Category: Z-View

Mark of the Vampire (1935) / Z-View

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Mark of the Vampire (1935)

Director: Tod Browning

Screenplay:  Guy Endore and Bernard Schubert

Stars: Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan and Bela Lugosi

The Pitch: “Hey, Tod Browning wants to make Mark of the Vampire!”

Tagline: Undead…yet living on the Kisses of Youth!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Mark of the Vampire had the potential to be a great vampire movie.  Tod Browning directing, Bela Lugosi as the vampire with Lionel Barrymore!  Mark of the Vampire has mood, setting and starts off with great promise.

Sir Karell Borotin is found dead drained of his blood.  All evidence points to a vampire or vampires that must be found and destroyed.  The film is off and running and it’s a great experience.  There’s a scene with Lugosi changing from a bat to human form and then running down a hall to catch and kill a victim and it’s terrifying!

Then in the last act the film changes gears and becomes a murder mystery with no real vampires!  Check out this trivia from IMDB:

The actors all played their roles as though they were in a conventional horror movie, unaware of the twist-ending until the last few days of shooting.Director Tod Browning deliberately kept them in the dark because he wanted authenticity.

When director Tod Browning revealed late in the filming process that the plot dictated that the vampires were really just actors pretending to be vampires, he met with much resistance from the cast and crew. Nobody was more incensed than Bela Lugosi, who pleaded with Browning to let him play a real vampire.

Mark of the Vampire is still worth watching but sadly isn’t near the movie it could have been.

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Congo (1995) / Z-View

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Congo (1995)

Director: Frank Marshall

Screenplay: John Patrick Shanley based on the novel by Michael Crichton

Stars: Laura Linney, Tim Curry, Dylan Walsh, Ernie Hudson, Joe Don Baker and Stuart Pankin.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s turn Michael Crichton’s Congo into a movie!”

Tagline: Where you are the endangered species.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

A ragtag group joins forces in an effort to get into the Congo.  Two members are young guys who want to take a gorilla from the US back to her birthplace.  The other members are on a search and rescue mission to find what happened to an earlier team that discovered a rare diamond and was wiped out.  Neither group was expecting to find killer gorillas.

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Executive Action (1973) / Z-View

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Executive Action (1973)

Director: David Miller

Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo from a story by Donald Freed and Mark Lane

Stars: Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Will Geer, Ed Lautner and Dick Miller.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a movie on the Kennedy assassination.”

Tagline: Their Goal…Assassination. November 22, 1963…Accomplished!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Think Oliver Stone’s JFK only not as stylish.

 

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Borderland (2007) / Z-View

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Borderland (2007) / Z-View

Director: Zev Berman

Screenplay: Eric Poppen and Zev Berman

Stars: Brian Presley, Jake Muxworthy and Rider Strong

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a scary movie”

Tagline: Inspired by a true story.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Three college students head south of the border for a weekend of fun and end up on the wrong side of a Satanic drug-dealing cult.

 

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House on Haunted Hill (1959) / Z-View

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House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Director:  William Castle

Screenplay:  Robb White

Stars:  Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long and Elisha Cook, Jr.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a scary movie”

Tagline: First Film With the Amazing New Wonder EMERGO: The Thrills Fly Right Into The Audience!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Fredrick Loren [Price] offers five people $10,000 to stay the night in a mansion that legend has is haunted.  Despite their fears and needing the money, they group is locked in with no way out except death…

 

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The Haunting (1963) / Z-View

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The Haunting (1963)

Director: Robert Wise

Screenplay:  Nelson Gidding based on Shirley Jackson‘s novel The Haunting of Hill House

Stars:  Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s The Haunting of Hill House!”

Tagline: You may not believe in ghosts but you cannot deny terror!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Dr. Markway [Johnson] and three companions in an effort to prove the existence of ghosts go to Hill House – a remote mansion with a long history of violent deaths.

The Haunting has beautiful cinematography and director Robert Wise builds the tension and terror.  While there are a couple of great scares the movie relies on pace and an increasing sense of doom to ramp up the fear factor.  They don’t make them like this any more.

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He Ran All the Way (1951) / Z-View

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He Ran All the Way (1951)

Director: John Berry

Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo and Hugo Butler based on the novel by Sam Ross

Stars: John Garfield, Shelley Winters and Wallace Ford.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a crime romance movie!”

Tagline: DYNAMITE hits the screen with their kind of love!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Nick Robey [Garfield] is a dumb, weak-willed middle-aged man living with his abusive, alcoholic mother.  Nick reluctantly joins in on a payroll heist that goes bad.  Nick’s partner and a cop are killed but Nick gets away with the cash.

Nick hides out at a swimming pool and meets Peg Dobbs [Winters].  She’s as stupid as Nick so you know she’s going to fall for him.  Nick walks her home and before long he’s hiding out in the family apartment.  The police are closing in and Nick’s not sure Peg really loves him.  What’s a fella to do?

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Spy Chasers (1955) / Z-View

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Spy Chasers (1955)

Director: Edward Bernds

Screenplay: Jerome S. Gottler and Bert Lawrence 

Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey and Leon Askin.

The Pitch: “Hey, what if the Bowery Boys found a magic lamp?”

Tagline: They’re in the Underground with a Beautiful Spy!… in a laffdaffy riot of cloak-and-dagger adventure!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The Bowery Boys are recruited to help an European King regain his throne.

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“Sicario” (2015) written by Taylor Sheridan, directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin / Z-View

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Sicario (2015)

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Screenplay: Taylor Sheridan

Stars: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Victor Garber, Jon Bernthal, Jeffrey Donovan, Raoul Max Trujillo, Julio Cesar Cedillo, Kevin Wiggins, Edgar Arreola, Dylan Kenin, John Trejo and Daniel Kaluuya

Tagline: The border is just another line to cross.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Kate Macer is an FBI agent recruited to join a US task force fighting the war on drugs along the Mexican border.  After joining Kate learns things aren’t as they seem and lines are being crossed that bring into question her ethics and place her life in danger.

Thoughts…

Sicario was nominated for three 2016 Academy Awards…

  • Nominee for Best Achievement in Sound Editing – Alan Robert Murray
  • Nominee for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score – Jóhann Jóhannsson
  • Nominee for Best Achievement in Cinematography – Roger Deakins

Sicario is one of the best movies I’ve seen in years.  Taylor Sheridan creates a smart screenplay with action, drama and a story that sticks with you.

Denis Villeneuve’s direction makes every scene interesting.  Everything in this movie works – the cinematography, the sound, and the actors are all perfectly cast.

Benicio Del Toro felt that in the original screenplay, his character spoke too much.  He approached director, Denis Villeneuve, with his concerns.  Villeneuve agreed and estimated that 90% of his dialogue was cut which made his character much more mysterious and interesting.

Villeneuve told the movie’s composer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, that he wanted the score to contain the sound of a “threat” like that found in Jaws.  Jóhannsson came through like gangbusters.

Sicario gets my highest recommendation.

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Bowery to Bagdad (1955) / Z-View

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Bowery to Bagdad (1955)

Director: Edward Bernds

Screenplay: Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds

Stars: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall and Bernard Gorcey.

The Pitch: “Hey, what if the Bowery Boys found a magic lamp?”

Tagline: YOU’LL LOVE THEM IN BAGDAD!…As those Ding-Dong Daddies Go Haren-Scarem via The Magic Carpet!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The Bowery Boys find a magic lamp but before they can decide on their wishes, a group of mobsters discovers the genie and the battle for the lamp is on!

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Born to Kill (1947) / Z-View

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Born to Kill (1947)

Director: Robert Wise

Screenplay: Eve Greene and Richard Macaulay based on the novel by James Gunn

Stars: Claire Trevor, Lawrence Tierney, Walter Slezak, Elisha Cook Jr., Isabel Jewell and Esther Howard

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s turn the novel Born to Kill into a movie!”

Tagline: THE COLDEST KILLER A WOMAN EVER LOVED!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

On the run from the coldblooded murder of a woman and her boyfriend, Sam [Tierney] meets two half-sisters.  Although attracted to Helen [Trevor], Sam puts the moves on Georgia since she has money.  She’s attracted to him and after a whirlwind romance they are married.

Sam still has eyes for Helen and she likes the idea of Georgia’s money.  A match made in hell, right?  Things become even more complicated when sleazy private eye, Arnett [Slezak] shows up.  Arnett knows Sam’s a murderer but is willing to take cash to go away.  More people are going to die when you’re dealing with a man who was born to kill.

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Detour (1945) / Z-View

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Detour (1945)

Director: Edgar G. Ulmer

Screenplay: Martin Goldsmith

Stars: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake and Edmund MacDonald.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a low budget noir!”

Tagline: He went searching for love… but Fate forced a DETOUR to Revelry… Violence… Mystery!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Al Roberts [Neal] decides to hitchhike to Hollywood to join his girl.  When Roberts gets a ride from Charles Haskell [MacDonald] it appears Roberts is in luck.  Haskell is going all the way to Hollywood.  They take turns driving and it’s easy going until late at night on a deserted stretch of road that Roberts starts feeling tired.  He decides to wake up Haskell and have him drive.

Only Haskell won’t wake up!  He apparently died in his sleep.  When Roberts opens the car door Haskell falls out and hits his head.  Roberts panics.  Afraid that the cops won’t believe his story and will pin a murder on him, Roberts hides the body.  With no money, Roberts decides to take Haskell’s cash (he’s carrying quite a bit!) and driver’s license.  They look enough alike that Roberts believes he’ll fool anyone who questions him.  Once in Hollywood, Roberts will ditch the car, throw away the driver’s license and put this mess behind him.

And Roberts plan might have worked had he not picked up a woman hitchhiker named Vera [Savage].  She knew Haskell and threatens to go to the police unless Roberts does exactly what she wants.  Roberts is trapped with no way out unless…

 

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Horror Express (1972) / Z-View

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Horror Express (1972)

Director: Eugenio Martín (as Gene Martin)

Screenplay:  Arnaud d’Usseau and Julian Zimet 

Stars: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza and Telly Savalas.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s remake The Thing from Another World and set it on a train in 1906!”

Tagline: A nightmare of terror travelling aboard the Horror Express!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

The year is 1906.  An English scientist [Lee] is transporting a frozen prehistoric monster to England by train across the Siberian wasteland.  What could possibly go wrong?

You guessed it.  The monster thaws and turns out to be an alien that can kill and assume the shape of whoever it murders.  Will Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas be able to destroy the creature before it reaches civilization?  Stick around for the eye-popping finale and you’ll know!

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Night of the Living Dead (1990) / Z-View

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Night of the Living Dead (1990)

Director: Tom Savini

Screenplay: George Romero based on The Night of the Living Dead original screenplay by John A. Russo and George Romero 

Stars: Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman, Tom Towles and Bill Cardille.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s update (and copyright) a remake of ‘Night of the Living Dead’!”

Tagline: There IS a fate worse than death.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Tom Savini takes the helm of an updated version of Night of the Living Dead.  All the key players and set pieces are in place but it’s like watching a historic event from a slightly different timeline.  There are little changes in character but none of them are for the better.

Barbara starts off the same — overcome with shock from the realization that the dead are rising to eat the living, but partway through the movie she is ready to pick up a gun and go Rambo on zombies or humans that tick her off.  Ben is now as much of a hot head as Harry Cooper.

And the zombies aren’t like the zombies we’ve grown used to.  They’re not as scary.  Of course part of THAT problem is that when the ONOTLD was made, the zombie genre was being invented.  We’re almost 50 years from that and zombie expectations are much different. (Only a true horror aficionado would understand that!)  Also being filmed in color doesn’t help either.

The movie was still fun and I think most fans would enjoy the ride.

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The Innocents (1961) / Z-View

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The Innocents (1961)

Director: Jack Clayton

Screenplay: Truman Capote and William Archibald based on the Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw

Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde and Megs Jenkins.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a movie where two children in a remote mansion may be possessed by evil spirits!”

Tagline: A strange new experience in shock.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

In the late 1890’s a rich man hires a nanny, Miss Giddens [Kerr] to move to his remote, deserted mansion run by a few servants to oversee the raising of his nephew and niece.  Shortly after her arrival Miss Giddens begins to believe that the evil spirits of the former nanny and a man are trying to possess the children.

The Innocents is considered a classic by many and is an excellent film.  The black and white photography works wonderfully with the soundtrack to create a suspenseful movie full tension and a couple of legitimate scares.  They don’t make movies like this any more and it is a shame.

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