The Oscars Spill Some Blood

The nominations for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards were recently announced and surprise surprise, it looks as though our little black sheep genre is getting some love. Four of 2010's horror films were nominated, garnering 13 nods in all. The Oscars are notoriously snot nosed when it comes to the scary stuff (and fantasy in general, dark or otherwise) so this is quite a honor for us. Of course, it will only be a matter of time before all involved with the illustrious films try to distance themselves from the dreaded, lowly "H" classification. Expect to hear statements along the lines of "Well, it's not really a horror film, it's more a psychological thriller" or "No no, it's not a horror movie, it's a dark drama" or some such nonsense tossed to the press like seeds to the wind any day now. Hell, some asshats still try to convince us that the Academy Award winning The Silence of the Lambs isn't a horror film. Sigh. Such is Hollywood and the dipshit people who run it. The October Country would like to congratulate all the nominees. We've seen your work and your admission and recognition is wholly deserved. Good luck!



Black Swan













*Best Picture
*Best Director - Darren Aronofsky
*Best Actress - Natalie Portman
*Achievement in Cinematography
*Achievement in Film Editing

127 Hours













*Best Picture
*Best Actor - James Franco
*Film Editing
*Original Score
*Original Song - If I Rise
*Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

The Wolfman












*Achievement in Makeup - Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Dogtooth











*Best Foreign Language Film

Want more? Here is a handy little reference guide to horror at the Oscars from days gone by.

1932

















WINNER:
*Best Actor: Fredric March, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

NOMINATIONS:
*Writing (Adaptation): Percy Heath, Samuel Hoffenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
*Cinematography: Karl Struss, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

1935

NOMINATIONS:
*Sound Recording: Gilbert Kurland, The Bride of Frankenstein

1939

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Music Score: Alfred Newman, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
*Best Sound Recording: John Aalberg, The Hunchback of Notre Dame


1940

WINNERS:
*Best Picture: Rebecca
*Cinematography (Black and White): George Barnes, Rebecca

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Director: Alfred Hitchcock, Rebecca
*Best Actor: Laurence Olivier, Rebecca
*Best Actress: Joan Fontaine, Rebecca
*Best Supporting Actress: Judith Anderson, Rebecca
*Best Screenplay: Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison, Rebecca
*Art Direction (Black and White): Lyle Wheeler, Rebecca
*Film Editing: Hal C. Kern, Rebecca
*Original Score: Franz Waxman, Rebecca
*Special Effects: Jack Cosgrove (Photographic Effects), Arthur Johns (Sound Effects), Rebecca


1941

NOMINATIONS:
*Cinematography (Black and White): Joseph Ruttenberg, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
*Film Editing: Harold F. Kress, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
*Best Music Score: Franz Waxman, Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
*Best Music Score: Edward Kay, King of the Zombies

1943















WINNERS:
*Best Cinematography (Color): Hal Mohr and W. Howard Greene, The Phantom of the Opera
*Best Color Art Direction: Alexander Golitzen, John B. Goodman, Russell A. Gausman and Ira Webb, The Phantom of the Opera

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Sound Recording: Bernard B. Brown, The Phantom of the Opera
*Best Scoring of a Musical: Edward Ward, The Phantom of the Opera


1944

NOMINATION:
*Best Cinematography: Charles Lang, The Uninvited


1945

WINNER:
*Best Cinematography (Black and White): Harry Stradling, The Picture of Dorian Gray

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Supporting Actress: Angela Lansbury, The Picture of Dorian Gray
*Best Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters, Edwin B. Willis, John Bonar and Hugh Hunt, The Picture of Dorian Gray


1946

NOMINATION:
*Best Supporting Actress: Ethel Barrymore, The Spiral Staircase

1960

















NOMINATIONS:
*Best Director: Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho
*Best Supporting Actress: Janet Leigh, Psycho
*Best Cinematography: John L. Russell, Psycho
*Best Art Direction: Joseph Hurley, Robert Clatworthy and George Milo, Psycho


1962

WINNER:
*Best Black and White Costume Design: Norma Koch, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Actress: Bette Davis, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
*Best Supporting Actor: Victor Buono, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
*Best Cinematography: Ernest Haller, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
*Best Sound Recording: Glen Glenn Sound Department, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?


1963

WINNER:
*Best Short Subject, Live Action Subjects: La Riviere du Hibou (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge)


1964

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Supporting Actress: Agnes Moorhead, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
*Best Cinematography: Ernest Biroc, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
*Best Art Direction: William Glasgow and Raphael Bretton, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
*Best Black and White Costume Design: Norma Koch, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
*Best Editing: Michael Lucian, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
*Best Music Score: Frank de Vol, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
*Best Song: Frank de Vol and Mack David, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
*Best Foreign Language Film: Kwaidan


1968

WINNER:
*Best Supporting Actress: Ruth Gordon, Rosemary's Baby

NOMINATION:
*Best Screenplay: Roman Polanski, Rosemary's Baby

1972

NOMINATION:
*Best Song: Walter Scharf and Don Black, Ben

1973
















WINNERS:
*Best Screenplay: William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist
*Best Sound Recording: Robert Knudson and Christopher Newman, The Exorcist

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Picture: The Exorcist
*Best Director: William Friedkin, The Exorcist
*Best Actress: Ellen Burstyn, The Exorcist
*Best Supporting Actor: Jason Miller, The Exorcist
*Best Supporting Actress: Linda Blair, The Exorcist
*Best Art Direction: Bill Malley, The Exorcist
*Best Cinematography: Owen Roizman, The Exorcist
*Best Editing: Jordan Leon Dopoulous and Bud Smith, The Exorcist


1974

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Screenplay: Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, Young Frankenstein
*Best Sound: Richard Portman and Gene Catairessa, Young Frankenstein
*Best Musical Adaptation: Paul Williams, Phantom of the Paradise


1975

WINNERS:
*Best Sound: Robert L. Hoyt, Roger Heman, Earl Madery and John Carter, Jaws
*Best Editing: Verna Fields, Jaws
*Best Original Score: John Williams, Jaws

1976

WINNER:
*Best Original Score: Jerry Goldsmith, The Omen

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Actress: Sissy Spacek, Carrie
*Best Supporting Actress: Piper Laurie, Carrie


1979

WINNER:
*Best Visual Effects: H.R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder, Denys Ayling, Alien

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Art Direction: Michael Seymour, Les Diller, Roger Christian, Ian Whittaker, Alien
*Best Original Score: Lalo Schifrin, The Amityville Horror


1981













WINNER:
*Best Makeup: Rick Baker, An American Werewolf in London


1982
NOMINATIONS:
*Best Original Score: Jerry Goldsmith, Poltergeist
*Best Sound Editing: Stephen Hunter and Richard L. Anderson, Poltergeist
*Best Visual Effects: Richard Edlund, Michael Wood and Bruce Nicholson, Poltergeist


1984

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Original Song: Ray Parker Jr., Ghostbusters
*Best Visual Effects: Richard Edlund, John Bruno, Mark Vargo, Chuck Gaspar, Ghostbusters


1986

WINNERS:
*Best Makeup, Chris Walas and Stephen Dupuis, The Fly
*Best Visual Effects: Robert Skotak, Stan Winston, John Richardson and Suzanne Benson, Aliens
*Best Sound Effects Editing: Don Sharpe, Aliens

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Actress: Sigourney Weaver, Aliens
*Best Art Direction: Peter Lamont, Crispian Sallis, Aliens
*Best Sound Design: Graham V. Hartstone, Nicolas Le Messurier, Michael A. Carter and Roy Charman, Aliens
*Best Song: Alan Menken, Howard Ashmun, Little Shop of Horrors
*Best Original Score: James Horner, Aliens
*Best Visual Effects: Richard Edlund, John Bruno, Garry Waller and William Neil, Poltergeist II: The Other Side


1987

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Sound Design: Wayne Artman, Tom Beckert, Tom Dahl and Art Rochester, The Witches of Eastwick
*Best Original Score: John Williams, The Witches of Eastwick
*Best Visual Effects: Joel Hynek, Robert M. Greenberg, Richard Greenberg and Stan Winston, Predator


1988

WINNER:
*Best Makeup: Ve Neill, Steve La Porte and Robert Short, Beetlejuice


1990

WINNERS:
*Best Actress: Kathy Bates, Misery
*Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost
*Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Bruce Joel Rubin, Ghost

NOMINATIONS:
*Best Picture: Ghost
*Best Original Score: Maurice Jarre, Ghost
*Best Film Editing: Walter Murch, Ghost

1991












WINNERS:
*Best Picture: The Silence of the Lambs
*Best Director: Jonathan Demme, The Silence of the Lambs
*Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs
*Best Actress: Jodie Foster, The Silence of the Lambs
*Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published: Ted Tally, The Silence of the Lambs

NOMINEES:
*Best Actor: Robert De Niro, Cape Fear
*Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Juliette Lewis, Cape Fear
*Best Sound: Tom Fleischman and Christopher Newman, The Silence of the Lambs
*Best Film Editing: Craig McKay, The Silence of the Lambs
*Best Costume Design: Ruth Myers, The Addams Family


1992

WINNERS:
*Best Costume Design: Eiko Ishioka, Bram Stoker's Dracula
*Best Sound Effects Editing: Tom C. McCarthy and David E. Stone, Bram Stoker's Dracula
*Best Makeup: Greg Cannom, Michele Burke and Matthew W. Mungle, Bram Stoker's Dracula
*Best Visual Effects: Ken Ralston, Doug Chiang, Doug Smythe and Tom Woodruff Jr., Death Becomes Her

NOMINEES:
*Best Art Direction: Thomas Sanders, Garrett Lewis, Bram Stoker's Dracula
*Best Visual Effects: Richard Edlund, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr. and George Gibbs, Alien 3


1994

WINNERS:
*Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Martin Landau, Ed Wood
*Best Makeup: Rick Baker, Ve Neill and Yolanda Toussieng, Ed Wood

NOMINEES:
*Best Art Direction: Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo, Interview With the Vampire
*Best Original Score: Elliot Goldenthal, Interview with the Vampire
*Best Makeup: Daniel Parker, Paul Engelen and Carol Hemming, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein


1995

NOMINEES:
*Best Film Editing: Richard Francis-Bruce, Seven


1999

WINNER:
*Best Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs, Sleepy Hollow

NOMINEES:
*Best Picture: The Sixth Sense
*Best Director: M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense
*Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense
*Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Toni Collette, The Sixth Sense
*Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense
*Best Film Editing: Andrew Mondshein, The Sixth Sense
*Best Sound Design: Leslie Shatz, Chris Carpenter, Rick Kline, Chris Munro, The Mummy
*Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood, Sleepy Hollow

2000

















NOMINEES:
*Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Willem Dafoe, Shadow of the Vampire
*Best Makeup: Ann Buchanan and Amber Sibley, Shadow of the Vampire
*Best Makeup: Michele Burke, Edouard Henriques, The Cell
*Best Visual Effects: Scott E. Anderson, Craig Hayes, Scott Stokdyk, and Stan Parks, Hollow Man


2004

NOMINEES:
*Best Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel, The Phantom of the Opera
*Best Art Direction: Anthony Pratt, Celia Bobak, The Phantom of the Opera
*Best Song: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart, The Phantom of the Opera
*Best Original Score: James Newton Howard, The Village


2005

NOMINEES:
*Best Animated Feature: The Corpse Bride


2006

WINNERS:
*Best Cinematography: Guillermo Navarro, Pan's Labyrinth
*Best Makeup: David Marti and Montse Ribe, Pan's Labyrinth

NOMINEES:
*Best Animated Feature: Monster House
*Best Foreign Language Film: Pan's Labyrinth
*Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Guillermo Del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth


2007

WINNER:
*Best Art Direction: Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Sciavo, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

NOMINEES:
*Best Actor: Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
*Best Costume Design: Colleen Atwood, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street


2008













NOMINEE:
*Best Makeup: Mike Elizalde, Thomas Floutz, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army

And there you have it dear readers. See you on Oscar night!

Fatal Frames

Ten frames from?














































































































































Sound off in the comments.

Well, That Would Explain Spider Hill...

"Are you crazy lady? This is our home, and no damn spiders are gonna run us out!"

Film Review - The Pit

They don't eat chocolate bars.


I was one of those children. Yeah, you know the kind and if you are reading this blog now in adulthood, chances are you were one of those children too. From the earliest age onwards I had an "unhealthy" affinity for the genre, in any form. Movies, books, comics, magazines, it mattered not. Anything even remotely considered horror was like a nugget of food to a starving mouth for your little pint sized host. When I was at my youngest, the holy trinity of horror films for me and the ones that were arguably the most influential in my early years, were Jaws, Poltergeist and Gremlins (incidentally all Spielberg vehicles in one way or another). This was most likely due to the fact that they were all rated either PG or PG-13, and fell within my parent's limitations of what I was allowed to watch.

Seeing as I was also one of those lonely, strange children with next to no friends (looking back, I attribute this to my even then apparent homosexuality, which I believe made my less than butch personality off-putting to most boys, subject to ridicule and confusing to most girls) I regularly entertained myself by escaping into my overly heightened imagination. I took to reenacting key scenes from my favorite horror films routinely, going so far to sound like a screeching banshee (I imagine) as I was constantly "humming" (or something akin to that) the scores from the films I was, er, "interpreting". Diane Freeling's (JoBeth Williams of Poltergeist, to this day still one of my favorite ladies to grace our genre) frantic, empty swimming pool mudslide? I reenacted it routinely in the back of my parent's car (we didn't buckle up back then) utilizing the backseat itself as the "slanted, slippery side of the swimming pool", the space above it and beneath the window as my "goal" and a rather realistic looking decrepit skull (a Halloween decoration, complete with a long mane of filthy hair) that would "spring forth from the ground" (rather simply, held in my hand and shoved into my own face) ala the film and "frighten" me so badly that I would then "slide" back down to the bottom of the "pool" (the foot well of the backseat) and start again, ad infinitum. Jaws? Every other day at the local swimming pool, the summer vacations to Daytona Beach (before my onset on shark phobia) and occasionally the bathtub. Using my hand as the "shark fin" slicing through the surface of the water, "humming" the legendary theme ("dum dum, dum dum, dum dum dum dum dum") it would draw nearer and nearer to my "horrified" face and then, "attack" from beneath me. Limbs flailing, water splashing, my little prepubescent voice screaming for all it was worth. I would eventually "expire" and allow myself to sink to the bottom of the pool, in my mind's eye, the water now clouded red. I imagine I kept the lifeguards on their toes. Gremlins? Well, that was easy. Growing up, my security blanket was a life-sized stuffed doll of Gizmo himself. There wasn't anywhere he didn't go with me and always, there were nasty gremlins up to no good that him and I would have to dispatch. Imagine a 5 year old child continuously "singing" Jerry Goldsmith's "The Gremlin Rag" day in and day out and you might have a small estimation of what my family endured on a routine basis. As the eighties continued, other films got added to my weekly watch list (amazing that we didn't just buy them, as we certainly gave the video store a small fortune with the amount of times I rented them) The Gate, Critters, Grizzly, Ghoulies, The Monster Squad and The Midnight Hour were among some of the ones my impressionable eyes were allowed to watch, but as always, I was to watch them alone.


Throughout all of this, my family, my teachers and just about any adult in a position of authority became increasingly concerned for my mental well being, the million dollar question of the day (everyday) apparently being "What is wrong with that child?" or "What are we going to do about his unhealthy preoccupation with these sick horror movies?". I'm certain more than a few of you were asked questions similar to these in your youth. Without fail, every time I would procure an issue of some horror related magazine, it would be confiscated by a teacher and shoved into the principal's desk drawer never to be seen again. "Sick, sick sick." I can still hear the principal murmuring. My explanation that those stills of gore and carnage that graced the magazine's glossy pages were nothing more than latex and corn syrup was irrelevant, apparently. Every time I'd make it 200 some pages into a Stephen King novel that I would secretly check out from the public library unbeknownst to my parents (in the 4th grade mind you) the book would be (you guessed it) confiscated. Shortly thereafter I would be marched down to the elementary school library and told to pick out something more "appropriate". I scanned the shelves. The
Bobbsy Twins. The Boxcar Children. Now, my stomach was churning as obviously, nothing piqued my interest. I attempted to reason with the teachers that they should be grateful that I am reading at all, let alone something that was such a massive undertaking for someone of my age (the confiscated Pet Semetary was 416 pages long, I was 10 years old, you follow me). They scoffed at this of course and as with all my other (perfectly sound) reasonings, it ultimately fell on deaf ears. I believe I compromised (humored) and checked out a copy of Bunnicula. Two years later, my father (amidst one of his confused, born again phases) took boxes of over 50 some young adult horror novels of mine (mostly Fear Street, Christopher Pike type stuff) and dozens of reprints of EC's Tales / Vault / Haunt comics, out to the country and burned them. Yes, burned them, and he made me watch. I still tell my father that there is a special place in hell for those that burn books, any books. Whereas my Grandfather is most certainly reserved a cushy place in heaven for having rescued one of said boxes on my behalf (which he later presented to me like a Christmas gift in July). Bless him.

The battle of wills between me and the adults in my life over the genre continued unabated until it finally fizzled out around the age of 16. Mostly because my parents threw in the towel more than anything else. Clearly it was in my blood, and one way or another, I was gonna watch horror movies and read scary literature no matter how many times my books were taken away from me or the films deemed forbidden. So, after the onset of puberty, my love of horror grew as I was now relatively free of parental supervision and able to maintain a rental account at our local video store on my own. Though I was still a lonesome horror movie nut. I never had as friends, any like minded individuals who shared my obsession with all those scary and gross things that I now had blazing across my television screen on a daily basis. Sure, I had friends who would watch them, but more often then naught they seemed more interested in ripping the films a new one for dated SFX, less than stellar acting, or the inherent silliness of many horror movie's story lines. Which wasn't necessarily what I was looking for. I'd make my monthly trip into our local newsstand to make my routine purchase of the latest issue of Fangoria and every time I would pause and wonder to myself where the other Fangoria readers were in town. I wasn't the only one purchasing it, so where were all the horror movie fans that I could potentially befriend and hit it off with? Where were the people who knew not only who Dario Argento was, but also knew his entire filmography like the back of their hand? Where were the people who had heard of obscure cult films like Lets Scare Jessica to Death, Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things or any number of titles that I was now discovering? Where were the people who had posters of Stan Winston or Tom Savini hanging on their bedroom walls? They were nowhere to be found, ultimately, and as it turns out, I wouldn't actually meet anyone with these interests until I was in my mid-twenties. Which brings me to my friends James and Arthur and finally, The Pit.


I met both James and Arthur some years ago at Cinema Wasteland (Cleveland Ohio's premier drive-in cinema expo) when they were still both heavily into their horror host routine (Gravedigger Grimm and Art Wolf, respectively). Though nothing came of our meeting initially, (they were at the time, a bit younger than I and they lived some ways away from me too) we've now forged a friendship born of a mutual love for all things horror related. However, in many ways, our tastes for the specific kinds of horror that we like, differs greatly. With Arthur, the worse the film is, the more he salivates over it frankly. With James, I have more of a kinship when it comes to appreciating similar types of horror. Well, sometimes. Like Arthur, he as an affinity for dreck I wouldn't go near with Victor Crowly's 8 foot long chainsaw (he hasn't been "allowed" to pick a movie to watch at our home since he made my husband and I endure New Year's Evil, and yes, he liked it and no, we did not). Also, it's common to find him calling me things like an "elitist make-no-sense artsy-horror-geek" among other colorful phrases. So, when this recent Christmas rolled around, I was hard pressed to think of something to get either one of them. You'd think it would be easy, knowing what kinds of things they are so dedicated to. Well, taking into consideration that they could (either one of them) open a moderately sized store of vintage horror memorabilia and used movies, it wasn't. Then I had my "duh" moment when it came to Arthur's gift. The ghost of his voice came floating back to me from this past summer, waxing enthusiastically about some obscure monster movie called The Pit. "Ah man it's SOOOOOO awesome! There are these Trogs, in this pit, and this little boys feeds people to 'em. I LOVED it, it's so good!" I had been aware of the film pre-Arthur's excited ranting (but had yet to see it), and I had heard everything but it being called a "good film". But then, it was being graded on Arthur's curve. Anyway, I quickly decided that we were going to get something Pit related for Arthur's Christmas gift. It started out we were going to get him a poster (then I realized that he already has a million film posters, and likely would not have room on his walls for another one, though he tells me that he "rotates them".) We then decided on a relatively cool Pit t-shirt that utilized the Embassy Home Entertainment VHS box art until I remembered (another "duh" moment) that Arthur doesn't even own the film, so why wouldn't I just get him that? Turning to eBay, the pickings were slim. It's only DVD release was as a split, two film release paired with Hellgate. I was certain that Arthur gets as irritated as I do when it comes to the tacky, double poster (or triple or more in some cases) box "art" for such releases, so I nixed that. I was left with choices between various VHS releases, one being advertised as an incredibly rare release from some distributor that I never heard of and whose name escapes me now. Knowing Arthur, I went with that one (the boy copies his DVDs onto Beta, trust me, he wouldn't mind it being VHS). A few weeks later his gift arrived, as did the happy accident of both boys stopping by soon thereafter. He loved his gift and as the night wore on, it became apparent what it was we were going to be doing. Gathering around the television upstairs in our living room, I fed the ancient videocassette of The Pit into my VCR (admittedly with a great deal of nervousness, it being less than 24 hours since the same VCR ate my copy of Prom Night 3: The Last Kiss) and the three of us took our places as the FBI warning flashed on screen. Arthur was pleased as a pig in shit, James was excited and I was apprehensive, but game. Fade into a (disappearing from age) overly dark scene of a children's outdoor, night time Halloween party, and we were off.

Okay, The Pit's plot is a mess, a gloriously fun mess, but a mess all the same. Lets not mince words no matter how much it seems as though people are retroactively heaping fanboy praise upon the movie as a whole (what's that about and where did that come from all of a sudden?) and no matter how much the story has charm in it's individual moments. The plot (or plots) revolve around little Jamie Benjamin (Sammy Snyders), a 12 year misfit equally misunderstood and hated by nearly all of the residents in the small town in which he resides. His sole friend is a stuffed teddy bear (aptly named, Teddy) that secretly talks to Jamie (and curiously sounds an awful lot like our morbid little squirt, if you follow) encouraging him to act out on his baser instincts and desires. Transitioning into puberty, Jamie is discovering his new found obsession with girls (his revolving door of babysitters), the human body (the mother of the little girl who routinely torments him), and sexuality as a whole (the books of erotic photography he steals from the town's library). However, being the little weirdo that he is, along with the (self?) destructive encouragement of Teddy, Jamie takes his hormonal interests to obsessive, perverted acts of criminal wrongdoing that would certainly land him on a sex offenders registry one day. When both his parents go away on an extended business trip, Jamie is left in the care of young, beautiful psych student Sandy O'Reilly (Jeannie Elias, resembling a cute-as-a-button cross between Friday the 13th's Robbi Morgan and Piranha's Belinda Balaski), whom he immediately falls madly in love with (who wouldn't, really).

In the neighboring forest just outside of town, Jamie stumbles upon the life altering discovery of a craterous hole in the ground, the titular pit. This isn't just any old hole in the ground however, this hole is inhabited by mysterious red eyed creatures resembling poverty row werewolves (though they are chessily effective). Still absent of any meaningful friendships, Jamie forges ahead in creating an even stranger alliance than that of his relationship with Teddy, and attempts to make nice with the ravenous beasts (which he names “Tra-la-logs”, or "Trogs" as in troglodytes) by offering them his chocolate bar. As it turns out, chocolate is not on their diet plan, Jamie quickly discovering that the only sustenance they are interested in is meat. Raw, blood red meat. Things begin innocently enough as Jamie quickly becomes the local butcher's no doubt best customer, purchasing pounds upon pounds of the red stuff to keep his new found friend's bellies full. But then his meager funds quickly dry up and he can no longer afford to feed the them.What's a slightly unbalanced boy of 12 to do? Teddy has a suggestion, feed the Trogs all the adults and children that routinely torment him on a daily basis. Sounds reasonable to me. Thus Jamie begins coaxing his enemies (real and perceived), one by one, to their gruesome doom.


What a hoot of a story. Uh, I mean what a hodgepodge of a plot. As it stands, either our young Jamie just wondered out of, or into The Twilight Zone, seeing as how he has an uncanny knack for attracting and befriending all manner of unrelated, supernatural entities (when in the last act, the ghost of one of Jamie's unintended victims begins to haunt him, it hardly stretches the film's already distended credibility). Or, the bulk of Ian A. Stuart’s original screenplay should never have been altered in the manner that it was. Considerably different from what has been committed to film, in the original story, Jamie was significantly younger (8 or 9 years old) and the Tra-la-logs (and I imagine Teddy) were nothing more than figments of his overworked imagination. It's sad really that once Lew Lehman came aboard to direct, that these elements were excised in favor of real flesh and blood monstrosities. Not because I have no love for the real deal and prefer "realistic" modern day explanations for such terrors (really, an occasionally crippling vexation found all too frequently in many movies these days) but because once that story thread was removed, that the Trogs are not real, the film becomes utterly ridiculous in it's asking us to swallow that Jamie has a possessed teddy bear capable of independent thought and influence and that Jamie discovers a pit full of hungry, ancient beasts that will devour his nemeses AND that his victims can return as ghosts to bedevil the boy. Individually, I could have suspended my disbelief with any one of those plotlines, but when mashed together with no rhyme or reason into the same narrative, The Pit asks way to much of it's audience. It is a story that anyone over the age of 8 can not, will not buy hook, line and sinker. This also being of course, where the film's reputation for being a horrid turd stems from. Yet, if director Lehman had stuck to the original screenplay, I hasten to speculate that The Pit would have indeed gone on to become at least a favorably remembered hidden gem, born forth from genuine, sporadic quality rather than apologetic, forgiving goodwill such as the type I am imparting on it. The remnants of this approach remain for those interested in looking for them. There is the aforementioned voice of Teddy (Jamie, c'mon you know it's Jamie). The psychological analysis that Sandy routinely attempts in a hopeful bid to come to a deeper understanding of her troubled young charge. And don't even get me started on the plethora of Freudian and Jungian motifs (how about the vaginal pit itself, for starters) found throughout the film in relation to Jamie's burgeoning sexuality (which by the way, is no incidental, throw away subplot; it's as key to understanding our anti-hero as anything else in the film). Not to say that The Pit probably wouldn't have retained some of it's other, rather glaring problems had that been the direction they went in. Hilariously, nobody screams when they are devoured and torn to pieces by the Trogs.The structure is still all over the place (story and character come to a complete stand still in the last act to make way for a limp rampage by the unleashed creatures, not uncommon for the climax of many movies certainly, but having your lead and all familiar supporting cast completely disappear and removed from the ensuing action is). Similarly, the movie sets up what we perceive to be key players only to have them vanish entirely or kill them off unceremoniously. Hilariously, nobody screams when they are devoured and torn to pieces by the Trogs!


I have let on that I enjoyed The Pit despite all my (deserved) criticisms yes?. Young Sammy Snyders is relatively impressive in the role of Jamie. Infusing the character with genuine pathos, he raises Jamie above the truly evil, soulless incarnations of killer kiddies we are usually saddled with. For instance, there is a particularly moving scene wherein Jamie cannot bring himself to feed a living cow to the hungry Trogs. As he walks the animal to it's uncertain fate, he talks to it apologetically, trying to reassure the thing that it's for the "better good" of his friends. Try as he might though, Jamie cannot bring himself to destroy the creature, reasoning that the cow did nothing wrong to him, after all. It's touching and disarming and one of the moments (out of many) where you sit up and think "Huh, as technically awful as this movie is, it really does have some nice things going for it." Jeannie Elias makes for a very likable heroine in Sandy (me thinks I may had a minor crush on her when we were initially watching the film, I totally understand where Jamie was coming from ). Smart, beautiful, confident, sympathetic and capable (save for one unfortunate little slip in the third act) Elias' Sandy embodies the best of that era's scream queens. Unfortunately, Elias relatively disappeared from screens shortly after the release of The Pit. Well, her face did anyway as she has had a rather prolific career in providing voice talent to hundreds of animated ventures and video games. Shame, I could have gotten use to seeing this impressive lass more often.

I suppose films like The Pit embody the very definition of enjoyably bad cinema.Whereas to me, usually bad cinema is just that, bad cinema, I'll admit that on occasion, I can find the fun in schlocky, b-grade horror movie shenanigans. Hell, as I mentioned not a moment ago, the night before our screening of The Pit, I was attempting to re-watch Prom Night 3 for crying out loud, which certainly is nothing but an awful movie. So, it was with this film that I tucked away my usually overly critical quintessence in the name of both having a genuinely good time with two friends and not spoiling Arthur's Christmas gift while I was at it. In the case of The Pit, I couldn't be more glad that I did. It's a wildly uneven effort no doubt about it and if the same film was released today, I'd certainly (as would many others) tear it to shreds. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have even bothered to watch it in the first place. However, I can't help but bestow The Pit with that forgiving, loving embrace afforded to (and reserved for) films of yesteryear that though miss the mark by half a mile, they charm your pants off with their seemingly good intentions, the transparency that there were people involved in its making with at least a modicum of talent, some capable acting from the cast, nostalgic drive-in atmosphere that can only be found in productions dating from such a period, the semblance of intelligence somewhere and lastly, that there exists within the film, some genuine chills here and there. However flawed it is, The Pit is flat out fun if you go with it's kooky premise.

Curiously, the thing that I walked away thinking the most about after The Pit concluded, was my own misunderstood, admittedly morbid childhood. Or more to the point, the little Jamie Benjamin that I had in me (and as I glanced over at Arthur and James, the little Jamie Benjamin I presume they had in them as children as well). From my own tortured (not to mention terrifying), grappling of my sexuality during puberty (as frowned upon as Jamie's discovery of his), to my feverish, macabre imagination. From my cathartic revenge fantasies perpetrated against every bully who called me "fag" and every nay-saying adult who saw me as a problem child, to my never ending preoccupation with all those things that creep through fog enshrouded cemeteries or slither and squirm in the darkness of basements or scratch at your window in the dead of night, I epitomized Jamie Benjamin. As I imagine many of you dear readers, did too. There came a time in my early teens when a little light switch got flicked in my mind as I sat in my bedroom alone, surrounded by (now free of my parents aforementioned restraints) gory film posters, monster action figures and the beginnings of what is now a sizable horror film library. Glancing about at my collection, I wondered to myself perhaps for the first time "Just why am I so engrossed in all this scary, dark, horror business?" and the answer came to me almost immediately, (or, the switch was flicked). It wasn't anything profound, or nothing somebody else hadn't concluded before me, but it gave me pause nonetheless. Sizing up my life to that point, I realized for nearly my entire existence, I had always been surrounded by monsters. Only these ones, unlike the ones I had fallen in love with, were sanctioned by society. Bullies, hateful religious leaders, negligent parents, alienating teachers. It seemed at that moment, only sensible that I would then keep lifelong, close company with such "unsavory" things. The cathartic reflection was obvious. However, my monsters disappeared when I turned off the TV where they were safely kept at bay. My monsters allowed me to experience, confront, and conquer the horrors of the world free from the actual painful lessons I was learning about people on a daily basis. My monsters never even hurt a single soul, not really. Reassured, I'm certain that I smiled quietly to myself, I know that I did. Because as Clive Barker once said, "We could all use a friend in the dark." It's a sentiment that I couldn't agree with more, and I imagine little Jamie Benjamin would too.




Skull Ratings:
5 Skulls - The Best
4 Skulls - Very Good
3 Skulls - Good / Average
2 Skulls - Poor
1 Skull - The Worst

All The Colors Of The Dark

From The Comic Vaults


Originally presented in the March 1953 issue of Adventures Into Weird Worlds #16

Grotesqueries

"And this is the forbidden truth, the unspeakable taboo-that evil is not always repellent but frequently attractive; that it has the power to make of us not simply victims, as nature and accident do, but active accomplices."

Fringe - Tune In Or Else

Tonight is the night. The night of course being when arguably televisions greatest genre serial currently on the air, resumes on it's new night and time. That show obviously, is Fringe (whaddya think I was gonna say, Supernatural? Come now.). I'm currently kicking myself that since the inception of The October Country, we haven't utilized more of our space on here to support this amazingly twisty show. It is after all, being marched to Fox's Friday night guillotine, that eerie black hole of a time slot where all of the network's best and brightest of science fiction and horror goes to vanish into oblivion (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Firefly and Dollhouse just to name a few). It needs every fan's support (new and old alike) for tonight is certainly one of the show's last chances to prove it's viability to Fox. An ironic, and certainly hair pulling twist of fate, if tonight's ratings spell it's cancellation, as Fringe has been both a creative and critical juggernaut this (it's third) season. You see, the show has been on a steady ratings decline over the past two years (and it was never a strong performer at that). It's not that it doesn't pull numbers, its does. It's just that apparently, for one reason or another, it's pulls a hefty amount of it's numbers through DVR, which sadly is not something that justifies it's existence to a network's business model. They want live ratings, and that's about it. Eventually, the Nielsens are going to go the way of the dinosaur, this is obvious. They are either going to have to adapt to this new age of media (and how people view it) or become irrelevant. Unfortunately, Fringe is on the verge of becoming a victim to this model of antiquated ratings number crunching before that glorious new dawn reaches us. Though none of this should come as a surprise to anyone who has ever invested their time in fantastic, strange shows like Twin Peaks, Carnivàle or Lost. Certainly I'm not the only one who notices that as their byzantine, weird, surreal plots get more and more bizarre and challenging, the casual and more mainstream viewership begins to fall off, inevitably placing our shows in cancellation's way. It's enough to make you curse having a hankering for heady, high brow genre storytelling all together. However, we thinking folks really should be rewarding these shows who dare to be different, dare to be genuinely great and god forbid, dare to treat their viewership with intelligence, with our time (if we're going to give it to a show at all). Fringe moving to Friday nights is certainly a reason to be worried, it's true that many shows are sent there to perish. Alas all hope is not lost though. Some shows move to Friday nights and against all odds, thrive (X-Files, Ghost Whisperer, Smallville, Supernatural, etc.). Moving it away from Thursday's highly competitive night where it was getting routinely hammered, and onto Fridays, could be just the ticket. If viewers show up.



Now, what of you dear readers who have yet to watch a single episode of Fringe, what's in it for you you ask? Well, I shall tell you. There is the rather involved, rewarding mythology about parallel worlds (ours and theirs) going to war with one another, shape-shifters, unethical drug trials performed on children (turning them into super soldiers of sorts, for the aforementioned war), the mysterious, follicly challenged Observers, naturally, but truly it's not so involved that a new viewer won't be able to penetrate it. A few "previously ons" and number of episodes, and you'll most likely have the gist of the goings on down. Plus, in this day and age of marathoning entire seasons on DVD (with a 2 liter of soda and a box of cookies, you know you do it) or streaming previous episodes online (you know you do that too), there really is no excuse for not catching ones self up if you are even the slightest bit intrigued.



Have I mentioned the horror yet? Oh, the horror. Seriously though, Fringe just isn't all sci-fi (and even when it is, it's bent is usually to present it as terrifying). It's actually, for my money, the most unnerving, disgusting creepy, gross, disturbing, scary show on television (network or otherwise) in ages. Ages I tell you and consistently at that (and I keep up on these things). Though Fringe never strays into the territory of say, standard vampires, werewolves, aliens and ghosts (as the show's basis is rooted in earthly scientific horrors) it does present us with a rogues gallery of similarly monstrous abominations and always with that Fringe twist that will no doubt have you eliciting a "WTF" at your television screen. Fringe's mysteries never start where you think they will and they certainly never end up where you'd expect. Bravo, for keeping us on our toes.



Then there's the cast which I couldn't commend enough for their tirelessly amazing work. Notable among them, John Noble's (for the love of god WHERE is his Emmy?) portrayal as Dr. Walter Bishop, who is certainly going to go down in the annals of television history as one of the most memorable, flat-out-awesome characters ever committed to the small screen. Bishop's tripping (literally, on varying cocktails of psychedelic drugs and a personally developed hybrid of cannibis), unbalanced, ex-mental patient / mad genius is a an entertainment unto itself. Prone to ill timed erections, pudding pops, and baking his cookies alongside samples of human flesh, there is certainly never a dull moment when he is on screen. Joshua Jackson finally appears to have shaken of the shackles of his teen dream image that has haunted him for the better part of a decade, portraying Dr. Bishop's troubled yet dependable son, Peter. Coming into his own on Fringe, I can't help but think "Pacey who?". Anna Torv is our emotionally guarded, no nonsense FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham whom anchors all of this madness, as her horrifying journey becomes ours. She also slightly resembles Cate Blanchett, and honestly, I could gaze upon Cate Blanchett or anyone approximating her likeness for days, so that's enough for me dear readers. Lance Reddick, Jasika Nicole and Blair Brown (of Altered States fame, which also served as inspiration for Fringe's Cronenbergian terrors) round out the cast, respectively.

So seriously, what are all of you horror fans waiting for (not to mention fans of smartly written storytelling, regardless of genre)? Don't let Fringe become another show that finally finds it's audience years down the line after a unnecessary cancellation, only to have it's posthumous new fans cry "Why? Whyyyyyyy was this show put out to pasture?". The answer, because you weren't watching it. The time is now. Television's currently greatest hour of horror needs your attention, viewership, and help tonight. Tune in.

Fringe airs tonight on Fox at 9pm.


If you still need sold on it, I present here two trailers for you to feast your eyes and imagination upon. The first trailer is an official promo for Fringe's move to it's new time slot, which is tonight. The second trailer, is fan made, and incredibly SPOILERISH. However, it is excellently done, showcasing some of the plot twists from the show's current season, so be warned. However, if it's enough to get you to tune in this evening, I say watch it.

Promo for Fringe's move to Fridays:


Fan made trailer: