GOODBYE, OLIVIA HUSSEY

In the realm of horror, you made an iconic mark, with roles in the classic/original Black Christmas (1974), IT (1990), The Gardner (1998), The Cat and the Canary (1978), The Ice Cream Man, Headspace, Virus (1980), Turkey Shoot and the highly acclaimed Psycho IV: The Beginning, as Norma Bates. 

Of course, your involvement in Romeo and Juliet (1968) placed you beyond legendary, as well as the controversy that's followed such in recent years.

Your other parts hold breadth and worth, as well, including Mother Teresa of Calcutta (where you performed the title role); Jesus of Nazareth; Lost Horizon (1974); The Battle of Villa Fiorita; The Man with Bogart's Face; All the Right Noises; Cup Fever; The Summertime Killer; Death on the Nile; Ivanhoe (1982); Quest of the Delta Knights; Bad English I; Undeclared War; Bloody Proof; H-Bomb; The Jeweller's Shop; Distortions; Shame, Shame, Shame; and Social Suicide (where you rejoined your Romeo and Juliet costar, Leonard Whiting); while lending your voice to the DC Animated Universe as Talia al Ghul and to Star Wars, in three, popular, video games. 

You lit up the screen whenever you graced it, emitting beauty and refinement in every instance. Your status in cinema is, therefore, enviable, and your legacy one that will continue to draw considerable, artistic edict. 

HAPPY PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE DAY 2024 (12/28)

 

I saw Nosferatu 2024

Writer/director/producer Robert (The Witch) Eggers' Nosferatu, a new (35 mm) version of the famous variant of Bram Stoker's Dracula, reminds me of an old, quality, Halloween costume dusted off and fixed with a few, clever bells and whistles (i.e. a few extra, plot pieces), and in the case of Nosferatu, it's not the first time a refurbishing has been (re)done. 

Prior to this 2024 release, we were served the 1979, Werner Herzog/Klaus Kinski Nosferatu, the Vampyre/Phantom of the Night, which has become as much as cinematic classic as the 1922, F.W. Murnau/Henrick Galeen/Max Shreck/Symphony of Horror (and some will feel inclined to connect Nosferatu/Vampire in Venice to it, since it works as the remake's unofficial sequel). Then there's Tobe Hooper's 1979 and Gary Dauberman's 2024 versions of Stephen King's Salem's Lot, which use the emaciated-rodent look for Barlow, in addition to Andre Ovedral/Javier Botet's adventurous take for The Demeter, as well as E. Elias Merhiage/Willem Dafoe's Shadow of the Vampire, a fictional, making-of Nosferatu, which falls in line with Douglas Schulze's play-based re-enactment, Mimesis: Nosferatu, and lest we forget the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Space Vampire," which modifies the Shreck design or Richard Brake's spot-on spoof in Rob Zombie's The Munsters, and oh, yeah, I must acknowledge the Orlak-ian, ethereal silhouettes of Francis Ford Coppola/Gary Oldman's Dracula, which seep straight from Murnau's foundation. (BTW: There's still the David Lee Fisher/Doug Jones' 2023 completion that's creeping through the cracks. I'll being doing a post on it soon, since I've discovered where to access it, albeit for an online toll.) 

With all of this said and acknowledged, how could Egger's Nosferatu be at all groundbreaking? It's at best and most just ageless decay dusted off, with a Lurch-like, entitled entity at its hub, now sporting a mustache and a tuft of hair high upon his crown. (To some, the fuzziness might be considered blasphemous, even if Vlad Tepes-based, when compared to the iconic, Shreck look.)

This blaring deviation aside, Nosferatu 2024 is still engrossing for what it offers, parenthesized with the obligatory, extending claws, enshrouding mustiness (this time enclosed in a wintery mix), and in this instance, helmed by genre favorite, Bill Skarsgard (It/The Crow/Barbarian) as the eponymous creature, aka Count Dracula, but called Count Orlak to commemorate the 1922's relabeling. Skarsgard is creepy and conniving, and downright chilling in his raspy enunciations, even though kept in the shadows a large part of the time.

The complementing cast supports his plagued presence with identifiable urgency, with a couple members having appeared in prior Nosferatu/Dracula incarnations: Nicholas (Renfield) Hoult as the jolted and jarred Thomas Hutter (Jonathan Harker); Lily (Silent Night) Rose-Depp as pale, frail and possessed Ellen (Hutter's wife and a Mina Murray surrogate); Willem (Shadow of the Vampire) Dafoe as the wry, in-tune Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz (Professor Abraham Van Helsing, with a little Father Merrin tacked on); Ralph (The First Omen) Inesen as the open-minded Dr. Wilhem Sievers (Dr. John Seward); Simon (The Conjuring 2) McBurney as the puppeteered Herr Knock (R.M. Renfield); Aaron (Kraven the Hunter/Kick-Ass) Taylor-Johnson as the incredulous Friedrich Harding (Arthur Holmwood); and Emma (Deadpool & Wolverine) Corrin as amicable but desperate Anna (Friedrich's spouse and Lucy Westenra surrogate). 

For the most part, the principles play the Stoker fable as one might expect, matching those of the 1922 and 1979 versions, creating an excursion that's nightmarish (thanks in no small part to Jarin Blaschke's icy photography and Robin Coralan's nail-biting score), so that in the end (and this goes with the underlying vibe of any Nosferatu), the movie is still Dracula at its hateful heart and decrepit heart. Again, that is to say the movie is contradictorily nothing new and yet at the same time new, indeed, as it's forged by new artists. To repeat, it's a tried-and-true, variant-costume, embellished and paraded (now worn by someone else), whether it need be or not. 

Regardless of the superfluous niche, I'm willing to accept this bloodsucking addition, just as I tend to welcome any adaptation of Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, The Invisible Man, Color Out of Space, Fall of the House of Usher, Murders in the Rue Morgue, A Christmas Carol and so on. This sort of dark, gloomy storytelling is my kind of thing, and for anyone who digs Gothic horror, Nosferatu 2024 is a must-see, not because it oozes any sure-fire freshness through its rot (or that it's truly Nosferatu in all manners of shape and form), but rather that it revels in the perennial, Stoker brand.  

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2024, FROM ALPHA RECORDS

FOR THE FUN OF IT:

 

WELCOME WINTER 2024/2025 (12/21)

 

SO LONG, JILL JACOBSON

To Al Adamson fans, you're the possessed and murderous Nurse Sherri, and among related, horror/thriller/fantasy entries, you're noted for Restless Souls, Excess Flesh, Perfect Victims, The Jigsaw Murders, Visage, Last Look, House of Usher (2008), Freddy's Nightmares, Ghost Whisperer, Splash, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Fox's War of the Worlds and the original Quantum Leap.  

Fans also relish your long stint on Falcon Crest (as Erin Jones), as well as your appearances on The New Gidget (as Larue Wilson), Who's the Boss?, Party Down, Sledge Hammer!, Arliss, Castle, Newhart, Hung, Strong Medicine, Crazy Like a Fox, Uncle Buck, My Sister Sam, Murphy Brown, The Devlin Connection, The Circle (which you not only starred in, but produced), The Fix and Days of Our Lives.  

For your cinematic stretch, you complemented Nurse Sherri with roles in Mic Whore (a short, which you wrote and produced), Harper Valley PTA, Policewoman Centerfold, Bad Georgia Road, Up Yours, Watch Out for Slick, Instinct to Kill, After the Storm, Leo and Laurie, Baby Sitter, Obsessive Love, An Uncommon Love and Forbidden Love. 

You were a multifarious actress, Ms. Jacobson, a unfeigned beauty and queen of disarming command, and because of such, you'll be remembered and missed with unbending fondness, uncommon reverence and most importantly, unabating bliss. 

SCARY MONSTERS #137: MAMMOTH TO MINATURE, CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Scary Monsters #137 is a marvelous submission of colossal scale, matched by tiny (but no less impactful) terrors, packaged in warm, Christmas cheer, thanks to Scott Jackson's colorful, Gremlins-meets-Gorgo front cover, which is joined by an adoring, big-and-small, rear collage.  

To commemorate the colorful cloaking, the "Mammoth to Miniature" submits (along with the aforementioned classics) such contrasting entries as The Amazing Colossal Man, War of the Colossal Beast, The Cyclops, Dr. Cyclops, Frankenstein Conquers the World, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman 1958 & 1993, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Attack of the Puppet People, Bride of Frankenstein, The Food of the Gods, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, The Giant Behemoth, Dinosaurus!, The Lost World 1925, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, The Last Dinosaur, The Land That Time Forgot, Land of the Lost, Jurassic Park, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, The Valley of Gwangi, The Crater Lake Monster, Pulgasari, The Thief of Bagdad 1940, Troll, Ghoulies, Critters, Puppet Master, Cat's Eye, A Girl in a Pocket, The Devil-Doll, Fantastic Voyage, Jaws, Killer Crocodile, Alligator, Grizzly, King Kong 1976, The Black Scorpion, The Deadly Mantis ... and Empire of the Ants.

There's also a creepy, cat-creature feature, as well as one on that Maestro of the Macabre, Vincent Price, plus those appreciated, publication staples, "Kaiju Corner," "Trilogy of Terrors," "Strange Days" and the guffaw-bound Roomies from the Tomb. 

Don't miss out on this astounding, nostalgic, holiday compilation. Order at ...

https://www.mymoviemonsters.com/store.php/mymoviemonsters/pd10835043/_scary_monsters_137__mammoth_to_miniature_movie_monsters__preorder