This yr has seen lots of returning options and revamped traditions right here at The A.V. Membership, and Halloween is giving us the chance to convey again another: Asking a horror aficionado to program a 24-hour horror movie marathon that readers can take pleasure in at dwelling. Filmmaker Robert Eggers contributed a variety to our 2016 version again when he was recent off his directorial debut The Witch, however together with his Nosferatu set to hit theaters this Christmas, we simply needed to get him again for the total all-nighter. Eggers’ meticulous designs and broken psyches permeate all of his characteristic work, whether or not it’s the Lovecraft and Poe-adjacent dialect of The Lighthouse or the grim mythmaking of The Northman. His dedication to analysis and a constant model that spans cinematography, efficiency, and artwork course have created among the most tangible, engrossing style movies of the final decade. Eggers chosen 13 movies, all of which had been launched earlier than 1962 and most of which run lower than 90 minutes. We’ve supplemented this onslaught of Gothic interval items with just a few different movies he mentions, however when you’ve spent 24 hours unraveling alongside these characters, you’ll be in the identical atmospheric headspace because the upcoming Nosferatu.
As at all times, we encourage you to do that pageant at dwelling and put up your experiences within the feedback part.
6 p.m. The Innocents (1961)
Robert Eggers: I selected outdated black-and-white Gothic horror films. Castles, moldering mansions, flowing curtains, cemeteries, haunted moors, rakes, demon lovers, secretive housekeepers, forbidden rooms, hidden passageways, haunted ingénues with diaphanous robes, with candelabras, and grave robbers, obsession, insanity, sexual repression. And the fog machines by no means flip off. It is a type of horror film that I actually love, and in addition it’s one thing that I’m exploring in my Nosferatu.
A few of these movies are outdated favorites that I’ve watched lots, and a few of them had been me attempting to do a deep dive to study extra about Gothic horror films prior to now 10 years. However all of them had been issues that I might simply have on lots. Virtually as music, type of watching them type of not. Simply being immersed within the ambiance.
There’s lots of similarities to those films. I feel 4 of them have the identical plot [laughs], nevertheless it’s that world that I simply wish to be in. And as a lot as I like Hammer horror films, which I actually do, and watch them obsessively as effectively, outdated black-and-white films are extra transportive than the flat colour images of the Hammer interval horror films. I additionally solely selected interval films, as a result of there’s clearly a lot of nice Val Lewton [movies] set of their up to date period, however we didn’t try this.
Okay, so The Innocents! By Jack Clayton and based mostly on The Flip Of The Screw, it’s certainly the very best movie on the listing. That is going to be on each horror film listing, as a result of it is among the best horror films that has ever been made. It’s additionally the one film on the listing that somebody who’s not a film dork might take pleasure in.
It’s [director] Jack Clayton and [cinematographer] Freddie Francis. Francis is most well-known as we speak for working with David Lynch, however he additionally directed a ton of Hammer horror films. The staging that Francis comes up with, the camerawork, is so great. The tone, the music, it’s simply so creepy. The sexual repression and the implicit issues which are happening make the film so, so chilling. I’ve seen trendy TV variations the place they go to city with Miss Jessel and the gardener and it’s simply not efficient. Having all that stuff in your creativeness makes the film so charged. When Deborah Kerr lastly kisses Miles on the finish, you’re simply shocked. You’re completely floored. I can’t suggest this film sufficient.
The A.V. Membership: This was additionally on Edgar Wright’s listing. He talked about a line that handed him by when he was a child, however shocked him when he watched it as an grownup: That the couple on the middle of the movie used the house’s rooms “by daylight as if they had been darkish woods.”
RE: The concept that the youngsters had been simply at all times with them, with that type of dialogue? Truman Capote contributed to the screenplay, and that was a really sensible alternative. One other well-known factor is that it was shot in [CinemaScope]. Francis and Clayton needed to shoot in 1:33 or 1:37, however the studio wouldn’t allow them to. They ended up doing this unbelievable widescreen staging, after which for the hallway stuff that they needed to be claustrophobic and scary—the place 1:33 would have been their pal—they made a vignette that provides you an identical feeling, and contrasts with the widescreen opulent stuff of Bly in such a robust means.
8 p.m. The Queen Of Spades (1949)
RE: One other film that’s partially on right here as a result of I like the staging a lot. In some methods it’s extra atmospheric as a result of it has extra sensible results of climate; there may be extra literal fog, and the snow. That contributes to this claustrophobic dream-like feeling. It’s additionally fantastically Russian within the manufacturing design and the costume design, with the Roma dancers and singers. It takes me there. Possibly much less of a horror film than the earlier one, nevertheless it has wonderful suspense.
The scariest scene is when Anton Walbrook is face-to-face with Edith Evans and there’s a lot stress, you don’t know what’s going to occur, and you are feeling such as you’re going to blow up. Evans’ efficiency is superior. It also needs to be be talked about that Yvonne Mitchell, the ingénue, was in among the most fucked-up British horror films, like Demons Of The Thoughts and Crucible Of Horror.
However the staging and the snow are very influential to Nosferatu. There’s a sure type of snow machine that has been outlawed as being too pollutant and poisonous. I used it on The Northman, however within the time between Northman and Nosferatu it was outlawed. So, I used to be watching this and saying, “How do they do the snow right here? Let’s try this.”
9:30 p.m. Svengali (1931)
RE: These three films I’ve seen essentially the most, in order that’s why they went to the highest. Plenty of Svengali sucks, to be trustworthy with you. Most of those are based mostly on literary works. The final one was [Alexander] Pushkin and that is based mostly on the novel Trilby. It’s additionally based mostly on a play of Trilby that’s seemingly unhealthy, with a lot of comedian stuff. That’s one thing that’s at all times stunning once you watch these Thirties films: All this low comedy that appears to be wanted for films that had been attempting to achieve a broad viewers, nevertheless it’s completely painful and takes you out of it. However [John] Barrymore as Svengali is so unbelievable. I’m additionally an enormous fan of Marian Marsh, she’s rather well forged on this. She was like 17 and he was like 50, which is horrifying.
And albeit, within the final act when he’s obtained the super-tall beaver prime hat and the fur coat…if I used to be super-skinny, I might rock that look on a regular basis. It will look so superior.
I despatched this film to Invoice Skarsgård, I don’t know if Invoice watched it or not. However John Barrymore’s interpretation of Svengali was very influential to how I noticed Orlok in my model. Clearly, the scenes that work for a contemporary viewers as we speak are the hypnotism scenes. When he reaches out to Marian Marsh telepathically, and there’s that superior shot by means of the Expressionist chimney tops? You simply don’t get higher than that.
You see the shadow of the hand going over the town [in Nosferatu] which is an ode to this and a F.W. Murnau shot from Faust. This film was very a lot on my thoughts with Nosferatu.
AVC: It’s such a sexy pre-Code film.
RE: It’s. That’s one other factor that you simply’ll discover appears to curiosity me: These are all type of soiled, significantly the subsequent one.
11 p.m. Murders In The Rue Morgue (1932)
RE: Opens with Swan Lake, which is eternally linked with Common horror films for me since I used to be a child. Look, this isn’t a very good film. However I wasn’t going to do Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride Of Frankenstein, or any of the traditional Common ones. Black Cat I actually like, nevertheless it’s not interval, so it didn’t match into what I used to be going for. And truthfully I’ve watched this film lots, type of half-paying consideration as a result of lots of it’s fairly unhealthy. However the Parisian units are Expressionist and funky—it’s the identical artwork director [Charles D. Hall] who did Dracula, Frankenstein, and Bride Of Frankenstein—and Karl Freund shot this, Dracula, Metropolis, and a number of other Murnau movies, together with some misplaced ones, like Der Januskopf, a Jekyll and Hyde which I might like to have seen.
Bela Lugosi has a cool efficiency. The circus is cool. His laboratory is cool. However when he’s torturing that lady, attempting to get her blood on the cross? That’s legitimately scary. Generally with these films, when there’s no music, you’re dying a little bit bit as a result of it’s not providing you with what you want, however her crying with the utter silence makes it really feel too actual and fairly disturbing.
Anyway, it’s a few mad scientist who’s obtained an ape, and thinks he’s going to seek out the lacking hyperlink by capturing younger lovely ladies and mixing their blood with the ape’s blood. It has nothing to do with Poe in any respect.
The one factor that’s truly much like the Poe story is the homicide that the ape does, which is cool, after which there’s this pretty thrilling climax on the rooftops of Paris. I don’t have proof—however I’ll say it influenced David Lean’s Oliver Twist. However I do know that, all in all, it’s fairly unhealthy.
12 a.m. Uncle Silas (1947)
RE: It’s onerous to seek out. I’ve it on DVD however…Katina Paxinou, who’s the horror on this film—she performs this creepy governess with lots of secrets and techniques—anyway, she’s a well known Greek actor and so my DVD is a Greek import.
It’s about Jean Simmons, who’s an heiress, a young person, and principally everybody’s attempting to kill her to get her dad’s cash, roughly. In a Jane Eyre-y vibe, she finally ends up dwelling in a Thornfield Corridor-type spooky manor home along with her creepy uncle Silas who’s each alleged to be type of seductive (however he’s not within the film). I do like Derrick De Marney’s efficiency although I don’t know who the hell he’s. It’s a very good Gothic film; the wind, the rain, the curtains, all that great things. Fog, the graveyards, the home is superb. Simmons is nice, she simply did Nice Expectations with David Lean and she or he’s going robust right here once more, however the place it’s horror is the governess. What makes you poo your pants a tiny bit, is her.
1:30 a.m. The Physique Snatcher (1945)
RE: Okay this one’s good. It is a banger. I don’t know if I’m going out on a limb by saying this, however of Bela Legosi, Vincent Worth, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Basil Rathbone—I suppose he could be a little bit extra contained—however I feel Boris Karloff is the very best actor. Lon Chaney could also be the finest, however Karloff could be very dynamic, clearly can chew the surroundings, however he will get the joke of life—so did Vincent Worth—however he has actually robust appearing chops. This film has such wonderful dialogue for Karloff, and there are some superior scenes. It’s based mostly on a Robert Louis Stevenson story, it’s a Burke and Hare type of factor. There’s a health care provider who’s performed by Henry Daniell, who’s in a pair different films on the listing, who has Boris Karloff, who’s a cabbie, dig up our bodies for him. However then, in fact, they run out of our bodies and have to begin killing our bodies. Then there’s lots of blackmail happening. The perfect scene is Bela Lugosi performs a schlubby servant of Henry Daniell who will get the drift that Karloff is killing folks, and he tries to blackmail Karloff. That scene is so good.
The twisted relationship that Karloff has with Daniell, his perverseness and his simply wanting to regulate some posh man, is superior. He simply completely goes for it. The opposite scene that’s nice horror is when the road singer is within the alleyway. That’s chilling and really Val Lewton, very delicate and actually efficient. This one additionally has an Edinburgh setting, which they hammer dwelling at first with a lot of Scottish shit, and persons are sporting Scottish bonnets in all probability unrealistically generally, nevertheless it’s an American film so that they’re attempting to actually ram it dwelling.
And enjoyable truth, the DP [Robert De Grasse] shot Tall In The Saddle, which is a B-Western with John Wayne and one in every of my favourite Westerns.
3 a.m. The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1939)
RE: Possibly I remorse selecting this, possibly not. Roy William Neill, who directed one other film on this listing, he directed the overwhelming majority of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films for Common. They had been B-movies and so they had been all up to date. However the first two Rathbone/Holmes films had been Fox, and so they had cash. They’d much more ambiance, and so they had been Victorian. Hound Of The Baskervilles is unquestionably the primary Sherlock Holmes film I ever noticed. I watched a ton with my grandpa as a child. And the primary time I ever went to London, after I obtained to my crummy resort I turned on the TV and it was enjoying. I used to be like, “that is so cool.”
It is a film I placed on in the midst of the evening if I’m having a tough time sleeping, as a result of it’s type of comforting. However having watched it prior to now couple of years extra attentively, I type of want the staging of the B-movies. He didn’t have time to do setups, so he was doing heaps extra difficult oners that I discovered extra inspiring. Sidney Lanfield…he’s obtained means too many fucking photographs for my style. However the haunted moors are so effectively performed. The hound itself is de facto fucking scary, and the large climactic struggle is de facto good. However I discover it bizarre typically that Hound Of The Baskervilles is so well-liked since Holmes just isn’t in act two…Nigel Bruce, who I like, is simply bumbling round for all of act two. You’re like, come on, please come again to the film.
How did you are feeling about this? And do you will have a historical past with this one?
AVC: I had not seen any of the Rathbone Holmes movies. I used to be already a little bit anti-Holmes as a result of I like a thriller that provides me a shot at fixing it. And so many Holmes tales are like, “Ah, however expensive Watson, I smelled such and such.” You may’t odor something, that’s unfair to me, the reader. However this one was enjoyable due to what you had been saying. The moors look unbelievable. I don’t often discover canine stuff that scary in films, as a result of it’s often so clear that the canine is having a good time and is simply excited to see the particular person he’s “attacking,” however the fog makes it scary as a result of lots is obscured. And Rathbone’s simply wonderful.
RE: Yeah, he’s superior. The Peter Cushing Hound Of The Baskervilles just isn’t unhealthy both. Although they alter issues, and there’s toxic tarantulas and all types of shit. However you understand, hey, it’s Hammer.
4:30 a.m. The Black Room (1935)
RE: From [Roy William Neill] the director of the Holmes films that possibly I truly secretly want. The Black Room takes place in some obscure Central European nation, like possibly Hungary, possibly Bohemia. Boris Karloff performs equivalent twin brothers which are aristocrats, and there’s a household curse that goes again generations about them killing one another. There’s a lot of intrigue and since they’re twins, Karloff will get to play the evil brother and the nice brother and the evil brother pretending to be the nice brother in order that he can get Marian Marsh from Svengali.
Particularly for an American film, I’m very impressed by how Central European it feels. The lengths they went to with the costuming particularly. There are lots of people who sound like very fucking American extras, however in addition they discovered a lot of immigrants with mustaches to say issues, and that provides lots.
And, clearly, Karloff, I imply, you had been telling me you preferred his efficiency earlier.
AVC: There’s a reveal after a chess match the place he sinks again in his chair and lets his efficiency as one twin unfurl into his efficiency of the opposite one. It’s so good.
RE: Yeah, it’s actually cool. This one doesn’t take studiousness to take pleasure in [laughs].
5:45 a.m. Jane Eyre (1943)
It is a bizarre one, nevertheless it’s the scariest Jane Eyre. It’s directed by Robert Stevenson, who weirdly made like each fucking Disney film you ever noticed as a child. Outdated Yeller, Darby O’Gill [And The Old Little People], Mary Poppins, The Gnome-Cell, Bedknobs And Broomsticks, Blackbeard’s Ghost, like fucking the whole lot. The Shaggy D.A., like all of that shit. So loopy. Anyway, [David O. Selznick] was placing this collectively, however there have been a lot of egos—Orson Welles was a producer. George Barnes, who shot Rebecca after which Spellbound after this, was the DP and so they had this prolific architect because the manufacturing designer. It is a Bernard Herrmann rating, and I used a little bit little bit of it because the temp rating in The Lighthouse.
The kid Jane Eyre could be very haunted—by the best way, we’ve obtained the physician from The Physique Snatcher because the nasty instructor of the college on this—and Elizabeth Taylor as her pal who dies. Joan Fontaine, clearly, in Rebecca already proved that she will do that very same function on this very same story. However she does it effectively right here. And Orson Welles is…I don’t suppose Orson Welles is mostly hammy, however he’s fairly hammy on this. The pretend nostril doesn’t assist, nevertheless it seems like he’s simply, “I’m not good-looking sufficient for this, however I’m going to offer it my finest to be good-looking, and the decrease I speak and the extra critical I take myself, the extra good-looking I’ll turn out to be.”
However the lighting is so good, the depth of the element within the manor home, I discover very seductive and really inspiring. And why I feel it’s the scariest Jane Eyre—there’s good fog and moors and bushes and no matter—however the best way they cope with Rochester’s spouse within the attic is sort of scary. It was the ‘40s, so they might fully dehumanize the character right into a creature, which isn’t nice given the gender politics of what’s truly occurring with this poor lady. However it’s efficient in a horror means. And I discover the witch chortle, and when he lastly opens the door after the marriage and she or he lunges at him…it’s fairly scary.
AVC: I learn that Aldous Huxley helped out with the script and I used to be like, “Oh, no marvel this one’s so bizarre, even for a Jane Eyre adaptation.”
RE: Yeah, it’s. My favourite Rochester, although, is Timothy Dalton on this TV film. He’s too good-looking. Zelah Clarke is rather well forged as Jane. Like she is obvious Jane. It’s really easy to see her so obsessive about Timothy Dalton. He’s simply so scorching and so cool. And it’s like, “Yeah, yeah, you locked up your spouse. Like, it’s advantageous.”
7:15 a.m. Bedlam (1946)
RE: This one is unquestionably extra horror adjoining. And it loses steam within the horror course within the second half, which is a little bit irritating. However principally there’s this lady Nell Bowen, who’s the protégé of some wealthy dude. And she or he desires to make Bedlam, the asylum, much less shitty. Boris Karloff runs Bedlam and he’s only a fucking psychopath. Finally he says that she’s loopy and locks her up in there.
What’s cool in regards to the second half of the movie is she is a extremely robust character, so not like all the opposite films in right here, you will have the feminine protagonist actually preventing to get what she desires and getting it. And she or he doesn’t again down, as a result of the villain, performed by Karloff but once more, is a complete fucking psycho. I don’t know if I can bear in mind, however he says, “Those that act like canines, I beat them. Those that act like pigs, I allow them to roll round in their very own filth. Those that act like tigers, I cage them.” Then he goes as much as this lovely comatose teenage woman and he’s like, “This one’s a dove,” and also you’re identical to, “Oh god, I don’t wish to know anymore.”
With my explicit pursuits, the interval world-building by utilizing these [William Hogarth] work is de facto wealthy, actually impressed. And really, it’s fairly good interval dialogue, particularly for an American film.
8:45 a.m. Dragonwyck (1946)
RE: One more Jane Eyre. We’ve already performed Jane Eyre twice. Right here’s the third. Solely this one is the one film right here that takes place in America. Good director. Joseph L. Mankiewicz did All About Eve. I like his Julius Caesar lots. The Ghost And Mrs. Muir has among the finest rain photographed by means of home windows that I can consider in a black-and-white film, and in addition stars Gene Tierney, who I like fairly a bit.
So right here, Tierney is a farm woman, someway some distant relative of this wealthy Dutch man within the Hudson Valley, performed by Vincent Worth, who takes her in to be the governess, however then issues escalate of their romance and obsession. It’s clearly a large affect on Crimson Peak. There may be this good-looking physician who could be very a lot that function in Crimson Peak. Should you’re a Crimson Peak fan, positively test it out.
However the actual headline of that is, I feel it’s Vincent Worth’s finest efficiency. Witchfinder Normal is superb too. However he wants a very good director to maintain him in line a little bit bit. Clearly I like the Roger Corman films, and The Abominable Dr. Phibes and something that Worth is in. However he can get a little bit goofy, and he doesn’t right here. To see him actually being buttoned up—actually nonetheless, not shifting his face, actually in management—after which to see the insanity escalate on the finish when he’s completely manic? It’s efficient. It’s additionally good to see him younger because the ingénue as a result of…I don’t know if you happen to’ve seen The Rectangular Field, which was made within the late ’60s, however he appears like he’s 65. And he has a younger fiancé and he’s obtained his hair dyed attempting to be in his 30s. It’s painful. That is good, he’s age applicable.
AVC: I watched that one after I was doing a Poe run a pair years again. I don’t know if Poe stuff lends itself to nice films.
RE: The problem with Poe is that his perception, which he proves, is that the brief story is one of the simplest ways to inform a horror story. Definitely it’s one of the simplest ways to inform a Poe horror story. However then, you understand, once you’re making a film, you’re at all times like, “Fuck, it’s solely an hour lengthy, I have to pad it with shit or rewrite it.” After which all of it goes astray.
10:30 a.m. The Face At The Window (1939)
Face At The Window is in some methods the clunkiest, however Rue Morgue is worse. It’s a werewolf-adjacent film. So Tod Slaughter was this melodrama stage actor. Generally when he was youthful, he performed romantic leads, however he principally turned well-known enjoying mustache-twirling, over-the-top villains. And he does it rather well. He made a collection of movie variations with George King, the director, of those melodramas.
For me, who’s within the historical past of these things, it’s cool to see how these performs are tailored and mounted. They had been referred to as Quota Quickies, which had been movies that had been made actually cheaply to satisfy a authorities requirement, as a result of British studios needed to distribute a certain quantity of British films. So, in an effort to simply make sufficient films, they let these guys make these shitty films. However that they had ultimate reduce due to it, which is good. No studio intervention. So whereas they’re clunky and whereas they’re type of low finances, they’re fairly tight. The pacing is sweet as a result of they had been performs.
The plot’s very convoluted, however that type of helps it. Possibly I’m simply an fool, however I used to be saved guessing on the finish. Like when Tod Slaughter takes his gloves off, I used to be like, “Are you kidding me? How does that work?” So, there’s a werewolf who’s going round stabbing folks, as werewolves do. Tod Slaughter performs Chevalier Lucio del Gardo, who’s attempting to fuck everyone over as a result of he desires to be with this younger lady. That’s the quickest method to clarify it.
There’s a cool werewolf scare, at the very least one. There’s a type of thrilling ending, Tod Slaughter is lots of enjoyable. The wolf howl sound design is de facto cool. It’s very distinctive. There appeared to have been, in America anyway, like seven within the ‘30s that they simply saved reusing. However I’ve not heard this one, apart from on this film. It additionally has one in every of my favourite cinematic cigars. When the hero is disguised, he has this actually cool lengthy cigar. Aaron Taylor-Johnson smokes the identical sorts of cigars in Nosferatu.
And likewise, if you happen to’re into this, The Catman Of Paris is a Parisian werecat film, a B-movie from Republic Photos within the ’40s. It’s obtained some cool shit in it.
AVC: I used to be going to ask if you happen to’ve seen Slaughter’s Sweeney Todd.
RE: Yeah, it’s actually cool. I nearly went with Sweeney Todd, however this match the vibe of the whole lot else a little bit extra. I’m actually attempting to make all these the identical, so it’s a extremely troublesome 24 hours [laughs]. However yeah, I extremely suggest it.
11:30 a.m. Hall Of Mirrors (1948)
RE: It’s a bizarre one, proper?
AVC: It’s unusual. Terrence Younger? Sorry?
RE: Yeah, that’s the strangest half! Technically that is one other Jane Eyre, however much less so. One of many issues I like about this film is that whilst you’re like, “Okay, that’s this style trope,” then one thing occurs. You’re like, “Whoa, I used to be not anticipating that.” It’s at all times in a position to play with Gothic style tropes. One other factor, on the planet of those male-directed films, is Edana Romney—who performs Mifanwy, the lead—she wrote the script. Isn’t that bizarre? And likewise like, who the hell is she? She’s nice within the film, however I don’t know who this particular person is.
There’s a brief factor on IMDb that claims, “A person falls in love with a wonderful younger lady and begins to suspect he might have additionally beloved her in a earlier life.” Yeah, for certain. Nevertheless it’s a lot weirder than that. There’s this Welsh lady and also you’re like, “Okay, she’s having an affair, what’s happening?” She’s going to fulfill her lover, after which she reveals as much as Madame Tussauds wax museum after which her lover appears to be one of many wax figures in Madame Tussauds. At that time, like 4 minutes into the film, you’re like, “That is going to be bizarre.”
She has this romance with this artist who…is obsessive about this portray of this Renaissance lady and he’s attempting to make her turn out to be the lady, and he has this hall of mirrors, which is completely fucking scary. It jogs my memory of the hall of the witch in Return To Oz. That hall and the mannequins in there are actually fucking scary. However once more, his obsession with this previous interval means he has this loopy get together the place persons are dressing in costume, and because the sequence goes on, it nearly feels such as you’re in the Renaissance for some time and you then come out of it. I’ve by no means seen something fairly prefer it. It’s very artfully performed, and actually distinctive. It’s additionally Christopher Lee’s first film. Woo!
Supplemental Viewing:
1 p.m. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Road (1936)
2 p.m. The Catman Of Paris (1946)
3 p.m. Demons Of The Thoughts (1972)
4:30 p.m. Crucible Of Horror (1971)
