Awesomely Shitty Movies: Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)

Sigh.....welcome to another edition of Awesomely Shitty Movies, here at Enuffa.com.  Today we look at the moment when Universal's Frankenstein franchise took a screeching 90-degree turn and went tumbling, ablaze, off a cliff into the night.  That moment when the studio ceased making top quality films about everyone's favorite flat-headed clod and transformed him into a mindless B-movie ghoul.  That's right, I'm talkin' about Ghost of Frankenstein....  (Click HERE if you missed Son of Frankenstein)

When Son of Frankenstein was another smash-hit, Universal realized there was still a ton of money in these movies and began churning them out at a rapid-fire pace, without paying attention to the annoying little details like story, characters, acting, or in this case visual style.  Ghost picks up the story shortly after the events of Son, where the villagers of Frankenstein are still angry and hysterical because the apparent death of the monster hasn't magically fixed all their woes (Kinda like with American politics).  They believe the monster might still be alive, not to mention Ygor (Good guess), and it's kept them under a curse.  The mayor eventually gives in to their badgering and greenlights their plan to destroy Frankenstein's castle (Because apparently the authority figures in this town are cool with rioting).  As they smash and burn the castle, Ygor stumbles onto the preserved monster, embedded in a block of solidified sulfur.  He breaks free and Ygor takes him to the village to find Wolf Frankenstein's brother Ludwig, also a scientist who might have the secret to restore the monster to his former glory.  Here we go again.....

So what worked and what didn't (Spoiler alert: Most of it didn't work)?  Let's take a look.....



The Awesome


Bela Lugosi

Bela's back as Ygor, and despite being directed to play the character completely differently than before, he gives another solid turn as the villainous hunchback, manipulating both the monster and the scientists to bend to his will.  No matter how cheesy and low-rent the movie, Lugosi's presence is always a welcome one.  Just ask Ed Wood.

"Hello young lady.... vant to see the inside of my van?"

Twist Ending

After a pretty tedious, meandering hour, it all comes down to Ludwig's decision to take out the monster's criminal brain (Remember that from the first movie?) and put in a healthy one.  Unfortunately though, Ygor has convinced his assistant Dr. Bohmer to substitute Ygor's brain, which will allow him to live in a strong, healthy body instead of his current mangled form.  Ludwig unwittingly puts Ygor's brain in the monster's head and revives him, and the monster begins triumphantly speaking in Ygor's voice.  But just then he discovers his eyesight is failing due to Ygor not having the same blood type as the monster.  Yeah this is all pretty goofy, but it's kind of a cool, disturbing plot twist for this series and I would've liked to see where they took this storyline.  Problem was, in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man the studio hated Lugosi's performance as the monster and cut all his dialogue, removing any references to this scene, including the monster's blindness.

Awesomely Shitty Movies: A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 - Dream Warriors

Welcome to another Awesomely Shitty Movies column here at Enuffa.com, where I take another look at a childhood favorite and talk about why parts of it don't hold up and in some cases make me cringe.  Some of you will probably hate me...

It's Halloween season, so I'm watching a lot of horror movies, and today I'm revisiting a classic of the cheesy 80s horror genre, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors!  I came by this series just as this film was being released in early 1987; a friend in junior high school was a slasher film fanatic and used to bring in issues of Fangoria for me to read (Goddamn, that magazine ruled).  I'd heard of A Nightmare on Elm Street and its first sequel from my older siblings but knew zero about them until my schoolmate showed me pictures of the burnt guy with the finger-knives.  Immediately I was fascinated - what kind of an imagination came up with this creepo??  My friend also had a copy of the novelization The Nightmares on Elm Street, Parts 1, 2 and 3, as well as the Nightmare on Elm Street Companion coffee table book (which I still have).  I rushed out to buy both books, having never seen any of the films, and dove in head-first.  I soon rented the first movie and loved it, rented the second and just sorta liked it, and couldn't wait to see the third once it dropped on VHS (Being under 17 I didn't have a parent/guardian available/interested in accompanying me to the theater for this movie/film).  Another friend eventually bought the third movie, so I watched it at his house, and it blew my goddamn fuckin' mind.  The nightmare sequences were way more elaborate and fantastical, the teenagers now had dream powers, and Freddy was crackin' jokes the whole movie.  It was like a slasher movie crossed with a comic book, and at 12 years old it was one of the greatest things I had ever seen.

This book is the TITS.

Tangent time: That summer I fashioned a Freddy claw out of an old leather glove and some Tinker Toys (they didn't yet have the licensed Freddy glove), and my mom bought me an official Freddy mask to go with an old red-and-green-striped sweater my parents happened to have in the house.  I obviously went as Freddy for Halloween that year and was proud as fuck of my costume.  'Course looking back now it seems borderline inappropriate for a 12-year-old to dress up as a serial child murderer, but the 80s were a strange time.

Anyway, back to the movie.  Nightmare 3 was considered a more faithful sequel to the original (after a second installment was made against Wes Craven's stern objections, throwing out some of the rules established in the first, as well as lightening the tone and injecting a love story).  Nightmare 2 was quite successful at the box office, but critics and fans were disappointed with how far it strayed from Craven's original vision.  So for the third movie Craven was brought back in to shape the story, Nancy Thompson returned to the fold, and while still slightly comedic, the movie restored somewhat the original's darker tone.  Freddy was now dream-stalking a group of troubled, suicidal teenagers, but said teenagers had also learned to develop special skills to fight back.  Armed with a more robust budget, the filmmakers poured everything they had into the set pieces and effects, creating a crowd-pleasing horror entertainment that handily outgrossed its two predecessors.

Hey, nothing wrong with that, but watching it now there is some stuff that doesn't hold up for me.  Before we get to that though, let me heap some praise on this esteemed bit of slasher escapism...

Awesomely Shitty Movies: Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Welcome to the third Awesomely Shitty Movies piece dedicated to the Universal Studios Frankenstein series!  In case you missed part 2, check it out HERE.  Today we're talking about the third film in the franchise, Son of Frankenstein!

After the critical and commercial triumph that was Bride of Frankenstein, it seemed like another sequel would be a natural.  But Carl Laemmle Sr and Jr were soon forced out of the company due to their extravagant spending, and it seemed monster movies were off the table as well.  It was only due to an LA theater reviving Dracula and Frankenstein as a double feature, and the ensuing huge box office success, that the studio opted to jump back into that pool.  James Whale was not interested in returning however, and Rowland V. Lee was hired to direct the third film.  Son of Frankenstein was originally to be shot in color as well, but the monster's makeup didn't look quite right, so that plan was scrapped.

Son of Frankenstein was another box office success and helped pull Universal out of its financial slump.  Following this movie the studio began churning out cheesy Frankenstein sequels and crossovers, making Son the last serious entry in the series.

So what worked and what didn't?  Let's take a gander...



The Awesome


Visuals

This series thus far has been full of rich, expressionist lighting, off-putting Dutch angles, and an emphasis on intense lights and darks to plunge the viewer into this bizarre world.  Son of Frankenstein continues this trend and in some ways takes it a step further, with some of the sets including angular, surrealistic staircases that cast jagged shadows on the walls behind.  Almost every set in fact has bare, textureless walls so the shadows can come across more strongly.  More on that aspect a little later.  The Film Noir genre was just beginning to blossom at this point, and many of those films must've taken some visual cues from Son of Frankenstein, among others.

Great use of lighting and angles

AEW WrestleDream 2024 Review: The GOAT is Conquered

AEW pulled off yet another triumphant PPV this past weekend; despite a rather cold buildup WrestleDream 2024 delivered a full slate of good-to-excellent matches and a handful of memorable angles, including a downer of an ending that signaled the close of Bryan Danielson's full-time wrestling career.  No one does PPV events like AEW.

The show started with a G1-style banger, as Hangman Page and Jay White had a rematch from their Owen Cup semifinal.  This one started methodically but built in intensity through its sixteen minutes, and after loads of explosive and sudden counters and reversals it ended to a massive crowd pop.  Hangman had failed to hit the Buckshot Lariat earlier in the match, but after a Deadeye piledriver he had White exactly where he wanted him.  But his bad knee which White had worked over earlier made him hesitate, and he flipped right into White's waiting arms for a Bladerunner and the three-count.  The crowd went nuts for this finish.  Excellent opener.  ****1/4

Next up was the lone women's match on the main card, Mariah May vs. Willow Nightingale, in another Owen Cup rematch.  This only went ten minutes but was pretty much nonstop action, Willow's power vs. Mariah's craftiness.  May had a nearfall with May Day after Willow missed a moonsault, and I actually fell for that one.  There was a great spot where Willow went for the pounce but May countered with a headbutt and a lariat.  May hit a running DVD into the corner and won the match with a running knee and Storm Zero.  I thought maybe Toni Storm would return here but they're saving her for another day.  Really damn good match.  ****

NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling 2024 Preview & Predictions

It's a busy wrestling weekend once again, as not only do we have an AEW PPV, but on Monday morning our time NJPW presents King of Pro-Wrestling 2024!

This show isn't the most stacked NJPW PPV but it does have some potential major impact on next year's WrestleKingdom, as the 2024 G1 winner Zack Sabre Jr. has opted to cash in his chips early.  Instead of going after Tetsuya Naito's IWGP Title at the Dome, he's challenging here, in the hopes that he can bring the belt home for next week's Royal Quest PPV in the UK.  Aside from that there are a bunch of title matches but not a ton of star power I would say.  But let's get into it....

Hiromu Takahashi vs. Mistico

This should be a very fun opener.  The top Jr. star in NJPW vs. one of Mexico's biggest-ever box office attractions.  Having this open the show seems odd to me, as it could easily fit in before the final two or three bouts.  But if given ample time this could be a show stealer.  I think Mistico probably wins here, as I think both he and CMLL are very protective of his win-loss record.  Takahashi can stand a loss.

Pick: Mistico

IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship: Bullet Club War Dogs vs. Jett Setters

Should be a solid Jr. tag bout.  The War Dogs have held these titles since February so I could see Kushida and Kevin Knight picking them back up.

Pick: Jet Setters 

Awesomely Shitty Movies: A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 - Freddy's Revenge

Welcome to yet another installment of Awesomely Shitty Movies, here at Enuffa.com, where I examine uneven films and try to separate the good from the bad.  Today I'm talking about A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge!

Click HERE to read about Nightmare 3 and HERE for Nightmare 4...

In 1984 fledgling film studio New Line Cinemas scored an unexpected monster hit with Wes Craven's weird little movie about a burned-up guy who kills teenagers in their dreams.  The studio had literally mortgaged its future on the project, and when it turned up a tidy $22 million profit, they were eager to follow it up with something equally successful.  The only problem was, Wes Craven (who as a condition of New Line's agreeing to finance the first movie had signed it away as his intellectual property) had no interest in making Nightmare a franchise and declined to participate in a sequel.  Instead director Jack Sholder and screenwriter David Chaskin were brought in to helm the project.  Sholder later confessed he wasn't a fan of the first movie (odd choice to have him direct this one then) and wanted to take the material somewhere else, while Chaskin loaded up the sequel with unusual social subtext for an 80s popcorn movie.  One gross early miscalculation on the part of the filmmakers was the idea that they didn't need a proper actor to play Freddy - since Robert Englund demanded a raise from his Nightmare 1 salary to return, producer Robert Shaye attempted to keep the budget low by casting a stunt double in a Freddy mask.  They got as far as one scene before realizing he was terrible, and wisely agreed to Englund's terms.

Picking up five years after the events in Nightmare 1, this film centers around the new tenants of Nancy Thompson's former address, in particular a teenage boy named Jesse Walsh.  Jesse is haunted by nightmares about Freddy, who asks permission to use Jesse's body as a vehicle for murdering people in the real world.  What follows is a battle of wills, as Jesse struggles to squash the evil growing within him.  The premise is simple, but the thematic choices and execution are what's really intriguing about this often-maligned movie thirty-plus years later.

So let's detach the good and the evil surrounding A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, shall we?



The Awesome


Performances

A few cheesy and awkward moments aside, the principle performances in this movie are strong, at times some of the most credible in the series.  Mark Patton brings a tortured sense of sexually confused teen angst to the role of Jesse, unsure what to do with both his budding physical maturity and his nocturnal hauntings.  Kim Myers is sweetly nurturing and warm as the beautiful girl-next-door Lisa.  Robert Rusler is the meathead jock you can't help but like as Ron Grady, who initially bullies Jesse but ends up becoming his friend and confidant.  Veteran actor Clu Gulager is cluelessly stern as Jesse's unsympathetic father, insensitive to the changes, both Freddy-related and otherwise, his son is going through.  And of course there's trusty Robert Englund as Freddy himself, who comes off possibly more malicious here than in any other film.  Freddy just seems especially hostile this time around, almost as though Englund resented not being asked back in the first place.  Or maybe I'm reading into things...




Freddy's Look

Original Nightmare makeup artist David Miller was unavailable to return for the second film, so 23-year-old Kevin Yagher was brought in for his first of three Nightmare films.  Yagher had nothing to go on in recreating Miller's makeup design except clips from the first film and a few photos, so he mostly started from scratch, making Freddy's prosthetics thinner, bonier and more witch-like, adding to his menacing look.  Another wonderful touch was giving Englund red contact lenses to further enhance his demonic appearance.  Yagher's makeup really established the exaggerated, shiny, "classic" Freddy look.  Of the entire series, this is my favorite execution of Freddy's makeup.

AEW WrestleDream 2024 Preview & Predictions

It's October and you know what that means! 

AEW is back in Washington state for the second-annual WrestleDream PPV, and while it's quite a mixed bag of stuff - much of it thrown together kinda last-minute - there's no shortage of great on-paper matches on this show.  The biggest story is of course the situation with Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley; Mox has intimated that someone else has "forced his hand," and that "this company doesn't belong to you anymore," whatever that means.  I hope this isn't a Shane McMahon thing, because that would suck.  But barring that I'm intrigued to see where this goes.  The show feels like a bit of a reset overall, with a lot of unlikely matchups taking place and some new faces being included.  There's a ton of variety here so it should at the very least be a fun and easy show to watch.  Also Swerve Strickland returns, likely to further his angle with MVP's stable.  Do we see the debut of Bobby Lashley?

Let's take a look....

Zero Hour - ROH TV Championship: Atlantis Jr. vs. Brian Cage

No idea who wins this as I haven't kept up with ROH goings-on.  Atlantis is a very young wrestler with a CMLL background and Tony's been on a big lucha kick lately so I guess he retains?

Pick: Atlantis retains

ROH World Championship: Mark Briscoe vs. Chris Jericho

This is a weird one.  Is Jericho being tapped to lend his star power to the Ring of Honor brand again in the hopes that Tony can land them a proper TV deal?  I'm honestly not sure what you do with ROH at this point; as a viable second AEW brand they kind of aren't needed, but they're a valuable developmental tool for younger talent.  They should really be AEW's answer to NXT, but they still need a weekly show that isn't behind an exclusive paywall.  Anyway I think Jericho probably wins the title again for a little while.

Pick: Jericho

Awesomely Shitty Movies: Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Welcome to the second installment in our Awesomely Shitty Movies series pertaining to Universal Studios' Frankenstein franchise!  (Part 1 can be seen HERE)

Today it's the Frankenstein sequel that is almost universally (heh, get it?) praised as being superior to the first film, Bride of Frankenstein!

After the monumental success of the 1931 adaptation, Universal Studios understandably pushed for a follow-up, but James Whale was initially skeptical, thinking there was nothing more that could be explored in the material.  Instead Whale directed another hit horror film, The Invisible Man, and the studio pushed even harder for a Frankenstein sequel.  Whale finally agreed on the condition that Universal would produce a film of his called One More River, and when directing Bride opted to swing for the fences.  It would be a much larger-scale production with garish surrealism and subversive undertones, blending monster horror with dark comedy.  On paper this movie should never have worked as well as it did.  Whale was allowed to inject so much of his own personality into the film and its characters, and thus it became a celebration of those who live outside the "norm."  With the expressionist influences of the first film turned way up for the second, and the drama ranging from horrific to funny to genuinely touching, Bride of Frankenstein is the pinnacle of the Universal monster films.


Now let's criticize it.....



The Awesome


Karloff Again

Boris reprised the role that made him a superstar, once again slipping on the giant boots and flat head.  This time the monster actually spoke, lending more depth to the character and making him even more sympathetic.  Indeed, Bride of Frankenstein is much more about the monster's character arc than Frankenstein's.  His driving motivation in this film, much like in the novel, is the search for a companion of some kind, and Karloff gives a largely quite tender, vulnerable performance that further solidifies the monster as a misunderstood brute.

Still the man

Elsa Lanchester

Despite very little actual screen time between her two roles (Seriously, it's maybe five minutes total), Elsa Lanchester brought to life one of the great movie monsters and gave a tremendously memorable turn.  Also notable is the disparity between her two characters; Mary Shelley is sweet-faced and proper, while the title character is wild-eyed and bird-like (Lanchester apparently based her head movements on those of a swan).  Her brief onscreen interaction with Karloff is bizarre and climactic; one of the great monster movie payoffs.

Makes sense her hair is standing up,
she did just get electrocuted technically

Awesomely Shitty Movies: Death Proof

Welcome to another edition of Awesomely Shitty Movies, here at Enuffa.com, where I pick apart a guilty pleasure film, or a movie that has most or all of the ingredients to be great but can't quite get there.

Today's subject is a little of both.  It's the 70s exploitation/slasher film throwback, Death Proof, aka Quentin Tarantino's Worst Movie.  Originally released as half of the double-bill Grindhouse along with Robert Rodriguez's zombie pastiche Planet Terror (a bona fide ASM in its own right), Death Proof follows the slasher formula but with a crazed stunt driver committing vehicular homicide on groups of women.  Oddly split into two halves, the story begins with an Austin, TX radio DJ and her friends going out to celebrate her birthday.  Along the way they run afoul of Stuntman Mike, and it ends badly.  In the second half Mike has relocated to Tennessee, stalking a new group of women, two of whom happen to be stunt drivers themselves, and it ends badly again, this time for Mike.

That's really all there is to the plot; like many horror films, particularly the slasher variety, it's all about style over substance.  Fortunately Quentin Tarantino is the quintessential expert on imbuing a film with style and immersing the viewer in his detailed little worlds.  There's a lot to like about this movie, and I find myself needing to rewatch it every few years to spend time with some interesting characters and see if there's more to this film than I remembered.  There isn't really, but it's still a fun little romp and a lovingly created crappy 70s drive-in flick.

So let's look at the pros and cons of Death Proof...



The Awesome


Kurt Russell

Kurt Russell has to be one of my favorite actors who's done very few films I like.  Sure there's The Thing, Backdraft, Tombstone, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and three Tarantino outings, but he's also done a lotta crappy movies.  Regardless though, Russell improves every film he's in.  He oozes natural charisma and whether playing a hero or a villain you can't take your eyes off him.  That's most certainly true in Death Proof, where he starts out charming everyone in the bar and making Tarantino's quirky dialogue jump off the page, and then morphs into a murderous maniac.  Russell as Stuntman Mike is absolutely perfect casting.

Careful, or in his book you'll be filed under Chickenshit...

Jungle Julia

Speaking of "can't take your eyes off" someone, Sydney Tamiia Poiter as local DJ Jungle Julia absolutely commands the screen whenever she's on it.  As Mike himself observes, "she is a striking-looking woman."  Poiter is statuesque, effortlessly sexy, and bursting with sass.  Why Tarantino never cast her in anything else after this is beyond me; I could watch her all day long.

Sweet Jeezus....

Awesomely Shitty Movies: Frankenstein (1931)

Welcome to a special Halloween-themed Awesomely Shitty Movies, where I dissect a beloved classic and ruin everybody's fun, like an unwashed neighborhood kid pissing in the community swimming pool.

Today's subject, and the first of a series of ASM articles, is the 1931 horror milestone Frankenstein, based on the legendary 1818 novel by Mary Shelley (of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein fame).

Now look, before you get upset that I'm referring to this film as "awesomely shitty," please understand I hold Frankenstein in very high regard.  I've been a fan of this film since I was about six years old and I make it a point to watch it (and its first sequel) once a year during Halloween season.  That said, there are quite a few flaws with the film and I'm here to point them out and probably piss a lotta people off.  But whatever....

Frankenstein first emerged as a novel after its author, her husband Percy, and their friend Lord Byron were rained in one night on vacation and decided to have a little ghost story contest.  Mary had a "monster" of a time (Get it? Eh??) coming up with a story idea, but it finally came to her one night in a dream - the vision of a medical student bringing life to a man he'd stitched together from parts of the dead.  Eventually the tale grew into a full-fledged novel, and a literary classic was born.

The visual aspect of the story instantly lent itself to theatrical interpretation, and nearly a century later as the film industry blossomed it found itself the subject of several cinematic attempts (the first being Thomas Edison's 1910 short).  But it was Universal Studios and producer Carl Laemmle jr. who would make the word "Frankenstein" a household one.  Coming off the heels of a tremendously successful Dracula adaptation, Laemmle hired director James Whale and veteran actor Boris Karloff to bring the story to life.  Frankenstein was a "monster" hit (I did it again, did you catch it??), spawning three direct sequels and four crossover films, and changing monster movies forever (No no, that time it wasn't a pun).

So what worked about this immortal film and what didn't?  Well, I'm here to set the record straight....



The Awesome


Makeup

In bringing Frankenstein's monster to life, makeup artist Jack Pierce and director James Whale collaborated to create one of the most instantly recognizable characters in cinema history.  The flat head, heavy brow and neck electrodes were all strokes of genius, as was Boris Karloff's added touch of mortician's wax on his eyelids to give him a half-awake zombie-like appearance.  This makeup immediately became iconic and it's still considered the definitive Frankenstein look, used extensively in Halloween decor and marketing.

Such a great look

Top Ten Things: Vampire Movies

Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Things, here at Enuffa.com!  Continuing with the Halloween festivities, today we'll count down what are in my estimation the ten greatest vampire films of all time.

Before Stephanie Meyer temporarily ruined the vampire genre by turning it into insipid teen melodrama involving beautiful undead emo heartthrobs (who despite not technically being alive can somehow procreate), there used to be quite a few excellent films devoted to the subject.

Being a vampire really isn't any fun when you think about it.  I explored this topic a little in my Awesomely Shitty Movies piece about The Lost Boys:

"It is possible to create complex, thought-provoking films about vampires, exploring at what cost such powers come: isolation, loneliness, unending bloodlust, tedium, having to live with murdering people, having to evade capture and prosecution for murdering people, etc."

The vampire, no matter how romantic a character you try to make him, is still at heart a repulsive, predatory creature who must kill human beings in order to survive.  Think of how awful his breath must be after drinking all that blood.  Imagine how filthy his clothes would be after sleeping in dirt every day.  Really, are the fringe benefits of being eternally young and having superhuman strength and speed worth all the other headaches? 


Anywho, here's my ten picks, plus a couple honorable mentions....

HM: Horror of Dracula (1958)

One of the films that built England's Hammer Film Studios, the 1958 version of Dracula, retitled Horror of Dracula in the US, stars Peter Cushing as Professor Van Helsing and Christopher Lee as the immortal Count.  Unlike its 1931 counterpart, this version actually makes something of an effort to follow the structure of the novel, sending Jonathan Harker to Transylvania and including the often-ignored character of Arthur Holmwood.  It also shrouds the Dracula character in mystery, lending him few lines of dialogue but making his onscreen moments quite impactful.  As in Stoker's literary masterpiece, Dracula is a prisoner of his nature, often behaving like a wild animal, lent fearsome presence by the excellent Lee.  The climax of course veers into over-the-top silliness as Van Helsing is able to repel the Count into the sunlight using a pair of iron candlesticks as a makeshift cross.  Umm, isn't the consecrated nature of crosses supposed to be what repels vampires as opposed to their vague shape?  Anyway, not a bad entry in the Dracula filmography.

HM: The Lost Boys (1987)

As I mentioned, I've covered this film in depth for my Awesomely Shitty Movies series, but damn if it ain't a whole lot of fun.  It takes the vampire genre and turns it into essentially a summer action flick, light on scares but with plenty of humor and a healthy respect for the mythos.  The story takes place in the fictional town of Santa Carla, CA (shot in Santa Cruz), where loads of mysterious murders have been taking place, and a pair of teenage boys and their friends uncover a secret family of vampires.  Kiefer Sutherland shines as the film's chief antagonist David, while Jason Patric makes a vulnerable, conflicted hero and Coreys Haim and Feldman provide most of the film's laughs.  The Lost Boys has a ton of nostalgia value even though it's quite silly.

10. Near Dark (1987)

Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow's second film was an unusual mashup of the vampire movie and the Western.  Starring Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, and Jenette Goldstein of Aliens fame, Near Dark tells the story of a gang of vampires who live in a sun-proofed van and drift from place to place, going where the food is.  One of their group, Mae, inadvertently turns a young man named Caleb into a vampire and because of her romantic attachment to him, persuades the others to accept him into their gang.  Caleb spends much of the movie struggling with his transformation and trying to appease the others so they don't kill him.  Near Dark is a very unusual and modern take on the genre, portraying the vamps as scavenging marauders not unlike the post-apocalyptic villains in the Mad Max films.  They are evil but charismatic, and Bill Paxton especially shines as the brutal loose cannon Severen.  With this film Bigelow showed her adeptness at eschewing the conventions of genre films and gave us an exciting new take on the vampire mythos.

9. Dracula (1931)

The most famous of all vampire movies, and the one we most closely associate with the genre, Universal's 1931 adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel (via the Balderston-Deane play) launched the career of Bela Lugosi as Hollywood's premier horror star.  The film seems quite stilted and tame by today's standards, but upon its release it was considered a very effective and frightening film.  Lugosi gave an iconic performance, learning his lines phonetically and thus delivering them in a slightly awkward, otherworldly fashion, which only added to the strangeness of the Count.  Dracula also made Dwight Frye (Renfield) famous as one of the all-time great creepy character actors; Renfield's demented laugh is still an enduring hallmark of the character.  Director Tod Browning filled his cinematic palette with dark shadows, foreboding cobwebs, and beautifully lavish gothic sets.  While the film's limited budget restricted much of the story to a rather tedious parlor mystery, there's no arguing that 1931's Dracula has influenced nearly every subsequent vampire film.  Also check out the simultaneously-filmed Spanish version, which from a technical standpoint is actually superior to this one.

8. Dracula (1979)

In the late 70s the well-renowned John Balderston-Hamilton Deane theater production of Dracula was revived in London and on Broadway, and its success prompted Universal Studios to remake the 1931 Bela Lugosi film for modern audiences.  The result was this stylish, romantic Frank Langella version.  Directed by John Badham and featuring an excellent score by John Williams, this update of Dracula depicts the Count as a suave, handsome seducer, to whom women willingly give their last drop.  Langella is excellent as this debonair demon, imbuing the character with both smoothness and a fearsome underlying rage.  The rest of the cast is also first-rate - the legendary Laurence Olivier plays Dracula's nemesis Van Helsing, Kate Nelligan is an unusually strong and independent Lucy Seward (in this version Lucy and Mina's names are oddly swapped), and Tony Haygarth is a rather degenerate incarnation of the Renfield character.  This film is a triumph of production design and atmosphere, and a gritty, original take on the Lugosi version.

WWE Bad Blood 2024 Preview & Predictions

Why did WWE bring back the Bad Blood PPV?  I understand getting rid of Hell in a Cell as an annual event, I'd been calling for that for years, but why did they bring back a title from two of their least successful periods?  This event will mark the 27th anniversary of the first-ever Hell in a Cell, but I don't think that's a good enough reason.  Come up with something new.

So it's another five-match PPV and troublingly WWE's third in a row without any black male wrestlers on the card.  Yeah, nothing odd there...  Christ, even Bianca Belair, once pushed as a major star under Vince, is relegated to a co-host.  Why do PPV events need hosts?  It's not SNL and it's not an awards show.  The announcers are the de facto hosts and always have been.  Anyway, Triple H ain't beating the allegations of racism with a lineup like this.  Sorry.

The lineup looks typical of WWE B-shows and should provide a few decent matches but will once again be a forgettable, paint-by-numbers affair.  Let's take a look....

WWE Women's Championship: Nia Jax vs. Bayley

Jesus, this again?  Their match at SummerSlam was a snoozer and I still don't understand why Nia got pushed again.  WWE's women's division it far from the hotspot it once was.

Pick: Nia retains

AEW Dynamite 5th Anniversary Preview & Predictions

And we're back with the second preview/predictions piece in a row for AEW Dynamite, as tonight's show is the company's 5th anniversary on cable TV!  Hard to believe it's been five years already, and we're only about six months away from Dynamite eclipsing WCW Nitro's run (which will be a proud day indeed).

There are four matches announced for tonight, and given how big two of them are I could actually see that being the entire lineup.  The top-billed match should be pretty epic.  I'm also hoping we get an official announcement about the new TV deal.  Lots of anti-AEW grifters will be crying in their beers.

But let's look at the matches.....

Hangman Page vs. Juice Robinson

I don't remember if The Bang Bang Gang somehow ran afoul of Hangman over the last few months or if this is just a rando match for Page to try and murder someone, but Hanger's been on fire since making it his life's mission to ruin Swerve's.  Juice will give Page a good fight but Page will claim another victim on his killing spree.

Pick: Page

Awesomely Shitty Movies: Tremors

Welcome to another Awesomely Shitty Movies, here at Enuffa.com!

Today's movie is the 1990 horror-comedy Tremors, directed by Ron Underwood (of City Slickers) and starring Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward.  Tremors takes place in a tiny Nevada settlement called Perfection (population 14) that gets attacked from below the ground by four gigantic sandworm-like monsters that reach through the turf and pull down anything that seems appetizing.  After the only road in or out of town gets blocked by a rock avalanche, the survivors must find a way to the mountains to avoid getting eaten.

I'll level with ya - the word "shitty" doesn't really apply to Tremors.  There's very little about this film I don't like, but I'm including it because it's just a really fun, silly B-movie, one I would describe as a "great piece of crap."  So no offense meant, Tremors fans.  I'm really just here to talk about the film's merits as an old-school piece of drive-in fare.



The Awesome

Val & Earl

Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward have tremendous chemistry as our dual protagonists.  Earl is the grizzled pragmatist, while Val is still holding out hope for a better situation and a new love interest who fits exactly his description of an ideal woman.  Together they're the brains and muscle of the town of Perfection, keeping everyone's stuff in order and doing whatever odd jobs they're needed for.  They're also the audience's guides through this adventure.

Every town should have a Val & Earl

Michael Gross

I've been a huge Michael Gross fan since his Family Ties run, where he played the optimistic, sentimental dad.  For most fans of the show Michael J. Fox was the star, but I always found Stephen Keaton funnier.  Here Michael is a very different character - an over-the-top gun enthusiast/survivalist who never met a firearm he didn't like (or purchase, judging by his vast arsenal).  While Stephen Keaton and Burt Gummer could not be more diametric opposites, Gross delivers excellent performances in both cases.

Stephen Keaton rocks the shit in this movie

TV Review: Mr. McMahon (2024)

What to say about the Mr. McMahon docuseries on Netflix?  Well, it was more or less what I expected it to be.  Any documentary made with Vince McMahon's willing participation is obviously going to include a lot of skewed viewpoints, half-truths, and outright lies.  Couple that with numerous talking heads who worked for Vince and consider him a mentor and father-figure, and there's no shortage of praise on display here, some of it valid, much of it not.  Fortunately this series also boasts plenty of fact-checking and counterpoints from industry figures like Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer (who got a ton of screen time), author David Shoemaker, and New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick.

The doc was mostly filmed before the Janel Grant allegations were made public (This is made clear via numerous title screens), and thus mostly plays out as a history of Vince's business ventures and myriad scandals over the decades, seemingly intended for a less initiated audience than someone like me.  There's not a lot of new information here if you're a wrestling aficionado, but it is one of the few McMahon history pieces where we get so much input from Vince himself.  We get the usual distortions and self-aggrandizing like "WrestleMania III drew over 90,000," "Ted Turner was mean to me in the 90s," "I was right to let the show go on after Owen Hart died," "I had no choice but to screw Bret out of the title," yadda yadda yadda, and fortunately (again), numerous voices of reason are on hand to refute most of Vince's more ridiculous claims.

AEW Grand Slam Dynamite 2024 Review: Bryan and Nigel Add to Their Rivalry

AEW Grand Slam was another banger of a show from Arthur Ashe Stadium, as we knew it would be.  Three stellar matches, all very different, plus two solid short matches made this show a very easy watch.

Things kicked off with the Danielson-McGuinness bout, and while not at the level of their best work, this was a helluva grappling contest that showcased the beautiful poetry of chain wrestling.  Nigel looked like he hadn't missed a step in his 13 years away from the ring, exchanging holds and counters with the best technical wrestler in the world.  Nigel worked Danielson's arm after slamming it into the ring steps and the post early on, and it affected Danielson's ability to use the LeBell Lock.  They exchanged their big moves and Danielson went for Nigel's rebound lariat, but Nigel cut him off with a lariat of his own for a double down.  But they landed in such a way that Danielson was able to apply the LeBell Lock after shaking off his injured arm, and he eventually got the tapout (Nigel appeared to say "thank you" as he gave up).  Just a lovely scientific match between two of the best to ever do it.  ****1/2

AEW Grand Slam 2024 Dynamite & Collision Preview & Predictions

It's September and you know what that means, it's time for AEW Grand Slam!

The fourth annual free TV PPV-caliber event once again emanates from Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, NY, and judging by the diminishing box office returns I think next year they should move it somewhere else.  Holding any wrestling event in the same venue every year is a challenge at best, and it seems like this one has run its course at Arthur Ashe for a while.  But as always the Dynamite lineup should be pretty spectacular, and even the Collision card this year looks very good.  Let's take a gander.....

Dynamite

FTW Championship: Hook vs. Roderick Strong

I still think it's time to lose this fake belt, as it's not officially sanctioned by AEW and it was only ever a prop that got defended once in a while.  Now it's become a full gimmick for Hook, who defends it frequently.  Let's get a real title on this guy instead, huh?  Anyway, this should be a very fun mix of grappling and no-DQ bells and whistles.  Hook just won this back from Jericho so he isn't losing it here.

Pick: Hook retains

Top Ten Things: Fawlty Towers Episodes, RANKED

Welcome to yet another edition of Top Ten Things, where I pick my ten favorite of somethingorother....

Today what's on my mind is the classic British sitcom Fawlty Towers, one of my all-time favorite comedy series.  Created by John Cleese and then-wife Connie Booth, Fawlty Towers takes place in a shoddy English hotel run by an eminently rude, impatient man and his rather domineering wife.  Supported by a clever, quick-thinking waitress and a bumbling Spanish waiter, the hotel and its staff get into various misadventures and hilarity ensues by the truckload.

Cleese's inspiration for Towers was a hotel called The Gleneagles, where he once stayed with the Monty Python cast.  Flabbergasted by the rudeness of its owner Donald Sinclair, Cleese mined this character for all the comedic material he was worth, and in the process created an incredibly funny, highly influential series.  As with most British sitcoms each season consisted of only six episodes, and Cleese and Booth only made twelve total, with a four-year lag between seasons. 

Here are the twelve episodes of Fawlty Towers, ranked.....

12. The Kipper and The Corpse

There are no bad episodes of Fawlty Towers, but my least favorite is episode 10, which involves a hotel guest dying suddenly in his sleep and the gang going to great lengths to hide his corpse from the other guests while they await the coroner.  This premise was actually recycled for an early episode of Roseanne, and in both cases things veer a little too far into unlikely slapstick for my taste.  Still this one has plenty of fun moments, such as Basil's ruthless sarcasm when the guest asks for breakfast in bed the next morning ("Rosewood, mahogany, teak?  What would you like your tray made out of?") or Basil's fear that expired kippers may have caused the man's death.   

Favorite Moment: When a doctor who's staying at the hotel examines the body, he grills Basil with "You mean to tell me you didn't realize this man was dead??" and Basil's reply is amazing: "Look, I'm just delivering a tray, right? If the guest isn't singing 'Oh What A Beautiful Morning,' I don't immediately think, 'Oh there's another snuffed it in the night!"

11. The Builders

The second episode of season 1 centers around some hotel renovations gone horribly wrong.  Basil and Sybil take an overnight trip and leave Polly and Manuel in charge of the hotel.  In order to save money (and unbeknownst to Sybil), Basil has hired the incompetent contractor O'Reilly to add a doorway to the kitchen and close off another doorway to a drawing room.  Unfortunately O'Reilly's men can't read a schematic to save their lives, and instead they wall off the dining room door.  In a panic, Basil demands O'Reilly come back and rectify the situation before Sybil returns.

Favorite Moment: Upon returning home and discovering the mess, Basil calls up O'Reilly and threatens physical violence if the shoddy work is not corrected: "If you're not over here in twenty minutes with my door I shall come over there and insert a large garden gnome in you, good day."

10. Basil the Rat

The final episode of the series deals with the hotel being slapped with a citation for numerous health code violations.  While the staff scrambles to rectify these issues and avoid closure, Manuel's pet rat gets loose, triggering a whole new set of problems.  This felt like a good way to end the show, as certain recurring jokes had reached the end of their shelf life.  But it was good for one last hurrah, culminating in the trademark zany Fawlty humor.

Favorite Moment: The health inspector reads a laundry list of health violations and Basil responds with "....Otherwise okay?"

9. The Anniversary

Probably the wackiest episode (Polly even mentions the Marx Brothers in this one), is #11, wherein Basil plans a surprise anniversary party for Sybil but pretends like he's forgotten their anniversary altogether.  This of course backfires as Sybil leaves in a huff just before their friends arrive, and Basil decides to pretend Sybil is upstairs sick in bed.  One of my favorite aspects of this episode involves Basil's friend Roger only half-heartedly going along with the ruse despite clearly knowing something's up, and repeatedly toying with Basil.  This episode is probably the most "sitcom-ish" but still has a ton of laughs.

Favorite Moment: Another of Basil's friends mentions she saw Sybil driving around in the town and Basil covers it up by claiming that's another woman who looks like Sybil.  When the real Sybil comes back, Basil pretends she's the fictitious lookalike and locks her in the kitchen while he says goodbye to his friends.

Top Ten Things: Family Ties Episodes

Welcome to another television-related Top Ten Things, where I'll pick my ten favorite episodes of a classic show.

Today it's the unforgettable 80s family sitcom that launched the career of Michael J. Fox, Family Ties!  When I was a kid, Thursday night primetime on NBC was unfathomably awesome.  For a few years you had The Cosby Show (fuck you Bill...) at 8pm, Family Ties at 8:30, and Cheers at 9.  Three of the greatest television shows ever, back-to-back-to-back.  Man, those were good times.

Anyway, Family Ties ran seven seasons, chronicling the goings-on of the Keatons, your average midwestern middle class family, but with a twist.  See the parents, Steven and Elyse, were ex-hippies who spent their college years steeped in the 1960s anti-war, peace & love movement, while their eldest son Alex was a stuffy, business-obsessed Republican who dreamed of becoming a powerful Wall Street executive.  This flipped the usual sitcom dynamic of the strict parents and the rebellious teenager.  Running contrary to most family TV shows, Alex (Michael J. Fox in the role he was born to play) generally didn't get into trouble with his parents in the traditional sense; instead their conflicts stemmed from their opposing ideologies and Alex's overactive ambition.

The two Keaton daughters were also wildly divergent characters.  Mallory the middle child (Justine Bateman in an often underrated performance) was a more typical teenage character - struggling at school and focused on her social life - while the youngest (until season 3) Jennifer was a precocious preteen who later displayed advanced intelligence and academic drive like Alex, albeit with much more compassion.  Then there was Andy.  Introduced in season three as a way to explain star Meredith Baxter-Birney's real-life pregnancy, Andy didn't become a full-fledged character until season five, when they magically aged him from toddler to preschooler so he'd have a speaking role.  Child actor Brian Bonsall was passable in the part, with stilted delivery but occasional moments of genuine sweetness and humor.

Awesomely Shitty Movies: The Lost Boys

Welcome back to Enuffa.com for another edition of Awesomely Shitty Movies!  

Today we'll be examining the brazenly tawdry late-80s time capsule known as The Lost Boys.  Before the Twilight movies forever ruined the vampire genre Joel Schumacher gave us teenage vampire garbage we could really sink our teeth into.  Teeth, get it??  Cuz vampires like to bite people?  With their teeth? 

Buckle up and set the DeLorean for 1987, the heyday of such screen legends as Corey Haim, Corey Feldman (what's with all the Coreys??), Jason Patric, Jami Gertz, and the one teen heartthrob from this era whose career escaped more or less unscathed, Kiefer Sutherland.

Originally The Lost Boys was to be a Peter Pan-inspired film about pre-adolescent vampires, stemming from the idea that Peter could fly and never grew old (Kiefer's character was originally called Peter, while the protagonist brothers were Michael and John, later to be Michael and Sam).  However when Schumacher came on board he decided teenage characters would be much more marketable/sexier.

The resulting film is delightfully "late-80s," from the costumes, to the heavy metal-influenced fashion sense of the teenage characters, to the awesomely dated soundtrack, to the southern California setting.  It's a quintessential 80s summer movie.  And it's fantastically dumb.



The Awesome

The Cast

This movie's got a pretty great cast, all perfectly suited to their roles.  Corey Haim, while never ascending to the heights of great acting, was exactly right for the main character of Sam.  Sam is the audience's guide through the story, usually in way over his head and scared shitless the whole time.  Jason Patric as his older brother Michael is the character with the real arc (he goes from brooding, sullen prettyboy to brooding, sullen vampire), and he's the one whose relationship with the villains sets things in motion.  Dianne Wiest is excellent as always, as their mother Lucy.  Corey Feldman, whose childhood work was actually pretty underrated, is hilarious as the aspiring vampire killer Edgar Frog. 

Corey, Corey, and that other guy.

And of course the showstopper is Kiefer Sutherland as David, the leader of the vampire gang.  Sutherland was fresh off his breakout performance as teenage deliquent Ace Merrill in Stand By Me, and his performance here is similar, but with the volume turned way up.  In The Lost Boys he's a total badass motherfucker who repeatedly toys with the protagonists and kills rival gang members without remorse.  Great villain.