I have two spooky pieces of entertainment to share with you guys! One is a book my friend Melody sent me and another is a movie composed of four short stories. You'll get chills while reading or watching these, but both will also linger on in your mind some time later.
Starting with the book: In the Dark of the Night by John Saul:
I could think of a handful of reasons right off the bat why Melody sent me this! The story takes place in Northern Wisconsin in an area I'm well familiar with. So it's easy for me to picture the setting. I don't think I'm giving too much away here to say that it involves some crime stories that would be very familiar to those in my state. So between the familiar setting, the true crime that is still fairly fresh, and feeling like I know some of these characters, it was easy for me to get into the book.
I think any of you would like this, though. If you're in the general Midwest area it's probably going to resonate with you more, but I'm sure it would be a scary story to anyone. I'm trying to think how I could encourage you guys to read this without giving away the many surprises and twists... OK, I can give a general idea of some themes. There's some realistic family, friend, and teen romance drama going on. There's a murder mystery or two which are centered around an old piece of property and the person who used to live there. And there's a theme that I say would fall loosely between a haunting and a possession.
You'll be left thinking about the power of previously owned objects, and the very real feeling I'm sure any of us could have around the ones in this story. I'm sure all of us have felt some kind of emotion around an object in a museum or antique store or maybe you've had a feeling in a place where an emotional event occurred. Think of that feeling but in an extreme way and you'll understand a major theme in this book. I hope that's enough to intrigue you guys because In the Dark of the Night is very worth reading! This was a book I couldn't put down and I haven't experienced that in some time. I will probably be seeking out more John Saul books in the near future.
I was hoping to find one of those book trailers for this on YouTube, but I couldn't find one. I did, however find this neat video featuring the author:
Now, on the surface this would appear to be a video about an amazing RV, but it's actually a lot more fun than that. I mean, this is the best RV I've ever seen but I wouldn't share a video solely about it. You'll get to see some of the author's personality here, which I really liked. I want to take a road trip with these guys!
Now onto The House that Dripped Blood!
What a title and what a cover. Not that the image necessarily makes sense for those who've watched this; it kind of halfway does. Now, as I read one online reviewer say, the house does not literally drip blood. So if you're looking for that kind of entertainment for whatever reason, well you won't get that here. But what you will get is a pretty darn good series of stories revolving around a spooky old mansion. Much like what I wrote about the book, the house is defined somewhere between haunted and possessed. It's a great old house. The interior reminded me of Disney's Haunted Mansion. Each story is about a tenant who briefly lived there.
The House that Dripped Blood is very much in the vein of Hammer horror movies, but better. And I'm a Hammer fan. Christopher Lee is in one of these, as is Peter Cushing. And they have that dark, 1970s, British thing going on. But the acting, the timing, the writing, everything is so much better than Hammer. I love Hammer for its cheesiness. But you're not going to see any of that orangey-red Hammer blood gushing around here or tons of cleavage. The House that Dripped Blood is actually rated PG and I think that's fair. The violence is implied, there's no sexuality, strong language, etc. I think an older kid could watch this, depending on the kid. I could have, anyway. A good comparison to this is Tales from the Crypt. You know, the way they got morality in there a bit. Yeah, it's like Tales from the Crypt writing with Hammer settings, actors, and visuals.
Again, without giving much away... The stories involve a homicidal maniac (OK actually a few of those), some Voodoo or "Witchcraft" as they call it, and vampires. The stories have a sort of brief narration/are introduced by the police who are investigating one of these cases. The stories range from scary to comical. I actually thought to look up The House that Dripped Blood at our local library because of seeing a picture from it on Tumblr. This picture:
I mean, how could I not look for it after seeing that? :)
So, if you're looking for some scary or fun (depending on your opinion) popcorn movie viewing, I recommend this one! And good news! I just found the whole thing on YouTube:
At Matt's suggestion, I am writing a review of Night Creatures, a Hammer movie I wasn't familiar with until very recently. Matt had recommended another Hammer movie, Dracula: Prince of Darkness. I set out to find that one on our library system's web site and couldn't, but I did run into a two disc set of Hammer movies (The Hammer Horror Series). A few of the movies on that set were obscure, at least to me. I saw that Night Creatures was included, so I decided to order it just to see something a little different.
If you're into Hammer movies you know what the usual fare is: Vampires/Werewolves/Frankenstein (pretty much the same monsters as Universal) a heck of a lot of fog, a horse and carriage, and some neon orange/red "Hammer blood" spurting around. What's different about Night Creatures is that there are no traditional monsters. Instead there is the legend of "The Marsh Phantoms" who ride their ghost horses around at night.
The phantoms are pretty cool for back in the day. (This movie was made in 1962.) There's even this shooting out at you!
So there are ghosts in the story and pirates and the grumpy Captain Collier bugging the townsfolk for tax money on the booze they're smuggling. This story is set in England during the 1700s. There isn't much of that Hammer blood at all, but there are some Hammer trademarks. That fog machine is still rolling, there's a busty exotic woman thrown in for good measure, and there's of course this guy:
Quite the wig, eh? I didn't recognize Peter Cushing at first as he was up preaching to a church full of people and wearing this hair. But the cheekbones were a tip off. You get to see a different side of Peter Cushing in this. He's at times dead serious and at other times mischievous and funny. I thought this was a more complex role for him. Actually, this entire movie was more complex than what I'm used to seeing out of Hammer. I'd call it more of a drama than a horror film.
It's hard to talk about Night Creatures without giving too much away. There are plenty of twists and turns that I don't want to ruin for you. The basics are...
Back in the 1700s, there's a pirate named Captain Clegg. Captain Clegg has a wife who is attacked and nearly killed by a man on his crew. Clegg is so angry that he treats this man as a traitor and gives him a really nasty punishment (removing his tongue and leaving him for dead on an island). After that gross scene, we're shown the church where Dr. Blyss the minister (Peter Cushing) is giving his sermon and Captain Clegg is buried. The Captain is said to have been hanged.
We're also told of the mysterious phantoms that are lurking about at night. Some demanding soldiers turn up looking for tax money on the smuggled booze I mentioned earlier and they've brought with them the tongueless dude who was left on the island. They conveniently rescued him. So there's all sorts of drama with the booze smugglers outwitting the soldiers with some pretty clever plans, the tongueless guy looking for revenge, and a little romance to boot. The romance seemed a little contrived, but this is Hammer so we have to have a random plot with two attractive young people and their love life.
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. It was dramatic and well thought out. Peter Cushing was very likable! There were a few parts that didn't quite add up to me or weren't altogether believable but I let that slide. I would have ended Night Creatures completely differently if I had written it, but that doesn't mean I don't recommend watching the movie. I just cannot figure out why they went in that direction at the end. My guess is that the writers couldn't figure out how to tie up a bunch of wild plots so they took a simple way out.
This is an interesting movie to watch even if you're just watching it on mute. The sets are atmospheric and I think atmosphere is Hammer's strong suit. Some of the actors are fascinating to watch, especially this guy:
That's Michael Ripper and he made some expressions that cracked me up! Between him and Peter Cushing there are a whole lot of amused looks exchanged.
While looking for photos from the movie, I ran across some videos from a band named "Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures". I was actually already familiar with one of their songs from a Halloween mix CD I was sent. It's a good one! "Zombie A Go Go"
I guess the women are the "Night Creatures"? You'll see more Hammer type blood in this short video than in all of Night Creatures.
So, I'd be interested to discuss Night Creatures with anyone who has seen it. If you haven't seen it yet, I think it's worth checking out. Especially for you Hammer fans! I think you'll appreciate seeing something different from the film company.
This is the trailer. It's pretty cool and won't spill too many beans:
