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The Body Snatcher, a review by Danae Cassandra

The Body Snatcher
Year of Release: 1945
Directed By: Robert Wise
Starring: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Henry Daniell, Edith Atwater, Russell Wade
Genre: Horror

Overview:
Boris Karloff plays the title role in the Lewton adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Body Snatcher, directed with subtle calculation by versatile Robert Wise. A doctor (Henry Daniell) needs cadavers for medical studies and Karloff is willing to provide them - one way or another. Don't miss his scene with fellow horror icon Bela Lugosi.

My Thoughts:
This is a film about the evil that men do. There is nothing supernatural here, simply two men who do evil things - one for a 'higher' calling, the other more honestly - and a good man with little backbone who, unable to refuse his mentor, is strung along for the ride. Yes, the doctor does do good work in medicine, but do the ends justify the means?

The film has an intelligent, literate screenplay, as befits its origin in a Robert Lewis Stevenson story. The atmosphere is appropriately cold, and everyone does a great job. Henry Daniell's McFarlane is quite good, but the standout of course is Karloff. He is absolutely superb. His Gray is a wicked, amoral villain - but he's kind to children, and honest in his own way. He knows who he is and what he does, and that is itself a kind of virtue.

Highly recommended.

Bechdel Test:  Pass

Overall: 4/5

(From Month Long Horror/Halloween Marathon on October 2nd, 2014)

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring, a review by Danae Cassandra

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring  (Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom)
Year of Release: 2003
Directed By: Kim Ki-Duk
Starring: Oh Young-Su, Kim Ki-Duk, Kim Young-Min, Seo Jae-Kyung, Ha Yeo-Jin
Genre: Drama

Overview:Miami Herald).

From the brash actions of youth, through the dawn of adolescence and the fullness of adulthood, one man's life lessons are learned as seasons pass, his emotional inner life changing as the landscape around him. Award-winning Korean writer/director/editor Kim Ki-duk has crafted a lushly exotic, yet universal story about the human spirit and its evolution, from Innocence to Love, Evil to Enlightenment, and ultimately to Rebirth that Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News calls "a beautifully composed canvas, the sort of film one falls into, resurfacing at the end with great reluctance."

My Thoughts:
This gorgeous Buddhist fable might be the film I've enjoyed most this month. It's a meditation on the seasons of the year, the seasons of life, and the price of wisdom. The old monk watches, seemingly impassive, as his apprentice makes mistakes. Only after does he work on lessons from the mistakes, showing the younger that his actions have consequences he must accept. But only through those mistakes, consequences and responsibility does wisdom come. Wonderful film for anyone wishing to know more about Buddhism, or for anyone walking a Pagan path. Highly recommended.

I now also want to visit Juwangsan National Park, because where this was filmed is spectacular.

Bechdel Test: Fail

Overall: 5/5

(From March Around the World 2016 on April 7th, 2016)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

3. The House Always Wins
Original Air Date: 10/20/2002
Angel, Fred and Gunn take a road trip to Las Vegas to enlist Lorne's help in finding Cordelia, but get caught up in a supernatural and literal "futures" trading scheme. A ruthless casino owner holds Lorne hostage, exploiting the popular entertainer's psychic abilities to steal unsuspecting patrons' destinies. It is Angel's future, however, that is of more interest...

Guest Stars:
Clayton Rohner
Morocco Omari

My Thoughts:
A fun episode... but not quite as good as the previous couple. I noticed there was a commentary track for this episode with the guy that plays Lorne. So I watched it both with and without the commentary. As I said... I enjoyed the episode without the commentary. And while always fun for me to watch an episode with an actor commentary on... this one really added very little. I definitely heard better commentaries.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on March 16th, 2010)