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Masters of Horror: Dreams in the Witch-House (2005)
Bravo, Stuart Gordon!
PRETTY CERTAIN I HAVEN'T INCLUDED ANY REAL SPOILERS:
I am a fairly new reader of HP Lovecraft, and I have watched a few of the attempts at bringing Lovecraft to the screen. Stuart Gordon is the filmmaker involved in some of the better ones (Re-Animator; From Beyond; Dagon), although his "faithfulness" to Lovecraft's stories varies. Sometimes Gordon goes off on his own, choosing to remain faithful only to the "spirit" of HPL (From Beyond). At other times, Gordon follows pretty closely (it seems a general notion that HPL is, again, generally speaking, difficult to film) HPL's words, even as he combines elements from different stories into a newer, cohesive whole ('Dagon', from 2001, combines elements of HPL's short story of the same name, with one of his best-received works ('The Shadow Over Innsmouth'), also choosing to throw in some "Chthulhu", just for kicks). Many of Lovecraft's stories involve dreams, many of which impinge upon the dreamer's waking life, which seems a difficult concept to translate to film. Stuart Gordon, however, does a great job showing this to us in 'The Dreams In The Witch House'.
Ezra Godden plays the main character, Walter Gilman, who takes a room in a rat-infested house in Arkham, Massachusetts, mostly due to how cheap the rent is. Gilman is a student at Arkham's own Miskatonic University (well-known to Lovecraft readers), studying String Theory, which, as Gilman explains, involves "the possibility of multiple universes", parallel to each other, yet that intersect with each other at points, which can be discovered by certain supernatural entities for, shall we say, less-than-nice purposes. If you're familiar with Shirley Jackson's 'The Haunting' (which holds HP Lovecraft as a clear influence), or the film from 1963 with Julie Harris, you'll be familiar with the idea that certain architecture can be created for the sole purpose of creating evil; a "dimensional crossroads", allowing certain beings with certain forbidden knowledge (which just might be contained in a certain volume of said forbidden knowLedge, a copy of which is held at the very college attended by Gilman, and that book just might make an appearance in this episode, human skin book-cover and all!) to cross over into other worlds, for the express purpose of doing evil. And with that idea, you are now acquainted with the main thrust of 'The Dreams In The Witch House.
New England was the realm of Witches. That's an important part of this story. There was a witch named "Keziah Mason", who made sacrifices to a certain "god" of Lovecraft's, Nyarlathotep. This witch has a "familiar", which helps prepare the way for the witch, doing her bidding, preparing the way; (Dracula had Renfield...), and her familiar happens to be a rat with a human face (no, seriously) named "Brown Jenkin". Now, also living in this house with Mr. Gilman are, one old man who asks Gilman if he's seen "the rat with the human face", and who once resided in the apartment in which Gilman now stays. And there's also a woman named Frankie, with a baby named Danny, who is also only staying there because she can't afford anyplace else. She befriends Gilman, and Gilman tries desperately to "help" Frankie & Danny, who are NOT safe living in this "Witch House", which is obvious the first time Gilman meets Frankie, in her apartment, when he chases a large brown rat back into the hole in the wall he came out of.
There are themes of "free will vs fate", as well as intimations of insanity, there's some "predestination" thrown in there, as well as the idea of mankind's helplessness and unimportance in the sheer vastness of the cosmos, always one of Lovecraft's favorite themes. There is none of your typical "cop out" in translating a bleak story such as this to film; Stuart Gordon is a pro at making filmic art from Lovecraft, and I'm not sure I don't believe this is the best HPL Gordon ever did, which is meant as a big compliment! Very faithful to the text, and I cannot stress enough, there's no cop out at the end. And if you know the story, you know already that there's thrills aplenty to be had: As I have said before In this review, this is a faithful adaptation of a story that contains a witch, whose familiar/partner-in-evil is A MURDEROUS RAT WITH A HUMAN FACE NAMED "BROWN JENKIN".
Personally, I can't believe more people aren't as fired up as me about this insanely-great episode of TV. I found this to be the best Lovecraft translation-to-film that I have yet seen! The only "disappointment" I can find in any of this, is the fact that Stuart Gordon passed away not long ago, which means we won't get anymore of his great Lovecraft adaptations. As they said back in old Hollywood when the great Ernst Lubitsch died: 1st man: "This is bad; No more Lubitsch"; 2nd man: "Even worse: No more Lubitsch pictures.". That's how I feel about the passing of Stuart Gordon: R. I. P., sir, if possible! (That's a little Lovecraft joke).
Enjoy!
Living in Oblivion (1995)
One of the funniest of nineties' indies
Living In Oblivion IS the mid-nineties to me, it seemed as if EVERYBODY was making a low-budget, possibly-pretentious film... Buscemi is pretty great here, his frustrations at having to deal with the crap that goes on during the making of a movie are where my brain goes whenever I hear a story about a director pulling out his hair due to idiotic interactions with moronic actors...
And James LeGros plays the most idiotic actor EVER, who, regardless of what revisionist history says, is DEFINITELY based on Brad Pitt's behavior on the set of Tom DiCillo's (this film's director) first feature film, Johnny Suede. Once you see LeGros' exaggerated Pitt-like movements and pronouncements, any and all doubt about who LeGros is channeling will disappear.
Catherine Keener is great as an actress who sleeps with LeGros and comes to regret it, deeply. Her disgust and castrating looks are priceless.
I laugh beginning to end with Living In Oblivion.
Happy Days: Haunted (1974)
The atmosphere of a 1950s Halloween...Just wonderful!
'Haunted' is my favorite half-hour of television ever! In the days before DVRs and VCRs, I used to wait anxiously for 'Haunted' to be played in rerun every Halloween. In the first 2 seasons especially, Happy Days had a wonderful atmosphere that captured the way I imagined the 1950s were. 'Haunted' has that atmosphere, plus it manages to add in the actual feeling of Halloween, which is my favorite time of year.
The plot in general: Ralph Malph wants to hold is annual Halloween party at a location where it won't be found - and crashed - by the gang The Demons. So he finds what he says is the ideal place: the Simpson House, which is said to be haunted by the headless ghost of old Magnolia Simpson. He asks Richie to check out the place on his way home. When Richie is hesitant, we see that he believes in - and is scared by - the Simpson legend, yet he agrees to stop by (with Joanie in tow) in order to save face. He stops by the house, but is not comforted by what he finds - in fact he flees the house in terror! What is it that he sees in the closet? With everyone telling him that the story of the ghost of Magnolia Simpson is just a legend, Richie attends the party...but he's still not convinced the legend isn't true. He ruins a couple of gags Potsie and Ralph set up at the party in order to scare the girls, angering them in the process, and they have their revenge, scaring Richie in front of the whole party and embarrassing him in the bargain. But when a headless form begins making its way down the stairs, it becomes obvious it's not Ralph or Potsie's doing... Who will face the figure, and their fears in the process?
Honestly, it's a cool episode all the way around, but the plot is secondary for me. The normal '50s feel of Happy Days is amped up with the wonderful atmosphere of Halloween - costumes, trick-or-treating, pranks. To the wonderful early Arnold's, with its dark green walls and pennants, is added a Halloween party at a "real" haunted house, complete with bobbing for apples, fake spiders and decorations. It's low-lit for effect, and check out the cold cuts table! And the final shot at the party, with a jack-o-lantern superimposed over the costumed dancers, is a really nice touch.
All in all, there are more than a few Happy Days episodes that give me a warm feeling all over, but none of them top 'Haunted'! Check it out if you haven't already...especially if you love Halloween.
Dennis Miller: The Big Speech (2010)
What happened, Dennis?
What happened to Dennis Miller? I was a fan, all through SNL, the late-night talk show, 'Dennis Miller Live'; I even found his time on 'Monday Night Football' to be, at least, entertaining and interesting, if not successful. But that Dennis Miller is dead. Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, let me say that my politics fall to the left-of-center. But that's not why I hated this special so much. I saw him live in 2006 in Atlantic City, years into his "conversion" to staunch right-wing hawk due to Sept. 11. And guess what...the show was great. He hadn't lost a bit of his edge (although in retrospect, he stood stock-still at center stage, hand on the mike, so close to it his face was nearly obscured; you couldn't see the smirks and other expressions that were his trademark. Seems to me now he had a lot on his mind, like he wasn't sure of something...). Now, I never considered Miller a liberal, although when I did a search, it seems he does admit to being one up through the '90s. It always seemed to me he had a journalists sense of neutrality (well, journalists used to be neutral anyway), and he'd let anyone who was a little too full of himself, or who stepped over the line, "have it" in his smarmy way. I never felt like he was pushing a leftist agenda. Whether you agree with that statement or not, the same cannot be said of Dennis Miller, Republican. And in one of the clips I found from Googling him, from 'The O'Reilly Factor' in 2007, he states that the main reason he converted (beside his professed want for the U.S. to be "proactive" in dealing with terrorists in the wake of 9/11) was that he was tired of everyone on the left being "in lockstep". But if you watch this special (and if you're a Miller fan from way back, it's hard) you'll see how disingenuous this pronouncement really is; he toes the Republican line on issues from "Obama-care" (his words)and disbelief in global warming, through his being "a believer" (anybody remember the Christian Dennis Miller? Was I not paying attention?). But, as I said, even though this all seems like a career move, it'd be forgivable if he was still funny. I felt, at one point, especially since he addresses his dismissal from Monday Night Football, that the critical beating he took during his time there about his arcane references and seeming need to speak just to hear himself speak caused in him a need to "dumb it down" so he wouldn't seem so highfalutin' to middle America, which is an incredible act of condescension on his part (watch the special and compare it to the previous 25 years' Dennis Miller; he's not the same guy). But, again, his worst sin is the lack of any funny material. On You Tube there's a clip of his late night talk show where he interviews the late, great comic Bill Hicks, and they both have a laugh about Denis Leary's pilfering of Hicks' whole act. Well, in 'The Big Speech', Miller actually seems to have stolen at least one joke from Leary (Leary's "Life's hard, get a f***** helmet" becomes Miller's "Life's hard, wear a cup"). Shame on you, Dennis. Bill Hicks must be spinning in his grave; but you're lucky he's there and not here, where he could call you on your bull****. Anyway, here's a line you'll recognize, since you named your first child Holden: you're just a big phony.