Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Well, the Annual Keck Horror Festival is in full swing. It’s no Sundance or Caan but I gotta’ say, I love it to death.
In last week’s column I told you what we started off with–well, some of what we started off with; I see a lot of movies during the fest so I can’t mention all of them. Since the line-up on the previous roster I’ve devoured some delicious delicacies. For one of them, I had to go outside the family. (tell Michael it was just business) 30 Days Of Night. Since this isn’t the forum for ‘Reviews’ I may do one on it later. Keep your eyes open for it on my Films page.
So we started out kind of easy, with the lightweights – The Car, The Blob, Mission To Mars, among others. Good movies, but not what you would call heavyweight contenders. But over this last week we stepped it up a bit. I feel kind of guilty. I went out of artistic sequence. I did one of horror’s best ever. A film by Jack Clayton called The Innocents, starring Debra Kerr. It really is phenomenal with the direction, cinematography, lighting, sound, and acting being just about flawless. All of them work together like a concerto of visual and aural sensory ballet. (okay, okay, not reviewing here) For now, I’ll just say it was top notch. I should have saved such a gem until the end of the festival, I know. It wasn’t because The Innocents is a lesser film than the others, no, not in the least. As Jeff Goldblum said in Mr. Frost, “I just couldn’t help it…” (that’s another one in the second week’s line-up) What can I say, I’m weak. Sitting there on the shelf it just grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.
Then we had The Night Stalker. It was a made for TV movie done in the 70’s when Network Television had some artistic value. With the direction of John Llewellyn Moxey and a teleplay by the wonderful Richard Matheson, it is one of the best vampire movies ever made whether in television or cinema. It went on to become a series that was nowhere near as good as the pilot afore mentioned. It stars Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, a washed out reporter for a small News Paper. And as usual he does a fantastic job. It has a great supporting cast and Simon Oakland as the editor where Kolchak works was fantastic as well. If you’re looking for realism in a fantastical genre, it doesn’t get any better than this. (stop with the review, already!) Alright, suffice to say it is absolutely top notch in its field. Again, on the shelf, couldn’t wait–that weakness thing.
After that, I did the three doubles: Alien and Aliens, The Terminator and The Terminator II, then finished of with Predator and Predator II. (all of these I watched in one day, back to back - oh yeah, I’m bad) I think I liked the Predators the best. Not really because they are better, it’s just that they have a more horror feel to them than the other two. The Alien set is closer to horror than the Terminators, but not quite as close as the Predators. I’m not dogmatic on that, but I think I’d win the argument in the end.
There were others, of course: Innocent Blood, Near Dark, The Others, Blade Runner (the director’s cut without the narration), Salem’s Lot, The Hidden, Nomads, and several more.
Oh yes, we here at Keck’s manor know how to have one damn fine horror fest.
Next week we’ll wrap it up with what’s left of the very best in horror and science fiction. Then it’s back to the normal everyday column you’re used to seeing. But remember, I am a horror writer.
So beware the dark of night when the lurking hand of the frightening column sets its gaze upon you from time to time–just when you thought it was safe to read a weekly…
Anyway, have a happy and horrific Halloween.
Keck
