My mother's mother was a cool lady. She passed away when I was about eight, but she was perfectly placed in those formative years to introduce me to the joys of everything spooky. She would visit on some Saturday mornings, with her pack of cigarettes and dressed like someone who was in a rockabilly band. She'd bring us cool toys like rubber skeletons or a neat blood-dripping candle skull. She'd also let us watch horror films. Creature Double Feature to be exact. Those days were glorious. She was someone who was the opposite of my parents. Someone who seemed to realize that a lot of life was silly and shouldn't be taken too seriously.
On one of those Saturdays, we watched a horror film with a strange long name (written and directed by the man who brought us Black Christmas and A Christmas Story - Bob Clark). I recall the film scaring us at the time, as it was made in 1972 and was low budget... so by default it had a grimy feel to it. Shot entirely at night, it felt extremely claustrophobic. And due to a surprisingly solid script and a very interesting story, it made the notion of people in a cemetery invoking a Satanic spell to raise the dead quite believable.
A local theater was showing this gem of a film on Friday night, and we went. I hadn't seen it since that one time as a boy, so I had convinced myself it would be one of those so-bad-it's-good horror movies. Turns out, it's even more enjoyable and interesting now that I'm intensely old and have seen a lifetime of zombie films. There was a believable sense of dread due to the intelligent way the story was allowed to unfold. A tension was created at the start of the film between the characters that felt incredibly real. A group of actors (fearing job loss if they don't follow their theatre group's cruel director) agree to rob a grave and take part in his necromantic ritual. It was the perfect setting for a zombie tale. And, to date, I have never seen, nor probably will ever see, a Satanic spell that was so perfectly written and believable. It felt totally real.
It's Saturday morning here, and if you click below, you can watch the entire film. My grandmother would take smoke breaks throughout a movie, and she'd go into my parents' kitchen, open a window, and sit in the chair closest to it. She wasn't allowed to smoke in the house, so this was her version of obeying the rule, blowing most of the smoke out into the back yard, with a smirk on her face.
Here's to one of the giants from my past.
Click below...
5 comments:
Rebel grandmothers that are beyond the point of worrying about social convention are just the best, and it sounds like she probably had that all figured out.
I guess I counted myself lucky having some that didn't hinder my media consumption, but it would have been even better to have one as an accomplice.
As for the movie, I've never seen it aired by a late-night horror host, but would love to see someone like Joe Bob Briggs do it; it seems like it's ready made for that sort of viewing experience.
Evidently, there were rumblings that Bob Clark had designs on remaking it at some point prior to his death... with a good deal more experience under his belt, and an actual budget, that might have been very interesting to see.
Would LOVE if Joe Bob covered this one!
I remember seeing this movie several times on Saturday nights that were hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark during my teenage years. I grew up down in SO. CAL. and it was on one of the local stations. Remember when we only hand a handful of stations to choose from? We didn't even have a color TV set until my junior year of high school.
The only thing I remember about this film is that they're on an island with a cemetery, and some clown thought it would be a good idea to try to bring a corpse back to life. Bad idea. I am amazed that it hasn't been remade yet. If Del Toro did it, it would be awesome.
A massive fave. The atmosphere alone is inspirational. It encapsulates so much of what I love about that era of film. Also, I forget which Italian zombie flick ripped it off, but that window/scythe scene was totally lifted. I've got the soundtrack on tape, too. Top to bottom, there's so much to admire. And I've mixed that ritual audio into mixes at several events. Second to maybe only Alucarda.
Really great to see this on the big screen, only thing better would be a Joe Bob special!
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