H22 #26 The Amityville Horror (1979)

George Lutz (James Brolin) wields the cross against evil forces, a common image in '70s horror.

Based on the "true story" 1977 novel by Jan Anson and the countless urban legends to emerge from the Amityville Murders that occurred on November 13, 1974. The highly questionable saga of the Lutz family who moved into the Long Island house after the killing provided the material for the film.

Released in the summer of 1979, James Brolin and Margot Kidder starred as George and Kathy Lutz. I'm a fan of the film, in fact, it's one my favorite haunted house films. It pairs nicely with The Shining, even though the styles of both movies are different, they complement each other. While Kubrick's obsessions are on full display in The Shining, Amityville is all about middle class anxieties of the late 1970s.

These anxieties center around the purchasing a house. As many have noted, Stephen King and John Kenneth Muir of specific note, there are constant occurrences and dialogue revolving around money. George constantly complains about costs from groceries to the heating bill, while the IRS has questions about his business expenses. Kathy's brother loses a bunch of cash before his wedding. Owning a house brings many expenses and becomes an incessant source of tension. How can a nuclear family survive when burdened with taxes, rising energy costs, and stagflation?

Family decline was paralleled by organized religion's waning influence. With so much financial pressure many families still clung to the church for guidance and stability. Rod Steiger camps it up as Father Delaney. When he arrives to Christen the house, he's attacked by flies and later becomes seriously ill. Later when driving the breaks of his car go out, clearly the clergy are targets and unlike the priests in The Exorcist, are totally ineffectual against the supernatural.

Lastly, there's the fragile institution of marriage. It's of note, emphasized more in the book, that Kathy is divorced, and her kids are from a previous marriage, adding extra pressures on George who suddenly must take on a stepfather role. The divorce rate skyrocketed in the 1970s in part due to the gains of Second Wave Feminism. Changing gender roles are very much in the subtext, and the cultural debate over the meaning of marriage plays heavily into the Lutz story. 

The cocktail of horror goofiness and pop sociology in The Amityville Horror make it a staple of the Halloween season - and think twice before buying a fixer upper. Is anything more terrifying than bad plumbing? 

H22 #25: Carnival of Souls (1962)

 

If Ingmar Bergman had grown up in Kansas I could see him making a film like Carnival of Souls. Filmed in grainy black and white, Carnival of Souls is one greatest Midwestern Gothics ever made (it was mostly filmed in Lawrence, Kansas). The film tells the story of a young woman trying to make sense of reality after she's the unfortunate passenger in a tragic drag race.  

After the car crashes off the river bridge, a scene Tim Burton duplicated in Beetlejuice, young Mary arrives in a new town and lands a church organist job.  She gets a room in a boarding house with a nosy landlady, while trying to fend off the advances of her crude neighbor, meanwhile a sinister looking old man keeps appearing at random.  

I admire how the film gradually moves from the realistic to the surreal, common everyday activities like shopping and going on a walk take on a sinister quality.  Eventually Mary comes to realize she may no longer be among the living.  

We're also in the Kansas of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and Mary's interactions with creepily bland locals ramps up the sense of foreboding. The minister, straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting, tries to offer Mary some spiritual guidance to no avail.  She also sees the local psychiatrist who advises her to get a boyfriend. All the men come up short in this film.  As Mary grows increasingly vulnerable, her innocence adds to the sense of dread. 

Carnival of Souls is a must see cult classic, the artistry of the cinematography and skillful use of local setting are expressionistic and haunting. These images really stick with you.  The look and feel of the film anticipated George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, David Lynch's weird America aesthetic, Tim Burton's playful creepiness, even Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  

Herk Harvey never directed another feature film, but left a real gem for movie fans everywhere. Watch it for free.

H22 #24: The Patient (2022)

The Patient just completed its 10-episode run as a limited series on Hulu. Written by Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg the series stars Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleason, in an intense and often disturbing story of a serial killer imprisoning a therapist in his basement. Despite the heavy hitting premise, the series is leans into being a character study of violence and psychology. Themes of Jewish identity and the purpose of mental therapy are also explored, The Patient manages to transcend the tropes of its genre.

Carell plays Dr. Alan Stauss, a therapist with thriving practice mourning the death of his wife Beth (Laura Niemi) and estrangement from his son Ezra (Andrew Leeds) who converted to Orthodox Judaism. Flashbacks are used throughout to recall key moments in Strauss's life, not unlike Lost.

Little is revealed about the past of Sam Fortner (Gleeson) except that he's a serial killer who was abused by his father. A classic study of the banality of evil, Sam is a foodie and works as a restaurant inspector, and a big fan of Kenny Chesney. Almost fey in appearance, Sam is one of the least threatening figures to appear as cold blooded killer. Gleeson peppers his performance with minor nuances. 

Strauss wakes one morning and finds his foot chained to a wall. Sam informs he's been taken captive to "cure" him of killing people. Once the initial shock wears off, Alan tries to treat him. He gets to the root of Sam's rage going back to his father and being bullied in school. It's clear Sam is a psychopath leading a double life by hiding in plain sight. 

Their therapy sessions recall Tony Soprano and Dr. Melfi from The Sopranos. Like that patient-doctor relationship, their exchanges are compelling but never lead to anything. Alan is fighting a two-front war, convincing Sam they are building a relationship while also plotting an escape. In fantasy sequences he talks to his own therapist played by David Alan Grier in a strong supporting performance, serving as his conscience in an unthinkable situation.

The series blends the mundane with sudden bursts of violence. In one horrific moment from an early episode, Sam brings one of his still living victims' home (a restaurant manager who argued with him) and forces Alan to deal with the horrendous scene. Flashes of progress in Sam are continually erased in predictable setbacks. Yet Sam does go through something of an evolution, while Alan's journey is more existential.

Episodes frequently reference and suggest parallels to the Holocaust, Alan is haunted by family members who died in the death camps. In the ninth episode "Auschwitz" Alan turns to Victor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning to find hope. Alan associates his captivity as a replay of what his relatives experienced. Issues of how to resist and the soul crushing sense of the losses from the atrocities committed by the Nazis. While Sam never does or says anything antisemitic, he fits the profile of a war criminal who would commit such awful acts. 

The heavy performances of Carell and Gleeson maintain an intensity throughout. An examination of evil as a malignant force in the past and present, the series is anxiety inducing and compelling, most of the episodes are only 30 minutes. Carell brings an inner strength to Alan, which is about the most heroic one could hope in such a situation. I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending, it's both inevitable and surprising. 

***1/2

H22: #23: Tremors (1990)

Released in January of 1990, Tremors has persisted as one of the most enjoyable monster films ever made. It's also an excellent gateway movie for horror, the blend of scares and comedy have aged quite well. 

Kevin Bacon as "Valentine" and Fred Ward as "Earl" are handymen in Perfection, Nevada. Bored and looking for better opportunities elsewhere, they will soon be battling giant worms. When locals begin to get terrorized by strange creatures, the small population find themselves under siege at the general store and eventually end up in the desert for a duel. 

The supporting cast adds to the charm. Michael Gross of Family Ties fame steals scenes as a conspiracy theorist prepper along with country music star Reba McEntire as his straight talking wife. Today there would be much more sinister edge to these characters, but it was 1990 and conspiracy theorists were mostly non-threatening. 

At the heart of Tremors is the chemistry between Bacon and Ward, their banter was a step above most b-movies. Ron Underwood's direction was sharp, making for a fun and swift moving 95 minutes. 

H22 #22: You're Next

You're Next could be considered a high brow slasher with its prestigious cast of Indie film luminaries. Propelled by the power pop of the Dwight Twilley Band song "Looking for the Magic", the film is about a family gathering of competing siblings. Things quickly get bloody when home invaders begin terrorizing them. 

Sharni Vinson stars as Erin, accompanying her boyfriend Crispin (A.J. Bowen) to meet the family, including his competitive brothers. Once the violence starts all bets are off as secrets are revealed about everyone. The film owes much to Agatha Christie and the verbose mumblecore aesthetic. The first half works fine as a situation comedy. When violence starts to flow, it's quite brutal (all axes and knives) but never loses its comedic edge. 

At 90 minutes You're Next could easily fit into any program in a slasher marathon. It could be filed under the genre of affluent white people getting psychotic, Get Out (2017) and or Ready or Not (2019).Vinson is the prototypical final girl, allowing the audience someone to root for. 

H22 #21: Omen III: The Final Conflict

The concluding chapter to the Omen trilogy is built on the tantalizing premise of Damien becoming a nefarious player in world politics. There's potential for an epic story here but the film gets bogged down in the complexities of a half-baked plot involving a team of Italian assassins, astronomical predictions, prophecy, and many other narrative dead ends. 

A young Sam Neill takes on the role of Damian, a wealthy industrialist and youth influencer with an eye on politics. Neill plays Damien as smooth and charming, even a bit dull at times. Fully intent on a master plan for world domination, he's developed a secret following of people willing to carry out his diabolical designs. The how or why of this movement is never really explained. It was interesting how he fashioned his message to young people, fancying himself as an anti-establishment rebel like some wealthy white men today. 

The crux of the plot hinges on Damien's obsession with the second coming of Christ which he believes will happen on March 24. He orders all babies born on that day be killed by his followers in a disturbing sequence. The climax involves a scene one might imagine in apocalyptic books like the Left Behind series. Christian eschatology barely interests me except for research purposes, but millions still believe it.

Despite the myriad inconsistencies of the script*, The Final Conflict does sustain a grim early '80s atmosphere, effectively using locations throughout England and achieves some frightening moments. It's never clear if the film wants to be a political or supernatural thriller. A planned sequel entitled Armageddon was never made. If there were a part of the Omen saga ripe for a remake, following Damien as an adult in the 21st Century would have great potential, especially when considering the current state of world politics.

*The film is set in the 1980s, even though the previous films were clearly set in the 1970s when Damien was a child, so technically the film should've been set around the year 2000.

H22 #20: Damien: Omen II (1978)

In some ways Damien: Omen II is a smarter and scarier film than The Omen, but it does lack the directorial panache Richard Donner brought to the first chapter. Mike Hodges, the original director of Damien, was fired a month into filming by the producers and replaced by Don Taylor, a journeymen known for getting projects done on time. Despite the production issues there's a number of memorable set pieces and some good performances.

William Holden stars, playing the brother to Gregory Peck from the original film, as industrialist who took in Damien, now a teenager. Jonathan Scott-Taylor took on the role as Damien and managed to be both sinister and sympathetic. When he learns the truth about himself he initially reacts with horror but quickly comes to embrace his evil self. Other members of the cast include Lee Grant, Sylvia Sydney, Lance Henriksen, Allan Arbus, and Meshach Taylor.

The script for Omen II brought a sense of international intrigue with a plot involving archaeology and multi-national corporations. Part of the story is also set at a military academy, a setting many films used around this time, where Damien is being prepared for his future with the help of the Satanist commander played by Henriksen. In a favorite moment Damien gets into a historical trivia battle with his teacher. A vivid sense of fatalism and quiet terror pervades the film.

The "death by design" sequences reminded me of the underrated Final Destination films, as most of them involve freak mechanical accidents (also an ice rink and a crow.) Wintry and wicked in its logic, I remember this one frightening me as a kid, surprisingly underrated on re-watch.