SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (1983)
Article 5413 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-3-2017
Directed by Jack Clayton
Featuring Jason Robards, Jonathan Pryce, Diane Ladd
Country: USA
What it is: Horrific fantasy

An autumn circus comes to a small town and offers its residents a chance to fulfill their deepest wishes… but at a price.

The original Ray Bradbury novel proved to be a pivotal read for me in my early years; it is the novel that drew me into the world of literary science fiction and fantasy and especially the work of Ray Bradbury, so you might imagine I have strong feelings about the work. So it’s also no surprise when a movie version came out, I was definitely drawn into the theater to see it. I loved it then, and to some extent I still love it today, though I now see its flaws. The screenplay is an adaptation by Bradbury himself, and as is often the case with his work, what looks good on the printed page sometimes comes out clumsy when said out loud as dialogue. Furthermore, the movie has a little trouble balancing out the fantasy aspects with the horror aspects; this is particularly noticeable at the climax of the movie. The biggest problem I had back then involved a major difference between the movie and the book; the latter had a sequence involving the witch hunting the children in a hot-air balloon (if my memory is correct), and though I suspected this scene would have been nearly impossible to pull off in the movie, its solution to substitute a spider attack scene was very unsatisfying. However, what I loved about the movie is that it actually managed to capture some of Bradbury’s poetry and flavor visually (such as the sequence where Mr. Dark tosses the announcements of the arrival of the circus out in the street so that the wind will distribute them), and I thought Jonathan Pryce’s performance was wonderful. At any rate, my favorite moment in the movie back then remains my favorite moment now; it’s the scene in the library where Mr. Dark tempts Will’s father with youth by tearing out pages of a book to indicate the passage of time, each page glowing as it flutters off, and it is pure cinematic magic.

SLAUGHTER HIGH (1986)
Article 5412 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-2-2017
Directed by George Dugdale, Mark Ezra, Peter Mackenzie Litten
Featuring Caroline Munro, Simon Scuddamore, Carmine Iannaccone
Country: UK / USA
What it is: What it sounds like

An April Fool’s Day prank causes the mutilation of a high school student. Years later, the perpetrators of the prank find themselves the only ones attending a High School Reunion, and someone begins knocking them off.

It took three directors to make this? It was originally going to be called APRIL FOOL’S DAY, but they changed it when they didn’t want it to be confused with the other slasher film called APRIL FOOL’S DAY. Not that this one is different enough that you won’t confuse it with any number of other slasher films out there. There’s one good jump scare, but that’s about the only thing I liked about this one. Other than that, the most interesting things about are the presence of Caroline Munro (guess who’s going to be the last girl standing?) and that the twist ending wasn’t what I expected (which isn’t to say that it’s a good one). The rest is by the book and business as usual.

THE SENTINEL (1977)
Article 5411 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-1-2017
Directed by Michael Winner
Featuring Chris Sarandon, Cristina Raines, Ava Gardner
Country: USA
What it is: The job interview from hell

A troubled model who once tried to commit suicide decides she’s not quite ready for marriage yet, so instead of staying with her boyfriend, she moves into her own apartment in an old house. The other residents she meets seem very strange, but then she discovers there’s only one other resident, a blind priest on the top floor. Then who did she meet…?

Practically every other write-up gives away a major revelation that doesn’t manifest itself until late in the movie, but it’s hard to fault them; after all, between the title and the ad campaign for this one, the marketing for the movie also gives away that same revelation. I rather wish it hadn’t; once you know the revelation, you can second guess a lot of events that happen in this movie long before the movie gives them away, and that rather ruins the fun a little. A lot of big names and familiar faces pop up, though many in little more than cameos; there’s Burgess Meredith, Ava Gardner, Martin Balsam, John Carradine, Jose Ferrer, Arthur Kennedy, Eli Wallach, and soon-to-be stars Jeff Goldblum and Christopher Walken (who upstages everyone in every scene he’s in though he barely has any lines). There’s some creepy and bizarre moments here, but there’s also a bit of dead space, some plot elements that never coalesce, and an overabundance of unnecessary gore. All in all, it never quite comes together, though many of the ideas are interesting. It’s a nice try, but a misfire.

SALEM’S LOT (1979)
Article 5410 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-31-2017
Directed by Tobe Hooper
Featuring David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin
Country: USA
What it is: Stephen King two-part TV-Movie

A writer returns to his home town to write a book about an eerie old house in the town, only to discover that a real evil has moved into the house…

For the record, I just finished watching the complete three hour version of this TV-Movie that ran over two nights when it was first shown. There’s a 107 minute version out there, and I’m still wondering if I might not have been better off watching that one; not to slight the full version, but it’s a bit on the strenuous side to watch in one sitting. Furthermore, I’m not sure that a whole lot of the essence would be gone in a shorter version; there are quite a few subplots and smaller story arcs that could have been removed, though they do help flesh out the longer version. I’ve read the original Stephen King novel, but it’s been quite a while since I’ve done so, but the movie more or less feels rather faithful to the book. The movie ties the “evil place” template with the standard vampire tale, and the movie is a solid, well-acted piece of work. Granted, in comparison to some of Tobe Hooper’s earlier work, this one is pretty tame, but I do like that the interior of the Marston house at least partially recalls the interior of the house in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. There are lots of familiar faces in this one; outside those listed above, we have Lew Ayres, Fred Willard, Marie Windsor, (not near enough of) Elisha Cook, Jr., and the ever popular Reggie Nalder as the vampire. All in all, it’s a good adaptation of the work, though I suspect that if I wanted to experience the story again, I’d opt for re-reading the King novel.