Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Join the fun (and scares!) by picking three movies that fit the week's theme and writing a bit about them.
Full disclosure: I was so caught up in the Presidential Debate last night that I completely forgot that today was Thursday. It was appropriate, though, since last night really was its own kind of horror movie, and we are devoted to things that go bump in the night this month on Thursday Movie Picks! Unfortunately, it's not science fiction, it's all too real... UNLIKE MY PICKS FOR THIS WEEK! #SeamlessTransition
My picks for this week all have something in common. Can you guess what it is?
The Invisible Man (James Whale, 1933) It's a bit of a risk casting a huge star as the lead of your movie and then keeping their face off the screen for the entire running time, but when you have a voice like that of Claude Rains, who needs a face? (And besides, this was Rains's American film debut, anyway) Rains is terrific in this, fully capturing the tension and the mania of someone being slowly driven insane by his own genius, which as resulted in a procedure that has rendered him invisible to the naked eye. The film also does a great job of capturing the feeling of HG Wells's book, equal parts funny, smart, and scary.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956) When a number of his patients appear to be suffering from Capgras delusion (the belief that their loved ones have been replaced with identical impostors), Dr. Miles Bennell at first thinks it's probably just a small case of mass hysteria. But then he and a former flame find two giant pods with exact copies of themselves growing inside. And then they start to notice that the denizens of their small California town are increasingly losing all human emotion. What is going on? Are aliens behind this? Or is it.... even worse.... COMMUNISTS?!?!? One of the foundational texts of American cinema and pop culture, Invasion of the Body Snatchers still retains all of its icky paranoid power today, despite being remade - both directly and indirectly - countless times since.
The Fly (Kurt Neumann, 1958) A brilliant scientist has perfected a transportation machine. Or so he thinks. Well, I mean, it works. It works really well, actually. But the thing is, it can really only transport one thing at a time, in one direction. "Fine," you say. "What's the problem?" Well, the problem is, a fly happened to buzz its way into one of the transportation chambers when the scientist was testing it, and... well... I think you know what happens from there. Nowhere near as visceral as David Cronenberg's '80s remake, the original is very much a product of its time, meaning it's pretty scary, a little dated, and equal parts intentionally and unintentionally funny. Oh yeah, and it stars Vincent Price.
We have a roundabout sort of match! Your picks are so much better than mine!! I'm not a horror fan and somehow I just blanked on the early stuff which while not something I love is more in my line.
The Invisible Man really is a brilliant film and you just can't beat Claude Rains in anything. A small aside-my grandmother meet him on multiple occasions. After my grandfather died suddenly leaving her with my mother and her four sisters to raise (all 10 years old or under) she worked a main job and various extras to make ends meet and one of those was serving for a wealthy family she knew when they had guests. Rains was a frequent visitor and she said he was just as charmingly urbane as he was on screen. Very friendly and accessible.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers nails that creepy sense of dread and is miles better than the 80's remake despite the presence of Veronica Cartwright in the cast. LOVE Dana Wynter-so elegant.
I chose the remake of The Fly but both versions have much to admire, the effects in this are rough but Vincent Price makes up for a lot and it does try and say something about responsibility in science.
Aside from the newer The Fly which I thought of instantly I really had to scramble for picks and watched my other two specifically for this week. My final one is A BAD MOVIE!!! But I figured at least by including it here I didn't suffer through it in vain.
Hollow Man (2000)-Scientist Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) and his team (including Elisabeth Shue and Josh Brolin) invent a serum that produces invisibility. They test it on Caine and he vanishes but something goes wrong and they can’t rematerialize him. As the team struggles to reverse the process Caine’s grip on reality begins to slip away.
The Fly (1986)-Scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) invents a teleportation device, then decides to test it on himself. What he doesn’t realize is a housefly is in the device during the process, causing a comingling of man and insect. As the fly's cells begin to take over his body and he becomes increasingly fly-like his girlfriend (Geena Davis) must stand by helpless in horrified disbelief as he deteriorates into a monster. What separates this from the norm is the perfect casting of Jeff Goldblum in the lead, his gawky angularity suggesting a fly-like physique even before he begins to transform. He and Geena Davis share a great chemistry, no surprise they were briefly married after this film. Directed by David Cronenberg.
Monster A Go-Go (1965)-Astronaut Frank Douglas (Henry Hite) and his rocket disappear on their way back to earth and the next thing you know there’s a series of murders happening where the victim’s blood is turned to powder. Could they be related and who is the enormous rotting man roaming the countryside while people toil and look at papers in what appears to be a high school science lab? Nonsensical story atrociously acted with production values not even worthy of a grade school project, see if you can keep count of how many times the camera wobbles, it happens in almost every scene. One of the worst movies ever made this is inept in EVERY way, the best thing about it is its title.
That is AMAZING about your grandmother meeting Claude Rains! How wonderful (and unsurprising) that in life he was as he was onscreen.
Hollow Man is also a sorta roundabout match to The Invisible Man. Kinda.
The Cronenberg version of The Fly is SOOOOOOOOO gross. But also really, REALLY good.
Oh WOW the title of that last one. That is exactly the kind of title that would make me think it's complete and utter trash without knowing even the slightest bit else about it.
Decent picks, went for the classic route. I've only seen The Invisible Man (Claude Rains is my favorite classic actor) and seen both remake of The Fly and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the 76) one. Both of which I really like.
Love all 3! In fact we match with The Fly which I love and the ending still creeps me out. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is creepy as well and such a hit on the communists. I think this is actually what has happened to many people who are voting for Trump. The debate was such a mess...like watching a train wreck in slo mo. Love The Invisible Man and found it was quite entertaining
I really like The Fly and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but in both cases - oddly - I like the remake better. I've only seen bits and pieces of The Invisible Man, but I've been meaning to watch it forever.
We have a roundabout sort of match! Your picks are so much better than mine!! I'm not a horror fan and somehow I just blanked on the early stuff which while not something I love is more in my line.
ReplyDeleteThe Invisible Man really is a brilliant film and you just can't beat Claude Rains in anything. A small aside-my grandmother meet him on multiple occasions. After my grandfather died suddenly leaving her with my mother and her four sisters to raise (all 10 years old or under) she worked a main job and various extras to make ends meet and one of those was serving for a wealthy family she knew when they had guests. Rains was a frequent visitor and she said he was just as charmingly urbane as he was on screen. Very friendly and accessible.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers nails that creepy sense of dread and is miles better than the 80's remake despite the presence of Veronica Cartwright in the cast. LOVE Dana Wynter-so elegant.
I chose the remake of The Fly but both versions have much to admire, the effects in this are rough but Vincent Price makes up for a lot and it does try and say something about responsibility in science.
Aside from the newer The Fly which I thought of instantly I really had to scramble for picks and watched my other two specifically for this week. My final one is A BAD MOVIE!!! But I figured at least by including it here I didn't suffer through it in vain.
Hollow Man (2000)-Scientist Sebastian Caine (Kevin Bacon) and his team (including Elisabeth Shue and Josh Brolin) invent a serum that produces invisibility. They test it on Caine and he vanishes but something goes wrong and they can’t rematerialize him. As the team struggles to reverse the process Caine’s grip on reality begins to slip away.
The Fly (1986)-Scientist Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) invents a teleportation device, then decides to test it on himself. What he doesn’t realize is a housefly is in the device during the process, causing a comingling of man and insect. As the fly's cells begin to take over his body and he becomes increasingly fly-like his girlfriend (Geena Davis) must stand by helpless in horrified disbelief as he deteriorates into a monster. What separates this from the norm is the perfect casting of Jeff Goldblum in the lead, his gawky angularity suggesting a fly-like physique even before he begins to transform. He and Geena Davis share a great chemistry, no surprise they were briefly married after this film. Directed by David Cronenberg.
Monster A Go-Go (1965)-Astronaut Frank Douglas (Henry Hite) and his rocket disappear on their way back to earth and the next thing you know there’s a series of murders happening where the victim’s blood is turned to powder. Could they be related and who is the enormous rotting man roaming the countryside while people toil and look at papers in what appears to be a high school science lab? Nonsensical story atrociously acted with production values not even worthy of a grade school project, see if you can keep count of how many times the camera wobbles, it happens in almost every scene. One of the worst movies ever made this is inept in EVERY way, the best thing about it is its title.
That is AMAZING about your grandmother meeting Claude Rains! How wonderful (and unsurprising) that in life he was as he was onscreen.
DeleteHollow Man is also a sorta roundabout match to The Invisible Man. Kinda.
The Cronenberg version of The Fly is SOOOOOOOOO gross. But also really, REALLY good.
Oh WOW the title of that last one. That is exactly the kind of title that would make me think it's complete and utter trash without knowing even the slightest bit else about it.
Decent picks, went for the classic route. I've only seen The Invisible Man (Claude Rains is my favorite classic actor) and seen both remake of The Fly and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the 76) one. Both of which I really like.
ReplyDeleteLOVE Claude Rains. Yeah, those two remakes are just as good as the originals.
DeleteLove all 3! In fact we match with The Fly which I love and the ending still creeps me out. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is creepy as well and such a hit on the communists. I think this is actually what has happened to many people who are voting for Trump. The debate was such a mess...like watching a train wreck in slo mo. Love The Invisible Man and found it was quite entertaining
ReplyDeleteLOL you are so RIGHT about the Trump voters - except instead of becoming mindless automatons, they become incoherent idiots.
DeleteI haven't seen any of these! I phoned it in hard this week. I'm going to have to catch up on these. lol
ReplyDeletelol it took me my entire commute to work to think of these three. Thankfully writing them up was really easy!
DeleteLoving these picks! The 1958 fly seems like something I could watch as I;m too scared of Croenberg's.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Cronenberg's The Fly is not for the faint of heart, but the '50s version is totally doable.
DeleteI've seen Cronenberg's remake of The Fly and loved it, but the original sounds great too!
ReplyDeleteThe original is more fun than the remake, but even though they share a plot they really couldn't be any more different.
DeleteI really like The Fly and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but in both cases - oddly - I like the remake better. I've only seen bits and pieces of The Invisible Man, but I've been meaning to watch it forever.
ReplyDelete