Day 17: Deep Red (1975)
Posted in2016 31 Days of Horror Classics

Day 17: Deep Red (1975)

For Day 17 this year, we'll be jumping right into the "Giallo" film world with Dario Argento's Deep Red!! Now, I suspect many of you aren't familiar with the "Giallo" style. To be honest, I wasn't either. But it seemed that everytime I began doing serious research into horror film history, certain movies kept popping up again and again. Suspiria is one of those films, as well as Blood and Black Lace and Deep Red. And they're all attributed to this Italian "Giallo" genre. So, what were these films from Italy? And why are they constantly cited? Well, "giallo" means…
Day 16: Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972)
Posted in2016 31 Days of Horror Classics

Day 16: Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (1972)

Well, we are officially past the halfway mark in our 31 Days of Horror series, which puts us in the 1970s! Today we're talking about another film that belongs to one of my favorite sub-genres: Hag Horror. The movie in question is 1972's Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, and it's quite the humdinger. It's a modern-day take on the tale of Hansel and Gretel, and Shelley Winters stars as the titular Auntie Roo. Man, poor Shelley Winters. Despite a colorful, decades-long career and numerous Oscar nominations/wins, she never seems to get to play somebody whom you actually like. To me, Winters will forever be the frumpy sad-sack,…
Day 15: Repulsion (1965)
Posted in2016 31 Days of Horror Classics

Day 15: Repulsion (1965)

Welcome back for Day 15 of this year's 31 Days of Horror series! Today we'll be talking about Roman Polanski's 1965 thriller, Repulsion. First of all, this is a weird, weird movie. There is so much symbolism, and so much psychological commentary, that it leaves the viewer unsure how to separate the real from the imagined. Even after watching, I still don't know which aspects were exclusively happening inside the main character's mind, and which aspects legitimately occurred. I'm certain that this is intentional on the part of Mr. Polanski, but it is a bit of a negative as well as…