Frankenstein REC

Published September 26, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LBIAMV2
Do the bolts in your forehead need greasing? Well, Greek filmmaker-author Costas Zapas may have the perfect way to make those legendary, slightly moldy parts feel new again.

Zapas is the author of the recently released Frankenstein REC, an interesting take on the classic mad scientist and the monster he created. With good customer reviews and a proposed film adaptation, this seems to be a book that every admirer of James Whale and Boris Karloff needs to check out!

Importantly, Zapas seems to be playing homage to The Creature’s true creator Mary Shelley, by placing this dreamlike story around an investigative female reporter. That fact, alone, makes this tome a must read in my book!

Be sure to check out Zapas’ lightening struck experiment at the link, above!

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Unsung Femmes: The Corpse Vanish’s Elizabeth Russell

Published February 20, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

My hypnotic stare has always read as catatonic. Just ask the neighbors who consistently try to call emergency services on me.

Thankfully, graceful beauty Elizabeth Russell (1916-2012) was much better at magnetism than me. Enacting a series of emotionally troubled, occasionally murderous dames in low budget genre films in the 40s, Russell often brought haughty imperviousness to mystical heights. Historically, her work at RKO, Universal and Monogram brought her into performance-contact with the monstrously popular Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney, Jr., as well.

The Corpse Vanishes

One of Russell’s biggest roles was in 1942’s The Corpse Vanishes. Portraying Lugosi’s evilly aging wife, Russell radiates with poisonous intentions. When she isn’t busy slapping heroine Luana Walters in the face, she spends her time encouraging Lugosi to drain young brides of their blood for their rejuvenating effects.

Curse of the Cat People

Weird Woman and Curse of the Cat People (both 1944) showed her off to vengeful effect, as well. But in each of these roles, Russell provides moments of true heart, bringing out these characters’ inherent emotional agony.

The 7th Victim

1943’s The 7th Victim, meanwhile, allowed her to show off a broad variety of her skills. As Mimi, a victim of agoraphobia, she withers with cautious fear. But as another character chooses to end her life, Mimi emerges from her shell. With quiet optimism, Russell grandly provides this spooky tale with its haunting denouement.

Bedlam

Nicely, as Karloff’s gin loving niece, Mistress Sims, in 1946’s Bedlam, Russell was able to prove her comic worth, too. With arch sauciness, she provides a number of comic interludes, easing the gravity of the film’s asylum based horror and proving, beyond a doubt, that she is one of classic horror’s unsung femmes.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

The Refined Madness of Phyllis Thaxter!

Published March 5, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Goodness and light! Darkness and spite! Chant that over a blackened pot, throw in some raw hamburger and you have witch’s stew! – Or the career of eclectic actress Phyllis Thaxter!

Steadfast Thaxter lit up such golden age projects as Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) and was a frequent guest star on such classic television anthologies as Climax!, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Suspicion. But her roles in a couple of 50’s era noir films and an appearance on the Boris Karloff hosted Thriller proved just how versatile she could get.

As pregnant Patrice Harkness in No Man of Her Own (1950), Thaxter is all winning sunshine. Taking Barbara Stanwyck’s disheveled, equally pregnant Helen under her wing, Thaxter/Harkness soon meets a violent fate in a train crash. The majority of the film focuses on Stanwyck’s Helen as she reluctantly assumes Harkness’ place and becomes embroiled in murder and blackmail. An almost perfect combination of hardboiled thriller and women’s picture, No Man of Her Own is Stanwyck’s show, but Thaxter provides the film’s heart. Her beaming energy makes Stanwyck’s later guilt and confusion truly believable.

Five years later, Thaxter herself was the emotionally wracked one as the mousy Helene Jensen in Women’s Prison. Convicted for accidentally killing a child in car crash, Thaxter’s Helene works herself into a nervous frenzy over every aspect of prison life. Believably distraught, she even goes into a coma after being placed in a straitjacket. Of course, Thaxter’s character is the typical innocent type that would be the main light of many a juicy ‘women in prison’ flick to follow. But, here the focus switches back and forth between other residents and locked down employees, as well. Other main characters include a sassy pregnant prisoner (noir regular Audrey Totter) and the vicious female warden (the influential actress-director Ida Lupino) who eventually gets her comeuppance. Significantly, despite its excessive exploitation angles, this film points out how even the most prosperous women are often at the mercy of the patriarchy – a chilling denouement.

It was in the 1961 ‘The Last of the Sommervilles’ episode of Thriller that Thaxter proved how potent she could be, though. The story opens up on Thaxter’s Ursula Sommerville casually getting rid of a dead body in the backyard. Things pick up in intensity from there. Ursula has been caring for her ailing and emotionally abusive aunt, Celia, with the obvious intent of collecting the old lady’s fortune upon her death. Even the arrival of Ursula’s cunning cousin, Rutherford, does nothing to dissuade her. One moment Thaxter reacts with calculated sweetness as Ursula and then the next with eye pinching fury. It is truly a multi-layered performance and one of Thaxter’s finest moments as a performer. In a nice twist, this episode was directed by her Women’s Prison co-star Lupino and even features host Karloff, in a one of his acting appearances on the series, as Aunt Celia’s eccentric friend, Dr. Albert Farnham.

Be sure to check back often as Big Gay Horror Fan frequently exposes the golden women of the macabre!

Big Gay Horror Fan, meanwhile, is always available for fortune hunting relatives at https://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan.com as well!

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!