Horror Movie Classics Part I

OK - dear friends, I'm back as promised.

By the way - the game download didn't work...arrrggg!

Still, that is not what I have on the agenda for today as my discussion topic.

Instead let me tell you a little bit about this purchase I made a couple of years ago. In the bargain bin at Best Buy was the 'Collectors Edition' of Horror Movie Classics.



Now I got this little gem for only $14.99 plus tax - and it came with count them with me...ten - that's right TEN classic horror films. That's roughly a dollar fifty per film.

And now you ask - was it worth it?

Well...

Here's what I'm gonna do.

And I want you to realize I'm doing this for the both of us - not just myself.

I'm gonna watch all these films this summer and review them for you. And if you're really fired up about watching one - and you can't find it on Netflix - I may be willing to loan you a copy.

So...

First Up!

The Terror!



So here is the 'plot' of this film in a nutshell.

You have a very, young Jack Nicholson (this is pre "Easy Rider" days). Who plays a French soldier lost on the beach. As I watched the film I could just imagine him starting his role with a very bad French accent and the director just finally saying, "Jack just play the role with your regular voice!"

Young Jack sees a beautiful woman who disappears as he passes out. When he comes to, some old witch woman is nursing him back to health. Her toady, some dude that dies in a really cool way (a bird pecks his eyes out half way through the film and he falls to his death from a cliff) - tells Young Jack the ghost woman can be found in some castle on top of a cliff.

Young Jack goes to investigate and this is where he finds Boris Karloff puttering around all alone with his lackey butler. There are a lot of scenes of people walking down big staircases, women in white walking through the mist of a graveyard and lots and lots and lots of organ music.

So was it good? Not really. Twenty minutes into the thing I was already tired of the slow pace. I mean I love Gothic stuff, but you don't need five minutes of a girl walking around a crypt when two minutes would do.

I felt bad for the actors. Jack Nicholson is full of life and seems to know he's on the verge of a great career. While Boris Karloff is clearly at the end of his. It's sad to see him relegated to such a role and such a film. He's clearly the best actor in the film and while he gets top billing Young Jack burns probably twice the amount of screen time.

Still, maybe ole Boris didn't mind sitting in his trailer most of the time, letting Young Jack run around and do all the work while he got paid half as much as the master.

Would I watch it again...hell - I barely made it through the first time.

Let's hope the next nine days are an improvement.

Two skulls out of Five - (mostly for atmosphere which was cool and kinda creepy - and for the ghost girl who was pretty hot)