October Movie Challenge 2012 (10/15)

Remember, if you would like to make a pledge toward Scare-A-Thon 2012 (benefitting FRIENDS OF CHILDREN) at any time, drop me an email at drach101@gmail.com to let me know how much you would like to pledge per film. Your donation is tax deductible, 100% of goes directly to aid the kids, and seriously, even a penny per film helps. Thanks in advance!

#49
Don’t Go to Sleep (1982) (1st viewing) d. Lang, Richard (USA) 93 min.

Superb TV chiller with the dark spirit of the 70s in its soul, happy to slap viewers’ expectations across the face and leave jaws plunging into their popcorn bowls. Dennis Weaver and Valerie Harper star as a couple recuperating from the death of their eldest child, but the recently deceased carries a grudge – branches of the family tree are soon being pruned with extreme prejudice. Robin Ignico plays the blonde haired Mary, visited by the ghost of her sibling, with Ruth Gordon and Poltergeist’s Oliver Robins among her prospective victims. The “watermelon” scene is the best shock sequence, while the bathtub sequence takes the honors for sheer prolonged suspense.

#50
Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby (1976) (1st viewing) d. O’Steen, Sam (USA) 100 min.

Devil fever was sweeping the nation in 1976, with The Omen keeping the turnstiles spinning, so it was no surprise to see this tedious, ill-advised sequel to Polanski’s Hollywood breakthrough rearing its ugly face on TV screens come the Halloween season. Despite an “all-star” cast of Ray Milland, Patty Duke, Donna Mills, Tina Louise, Broderick Crawford, George Maharis and Ruth Gordon (reprising her Oscar-winning role as Minnie Castevet), Anthony Wilson’s dum-dum script and 70s trappings drag this sucker to hell from the opening credits. A very young Stephen McHattie stars as the Woodhouse offspring, struggling against his Dark Lord birthright, with lots of goofy groovy musical numbers (Satan’s son loves that rock n’ roll).


Total Movies: 50
First Time Views: 50
Money Raised for Friends of Children: $507.50

ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968) movie review

Rosemary’s Baby (1968) d. Polanski, Roman (USA)

The blockbuster adaption of Ira Levin’s bestselling occult novel still maintains its punch 44 years after its initial release, but what struck me on this most recent viewing was just how easily it could have become just another schlocky “fun” horror film in the hands of producer William Castle. Having acquired the rights to Levin’s story, everyone’s favorite celluloid showman had hoped for this to be his entryway into directing studio-funded A-films, but Paramount head honcho Robert Evans instead gave the reins to hot new European import Polanski.

Obviously, this proved to be a wise decision as the young auteur proceeded to imbue the outlandish story – Mia Farrow’s young expectant mother’s growing paranoia of a conspiracy surrounding her unborn child – with a grounded, soap opera realism, subverting expectations of genre without sacrificing an iota of tension or dread. Ruth Gordon won the Supporting Actress Oscar for her slyly fussy turn as Farrow and husband John Cassavetes’ intrusive neighbor, with able support from Ralph Bellamy, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Elisha Cook, Jr., Hammer’s dinosaur-lovin’ glamour gal Victoria Vetri and baby-faced Charles Grodin in his first major screen appearance. Watch (and listen) closely for cameos by Castle and Tony Curtis.