31 Days of Horror #3

#7. The Call of Cthulhu (2005) H.P. Lovecraft, without question one of the greatest horror authors, hasn't had a lot of his work adapted to film. I think this is mostly because his stories were often told first-hand from the perspective of the a person slowly uncovering horrible truths. His most famous story, about a curious man going to great lengths to discover, and accidentally wake, a giant demon is disturbing more for its abstract suggestions than for anything that happens in the actual story. The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society did something unique in finally bringing this "unfilmable" story to the screen, in that it is black and white and silent, in the style of the films made in the era in which the story takes place. The result is entertaining and faithful to both the style and to what makes the story so frightening to begin with: the fact that all humanity is doomed. I especially liked the stop-motion Cthulhu, who is nearly as effective as King Kong was in his day. B

#8. The House on Haunted Hill (1959) William Castle was a producer of shlock, making cheap, below-budget, and often nonsensical horror movies and delivering them to theaters with gimmicks to draw in the audiences. Tickets to his 'Macabre' came with a life insurance policy in case you died of fright. There were buzzers under the seats during 'The Tingler' that went off at alarming moments. And in screenings of 'House on Haunted Hill,' a box was installed to the roof of the theater, out of which dangled a skeleton during the climax which swooped over the unsuspecting theatergoers. The movie itself doesn't deserve its popular status. The cast of unknowns, except the great Vincent Price, are pretty awful, and most of the movie has the characters (and therefore the viewers) waiting around for something to happen. And when things do happen, they open up a lot of holes that never get explained. I like it for its old-fashioned, Saturday-morning-matinee charm, but it's not remotely a true classic. By the way, it's been pointed out before, but what's with the title? The house may be haunted, sure, but the hill? Leave the poor hill alone. C+

#9. Phantasm (1979) Made for next to nothing, shot locally with amateur actors that were mostly friends of the director, and working from a screenplay that was incomplete and often written on the cuff, this is a prime example of how big a factor creativity plays in determining a film's longevity. The quality of this little horror epic is questionable, with the inexpensive effects being most unfortunately subpar, especially for modern viewers. But it has good ideas and a creepy, dream-like way of presenting its story, and it has thus influenced numerous filmmakers, especially Wes Craven who once said there would be no Freddy Kreuger if not for this movie's mysterious villain, only known as the Tall Man. The nightmare logic of the movie is both a strength and a weakness. It adds a level of intensity by dealing so much with the unknown, but it also excuses itself from having to explain anything. The series of events that make up the climax, for example, are thrilling, but feel a little too random. B