DonaldPleasance Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Cinematical Seven: Greatest Supporting Performances in Horror Films
Filed under: Horror », Cinematical Seven »
In researching this list, I made two realizations: most horror films don't bother with supporting casts; the supporters are often ghosts and monsters and supernatural forces (the other humans tend not to listen). And also, there are more great performances by women in horror films. Consider just the list of women who were nominated for -- or won -- Oscars for horror films: Patty McCormack, Janet Leigh, Ruth Gordon, Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Sigourney Weaver, Kathy Bates, Jodie Foster, Juliette Lewis, Toni Collette, etc. Perhaps women are more intuitively in touch with the supernatural. Either way, I think I came up with a pretty good list:
1. Maria Ouspenskaya in The Wolf Man (1941)
Her name's a mouthful, but once you learn to say it, you'll never forget it. She was born in 1876, which put her at about 65 when The Wolf Man was made. She was a theater actor, before the movies were invented, she became an acting teacher and she received two Oscar nominations prior to this role. She plays Maleva (what a great name!), the old gypsy woman, and mother to Bela (Bela Lugosi), who possesses the knowledge of all things werewolf. With eyes like obsidian, her line readings are quiet, mysterious, intelligent, and though she's practically half the size of star Lon Chaney Jr., she towers over him.
2. Christina Ricci in Addams Family Values (1993)
Every once in a while the movie gods smile down and create something wonderful, like the moment that young Ricci walked into the "Addams Family" auditions, hoping for the role of Wednesday. The resulting movie, released in 1991, wasn't very good, but the sequel was much improved and Ricci was so good in both that she clearly announced the beginning of a fascinating career full of brave, unusual choices. With her round, pale face, huge eyes and tiny mouth shaped like a talon, she was scary and funny and just a little bit odd, and when she grew older, she took on a dangerous kind of sexiness. She could be the direct genre descendant of Elsa Lanchester or Barbara Steele.
Retro Cinema: Halloween
Filed under: Horror », Retro Cinema »
I come to John Carpenter's 1978 classic Halloween from an odd perspective. I'm a horror buff, and I've been getting the crap scared out of me at the cinema and on video for several decades now. Whether it be current stuff like the Saw films, classics like the Universal Monsters, or mondo obscuro delights like Paul Naschy werewolf flicks from Spain or Messiah of Evil (which I did a Retro Cinema review on a few weeks ago), I've seen it all. Well, not quite all. Despite my status as a hardcore horror junkie I only recently watched Halloween for the first time in its entirety. I've seen bits and pieces here and there over the years, but this was my first time taking in the whole thing from start to finish (and if you just said "that's what she said," then shame on me for handing you such an obvious straight line).
Having been raised on a steady diet of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines, the idea of a guy going around killing people with a big knife wasn't my idea of a scary movie. I preferred a supernatural angle to my horror, thank you very much, and Halloween just didn't appeal to me upon its initial release. Over the years my prejudice against non-supernatural horror has faded, but having seen many of the films that Halloween inspired -- whether they be sequels, homages or knock offs -- I've developed a deep dislike for slasher films, so I never saw any reason to check out the one that started it all.
Malcolm McDowell is Our New Dr. Loomis
Filed under: Horror », The Weinstein Co. », Remakes and Sequels »
A few days ago we learned that a creepy-looking unknown was hired to play the young version of Michael Myers in Rob Zombie's new Halloween flick, and now comes word that a very well-known actor has been cast to play Dr. Loomis -- the character made famous by the late, great Donald Pleasance.Although schlock-hounds like myself know Malcolm McDowell from his countless roles in numerous B- and C-level genre flicks, the general movie populace would recognize the veteran actor from his work in A Clockwork Orange -- or maybe Blue Thunder. (My favorite McDowell performance came in Nicholas Meyer's really cool Time After Time, and you simply haven't lived until you've seen McDowell's work in Caligula.)
Not to be confused with Roddy McDowall (because good ol' Roddy passed on a few years back), Malcolm McDowell has spent the last several years providing rascally charm or nefarious sneers to movies like In Good Company, Evilenko, Hidalgo, I Spy, Gangster No. 1, Mr. Magoo and Star Trek: Generations. Plus he's freakin' hilarious on Entourage.
...and as skeptical as I've been regarding this new Halloween, I feel I must offer Rob Zombie some praise here. McDowell's a great choice for this type of character: old-school-respected enough to provide a strong screen presence, but shifty-eyed and funny enough to add some color to the flick.
[Thanks to Bloody-Disgusting.com for the tip.]
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