Walpurgis Night

There's often a lament in November that Halloween only happens once a year. And for all of the subversive gestures towards rejiggering Valentines Day or some other occasion to that end, it seemed to me always that Walpurgis night was JUST SITTING THERE, right at April 30th, a perfect midpoint between Halloweens.

Walpurgis night has been observed in different, often contradictory ways in different cultures. It is both an occasion for the gathering of witches (in Estonia) and a commemoration of St. Walpurga, a saint who converted heathens and is evoked to repel witches. Walpurgis night is at once a religious observance, an occult celebration, and an excuse to party outside to greet the arrival of Spring.

Over the years I'd made a bunch of noises about actually putting together a celebration for the occasion, but the Christian aspects kinda threw me. I spitballed a bit and came up with an itinerary for the day that articulated what I felt were its three purposes: to celebrate the occult (this is the second Halloween we're trying to execute here, after all); to honor the coming of Spring and embrace a spirit of renewal (including a vitalization of creative pursuits); and to fight true evil (a nod to the Christian observance of the holiday).

I didn't wind up throwing a big Walpurgis night party. Since I was mainly R&Ding a second Halloween, I was trying to figure out how one would celebrate the thing in the first place. I eventually settled on seven things (listed above), all of which I accomplished over the course of the day. As rigorous and rigid as this planning may seem, there was a spirit of flow, spontaneity, and joy that filled the day, and eventually I felt fully in the throes of the kind of well-being one associates with the devoted celebration of any holiday.

And even though this was a solo flight, a sense of celebration slid out into the day. A few instances hit (omens, one might call them) that the celebration was meant to be. SUCH AS:

--Donating to the Elizabeth Warren campaign hit all the bases, a femme-centric way to fight true evil, and to help build toward a brighter Spring. It's silly, but even clicking the Donate button, from the intentions of the day, felt like casting a spell.

--None of my friends and acquaintances at the Castro Theatre would go on the record about whether or not they deliberately booked for Walpurgis night Dario Argento's Suspiria (the zenith of the witch movie), but it was of course perfect for the night, the digital restoration bringing to vibrant life the intense reds and blues of Argento's arcane universe (and wrapping the whole thing up with the witches purged by fire). I was dubious about the evening's co-hit, Climax, but the usually misanthropic Gaspar Noe turned in a piece of choreographic wildness that won me over, even as his drive to annihilation manifested in the second half. The two movies had much to say to each other, and together set a perfect mood for the occasion. (Even Castro organist David Hegarty seemed tapped into the holiday, busting out "Some Enchanted Evening" before Suspiria.)

--My neighborhood was quiet upon my return home, save for someone across the street blasting Enya's "Orinoco Flow", an instance no less fraught with significance for being so hilarious.

--And finally, the candle lit at the end of the night did seem to burn off the last remnants of Winter, shining past midnight toward a brighter future that I could, finally, fully sense over the horizon.

The SHOCKtober Revision

I wanna post a mess of things for this, the Halloween season. I always begin with big intentions and then life gets in the way. I'm hoping it will not be so this time around and, emboldened by already having twice as many posts on the House this year as last (though that's a low bar to clear), I'm hoping to have twice as many posts for October as thru the whole year so far.

So a bit of a cheat, here, though I sincerely hope you'll find it useful. Long time hero-of-me Stacie Ponder is also feeling similarly prolific over on her revitalized Final Girl, and she's resurrected SHOCKtober!, in which she solicits her readers to submit their favorite horror films and then counts down from least to most popular. I submitted a list last time but didn't consult it when submitting anew. You may see the below as an evolution of my tastes, though honestly I believe there are more tried-and-true selections this time out than last. For both lists, however, I restricted myself to one film per filmmaker and no more. And both are submitted in the event you're looking for something appropriate to watch over the next month - if you get a chance to give any of the following eyes, your proprietor says go! Can you stand the excitement?

At ease, Leslie.

THE LIST (including links to my reviews, if they exist):

The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Fuest, 1971)
The Beyond (Fulci, 1979)
Black Sabbath (Bava, 1963)
The Brides of Dracula (Fisher, 1960)
Byzantium (Jordan, 2012)
Cat's Eye (Teague, 1985)
Creepshow (Romero, 1992)
Crimson Peak (del Toro, 2015)
Dust Devil: The Final Cut (Stanley, 1992)
Eve's Bayou (Lemmons, 1997)

Exorcist III (Blatty, 1990)
Ginger Snaps (Fawcett, 2000)
Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (Shimizu, 2003)
Kuroneko (Shindo, 1968)
Lair of the White Worm (Russell, 1988)
The Moth Diaries (Harron, 2011)
Phenomena (Argento, 1985)
Prince of Darkness (Carpenter, 1987)
Son of Frankenstein (Lee, 1939)
Wolfen (Wadleigh, 1981)

Exit the Halloween Hangover...Enter...um, THE HALLOWEEN HANGOVER!

One keeps changing one's goalposts, doesn't one? Revising a blown deadline, extending a due date to buy oneself more time? I do so unashamedly, for a number of reasons. When I last posted, I was miffed by how Halloween sneaked by with so little fanfare, and swore to extend the celebration of horror into November, taking the 21st as the true end of Halloween.

The 21st was the night the Castro Theatre unleashed a lovely 2fer of British horror: Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (from a print brought over from the British Film Institute) and Harry Kumel's Daughters of Darkness, a highly regarded cult film I'd been eager to check out for years. I attended that lovely double feature (accompanied by good friend & editor Michael Guillen - go read The Evening Class, will ya?), and yet still can't just put the damn Halloween season to bed.

Especially not since the Castro's unleashing an even-more-glorious horror 2-fer this month, pairing Argento's Suspiria (which I've seen there before and elsewhere on 35mm, but dammit) with Mario Bava's final film Beyond the Door II (aka Shock), and under-the-wire-but-surely-welcome participation in this, Mario Bava's centenary.

So I'm not pronouncing horror season done until that date (and its accompanying movies) are behind us. As for the movies mentioned above...

--Don't Look Now was basically an unknown quantity; I'd seen it on video back in college but hadn't revisited it since. Even knowing the terrifying ending is coming (and it's still a hell of a jolt, and a heartbreaker, besides), the details of the story remain engrossing. Though Roeg feels like he's keeping himself distant from his story, in which Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie mourn their dead child (retreating to Venice, where something strange among the canals seems to stalk them as insistently as their memories), it's as if Sutherland and Christie are able to spread out inside that distance and really explore the depths of sadness, intimacy, alienation, and desolation. For all its penetrating realism there's more than enough touches of the uncanny to propel the thing into the realm of horror. And I wonder now as I did when I first saw it if its visual linking of one scene to the next was lifted directly by comics scribe Alan Moore.

--Daughters of Darkness stretches a low budget and limited resources really, really far, or spends a huge budget to convey that impression. John Karlen (who shot this between Dark Shadows projects - Kumel's casting must have been deliberate) and Danielle Ouimet are newlyweds who find themselves stuck at a desolate Belgian hotel, with only a bizarre countess (Marienbad's Delphine Seyrig, semi-slumming it here under Resnais' encouragement) and her Brooksian secretary (Andrea Rau). It's decadent and dreamy, never quite solid enough to cohere into something truly great but never running out of strange details with which to beguile us. And it gets a lot of mileage out of Seyrig, her costumes, and those interiors, as well.

More soon(ish) on other movies seen in the post-post-Halloween season, including a video or two.

Exit Halloween, Enter...The Halloween Hangover!

Man, I had such high hopes for this month. Watch some unviewed movies, write some reviews here, really celebrate the run-up to Halloween. But life, as it so often does, just got in the way. Parental visit, prolific work on the workblog sapping energies for the House. Even the monkeys who cohabitate here were more diligent in celebrating horror movies in the run-up. Plus there was the additional weird juju on the streets of my (gentrifying massively but still beloved) City as the San Francisco Giants took the wild card spot and wound up winning the damn World Series. Always happy to see the black and orange do well (and I'm much happier that such success has smiled on the Baumgarner Giants than the Bonds ones). My only real objection to the post-season is its distraction from the weeks heading to Halloween; it's a key part of my autumn, and it makes me sad when the Giants steal its focus. I don't get mad at anybody over it, it just kinda saddens me.

And yet my appetite for cinematic and other spookiness is rarely sated come All Saints Day, and I often extend the celebration into November for a week or three. (Indeed, a couple of years back I had a great November experience at the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto with the two-fer of THE WOLF MAN and THE MUMMY'S HAND, which I declared the real conclusion to the Halloween season.) And so, since the Castro Theatre has a nice 35mm two-fer of Don't Look Now and Daughters of Darkness on the 20th, the celebration of Halloween will continue here at the House of Sparrows until then, with the full intention to present more writing here. Chip away at the October Wall, report on some of the movies seen theatrically, etc.

Whether you're taking your costumed children out for candy, taking in a sexy party, or holing up with horror cinema, I wish you all the best the spooky season has to offer.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The Wall of October...

I'm calling this the October Wall. Wanting, as usual, to observe the Halloween seasons by watching as many horror movies as I can (and guilty, as usual, that I'm not more present here, on my own damn blog, my beloved House of Sparrows), I've pulled all of the discs with unseen or newish horror movies with the intention of watching and writing about them. Included are some discs that have sat on my shelf unwatched since purchase, some are gifts that I haven't yet viewed (ISN'T THAT JUST THE WORST), and some are sets containing movies with which I simply want to better acquaint myself. Plus there's that little envelope on the right containing a nice little surprise, borrowed from a friend which I don't doubt will be a verrrrry interesting view...

Anyway, you've got some giallo, a Curtis Harrington two-fer, a plethora of as-yet-unseen Hammer horror, an offering or two from Japan.

This won't quite be the crazy-ambitious 31 Days of Halloween some bloggers are shooting for. I'm hoping for ten at least capsule-length reviews of the movies under consideration, which'll be a nice little horror feast in the run-up to The Big Day. Hope you'll join me!

October, Day 31 - DUSK

(Please note: the following is the concluding chapter in an ongoing story begun last Halloween. If you would like to start at the beginning, and I hope you will, the first chapter in the story can be found here. Each chapter ends with a link to the next one, so you can click-through and read the whole thing, if so inclined. Please enjoy. And Happy Halloween!)



Bigbaddrac's Twitter feed.

DUSK (De Santos, 12) Another negligible YA fantasy fuckfest, elevated only by Peyton's performance as Come-On-That-HAS-To-Be-Dracula

SamGFan's Twitter feed.

and that OLD guy as Lord Darkbloom was TOTALLY WRONG. HE DIES IN THE BOOK. WTF #dusk

Bigbaddrac's Twitter feed.

@SamGFan that OLD guy is what they call an Actor. Nothing you'd know about.

SamGFan's Twitter feed.

@Bigbaddrac whatever. He's WRONG. HE WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE. #dusk

Bigbaddrac's Twitter feed.

@SamGFan the future sucks because of you.

Internet Movie DataBase.

Box Office Milestone: "Dusk" Crossing $200 Million Domestically

28 October 2012 12:30 PM, PDT | The Hollywood Reporter | See recent The Hollywood Reporter news »

The teen horror romance sensation Dusk isn't going dark anytime soon. Despite some fan controversy about liberties taken with Stacy Lao's best-selling novel, the first movie in what is already slated to be the next YA fantasy franchise remains strong at the box office. Stars Samantha Gillenwater and Travis Sibley have already signed on for the follow-up, The Ocean at Night. No word if the second film will continue to rewrite (with Lao's blessing) the fan-favorite epic and resurrect horror legend Matthew Peyton for another go as Hamilton Darkbloom, whose relationship with Gillenwater's heroine Devona Bradshaw is less combative (though no less intense) in the movie than in Lao's original novel. Photos: Horror Crit

Read more

>>

Toni Blackthorn's blog, The Bay of Angels.

You know what, screw it. I don't care what any of you whiny whippersnappers say: My word is final on this.

Just 'cause you're all invested in your favorite book and wanna be all whiny 'cause the movie's all different and wah wah wah, shut up. You got two things I never got when I was your age.

1) You got Matthew Peyton in a new vampire movie. That you got to see on the big screen. (It's in a goddamn digiprint, sure, but it's better than nothing.)

and

2) You got Matthew Peyton in a new vampire movie playing effin' Dracula. Yeah yeah, I know he's Hamilton Darbloom and why didn't he die cuz he dies in the book and shut up. We here at the Bay of Angels (all one of me) have gone all Zapruder movie on this, and we've sat thru Dusk more times than we care to admit for ten minutes of Peyton. And in those ten minutes, Peyton's playing DRA-GOOOOOO-LLYA. THE EVIDENCE:

--The ring. Lord Darkbloom's got some fairly fancy and modern threads in this (and give'em credit, Peyton looks...downright smokin' in some shots) but if you look at his left hand HE'S WEARING DRACULA'S ONYX RING. They never zoom on it like OMG HE'S WEARING THE RING HE'S DRACULA, maybe cuz the director credits us with some attention to detail, or some intelligence. Hell, maybe it's just fanservice, but dammit, that's the ring.

--The speech. Darkbloom rolls his aaarrrrrs just a leetle bit, like Dracula. And no dammit, that is not 'cause Peyton's got no range. I've seen him play Brit, American, French, Latin (oooh, that was a bad one), and all other kinds of accents. Plus he studied that stuff, and as recently as last year, in the British movie CONSUL executed what I'm told is a flawless Eastern European accent. So yes, that's Dracula's accent what Lord Darkbloom be talkin' wid, and it's not the only one Peyton's got. It's a choice, I tell you.

--The triad connection. Okay, it's a little thin, but Darkbloom talking about that skirmish with the triads in the 90s had to be a reference to FIFTY GUNS AGAINST DRACULA. But wait, you say, that was in the book, so point to you, sonny. Maybe.

--The tenderness. Darkbloom's affection for Devona has a faint hint of the chemistry we saw between Peyton and Jenna Clark back in THE RED RED BLOOD OF DRACULA. There's a whiff of respect in that chemistry - in the book Darkbloom's got no time for Devona, but movie Darkbloom (who, remember is DRACULA), maybe a bit more progressive since RED RED BLOOD, less inclined from that experience to write off a tough young sista jumping into the vampire game. If you bookfans actually want Darkbloom to be the one-note shallow jerk that I hear he is in the book, then you're welcome to him, but Peyton's giving you something better.

But the final piece of evidence is exactly what you've been bitching about since a month before the damn thing even opened. Yes, Darkbloom/Dracula doesn't die. And we know that Peyton asked not to be killed in the movie, and there's a very simple reason for that. And no, you cynical bitches, it's not because he's washed up and wants to stay in the damn franchise. What you see in DUSK, when Devona leaves the chamber and that goooooorgeous last shot of Peyton on the throne, smiling all mysterious and not dying, is a new wrinkle, a new moment, a shift in film history, or at least a key moment, an affirmation of one of the greatest partnerships in horror movie history. And honestly, the third time I saw the movie it finally clicked with me, and I sat in my seat and I cried and cried and cried.

The reason Darkbloom/Dracula/Peyton doesn't get killed in Dusk...is because nobody kills Peyton's Dracula but TED EFFING AFFELDT.

I rest, your honors.


Matthew Peyton's Diary covering the dates and events in question has not been published.

October, Day Final

"Just a moment, Ladies and Gentlemen! Just a word before you go! We hope the memories of Dracula won't give you bad dreams, so a word of reassurance. When you get home tonight, and the lights have been turned out, and you are afraid to look behind the curtains, and you dread to see a face appear at the window...why just pull yourself together and remember that after all...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

October - Day 26

October, Day 25

October, Day 24

"We know not what the children may become."--Edward Counsel, Maxims

October, Day 23 - The Living Years

Bigbaddrac's Twitter feed.

SEVEN BLADES AGAINST DRACULA (Spencer, 02) Harris makes a grand go of it, and there're fewer kids, but it just ain't canon without Peyton.

Toni Blackthorn's blog, The Bay of Angels.

I'm pretty sure I'd do just about anything anyone asked me if it would get Matthew Peyton back as Dracula.

Paul Affeldt's introductory remarks, FrightFreakFest screening of DRACULA, Rialto Theatre, Portland, Oregon.

Good evening, and thank you for having me here. I'm pleased to see so many of you here tonight, at a screening held on the occasion of my father's birthday. It would have meant a lot to him, and means a lot to the arts administrator you see standing before you.

At the time it was being made, this movie meant a lot of long hours for my dad, and many nights when he simply wasn't around. But it also meant an absence note signed by him to get me out of school to attend the movie's opening with him. It meant being subject to more gore and horror at a young age than some school boards would find appropriate, the kind of questionable call made by my father that I loved him for, and continue to love him for today. I'm pleased to see that some of you continue this proud tradition of lousy parenting, and offer a special hello to the children present in the audience tonight.

I've noticed that a lot of these events are held on the anniversary of a death, and I'm pleased that FrightFreakFest is celebrating my father's birthday, and by extension his life, and his work. I know that among the works that made him the most proud were his Dracula films with Matt Peyton, and though Matt no longer attends screenings of these particular films, he has told me that he's pleased that they still draw audiences, and I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear that so many of you came out on such a lovely afternoon to see this, his first work with the character, and with my father. If you're here for the first time, I hope you enjoy it.

And I hope the management will give me a minute to take my seat, so I can enjoy this movie with you. Thank you very much for coming.



To be concluded.

October, Day 22

October, Day 21

The infant points past his father, to an empty corner of his bedroom. "Who's that guy?"

No one can tell what the fuck it is, but something translucent, leggy, and alive is twitching on the floor of the commuter train, causing a panic. The Chinese driver enters the train to investigate, sees the thing and, without a word, kicks it onto the subway platform, causing the commuters waiting there to scatter in sudden terror.

A woman helps her dear friend sorting through the house recently occupied by her now-deceased mother. There is no draft or other air displacement in the house, but for a moment both of them are overwhelmed by the sudden, unmistakable, and strong, scent of roses.

# # # # # # # # #

Despite my love of horror films and fantasy in general, I've walked this earth without ever once experiencing a parting of the curtain, a glance at the other side. I am grateful to (and perhaps somewhat envious of) the friends who have had these experiences, and hope they won't mind me sharing them here. Uncommon experiences now saved in my commonplace book.

October, Day 20

October, Day 19 - THE RED RED BLOOD OF DRACULA

Bigbaddrac's Twitter feed.

THE RED RED BLOOD OF DRACULA (Spencer, 00) PeytonDracula presides over deco mansion and feeds on 12 kids. Shouldn't have ended the series.

Matthew Peyton's Diary.

The studio thought it wise to retire the character for a number of years, and I have to say I agreed a bit. To be honest I was quite surprised when they asked me back, but apparently I was their first call - the regime change hadn't quite happened yet, and they wanted to build on previous familiarity with the series. Ted was still under contract so he was back in as well.

They built a lovely house in the studio for it - if nothing else it was certainly the most visually striking film in the series. The director Renny Spencer built an incredible atmosphere, and he was quite good with us actors. The studio wanted a younger cast, and Renny jettisoned much of the script, letting the actors improvise some rather nice character details. The young lead, Jenna Clark, was awfully good - I thought she'd have a much more expansive career than she's had.

The final fight scene turned into a rather extended ballet choreographed by Jenna, Ted, and myself with Renny giving us space but giving some much-needed advice. We wound up dancing a somewhat tragic pas de deux as I disintegrated in the rising sun. Ted, as usual, topped himself, and if I do say so myself it was one of the loveliest moments in the series.

The response was greater than we could have hoped, and both the longtime fans and their children (which shows how old I was getting by this point) all seemed to enjoy it. RED RED BLOOD (and oh how I loved the juicy excess of that title) was a huge hit, and the studio took no convincing to greenlight a couple of more films. And I took no convincing to sign on for them.

But then Ted fucked everything up by dying.



...and the story continues here.

October, Day 18

October, Day 17 - FIFTY GUNS AGAINST DRACULA

Bigbaddrac's Twitter feed.

FIFTY GUNS AGAINST DRACULA (Ho, 95) PeytonDracula unleashes newschool moves in HK gun fu co-prod. It's every bit as awesome as you'd hope.


Matthew Peyton's Diary.

I'd been very impressed by the genre films I'd seen out of Hong Kong - very exciting filmmaking, powerful energy. When I was asked if I wanted to work on a Hong Kong co-production of a Dracula film I jumped at the chance. I'd never been to Hong Kong, and given that I was turning forty I though that I'd better do this movie now while I could still do at least some of the fight scenes!

They didn't blink at hiring Ted for the effects scenes. The crew worked faster and scrappier than I was used to, really, but Ted thrived in that environment. And the death scene was absolute genius, with Dracula getting blown up with a rocket launcher to expose his heart, which Shung Khan's hero could finally impale with the sacred dagger since it was trailing from my chest exposed on the floor. Of all of the deaths that Ted concocted for me that was probably my favorite. Never mind that it almost really killed me.


...and the story continues here.

October, Day 16

Wanting people to listen, you can't just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you'll notice you've got their strict attention.

Nothing wrong with a man taking pleasure in his work. I won't deny my own personal desire to turn each sin against the sinner.

--Honestly, have you ever seen anything like this?
-–No.

October, Day 15

October, Day 14

Breaking ranks within the post-a-day celebration to bring good news. And a lovely short film.

Goodbuddy and occasional collaborator Bryan Enk is every bit the Dracula-fanatic as your proprietor, if not moreso. He began his filmmaking career in earnest with DRACULA and DRACULA RETURNS, a pair of shot-on-video student features that address and explode teh Dracula story (and its various iterations) with intelligence and verve.

Bryan has since stormed the festival circuit with collaborative partner Jessi Gotta - their work together has won awards at festivals across the country. They're in the midst of fundraising for META/STASIS, an ambitious sci-fi horror film that I hope you’ll join me in supporting. In the meantime, though, Bryan has resurrected his own Third Lows production banner and completed work on yet-another Dracula-related film, THE FINAL VOYAGE OF THE GOOD SHIP DEMETER, in collaboration with Steve Bishop (who acts the hell out of it) and Christiaan Koop. It’s well worth eight minutes of your time; please enjoy.

The Final Voyage of the Good Ship Demeter from Third Lows Productions on Vimeo.