Jenifer’s Journal: The silver scream
Movie quiz: Match the lines to the films:
1. ”It’s alive!”
2. “A boy’s best friend is his mother.”
3. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
4. “Here’s Johnny!”
5.“ They’re here.”
6. “I’m your number one fan.”
7. “I see dead people.”
See answers below.
It’s not just because it’s coming up on Halloween weekend, or that I just happen to love old movies, it’s also about these crazy, quasi-cinematic times we seem to be living in, which are themselves becoming chronically scary, that leads me to a scary movies discussion, movies that only last between 90 minutes and two hours, 10 minutes tops and not 24/7.
I have to talk about “old” movies because I’m, well, old. But I’ve loved them since I was 9 or 10, and they were old even then, from the 1930s and 40’s, black and white, with a few color ones, movies about romance, adventure, crime and, yes, scary ones.
Once my parents had fulfilled the mid-century cultural mandate to transform our less-than-welcoming cellar into a knotty-pine and linoleum fantasy called a “finished basement,” I viewed them all from the comfort of the reversible, red and white-striped, stain-resistant cushions on the long built-in “banquette” that ran nearly the length of two walls.
Between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. every day after school, I hid out down there, not that anyone was ever looking for me, watching The Million Dollar Movie, WOR-TV Channel 9, a program that provided the added benefit of re-playing the same movie from Monday through Friday, so if you liked the film, you could watch it five times in a row. Lucky for me, I usually liked them.
Of the scary ones, there were a few stand-outs: “The Night of the Hunter,” with Robert Mitchum like you’ve never seen him before, though back then I hadn’t seen him before, so there’s that. He plays this murderous fake minister hunting down these two little kids who inadvertently have taken his stolen money.
The shot of their murdered mother, Shelley Winters, sitting in her now-submerged car, her long hair floating around her head like seaweed? Capital “C” Creepy. It certainly gave this 10-year-old something to think about.
I was also introduced to the best of Hitchcock: “The 39 Steps,” “Notorious,” “Suspicion,” “Strangers on a Train,” “Shadow of a Doubt,” “Rear Window” — there’s more but I only get 800 words here.
But, at least for this then-10-year-old, one of the very creepiest from any director is “The Devil-Dolls,” with, of all people, Lionel Barrymore. I mean, who needs Chucky?
In 1994, Ted did us all a good Turner and added TCM. (Turner Movie Classics) to his media company, Turner Entertainment, so that his extensive library of classic films could have a home on television. For me, it’s been like Million Dollar Movie to the 13th power.
On TCM, everything that was new is old again. Relatively recent films from the 1980s, 1990s, and early-2000s like “The Silence of the Lambs,” are now showing up there, along with some modern creepy classics like “The Shining,” and of course, “Psycho.” The icky and iconic shower scene of this classic has for decades eclipsed a scene that comes a few minutes later and should be recognized for sheer scream potential — the detective going up the stairs — that’s all I’m going to say.
Starting tomorrow, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. and running through Sunday, TCM will be presenting its annual Halloween Marathon. It’s a diverse line-up that includes the ultra-familiar “Frankenstein” (1931), to the less-so, “Ligeia” (1964). All schedules for the Marathon and beyond, along with some fascinating classic film facts, can be found on the station’s website, tcm.com.
One bone (as it were) I have to pick is that they say they’re showing the “original” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1978) on Friday night. Well, any graduate of Million Dollar Movie knows that the original “original” version was made in 1956 with Kevin McCarthy and Dana Wynter and, by my lights, is still the scariest.
There are more theories about why people love horror movies than there are recipes for the perfect meatloaf. Generations of reviewers, professional and armchair alike, have plumbed the relatively shallow depths of these films and their “psychological” implications.
I only know that, even though I’m too wimpy to hang with the likes of those blood brothers, Jason, Freddy and Michael M., I still intend to be curled-up on my couch this Sunday primal-screaming my head off at some fear-filled flick. What could be more cozy and comforting than that on this Halloween, 2021 in America? Stay safe, scared silly and have fun!
Movie quiz answers:
1. Frankenstein (1931)
2. Psycho (1960)
3. Jaws (1975)
4. The Shining (1980)
5. Poltergeist (1982)
6. Misery (1990)
7. The Sixth Sense (1999).