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The Fall Of The House Of Usher (DVD)
by karenuk
Another evening with not much on telly... Another DVD to watch...
I am a big fan of old horror films and have a special fondness for the kings of horror - Cushing, Lee, Lugosi, Karloff and Vincent Price. My DVDs include The Vincent Price Collection and The Roger Corman Collection - both of which feature three Vincent Price ... movies. Last night, we decided to watch one of the Corman/Price set - The Fall of the House of Usher. It is a well-known movie, but not one I have seen before. It was released in 1960, runs for only 76 minutes and is rated a 12. The only extra on this disc is a theatrical trailer.
House of Usher is based on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, which I haven't read, but from watching this film, I feel they really had to stretch it to make even a 76-minute movie from it. While there are some good aspects to it, overall it is rather tedious, dull, too drawn out and incredibly slow-paced.
There are only four actors in the film (ignoring the hippy-trippy dream sequence typical of a Corman film) - Philip Winthrop (played by Mark Damon), Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey), Roderick Usher (Vincent Price) and their butler Bristol (Harry Ellerbe). The story begins when Philip arrives at the House of Usher to see his fiancée Madeline. The butler shows him in, but things seem strange from the start as he is informed his beloved is ill in bed and he is asked to remove his footwear. When he is introduced to Madeline's brother Roderick, things become even weirder. Roderick explains he has an illness which makes his hearing particularly sensitive and warns Philip to leave the house and never see his fiancée again.
Madeline appears and embraces her lover and Philip vows to stay over to see how she is. As the evening progresses, it appears the house is structurally damaged, as things fall down and one large wall of the building appears to have a huge ominous crack in it.
It turns out the Usher family have a history of various crimes and illnesses, which Roderick goes on to warn Philip about, but it doesn't deter him from wanting to marry Madeline. So he stays at the house and becomes embroiled in their bizarre world. I can't really explain much more, so as not to spoil your enjoyment if you watch it - but really, I wouldn't bother, unless you want insomnia cured anyway.
I am quite obsessive when watching films and usually pause a DVD even if I'm just nipping to the loo or putting the kettle on. This time, I didn't bother, seeing those couple of minutes away as a welcome break from tedium. Sure enough, I got back to find nothing had happened in my absence. After the initial "Ooh this is weird, I wonder what's going on?" you just end up with "Not a lot really."
I usually enjoy a Vincent Price film simply because he is in it, but even he couldn't save House of Usher. For starters, I didn't like how he looks in this film, as he has stupid blonde hair and no trademark moustache. His wonderful voice is still the same and he happily purrs through his lines like a wannabe King Lear, but he seems particularly arch throughout and at least several lines are delivered by his right eyebrow.
The other three actors kind of pass you by. Mark Damon is handsome in a kind of 1950s matinee idol way, though he has more grease on his hair than Travolta as Danny and you would expect him to be dancing in West Side Story rather than turning up on this film. Myrna Fahey is pretty, but her acting is hardly stretched. She does a nice line in 'bland' and her 'insane' is passable, but otherwise, she's just there to look cute in a nightie. Meanwhile, Harry Ellerbe is a typical butler really, 'yes sir' every few minutes and a selection of looks to convey a vague warning of something not quite right around these parts. If this was a Hammer Horror, the role would have been played by Michael Ripper and he'd have made much more of an impact.
Of course, there are a few good things about the film. The sets are beautiful and plushly dressed with plenty of red velour and antique furniture. (I love Roderick's chair with the little figures either side.) The huge rooms in the main house contrast beautifully with the dark, almost colourless crypt, which gives a nice spooky atmosphere and some of the effects are well realised too. It feels like it had some money spent on it in these respects.
The last few scenes of the film are stunning - and what the fast forward button was invented for! If there is any real horror in this film, it is in these scenes and although possibly rather a predictable ending, it is still worth seeing. The same cannot be said for the film in its entirety though and after sitting through 76 minutes of it, I did find myself wondering how many other, better ways there could have been to spend that time...
If my review hasn't put you off, you can buy the DVD. The Fall of the House of Usher is available as a single disc for Ł3.99 from Amazon UK or as part of The Roger Corman Collection DVD boxset (with The Masque of the Red Death and The Pit and the Pendulum) for Ł10.99.
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Psycho [1960] (DVD)
by AbsintheFairy
Psycho is perhaps Hitchcock's best-known film, the iconic shower scene probably one of the most famous in cinema, having been parodied numerous times (even on the Simpsons!) and well known - even down to the music - by those who've never seen the film. I watched it for the first time a couple of years ago, and saw it again ... recently.
Psycho stars Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, who after stealing forty thousand dollars and going on the run ends up at the ill-fated Bates Motel, run by the reclusive Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). She is pursued by her boyfriend Sam Loomis (John Gavin), sister Lila (Vera Miles) and a private detective Milton Arbogast (Martin Balsam), but will any of them be able to discover what happened to Marion?
Psycho does not begin like a horror film, but more like a love story, and if you didn't know anything about the film you might assume it was simply about Marion's boss trying to track her down. The film works really well as you end up caring about Marion before her inevitable death. The famous shower scene is brilliantly filmed - apparently the movie was filmed in black and white in order to keep costs down and prevent this scene from being too gory - and manages to be scary even though I'd seen it before in various different guises.
The whole film is a bit of a mystery as you try to work out who killed Marion. The story is so embedded in popular culture that I already knew who the murderer was, but other parts of the plot came as a surprise to me. In any case, the whole thing is so well done and the tension builds up really well that even on a second viewing it's exciting!
Psycho is definitely worth watching, even if you don't normally like horror films - it's not particularly gory (and is certificated only 15, not 18) but it is very intriguing and very well made. Despite the 60s sets and clothes (the film was made in 1960) it doesn't feel dated at all. Be warned though - you might not want to take a shower again!
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The Virgin Spring (DVD)
by BlackSwan
*Film Review Only*
Plot:
A young Christian girl, Karin (Birgitta Pettersson) embarks on a journey to take the candles to the local church - a task only befitting a virgin of pure spirit. She is accompanied for part of the journey by her pregnant foster sister, Ingeri (Gunnel Lindblom) who secretly worships the Norse ... god Odin and has jealously wished a curse on Karin. On the journey the two part company and Ingari encounters a one-eyed man who causes her to flee in terror. Meanwhile Karin encounters two shepherds and a boy. What follows is a cycle of vicious violence and retribution that will leave Karin's distraught father (played by Max Von Sydow) praying for redemption...
Review:
I feel I must apologise first for any spoilers I might inadvertently blurt out in my review/examination of this classic picture. However, in my humble defence this is a film based on a traditional moral tale and revealing the beginning middle and end is about as harmful as telling you the full plot of Cinderella before you see Disney's interpretation. This is really a film about how the story is portrayed, interpreted and executed than the actual plot.
It is perhaps a little sad that many who seek out "The Virgin Spring", including me, do so because of its tenuous connection to Wes Craven's début exploitation flick "The Last House on the Left". Craven has made some very impressive horror pictures, but "Last House" wasn't one of them despite the odd reverence many horror fans bestow upon it. However, tenuous connections, particularly those that link different levels of art are an indulgence of mine. Interestingly Bergman's story has its roots in the medieval ballad, "Töres döttrar i Wänge". This traditional verse tells the story of three young maids slain on their journey to church by three highwaymen. Three wells spring up where the three girls are killed. When the highwaymen try to sell the girl's clothes to the girl's mother, she tells her husband who dispatches two of them. The surviving one reveals that they are the sons of the couple and were thrown out into the wild to fend for themselves as children. The father then repents and vows to build a church to atone for his crimes. There are fewer twists in Bergman's tale and the director is clearly more motivated to ask religious and moral questions rather than to go with the simplistic message of the ballad.
The film has been called nihilistic. I am not sure if this is entirely accurate. There is a cycle of repentance and possible redemption for all the characters, if not in this world then in a spiritual one. I would argue that if we consider this to be nihilistic then so is the Bible. There has also been criticism of the character of Ingeri, a character purely of Bergman's invention. Some critics have said she doesn't serve a purposeful function for the film's narrative. I couldn't disagree more. In many ways, she is the most interesting of the different characters and presents both positive and negative comparisons with the Christian religion. Ingeri provides a different perspective and commentary on this Christian folk fable. Despite what one review said on a horror review website, Ingeris clearly does show strong signs of remorse and her actions later in the film show her repentance. I don't feel we need an on the nose full-blow confession or soul-bearing soliloquy for Gunnel Lindblom to show her feelings after the terrible crime. In fact, she works well to show several important themes in the story. Ingeris worships the old religion, then dying out, and is the opposite of her foster-sister, although not evil. This is evident in her physical appearance, faith and attitude to life. Ingeris's bad experience with a one-eyed stranger is clearly a comment on her god, the one-eyed Odin. Her infantile and jealous curse is perhaps a comment on being careful for what you wish for or the nature of the old religion - not that Christianity is presented in an entirely preferable light. On the upside Ingeris is a survivor, but her self-preservation might go a little too far in her unhelpful if anguished witnessing of the crime that befalls Karin.
Unfortunately it has been too often boiled down to shock-for-shock sake pictures that tend to go one of two ways. We get the ultimate logical conclusion of visceral nihilism in the very empty "Last House" clone "Chaos" or we get wish-fulfilment vigilante pictures like "Death Wish" and its imitators. Craven's message in "Last House" might have been thought provoking and he certainly proved that he could do a better job with it in later films ("Hills Have Eyes" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street"), but his initial crude execution is the virtual opposite of Bergman's picture in terms of quality and all the more reason why patient fans of atmospheric cinema should give "Virgin Spring" a chance.
It's subtitled, in black and white, moves at a slower pace than any of its lowlier imitators and has all the obvious restraints one would expect from a European film made in 1960. However, whereas "Last House" is an exploitation film I am baffled as to why this film ends up getting review on horror sites. It's a moralistic period drama. Yes, it does have some very effective scene of menace and the rape scene, although tame by today's standards, still carries all the emotive wallop of the callous and brutal world it represents. Whereas Craven's picture was crudely shot and badly acted, Bergman's picture has great cinematography by Sven Nykvist (which remind me of Henning Kristiansen's cinematography in 1971's "King Lear") and a strong cast of actors led by the ever-impress Max Von Sydow. "Virgin Spring" has a folkloric almost enchanted beauty that perfectly juxtaposes the dark aspects of the picture and recalls feelings of the primitive fairy tale. Again, it reminds me of another later British film, "The Company of the Wolves".
"Virgin Spring" is a beautifully shot, expertly directed and convincingly well-acted picture. The questions being asked "How could a god allow such evil to happen in his world?" is a question that is asked every single day and does not just challenge the faith of Christians. On this note "Virgin Spring" now joins my list of truly thought-provoking films made by one of cinema's great visionaries.
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