Horrorshow Trifecta

It's been a busy week - but, apparently, not so busy that I wasn't able to squeeze in three more scary movies. Exactly HOW scary... well, I'll tell you.

First up, we've got Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. Now, this isn't exactly a horror movie per se, but I killed all the lights in my apartment and treated it like one. Actually, if you're pretty squeamish about blood (which I am), then you might find this movie pretty scary (which I did). I had been told that the blood was very cartoony, so I thought I'd be able to handle it. Well, the gore's definitely over-the-top, but it's extremely gruesome - cartoony is NOT the word I'd use.

My first encounter with Sweeney Todd was the Angela Lansbury musical, so that's more or less what I was expecting. I found that I missed a lot of the great Sondheim music that I loved from the original. The visuals (except for the blood) are great, classic Burton, so it's worth seeing for that.

Final verdict: Good movie, but not quite what I expected.

The second movie I caught is considered to be a horror classic, Rosemary's Baby. I'd been looking forward to this movie, as everything I'd heard about the story promised exactly the tense, threatening atmosphere I was so hoping to find in a horror film. Sadly, here I was a bit disappointed.

For a story about a woman pregnant with the devil's child, I expected more suspense. The ending is nice and tense, but there's not a whole lot of action to carry me through to the end. Rosemary gets a little sick-looking, sure, and there are a couple of moments when she devours raw meat that helped to create a real feeling of unease. The problem, though, is that we know from the beginning how things are going to end. It's no real surprise when we find out who the father of the baby is, because we saw the whole thing, right from the inception.

Which leads to another criticism I had with the film - it's unnecessarily graphic. The female lead gets a couple of full-frontal shots, which feel completely tacked on and irrelevant. Again, that's probably a weird complaint, especially when "devil rape" is the central action in the story. The nudity doesn't really serve to shock or make anyone feel uncomfortable - it's just sort of there.

I've been told I should be more forgiving of the film and consider the impact it must have had when it first came out - and, granted, the audience of 1968 was probably more shocked by nudity than I was. Still, I think the best movies don't need time to serve as an excuse - they're great REGARDLESS of when you watch them.

Case in point: Psycho.

There's a reason this is considered to be one of the best movies of all time. It's truly fantastic. The entire movie works to build a growing sense of unease that completely rocks the audience.

I wish I'd seen this movie before hearing the whole plot synopsis - that way, the surprise reveals would have been more effective. Alfred Hitchcock, though, is a master, and I found myself shouting in surprise (yes, shouting, alone in my apartment) at every twist. The famous shower scene is every bit as effective as you've heard without actually showing the naked woman (take note, Rosemary's Baby).

I strongly recommend Psycho for a Halloween viewing. The movie now belongs on my list of all-time favorites.