When we think of werewolf films– at least, those from before an era where sexy beasts populate YA novels and their spin-off series– we’re likely thinking either of old-school horror (The Wolfman, Werewolf of London) or later cult classics tinged with humour (An American Werewolf in London, Ginger Snaps).
For this week’s Halloween Countdown, we’re examining two less-well-known works, and we’re starting in 1944, which heard the Cry of the Werewolf.
Stephen King’s astonishing oeuvre gets raided regularly by Hollywood, resulting in cinematic gems and absolute turkeys. Silver Bullet hits a mark between the two. Our second lycanthropic throwback for this week’s Halloween Review features redneck hero Gary Busey, lost boy Corey Haim, and Canadian icon Megan Follows in a small town that has come to fear the full moon….
I’m starting off our Halloween Countdown with the second film from the director of Beyond the Black Rainbow.
Awoooooo!
We should have had the Best Halloween Ever this year. October 31, 2020 falls on a Saturday with a full moon, a triple convergence that will not happen again for a long, long time. It’s also both a blue moon and a Hunter’s moon, though neither is uncommon when the full moon coincides with All Hallows Eve and Samhain. As a bonus, in many places in the northern hemisphere, the time is changing during the Witching Hours to Daylight Savings, providing everyone with some borrowed time. We’d planned a party, which we’ve had to cancel. I imagined visiting a local haunted attraction or Pumpkin Patch in the afternoon, and then an evening of ghoulishly groovy tunes whilst the costumed kids trampled fallen leaves and begged for candy, and our good-naturedly crazed neighbour ran his charity haunted house, complete with a maniac running after people, chainsaw in hands.
Instead, we have a lingering pandemic, and an American election that is proving scarier than any disease. And where one of the candidates has tested positive for the disease he’s spent a year downplaying.
Since 2020 keeps growing stranger, no one should be especially surprised that some guy dressed like the Incredible Hulk just vandalized Donald Trump’s star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
One tradition continues unabated. The Bureau-cats run our annual October Countdown, which this year sees little in the way of new horrors. We will, however, unearth some excellent views (and one read) to chill and delight you….
Lux Radio Theatre produced a radio adaptation of The Life of Emile Zola, starring Paul Muni in a 58 minute adaptation of the film. We grabbed a copy from the fine people at OldTimeRadioDownloads.com, which we are happy to bring to you today.
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Paul Muni turns in another wonderful performance. Why don’t more people know that name?
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Last week saw the release of the trailer for the third adaptation of Frank Herbert’s SF classic, which will be out this December.
Will it do the novel justice? How will it compare to its two predecessors? Does it fill you with more hope and anticipation than any of the recent Star Wars films?
What do the Bureau-cats think?
The first Hollywood blockbuster released during the pandemic is a SF techno-thriller, sort of James Bond meets La Jetée, with a second-generation movie hero in the lead. It also received its international release ahead of its American one.
I saw it at an old-time drive-in as a double-feature with Them!
Another true story.
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We haven’t done an old-movie Weekend Review for a while, and summer’s more than half-way done. This one seemed a natural, since it takes place in the far-future world of… 2020!
Battle Queen 2020 (2001), filmed in zero degrees and on zero budget, may well be the worst post-apocalyptic movie of all time– and that’s saying quite a bit.