Horror Icons: La Llorona

 

Horror Icons: Sadako/Samara

 

31 Days of Horror Recommendations: The Changeling (1980)

 

Year: 1980

Country: Canada

Subgenre: Haunted House

Runtime: 107 minutes

Director's: Peter Medak

I don't think it's overboard to say that this is the holy grail of haunted house films. At the time of it's release, the world was still enthralled with The Amityville Horror which had only come out the year before. Unlike The Amityville Horror, The Changeling hewed closely to the less is more principle. The result as far as I am concerned is a movie that is far and away scarier. Both films upon release were marketed as based on true stories, and while it has been endlessly debated over the years in public whether the Amityville haunting was real or not; it was not until several years later that playwright Russell Hunter admitted that his story of the changeling ghost was at best an embellishment of (or a complete fiction) of "experiences" that he had at a Cheesman Park mansion in the 1960's.  I doesn't matter...real or not, the film is a real chiller! Though the story is transplanted in the film to Seattle, the rest of the story is completely intact from the Denver location of the original.  George C. Scott, at times known for his overacting, is excellent (and understated) in the role of John Russell a composer who is coping with the crippling grief of the loss of his wife and young daughter. Also appearing is Trish Van Devere, Scott's wife. Veteran Melvyn Douglas, as Senator Carmichael, is convincing as the entitled rich man (Douglas BTW was in another ghost film the following year: Ghost Story, his last film). Add in an excellent understated soundtrack by Rick Wilkins (no small feat in a film with musical composition as a back story) and the whole experience will "get you" every time. Very sad, VERY scary story. There is NOTHING more worse than ghost children!! 

Above is the original Colorado mansion that was the inspiration for the Russell story. It's long since been torn down, but do look up the Cheesman Park area of Denver....it's a really scary story unto itself. Likely a very unsettled place due to unmarked graves and the wholesale forgetting of the people buried there.

31 Days of Horror Recommendations: El Espinazo del Diablo [The Devil's Backbone] (2001)

 

Year: 2001

Country: Spain (joint production w/ Mexico)

Subgenre:  Ghosts/Haunted House-Habitations/War Horror

Runtime:  106 minutes

Director: Guillermo del Toro

My absolute favorite horror genre is haunted habitations/houses. I would recommend nothing but if I didn't stop myself from doing so. When done right, I find it far more spine chilling, engaging and thrilling than any other type of horror. Guillermo del Toro did it RIGHT here. This movie scared me stupid the first time I watched it. If I had been in a theater, I most likely would have been hiding behind the seat in front of me! This is a "watch it through your hands" kind of film.  Of course, once you've seen a haunting/ghost film--most of which are also mysteries of some sort--you've seen it. What I look for are the films that stand up to repeat viewings even after you know what is going to happen/why it's happening. The Devil's Backbone passes that test with flying colors!  It's a deeply haunting film and story on many levels, not just the supernatural. It is set in a war time orphanage during the Spanish Civil War--a truly dreadful atmosphere; there is also a kind of "mad scientist" bent to it that make it more tragic and deeply sad rather than weird, while at the same time adding to a sense of dark fate. The late Argentinian actor Federico Luppi (who is the lead in del Toro's Cronos) begins the film with a haunting voice over

What is a ghost? A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain, perhaps? Something dead which still seems to be alive? An emotion suspended in time? Like a blurred photograph. Like an insect trapped in amber.

If you haven't seen it, you are in for real scare (treat); if you have, then you already know it's worth a rewatch. A beautiful story, a deeply disturbing story, a film as much about what the horrors of war do to children, as it is a film about children afraid of a lurking presence. Del Toro has said that he considers his Pan's Labyrinth a sibling to this this film. This is the brother, while Labyrinth is the sister.