These DVD reviews, published today in the Bay Area Reporter and including a nice plug for DS, were written by one of our members and are posted here with the permission of the author.
I absolutely agree with David that
The Haunting (the original, natch) is the best ghost story EVER. In an upcoming ep from 1840, when Gerard tells Samantha, "Ghosts don't knock", I can't help but think of this movie. Brrr is right! Have a Happy Halloween.
--Midnite (I think
![[6042]](http://www.dsboards.com/SMF/Smileys/classic/6042.gif "Demon")
)
In honor of Halloween, one of the holiest days on the gay calendar, we at BAR are pleased to present some scary DVD releases that have a decided queer slant. Happy Haunting!
The Old Dark House(1932) $29.95
James Whale has two claims to fame, as the director of some of the finest horror films from the 1930s, and as the first director in Hollywood to be blacklisted for publicly coming out. In 1943, the director of Frankenstein(1931) and Bride of Frankenstein(1935) stated, as part of his self-outing: "I'm a great director. I don't have to put up with this shit." He never worked again.
The Old Dark House is the least seen of his classic horror films. Like much of his work, it is shot mainly in shadow and features characters of an ambiguous sexuality we can now recognize as gay.
When actress Lillian Bond speaks of her onscreen relationship with gay actor Charles Laughton, who plays her sugar daddy, she says: "He gives me money. He doesn't ask anything of me. He wants people to think he's ever so gay!" She simultaneously uses the word gay in it's past and present meanings.
Virtually plotless, The Old Dark House tells the tale of a group of travellers stranded on a dark & stormy night, and what happens to them at the old dark house where they seek refuge. The gay references are non-stop, bless Whale's heart!
On arrival, they are greeted by an effeminate man, who lisps "My name is Femm!" Horace Femm is played by Ernest Thesiger, a gay actor whose career was never affected by his openness about his sexuality. When our travellers meet the Femm family patriarch, the actor is billed as John Dudgeon. It was, in fact, British stage actress Elspeth Dudgeon in male drag. Not even the cast and crew knew this until after the film was completed! This was Whale making a statement about gender & sexuality as best he could in the less enlightened days of 1932.
Kino Video presents The Old Dark House from the best source materials available. There are separate audio commentary tracks from Whale biographer James Curtis and cast member Gloria Stuart(Titanic's Old Rose). Film director Curtis Harrington, who rescued this once lost
film from oblivion, appears for an on camera interview.
PS Whale's Bride of Frankenstein, the gayest and greatest of horror films, will screen at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland on Halloween night. Co billed with Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein(1948) doors open at 6:30PM. $6.00
The Haunting(1963) $19.99
Director Robert Wise showed his great versatility when he directed this black & white ghost story in between the Oscar winning musicals West Side Story & Sound of Music. A truly frightening film, The Haunting is a beautiful example of fear being created by what you can't see, unlike it's abysmal 1999 remake.
The Haunting is a complex film. It follows a group of psychic investigators who are living in a haunted house. Among them are Theo(Clare Bloom), a happy, fun loving lesbian. Theo is, to my knowledge, the first out, proud lesbian in a Hollywood studio film. Lesbian audiences must have been delighted by her, this being only one year after the incredibly self-loathing The Children's Hour.
As the story is told, we see that Theo is attracted to her fellow psychic, the deeply repressed Nell(Julie Harris), who is also being wooed by the house's male ghost. That Theo's lesbianism is actually part of the story and not incidental makes The Haunting a film years ahead of it's time, and makes for a most interesting love triangle. In the remake, Theo was played by Catherine Zeta Jones, who had a single throw away line about being bisexual. She had no interest in the new Nell(Lili Taylor), thus eliminating the love triangle--and all the story's tension.
A dark, creepy film of billowing curtains, whispers and shadows, The Haunting is the finest ghost story ever produced in Hollywood. You'll understand why the housekeeper says "No one comes to Hill House during the night, in the dark....." Brrrrrrrrrrr.............
Warner Video presents The Haunting letterboxed, with a superb commentary track featuring Robert Wise and his entire leading cast. The film's original trailer is also included.
The Vampire Lovers(1970) $14.95
Polish born Holocaust survivor Ingrid Pitt had a brief brush with movie stardom after the release of this film, a huge hit in it's day. Produced by British horror specialists Hammer Films and based on Sheridan LeFanu's shocking(in it's day) 1872 novel Carmilla, The Vampire Lovers put a new twist on an old theme.
Pitt plays Countess Carmilla Karnstein, a 300 year old vampire with a taste for young female flesh. Carmilla is out and proud. Though she goes to great lengths to hide her vampirism, she flirts openly with women, shocking behavior in the 1790s, the story's setting. Soon, several young girls are found dead, fang marks on their breasts.
The period costumes and sets are quite good in this lavish film. There's plenty of thunder, lightning and mist shrouded graveyards to keep horror fans happy. The late Peter Cushing, who built a 30 year career acting in films of this type, is on hand as the trusty vampire hunter.
Though beautiful and erotic, Ingrid Pitt was a 30 year old woman playing a 17 year old schoolgirl, Carmilla's age when she became a vampire. Her teenage victims are played by age appropriate actresses, which may make some viewers uncomfortable. But those who want a change of pace in their horror viewing will love The Vampire Lovers.
MGM presents another of Pitt's films, 1972's Countess Dracula, on this two sided disc. Both films feature audio commentaries with Pitt and each film's director. Both theatrical trailers are also featured.
Dark Shadows(1966-1971) $59.95
Not a gay title per se, but has a huge gay following. When I went to several Dark Shadows fan gatherings in the 1990s, more than half the attendees were gay, and with good reason. Dark Shadows is a camp masterpiece.
A daytime soap from the 1960s, Dark Shadows lifted many of it's plots from 1930s horror movies. Considered innovative and frightening in it's day, Dark Shadows can now be seen as a quaint relic of more innocent days.
Soap budgets were quite low then. For a show as ambitious as Dark Shadows, this could sometimes spell disaster. When vampire Barnabas Collins(Jonathan Frid) turns into a bat, the winged nightbird looks like it's exactly what it is---a piece of paper dangling from a string! The under-rehearsed cast often flubbed lines on a show whose budget didn't allow for retakes. Fabulous bloopers like: "The Collins mausoleum has stood here for over 200 years. Many of my INCESTORS are buried here" were actually aired!
Yet the writing was brilliant. The saga of Barnabas, the lonely, reluctant vampire, and Angelique, the co-dependent witch(Lara Parker) spanned several centuries and was a heartbreaking tragedy. The desperate aching for love expressed by these characters gives Dark Shadows a heart & soul that trancends it's low budget.
Nearly 33 years after it's demise, Dark Shadows remains essential viewing for lovers of good horror and great camp.
MPI Video presents each volume of Dark Shadows on four discs, ten episodes per disc. Episodes are remastered, and uncut, making the show look far more vibrant that on the faded prints used for it's daily Sci Fi Channel reruns. Interviews with various cast and crew members are included on each disc.
---------------David Nahmod
