Her Morning Elegance / Behind the Camera

Day 12 - 17: Horror/Supernatural Movie Month Comic Con NYC

 So here are the movies that I chose during Comic Con week. No surprise at  all that I picked "Hellboy II," my wife really loves Big Red.
Neil Gaiman's  "Coraline" was next, I loved it a lot, though the book was much better. No little boy coming to the rescue.
The rest I'm just listing because I'm beat.
"Dr. Strange" - (1978 Television)
"Ghost Rider"
"Constantine"
"Blade"& "Vampire Hunter D,"subtitled, for tonight's double feature.

Next Listings will be of classic horror, that produced sequels.

Day 10 & 11: Horror/Supernatural Movie Month

Last night I was on a web shoot that will post, with any luck, this coming Monday after Comic Con NYC. So, keeping the fact in mind that I'm always beat after a shoot, I decided to watch Sam Raimi's "Army of Darkness." This is not a Lovecraft film, but it contains "Necronomicon," making it a good transitional film from Lovecraft week. Anyone who has not seen this film, SHAME ON YOU!!!!! It is horror, action, comedy and romance all rolled up in one. This gem, also contains one of the greatest lines in cinematic history!

Ash: Alright you Primitive Screwheads, listen up! You see this? This... is my boomstick! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. You got that?



Why Bruce Campbell did not become Hollywood's A-list hero, is so far beyond my scope of comprehension.





And now a little transition to the next film.

On the 11th day of horror week my true love said to me, I WANT TO SEE HELLBOY! Well this works fine, it meets the supernatural criteria of October, works well for Comic Con, has cats, and lots of Nazis die. Hellboy is one of the finest superhero movies, and gives me a nice break from straight out horror films. So for the rest of the week, until Sunday, it's gonna be comic book movies with a supernatural theme.

Hellboy with kittens by Kristin Palach
Please take a look at her other work at the link below.
http://kristinpalach.blogspot.com/2011/02/hellboy-and-kitties.html

Day 9: Horror/Supernatural Movie Month H.P. Lovecraft Week

Finally, day seven, or thank you god, as my wife calls it, of the H.P. Lovecraft segment of Horror/Suspense Month. I saved the very best for last, “The Call of Cthulhu.”  This film was created by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and filmed in “Mythoscope,” their creation. The film is a spot on recreation of the story, so with that said on to the technique of the film. “The Call of Cthulhu,” was filmed as a B&W silent feature, recreating what Lovecraft would have seen at the cinema, in his own times. The special effects were also recreating period techniques. This daring move was all accomplished brilliantly.

I have personally seen a great many silent films, original, and restored versions, during film school and just for recreation. If this film is judged along with the top silent films ever I believe it would knock a few of those films down a peg or two.

The following picture contains the film as well as a copy of the radio play, “At the Mountains of Madness.”  All of the accompanying materials were included with the audio disc, and PDF replica of a two page Sydney Bulletin, was on the movie disc. 

Day 7&8: Horror/Supernatural Movie Month H.P. Lovecraft Week

This blog post will cover two days of movies. First, Friday night I watched the “Re-Animator,” “Bride of Re-Animator,” and finished off into the wee hours with “Beyond Re-Animator,” all based on "Herbert West–Re-animator," and set in modern times. Elements of the original story are present in the first two movies, while the third takes us to destinations unknown.  All three movies are enjoyable and gore-filled, with a bit of sex thrown in. One would think with the name of Lovecraft, he might have written about sex once in a while.  

On Saturday I thoroughly enjoyed volume 3 & 4 of “The H.P. Lovecraft Collection.” Volume 3, titled “Out of Mind,” begins with the titled story, featured on Bravo. It is a story featuring Randolph Carter and H.P. himself. This is a combination of many of Lovecraft’s stories, taking place though the dream cycle.

Next is John Strysik’s short “The Music of Erich Zann.” This is a very good short, though not entirely accurate to the source material.

The last two shorts are by Aaron Vanek, “The Outsider,” and “My Necronomicon.” My first thoughts on theses pieces were a bit clumsy, until I read that he was still in film school at the time. The first is based on Lovecraft’s story of the same title, while the second is just out of the creator’s mind.

Volume 4 is titled “Pickman’s Model,” contains three interpretations of Lovecraft’s story. The first by Chilean director Ricardo Harrington, is fabulous! The second version was by an Italian director, Giovanni Furore, is really very good. The first two versions really captured the decent into madness. And finally the third version, is by an American director, Cathy Welch, it was really, well… meh.  

The disc also contains a short “Between the Stars,” based on a quote by Lovecraft, as well as a wonderful, animated version of “The Tomb.”

No post tonight here is a kitty

Vivian

Day 6: Horror/Supernatural Movie Month H.P. Lovecraft Week

After reading many reviews on the movies I watch, I realize that I enjoy movies more than most people, and most reviewers just want to feel important. For further reference see “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”

I like the “The Postman," & "Waterworld,” and I liked “Beyond the Wall of Sleep.” 

Read Lovecraft’s letters, he was the biggest critic of his own work, shared his creations with others willingly and praised others efforts no matter how bad. 

When watching  H.P. Lovecraft movies, keep in mind all of the writers that wrote Lovecraft-inspired stories. Most just used names of monsters or characters, others used the themes. Of course others expanded the Mythos he created so just sit back and have fun.

Lastly to all the critics, make a great film yourself, or even a bad one before you criticize your next film.   Just refer to what  Roger Ebert has to say about this subject, and refer to his IMDB page. 

Day 5: Horror/Supernatural Movie Month H.P. Lovecraft Week

It’s day 5 of Horror/Supernatural movie month and day 3 of H.P. Lovecraft week.  The first movie was picked by Tony, as seen in the picture below. While knocking over all the other selections this is the one he settled on, I’m not sure why. I think maybe the thought of all the lovely fish hybrids at a bizarre seaside location influenced his choice.

 

 

 

 

Next is the second volume of The H.P. Lovecraft Collection “Dreams of Cthulhu – The Rough Magik Initiative.”  This disc contains Stephen Parson’s “Rough Magik Initiative,” obviously. This is a pilot for a TV series which in my opinion would have been fan-freaking-tastic! It would have to be reshot and create a firm solid bible for the piece, but had a great solid premise. This is one of the areas where English TV production is far superior. Take for example the show “Life On Mars,” first made in the UK and later in the US. Both were great shows and geared toward their respective audiences, but the UK version was not restrained by the obsessive need for syndication and could do two solid seasons and end it on top.

 

The disc also contains Bob Fugger’s “The Terrible Old Man,” and a trailer of “From Beyond,” both fine shorts staying pretty true to the source material. I think someone should give this production team a real budget to work with.

 

Lastly two little gems for anyone who has played Delta Green, Christian Matzke’s “Experiment 17,” and “Experiment 18,” are about desperate Nazi occultists. Always fun to watch Nazis go down.

 

 

Day 4: Horror/Supernatural Movie Month H.P. Lovecraft Week

Tonight’s selections are Stuart Gordon’s ‘From Beyond’ and ‘Cool Air’ from the H.P. Lovecraft collection. ‘From Beyond’ is a really decent adaptation of the original story while updating it with fetish sex and tons of gore.  

The Lurker releases showcases the winners of the H.P. Lovecraft film festival. The first release from Lurker Films of ‘Cool Air’ is a low budget film that captures the real feel of a Lovecraft story.  This disc also contains Christian Matzke’s ‘An Imperfect Solution’ and Anthony Penta’s ‘The Hound and the Hapless Antiquarian’.

 

Day 3: Horror/Supernatural Movie Month H.P. Lovecraft Week

This post will cover Monday October 3rd, day 3, and I will continue through Saturday the 8th with a choice selection of H.P. Lovecraft movie adaptations for Horror / Suspense Month. The thing that comes to mind most when trying to adapt a Lovecraft story to screen is how to create horror from something that is described as so horrible to see it is to lose all sanity.  Many attempts are laughable, at least to me. 

Monday covers old adaptations. Die Monster Die is based extremely loosely on The Colour Out of Space starring Boris Karloff at age 70 and The Dunwich Horror with a very young Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee. I remember seeing both of these films on T.V. when I was young and found them both rather enjoyable so that years later I bought them both on DVD. Neither film is a good representation of the stories that spawned them, the special effects are limited and the acting is a little old school theatrical but I can’t help loving both so much so that they inspired me to seek out the source material.

Monday: Die monster Die  & The Dunwich Horror

Day Two: Horror / Supernatural Movie Month

Tonight’s movie is a little classic story of revenge. Based on a novel by Peter Straub and staring Hollywood’s golden age stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr., John Houseman, as well as the final acting performances of Fred Astaire and Melvyn Douglas. Mr. Douglas passed on before its release in December of 81.

Day One: Horror / Supernatural Movie Month

This will be a blog a day for the month of October. As usual, every year I watch a horror movie a day from the two milk crates of horror films residing in my basement. 

When I was about 13 1/2 back in 81 I was lucky enough to have my own video rental card. The world was opened to me, it was the equivalent of a library card except for the fact that I had to pay for my rentals. People these days seem ridiculously over protective, but back then I could rent anything from rated G to R, and did quite frequently.  

Here is a quick example of how things were different back when I was growing up. In 1979, I was 11 and my little brother was 8 going on 9 and we walked the eleven blocks or 22 short blocks from our house to the the Benson movie theater to see the movie “Hair” which was rated PG. Now I am sure I did not understand half the words in half the songs, but I was also not dumb enough to go home and ask my parents the meaning of the words in the song ‘Sodomy’. 

But back to my video card, these were simpler days when people had a little more freedom, and in my opinion, parents were a little less nuts, at least in Brooklyn. Well I took my card to the video store and rented, at the age of 13 1/3, two R rated films for a wonderful fall afternoon double feature in my basement. I invited my best friend - also named Chris - as well as friends Tammy and Eileen from Jr. High. Before they arrived I made traditional pot-popped popcorn and we always drank pitchers of ice water. 

My friends were excited to see my movie selection: “The Blues Brothers”  with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd  - one of my musical favorites. 

The second movie was the first horror movie I ever chose for myself and I feel it was a very good choice for my first horror movie for this year, John Carpenter’s “The Fog.”  It opens with with a wonderful quote from Edgar Allen Poe’s “A Dream Within A Dream,”  to set the mood for the movie.  It is a wonderful supernatural zombie / ghost story.

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!

And, in parting from you now,

Thus much let me avow-

You are not wrong, who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day,

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar

Of a surf-tormented shore,

And I hold within my hand

Grains of the golden sand 

How few! yet how they creep

Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep- while I weep!

O God! can I not grasp

Them with a tighter clasp?

O God! can I not save

One from the pitiless wave?

Is all that we see or seem

But a dream within a dream? 

My Movie History Part 2

My mother has extremely fond memories of movies that she saw with her grandmother in theaters.  I would hear of the sets of plates they gave out and the sing a longs. They spent a quarter and saw 2 movies a serial a cartoon and a news real.  I was  not so lucky to be around when the movies were such grand events, but I do have a fond movie memory when I was little and had the chicken pox. It was hot and I itched like hell, my mom made popcorn, not jiffy pop real stove top popcorn, and we stayed up all night  and watched TV. I got  great film education that night.  

Arsenic and Old Lace

Operation Petticoat, one of the movies she saw with her grandmother

and the Twilight Zone episode The Invaders starring Agnes Moorehead. 

Contest for Marie's ZGB&G

It's no secret, there is a bar in "Marie's Zero Gravity Bar and Grill", and this intergalactic bar need a proper drink menu. C-Squared Pictures is going to have a contest. You come up with a winning drink for the bar, and we will be use in the series, named it for you or whatever name you wish and included in the "Marie's Zero Gravity Bar and Grill" drinks guide.

There will be a very special prize to go along with the winning entry.

Being Friday get together with friend or pleasant strangers and have a blast, the process should be as much fun as the result. We are planning on inviting friends over to "Experiment" with colors, consistencies and flavors. You should do the same.

Contest rules and requirements will be forth coming once the team of C-Squared Pictures Lawyers has had chance to write them.

My Movie History Part 1

I’ve always loved TV and movies from the time I was little.  I was in trader Joe’s the other day and their cashiers seem to be required to make idle chitchat while packing up your groceries. I’ve come to enjoy the exchange but was recently thrown for a loop when I was asked what my favorite movie was.  My mind went to Star Wars. It is the movie I’ve watched more then any other, well over 200 times. When the movie first came out my family was on a summer trip to Ohio and on our trip we would usually go see a movie mixed in with the historic sight seeing and amusement parks.. That particular night I had a fever and had to miss Star Wars. A nine year old missing the premiere of Star Wars at that time was a tragedy, I would have been a social outcast once school started. Luckily in the hotel room on television was Lawrence of Arabia.  

My second bit of luck was that my father worked for RCA and we had one of the first VCRs. He also, and I don’t know how, got a copy of Star Wars from Australian TV and my brother and I wore that tape out.  When the film came back to the theaters we spent all summer seeing it three to four times a day. The tape was no longer watchable. 

I'm Here

     Ok, it has been a long time coming for this sort of thing. I mean if I want to be a writer, I need a blog. Maybe just to hash (that would be Veggie) out some ideas and hear the endless criticism of all those out there that love to criticize. You see, I'm having an extremely difficult time of getting the stuff in my head onto the page. Currently I am working on a romantic screenplay, a children's book, two supernatural stories and three finished short screenplays that I want to make into graphic novels or web videos.

     Now there are several problems, the first being that I type with two fingers - three at the most - and still need to look down at the keys while typing. I realize now that I should not have blown off that typing class in High School. The second problem becomes obvious from the string of things I've started and have not finished. While I contemplate number three and misspell the third word of the sentence, I'll move the fourth problem up one slot. My spelling and punctuation are atrocious and while spell check is a modern wonder we all know some of the funny results that are born of relying upon it. Luckily I have two lovely people who help me, my wife Ria that reads everything I write and my friend Ruth that has a highlighter even when she reads published books. I'll also add in that my grammar be not so good at times either.

     Lastly at this point I believe my art work is horrible. Now while I've been told by others it's not, I can not bring myself to believe them. I mean if I traced someone’s art of stick figures I would believe my version to suck. Now on some level this would be true because it was not my work to begin with, that is beside the point I was trying to make.

     So I began to follow writers and artists on twitter, mostly women of a comic bookie nature, because I feel that women are greatly under represented. I know that 50% is not the most accurate of ratios but all you have to do is take a look at the government to see the ridiculous number of old white guys and lack of women, not to mention lack of diversity, and yes of course I realize the irony of this being a white guy.

     So if you haven’t left yet from sheer boredom until I modify this page further feel free to peruse my facebook page for more info on me.
http://www.facebook.com/chris.barra#!/chris.barra?sk=info