I select a thematically appropriate horror movie for each day of the year and tell you about it.
Why?
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
How do you get to decide what qualifies as a horror movie and where each one goes on the calendar?
I am the Mayor of Horror Movies.
Are all these movies good?
Oh gosh no. But I recommend all of them to the adventurous viewer.
What’s with the CWs?
In horror movies, disturbing material is part of the entertainment package. But for some viewers, elements like sexual violence or bigotry ruin the fun. For those folks, I include content warnings. That said, the warnings are based on my personal reactions and should not be expected to cover all potential cinematic skeeviness, so proceed with caution.
Who are you, aside from the mayor?
I’m Shaenon K. Garrity. I’m mostly a cartoonist. I watch a lot of scary movies while I draw cartoons.
You know there are people who can’t find the lesbian subtext? People who were around in the sixties, too. It’s like, did you grow up in a cave, or what?
Some people are just blind to that sort of thing. A little while ago, I was one of a couple of people who wasted way too much time trying to explain to this exceptionally clueless dude just how gay She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is.
This is the kind of movie that I re-watch every 5-10 years, picking up interesting things on every new viewing. I definitely missed out on ANY of the gay sub-text the first few times I saw this (in the 70’s and 80’s – I am about as old as this movie is). I don’t think that Nell is a lesbian (she certainly seems attracted to Dr. Markway), she’s just desperately lonely. Theodora, OTOH, is almost shockingly lesbian (for the 60s at least). And Russ Tamblyn’s character is much more punchable than I remember.
It’s definitely much more ambiguous on Eleanor’s part (honestly I never read it that way myself,) but yes, it’s fascinating how hard it leans into Theodora’s sexuality for a film made in 1963. (In the novel this is more just part of her generally-Bohemian flavor.)
In any case, this it a stone-cold all-timer classic – and that’s a mighty fine depiction of Julie Harris up there 😉
One of the absolute greatest classic horror movies–it is between this and Night of the Demon for me
It also inspired (or Shirley Jackson’s novel did) the Stephen King miniseries Rose Red, but perhaps the less said about that, the better
Mostly a movie that relies on quiet suggestion and dread, but that scene with THE DOOR…
You know there are people who can’t find the lesbian subtext? People who were around in the sixties, too. It’s like, did you grow up in a cave, or what?
Some people are just blind to that sort of thing. A little while ago, I was one of a couple of people who wasted way too much time trying to explain to this exceptionally clueless dude just how gay She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is.
Grew up in the LesbianCave: it’s like the BatCave, but more lesbian superhero-themed. The walls were covered with subtext and learned to read it well.
This is the kind of movie that I re-watch every 5-10 years, picking up interesting things on every new viewing. I definitely missed out on ANY of the gay sub-text the first few times I saw this (in the 70’s and 80’s – I am about as old as this movie is). I don’t think that Nell is a lesbian (she certainly seems attracted to Dr. Markway), she’s just desperately lonely. Theodora, OTOH, is almost shockingly lesbian (for the 60s at least). And Russ Tamblyn’s character is much more punchable than I remember.
It’s definitely much more ambiguous on Eleanor’s part (honestly I never read it that way myself,) but yes, it’s fascinating how hard it leans into Theodora’s sexuality for a film made in 1963. (In the novel this is more just part of her generally-Bohemian flavor.)
In any case, this it a stone-cold all-timer classic – and that’s a mighty fine depiction of Julie Harris up there 😉