LornaHansonForbes

There was nothing wrong with the old score.

It’s unimaginative, repetitious, completely out of sync with the action, and is really wrecking the effectiveness of the film. PHILLIP GLASS would be proud.

(And I have seen this movie many times.) Anyone watching: is this score newly commissioned or just on this particular print TCM is showing? It is AWFUL.

DAYUM! Now that I know she was making THAT kind of money for the part, BETTE’s agonizing death scene in BURNT OFFERINGS suddenly seems quietly dignified. (She was probably envisioning the kitchen remodel it was going to pay for)

Re: THE EXORCIST I was extremely bored at work yesterday and was avoiding doing some things that I ought to be doing, so I brought up this topic, but in retrospect I’m kind of surprised I did... I’ve been posting here for a long time I have discovered there are very few films that it’s just not entirely safe to discuss on the boards, because they have very passionate devotees or in some cases detractors. THE EXORCIST is one of those films... I really do not like it at all, but there are many people who do, and I find they are very passionate about it. But I just think it’s awfully silly.

LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM is available on a lot of streaming services at the present- as I recall, it's on TUBI, ROKU CHANNEL and AMAZON PRIME (for free) THE DEVILS is sadly only available as a Region 2 DVD

IT'S A QUIET DAY, so I am going to note that this week's underground offering could be worse... HELL NIGHT (never heard of it, so, fine) and EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, a film about which I am now going to make three statements, two of which will likely be CONTROVERSIAL: 1. It's not an UNDERGROUND FILM 2. It's not THAT bad. 3. I like it better than THE EXORCIST. Discuss. Or not. I don't make any money either way....

A typo, I know, but I love this, I wish CANDICE had chosen CAN-DISE (pronounded CAN-DEESE) as her STAGE NAME....

I like this. In the inevitable BROADWAY SHOW based on the life of PAULA ABDUL, I think her drug-addled later years should be represented via a lengthy number using THE SLOWED DOWN VERSION OF VIBEOLOGY and lots of EXPRESSIONIST DANCING with SOMBER LIGHTS and BLACK TIGHTS (like a MUMMENSCHANZ thing)

PERFECT! note: For anyone reading this exchange and wondering what the Hell connection MINING has to the 1966 HAMMER FILM PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES, the plot of the movie concerns a sinister British aristocrat who ZOMBIFIES the local villagers to work for free in the dangerous conditions of the local (tin?) mine. Very timely movie, came out the same year as the Aberfan disaster, I think...? edit: i checked, it did- 1966

...for anyone interested, the novel on which the film was based, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT by DENNIS WHEATLEY (sp?) is still in print, there are cheaper (and Kindle) editions than the one I am posting the [AMAZON] link to below, but it is worth noting that this is a special hardback three-novel edition: https://www.amazon.com/Classic-Black-Magic-Dennis-Wheatley/dp/185375790X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2CMCI0SII597G&dchild=1&keywords=the+devil+rides+out+dennis+wheatley&qid=1635261522&qsid=134-3100731-7138337&sprefix=the+devil+rides+out+%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-3&sres=1448213002%2CB00CJB9CVQ%2C185375790X%2CB00I628KRY%2CB00ZD39ISO%2CB002P2D6WU%2CB01GF0SPGO%2CB003Z0B0EC%2CB00KJ2XJW0%2CB07G2CH945%2CB00EWL8VEK%2CB00F90ACPO%2CB00Q6IQ33I%2CB00Q6IQ2SY%2CB00Q6IQ2U2%2CB07N96GGWX&srpt=ABIS_BOOK

Where? America or England? I was literally thinking this morning of what it must've been like to be a kid growing up in a mining town in Wales or Northern England in 1966 and going to see PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES at the local theatre and thinking "yeah, seems about right."

for standalone HAMMER HORRORS (not affiliated with DRACULA or FRANKENSTEIN), I'd recommend PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES over THE DEVIL RIDES OUT. Wish TCM was showing that one...

...besides all that, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT just seems like a rather uninteresting, humorless episode of THE AVENGERS...although all the 1920's AUTOS ARE REALLY AWESOME TO SEE, as are the locations (the film uses a lot of exteriors for a HAMMER FILM.) *Also it lacks the TRADEMARK HAMMER BOMBASTIC SCORE THAT GRABS YOU BY THE SHOUDLERS AND FORCEFULLY SHAKES YOU, I miss that.

I love to be refuted! I think I would maybe like THE DEVIL RIDES OUT a bit more if I had not read so many glowing reviews and write-ups of it [i am a HAMMER HORROR fan, but I'm the first to concede that film critics and writers sometimes go overboard when discussing the genre] , CHRISTOPHER LEE himself as many of you know called it "HAMMER'S FINEST FILM"...this is, of course, the same CHRISTOPHER LEE who said "Sure, why not?" to appearing in CASTLE OF FU MANCHU and THE HOWLING II: YOUR SISTER IS A WEREWOLF though, so...BIG GRAIN OF SALT. [SOME have claimed it is LEE's favorite of the 70,000 films in which he appeared, I think THE WICKER MAN is his best film and performance with GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH a close second] and i know some excitement is to be had by LEE PLAYING A HERO...but the thing is, some actors are not meant to play the Hero. Some actors are just born to play Evil characters...I mean, I imagine the day CHRISTOPHER LEE was born, all the nurses and doctors made a special trip to see "that EVIL baby who GLOWERS at everyone" in the maternity ward.)

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT is not that great.

you know what? Watch some of those MURPHY BROWN episodes again, that show HAS NOT AGED WELL. She is ALWAYS YELLING. (Kinda like SOMEONE always USING ALL CAPS FOR EMPHASIS FREQUENTLY IN THEIR WRITING.) But really, YELLING does not automatically equal FUNNY. SHE'S VERY STIFF. **But I did enjoy her, oddly enough, in MISS CONGENIALITY...not that I liked much else in that one, WOOF!)

also, after BETTE DAVIS'S CHARACTER dies, THE CONSERVATORY, once full of LONG DEAD SPECIMENS becomes a GROOVY SPREAD IN BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS REPLETE WITH SPIDER FERNS AND GIANT POM-POM CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND ORCHIDS. Personally, I would think BETTE'S SPIRIT would make the place erupt in AGGRESSIVE TOBACCO PLANTS, JUNIPERS (the berries are where you get GIN) AND POISON IVY, and I say that with love... EDIT, OR THIS: "Oh reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaalllllly!"

**I also love how LEE'S STUNT DOUBLE chonks a styrofoam boulder at them which gets lodged in the chandelier as these two IDIOTS stand there while THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS is TOSSING BITS OF CHURCH AT THEM (and again, missing them to a degree that makes me think he needs a trip to Lenscrafters.)

People used to complain that HALLOWEEN on TCM was too HAMMERCENTRIC, so i think they've gone out of their way to not include many HAMMER HORRORS this year, and it bums me out as I WATCH THEM OBSESSIVELY... Case in point, I rewatched TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (a film I have seen many times and owned it DVD before trading it in) While the film has weaknesses, IT IS SO STYLISH and I ADORE THE SCORE AND SETS AND LIGHTING and MOST OF ALL, the SCENE AT THE END where an IRATE, TRAPPED DRACULA DISMANTLES AN ORGAN IN A CHAPEL AND STARTS FURIOUSLY CHONKING THE PIPES AT THE [stupid] HERO AND HEROINE [and missing them every time, this guy has the aim of KID SHALEEN.] i adore the FOLEY SOUND they used for the ORGAN PIPES IN FLIGHT...really wish I could get it as a RING TONE for my phone or something... [starts at 2:40 in the clip below.]

I understand this completely...to backtrack a bit, I did say it reminded me of the entry, but not that I found it amusing all these years later. (although I do admit with regret that when I first read the entry on SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM [IN the golden turkey awards BOOK] some 25 (!) years ago, I howled with laughter.... I also will say that they're right to call out CANDICE BERGEN as a terrible actress.) EDIT: LATER IN THE BOOK, they call out CANDICE BERGEN as a terrible actress...Sadly, Miss Bergen does not appear in SCREAM, BLACULA, SCREAM. i did not mean to give that impression with my random chain of disjointed thoughts)