Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

     Even though this is the perfect movie to be part of Cultarama, I've been avoiding its addition, mostly because an explanation of it is just too damned tiring. It's a really good film, but much like Eraserhead, this movie can be endlessly discussed and critiqued because of the sheer amount of plot vagueness and surrealistic symbolism involved. Y'know, the whole "Was it a dream/fantasy/real-life distortion/etc?" 

      Made in 1920 Germany, it's a silent movie of course, therefore the lip reading you can usually do with American silent films is totally lost here because the actors are speaking in German. You have to rely on facial expressions and the rarely given, overly simple, written text frames to make heads or tails of this incredible dreamland of a movie. 

     The most dreamlike aspect of all has got to be the sets, which are totally bizarre. Mostly made of paper. There are crooked houses, warped streets, and the trees look like cheap silhouettes made from cardboard. Probably one of the cheapest sets ever made, yet it's so mesmerizing in its puzzling appearance which I have to believe was done on purpose because it really enhances the strange atmosphere dramatically and definitely gives you the feeling of being in a dream, fantasy, delusion, or whatever this movie is supposed to be. 

      The bare bones of the story are this: Francis is sitting on a bench telling someone his story. A glassy-eyed woman drifts in front of them, Francis remarks that this is his fiancee. One look at her and you know somethin' ain't right though. Francis tells the story of how he and his best friend Alan are in love with the same woman, Jane. 

      A creepy carnival (is there any other kind?) then comes to town. And traveling with this carnival is a strange old man named Dr. Caligari, presenting as his exhibit, a somnambulist (a sleepwalker) named Cesare who has been sleeping for the past 23 years. When awoken, Cesare is able to tell you the future. Cesare, by the way, is one of the oddest-looking guys imaginable, with solid black eyes and a mouth that looks like a cross between Joan Crawford and Mick Jagger (HUGE!). Anyway, when Alan visits the carnival he asks Cesare "How long will I live?" Cesare informs Alan that he'll die by tomorrow morning. Naturally, Alan freaks. That night, Alan's fortune comes true when he is found stabbed to death. We see a fleeing shadow of the murderer who looks an awful lot like Cesare. Soon, Jane is kidnapped by a man that also looks like Cesare, yet Cesare's whereabouts are confirmed by police to have been sleeping in his cabinet/coffin/bed, whatever it is. This proves very puzzling until Cesare is inspected a little more closely by police and a dummy is found in the cabinet instead. Francis is enraged and chases Dr. Caligari who flees to an asylum. Francis asks if a patient named Caligari is a resident of the asylum, but is met with confusion and brought to the asylum Director's office. Guess who the asylum Director is... that's right, Dr. Caligari. 

      That night while Dr. Caligari is asleep, an investigation ensues. Francis and some friends raid Caligari's office and read his diary. They learn that his main course of study is somnambulism (sleepwalking). They also find a book containing information about a mystic, also named Dr. Caligari, who in 1703 toured with a carnival, exhibiting a somnambulist who he had enslaved into doing his bidding and committing crimes that kept many towns in a panic for months on end. Having the sleepwalker committing Caligari's crimes proved beneficial in relieving Caligari from being caught as the actual killer. In the present day, Dr. Caligari (his real name is never given) begins to obsess over his idol, the previous Dr. Caligari from 1703 who could make a sleepwalker do all his bidding. His diary reveals his desire to become Caligari and also his elation that a somnambulist has finally been committed to the asylum in which he is the Director. This means that he can finally study and unravel the secrets of how the original Dr. Caligari from 1703 succeeded in making somnambulists do his will. 
The present-day doctor's plans are finally discovered, he is put in a straight jacket and hauled off to his crooked paper cell.

      In the next scene, we see what seems to be the inside of the asylum. Francis is there telling another inmate not to talk to Cesare or you'll end up dead. He then asks a comatose Jane to marry him. She responds with a nonsensical answer that only an asylum inmate would come up with. When the doctor approaches, Francis exclaims "I'm not crazy, he IS Caligari!" The doctor then mumbles something to himself about how he now knows what the cause of his mania is and how to cure him.  

     OK, so we're left asking ourselves... Was Francis also an inmate at the asylum? Did he simply fabricate a story using other inmates as the characters? Was the present asylum Director really obsessed with an old mystic named Caligari? Was Francis just displaying his own insanity by accusing the Director of being the real Dr. Caligari? Who exactly is the insane one? My guess is that it's made up of a little of all of these possibilities. Whether it makes sense to you or not, it's still a cinematic masterpiece.

      Made in 1920, it's often regarded as the first horror movie. It isn't really that frightening, but for the time it was released, it was probably pretty disturbing, and a cerebral twist ending like that was not at all common in films. The sets definitely give you that surrealistic dreamlike sort of feeling and are sometimes almost dizzying because everything is straight-lined but at completely crooked angles.  

     Common sense tells you that this was obviously a black-and-white film when it came out, but on the DVD release, almost every scene is tinted by a wide range of colors. Tense scenes were tinted brown, tender scenes in pink or purple, and asylum scenes in various shades of blue. This colorization technique is subtle, effective, and works so well, whereas a full colorization might be fun, but would completely destroy the feel of the story.

      Overall, it's one of the most artistic and beautifully conceived movies I've ever seen. A little confusing, but what a boring world it would be if every movie was plainly explained and bluntly predictable. Being quite the opposite, this movie can be watched and discussed over and over again. And possibly with the right drugs, it could actually make sense. 

      A side note for Rob Zombie fans, Zombie used this film as his inspiration for the video for his hit song "Living Dead Girl". He plays Caligari and his wife Kitty plays a combination character of Jane and Cesare.


Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Entity

     This is one of the more mainstream cult films out there (translation for mainstream-they had a little bit of money to spend on production and had a rising newcomer for the lead actress, Barbara Hershey). It became a little more well-known due to the DVD release.

      I have to admit, this movie STILL scares the piss out of me every time I watch it. Probably because I know that it had been partially based on a true event. I've been a believer in ghosts, poltergeists, and other such phenomena all my life and I knew the basic story of this particular case before actually seeing the film. The thought of being violently physically and sexually assaulted by something that you cannot see is such a frightening concept.  And the thought of no one believing you when you beg for help is an even scarier thought.

     Barbara Hershey was amazing in this movie and truly made us all believe that she really was going through one hell of a paranormal incident that showed us that a living person can be just as easily haunted as old dusty mansions can. A truly gut-wrenching performance that ensured she'd be offered more film roles to add to her growing resume. 

     About the first 3/4 of the movie is actually very close to the truth, but the last quarter of the film is complete fiction. We'll just start at the beginning and work our way through, including the occasional inserts of what supposedly really happened. 

      Carla Moran (her real name was Doris Bither) has a very difficult life. She's a single mother struggling to keep a job, going to night school to get a better job in order to financially survive in this world, dealing with three difficult children, and having a boyfriend who is almost never in town. One night she is raped in her bedroom. When the rape was over, there was no one there to call the police on. The attacker simply vanished as though he'd never been there. Everyone assumes that she dreamt it, but Carla knows it really happened. Another violent attack ensues while Carla is taking a bath. Again she is brutally raped. Carla seeks the help of a doctor, clearly displaying bruises and bite marks in places that Carla could not have possibly bitten herself. As is usually the case, the doctors aren't much help and are determined to convince Carla that the attacks are a result of Carla's imagination and her checkered past. 

      Frustrated with being told that she's just crazy, she abandons her doctors in favor of parapsychology. When other people start to witness the phenomenon for themselves and even capture photographic evidence of it, things finally start to look up for Carla. She enlists the help of some researchers in the field of parapsychology from the local university.  Finally, someone believes her and these are people who are trained (as best as someone could be) to help her. All of the above is supposedly true. Even the photographic proof, which most photography experts say are some of the most authentic photos of this type ever captured, both witnessed and photographed by many people. After a "big showdown" where Carla confronts her ghostly attacker, he shows up as a full apparition, with a room full of witnesses who photographed the entire incident, the attacks begin to wane but do not stop entirely.  The photographers helped other people believe her story, but her trauma continued. The true part of Carla's ordeal that's portrayed in the film ends here.  The real Carla Moran (Doris Bither) moved her family from state to state but was never able to escape her ruthless entity. It followed her and the attacks continued. After some ten years on the run, Doris was no longer able to be found. Efforts to locate her continued unsuccessfully. 

      OK, now for the fictional conclusion to the story, which in my opinion is kinda stupid, but what the hell, it's Hollywood. The parapsychology team that investigated and witnessed the entity at Carla's house has now decided to try to capture this being, using Carla as bait, since it seems to follow her outside of her home, at one point taking control of her car and causing her to crash. They build a basic replica of Carla's real home, consisting of a chemical toilet, hot plate, and some furniture to make her (and her torturous entity) feel more at home. They have also added a special little ghost-catching device, that shoots liquid nitrogen, which we all know, freezes virtually anything on contact. Their theory is to catch a ghost in a block of ice. Poor Carla not only is bait for the entity but has only a glass "safe room" to keep the liquid nitrogen from killing her instantly (which by the way doesn't work). An annoying doctor that (very inappropriately) cares too much for Carla interferes endlessly at this point, trying to convince her of the dangers of liquid nitrogen. She simply states that she would rather die than go on living the way she's been living. And with that, he's thrown out for good. The entity finally shows up takes control of the nitrogen machine and destroys just about everything. The huge tanks of liquid nitrogen that are stored above are ruptured and encase the entire replica in ice. Carla survives by running for her life when she can obviously see that all hell is breaking loose. The ice glows green, shakes for a moment, and the entity bursts loose. The end. There's a brief epilogue about how the attacks on Carla and her family, though decreased in frequency and violence, continue to this day.

      As I said earlier, the real Carla Moran has been identified as Doris Bither. Author Frank DeFelitta, who originally wrote the book "The Entity" on which the film is based had kept in touch with Ms. Bither. The events had originated in her house in Culver City, California, so in an effort to escape the attacks of her entity, she moved to San Bernardino. Again unsuccessful at evading the entity, which followed her wherever she moved to, she finally tried moving all the way to Texas. Again it followed, and she even reported that her neighbors would experience poltergeist activity, almost as a radial effect. By now convinced that the entity would follow her anywhere she goes, she decided to move back to California. The parapsychologists who investigated this case had lost track of Doris' whereabouts after her move to Texas. But, Frank DeFelitta managed to track her down once she moved back to California and the two remained in contact. When he revealed that he was writing a book based on her story, it was at her suggestion that her name be changed to protect what privacy she had left (he actually changed her name to "Carlotta" for the novel).  

     Since the investigation, the release of Frank DeFelittas book, and the eventual movie based on her story, Doris Bither succeeded in fading into the background as much as she could, not wanting a single bit of attention for fear of always being thought of as a haunted woman, or worse...simply crazy.  She died in 2006, due to liver failure brought on by extremely heavy alcohol consumption, but can you blame her?  I'd have stayed plastered myself if I had to deal with something as out of this world scary as constant violent spectral rape.

Trick or Treat

     This is a great 80's period piece. I saw this as a teenager and I loved it, mostly because it's a "revenge against your high school tormentors" type of movie. Sort of a "Carrie" for guys. Something I and probably thousands of other people can relate to back in those awkward (and sometimes traumatic and insanity-inducing) teenage years. 

      The story centers around Eddie Weinbaur... metalhead, mullet sporter, torn denim wearer, dressed in a never-ending selection of Metallica t-shirts. Needless to say, he's an obvious target for all the "normal" guys at his school. Why is it that the preppy guys always seem to be the biggest bullies around? It always amazed me how preps wearing pink (and a various assortment of other pastels), playing polo, using gobs of hair gel to enhance their fake highlights, and throwing pool parties could possibly have the nerve to call us "fags". Did they not have mirrors or did they just spend too much time looking into them?  

     Anyway, Eddie is actually a pretty cool guy, loves all the best metal bands... Judas Priest, Megadeth, Anthrax, etc. But his favorite is (the fictional) Sammi Curr. Eddie absolutely adores his ultimate idol Sammi Curr and writes him tons of fan letters under the pseudonym "Ragman". Mostly complaining about his lousy high school existence. 

      One day, the unthinkable happens. Sammi Curr dies in a mysterious hotel fire. Eddie is crushed. He seeks empathy from his radio DJ friend (appropriately played by Kiss frontman Gene Simmons) who presents Eddie with a one-of-a-kind gift. Sammi's new album which was scheduled to be released, but delayed because of his untimely death, is now intended to be played at midnight on Halloween, and the DJ has the only master copy. He gives Eddie the master album because he's already made a tape recording of the album which he intends to play at midnight. Thrilled shitless, Eddie takes the album home, presses play, and listens to the album over and over until he falls asleep. 

      Eddie wakes up to the sound of the record skipping. The short bits of music between the skips sound like language in reverse. Eddie begins to play the album backward and hears the voice of Sammi Curr leaving vague messages that seem to be left specifically for Ragman (Eddie). Eddie plays the rest of the album backward and discovers some instructions for a revenge plan to get back at his preppy bullies. He executes the plan as directed and it works perfectly. Eddie begins an ongoing conversation with Sammi Curr through messages contained in the album. Eddie asks in forward mode and Sammi replies in reverse. 

      Soon, Eddie is all-powerful... that is until he realizes that he's just a tool for Sammi to be "reborn" through the power of METAL, DUDE!. Using electricity as his general vehicle, Sammi Curr terrorizes the Halloween dance at Eddie's school, killing more than just the preps. And has plans to reach an even bigger killing ground with his new album being played at midnight over the radio. Though Eddie has destroyed the master vinyl album, he realizes that the DJ has a tape recording that also needs to be destroyed, so it's up to Eddie and some sympathetic ex-prep chick with a secret crush on him to save the day by preventing the album from being played at midnight. They succeed in shutting off the power, by smashing a transformer or something. 

      A pretty predictable ending to a very cliche teenage 80s flick, but still a good film nonetheless. Most metalheads I knew in high school were actually really nice guys and it was the popular kids who were always the nasty ones, so I actually really related to this movie. Don't miss Ozzy Osbourne's cameo as a Christian televangelist, bitching about the sexually suggestive lyrics of heavy metal music. Nice touch.