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Frankenstein...Then and Now

This month is Boris Karloff month on Shudder, and with it came the OG Frankenstein! I have seen Frankenstein as a side character in modern movies but never his own story. I searched Roku to see if I could find any modern remakes of the film and found the silent film version! So of course, start with the oldest....

Frankenstein (1910)

I LOVE SILENT FILMS. The only problem with silent films is that you have to pay attention to them but really, when did movies become “background noise”? And really, you have to give them so much credit. They have pace and great use of music and acting has to go so much further in a silent film. Pace in this particular movie is great. Jumps right in to a doctor making Frankenstein. It is a short little one but such a gem. Found on Classic Movie Vault on Roku. 

Frankenstein (1931)

First off, just look how much we had improved technology between 1910 and 1931. Really only 21 years and yet...man you would of thought there was more time between each of these films. Think about it, did I do anything that life changing by the time I was 21? No. But in 21 years, society feels worlds apart. This is Boris Karloff’s big break in Hollywood, even though he worked his entire life and I personally think all of his work is amazing. I love how it feels so much more like its source material and is really a timeless film. Found on Shudder. 

Frankenstein (2004)

I was interested to see how this translated into modern day. This is, in my opinion, trying too hard to be scary. The Frankenstein story is scary but its built into the story not needed to be amped up? It is not bad, its the same essence in modern day. I don’t like it as much as the other films myself. But its great if you like modern stuff. 

The book itself is so ground breaking...from everything that has spread since its being written, to the shock of a young 18 year old woman writing it. Looking to see the many flavors of Frankenstein? Find more information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(film.  Best thing to do after this? Not only watch the films, but watch the horror movie about Marie Shelley herself writing the novel that started it all! For youngsters, watch Frankenweenie...its adorable!

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Phantom Of The Opera...Then and Now

I have always loved The Phantom Of The Opera as a musical, but it did not hit me until recently that it is a Universal Monster. Yes he is a monster, but I have always had a thing for bad guys. So, I am going to watch other version from the point of view of analyzing the character as a monster. As of late, start with a silent film. 

The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)

SILENT FILM XD. Found on Classic Movie Vault on Roku. Well mostly? Given the year sound was coming. The beginning is probably my favorite opening. Like, I have always thought it odd the owners hid the phantom in modern versions when selling the opera house. But love the mix of some sound, mostly silent film, and really the color tints that change set up the mood so well! Actually a full length 1 1/2 hour film too. OMG This film blew my mind. 

Phantom of the Opera (2004)

This is not bad for modern, and much better for giving back story to the characters. The beginning is different but iconic in being a flash forward auction to tell a story back in time. I always appreciated how it mimicked the on stage production in this way. Watching the 1925 version, I realize that many of the same elements are here but rearranged. The rearranging (in retrospect) does not make as much sense as the 1925 version. But I appreciate its attempt to recreate it without adding anything that wasn’t in the original. 

This started off as a novel by Gaston Leroux in 1909/1910. I normally, in a comparison post like this, would of included a movie to kind of bridge the gap between 1925 and 2004. But that just felt wrong? At its heart, even when its not a musical its about an opera house. I really want to petition that we do a remake of the 1925 version with the musical approach of the 2004 version, and then do a movie sequel of Love Never Dies. It will be a hit I tell you. Keep a look out for my Universal Monster ranking...its in the works! Also, watch this on Roku or Crackle. 

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The Mummy...Then and Now

I am a 90′s kid raised by (essentially) a single dad. I grew up watching Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter...and of course The Mummy. What I thought was The Mummy was from the 90′s and had like two sequels to go with it. Recently, I was on Shudder looking to see what is newly added for the month of February...and I found The Mummy from 1932! You know this means I had to not only watch it but do a comparison post! 

The Mummy (1932)

I love this movie. Its a great mix of jumping right into an Egyptian dig site, introducing characters with just enough back story that you can keep up, and slow burn of wondering what is happening. The Mummy in a lot of ways is a love story at its base and I actually kind of buy the “love at first site” and “love forever” sense between the characters. Also, Boris Karloff is up there for me personally with Vincent Price. Good timing for the overall film, love black and white. Really 10 out of 10. 

The Mummy (1999)

I have heard from others that The Mummy ‘99 is a remake married with Indiana Jones fever, Indiana jones came out in 1981 and continues to this day with the most recent film coming out in 2008...another one coming out in 2023. I could see it after watching The Mummy ‘32. You get kind of the same story being told, with some things told differently. Really, I can imagine its hard to be a remake...but if you are going to remake something, change it in a way that helps it. I noticed right away that even though this movie is more action packed and longer....it took longer (with more possibly unneeded character build up) to get to the actual story? This is still a great movie to watch, if you want a more action ish movie about a mummy. 

Look for sequels? The 1932 version does have sequels, but I have not seen them yet. I will add them to this post when I have seen them. They have the following titles: The Mummys Hand, The Mummys Tomb, The Mummys Ghost, The Mummys Curse, and Abbot and Castello Meet The Mummy (more information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mummy_(franchise)) The remake does have sequels and spin offs and what not...The Mummy Returns and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. A great spinoff is the Scorpion King and there’s like four movies in that movie universe. 

There is about 60 or so years between films. I feel like the remake does honor the original while having its own changes. It is also funny how other things can be so influential on other things. Would the modern mummy have had its own spin without a tipoff to IJ? Who knows. I highly recommend if you can watch the old ones, do so. It is amazing to not only see where things come from, but the amount of work (and luck that it survived) for me to be able to watch something from 1932, is deserving of honor by viewing. 

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Lessons from America’s Next Top Model!

I remember the first time I heard about America’s Next Top Model. My chemistry teacher in high school was an...odd duck? She was quirky and not liked by most of the students, very smart in her field (obviously) but really for a while, I don’t know that she liked anything other than chemistry. Imagine my surprise when she comes in one day and does not stop talking about America’s Next Top Model. Since that day oh so long ago, I have caught a couple of seasons on Netflix. I have to say, I quite like it. More so than that, I find there are a lot of lessons one can learn from this show. 

Lessons from AMNT: 

H2T: Head to Toe

When considering your look, keep the whole look in mind. Don’t ruin a great look with bad shoes or lackluster hair. When everything else looks so good, the not good will stand out and people tend to look for the worst not the best so they have something to hate you for. 

Smize: 

Smile with your Eyes. Especially in a COVID/Post COVID world, where you only see half your face, express with what you have to work with. The eyes are the window to the soul, and often times the first thing people look at. 

Good Neck (Giraffe) & Bad Neck (Turtle): 

Hard to notice the face without first traveling up the neck, but based on the animal kingdom...there are good and bad necks. When you can, give length...with length is mystery. 

Boom, Boom, Boom: 

As we travel down the body you get to torso. Boom Boom Boom is levels of muscle...and you can even have a fourth if you have a muscular pelvis area. You can fake it till you make it, but you can gain it over time with exercises. 

Tooch (Women) and Booch (Men): 

From pelvis to Booty, work that curve. Most of the seasons are women only so for a while there was only tooch but men came on after season 20 and so there is booch! 

Sex Sells: Werk the Smirk, Fierce Fantasy Headroll, Peeping T/Booch

Sex sells. This is one of the oldest phrases, and oldest industries. So how do you channel the sexy? Step 1: Werk the smirk. The eyes, the smile. Step 2: Fierce Fantasy Headroll. Something about hair is sexy, or maybe its the build up of movement which shows the sexy face? Step 3: Peeping Tooch. Sex at its base is movement, between the tooch and head and face, it needs to feel like what you are channeling. 

Sexy but not Sleazy:

When delivering sex, deliver sex not sleaze. There is a seemingly very fine line between sexy like an empowered woman at the height of her joy and sleazy like the corner hoe that don’t care who she do. Technically, both women can be the same women with different lenses, right? The difference is class. Do your thing with class, and sex is not sleazy. 

You wear it, it doesn’t wear you: 

This can be said for hair or garments or accessories. As a model, you need to sell yourself as well as the garment. That’s your job, to model. Don’t let anything wear you, you maintain control and wear it. 

I am not bossy, I am a boss: 

Being that the modeling industry is a female dominated industry, its easy to come across as “bitchy”. What does one think of when they consider someone to be a bitch? Usually bossy. Women tend to want to be peacekeepers and become accessories. Own your life and be the boss, not bossy.

Bootyful, Fierce, and High Fashion: 

Beauty is skin deep, or is it? Own your own beauty as we are all beautiful. Fierce should be a lifestyle choice, why? Fierce is so many things...not afraid to do what you need to do, admired and feared by the weak, attractive. High Fashion is what you should always act like you are wearing. It’s a point of view, your sweats came from Versace (even if they came from target) and you need to rock it like that. 

Wanna Be On Top?

Whatever you choose to do in life, do it well and don’t ever not try. The moment you stop trying for something you claim to care about or want to do in life...that is the moment you only have yourself to blame and no one will give you any more pity. 

I like how any of these things can play in the every day life of non models, like who doesn’t want to look their best for a date? For an interview? Have confidence to own their life? And honestly, with the way she uses the show to inform not only the contestants but the viewers...I would love to try to do those things myself. Really, who doesn’t want to up their selfie game? Also, Tyra Banks is a woman I can say makes me proud to be a woman. I am also kind of tempted to turn these points into a photo challenge but well see how ballsy I am feeling...

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House of Wax...then and now...

New month, new content on Shudder! I watch many things on shudder that don’t get a Tumblr post, but I love comparison or movie type posts. I have a couple of them up here. With December, came a new “horror classic” film, House of Wax. I found 2 out of the 3 films I believe are out there, based on a novel in the early 1900′s. 

House of Wax (1953):

VINCENT PRICE. Really, is there any bad movie with him in it? Even when he is playing the bad guy? He is just amazing. I quite loved this film, its different than I thought it would be. Great beginning, tight story, and all around creepy film. I would love to have seen this get a sequel and just be scary as sh*t. 

House of Wax (2005):

I most times will go into a “modern” remakes of the oldies with a “vintage preference bias”. I will admit it. But, I can’t say I hated this film, it was very long. It could of been shorter, but it was decently made so nice enough to look at. I loved that it took a literal meaning to a house made of wax. Decent story, good effects and felt enough like the older version that I would recommend it.  

If I can, I would love to find the original 1933 version to do a full comparison, but for the fact that there is what, 50 years between both films in this post, its a good enough comparison without it. This as a classic horror story is iconic, I loved this since I was a kid reading RL Stine “Reader Beware You Choose The Scare” as a teenager and always dying in the “Haunted Wax Museum” story. 

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Horror Anthology Film Ranking

I love Shudder. Really, it is probably my favorite streaming service over Netflix. They actually break down the movies by genre and subgenre. I really also love how I am learning more about the art of film by watching old and new stuff on Shudder. I enjoyed doing my “whodunit” post and thought, why not make similar posts but different genres? Here is my Horror Anthology Ranking. 

Monster Club (1981): Really, what gets better than Vincent Price sucking your blood and offering you a drink at a cool club after to say a proper, thank you for your blood? Stories are great, scenery is great, VINCENT PRICE. Really if I have to add anything after...VINCENT PRICE...I have questions for you. I really wish this film made a soundtrack, as I need this soundtrack and a sequel. 

Asylum (1972): I love the premise of this: doctor reads paper looking for job, goes to place for a job. Tries to impress the interviewer by saying he can spot a specific kind of mental problem. To get the job, he must find the original owner of the establishment who is suffering from said disease. The ending is fantastic and that is all I will say about that. 

Black Sabbath (1963): I am sorry Mario Bava that your film is not higher on this list, but within this genre...there are really so many gems. This as an anthology is perfect. Great host, I wonder if Twilight Zone took any inspiration for this. Stories build up perfectly and it is scary with just enough funny that its perfect for all. 

The Mortuary Collection (2019): I am happy to include a more modern one in this list to show that even if older movies do it better, modern movies can bring that old world charm to the future. I love this ones premise, a gal goes for a job opening at the local mortician and he tells her stories of the corpses to see if she can handle the job. The twist is lovely, the music is surprisingly good, and I would not mind watching a sequel to this. 

Creep Show (2020): Now, it is impossible to talk about Anthologies and not mention Creep Show. My BFF loves this and until I watched it on shudder, I had not. Since it has been and is an ongoing series, I decided to “sample” it with this film. The animation is lovely, the stories are that gross horror type? For some reason that is something I have never been able to stomach. But good stories, book style format. Not bad, but for me lower on the list. 

Verotika (2019): Now, something in every ranking has to be the bottom. To be fair to this film, it was interesting to see an erotic anthology. Erotic and Horror are very interesting partners together (normally). This honestly was not a good movie, but had the bones to be a very good movie. I would love to see this redone, or revamped in sequel? 

I did not realize I had an anthology from different decades in here, but when you take that point of view into consideration...you really get to see where anthologies have been and where they are now. As I am writing this, I realize that Goosebumps should be on here as they would be an anthology? I loved those books as a kid, it would be the only reason I would go to the library. (I hated borrowing books). Have you seen any of the films on here? Any films you think need to be on here? 

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Mario Bava Film Ranking

I love Shudder, and have been exploring all sorts of movies in the Horror Genre. I stumbled upon Mario Bava in his most famous film, Black Sunday. Only to find that there is a collection of his films on Shudder. While there are more films in the collection than the 8 I will be ranking below, any of his films is a fantastic experience. But, I have decided to rank them based on my personal feelings: 

1) The Whip & The Body (1963):

This is a perfect movie. Macabre, romance, death, haunting, symbolism, imagery, music scenery. Just amazing. 

Black Sunday (1960): 

This is a timeless movie. I love the topics, span of time, filming. Even has a happy ending somehow! 

Lisa & The Devil (1976):

This is the movie to watch while you are high on a date, and have it make it that much better. This one will probably be my favorite to tell someone else to watch, and see what I catch in the rewatch. 

Black Sabbath (1964):

This is an anthology, and its very very well done. The stories ramp up in excitement, and honestly each story feels original yet linking and I am here for it. 

Kill, Baby...Kill (1966):

This is rural, creepy, slow, simple yet surprising. Great use of supernatural and superstition and filming. I feel so much like I am there, and really I want to be there. 

The Evil Eye (1964):

This was released in the US under a different name and version, and I really wish I had access to the Italian one. Its a great black and white european vacation horror film. 

Bay of Blood (1972): 

This for me had a slightly lacking story, but one can see how it is so influential. Beautiful film that is inventive and original. 

Schock (1977): 

I really hate to have had to rank anything last, but despite its position-surprising and excellent film. Play on the family dynamic gone wrong when the ghosts of the pasts decide to render themselves as included. 

Mario Bava, who met his end in 1980 is known as “The Master Of The Macabre”, and his worked influenced so much of what we know today from Slashers to Anthologies to Band Names. This was IMPOSSIBLE to rank, as no movie was a bad experience...even if the story could of been better. The effects are amazing, filming is wonderful, music is great. These are the kinds of movies you watch the first time, and say to yourself, “why am I only (TBD) years old before I experienced this film?”. You think you knew what happened, you watch it again with others and gain a deeper understanding of a forever unexplained mystery. I wish modern films, with their experience of time and gains in technology, could deliver something close to this experience.