31 Days of Horror: White Zombie

My favorite Bela Lugosi film next to Dracula! White Zombie is widely considered to be the first zombie movie, with Lugosi playing a charmingly evil voodoo master who creates his zombies from living victims. This is much more fascinating to watch compared to the recent run of contemporary zombie films that brings the dead back to slow-moving life. To me, the best part of this film is, of course, Lugosi. With his character Murder Legendre, Lugosi plays a Dracula type of character, commanding his helpless victims to do his bidding and enslaving a beautiful young woman, much as he did in Dracula. In White Zombie, Lugosi is at his evil best in the scene where he's talking with Beaumont, who he is slowly turning into a zombie, so that he's aware of what is happening to him. Even by today's standards, it's a frightening scene to watch!

You can catch this classic on TCM on October 26th at 12:30 AM eastern

31 Days of Horror: The Raven (1963)

One of eight Roger Corman films that's an interpretation on an Edgar Allan Poe story, The Raven is a great comedic take on horror films starring three notable horror actors: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Boris Karloff. Like most films with Poe titles, the story really has very little to do with his writings. Price, Lorre, and Karloff play a trio of sorcerers competing to outdo each other, all in a very fun and lighthearted way. A great bonus is getting to see a very young Jack Nicholson before he became famous, playing Peter Lorre's son!

You can catch this classic on TCM on October 25th at 8:15 AM eastern

31 Days of Horror: House of Wax (1953)

A remake of Mystery of the Wax Museum from 1933, House of Wax is most notable for being the first color 3D release by a major studio (Warner Bros.), and for being one of the most successful films of 1953. House of Wax is the story of a wax sculptor who becomes disfigured in a fire that destroys his original wax museum. Unable to properly sculpt anymore, he starts to kill people and cover them in wax in order to create new figures to start a new museum. I've always loved watching Vincent Price and always thought that he brought a unique charisma to his roles. Price could easily be gentle one moment and menacing the next. I've only seen House of Wax in 2D, but the 3D effects are another thing I've always loved about this film. There are instances where it's clear a certain shot was for the 3D filming: the barker bouncing the paddle ball at the camera, or the wine bottle that comes flying at the screen during a fight scene help give you the feeling of 3D even if you're not actually watching it in 3D. Of course, with the recent 3D Blu-ray release just a few days ago to celebrate the film's 60th anniversary, people can now enjoy Price's macabre performance and the 3D effects in the comfort of their own home.

You can catch this classic on TCM on October 24th at 8:00 PM eastern

31 Days of Horror: The Bride of Frankenstein

Four years after the success of Frankenstein, Universal released one of the rare sequels which has been said to be just as good if not better than the original: The Bride of Frankenstein. Like the original, this was also directed by James Whale, but with the sequel he had complete artistic control over the entire production and added a great deal of humor, a full musical score, and by having the monster speak we're also given a deeper look into the character and growth of the monster. Artistically and story-wise, this is a fantastic example of how to correctly do a sequel to a film that was already an established classic.

You can catch this classic on TCM on October 26th at 8:00 PM eastern

31 Days of Horror: Frankenstein (1931)

To follow the definitive vampire, Dracula, 31 days of horror continues with the definitive portrayal of Frankenstein's monster by Boris Karloff. Starring Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, and Edward Van Sloan, Frankenstein was Universal's follow up to their enormously successful version of Dracula. Frankenstein was to have originally been directed by Robert Florey and starred Bela Lugosi with a script that was very different from the one eventually used. Due to the rather one dimensional, robotic portrayal of the monster in the original drafts, Lugosi eventually quit the picture, and Flory was soon replaced by James Whale. Once Whale came on to the production, he greatly revised the script and cast Boris Karloff as the monster. Whale's new vision of the picture, combined with Jack Pierce's makeup and Karloff's sympathetic portrayal of the monster, gives us the image of what will always be first to come to mind whenever someone says "Frankenstein".

31 Days of Horror: Dracula (1931)

This month I'll be featuring a different horror film for everyday of the scariest month of the year. These aren't in any particular order, but are all perfect for Halloween viewing!

I'm kicking off 31 days of horror with the first "talkie" horror film: Dracula. Directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi, Edward Van Sloan, and Helen Chandler, Dracula is most significant for shaping the modern image of the vampire. The look and sound of Bela Lugosi's portrayal of The Count became the standard for all that followed. Sorry, but the sparkly, brooding vampires of Twilight don't count.

Happy Birthday, Peter O'Toole!

Happy birthday to one of my all time favorite actors!

Born on this day in 1932 in Connemara, Ireland