Monday: The Devil-Doll (1936)
Paul was a respected banker in Paris. Then his partners framed him for a crime he didn't commit. Years later he escapes prison with a friend. The friend leads them to his house. He is a scientist who has found a way to shrink living things. So far only dogs and horses. But the machine is ready to do it to humans. The shrunken beings have no will of their own. So you have to concentrate on them and tell them what to do. The friend suddenly dies. His wife wants Paul's help to continue with the work. Paul has other ideas. He sneaks back into Paris dressed as an old woman and uses the shrunken people or "dolls" to get revenge on the men who framed him. This movie was ok.
Tuesday: The Raven (1963)
This movie is inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe poem. Erasmus is a skilled sorcerer. One night a raven knocks on his window. He lets it in and the raven starts talking. It is another sorcerer named Adolphus. He had been at a council meeting and had challenged Scarabus, a very powerful sorcerer, to a duel and got turned into a raven. Erasmus helps him change back. Upon seeing a painting of Erasmus's late wife Aldolphus says he saw her at Scarabus's castle. Knowing this is impossible but wanting to see it for himself, Erasmus goes with him back to the castle. After discovering what was going on Erasmus and Scarabus duel. This movie was ok. It had some classic horror movie actors like Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, and Boris Karloff. And surprisingly a young Jack Nicholson as Adolphus's son.
Wednesday: Dead of Night (1945)
An architect named Walter travels to see a new client. At the house he realizes it is the same house from a dream he keeps having. Everyone inside the house is from the dream too. No one believes him when he tell them this. Even when he is able to predict what happens next. Each person then tells of their own encounter with the supernatural. A teenager talked with a ghost. A man saw another room in his mirror. Another met a man who claimed it was his ventriloquist dummy who committed the murder. One was saved by a hearse driver and another was on a haunted golf course. Still Walter is convinced something bad is going to happen. This movie was alright. Clearly I recorded all these movies around Halloween. Since I've finished all the Universal monster movies I could have saved some of these for Halloween. But I'm glad I didn't. They weren't very good.
Friday: Monster's Ball (2001)
Hank is a racist prison executioner. The job is a tradition in his family. His dad did it and now his son does it. The first prisoner his son will help execute is a black man named Lawrence. Lawrence's wife, Leticia, and their son come to visit him. Leticia is having a hard time paying the bills and keeping their house. She leaves with their son. Hank's son messes up before the execution. Later Hank yells and beats his son for ruining the Lawrence's last moments. His son later kills himself. Grieving his son and questioning his life he quits his job. Leticia becomes a waitress at Hank's favorite diner. They don't know each other. One night driving home from the diner Hank sees Leticia on the side of the road holding her son who had been hit by a car. He reluctantly helps her. Her son dies. Hank starts to help her. They bond over their shared grief of losing their sons. Soon they fall in love. Hank changes and becomes a better man. This is a good movie. Halle Berry won an Oscar for her role as Leticia. She was the first woman of color to win for best actress. And still is the only one to have won it. At the beginning of the movie I got that electricity and excitement you get knowing it's going to be a good movie. Then I saw Heath Ledger was in it (Hank's son) and I got excited for the movie to get going. But then the son died at the beginning of the movie and it wasn't that good.
Saturday: The Vast of Night (2019)
Set in the 50's in New Mexico this movie starts off being a Twilight Zone like episode on a TV. Then we go into the episode. Fay is a teenager who works as a switchboard operator. She is friends with Everett, who has a radio show. One night while most of the small town is at a basketball game Fay hears something weird on the radio during Everett's show. Then she gets a call with the same sound. She asks other operator's if they hear it. Then she calls Everett. He plays it on his show to see if anyone knows what it is. They get a call from a man named Bill who heard it working for the military. He was brought to the middle of nowhere to build a structure to hide a huge saucer like thing. He heard that sound that night. Some of the other men from that night heard it too and have since then. Fay and Everett do more research to find out what is happening. They discover it might be coming from space. This is a good movie. I enjoyed it. It is low budget but very well done.
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