Creepier than it has any right to be

[8/10 · 21 July 2000]

Like the others, I saw this as a kid and found it really scary. Seeing it again as an adult, I found the script hopelessly sophomoric, but the film still manages to exert its creepy charms nonetheless. It's actually quite well lit and photographed, despite a super low budget, and some of the weird images linger in the mind long after the film is over.

12 Monkeys (1995)

Thought-Provoking Sci-Fi

[9/10 · 20 December 1999]

Although time travel is a frequently-used gimmick in science fiction films, this is one of the few films that deals with the essential paradox at the heart of the time-travel concept: if you go back in time and murder your grandfather, then you will never be born, and therefore you will never go back in time, so your grandfather won't be murdered after all, so you will be born, so...

In this film, Bruce Willis is sent back in time from the 21st century by the handful of survivors of the ecological holocaust which destroyed life on earth in 1995. The plot is both suspenseful and thought-provoking, as Willis's efforts to prevent the disaster run up against the time-travel paradox...

Sparrows (1926)

Silent Thriller

[17 November 1998]

This silent thriller is better in parts than as a whole. Mary Pickford's performance is excellent, and the scene where she leads the group of escaping children through an alligator -infested swamp is hair -curling. But the film is poorly paced; the swamp scene comes in the middle and the rest is a let-down.

Visions of Light (1992)

Illustrated history of cinematography

[9/10 · 16 November 1998]

This documentary is a history of cinematography, illustrating major advances and highlighting the work of major cinematographic innovators. Although there are snippets of on-screen interviews, the bulk of the film consists of (glorious) film clips illustrating many of the high points in the history of cinematography.

The Golem (1920)

Classic silent horror

[9/10 · 16 November 1998]

Paul Wegener directed and starred in this classic German silent horror film, based on a medieval Jewish legend about an artificial man magically made from clay. Wegener's stiff-limbed portrayal of the golem was obviously a major influence on Karloff's performance in Frankenstein, and the film blends terror and pathos in much the same way that Frankenstein did.

Blood Bath (1966)

surreal horror

[6/10 · 12 November 1998]

This film (which I saw years ago) seems to be two (or maybe more) different movies edited together-- a contemporary psychological horror film with "flashbacks" to a character's ancestor who was a witch. The "flashbacks" are, I suspect, part of another film entirely-- perhaps a Mexican horror film. Whatever budget reasons led to this unconventional method of film-making, the result can best be described as unintentional surrealism. A unique experience, to say the least.

Paranoiac (1963)

great plot twists

[9/10 · 12 November 1998]

You've often seen suspense movies in which a sudden revelation reverses everything that's come before. (Vertigo, for example.) In Paranoiac -- one of a raft of Psycho-inspired suspense thrillers from the early 60s-- these reverses come along practically every minute. The plot twists and re-twists itself over and over: Oliver Reed's brother is dead; no, he's alive, his sister saw him; no, his sister is crazy; no, Reed is trying to to make people think his sister is crazy so he can steal her inheritance; no... and that's just the first 10 minutes or so of this ingenious thriller. Highly recommended.

The Unknown (1927)

Seething sexual obsessions

[9/10 · 12 November 1998]

This silent horror film, boasting a magnificent performance by Lon Chaney, Sr., is filled with seething sexual obsessions, unusual for its (or any) time. Lon Chaney plays an "armless" circus performer who throws knives with his feet. His sweetheart loves him because she has a perverse dread of men's grasping hands(!). Chaney, alas, is not really armless, but decides to have his arms amputated so his secret won't be discovered on his wedding night. The bizarre plot, full of phobias, blackmail and even more amputations, just gets stranger and stranger. Not to be missed.

The Student of Prague (1913)

The Grandfather of Horror Films

[7/10 · 12 November 1998]

If "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is the father of all horror films (and of German expressionist cinema), this pre-WWI film is the grandfather. The titular student, starving in an empty garret, makes a deal with the Devil-- the Devil gives him a bottomless sack of gold, in exchange for "anything in this room." The Devil chooses the student's reflection in his mirror. He walks off with the student's doppelganger, who commits crimes for which the student is blamed.

The film is marred by some limitations arising out of the technically primitive state of 1913 filmmaking; the plot cries out for chiaroschuro effects, but the film is, of necessity, virtually all shot in shadowless daylight. But the scene where the reflection walks out of the mirror still packs a wallop.

More interesting for the trends it fortells than for its own sake, The Student of Prague is still worthwhile.