‘Science fiction (ooh ooh ooh) double feature
Doctor X (ooh ooh ooh) will build a creature
See androids fighting (ooh ooh ooh) Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in (ooh ooh ooh) Forbidden Planet
Wo oh oh oh oh oh
At the late night… double feature…picture show
I wanna go-oh-oh-oh…’
– lyrics from ‘Science Fiction/Double Feature’ from ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’.
Ok, so our selections weren’t quite as schlocky as ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’ or ‘Forbidden Planet’, but in a Club Moofie first, we celebrated Halloween with a double horror Moofie extravaganza!
I can only offer impressions gleaned from the rest of you as my own constitution was not strong enough to withstand the various bursting body parts of these films. Feel free to comment further if you wish!
Firstly, a big ‘thank you’ to Beck for a sensational Mexican feast to accompany our discussion. Special mention must also be made for the extra special effort several members made with their attire! We had one scary-haired lady with a big knife and small hat, one Wednesday Addams, two very bloody and convincingly-gashed victims from ‘The Mist’ and one tiny wee girl with a slightly blood-stained tutu.
Good work people!
Also, a special commendation to Wendy who endured one of our gory double on the same night as a bout of food poisoning – not ideal watching in this scenario, but bravely done, Wendy, bravely done.
So without further ado or bloodshed, here are your thoughts…
The Mist
Based on a Stephen King novella, ‘The Mist’ starts with a fitting visual cross reference to our other film of the evening, ‘The Thing’: artwork for both films was created by Drew Struzan – we are so good people! We didn’t even try to tie those two together!! This film was nominated by Andy, and was most remembered by him for it’s distressing ending. However, on re-watching, he was impressed by how the director loaded the film with drama and it was not just to do with monsters. This was echoed my many comments from the rest of the group – that the film had many levels of intensity, not just alien and visual, but emotional and human too.
It was clear that the characters, due to the anxiety and fear produced by the situation forced upon them, became just as scary and alien as the monsters – if not more so in some cases. It’s easy to see these themes working in the context of broader society too (remember: viewed in the same year as the Trump campaign…)
All in all, the film was a surprisingly tense and relevant film for 2016, and much more than your average horror film.
Quotes:
On the ending:
Wendy: ‘Couldn’t they just have waited for a bit?’
Ray: ‘Why couldn’t they have used the exhaust for monoxide poisoning?’
Jodi: ‘Or petrol?’
CJ: ‘Absolutely devastating ending. I hated it at first – so gut wrenching, but I quite like it now.’
***
Paul: ‘ I saw it at the cinema and thought: ‘Oh my God, that was so horrible – Oh my God, that was so AWESOME!’
Paul: ‘Seeing it was a real shock – but a good one. It leapt into my top 10 movies…of all time. The noughties were unremarkable for films like this – not like the 90s.’
Paul: ‘I like the unexpected. I was surprised when the girl died.’
***
On the special effects:
Paul: ‘ They were pretty bad, right?’ – Paul
Andy (hurt): ‘Nooo!’
Olive: ‘Achoo!’
***
Paul, to Jodi:
‘Olive was in your lap so we had the subtitles on.’
Beck: ‘What’s your score Olive? 4 toes out of 5?’
***
Paul or Jodi? (sorry folks, I forgot to note these two).
‘As soon as he shot them, I knew everything was going to be ok and he would discover he was not alone. It was a good ending. I don’t normally like this sort of ending but it worked here.’
‘ I liked the stories in it. Similar to “Force Majeure” – what would people do in this situation?’
Jodi: ‘I would watch it again.’
***
On the religious fanatic:
Jodi: ‘ She was already the town nut case.’
Ray: ‘ She’s now Donald Trump’s campaign manager.’
***
Jodi: ‘The son annoyed me. They should have gotten a smaller kid.’
Paul: ‘He should have been cuter. But that’s a minor comment.’
***
Wendy: ‘The one with the less dialogue – that’s going to be the one that get’s it.’
Wendy: ‘It was those little ones that were just gross; the whole concept was gross.’
Ray, to Andy: ‘I remember Wendy cursing your name at this point…’.
Wendy: ‘Scared or grossed out. Disturbed.’ Wendy
Wendy ‘I did not enjoy it. I did NOT enjoy it!!!’
***
On the army:
Andy: ‘They were looking for a window, but they made a door.’ – Andy
Wendy: ‘Why did they have to hang themselves? That was so disturbing.’
Ray: ‘The human aspect was the most interesting part, not the monsters.’
Beck: ‘The human aspect – what people do when the panic and fear overwhelms them.’
***
Ray: ‘Would you have gone? I would have said ‘tough luck lady, I’m all right here.’’
Beck: ‘Again, like “Force Majeure’’ – what would you do?’
Ray: ‘ The creatures needed the Mist. I got the feeling the creatures wouldn’t survive without the mist.’
Beck: ‘The mist was the creature!’
***
Ray: ‘I thought it was clichéd and schlocky.’
Beck: ‘I found the film low-grade scary, but you’ve been thrown at with so much.’
Beck: ‘I didn’t like the film.’
***
Andy: ‘Sylv gave it a Mist…’
Beck to Sylv: ‘No Bursting?’
Sylv: ‘Bursting is very bad…’
***
Ray: ‘ How would you rate it Jon?’
Wendy: ‘Go by your gut feeling. I did – Urrrggggh.’
CJ: ‘The spider things and other insect creatures are so icky – great stuff.’
Scores:
Ray: 3
Wendy: 2
CJ: 4
Renny: 3
Jodi: 4.5
Beck: 2
Andy: 4.5
Sylv: Abstain
Paul: 4.5
Olive: 4 toes out of 5
The Thing
Nominated by Renny after it was discovered at the now sadly defunct (yet legendary) Stanmore DVD store, ‘The Thing’ divided Club Moofie with its old school special effects. For some, the effects were enjoyed for the very reason that, for others, they were not – the lack of computer-generated imagery. Some members felt that the effects were simply too unbelievable to make the film scary; others thought that the director did a fantastic job creating an atmosphere of isolation and desperation given what he had to work with at the time.
Either way, listening to the discussion, and in Renny’s words, this sounded like the perfect Halloween movie: slightly scary, with isolated characters stalked by an unpredictable alien amongst them; gore, unintentional laughs, and some clever, non CGI special effects. The dog also got a mention.
All agreed that there was one scene that was particularly inspired, featuring a disembodied head and a dextrous tongue.
I will include a quote from the director, John Carpenter on this here (thank you Renny):
‘When I started seeing some of the effects that Rob created—it was one in particular, one particular sequence where Charlie [Hallahan’s] head comes off the table and the tongue shoots out and it pulls across and turns over and grows stalks and walks across the floor—when I saw that I realized a great sense of relief because what I didn’t want to end up with in this movie was a guy in a suit. Even as great as [Alien] was, and Alien was a terrific movie … in the very end, up stood this big guy in a suit.”
Sounds good to me!
Our Halloween films generated an interest side discussion at the end of the reviewing, given that not everyone found them to be scary. The question ‘What is the scariest film you have seen?’ was bandied about – I did not get a chance to note all responses, but here are a few: ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ (was this Jodi or Wendy?), ‘Never Let Me Go’ (Beck), and ‘Don’t Look Now’ (Andy). I’d like to add ‘The Vanishing’ (original foreign language version). I guess what makes a really scary film depends on how it taps into one’s own personal fears and worries…anyone else like to nominate their scariest film?
Scores:
Ray: 3
Wendy: 3
CJ: 4
Renny: 4
Jodi: Abstain
Beck: A reluctant 0.5. For Kurt’s eyes.
Andy: 4
Sylv: Abstain
Paul: Abstain
Olive: Abstain
Quotes:
Renny: ’The perfect Halloween movie.’
Renny: ‘The icey surrounds and complete isolation of the research base ratcheted up the suspense.’
Renny: ’The alien was by far the best character.’
***
Ray: ‘It was like Brisbane on a Saturday night.
***
Renny: ‘Great effects for the time.’
Beck: ‘Is it of an era when effects were just bad?’
Beck, on the effects being too fake: ‘No. Sorry.’
Beck: ‘I thought: “Can I do this?” (watch it on my own at 9.30) and then I saw the first scene and I thought “yep, I’m all good here.”’
Beck: ‘I had a little nap in the middle.’
Jon, on the poor special effects:
‘I watched the first ten minutes and thought: “I can’t do this”’.
CJ: ‘Part of the appeal for me is the style of the special effects. This is all pre-CGI. Its latex, puppetry, and Ribena-blood.’
CJ: ‘The head turning into a spider is so gnarly.’
***
Beck: ‘I thought Kurt Russell was looking pretty hot.’
***
Ray: ‘When the hands go inside and turn into teeth – that was so funny…’
Ray: ‘I was amazed at the guy at the beginning of the movie. He was such a bad shot!’
***
Beck, on the stupidity of the scientists:
‘Ooh, let’s do it again, let’s test the blood and stand really, really close…’
***
Wendy, on enduring food poisoning on the night she watched the film:
‘I felt like I had an alien in my stomach.’
***
Ray: ‘Do you think that the aliens landed there on purpose?’
Andy: ‘Don’t care Ray. I just want to see heads slipping of tables and growing legs.’
***
Beck: ‘It was just gore. Not scary.’
Beck: ‘This was like…urggg, blahhh glurg…’ followed by lots of random sounds between Beck and Andy.
CJ: ‘I love the absolutely revolting ‘blood and guts’ special effects – the excess (of blood and guts) is part of what makes this so enjoyable!’
***
Wendy: ‘At the beginning, the scenes with the dog were good. Lots of good acting by the dog.’
***
Wendy: ‘I thought it was a better film than ‘The Mist’. It had a better ‘mood’. The music was good.’
Andy: ‘It was John Carpenter on his synthesiser!’
Wendy: ‘The music was Ennio Morricone.’
Andy: ‘In fact, I don’t know what I’m saying…blarg blah blah…’
***
Andy: ‘Where did he get the crab from?’
Beck: ‘Maybe he came across a crabstick in the fridge.’
***
Ray: ‘The acting was better. I thought the characters were good. B-grade horror. Another B-grade horror.’
Andy: ‘I loved it. I got a thrill.’
***
Wendy: ‘It’s not a normal work place…’
***
Sylv to Beck: ‘Would you normally watch horror?’
Beck: ‘F**k no!’
Club Moofie 