Spook Busters - Haunted House of Laughs

Spook Busters
1946
D: William Beaudine
W: Edmond Seward &Tim Ryan 

S: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall & Douglass Dumbrille
Unrated  - Approx 68 Min
Monogram Pictures

Taglines:
None

Alternate Titles:
Ghost Busters (Working Title)
Cientista da Fuzarca - Brazil
(I could not get an accurate translation of this)








"Run for you life!  Charlie's got an ax!"
                                                             - Sach

If you listened to Episode II of the Midnight Cinephile podcast (you DID listen, didn't you?) you may have heard Doc Terror and myself discussing the programming on Turner Classic Movies this month.  For my money, TCM has THE best Halloween programming bar none across all channels.  Every year they sport a specific theme (one year, as mentioned by Doc, they showed all Hammer horror films!) and this year is no different.  This year's main theme is ghost stories....and they're digging up some great stuff that I've either never seen or haven't seen in a long time.

Secret passages that lead into a graveyard!  YES!

Tonight's offering, Spooky Busters is an old favorite of mine.  I remember watching this one as a kid on local cable late at night and even on the occasional Sunday afternoon.  It is the fourth film in The Bowery Boys series, which had a total of FORTY-EIGHT films!  More on the staggering number of films later.  The Bowery Boys were an incarnation of the original Dead End Kids, who then became The Little Tough Guys and then The East Side Kids before settling into their final incarnation. Terrence Aloysius "Slip" Mahoney was the leader of the gang which also consisted of Horace Debussey "Sach" Jones, Bobby, Gabe, Whitey and Chuck.  Each flick had them hanging around Louie's Sweet Shop until adventure came calling.  In this case, Slip & The Boys had graduated from Insect Extermination School and set up their own extermination business in the back of Louie's place.
Just as they are about to tear the place apart looking for a mouse they are summoned to Brown's Real Estate office with the promise of an extermination job.  Upon arrival they are informed that an old abandoned mansion is in dire of extermination.....from ghosts!  Slip, never one to turn down a job assures Mr. Brown that they can take care of the problem with no fuss.  Off the boys go on their first real job, completely oblivious to the danger they're in.

"Hey Buddy...lemme AX you a question!"

See, the mansion isn't abandoned at all.  There's a mad scientist who's conducting mad experiments in the basement and will do anything to get rid of the boys....including making them think that the house is haunted....just as he's been doing to keep everyone else out.

If you're a fan of the old school haunted house flicks, this hits all the tropes.  Secret passageways, hands reaching out of doorways and grasping, lights turning on by themselves, things moving on their own, etc.  It's all played explicitly for laughs as the boys bumble their way through the house.  Oddly enough there is a room full of magic and illusion props, such as a magic cabinet that makes Sachs vanish.  Slip goes in to look for him and a 5 minute coming and going schtick takes place.

Never trust a magic cabinet in a haunted house!

When the boys reach the basement and discover what's going on, Sach becomes and unwitting participant in the mad doctor's schemes.  See he wants to take Sach's brain and transplant it into a gorilla that he has caged up down there.  Yep...there's even a gorilla!

At a mere 68 minutes, you really can't go wrong with this flick.  If you're a fan of old dark house flicks and you like 40's style slapstick, then you're in for a treat.  To me this kind of flick screams Halloween and  I had a really great time with this one.  I haven't seen it in probably 20 years and had forgotten most of it, but I'm inspired to dig in and check out more of The Bowery Boy's films.

I don't imagine this is going to end well for her!

Before sitting down to write this review, I had been aware of some of the other Bowery Boy's films.  I had no idea that they totaled forty-eight though!  As I had mentioned before The Bowery Boys were originally known as The Dead End Kids andtseven films were made under that moniker for Warner Brothers.  After their contracts were expired, Universal hired most of the original cast and made The Little Tough Guys series, which featured twelve films and three 12-Chapter serials.  At the same time the Universal were making their Tough Guy films, Monogram hired several other of the Dead End Kids and created the East Side Kids series.  A total of twenty-one films were made under this moniker.  Finally, in 1945 The Bowrey Boys were formed when Leo Gorcey quite The East End Kids, effectively ending the series.  Gorcey, Bobby Hall and Jan Grippo formed Jan Grippo Productions and started up the series again under the final moniker of The Bowery Boys (or as it was sometimes known, Leo Gorcey & The Bowrey Boys).  If you've been keeping tally of all the films made from The Dead End Kids through the final Bowery Boys flick....that's a total of 88 films!  That's pretty damn impressive!

All of the Bowrey Boys pictures were released by Monogram Pictures, which as you may know released a good many potboilers in the 30's through the 50's.  Bela Lugosi starred in quite a few Monogram Pictures as well.  The studio was known for it's low budget features and was part of the studio collective known as Poverty Row, which were a group of B-Movie Studios that were active from the 1920's through the 1950's.  Monogram is perhaps the best known of these studios, along with Republic Pictures.  Other studios included Tiffany Pictures, Mascot Pictures, Grand National Films among others.  Interestingly, CBC Productions (which would become Columbia Pictures) was considered part of Poverty Row from about 1919 until around 1924 when it was reorganzied!

The gang regroups and gets their wits together

Gore
No sir!  Not here!

T&A
Sorry to disappoint again, but no.

Creatures Featured
While it turns out there are no ghosts in the house, for your money you get a mad scientist and a gorilla in a cage!  Plus you get all the spooky atmosphere!

Final Thoughts
I'm not going to lie, I'm quite biased when it comes to stuff like this.  It reminds me of my childhood and it reminds me that Halloween is a fun & spooky time that should be enjoyed by all ages.  If you're inner child goes wild for the simpler pleasures of spooks, scares and laughs and you (like me) have a soft spot for classic films, then do yourself a favor and give The Bowery Boys a call!

Final Rating
Four out of Five Pizza Rolls

The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh - Angels are Creepy!

The Last Will and Testament of Roaslind Leigh
2012
Directed by  Rodrigo Gudiño
Written by  Rodrigo Gudiño
Starring Aaron Poole, Vanessa Redgrave & Julian Richings

Not Rated - Approx.  82 min.



Tag Lines
Faith Is Fragile


Alternate Titles:
Nothin'!






I have been looking forward to seeing this film ever since it was first announced.  I was a big fan of  Rodrigo Gudiño's short films and was quite eager to see what he could do with a feature film.  On the whole, I was quite happy with the film, but it was not without it's issues.  For me anyway.

Lookit!  The Weeping Angels come in a hand held size!  Where is Dr. Who when you need him?

This actually gave me the chills....I've heard this saying before....though I can't remember where.

The film follows a guy named Leon who moves into his deceased mother's house and starts to experience a myriad of strange happenings.  We learn that Leon's mother was involved with a cult of Angel worshippers.  Now I"m not talking you're typical evangelical fanatics, I'm talking like freaky deaky cults.  The kind that they have specials about on The History Channel.  It's possible this cult may have had something to do with his father's death....but it's not clear.

While putting some stuff in the basement, he finds a statue of an angel that his mother used to test/torture him with.  She would light candles around the statue and ask him if he believed in God.  Every time he said "No" she would blow out a candle.  She told him that if all three candles went out, the angel would turn her back on him and wouldn't protect him any more.  Real nice, eh?

Man, I thought people with porcelain dolls were bad....but all the damn statues......

What the hell is THAT?!?!?

I'm sure you've already figured out what happens......statue starts to move by itself.  You never see it move.....it's more like The Weeping Angel's from Dr. Who.  The odd occurrences continue and escalate and Leon finds himself stalked by a shadowy being that is absolutely disturbing.  What does it all mean?  Well, that's the crux of it.....I have no idea.  The film is a bit up in the air, with an ending that will especially leave you scratching your head.  Does that mean it's bad?  Hell no!  It's a great film with some absolutely creeptastic moments.....it's just.....ya know.....an ending that made a little more sense would have been nice!

Midnite Cinephile Tally

Death Toll:  No one actually dies on screen.  There are deaths that are discussed and implied, but no one actually kicks the bucket in front of us.  Oh well!

Nude-O-Meter:  Sorry amigo, thwarted again.

Things That Go Bump In The Night:  FUCKING EVERYTHING GOES BUMP IN THE NIGHT!  Jesus, I swear I've never seen a movie where every shot gave you the willies.  The house itself is a disturbingly beautiful domicile that I doubt I would spend more than two seconds in by myself.  Besides the fact that Leon is in the creepiest house ever, you've got semi-sentient angel statues, black shadow beasts, possibly his mother's ghost, something unseen growling (is it the shadowbeast?  Fucked if I know, dude!).  There's plenty here to keep your hairs standing on end.

Final Thoughts
I was one hundred and fifty percent into this movie until the last five or so minutes.  I then descended into a pit of confusion and head scratching.  Does it ruin the movie as a whole?  No....but it does kinda kill any kind of after effect the movie would have because you'll be too busy trying to figure out just what the hell happened.  Still well worth a watch if you're into haunted house or theological horror.  Or both.

Final Rating
Four out of Five Pizza Rolls

Event Horizon - Hell House in Space!!!!!!!!

Event Horizon
1997
Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson
Written by Philip Eisner
Starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan

Rated R - Approx. 96 Min




Tag Lines:
Infinite Space - Infinite Terror









Alternate Titles:
The Stars My Destination  - USA (working title)
O Enigma do Horizonte  (The Mysterious Horizon)  - Brazil
Event Horizon - Le vaisseau de l'au-delà  (The Ship of the Afterlife) - Canada
Event Horizon - Am Rande des Universums  (On the Edge of the Universe)  - Germany
Horizonte final  (Event Horizon)  - Spain
Den sista horisonten  (The Last Horizon)  - Finland
Viimeinen horisontti  (Event Horizon)  - Finland 
Το σκαφος του τρομου  (His Boat Horror) - Greece
Na rubu horizonta  (At the Edge of the Horizon)  - Croatia
Halálhajó  (Event Horizon)  - Hungary
Punto di non ritorno  (Point of No Return)  - Italy
Ukryty wymiar  (Hidden Dimension)  - Poland
O Enigma do Horizonte  (Puzzle of the Horizon) - Portugal
Destinatie mortala  (Destination Deadly)  - Romania
Konačni horizont  (Finite Horizon)  - Serbia
Na ivici horizonta  (At the Edge of the Horizon)  - Serbia (DVD title)
Сквозь Горизонт  (Through the Horizon)  - Russia
Krvavo obzorje  (Bloody Horizon)  - Slovenia
Ufuk faciasi  (Event Horizon)   - Turkey 


"You know nothing.  Hell is only a word.  The reality is much worse."
                                                                                     -Dr. Weir


Event Horizon is a film that I hold dear to my heart.  This film was one of the first to actually make me question whether or not I could take the terror of the film.  That may sound silly to you, but lets go back in time to the year 1997.  An 18 year old Midnight Cinephile goes by himself to a Tuesday night showing of Event Horizon.  He is completely alone in the theater (just the way he liked it!).  The film starts familiarly enough.....a deep space salvage crew is recruited to take one Dr. Weir on a mission to explore his ship, The Event Horizon, which had previously vanished after trying out a new device on it's maiden voyage that is to warp time and space.  The ship vanishes into a black hole and has only  recently reappeared above the planet Neptune.

Meet the crew of the Lewis & Clark, a space salvage team....

All was going well for me until the scene in which the crew plays the distress call that had been received from the Event Horizon.  The 5 - 10 second audio clip that played nearly destroyed me.  I broke out in a cold sweat and I suddenly desperately wished that there was someone, ANYONE was in the theater with me.  The feeling of isolation was further exacerbated by the desolate cinematography of the film.  You really felt as though you were out in the middle of nowhere, with no help in sight.  The whole film shifted tones for me after that distress call played.  I wasn't dealing with just some spooky alien monster on the loose flick, I was dealing with something much more sinister.

That's no moon......it's a giant fucking portal to HELL!!!!!!

So where did the Event Horizon go?  Well, that's what the crew wants to find out.  Upon boarding the ship, they find a horrific scene on the bridge, bodies beyond mutilated and floating frozen through the ship.  What could have happened?  Hell.  I'm not talking metaphorically.  The ship LITERALLY WENT TO FUCKING HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Video data that the crew watches shows some of the chaos and madness.  Most unfortunately, it seems as though the ship itself is now alive and is praying on the crew, possessing some.

A couple of great shots of the architecture of the ship....pay no attention to the gore on the windows....

Yes, you are reading this right:  Event Horizon is a terrifying haunted house story set in the absolute desolation and isolation of outer space.  I would rather deal with a Xenopmorph any day that spend a second on that derelict ship from hell.  Every single frame absolutely drips with menace and atmosphere.

I made it through the end of the film that fateful Tuesday night, but my understanding of horror had forever been changed.  Just the mention of the title is enough to send a shiver down my spine these days, and yet I own the film in three different formats (VHS, DVD, Blu Ray).  This film is severely underrated and it should absolutely go down as a classic in the pantheon of haunted horror cinema.

Well, that's just....unsettling.

Midnight Cinephile Tally

Death Toll:  To be perfectly honest, I forgot to keep a running tally of the deaths....but there are at least 6 on screen deaths and of course there's the gore soaked frozen aftermath of the ship's occupants' trip to hell...as well as a few highly disturbing flashbacks and hallucinations.

Nude-O-Meter:  We get to see exactly one pair of breasts...but to be honest you're going to be too freaked out to even worry about them.

Things That Go Bump In The Night:  The whole goddamned ship is like one giant evil....thing that goes bump in the night.

Final Thoughts
In case it didn't come across very clearly above:  I love this film.  There's nothing that I don't love about it.  The direction, the cinematography and above all....that oppressive, pervasive doom that permeates the entire film.  You want to see on of the scariest haunted house movies ever?  Guess what....this is it.  The ship itself even has a certain Gothic styling to it that seems to recall some ancient evil place.

Final Rating
Five out of Five Pizza Rolls!