Title: Nosferatu Release Date: March 4, 1922 Director: F. W. Murnau Production Company: Prana Film Summary/Review:
This German Expressionist horror film has a strange history. It was based on Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, but since the filmmakers never got permission for the adaptation, the Stoker estate sued and ordered all prints of the film destroyed. Obviously some prints survived, but they were released in various “bootleg” editions.
I’m not sure which version I ended up streaming, but the title character is known as Count Orlok in all the film reviews I’ve read, but they straight up call him Dracula in the version I watched. Similarly, the heroes are known as Thomas and Ellen Hutter in the literature, but the version I watched called them Jonathan and Mina Harker. I guess that’s the advantage of silent film is that one can just rename all the characters with minimal effort. At any rate, this is a long way of explaining why I’ll be using particular names for characters in my review.
The story begins in a German town where Jonathan (Gustav von Wangenheim) works in real estate for the creepy Renfield (Alexander Granach), who is secretly a minion of Count Dracula. Renfield sends Jonathan to Transylvania on the pretense that the Count wants to buy a house in their town. Jonathan entrusts Mina (Greta Schröder) to some friends for safety, but she has premonitions about his travels.
In Transylvania Jonathan meets the locals who are frightened of the Count and the things that happen after dark. Wangenheim does a good silent movie acting job of showing his derision of their superstitions. Jonathan finally arrives at the Count’s castle and meets the Nosferatu (Max Schreck) who he treats warmly despite his chilling appearance and comments about Mina’s lovely neck. Jonathan ends up being held captive and Wangenheim now does a great job of acting terrified.
Jonathan escapes and the Nosferatu follows him to Germany. One of the interesting aspects of Dracula-lore I wasn’t aware of is that Nosferatu has to be transported in coffins with soil from the burying grounds of the victims of Black Death. So when he arrives in Germany he brings the plague AND feasts on the blood of the town’s citizens. It’s up to Mina to make the sacrifice to offer herself to the Nosferatu to keep him feeding until daylight. This film actually introduced the concept of a vampire being killed by sunlight.
The movie is terrifically atmospheric and spooky. Some of the filmmaking conventions that may seem laughably outdated today are countered by the eeriness of silence, scratchy film, and uncanny production values. I’m not a big horror fan or have much interest in the Dracula story, but this film was worth watching for its part in the history of one of the world’s great legends.
Title: Stranger Things Release Dates: 2019 Season: 3 Number of Episodes: 8 Summary/Review:
The phrase “trying to catch lightning in a bottle” comes to mind as I ponder the third season of Stranger Things. The first season of the show came out of nowhere with a perfect recipe of writing, acting, setting, mood, and nostalgia. It’s a tricky thing to repeat, and just as the show was diminished some in season 2, it falls a bit further in season 3. By no means am I saying Stranger Things 3 is bad, I care about these characters and enjoy the stories, but feel it fails to live up to the high standards set by season 1.
At the core of Stranger Things is a pastiche to 1980s American culture. In this season, the story draws upon the renewed Cold War hysteria of Reagan’s America and the trope of the “evil Russian” that found its way into propagandist movies such as Red Dawn, Amerika, Rambo, Top Gun, and The Day After. There’s no deconstruction of the trope as the show plays it straight depicting the Soviets having the ability to secretly build a massive laboratory under the Starcourt Mall in the heartland of America at a time when the real Soviet Union was crumbling. In a show with monsters that invade from a decrepit mirror universe, I found this premise to still be too unbelievable.
Much as the 1980s Cold War hysteria was a gritty callback to the Cold War panic of the 1950 and 1960s, the 1980s was a time when classic horror movies were remade with graphic violence and gratuitous gore. Stranger Things 3 draws a lot of influence from horror movie remakes such as The Thing, The Blob, and Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (which was made in 1978, but I’m including in this list because it is clearly referenced). As a result, this is the goriest and most violent season yet, the sequel that decides to be a full-on action film. In a great moment of metafiction, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) explains his love for New Coke as it being a remake, like The Thing, that he thinks improves upon the original.
The heart of Stranger Things is its characters, and this season’s biggest struggles are with characters being too broadly characterized. This is true for Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery) who was the creepy, abusive metalhead teen with a traumatic past in season 2, and becomes the creepy, possessed by the Mind Flayer teen with a traumatic past in season 3. Billy deserved better characterization, especially to make his ultimate heroic moment pay off. Priah Ferguson returns as Lucas’ little sister Erica, bumped up from a bit character to one of the main storylines, and although she’s very funny she’s written entirely as a sassy, precocious kid, a la Arnold from Diff’rent Strokes. The final episode seems to indicate a new role for Erica in season 4, and one hope that they flesh out her character. And really, there was no reason to bring back the obnoxious Murray (Brett Gelman), who appeared in a couple of episodes in season 2, much less make him a character who seems to get more screen time than the core children.
My biggest disappointment with this series is with the character of Jim Hopper (David Harbour). He’s always been depicted as a cop who will punch first and ask questions later, but previous seasons revealed that under his gruff exterior is a gentle heart. It’s really distressing to see Hopper’s anger over El (Millie Bobby Brown) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) spending too much time together, and worse, threatening Mike. Later in the season he completely brutalizes the mayor of Hawkins (Cary Elwes cosplaying the mayor from Jaws, right on down to be named “Larry”). One of the most moving parts of the season is Hopper narrating a letter to El about his feelings, but I’m distraught that this side of Hopper’s character was ignored for the previous 7 episodes.
Like in previous seasons, large cast is split up into different storylines that come together at the end. The kids are becoming teenagers, and Hopper is right about Mike and El spending too much time together. El breaks up with Mike and Max (Sadie Sink) breaks up with Lucas, and in some wonderful scenes El and Max become closer friends. Meanwhile, Will (Noah Schnapp), who lost part of his childhood to the Upside Down, wants to cling to being a kid a bit longer and play D&D. The teenagers from the earlier series are becoming adults. Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) attempt to prepare for a career by interning with the local newspaper. Steve (Joe Keery) works for a paycheck, and maybe to meet girls, at the ice cream shop in the mall alongside an “alternative” girl who he never paid attention to in high school, Robin (Maya Hawke). Robin is the breakout character of the season and seamlessly fits in with existing characters, but I can’t help feeling that she looks like a time traveler from the 1990s (perhaps because Hawke is the daughter of iconic 90s stars Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke). And the grown-ups, Hopper and Joyce (Winona Ryder), are concerned for the kids, challenged to move on from previous traumas, and resisting their attraction for one another.
In a town with both a Mind Flayer and evil Russians at work, bad things are going to happen. El, Max, Mike, Lucas, and Will discover that Billy is possesed and recruiting more people for the Mind Flayer, and attempt to stop him. Nancy and Jonathan’s investigative reporting uncovers strange behavior in rats that leads to even stranger behavior in humans. The Scoop Troop – Steve and Robin joined by Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Erica – investigate Russian ham radio messages and strange goings-on around the Starcourt Mall. While the “Evil Russian” plot is ludicrous, these four definitely get the best storyline, dialogue, and character development. Joyce investigates why magnets are suddenly falling of her refrigerator and convinces a reluctant Hopper to join in. I really like how Ryder plays Joyce as someone who has seen weird shit before, was right about it, and defeated it so now she has a greater confidence and seems more relaxed as she jumps into doing it again. Along the way they capture a Soviet scientist named Alexei (Alec Utgof as the other breakout character of the season despite speaking no English) and get Murray for translation.
While I’ve expressed my reservations about Stranger Things 3 not living up to its potential, the show clearly attempts and succeeds at trying new things, drawing on new influences, and building on the existing story. It’s a great bit of mind candy – with both brains and heart – for summer viewing. I look forward to a fourth season and becoming further acquainted with these characters.
Title: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Release Dates: 2018 Season: 1 Number of Episodes: 1 Summary/Review:
Before watching this ostensible gritty reboot of the 1990s sitcom Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, I learned a few things I didn’t know. First, Sabrina originated decades earlier as a comic book character. Second, Sabrina lives in the same universe as the Archie comics! Third, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina originated a few years back as a comic book. So essentially this a television adaptation of a gritty reboot of a comic book. It’s a good concept though as it naturally follows that if you’re going to tell a story about a teenage witch that you should follow through on the full meaning of witchcraft and Satanic worship.
Let it be known that this is NOT for kids (well, young ones, teenagers will probably love it). Granted, much of the horror is jump scares and creepy creatures, but there’s also a horrific scene of ritual cannibalism and a lot of violence. Much of the show is highly stylized, with it being hard to tell what decade this is supposed to be happening in. Apart from actual witches living among the mortals, the town of Greendale just feels a strange place, not like a real American town, but an amalgam of television towns.
I don’t think I would like the show’s writing or stories all that much if it wasn’t for the excellent cast who carry the show. Lucy Davis plays Sabrina’s goofy and more lenient Aunt Hilda while Miranda Otto regally portrays her more elegant and stern Aunt Zelda. Chance Perdomo is effortlessly cool as Sabrina’s cousin Ambrose who is living under house arrest and casually helps Sabrina with her misguided plots. Michelle Gomez follows up her genius Doctor Who role as Missy by playing Sabrina’s teacher Ms. Wardwell, who offers guidance to Sabrina while secretly guiding her into a sinister plot. Sabrina’s best mortal friends are Roz (Jaz Sinclair) a young activist at her high school and Susie (Lachlan Watson) who is bullied by jocks and experiencing gender dysphoria. Roz and Susie both give a Sabrina a realistic strong tie to the human world while also helping tie together the supernatural events with the social issues they symbolize.
A couple of things stand out as problems with the show. One is the performance of Kiernan Shipka as the lead character. She always seems to respond to everything with a deadpan expression and very little real emotion, even if a tear is rolling down her cheek. I don’t want to say she’s a bad actor but it strikes me as a curious decision to have her play the character that way. The other thing is that Sabrina’s knowledge of witch history and spell casting seems to vary on what is convenient to the plot. She pull of amazing spells in one scene and express basic ignorance about things in the witching world the next.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is good but not great tv but definitely some cotton candy fun worth a binge. I expect I’ll be back for more
Author: Tom Bruno Title: High Tide Previously Read by the Same Author: Bambino Publication Info: Amazon Digital Services LLC, 2012 Summary/Review:
In this novella, adventurer and writer for an outdoors magazine is sent on assignment to his childhood hometown in Cape May, NJ. His story: young surfers are deliberately chumming the water in order to surf alongside sharks. At this point, things get weirder, with the feel of a good Twilight Zone episode. This is a fun, quick read that’s a mix of mystery, horror, and “you never can go home again.”
Author: Human Nature Title: Paul Cornell Publication Info: London : BBC Books, 2015 (originally published May 1995) Summary/Review:
In this novel, the Doctor has himself genetically modified so he can experience life as a human. Forgetting his real identity, the Doctor believes he is a Scottish teacher named John Smith at a boy’s school in rural England in 1914. If this sounds familiar to Doctor Who tv viewers, it’s because Cornell adapted this book as the two-part episode “Human Nature/Family of Blood” in Series 3 with David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor/John Smith. It’s best not to think of the television adaptation while reading the book as the stories differ in many ways.
Cornell’s basic idea was to have a story featuring the Doctor in a romantic relationship with a fellow teacher, Joan Redfern. Again, in the present day we’ve seen the Doctor fall in love with Rose, snog Madame Pompadour, and marry River Song, so the elaborate plot of making the Doctor a human for him to experience romance would be excessive. Apart from the love story, this book is a good exploration of being human and the Doctor’s character.
On the one hand this is a brutal and gory story. The villainous alien Aubertides are merciless in slaughtering (and eating) anyone who gets in their way. In response, the leaders of the school are willing to mobilize the boys into a military unit to fight back. There’s even a disturbing scene early in the book where the school boys murder one of their own.
On the other hand, John Smith, while still in a human guise is able to determine a better way. To throw away the guns, lead the children to safety, attempt diplomacy, and then win through guile. The willingness of the human characters in this book to support and sacrifice for one another shows our species at it’s best.
Like many Virgin New Adventures, there’s a surplus of side characters and interwoven sideplots that could be excised to make a tighter, more focused adventure. But it’s still a gripping read and Doctor Who at it’s best.
Favorite Passages:
“I can see why Rocastle thinks that way. It’s attractive. Imagine, never having to make any decisions. Because of honor. And etiquette. And patriotism. You could live like a river flowing downhill, hopping from one standard response to the other. Honour this. Defend that.”
“‘Isn’t it odd,’ opined Alexander, ‘how close masculinity is to melodrama?'”
This is a book a read as a child and I revisited it through this dramatization by the Colonial Radio Players. All I could remember was a mysterious carnival and a dust witch (which is different from a sand witch). The material lends itself well to dramatization with the exception of characters constantly having to describe what they’re seeing. The story captures that frightening feeling in a child’s life when they know something is wrong and for the first time realize that the grownups can’t fix it. I also really came to appreciate the father and son relationship of Charles and Will Holloway, and how Charles tries to do his best despite not knowing the answers. The story works well at maintaining a sense of dread and horror which is then released with laughter and joy.
Title: Coraline Release Date: 2009 February 6 Director: Henry Selick Production Company: Laika Summary/Review:
Coraline has been on my “too-watch” list for some time, so it was good to finally take in this visually stunning stop-motion animated fantasy based on a story by Neil Gaiman. Coraline is a preteen girl (voiced by Dakota Fanning, with the expressions and mannerisms perfectly matching the voice) moved into a strange old apartment building with eccentric neighbors by her inattentive parents. She discovers a small door with a passage to a mirror universe of the apartments where her Other Mother and Other Father live and spoil Coraline with her favorite things, and the sad neighbors are actually spectacular circus performers. It seems a wonderful place even if everyone creepily has buttons for eyes. All is not as good as it seems and Coraline will have to team up with a black cat (my favorite character) and neighbor Wybie, she uses her wits to avoid being trapped in the alternate universe.
I think Coraline is spectacular visually and great at creating mood and atmosphere. The story feels a bit thin and Coraline’s game against Other Mother is rushed compared with the rest of the movie and the resolution feels too easy. That being said Coraline is a remarkable piece of art.
Title: Stranger Things Release Dates: 2017 Season: 2 Number of Episodes: 9 Summary/Review:
When Stranger Things appeared on Netflix seemingly out of nowhere last year, it was the surprise hit of the summer. Stranger Things 2 came with huge expectations, and I’m happy to see mostly lives up to them.
The strengths of Stranger Things is that it uses the tropes of horror and suspense films to explore issues like trauma, grief, friendship, and facing mortality. The multi-episode set-up also allows it to delve into developing characters more than the films it emulates. Plus, it has a terrific cast, especially the youngest actors, who continue to impress.
The nine episodes of the second season easily split into three sections. Episodes 1-3 feel very much a continuation of the first season with the characters still dealing with the after effects of what happened a year earlier. Episodes 3-6 raise the stakes, both with the growing threat of the Shadow Monster and Eleven discovering her own past. Episodes 7-9 really take a left turn from anything we’ve come to expect from Stranger Things, most especially in the controversial episode 7 “The Lost Sister” which features only Eleven/Jane from the regular cast as she visits Chicago to meet up with a gang led by another young woman with powers from the Hawkins Lab. I’m glad the Duffer Brothers decided to experiment and push the limits of the show, although I also have some problems with the episodes that I’ll go into later.
The second season introduces several new characters. Bob Newby is Joyce’s nerdy new boyfriend played by Sean Astin, which is a direct tie to one of the 1980s movies that influenced this show, The Goonies. I never saw that movie, but I thought that Bob had a lot in common with another Astin character, Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings, in the way that both Bob and Sam loyally help out the best they can and show surprising bravery even when they don’t know what’s going on around them. Bob is a charming character and a great addition to the show. Paul Reiser, known for his duplicitous character in Aliens, plays the Dr. Sam Owens who has taken over leading the Hawkins Lab. It was an interesting decision to have Hopper, Joyce, & Will forming an uneasy détente, and Owens lends a funny, more compassionate face to the lab, but since he’s played by Reiser, you trust him anyway. Finally, there are the step siblings Max and Billy, played by Sadie Sink and Dacre Montgomery. Max is a new addition to our party of nerdy middle schoolers, and I thought Sink did a great job with developing Max in limited time. Billy is the new bully in town, and Montgomery plays him convincingly creepy, but he seems one-note especially for Stranger Things which is usually better at letting characters develop organically.
If there’s one major problem of this series is that all the new characters and multiple plot lines happening at once make the show feel crowded and it works against Stranger Things strengths. That being said, there was some great development for returning characters as well. Will was missing for most of Season 1, so it’s a revelation to see that Noah Schapp is just as good an actor as his contemporaries and really sells Will’s fear, confusion, and possession. It was also great to see Dustin and Lucas develop, really showing that they’re growing up, and getting to see into their homes and meeting their families for the first time. Steve Harrington, the first season bully, has now fully transitioned from his experiences into a “great babysitter” leading the youngest characters against the demodogs and winning the hearts of Tumblr fans everywhere.
On the downside, Finn Wolfhard’s Mike seems underused this season, although his delivery of the line “It was the best thing I’ve ever done” was the most tearjerking moment of the season. Similarly, Natalia Dyer’s Nancy and Charlie Heaton’s Jonathan have a subplot that’s okay but just doesn’t seem as interesting as what those characters could be doing. Then there are some out of character moments. It seems unlikely that a smart kid like Dustin would continue to protect D’art after he knew it was from the Upside Down. And I don’t think Eleven would be jealous of Max to the point of hurting her. It would’ve made more sense if she overheard a conversation of how Mike and his friends were still in danger from the Hawkins Lab and that helped prompt her journey of self-discovery.
Which leads us to the final three episodes. I can understand why people don’t like “The Lost Sister,” although I also understand and appreciate what The Duffer Brothers were doing. It was good to take a risk and try to expand what was happening in Hawkins into the larger world as part of Eleven’s story, but for Stranger Things, it was rather trite. Kali’s gang were a note-perfect recreation of a 1980s movie idea of a punk rock gang, but that was it, there was no effort to develop these people as real characters. And Eleven’s Yoda-style tutelage under Kali happened so quickly that I can understand why a lot of viewers felt it was unnecessary to happen at all. The final two episode have a lot happening and it seems that a lot of the dialogue is reduced to the characters providing exposition for the audience. By this point, Stranger Things has developed their characters enough to coast on plot conveniences, but I thought the way that everyone came together in the conclusion of the first season happened more naturally.
The final moments at the school dance are charming and well-earned, and are built on what this show does best. While there was some unevenness in the second season, overall I’m pleased, and I’m glad there will be another season. There’s a lot of stories that can built on in future seasons, especially if they work on Eleven/Jane integrating into everyday society for the first time. I also have many questions that may or may not be answered.
Title: Stranger Things Release Dates: 2016 Season: 1 Number of Episodes: 8 Summary/Review:
The hit of the summer is an homage to horror and thrillers of the 1980s, mixing the film aesthetic of Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter with Stephen King’s “kids and monsters in Maine” formula transferred to Indiana. There are also elements of later works like Twin Peaks, Donnie Darko (itself a 1980s pastiche), and Broadchurch among others. Despite the effort to emulate the eighties ethos, Stranger Things is not a remake or a ripoff but a highly original work of its own. I don’t think a show this sophisticated would be made in the 1980s and the movies of that time would not have the time to develop the characters and the relationships so well. Movies in the 1980s would also rely on wowing the audience with special effects, but Stranger Things creates suspense by keeping most of the supernatural elements offscreen and in the imagination.
What’s great about Stranger Things is that it has three concurrent plots with different themes. A 12-year-old, Will Byers, goes missing and his best friends Mike, Dustin, and Lucas go looking for him to be joined by the mysterious Eleven who has telekinetic powers, learning about friendship and forgiveness. A teenage story features Will’s brother Jonathon forming an unlikely alliance with Mike’s sister Nancy to hunt down the monster with Nancy’s boyfriend Steve acting as antagonist and sometimes ally. Finally, the adult story focuses on Will’s mother Joyce and police chief Hopper realizing that Will’s disappearance is not a typical runaway or abduction case and involves malicious behavior at the government’s Hawkins Lab.
The whole series is 8 episodes of brilliance – great acting, plotting, pacing, and dialogue – with a few scares thrown in. It’s worthy of the accolades it’s receiving and I recommend watching it if you haven’t checked it out yet.
Author: David Mitchell Title: Slade House Narrator: Tania Rodrigues and Thomas Judd Publication Info: Sceptre (2015) Summary/Review:
Not sure how this one ended up on my reading list as I was totally unprepared for a horror-mystery story. But that’s a good thing as it’s good to shake things up from time to time. The basic gist of the story is that a pair of twins have discovered immortality by way of consuming the souls of special individuals. They must “recharge” every nine years and to do so they must lure in their prey to the attic of the titular Slade House through elaborate connivance. Each chapter is narrated by a different victim from the 1970s to 2000s and what makes this book work is that Mitchell quickly creates an interesting, believable character to set against the schlocky, horror setting. It’s an entertaining read. Recommended books: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell, and The Ladies of Grace Adieuby Susanna Clarke Rating: **1/2
