UNDERRATED HORROR of the 1980s and 1990s

FILMS for FROGS

Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN (1994)

This is a strange film - DELIBERATELY strange. But that is the entire POINT - and this point was somehow lost on virtually everybody (fans, literary types, the screenwriter himself, movie critics) upon release.

It boasts a truly stellar cast (Helena Bonham Carter, Kenneth Branagh, Jon Cleese, Ian Holm, and others) and is exceptionally gruesome and operatic. I vividly recall some English snob calling it an, ‘‘Obnoxious, heavy metal monster movie’’ that should have been, ‘‘subtle’’.

A story about a GRAVE ROBBING madman doctor, who creates a literal MONSTER, during a period characterized by massively homicidal peasant revolts, disease, and sectarian fervor is not adequately ‘‘subtle’’ - think about that for a minute.

Horror is never truly ‘‘subtle’’. And I believe people misinterpret Mary Shelley’s delicate prose as somehow trying to mitigate impactfullness - which, to reiterate, totally misses the point.

What this flick has going for it is that it captures the craziness of James Whale’s 1931 classic version of ‘‘FRANKENSTEIN’’, while effectively channeling the spirit of the original source material. The process by which young Dr Frankenstein (played by Kenneth Branagh) accomplishes bringing dead flesh to life is profoundly disgusting in this movie - and a scene in particular where he grapples in a mess of sludge consisting of amnionic fluid, saltwater, and eel waste with the newly ‘‘born’’ monster was held out as particularly distasteful - but again, its a story about a mad doctor ROBBING GRAVES and molesting the dead in order to play God. This is a highly revolting concept and it cannot be sanitized.

The standout scene involves an homage to, The Bride of Frankenstein while maintaining the spirit of Mary Shelley’s novel in presenting the aforementioned as a plot device congruous with the mood and motif of the film. Its highly disturbing and visceral, and its the most effective scene in the film.

I’m partial to early 1990s horror because I’m OLD - but I maintain it was a unique era in horror cinema, when SOLID writing, transgressive themes, and highly advanced practical effects conspired to create real gems. Highly recommend this one.

THE PHANTOM of the OPERA (1989)

I’m a day one Phantom fanatic - from an early age, Lon Chaney’s seminal interpretation of the spectral villain was my absolute favorite classic movie monster. The Phantom of Gaston Leroux’s story has a tragic personal history, but he IS a monster. He is also brilliant, a cultured aristocrat, and has an impeccable eye for beauty and perfection. Which is clearly the source of his rage at being rendered utterly monstrous and cast out by his lessers.

Robert England’s phantom is a slasher who dons a mask of human flesh - he’s a serial killer from the darkest recesses of the collective mind of 1989, when real monsters stalked every American city and featured on the evening news. Frankly, were he portrayed as anything else, horror audiences would have rejected the concept.

This film is also very ‘‘dream like’’ - the very late 80s, early 90s featured soft lens filtering, colors that were overly vivid, and highly saturated set pieces. I LOVE that kind of shit - but its not for everybody. However in a film like THIS ONE, its somewhat essential. You’re experiencing a young woman’s nightmare - nightmares come to us in hyper saturated tones.

POPCORN (1991)

In much the same way that The Matrix was a crummy, Hollywood knock off of a great, independent film in Dark City, the first truly self consciously META horror film was 1991’s POPCORN - the motif of which was appropriated by Wes Craven and re-packaged with Hollywood budgeting, promotion, and star power as SCREAM.

POPCORN is a truly bizarre slasher movie, the subject of which is CULT FILM - literally. It centers on a CULT of people whose guru was a schlock film mogul, obviously based on William Castle.

The film cult committed mass suicide in a fiery massacre, reminiscent of the Jonestown incident, and (unironically) set in a movie theatre during a cult film festival. The brilliant thing about this movie is that its basically played straight - there’s comedic moments, but the screenwriter took this concept at least somewhat seriously, and the performances convey that he expected the audience to as well.

The denouement is so strange that its impossible to see it coming - and while representing something of a deus ex machina, upon repeat viewings I have concluded that the entire narrative progress of the plot leads up to the final reveal in a way that is too seamless for it to represent a rushed resolution.

If you don’t legit like WEIRD films, and understand the ‘‘in jokes’’ about classic schlock cinema, you probably will not enjoy this one as much as I do. But it IS a genre classic.