October Film Nominees: Horror Movie Month

Micah and I went back and forth on what to do for our horror movie nominations for October. Last year we showed Rosemary's Baby, which I always think of as a classic horror movie. This year we flirted with nominating a group of horror films from the classic B-horror movie era. Films like Spider Baby, or the Maddest Story Ever Told, Orgy of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, or something similar.

We finally decided to select six films for nomination that span the "horror" genre. Here are the nominees. Learn about them. Then vote in the poll on the right hand of your screen.

Peeping Tom: a 1960 psychological thriller film by the British film director Michael Powell. The title derives from 'peeping Tom', a slang expression for a voyeur. The film is a horrific tale of voyeurism, serial murder and child abuse which revolves around a young man who murders women while using a portable movie camera to record their dying expressions of terror. The film was written by the World War II cryptographer and polymath Leo Marks.

The Innocents: a 1961 horror film based on the novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Directed and produced by Jack Clayton, it starred Deborah Kerr and Michael Redgrave. Falling into the subgenre of psychological horror, the film makes use of its lighting, music, and direction for its effect rather than gore and shock factor. Its atmospheric feel was achieved by Academy Award winning cinematographer Freddie Francis, who employed deep focus in many scenes, as well as bold, minimal lighting.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: the classic 1974 American independent horror film written, directed, and produced by Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel. The film is the first in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, featuring Marilyn Burns, Gunnar Hansen, Teri McMinn, William Vail, Edwin Neal, and Paul A. Partain. The plot revolves primarily around a group of friends who embark on a road trip to rural Texas to visit the Hardesty family gravesite, which according to radio reports, had been gruesomely vandalized. On a detour to visit the Hardesty mansion, the friends fall victim to a family of cannibals, including the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface.

Magic: a 1978 film starring Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret. It was written by William Goldman, who also wrote the novel on which it was based. Magic tells the story of Charles "Corky" Withers (Hopkins), a man that has just failed his first attempt at professional magic. His mentor says that he needs to have a better show business personality. A year later Corky comes back as a ventriloquist with a foul-mouthed dummy named Fats. Do you really need any more than that?

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer: a 1986 film directed by John McNaughton, based on the life of real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. The film stars Michael Rooker as Henry, a nomadic serial killer. Henry meets up with an old friend from prison named Otis in Chicago, who he introduces to the delights of random murder. The film was shot in less than a month on a budget of about $110,000, it was not released until 1989 due to repeated disagreements with the MPAA over the movie's violent content. The film was ultimately released without a rating.

Don't Look Now: an Anglo-Italian thriller, directed by Nicolas Roeg and released in 1973. It is based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier.

May Movie Geeks Nominations

Your movie nominees for the May screening will be:

Eraserhead (dir: David Lynch)
Night on Earth (dir: Jim Jarmusch)
The Seventh Seal (dir: Ingmar Bergman)
The Conversation (dir: Francis Ford Copolla)
The Killing (dir: Stanley Kubrick)

To place your vote, leave a comment on this post, vote in the poll on the right hand side of the page, send us an e-mail, or show up to the Movie Geeks Club screening of The Pianist on April 29.

Problem with Aguirre, The Wrath of God

Here's the problem with Aguirre, the Wrath of God (or any other Werner Herzog movie outside of Grizzly Man or Rescue Dawn): it's nearly impossible to get your hands on a copy here in Springpatch.

Knowing that a problem might ensue with securing this film for our screening, I ordered a copy from Amazon. Then I was notified that there might be a delay in shipping which would mean the film would not arrive in time for our March 25 screening. I had a backup plan, however. Lincoln Library has the only lending copy of the movie in town. I've checked it out before, and I was more than prepared to check it out again. When I went to check it out, however, I found that it had already been checked out. Until the 24th. I've placed a hold on this copy, and if it is returned on time, we will not have an issue. I'll pick it up on the 25th and all will be well for Movie Geeks Club.

If, however, I cannot secure a copy of the film, I have a couple of scenarios for you. Here they are:

1) We watch the Errol Morris documentary Gates of Heaven. I thought this was a reasonable replacement for three reasons. First, I already have a copy of this film in my possession. Second, this movie is the reason that Werner Herzog had to eat his shoe, which was captured in the short film Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe. Third, many critics, including Roger Ebert, consider Gates of Heaven one of the top ten movies of all time. If we go this route, we will screen Aguirre, the Wrath of God in April and move everything else back one month.
2) We flash forward a month and screen Roman Polanski's The Pianist. This movie is running away with the online vote, and I'm certain it will be our nominee for the April movie. If we screen this movie in March, then we will screen Aguirre, the Wrath of God in April. The old switcheroo, see?
3) We screen the much more mainstream (and not as interesting) Werner Herzog feature film Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale. This film, based on Herzog's 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly, is about German-born Vietnam Veteran Dieter Dengler. This is a totally sweet movie, by most standards, but I feel like it lacks some of the oomph that most of Herzog's features exude. Regardless, it would be a Herzog substitute, and one that we could get our hands on readily. If we go this route, we may want to forgo Aguirre, the Wrath of God until a later date, as I think it is in bad principle to show films by the same director in back-to-back months.

What do you think, Movie Geeks? Let us know via e-mail or in a comment on this blog.

Thanks,

John

April Movie Geeks Nominations

For April, we'll be voting among five incredible war films.

They are:

Apocalypse Now
The Deer Hunter
Full Metal Jacket
Das Boot
The Pianist

To place your vote, leave a comment on this post, vote in the poll on the right hand side of the page, send us an e-mail, or show up to the Movie Geeks Club screening of Aguirre, the Wrath of God on March 25.

Voting for March Movie Club

Next Tuesday is our February Movie Geeks Club. We'll be screening the film-noir classic Angels with Dirty Faces, starring James Cagney. As always, doors open at 7:00. Movie starts at 7:30. There is no admission fee. You can buy food and drinks before, during, and after the movie.

After the movie, we will vote for the March 25th Selection. You can also vote any time by sending us an e-mail or leaving a comment at the end of this post. We've decided to make March our "Kings of Independent Film" month. We have have selected five movies from three incredible independent directors. Here are the nominations for March 25:

Director 1: Werner Herzog
I decided to select three of Herzog's movies for nomination, mainly because I couldn't decide which of them I would rather see. I'm a fan of Herzog's work, especially of his legendary relationship with Klaus Kinski, and I think these are three great movies.

Aguirre, Wrath of God



Fitzcarraldo


Cobra Verde


Director 2: Harmony Korine
I like Korine's movies, as difficult as they can be to watch. I wasn't a big fan of Kids, but I loved Korine's hyperrealist/surrealist take on small-town Midwestern life in Gummo. I think julien donkey-boy is much more suited for Movie Geeks.

julien donkey-boy



Director 3: Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch is an independent heavyweight, and it's hard to pick one of his movies. I've always been a little partial to Dead Man. It's one of those movies that just sticks with you. It's maybe not one of his more well-known flicks, but it's among his more interesting, for my two cents.

Dead Man