The Countdown to Halloween Day 23 The Ghost & Mr. Chicken (1966)

 

I guess this is more comedy than it is horror, but I still like to think of this as an early horror/comedy film.  Possibly one of the first horror comedy films ever made.  Featuring Don Knotts in on of his first rolls after leaving The Andy Griffin Show as Luther, a typesetter who works at the local newspaper.  Luther dreams of being an investigative reporter and thinks he catches his big break when he is the only person to report a death.  Turns out the "dead" victim was just drunk and knocked out by his wife.

Also starring as Ollie, a newspaper reporter, is Skip Homeier who before this had starred in western films including The Tall T and Comanche Station.  Ollie is dating the beautiful Alma who is played by Joan Staley (Valley of the Dragon and Roustabout) and who Luther also has a crush on.  The newspapers janitor Mr. Kelsey, played by Liam Redmond (Curse of the Demon and Yield to the Night) tells Luther that it is the 20th anniversary of the murder-suicide that took place at the old Simmons mansion which is supposedly haunted. 

Luther and the editor of the paper George Beckett played by Dick York (the second Darrin on Bewitched and The Beast with A Thousand Eyes) decide it would be a good idea for Luther to stay the night in the Simmons place to see if it really is haunted.  Haunted comedy/horror ensues.  Knotts is hysterical in parts but also a bit pathetic at other times, but it was a good effort after leaving the safety net that was Mayberry.  The Simmon’s place is adequately both spooky and humorously exaggerated.

 

The story starts strong, begins to break apart right after Luther spends the night in the house and then struggles to recollect itself.  Which it does just in time to give us a satisfying ending.  Wanna hear something that might surprise some of you?  The house that was used (on the Universal lot)  as the Simmon’s mansion was used nearly 40 years later as the Solis house on Desperate Housewives.  I KNOW!

 

Doing the directing here is Alan Rafkin who Knotts knew well from Rafkin having directed several Andy Griffith Show episodes.  Rafkin would also go on to direct Knots in two more comedies; The Shakiest Gun in the West and How to Frame a Fig.  From my earliest memories I loved Don Knotts.  Everything from The Incredible Mr. Limpet, which came out before Mr. Chicken, to when he playred Mr. Furley on Three’s Company, which was one of the last things I saw him in.  Don Knotts was one of the funniest people I ever saw.

 

Now he was not a lead actor, for sure, but as a supporting actor he has five Emmy Awards as proof that he was one of the best.  And that was all we really needed here because Knott’s fear was our fear.  Just over the top enough to be humorous but still close to how most of us would deal with the haunts Luther encountered.  The child me would have given this something between four and five stars.  But the adult me at least gets his feet back down firmly on the ground and STILL gives this four pipe organs out of five.  C’mon it’s funny, it’s spooky, and it’s a got a little mystery thrown in there as well.  I highly recommend it.  Side note:  I'm still experimenting with some of the layout of my posts.  So I did something different with it this time.  Not sure if I like it or am "Meh" about it.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Countdown to Halloween Day 22 The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

 

 

We go back inside the beautiful yet very twisted mind of Mike Flanagan once again.  This time we explore his interpretation on The Fall of the House of Usher, a horror miniseries from 2023.  Once again, the list of starring actors in both The Haunting of Bly Manor as well as Hill House, stars as Verna, a mysterious woman from the Usher’s past.  Bruce Greenwood plays Roderick Usher and while not in anything else I’ve written about this month he has been in other Flanagan films.  Both Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game (both adapted from Stephen King novels) also finds Flanagan directing with Greenwood starring.

 

 

Roderick’s twin sister Madeline Usher is portrayed by Mary McDonnell who you might also have seen in Donnie Darko or Independence Day.  Henry Thomas, who has been in just about everything Flanagan has directed (Bly Manor, Hill House, Midnight Mass, Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game and there’s even more than that) as well as E.T., is Roderick’s oldest son Frederick Usher.  But wait, there’s more; we also have Kate Siegel who aside from being married to Flannagan she has also been in Hill House, Gerald’s Game, Midnight Mass, Hush, and Oculus.  Even the last two are from Flanagan.  Siegel plays Camille Roderick’s illegitimate daughter.

 

 

Another of Roderick’s illegitimate children is Rahul Kohli as Napoleon or Leo as he is also known as.  Kohli has also appeared in many of Flanagan’s films including Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Life of Chuck which is another Flanagan film that came out earlier this.  Coincidentally, it was also originally a Stephen King story.  Now before I bore you with any other people appearing in FOTHOU (yeah, I ain’t spelling it all out every time), because there are many more let’s talk about the plot a little.  The miniseries is all based on Edgar Allan Poe stories.  Like for instance, Verna in an anagram of “raven”.  Roderick and his twin sister and their family are all the owners of a pharmaceutical company named Fortunato.  That is of course from The Cask of Amontillado.

 

 

Frederick’s name is taken from Metzengerstein a short story by Poe.  And so on.  Every episode is also named after a work by Poe.  The second episodes title is The Masque of the Red Death and the third is titled Murders in the Rue Morgue for just two examples.  While other episodes take their names from some of the more quotable lines that Poe has written.  For instance, the very first episode is titled A Midnight Dreary which we all know from The Raven.  Or should know, because if you don’t know, do you even know horror, bro?  Now what is the show about I hear you asking.  Well, read on as I told you all of that so I could tell you this –

 

 

Roderick and his sister Madeline are the CEO and COO respectively of their pharmaceutical company.  They are both a little corrupt (maybe more than a little) and the story takes place over seventy years.  The main idea of the story is that Roderick’s children, all six of them, die under mysterious circumstances all within two weeks of each other.  After the final child dies, Roderick invites C. August Dupin over to his house.  Dupin is an assistant prosecutor who has been trying to expose Roderick’s shady business dealings.  Roderick, through the course of the series, tells Dupin all he wanted to know and more.  All the family secrets are exposed.

 

 

I almost buried the lead here, one of the big names attached to FOTHOU is none other than Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.  Hamill plays the Usher families attorney.  He is also “the fixer” for the family.  During the eight episodes, we also see how each of Roderick’s children meets their untimely end.  The series is dark, gruesome, fast paced, and enjoyable.  Each episode is almost like part of an anthology where Roderick and Dupin’s scenes acting as the wrap around story.  Aside from the children’s stories we also get some backstory into how the Usher twins created their empire.  Each episode’s title gives a little glimpse (if you are familiar with the Poe story they are named after that is) into what you will see in each episode.

 

 

The show was well received and got great ratings for Netflix.  Hamill received a Saturn award for his work in the series while several others were nominated for other various awards.  I gotta tell you in the last year or so I have seen a lot of Flanagan’s work, and I have yet to be disappointed.  OK, I lied a little, I didn’t really like Gerald’s Game very much but to be honest I didn’t care for the book very much either.  The Fall of the House of Usher may be my favorite of all the Flannagan miniseries.  Roderick’s house looks so creepy and Gothic that I want to live there.  

 

 

Most of the stories about how the Usher kids are killed (I say kids, but they are all adults), I couldn’t care less that they were going to meet their doom.  Maybe one or two of them I didn’t want to see die but I knew what I was in for, so I tried not to get too attached.  While all the episodes are around the one hour mark, they never feel long or drawn out.  Each story is loaded with information that helps paint the big picture.  Man o’ man are some of those scenes out there and like I said if you are familiar, you know what’s coming.  Sort of.

 

 

 

There are some moments when I was watching and thinking “Well how are they going to work that into the story?” and they certainly do.  Usually with me commenting “Oh no!” or “Oh shit!” or something of that nature because even though I knew what was coming I didn’t know it was coming like THAT!  Of all of Flanagan’s work this might be my favorite so far.  I’ll go four and a half (and I was leaning towards a full five) Goldbugs for this nearly perfect masterpiece.