The Lost Boys: More 80s Movie Fun

It's fun to watch a movie like The Lost boys that I haven't seen in twenty years or more. Part of the fun is noticing how I perceive things so much differently now with twenty more years of life in my head, in addition to the changes in society and values over time that alter my perceptions. Another part of the fun is the relief that some things haven't changed at all and probably won't. Like Michael's (Jason Patric) caving to peer pressure and his "sex glands" as his brother Sam (Corey Haim) tells him when he becomes obsessed with Star (Jamie Gertz).

Another example, I do not remember Jason Patric being so overwhelmingly gorgeous! Really. They didn't have to keep shoving the Jim Morrison poster in the shot with him when they were in the cave. Was the movie implying that Jim Morrison is also immortal and ageless? I am a Jim Morrison fan, but Jason Patric is better looking, and also alive. Or, is Jim Morrison a vampire masquerading as Jason Patric?? I'm sure there was all kinds of talk about the connection at the time the movie came out, but that's the fun of reviewing movies, books, etc. I don't let anything except the piece of art itself influence my review. And, I don't remember all the talk and gossip about the movie at the time of its release.

The special effects and vampire makeup were really good for that era. The vampire make up reminded me of the vampires in the TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Were the same artists involved? I was happy to see the two Corey's again. I always liked Corey Feldman for some reason, maybe because of the characters he played. I didn't watch any of his reality work, mostly because I don't watch reality shows. 

I especially liked the 80s freedom and fun factor in the movie. Of course, they hung out on a happening boardwalk with an amusement park where every day was fun, fun, fun! The vampires even lived in a resort, broken and decaying, but still a resort. I guess that's the best part of being immortal and never growing old; no worries. As David (Kiefer Sutherland) tells Michael, "You never die. You never grow old. But you must feed!"

Gothic Day Trips: Seaside, Waterford, Connecticut

On the National Register of Historic Places, Seaside is, with the help of plenty of vandals, a decaying yet lovely piece of  early 20th Century architecture facing a beautiful white sandy beach on Long Island Sound. It was first used as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients, then a home for the elderly and finally a home for the mentally retarded. I'm sure many patients from all three incarnations have died there and there may be some rambling spirits residing in the abandoned buildings.

Paranormal investigators have examined the property and did find evidence of spirits in the buildings. Check out the video clips from investigations by Paranormal Encounters which prove that there is spiritual activity in the main building! 

I was there today and the place was crowded with beach goers even though it was late in the afternoon and, judging by the random positioning of the remaining cars in the parking lot and on the grass, many more people were sunning themselves there earlier in the day. The state of Connecticut owns the property and plans to convert it into a state park eventually. There's an extremely vigilant security guard driving around the grounds greeting visitors and stalking them mercilessly making sure they don't get withing 50 feet of the buildings. I imagine the state is trying to prevent any lawsuits from curious visitors cutting themselves on one of the many broken windows or impaling themselves on the rusty gates. I suppose getting too close to the buildings might put one in danger of being bopped in the head by a loose falling brick or roof shingle. 

Obviously, the state wants to prevent anyone from entering the building and being hurt or killed. There are signs posted that the park closes at sunset unless you're fishing. Apparently, people armed with a fishing pole are free to enter at any time. The place must be super creepy in the dark in the moonlight with the soft waves lapping and the spirits wandering.

Wuthering Heights: Catherine's Self-Imposed Solitary Confinement

I just love Emily Bronte!

After the scene in the kitchen when Edgar confronts Heathcliff regarding his romantic advances toward Isabella in the garden as reported by Nelly, Catherine flees to the parlor in anger feeling slighted when both men fail to behave the way she wants. Heathcliff is rude and insulting causing Edgar to order him off the property and punch him in the throat. Catherine blames them both for ruining the situation for her. She wants Heathcliff to behave in a manner that Edgar will accept and she wants Edgar to be welcoming and open to Heathcliff's visits. She actually believes that could work? When the men's natural feelings and override their desire to make Catherine happy, she is livid.

Edgar approaches her in the parlor and demands that she choose between Heathcliff and himself stating that she can't have both men. Her response is to throw a fit, which terrifies him until Nelly exposes Catherine as a fake by revealing that she had threatened to have a fit before he entered the room. Her manipulations foiled, Catherine storms to her room and refuses to eat or open the door for three days.

Is it a coincidence that Bronte has Catherine locked away for three days, the same amount of time Jesus spent in his tomb before his resurrection? At least he was unconscious. What would a person alone in a bedroom do for three days with nothing to do but stare at the walls? It must have been freezing in that room too with no fire or central heating. Not to mention the overflowing stinking bedpan. Maybe she dumped it out the window. Three days alone with nothing but her own distressed mind. Self-destructive behavior for a self-involved person.

Wuthering Heights and Victorian Mourning Customs

One of my many favorite scenes in Wuthering Heights is when Ellen Dean describes sitting in the drawing room guarding Catherine's body and she leaves the window open for Heathcliff to sneak in to visit Catherine's remains one last time. Although extremely disrespectful (but that's Heathcliff for you!), I couldn't help chuckling when Heathcliff removes the lock of her husband's hair from Catherine's locket, tosses it on the floor and replaces it with a lock of his own hair. Ellen only knows this happened when she finds Linton's hair on the floor and sees the drapery in disarray around Catherine's face. She retrieves Linton's hair, twists the two locks together and puts them both in the locket.

I thought the locket with a loved one's hair was a cool idea for a burial custom so I looked up Victorian mourning customs like the drapery Ellen describes. I know the story takes place in 1801 according to Lockwood's journal post, well before the Victorian era, but Emily Bronte was writing during the period, so perhaps she used some current elements in her writing. Some of the Victorian customs were probably used earlier as well. The lack of vaccines and other modern medicine made death more of an every day occurrence and not the almost taboo subject it is today.

Here are some 19th century English mourning customs I found on thefuneralsource:

• Hair lockets and other hair jewelry were also worn by the survivors made from the deceased's hair.
• Jet jewelry was made and worn just for mourning.
• Women wore different mourning attire relevant to the particular stage of mourning and also relevant to their financial situation.

Some other things I found:

Post-mortem portraits and photographs taken as keepsakes. Some photos had the corpse in poses with family as though still alive. Creepy!

From History.co.uk,:

• Just as Ellen and Edgar carry out in Wuthering Heights, a vigil was kept near the corpse during the days and nights leading up to the burial just in case the deceased wasn't really deceased. Where there's a corpse, there's hope. I would think the odor would be a good indicator as well.
• Covering all mirrors in the house after a death to prevent the deceased's freed-up soul from getting trapped in the glass. There was also a belief that if you saw your reflection in a mirror in a dead person's house, you might be next. This brings a whole new perspective to the scene soon before her death where Catherine doesn't recognize her emaciated self in the mirror in her room and Ellen drapes a cover over it to sooth Catherine's fears. She really doesn't recognize it as a mirror or her room at the Grange. She's crazy for Heathcliff.
• Families could hire mourners called Mutes to follow the funeral procession and/or hang around the house looking sad. Were meals included or did they have to provide their own lunch?

In recent times we have a quick wake, maybe; a funeral service, maybe; food and drinks to stuff down your grief so you can rush back to work to save yourself from being fired. My deepest condolences.

Oopsie Daisy! It's Demonic Toys (1992)

Full Moon Entertainment has an array of B movies for sale and streaming on their website, many of which fall into the horror/comedy genre. Back in the early 90s there was a movie rental store near my house that carried them all! Now we can watch most of them on Hulu which is where I've reacquainted myself with Demonic Toys. It stars Tracy Scoggins (The Colbys) as pregnant Officer Judith, the targeted victim of a demon who wants to be born in her baby's body so he can perform demonic deeds from inside a human body. Having to animate dolls to serve as his minions uses all of his energy and his actions are understandably limited. He could do way more damage with his own human body and he'd be able to leave the warehouse where he happens to be trapped. 

Baby Oopsie Daisy is the only one of the toys with language skills and spews some pretty amusing profanity laced lines. Baby Oopsie Daisy is also pretty skilled with weapons while a rabid-looking teddy bear that looks more like a toothy wolf with bear ears is pretty handy with a bat. The other toys mostly just bite their victims to death except for a robot with guns for arms.

The low budget props are just as funny as the animated evil dolls and some of the dialogue. The stop motion animation is really good throughout the movie so we're lucky the demon was trapped in a toy warehouse and not a warehouse full of something less entertaining like pianos.

Gothic Birthday: Eva Green is Thirty-Five

Until I saw Tim Burton's Dark Shadows (2012) my life was unfortunately deprived of Eva Green. Like so many fans of the original Dark Shadows gothic soap opera, I was a little disappointed in the movie as I was hoping for an emphasis on the eery drama, but instead got extreme camp. I do love camp, black humor and gothic silliness, but Barnabus Collins, played by Jonathan Frid in the original TV show, was a dark, intelligent badass who knew how to rock the guyliner, not a bumbling misfit with bad make up. 

However, the movie wasn't all bad as it included a great cast and introduced me to the excellent Chloe Grace Moretz (Carolyn Stoddard) and, of course, the wonderful Eva Green as Angelique Bouchard. Although Lara Parker will always be Angelique, Eva Green brought Angelique into the 21st Century with the charm, strength, power and style that I think only Eva Green can.

Blown away by her stellar performance in Dark Shadows, I was compelled to see movies solely because she was cast in them. Well, maybe not solely, but she was a huge draw for me. One such movie was Sin City: A Dame to Kill For which was deemed by every critic a sad sequel to the original, which I not only like, but own. I had to agree with the critics, but Eva Green made it worth the price of admission. After all, she was The Dame to Kill For!

Another movie that I was extra excited to see was 300: Rise of An Empire in which she played the ruthless and powerful Artemisia. Like Sin City, I am a fan and own the original, but the addition of Eva Green to the sequel made it all the more necessary to experience it. 

And then came Penny Dreadful on Showtime. As one of the most frugal people I know, maybe the most frugal (I've been referred to as Mr(s). Krabs), I was tempted to order Showtime just for Penny Dreadful and Eva Green. However, strong will prevailed as I told myself it's way cheaper to wait and buy the DVD than pay for Showtime, not to mention cable or satellite TV (which I gave up as wasteful spending) just for one show. Delayed gratification is a virtue and the experience can be sweeter for the wait. 

A very happy birthday to Eva Green. May your successful career bring gothic joy to your fans and personal fulfillment and joy to yourself for many more years.

Frankenhooker vs Re-Animator

Both Frankenhooker (1990) and Re-Animator (1985) are comedy/horror movies having to do with bringing the dead back to life. While Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz), the protagonist in Frankenhooker is obsessed with bringing his dead fiance back to life, Herbert West (Jeffery Combs), the protagonist in Re-Animator is obsessed with improving and perfecting his reanimation serum and will use any undamaged corpse to test it on. 

I thought Frankenhooker was a little more gruesome because of Jeffrey's inventing "killer crack" to lure and kill hookers so he could use their body parts to build his dead fiance, Elizabeth (Patty Mullen), a new body to sew her head onto, since her head is the only undamaged body part he has left of her. At least Herbert didn't create his own corpses to test his serum on.

It was fun to see Louise Lasser as Jeffery's mom and the scene between the two of them in Jeffery's room was so well-written and Lasser's sense of timing was impeccable as usual. However, the funniest scenes were when Frankenhooker escaped and was on the loose in Times Square and muttered the remarks we heard earlier from the dead hookers whose body parts she is inhabiting. The body work she performs on Jeffery at the end after she regains her identity as Elizabeth is pretty humorous as well.  

Even though Frankenhooker was funny and gross, I preferred the humor and creative effects of Re-Animator as Dr. Hill's (David Gale), headless corpse carries his head around in a metal pan and the goofy face of Dr. Halsey ( as Dr. Hill's zombie-with-a-lobotomy slave.