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traumaticemphaticfantastic · 3 months ago

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This is a portrait of a Golem that I finished a little while back in June. I find that out of all the Jewish folklore creatures I’ve read about the Golem is the most prevalent and renowned, most notably because of the famous story “The Golem of Prague” which is basically THE Golem story that most of us are aware of, though, there are others. For instance, did you know that there was a Golem of Chelm? It’s true, you can find it online if you wish. And there was also a Golem of Vilna if you can believe it, you can find a translation of that story in the delightful collection “Yiddish Folktales” published by The Pantheon Fairytale and Folklore Library.

But, as I was saying, the Golem is pretty much the most well-known uniquely Jewish folk legend out there, I decided in this piece to make a shout-out to that legacy by using design motifs from possibly the most well-known Golem retelling, the German expressionist film Der Golem: wie er in die Welt kam, while I don’t particularly like how the story was retold in that film, I must say that the design of the scenery and costumes of the characters are simply delightful, I particularly enjoy the set of the Prague Ghetto and the design of the Golem himself. I do quite love German Expressionism and silent films as a whole and Der Golem is certainly a staple of both!

Another part of this Golem’s design is that its tunic is covered with Hebrew/Yiddish letters, this is a direct reference to the Golem’s more symbolic significance as a creature literally brought to life through the language of the Jewish people: that language is a powerful thing, especially to those communities who have consistently been looking down the barrel of cultural-extinction. For a much better explanation of this concept than I could ever write down here, I would like to point you to the YouTube video “The Golem and The Jewish Superhero” by Jewish video essayist Jacob Geller, a truly phenomenal and tremendously emotional look through the history of the Golem tale.

That will be all for today, may you be well, and Good Shabbos and a Shabbat Shalom to you all.

#art #jewish #judaism #jumblr #yiddishkeit #golem #silent era #silent film #silent movies #also go read The Golem and The Jinni #It’s a really good book!#folklore

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femmeleatherface · 21 days ago

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Spooky Movie Marathon: Week 3

Day 13: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) - based on the novel of the same name by Henry Farrell

Day 14: XX (2017)

Day 15: Return to House on Haunted Hill (2007) - unrated version

Day 16: The Comedy of Terrors (1963) - followup to the film Tales of Terror (1962)

Day 17: Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920) - third and only extant film in Paul Wegener's Golem trilogy, which was itself based on the book Der Golem by Gustav Meyrink; Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation restoration

Day 18: Planet Terror (2007) - originally part of the Grindhouse double feature with Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof; extended international version

Day 19: Death Proof (2007) - originally part of the Grindhouse double feature with Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror; extended international version

i swear i did not intentionally choose to watch a bunch of films from 2007. return to house on haunted hill was already preplanned for the week, and then the weekend came and i wanted to take advantage of it chip through some longer movies and planet terror/death proof were the first films on my watchlist to meet the criteria of "horror-related" and "over an hour and thirty minutes."

individual thoughts:

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) - i decided on this for an already-seen safe pick palette cleanser for Mary Reilly last week and it was SUCH a good decision. this movie gets better every time i see it. i'm still mad that i missed it in theaters when it got re-released for its sixtieth anniversary a couple years ago, because UGH this movie is so fucking gorgeous lighting-wise. but hopefully there will be other opportunities. in the meantime, i will freely oo and ahh and scream over the pretty, narrative-driven cinematography in the comfort of my own home.

XX (2017) - this movie left no impact on me. i neither liked it nor disliked it, it simply was. the stop motion segments were cool, though.

Return to House on Haunted HIll (2007) - definitely the weakest of the haunted hill movies, i don't know what they were thinking making it an indiana jones-style artefact hunting movie. very baffling decision there. also, somehow this movie gave jeffrey combs even less to do than the 1999 film did, which is impressive but has also got to be a crime somewhere or other. he looked so sad and malnourished without scenery to chew on! but all that said, it was fine for what it was. definitely could have been MUCH worse. when they used practical effects, those looked good, and while the setting got boring from repetitiveness the death scenes themselves had enough variety to be serviceable as a fun waste of time. definitely worth the $1 i spent on it at goodwill back in may, at any rate.

The Comedy of Terrors (1963): i was really in the mood for a peter lorre movie and this one had a bonus vincent price thrown in, plus the bisexual millionaire from some like it hot as a surprise bonus. it was good! maybe this is a hot take but this is what the raven (1963 should have been in terms of being both funny and also dark and blending it together into a screwball black comedy. i definitely enjoyed this one more between the two.

Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920) - i had a whole rambly mini essary typed up about this and ran out of text characters so the abriged version: i initially tried finding the original 1915 film der golem, but it's partially lost and if there's a publicly-available reconstruction, i couldn't find it in the five minutes i looked before getting impatient and skipping ahead to the 1920 film, which from my understanding is a prequel to that and a... sequelish/followup to Der Golem und die Tänzerin (1917), which is the earliest known horror spoof and completely lost :( anyway, after watching the 1920 film i am now mad we didn't watch this in my german cinema class because there's a lot to unpack here, particularly in how it portrays the jewish characters and the golem (read: pre-nazi germany antisemitism). german expressionism is fascinating both for its innovation but also as a very clear product of its time and place and i think this film is the best example of this that i've seen so far. but anyway. i'm rambling but what can i say, this was just such an interesting film, for all that "product of its time and place" stuff and also the usual expressionist reasons (funky sets, dramatic boob-clutching acting, excellent karl freund cinematography, spooky imagery, etc). it was also kind of ridiculous? an entire act is dedicated to watching the golem go grocery shopping and do other banal chores, and this is after a really neat special effects scene where he's brought to life. i just... amazing. peak cinema. exactly what i want to see from the creation brought epicly to life to valiantly defend the ghetto: him picking up bread at the store. but it was also neat to see a precursor of tropes like the manmade monter and the "big scary monster guy bridal carries damsel," and it's absolutely amazing to tentatively pinpoint it back (cinematically, at least) to a little german film from 104 years ago! definitely a monster movie where the monster is an uncomfortable metaphor though, which is unfortunately also par the course for those tropes.

Planet Terror (2007): THIS MOVIE HAS A COOL BISEXUAL LADY FIGHTING ZOMBIES. her name is dr. dakota block and she is my everthing. i was destined to like the movie anyway because it's sleazy good fun and also meta and a love letter to 1960s-1970s exploitation movies, but throwing in a bisexual lady who battles zombies is just icing on the cake. she's not even the main charater, she's a side character but the best thing about the movie to me, which is already pretty amazing. because of her amazingness i am a little mad about the "missing reel" segement, though. i understand why it was there, but i feel like we missed out on some quality bonding time between her and her estranged father who it was implied disowned her due to the bisexuality thing. BOOO LET ME SEE THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. anyway, i need an entire spinoff movie about this lady where the zombies are a metaphor for her escaping her abusive husband and coming into her bisexy own. bonus points if her girlfriend doesn't die OR comes back as a zombie girlfriend and it becomes a sapphic version of fido, or this song. the son already came back to life at the end, CLEARLY the zombie virus makes dead people who are immune be alive again and also cured of what killed them. We Can Make This Work!

Death Proof (2007): okay full disclosure i have not seen grindhouse (2007). i want to, i just haven't been able to track down a copy through legal means. but from my understanding of cursory research i did this morning out of boredom, this and planet terror were extended for their separate international releases, and those releases were the ones i watched on tubi tv (my beloved). from this, i am just BETTING death proof is so much less awful in the original grindhouse version, because the main problem was that the film was just too goddamn long. other tarantino films are like this, but the character banter is usually engaging enough to keep things afloat, but not here. all the women in this talk like they were written by a cishetero white man--which. they were. but i shouldn't be able to tell, because That Is How Good Writing Works. they are so vapid and annoying and i do not care about what happens to them and their sexy feet. i don't know if it's any better in the shorter version, but at least it would feel less like a waste of time. spitballing a rework of this, but the intro kills should be 10, 15 minutes tops, just to set up kurt russell's character and that's IT, these girls are not interesting enough to try pulling a psycho with. (or you know. make them interesting so i care what happens to them.) then spend the rest of the first half of the film setting up the real main characters, and at the midway point have kurt russell show up again and try to kill them. or make it later. i think doing it around the middle would be more interesting, though, because then they could make the second half a revenge film à la i spit on your grave. though that might be difficult to pull off with only one guy to get revenge on. but also if tarantino could spend nearly two hours doing basically nothing, i think he could figure out a way to spend 45 minutes doing SOMETHING. ARGHGH! to close with some positivity, though, i liked the way this film looked, especially compared to planet terror. planet terror was clearly shot digitally and all the film grain and whatnot was added in the editing room, and it's fine but it really doesn't look authentic. the way the film captures light just isn't right (except during explosions. every explosion in that film looked amazing). death proof was clearly shot on film and looks a lot more natural because of it, the lighting is softer and brighter and the grain looks more real because it IS real. but overall. oh my god tarantino shut up and please let me just have a movie.

phew finally. onward to productive writing now. no plans for next week of film, but before the month ends i want to try and hit at least one film per decade of narrative-based filmmaking up to the present. based on what i've seen so far, i still need to hit:

1910s

1940s

1980s

2020s

also i want to watch at least one film with christopher lee and peter cushing, if i get the chance. but we shall see...

rankings, ratings, and lists thus far:

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) (duh)

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Planet Terror (2007)

The VelociPastor (2018)

The House on Haunted Hill (1959)

The House on Haunted Hill (1999)

The Black Cat (1934)

Witchcraft (1964)

Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920)

The Comedy of Terrors (1963)

Lyle (2015)

Return to House on Haunted Hill (2007)

White Settlers (2014)

Bijo to Ekitai-ningen (1958)

Prometheus (2012)

XX (2017)

Death Proof (2007)

Mary Reilly (1996)

Encounter with the Unknown (1972)

#spooky movie marathon 2024 #screaming into the void #my reviews #ff #juli

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orlaite · 8 months ago

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No waaaay Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920) reference

#i was like hm was der golem shown in american theaters at that time tho?#and i googled it and it showed for 16 weeks at the Criterion in the NYC in 1921!#cinephile Roger

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thewarmestplacetohide · 8 months ago

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Dread by the Decade: Le Golem

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★★★½

Plot: A rabbi and his wife must reawaken a golem to save their people.

Review: Evocative and progressive for its time, Le Golem paints a tale of Jewish persecution and resistance, even if it sometimes focuses too heavily on its villain.

English Title: The Golem Sequel to: Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920) Year: 1936 Genre: Historical Drama, Supernatural Horror Country: Czechoslovakia Language: French Runtime: 1 hour 23 minutes

Director: Julien Duvivier Writers: André-Paul Antoine, Julien Duvivier, Jiří Voskovec, Jan Werich Cinematographers: Jan Stallic, Václav Vích Editor: Jiří Slavíček Composer: Josef Kumok Cast: Charles Dorat, Jany Holt, Harry Baur, Roger Karl, Germaine Aussey, Roger Duchense, Ferdinand Hart

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Story: 3.5/5 - (Note: I haven't seen the first film, but this works as a standalone.) It handles antisemitism, systematic violence, and resistance well. Rachel, the rabbi's wife, and Rudolph, the king, are both especially well written, though too much time is spent with the latter.

Performances: 4.5/5 - Everyone is excellent, but Holt is especially compelling as the steadfast Rachel. Baur also does a great job playing a deeply pathetic but brutal tyrant.

Cinematography: 4/5 - Some lovely long distance shots and creative angles.