Tag Archives: steven spielberg

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“Something Evil” (1972) – Demonic House For Sale, Cheap!

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This is a moderately interesting tale of a city family happening upon an old country home for sale, deciding to buy it, and taking the plunge headlong into strange occurrences and demonic possession.

This movie is of note because of an early directorial turn by Steven Spielberg. He followed up the classic “Duel” (1971), with this effort. “Duel” was definitely better but this movie is distinguished by impressive camera work and unorthodox shooting angles befitting the twisted nature of this tale of possession. Darren McGavin is also onboard, just recently removed from his performance as Kolchak from “The Night Stalker” TV movie success. He is more of a disbelieving bystander in this one rather than the beast slayer.

I must say that there is a disturbing sequence where star Sandy Dennis tries to locate the source of a baby crying, ends up in the work shed, and uncovers a pulsating (red) jar of protoplasm! That is not normal!

I guess the place wasn’t such a bargain after all.

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“Monster of Piedras Blancas” (1959) – Pretty B&W Cinematography, Ugly Story

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This is another one of those flicks I watched in my youth, 10,000 years ago, that frightened me. Watching it now, I am struck by the loveliness of some of the black and white film cinematography but bored by the dull goings on and the lumbering, costumed monster.

I now remember what creeped me out all those years ago and it has to do with the beast’s predilection to behead his victims. Never pleasant in any era. So, we have a giant sea monster that walks on two legs and apparently lives in a cave near a lighthouse. The lighthouse keeper feeds the beast, thus keeping it at bay from sampling the culinary delights of Humankind. Well, that effort falls short somewhere along the line and we have a rash of mysterious deaths in the area.

The ending of this thing is a doozy. I think a young Steven Spielberg must have taken some inspiration from the proceedings. When presented with an opportunity to kill the monster before it does in the cornered lighthouse keeper, the posse armed with rifles, refuses to take a shot at the creature until it has succeeding in capturing its prey. Brings to mind some of the latter day scenes from “Jurassic Park” where the dinosaurs are somehow more cunning and noble than their human counterparts and are able to admirably fend off puny Man. A digression, yes.

Still, it is a fun Saturday afternoon/evening horror viewing.

action, action adventure

RECOMMENDED HOLIDAY ACTION MOVIE VIEWING!

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You may be a big fan of Christmas themed movie at this time of the year and that is fine.  But there is a wide variety of viewing experiences available to you and a good action movie may be what you are looking for.  I will recommend a few thoroughly enjoyable action/adventure flicks.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) – Clint Eastwood as a bank robber on the run who winds up getting drawn back into a repeat heist attempt on a bank where everything eventually went bad the first time out.  The second attempt ends up no better.  This is a very entertaining, well paced movie with plenty of violence, humor and beautifully shot locales that it will keep you glued to it.  Jeff Bridges and George Kennedy turn in memorable performances.  This was written and directed by Michael Cimino who would go on to direct The Deer Hunter, an epic of another kind.  One of Eastwood’s better films.

Die Hard 2 (1990) – Bruce Willis back as John McClane, a New York city cop, with a nose for terrorist plots.  This time he is spending time in an airport before Christmas battling rogue military types who are involved with nefarious misdeeds.  Nice action interludes and some pretty implausible heroic antics from Willis.  It is amazing how it all draws you in.

Jaws (1975) – For good or bad, this movie ushered in the era of the big blockbuster Summer or Holiday released film.  In this case, it was for the better.  Although a relatively early effort from Steven Spielberg, it is maybe his most easily watchable film.  This thing packs a whollup every time you see it!  The small coastal town that is plagued by a killer great white shark and the ill equipped attempts made to finally destroy the man killer make for a timeless classic.  Amazingly engrossing storytelling and a visual treat!

Go now and catch up on viewing your own favorite holiday time classics.

haunted places, horror movie

WIll The Real Director Please Call “CUT!”

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I came across an interesting article today.  You may have heard this story before.  There has been conjecture circulating through the years that “Poltergeist” (1982), a tale of a suburban household plagued by ghosts was NOT directed by Tobe Hooper but was in fact helmed by an on-set Steven Spielberg who otherwise was listed as the film’s producer.  It was noted that certainly the end result’s film style reflected a Spielbergian touch.  Well, here are some long after the fact confessions from some of the crew that Spielberg WAS the man in charge of direction.  I don’t really know what the arrangement was that was worked out between the two men but apparently it suited both at the time.

This bit of trivia aside, let us always remember the huge debt we owe Tobe Hooper for his horror masterpiece, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974).  I regard it as one of the seminal works of the horror film genre.  A truly harrowing, frightening and nightmarish piece of work that will haunt you.  I think unrelenting is a very appropriate term for the film.   That somebody had the balls to develop and produce a film with such a vile premise is an achievement all its own.

The link for the story is below.  There is also a fun slideshow attached at the end of the article celebrating some of the great movie (franchise) villains/monsters.

READ SOME OF THE STORY HERE!

action, horror movie, monster movie

JAWS – 1975

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jaws

This clip is a masterfully staged study of the shark hunter Quint from Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws”.  Quint, played by Robert Shaw, recounts his earlier in life run in with man eating sharks.  The profound horror of this life threatening event probably played no small part in his decision to hunt sharks for a living.  “Jaws” is still an amazing thrill ride of a movie after all these years.  I think it may be Spielburg’s best picture.  This scene is eminently creepy and evocative.