1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Very Late October 2010 Update – Part 2

November 10th, 2010 | POSTED BY Edward Davidson

I’ve ticked off a few more movies from the big 1001 movie list.  Sorry about the late update.  Some of these were meant as part of the Halloween theme of October, but life got in the way and am just posting them now.  Enjoy:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) – A manic Kevin McCarthy starred in the original version of this often remade story.  Though the remake from the 70s is quite good, the original version is still king.  Much has been made throughout the years of it being an allegory for the Communist scare of the time.  The idea of a sinister force that takes over upstanding an upstanding citizen’s personality and replaces it with a docile, compliant replica was supposed to be indicative of the brainwashing that those dirty “Reds” were capable of.  Even divorced of all of that political baggage, I still find this movie to be creepy and fun.  I love that not even the main love interest in the story is spared.  But my favorite moment has to be near the end when McCarthy is shouting in the middle of traffic about the coming menace.  No one stops, no one helps, and he is on the verge of madness just trying to get anyone to listen.  Indifference is the scariest thing of all.

Horror of Dracula (1958) – I had never seen this, the first of the Hammer Studio’s Dracula films before.  While I may find it a bit dated and not very intense now, I do have to compliment the production values at least.  This may have been one of the first times audiences saw Dracula in color.  Showing actual red blood probably terrified a whole generation.  While I think that Christopher Lee’s uni-brow is the most horrifying thing in the movie, it’s interesting to see how the always present sexual subtext of the Dracula story has been ramped up since the days of Bela Lugosi.  The female victims throughout this version seem to almost be looking forward to getting bitten.  There is definitely an orgasmic element as they are getting the blood drained from their necks.  Also, Peter Cushing was probably one of the most influential actors in creating his version of the vampire Van Helsing here.  He is knowledgeable and cold, a bit of a supernatural Sherlock Holmes.  Depictions of Van Helsing after this must have looked at Cushing for reference.  The largest piece missing from earlier versions of the story is Renfeld.  In the 1931 version, he is the highlight of the film, and his absence is definitely felt.  Still, Horror of Dracula is an interesting benchmark in horror film history.

Psycho (1960) – Though I have seen this countless times, the combination of my daughter’s asking to watch it and the release of the beautiful new Blu-Ray 50th anniversary release of this film meant it was time to see it again.  There is almost nothing that hasn’t been said about this Hitchcock masterpiece at this point.  Bernard Hermann’s score is classic, the famous shower scene has been analyzed to death (heh, a pun), Anthony Perkins was made famous by this role, and it is widely considered one of the best horror films of all time (it was on our MacGuffin site list at number ).  So let me just say a couple of quick things.

First, this new Blu-Ray release is wonderful, a must own.  The crisp black and white cinematography is well served here.  And almost more importantly, the score has been remastered in loss-less 5.1 surround sound.  The shrieking strings during the first murder, and the recurring suspense theme throughout have never sounded better.  There are excerpts in the extras from the famous interviews that Francois Truffaut did with Hitchcock a while back.  Can’t wait to dig into those.  Also, one of my favorite extras (which I had seen before this release but was happy to own it now), was Hitch’s original teaser trailer for the film.  He does a hilarious walk through on the set where he tells everything and nothing about the movie all at the same time.  It really is one of my favorite previews to a movie ever.

Next, I’ll mention two of my favorite elements of the movie itself.  Right off, it’s audacity the film to introduce this initial plot about Janet Leigh committing theft and running from the authorities that ultimately doesn’t have anything to do with how the movie ends.  This truly is the movie’s MacGuffin.  Imagine if you can that you are sitting in a theater in 1960 watching this for the first time, and you are getting all edgy for this woman on the run.  She’s avoiding police, and increasingly acting suspicious.  Then suddenly the entire plot take a major twist and abandons her entirely.  Marvelous.  However, my favorite scene in the whole movie is between Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh when he serves her sandwiches in his back room.  In a movie all about theft, Oedipal complexes, and murder, this small scene with just two people talking is the most compelling moment.  Norman is a character who is shy, sincere, and truly draws empathy from the audience.  I think it’s a major element that gets lost in the slasher genre that this movie spawned.  You never feel for Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees or Leatherface or even Freddie Kruger the way you do for the way poor Norman must have been raised.  It is a complex balance of character that is truly compelling.

I will endeavor to keep posting as more movies get crossed off the list.  I think I am closing in on having seen close to half the list and will definitely announce when I get there.  See ya then.

Alfred Hitchcock, Horror of Dracula, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Psycho