Recently watched movies!

[lhb412]

[jellydonut25]

[lhb412]

^Gotta watch Keaton. They're comedies, but they're also action films, and they're timeless.

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

^No, the point of the Phantom of the Opera is not singing. The Schumacher film is basically a film version of the Broadway musical...in which case, singing makes sense and advances the story. Many of the songs are ABOUT the characters, their motivations, their actions, the story, etc

The musical numbers in the 1943 film are show-stoppers in the literal, awful sense. They bring the film to a screeching halt, with absolutely ZERO importance with regards to the storyline. They are silly songs meant to showcase nothing but the scenery, and there's no advancement of the drama, tension, or story whatsoever. I'd rather watch the Schumacher film, because at least the songs are good. The 1943 film features terrible comedy, a ruination of the Phantom character, asinine motivations for the characters, a Scooby-Doo-quality mystery, and a Son of Kong-like blink-and-you-miss-it finale. I loathe it, and find it unfortunate that an actor of Claude Rains's talents was so spectacularly WASTED on it.


As for Nosferatu, the 1925 Phantom of the Opera is better than Nosferatu all day long. ALL. DAY. LONG. Forever and always.
Nosferatu is an uneven film. Some of the scenery and imagery is striking and haunting and Count Orlock remains one of the top scariest vampires in cinema history, but there's not much else to the movie, and even at 84 minutes, it DRAGS considerably at times. Much like the Browning's Dracula, it features a good performance from the vampire and the Renfield character, but lacks in characterization and supporting cast, even by the standards of the time. It's an important piece of film history, but it's a bit inaccessible as a movie.
Phantom of the Opera, on the other hand, has all the striking imagery and scenery of Nosferatu, and a spectacular makeup job on the monster creating one of the most terrifying creatures in film history...AND it's a good movie as well. The pacing is tighter, the performances are better, the story is more fully developed, and the technicolor sequence is MIND-BLOWING.

[Ultra T-Rex]

With silent films being discussed I have to throw in some praise for The Phantom Carriage, original title Körkarlen. A great little Swedish silent film, one of the most engaging I've seen. Was a big influence on Ingmar Bergman and Kubrick referenced it in The Shining as well.

[Dr Kain]

House of Frankenstein - Like Frankensten Meets the Wolfman, I was probably better off not rewatching this one. It isn't bad by any means, in fact, is it the best Frankenstein movie since Son, but it still isn't really all that good. It just feels so disjointed as the first 40 minutes features Dracula, then we have 27 minutes of the Wolfman, followed by 3 minutes of the monster. Why is the movie called House of Frankenstein when it not only does not even feature a Frankenstein, but also has the monster barely even in it? Hell, they aren't even in a Frankenstein lab beyond finding both Larry and the monster. Carradine's Dracula seems out of place and miscast. Growing up, he was my favorite version of Dracula, but now, he doesn't even seem to fit with what Dracula's persona should be. Finally, we have Larry's who once again spends his time doing nothing but mope around. If these movies were made today, Larry would easily be considered an emo, because all he does is get mad when someone won't do what he wants them to do and does nothing to try to prevent himself from doing it. It worked with his character in the original movie, but by now, he is just pulling the same shtick and it is boring to watch. Like the monster, it seems like the people behind this movie ran out of ideas of what to do with him, which is a shame because the Wolf Man has so much potential. On the positive side, the movie does move at such a fast pace (too fast at times, though) and Boris Karloff is just awesome in it. I the end, I give this movie a 6/10 as it really wasted the potential it could have had with three of the biggest monsters they had at the time.

Dracula's Daughter - Ugh, this movie just plain out sucks. It doesn't make sense. The characters and story are flat and boring to watch to the point that the 70 minute run time feels like 3 hours. There is nothing positive I can say at all about this thing other than the end credits are the highlight because it means the movie is over. I give this movie a 1/10 and I'm not even sure what the 1 star is for.

[Silver Kamen]

[Dr Kain]

I'd definitely say watch it and come up with your own opinion on it. Me? I hate it and couldn't give two sparkling vampires if it ever came out to BD.

The Invisible Man Returns - This one is not a bad movie at all. It is about 10 minutes too long, but it does a nice job acting as a follow up to the previous movie without insulting it. It isn't as good as the first one, but they do a nice job with the plot and it is unique to see it start as a man who is just doing it to bid time to find his brother's killer and we get to witness the madness take hold of him. I love the part when he is acting like he is a ghost to spook a former worker into confessing the truth about his brother's death. I find it funny that Vincent Price is the one who plays Geoff, and yet, his voice does not seem to be as deep as he has it in his later works. Overall, I'm going to give this movie a nice 7/10 and is right up there with Son of Frankenstein as one of the better sequels.

[lhb412]

Vertigo

Holy crap. I had no idea this would be this crazy.

[Dr Kain]

Nightmare on Elm Street - A pretty good movie that is quite original. Freddy is hilarious and the aspect of him being an incubus really sets him apart from other monsters in the horror genre. It is too bad, like every horror movie, they had to continue on with subpar sequels, but what do you expect for something so cheap to make? I give this movie a 7/10.

[jellydonut25]

Freddys not really hilarious in thw first one...
Also, Nightmare 3 is awesome and welk worth a watch. 1, 3, and New Nightmare make a solid trilogy

[XvGojira]

[Dr Kain]

[jellydonut25]

If you wanna site the Halloween film that becomes a parody I wouldn't say H2....I get it, people don't like it...but come on. That dubious title for Halloween belongs to Resurrection

[XvGojira]

[Silver Kamen]

[jellydonut25]

[Silver Kamen]

[jellydonut25]

[Dr Kain]

I've only seen the second movie once and I thought it was one of the worst sequels ever. Since my g/f just bought the complete series on BD I'm know i'll end up suffering through it again as we plan to go through the other movies some time next month. In fact, the only ones I like happen to be the ones that feature Nancy.

[jellydonut25]

[XvGojira]

[jellydonut25]

[XvGojira]