31 Days of Horror 2013: Days 26-31

26.  The Devil's Rejects (2005)

27.  The Gorgon (1964)

28.  The Lords of Salem (2013)

29.  The Conjuring (2013)

30.  The Others (2001)

31.  Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 (2009)

We ended the month with three Rob Zombie movies, one more Hammer movie, and two ghost stories.

26.  "The Devil's Rejects" is a sequel to "House of 1,000 Corpses," and it continues the story by showing the murderous Firefly family on the run from the law after their house full of corpses is discovered.  Whereas the original movie is a some times cartoonish, but still effective, mishmash of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "House by the Cemetery," the sequel is a gritty, brutal film more akin to Wes Craven's movies from the 70's, "The Hills Have Eyes" and "The Last House on the Left."  Rare for a horror movie and even rarer for a sequel, it actually develops its characters.  Because I feel like I know the characters so well and because the story is told mostly from their point of view, I always find myself sympathizing with them a bit and hoping they'll escape even though I also find them despicable and want them to be caught.

27.  The final Hammer movie of the month, "The Gorgon" was also a highlight of this year's 31 Days of Horror.  In Greek mythology, the Gorgons are sisters with snakes for hair whose gaze turns people to stone. One of them features prominently in "The Gorgon," but it takes place in a German village in the early twentieth century rather than in Ancient Greece.  As the dead, Gorgonized bodies start to pile up, a newcomer to the village investigates and learns of a legend that one of the Gorgons, Megera, took refuge in a local castle after fleeing Greece.  Part of what makes this movie so enjoyable is the ridiculousness of its concept.  However, it's played straight and for the most part it succeeds in avoiding unintentional campiness.  It also features some very effective scenes showing the Gorgon's victims turning to stone.  The creature effects are a bit silly, but this doesn't detract from the fun of seeing the Gorgon's head full of writhing snakes.

28.  "Lords of Salem," Rob Zombie's most recent movie, is in many ways his best.  In telling his story about a dying witch's curse being fulfilled on a present day resident of Salem named Heidi, he weaves a tightly controlled narrative that slowly unravels before fraying altogether as Heidi falls victim to the curse.  The last half hour is so bizarre that it's almost incomprehensible as Zombie employs the irrationality of nightmares to illustrate the curse's impact on Heidi.  A highlight is a scene with a zombie-like figure walking a goat on a leash through a cemetery. 

29.  "The Conjuring" is a disappointing example of a good horror movie that's prevented from being a great one by a bad ending.  It merges a haunted house story with a tale of possession that has several moments of true spine-tingling horror.  But it's almost ruined by an ending that resolves the possession far too easily and leaves everyone living happily ever after.  The devil doesn't necessarily have to win for a possession movie to work, but it should at least end in a tie with the demonic spirit relinquishing control of its victim at the cost of taking another life or leaving everyone involved deeply scarred.

30.  "The Others" is an example of why serious filmmakers should avoid twist endings: they don't hold up to repeated viewings.  I thoroughly enjoyed this movie when I saw it upon its initial release in 2001 and liked it well enough during a few subsequent viewings, but although it was mildly entertaining looking out for the clues to the big surprise this time around, for the most part, I was just bored. 

 

31.  Earlier this month, I mentioned that Rob Zombie's "Halloween 2" is one of the best horror movies of the past ten years.  It's populated with well-developed, likable characters who make it much more than a mindless, brutal slasher movie.  The violence is horrifying not simply because it's so intense, but because the movie makes us care about Michael Myers' victims.  Whereas in the "Halloween" remake Zombie floundered with a lame attempt to give Michael a back story while also attempting to follow the basic narrative of John Carpenter's original film, in the sequel, he abandons any pretense of honoring the spirit of the original and makes the story truly his own.  Michael Myers is a bearded, long-haired lumbering brute who hides out in an old barn until the spirit of his mother calls upon him to reunite his family through bloodshed.  Zombie uses this portrayal of the character to explore the often inexplicable bonds that can tie together even the most dysfunctional of families, a theme that has appeared in all of his films to date.