31 Days (and nights) of Halloween, 2019!

[Jared]

October 1st. 1 - The Old Dark House (1932)
October 2nd. 2 - The Redeemer: Son of Satan (1976)
October 3rd. 3 - Prison (1987)
October 4th. 4 - Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990). 5. Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956)
October 5th. 6 - Mothra vs Godzilla (1964). 7 - The Curse of Frankenstein (1957). 8. The Horror of Dracula (1958)
October 6th. 9 - Tremors (1990). 10 - Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996)
October 7th. 11 - The Haunted Palace (1963)
October 8th. 12 - Dracula (1931). 13 - Joker (2019)
October 9th. 14 - Blood Theater (1984)
October 10th. 15 - The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015). 16 - The Black Cat (1931)
October 11th. 17 - Night of the Demon (1957). 18 - Necronomicon (1993)
October 12th. 19 - The Ghoul (1933). 20 - Madhouse (1974). 21 - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)
October 13th. 22 - Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943). 23 - Bad Moon (1996). 24 - House of Frankenstein (1944).
October 14th. 25 - House of Dracula (1945)
October 15th. 26 - The Exorcist (1973). 27 - The Exorcist III (1990)
October 16th. 28 - The Mutilator (1985)
October 17th. 29 - Count Dracula (1977)
October 18th. 30 - Doctor Mordrid (1992). 31 - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)



Once upon a time, there was an R-rated, direct-to-video Doctor Strange ripoff starring Jeffery Coombs. Who knew? Apparently, the story behind this is that it was planned to actually be Doctor Strange at some point, but the deal expired or fell through. So Full Moon Entertainment changed just enough of the script to not get sued, and boldly put "based on an original idea" in the credits. The resulting movie is not good, of course. But it's not bad enough to be a "classic" like the Italian Captain American or Roger Corman's Fantastic Four. The mess of a script seemingly can't remember if the Doctor and his nemesis are humans who've learned magic, or immortal beings from another realm entirely. There are "demons from the fourth dimension" that are just...stop motion troll guys. Brian Thompson plays the bad guy.




The good: Oldman! Hopkins. Tom Waits. The score. The costumes. The sets. The Brides. Winona Ryder's beauty. The prologue that provides Dracula's origin story. The epic, gothic romance feel to it. The gallons of blood.

The bad: Keanu speaking. Old Dracula's hairstyle. Keanu speaking. Keanu with fake looking grey hair. A sometimes frenzied pace that might confuse viewers who aren't familiar with the story. Keanu speaking.

The ugly: Dracula's final old man face. Tom Waits.

The questions: When Van Helsing stands at the cliffside and yells "Dracul!", was that Coppola paying homage to Rocky IV? Is Lucy actually promiscuous or does she just playfully talk that way? Is Jack Seward a morphine addict? Why is Van Helsing acting like a horny drunk ******* some of the time?


Anyway, I've always enjoyed this movie. Hell, I'd be thrilled if Coppola wanted to do a sequel. Just say it's 30 years later and the Harkers have been living in America to get away from the memories, that we don't have to worry about accents again. Maybe Dracula returns in the flesh, maybe he's tainted Mina's son, maybe they run into Drac's daughter...whatever, just get Coppola all the wine he wants and let him go nuts.