"The Last Horror Film"/"Melancholia"/"Susana"/"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"

Jeez....well, there went THAT streak. Just as well; didn't think much of my recent musings. But I have watched a fair number of flicks in between posts. Yes, I just looked at the roster. Wow. Uh, okay. Here we go.

"The Last Horror Film" (1982) is something from David Winters, a guy mainly known as a choreographer, although he's directed a seventies Alice Cooper documentary and a few episodes of "The Monkees." This one was a fairly low-budget affair, re-teaming Joe Spinell and Caroline Munro, from "Maniac." According to a special feature on the DVD (Bill Lustig interview, if I recall), Caroline Munro's husband had put in money to get "Maniac" finished up. Later, the couple thought, "hey, let's make a movie set in Cannes and give ourselves a free trip there as a result!" And that's how this movie happened. It's actually a lot of fun, with Spinell sweating on the celluloid, as he was so good at doing. The film elements are not in good shape, and the DVD's video was presented at the 1.33:1 ratio. Nevertheless, the final thirty minutes or so of the flick are damned entertaining.

Next up: "Melancholia." Since I'd recently finished "Antichrist," I figured I'd give the next in Von Trier's Depression Trilogy (yep) a spin. Less traumatic than "Antichrist," but I'm still on the fence about how I felt about it. Might write more about this one (and "Antichrist") later. Maybe.

Let's see....."Susana." A 1953 Luis Buñuel-helmed effort from Mexico. In my quest to view all of Buñuel's stuff at least once, this one came up. It was entertaining, most definitely, but there's almost a silly aura about the whole production. Not many of the types of shots we expect from Buñuel....maybe some insects here and there....and a finish that almost defines anti-climactic, but still watchable and somewhat memorable. I suppose you could look at it as an early version of "Fatal Attraction."

And now a classic. "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," 1974's classic horror, direct from the part of Texas I live in. TCSM is one of those movies that just gets better each time I watch it. I've probably seen it seven or eight times now, and I still remember seeing it the first time in the early eighties and not thinking much of it. Now I think it's one of the best horror movies ever made. Period. My wife and I even went out to eat at the TCSM house, which was moved to Kingsland and is now a restaurant. Great food, Leatherface Lemonade, the works. Dig it!

I've got several more to jot about......more later.........