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The Old Dark House, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Old Dark House
Year of Release: 1932
Directed By: James Whale
Starring: Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Charles Laughton, Lillian Bond, Ernest Thesiger, Eva Moore
Genre: Horror

Overview:
Weary travelers find shelter in a mysterious Welsh manor in this definitive "Old Dark House" thriller and cult movie favorite by horror pioneer James Whale (the director of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Bride of Frankenstein, and subject of the recent film Gods and Monsters).

Greeted with an animal-like grunt by the mansion's hideously scarred butler (Boris Karloff), three disoriented voyagers (Melvyn Douglas, Raymond Massey and Lillian Bond) find themselves in the unwelcoming company of the psychotic Femm family, whose members include a religious fanatic obsessed with mortality and other matter of the sinful flesh (Eva Moore), her browbeaten brother (Ernest Thesiger), and a scripture-quoting homicidal pyromaniac (Brember Wills)... all watched over by their androgynous, 102-year-old father (Elspeth "John" Dudgeon). Relieving the story's overwhelming weirdness are Charles Laughton and a young Gloria Stuart (Titanic) as two confused visitors to the strange estate.

As witty and surprising as it is darkly unsettling, The Old Dark House is a ghoulishly delightful treat, a one-of-a-kind macabre comedy blanketed with rain-soaked, gothic eeriness orchestrated by one of the foremost directors of the American horror film.

My Thoughts:
I find, for whatever reason, that I'm not as fond of this film today as I was when I first watched it four years ago. I still like Charles Laughton and Boris Karloff's performances. I still think that the cast do a good job creating unique, eccentric characters - and that not only Karloff, but also Eva Moore. That level of religious zealotry is both extremely off-putting and genuinely frightening. Gloria Stuart's character, however, seems even more silly, stupid, and just plain annoying today. The cinematography still creates a really spooky, old, dark house, but the print is in need of a good restoration/HD remaster. That shouldn't matter, but I think it actually does. Still, the script is good and the cast is top notch, so I'd still recommend it to fans of old films and classic horror.

Watched For: Hoop-tober 3.0, Horror/Halloween Challenge 2016

Bechdel Test: Pass
Mako Mori Test: Fail

Overall: 3.5/5

Horror/Halloween Challenge Films: 4/52

(From Horror/Halloween 2016 Challenge on October 5th, 2016)

Silver Linings Playbook, a review by Antares

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) 65/100 - Manic film making that drove me crazy for the first hour or so. Yeah, I know, we're supposed to feel the mania that his life is surrounded by, but after 30 minutes of this kind of film making I was close to reaching for the remote and throwing it at the TV. Too many edits and cuts, that it looks like the camera man has ADD and too much caffeine at the same time. Why is it that film makers today have to make every film in the post-MTV video style? I don't think there was one camera shot that lasted more than 5 seconds before the next edit appeared. Have we evolved as human beings to the point where we have such a short attention span that directors feel we need to shift gears every few seconds? As for the story, I didn't care for Cooper's character or family situation, but I did think that Jennifer Lawrence stole every scene she was in. And I will admit that this was probably the best work I've seen from De Niro in a couple of decades, but this film definitely was way over-hyped by the Weinstein marketing militia and rump swab critics.

What the color coding means...

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on December 20th, 2013)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

1. When She Was Bad
Buffy's got a new, not-so-nice attitude; the Anointed One plans to resurrect the Master.

My Thoughts:
A good start to the second season. I like how they made it so Buffy had to deal with all that she went through during the end of season 1.

2. Some Assembly Required
Someone is building a woman using body parts from different girls ... and Cordelia's head is on the wish list.

My Thoughts:
Another decent episode... enjoyable... but nothing special really.

3. School Hard
Spike and Drusilla come to town, and Spike invades Parent-Teacher night.

My Thoughts:
Excellent episode! Definitely one of my favorites. The episode that started the Spike craze that swamps the Buffy fans... Even though I like Spike well enough... I don't know why he is as well liked as he is.

4. Inca Mummy Girl
Buffy and Joyce offer to take in a foreign exchange student, but instead get a life-sucking mummy who's taken an interest in Xander.

My Thoughts:
Another good episode. First it is a giant insect... then it is a mummy girl... poor Xander just has no luck what so ever.

(From Buffy the Vampire Slayer Marathon on November 10th, 2007)