Dracula (1979)

The 1979 version of “Dracula” is considered by many to be the first sexy version of the classic tale. This might be true but this version is also one of the most incorrect, off base versions I have ever seen. The script is inspired by a play about “Dracula” and gives the novel a mere secondary nod as a source material. This movie is a flagrant example of Hollywood being lazy, not bothering to read the book, and making up what they think the story is; it’s as if the writer saw the movie as a child and then tried to recall it thirty years later without any notes. The names of the characters are there, at least the first names, but the relationships are all wrong. On the plus side the film is very stylish and full of action. There are scenes that are full of candles, streams of flowing smoke, Frank Langella wearing a cape, and actors fully committed to the script; if only the script writers were had been committed after writing this!

The film begins with action as the ship that is carrying Count Dracula and his numerous boxes of dirt is losing control during a violent storm. The crew is trying to throw the crate that Dracula is in overboard, but a monster breaks out and kills the crew and the captain. The ship then crashes into the banks near Dr. Seward’s asylum, where Dr. Seward and his daughter Lucy (??) are trying to calm the inmates. Lucy’s friend Mina Van Helsing (??) escapes the house and runs out into the storm, going all of the way down to the beach and into a cave where she finds and rescues the Count. The next day, Jonathan Harker drives up to the wreck and tries to see if Dracula survived. He is told that the Count is alive and is at his new home in Carfax Abby. Harker then orders Renfield to move the unbroken boxes to the Abby. While doing so, Renfield is attacked by the Count after he turns into a bat.

Does your head hurt yet?

That night, the Count goes to Dr. Seward’s home to dine with the Dr. and his daughter, Jonathan, and Mina, who is now looking awfully pale. During dinner, Mina has a panic attack and the Count hypnotizes her to calm down. And then he dances with Lucy who is now obviously swooned by the guest. Later, Harker asks Lucy about her feelings for the Count and she assures him that he is the only man for her. Meanwhile, the Count climbs down the side of the manor and enters Mina’s room, where she happily exposes her neck. In the morning, with Lucy and her father there, Mina begins to choke and dies. The Dr. thinks nothing of the bite marks on Mina’s neck since it’s been a long time since he practiced real medicine. Meanwhile, Renfield wakes up from his attack and agrees to work for Dracula after he develops a taste for insects. Harker visits the Count at the Abby later that night to finish the sale of the Abby. As Harker is driving home he is attacked by Renfield, who is begging for help to be saved. Renfield is admitted to Seward’s asylum.

41 minutes into the film…

Lucy is overcome with grief after attending Mina’s funeral as Harker leaves for a work trip. Dr. Seward then tells his daughter that Proffesor Van Helsing is coming to town and that he is going to meet him at the train station. Meanwhile, Lucy goes to the Abby under the pretense that Jonathan and her father would be there. Back at the asylum, Mina attacks and kills a baby and jumps out a window. Van Helsing and Seward are left trying to figure out what’s going on. Meanwhile Dracula is busy seducing Lucy, who seems more into him than he is into her.

I’ll let you watch the rest of the movie to find out what happens. This isn’t the story that you thought you knew….

Best WTF moment - Dr. Seward seems to always be eating, even at the most inappropriate times. 

Second WTF moment - Why Laurence Olivier and Donald Pleasence ever agreed to be in this film?!?!

Phantasm (1979)

Simply stated, “Phantasm” is one odd movie! I have to admit that it took a few viewings before I was able to get a clear understanding of what was going on. This isn’t surprising considering that the crew was trying to figure out what happens next while they were making it! But in the end, there ended up being one of the more original horror films from the 1970’s and 80’s. It was followed by three sequels that were just as head scratching as the original. The film was written and directed by Don Coscarelli, who would go on to film the sequels, the classic fantasy adventure “Beast Master”, and “Buba Ho-tep”.

“Phantasm” has one of my favorite movie tag lines – “If this film doesn’t scare you, you’re already dead!”

Mike Pearson, his older brother Jody, and their friend Reggie become entangled in the mystery surrounding the mysterious deaths occurring in their small town. Shortly after Mike and Jody’s parents die, their friend Tommy is murdered while having sex in the graveyard. They’re told that it Tommy died by natural causes but Mike notices strange things going on at the cemetery when he sneaks along to the funeral. Later, Jody is nearly seduced and murdered by the same fiendish ghoul that killed Tommy, surviving the encounter only because Mike interrupts them after being chased by a small demon-like jawa-thing. Events only become more bizarre when Mike sneaks into the mausoleum and witnesses a man being killed by a flying silver sphere with knives, spilling the blood in a fountain is it drills into the victims head. Soon Mike and Jody are being chased by the Tall Man, the mortician of the mausoleum and leader of the shrunken demonic servants.

Favorite scene – Mike is able to obtain a cut off finger that continues to move on its own. Mike and Jody plan to use this finger as evidence when they decide to get the police involved but before they can leave the house, the finger turns into a gnarly fly-monster that they end up trapping and killing in their trash disposal, only with the help of Reggie, who didn’t know about the strange occurrences at the mausoleum yet.

Mike and the Tall Man

Reggie the Ice Cream guy and the Tall Man

The Amityville Horror (1979)

“The Amityville Horror” is one of the quintessential horror movies from the 1970’s, complete with a stellar cast, a memorable and outstanding story, numerous sequels, and its fair share of controversy. The movie is based on the book of the same name which a recounting of real events of a mass murder in a house in New York and the supposed occurrences that took were witnessed by the Lutz Family who had moved in after the tragedy. Although this is clearly a great ghost story, the possession element is obvious when George Lutz slowly goes mad and begins acting like the crazy father that killed his family without reason in the past. Luckily for George and his family, he recovers quite easily from his possession unlike many of the others who become possessed in the other film I’m reviewing this week.

George and Katy Lutz decide to buy and move their family into a beautiful old house that happened to have been the location of a mass murder the year before. In that event, a father killed his wife and four children with a rifle for no apparent reason. George and Katy are well aware of this (which is very refreshing) and realize that this is why the house is so cheap. It doesn’t take long after they move in for the weird ghost like occurrences to begin such as objects moving, chairs rocking, and a room full of flies. A catholic priest that he couple had asked to bless their home realizes that something is amiss and his judgments are only confirmed when the wife of George’s business partner senses the paranormal activity. George becomes withdrawn and begins acting oddly and is slowly possessed by the evil within the house while Katy has persistent dreams that reveal minor details of the murders. Eventually the family learns that their house is/has a gateway to Hell. Katy finds a picture of the killer and sees that it looks just like George, is able to get back to the house just in time to save her children from a possessed George, and the family safely escape the house and never return.

Favorite moment – I really like the flashback scenes of the murders as George and Katy are first walking through the house with the real-estate agent. I also like George’s very 70’s look and his hair that just becomes more and more crazy and unkempt as he loses his self-control and sanity.

Alien (1979)

“In space, no one can hear you scream”

The perfect tag line for one of the best movies of all time, “Alien” set a new standard in horror. There are so many reasons why I and millions of other people love this movie. From the frightening landscape and look of the alien that was brought to us by the talented Mr. H.R Giger, to the Lovecraftian sense of dread and foreboding atmosphere, to the honest reactions and terror of the actors themselves, this movie has it all. Some may say that it’s just a cleverly done slasher flick where crew members are killed off one by one; and this is partly true but it is so much more beyond that. The alien is a monster from our nightmares. It is lithe, it drools, it’s huge, it changes, it screams, and it bursts out of your chest after you think the worst has passed. Just admit it, the face-hugger itself was enough to give you nightmares once upon a time. When you add in a killer cyborg that you thought was just the prerequisite prick of the crew, you have no idea who or what to trust at that point!

The ship Nostromo is heading back to Earth with its crew and a payload of millions of tons of minerals when it picks up a faint distress transmission. Following programed protocol, it changes course and heads towards the beacon and awakes the crew from stasis. The crew is thrilled at first because they believe that they are a week or so away from home but quickly find out that they are still in the middle of nowhere. The crew follows protocol as well, landing on the small planetoid and searching for the source of the transmission. What the rescue crew find, which is made up of Capt. Dallas, Officer Kane, and Navigator Lambert, is a large derelict ship. Inside they find a large alien corpse that has a damaged chest area as well as a vast chamber under the main cockpit room. Kane goes down to investigate and finds hundreds of large leathery eggs. One has movement inside and as he bends over to look at it, a face-hugger lunges forth and attaches itself to his helmet. Dallas and Lambert drag Kane’s body back to the ship but Officer Ripley refuses to let them on, following protocol and in fear that they could be infected with whatever is on Kane. The science officer Ash breaks the protocol and opens the door so they can board. Once inside and in the medical lab, Ash and Dallas try to remove the alien from Kane’s head but are unable to do so without killing him, but several hours later the creature let’s go and crawls away to die. Eventually Kane wakes up without remember what had happened to him. The crew has one last meal before going back into stasis but their joy of returning home is interrupted when Kane begins to spasm violently and as they are holding him down, a terrifying little baby alien bursts out of his chest, looks around and quickly runs away. Kane has died but he is not the last to do so….

Favorite moment - too many to list! But I would have to say at this point my favorite is the scene where Ash break downs and tries to kill Ripley.