Thursday, October 20, 2016

Thursday Movie Picks-Sci-Fi Horror


This is the week where I will get scared to death by seeing all the Alien and Predator movies. I still can't watch any Alien film because it just scares the bejeebies out of me. I went old school again....really old school because I love silent films. Head on over to the brainchild of this series, Wandering Through The Shelves to see what the other film lovers have chosen.

1. DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE-1920


I said I would go old school and this film is 96 years old so...very old school and yes, silent. I actually just watched this film on Monday since I was crippled up and home from work. I think we all know the story about a nice, handsome, good man who is a doctor engaged to a loving young woman. He becomes intrigued and then obsessed with the duality of human nature...good and bad that is inherent in all of us. He concocts a potion that can bring out the evil part of his nature resulting in Mr. Hyde. This is the film that freaked audiences out way back when and made this story famous. John Barrymore of (hiccup) theatre and film fame( and alcoholism) stars as the famous doctor and he plays it to his hammiest best. I did laugh a little when he was changing into Hyde but that was his style. His makeup as Hyde is truly stellar and you can see the human in the evil Hyde. It co-stars the pretty and tragic Martha Mansfield( she died while making a movie, in 1923, when her costume caught fire) and the temptress Nita Naldi. Oh...yes, Drew Barrymore is related to John...it's her grandfather. There are tons of versions of this classic.

2.  THE DEVIL DOLL-1936


When I was a teen, I was home alone for the weekend and my home was large and creaky. It was close to Halloween and my imagination was getting the better of me. I did not feel like watching The Omen or the many scary movies that were on. I watched the Love Boat but now I was stuck about what to do. I turned to Saturday Night At The Movies hosted by the great Elwy Yost and found this film. Lionel Barrymore, brother of John,  stars as a wrongly convicted man who escapes prison with a mad scientist(of course). The Mad scientist dies but not before showing Lionel's character his invention of making humans smaller. The reason....to try to stop the food sources from disappearing. The "innocent" convict decides to use this on the people who actually did the bad deed. I love this movie as it made me forget that Sasquatch could be looking through the living room window and enjoy Lionel Barrymore's performance especially since he plays an old lady in much of this film which is a hoot to see. This is a fun movie and love the effects considering this was made in the 1930's.

3. THE FLY-1958


This is the original  that made many people go...ewwwwwww. It stars David Hedison as a loving scientist, with a wife and young son, who is developing a way to transport his body from one place to another. He is successful with inanimate objects and proceeds to try this on their poor cat and then finally himself. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize a fly is in the box with him and they change matter so he ends up with the head and arm of the fly. He informs his wife not to look under the towel over his head and search for the fly so he can reverse the process (She doesn't listen and takes the towel off of course). His mind slowly becomes that of the fly and he asks his wife to end his suffering. It co-stars Vincent Price and I was fine with this movie until the very end when they find the fly...in a spider web. I can never hear "Help Me" quite the same way again. This film was remade with Jeff Goldbloom and was parodied by the Simpsons.

I went all mad scientist this week. What films would you choose?


41 comments:

  1. Hi, Birgit!

    You finally got around to my favorite film genre and three movies that I have seen and enjoyed. I watched this silent version of Dr. J & Mr. H in my college course on history of the cinema. I agree that the make-up was fantastic and disturbing. There is no greater evil than that which lurks inside man and nothing as frightening as that evil manifesting itself. The Devil Doll uses the same theme and effects as the 1958 horror film Attack of the Puppet People. Devil Doll featured one of my favorite big screen actresses, the beautiful Maureen O'Sullivan, mother of Mia Farrow. The trailer for The Fly is one of the best of the genre and Vincent Price remains my favorite horror movie actor. I saw The Fly at age 8 with my big brother. That closing scene in the garden still haunts me, too! :)

    Thanks for the memories, dear friend BB!

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    1. the Devil Doll does have a such a sweetness when it comes to Lionel and Margaret. I love that movie. Glad you saw the silent film because so few watch silents.

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  2. You did go old school. I have seen them all.
    Yes, I would pick Aliens first. My favorite movie! The 80's version of The Fly was also great. Plus another very creepy and disturbing film - Event Horizon.

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    1. I have to check out Event Horizon but I will not see Alien...totally freaks me out. Glad you saw all these films:)

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  3. Never seen any of these. Have seen the Alien films. Sci Fi horror, or even horror, are not my favorite genre to say the least. Hope you feel better soon.

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    1. You are braver than me about the Alien movies

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  4. Aliens would sure be in mine. Only seen the remake of The Fly, wasn't bad. Seen one version of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde too as a kid, remember it was just really weird.

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    1. Aliens are too scary for me. I have not seen the remake of the Fly because it also seems too scary. There are several versions of Jekyll and Hyde and I have seen a few but still not the famous 1931 film

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  5. I can't imagine a film 96 years old! I stay away from this genre. I want to sleep at night.

    Betty

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  6. I'd like to see the Fly, I never have. I haven't seen the 20's version of Jeckyll and Hyde either.

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    1. It's an oldy for sure but fu. To watch. Maybe one day you will see The Fly

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  7. The devil doll?? I don't know it, but I'm creeped out just hearing about it.

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    1. It's pretty cool and actually has a sweetness to it since the main character has a daughter played by Maureen O' Sullivan

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  8. ARGH I'm so off this week! I struggled to come up with picks and completely blanked on all the good older movies for some reason!

    Love you picks....SO much better than mine. The original Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a fascinating piece of cinema. John Barrymore could do beautiful work at times but he, just like Lionel, could let it fly and chew the high grade ham with the best of them. Such as when he does the change over but then silent performing is such a different beast from what was required in talkies. Despite that bit of over the top showiness it is a solid film.

    The Devil Doll is one creepy fright fest with Lionel adding much to that feeling in his mad weirdness.

    The original Fly is both a hoot and an interesting document of its time. The F/X are clunky now but it's still an interesting watch and of course Vincent Price is always entertaining. I chose the remake-my one good film of the week.

    Like I said I struggled for choices and my last is the bottom of the barrel but I'll do better next week.

    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.

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    1. I did see Hollow Man...inthe theatre and ughhh....it went all nutty half way through and Bacon was not great. I haven't seen the Fly remake because it looks quite scary. The last film sounds horrible like so many made during that era.

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  9. oooh. I like the sound of the Devil Doll. I haven't seen the original Fly, but the remake will make you got ewwww as well

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    1. Not sure if I will see The Fly remake...sounds very scary. I really like The Devil Doll....lots of fun

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  10. Three I haven't seen. Creepy premises. Well, I've heard of the story of two. Not my kind of movies, so I don't have any to offer.

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    1. Some genres are not for everyone and this is the month for spooky...spooky

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  11. I haven't seen any of these. Reading your description of them is frightening enough.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. They can be scary but they are the limit for me

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  12. The Fly, oh yeah, definitely a classic.

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  13. Haven't seen The Devil Doll but the other two were pretty good.

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  14. #1 -- JACOB'S LADDER
    (One of my Top 25 favorite movies of all time.)

    Also...

    ALTERED STATES
    and
    (John Carpenter's) THE THING

    ~ d-fENSdOGg
    'lOYAL aMERICAN uNDERGROUND'

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    1. I don't think I have seen Jacob's Ladder and I have not seen Altered States. I have seen both versions of the Thing and the remake was grizzly.

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    2. Yes, Carpenter's THE THING was grisly, AND suspenseful, hence: a great SciFi Horror movie.

      The other two I mentioned have Spiritual elements that elevate them beyond the usual SciFi Horror genre. They are Intellectual-Spiritual Horror movies. Both are truly great films.

      ~ D-FensDogG
      'Loyal American Underground'

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  15. The 1920 Jekyll and Hyde was an inspired choice!

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  16. The Devil Doll sounds awesome! But I know I'll freak it all the same :)

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  17. Haven't seen any of these (only Cronenberg's remake of The Fly) and even though I wasn't crazy about the novel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde seems like it's worth the time.

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    1. I liked this silent version quite a bit and I like the Spencer Tracy version. I still have not seen the Frederic March version for which he won an Oscar. I don't care for the new versions that make Hyde this huge hulk... totally misses the point

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  18. OOOOOOOOOOOOH I NEED to see The Devil Doll!

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    1. It's really quite good and am so glad I saw it.

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  19. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde is a great choice. That's still the best version of the story. The Fly is very good, but I prefer Cronenberg's remake. Need to see The Devil Doll.

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    1. Devil Doll is great. I am too scared to see the remake of the Fly. I enjoyed this version of Jekyll/Hyde very much and found it excellent with the make up. I still have to see the Frederic March version.

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  20. Excellent picks for this time of year. I haven't seen any of these- but I am curious about all of them. I am most curious about Devil Doll. Sounds very creepy! Thanks for sharing. :)
    ~Jess

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  21. I like the Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde version with Julia Roberts as the the doctor's maid Mary. They fall in love with each other of course. John Malkovitch played Dr. Jekyll. He was amazing. If I'm remembering correctly, he did the transformation himself. No special effects, that is.

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