History of Film: Auguste and Louis Lumire, X-Rated, Film Noir, Horror Film, Zoetrope, Sound Film, Motion Picture Patents Company

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RiffTrax: Little Shop of Horror

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Product Description
Very Rare Horror/Western, with
Baron Frankenstein’s daughter out west still carrying out her evil experiments just like her father & grandfather before her.
This time rather than Dr Van Helsing as her arch-enemy she finds legendary outlaw Jesse James determined to stop her from unleashing her army of killer zombies on the world.
An absolute one-off type of film, definitely a cult classic, and certainly worth seeing if only to see Jesse James battle it out with Frankenstein’s Monster !.
One interesting footnote, watch out for Jim Davis, – (Tv’s Jock Ewing in Dallas) in an early supporting role.

Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter

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Amazon.co.uk Review
It must be stressed that despite the fact that it was produced in 1973 and stars both Christopher Lee and Britt Ekland, The Wicker Man is not a Hammer Horror film. There is no blood, very little gore and the titular Wicker Man is not a monster made out of sticks that runs around killing people by weaving them into raffia work. Edward Woodward plays Sergeant Howie, a virginal, Christian policeman sent from the Scottish mainland to investigate the disappearance of young girl on the remote island of Summer Isle. The intelligent script by Anthony Schaffer, who also wrote the detective mystery Sleuth (a film with which The Wicker Man shares many traits), derives its horror from the increasing isolation, confusion and humiliation experienced by the naïve Howie as he encounters the island community’s hostility and sexual pagan rituals, manifested most immediately in the enthusiastic advances of local landlord’s daughter Willow (Britt Ekland). Howie’s intriguing search, made all the more authentic by the film’s atmospheric locations and folkish soundtrack, gradually takes us deeper and deeper into the bizarre pagan community living under the guidance of the charming Laird of Summer Isle (Lee, minus fangs) as the film builds to a terrifying climax with a twist to rival that of The Sixth Sense or Fight Club. –Paul Philpott

The Wicker Man

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Amazon.co.uk Review
With an ingenious script, engaging characters, nerve-shredding suspense, genuinely frightening set-pieces and laugh-out-loud funny bits An American Werewolf in London is a prime candidate for the finest horror-comedy ever made. Americans David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are backpacking in northern England when Jack is killed by a wild beast and David is bitten. Back in London David finds himself falling in love with a nurse, Alex (played with winning charm by Jenny Agutter), and turning into a werewolf. Adding to his problems, an increasingly decomposed Jack keeps coming back from the dead, and he is not a happy corpse. The Oscar winning make-up and transformation scenes still look good and rather than send itself up Werewolf plays its horror seriously, the laughs coming naturally from the surreal situation. Naughton is engagingly confused and disbelieving, desperately coping with the ever more nightmarish world, while Landis delivers one absolutely stunning dream sequence, an unbearably tense hunt on the London Underground and a breathtaking finale. Gory, erotic, shocking and romantic, this unforgettable horror classic has it all. Tom Holland’s Fright Night (1985) remixed the formula with vampires, as did Landis himself in Innocent Blood (1992). A disappointing sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris, followed in 1997. –Gary S Dalkin

American Werewolf in London

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Ghost School Horror

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Amazon.co.uk Review
With an ingenious script, engaging characters, nerve-shredding suspense, genuinely frightening set-pieces and laugh-out-loud funny bits An American Werewolf in London is a prime candidate for the finest horror-comedy ever made. Americans David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are backpacking in northern England when Jack is killed by a wild beast and David is bitten. Back in London David finds himself falling in love with a nurse, Alex (played with winning charm by Jenny Agutter), and turning into a werewolf. Adding to his problems, an increasingly decomposed Jack keeps coming back from the dead, and he is not a happy corpse. The Oscar winning make-up and transformation scenes still look good and rather than send itself up Werewolf plays its horror seriously, the laughs coming naturally from the surreal situation. Naughton is engagingly confused and disbelieving, desperately coping with the ever more nightmarish world, while Landis delivers one absolutely stunning dream sequence, an unbearably tense hunt on the London Underground and a breathtaking finale. Gory, erotic, shocking and romantic, this unforgettable horror classic has it all. Tom Holland’s Fright Night (1985) remixed the formula with vampires, as did Landis himself in Innocent Blood (1992). A disappointing sequel, An American Werewolf in Paris, followed in 1997. –Gary S Dalkin

An American Werewolf in London

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Screen Sirens Scream!: Interviews with 20 Actresses from Science Fiction, Horror, Film Noir and Mystery Movies, 1930’s to 1960’s

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Amazon.co.uk Review
Written by Karen Walton and directed by John Fawcett, Ginger Snaps combines horror and pubescent angst in a thoughtful portrayal of female teenage development both socially and physically. The Fitzgerald sisters are alienated to the point of discussing honouring the suicide pact they made when they were eight, and producing disturbing mock-up photographs of their violent deaths. Then the slightly older Ginger is bitten by a werewolf and starts developing hair in odd places and feeling more alive than she has ever felt–but it’s not entirely clear whether this is sexual maturity or monstrosity creeping up on her until she starts developing canines and a tail. The look and feel of the movie is a cross between Grimms’s Fairytales and Neil Jordan’s A Company of Wolves, while the influence of Buffy the Vampire Slayer runs through both script and cinematography–which means it occasionally looks like an extended episode of Buffy, minus the Vampire slayer herself. The performances of Emily Perkins as the nervy Goth Brigitte and of Katherine Isabelle as the extrovert charismatic Ginger are more or less faultless; we are taken to the heart of this claustrophobic relationship just as it starts to implode. Mimi Rogers as their ditzy mother and Kris Lemke as the stoner who tries to help Brigitte are almost equally excellent.

On the DVD: The DVD includes as special features some impressive screen tests by Perkins and Isabelle in which we see them evolving their final takes on the characters; we also get a mildly interesting documentary on the construction of the werewolf Ginger becomes and a featurette that has some snappy one-liners from the cast, as well as production notes and cast notes. The Dolby sound catches the nervy grungy world of the film, which is presented in 16:9 ratio.–Rox Kaveney

Ginger Snaps

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