Madman (1982)
Since by the end of the Friday the 13th series, the films were pretty far away from their early 80's slasher roots, I decided to pick a film from that era to watch next. I had never heard of this film, but it was showing on IFC this month, so I decided to give it a try.
This is a pretty straight forward entry in the genre - low budget, takes place in the woods at night, silent killer performing his killings on the anniversary of some earlier tragedy/massacre (although, that may have just been part of the story one of the counselors told at the beginning to scare the kids - it may not actually have been the same date as the earlier killings). Madman takes place at a camp, and one of the counselors tells a campfire story about Madman Marz, who killed his family with an ax but escaped the noose and ran into those very woods. Of course, one of the smart ass kids does exactly what you are not supposed to do (say Marz' name above a whisper) and he appears and begins to knock off the adults one by one. Like in most slasher films, there is a final confrontation with the killer and he is seemingly killed. This wasn't a bad entry in the slasher film genre, and at a quick 88 minutes, worth a watch if you are a fan of that type of film (sure, its pretty much a ripoff of Friday the 13th, but pretty much all of the slasher films at the time were...).
Black Sunday (1960)
This is the debut of Italian director Mario Bava (director of previous entry in the fest Shock). This film really shows why he has the reputation as one of the greatest Italian horror directors.
Black Sunday is the story of a 200 year old witch (who is also some type of vampire) who is accidentally resurrected from her tomb. She proceeds to make more vampires and attempts to drain the blood of her lookalike (played by the same actress). Its up to a local priest and a traveling doctor to put a stop to her. The film is a definite call back to the Gothic horror films of the 30s. It is black & white, and looks like it could have been made at the same time as some of the Universal classics of the time. Black is very creepy and atmospheric, and adds a touch of gore that wasn't allowed back in the 30s. This film definitely showed why Mario Bava is considered one of the greatest Italian Horror directors of them all.
Near Dark (1987)
This is a late 80s vampire movie that has a good reputation (and was directed by the same person as The Hurt Locker!) that I was looking forward to, but ultimately was fairly uneven.
The plot: One night, a young guy named Caleb meets a girl who bites him (turning him into a vampire), kidnaps him, and brings him to her "family" - all vampires themselves. They are not pleased and want to kill him, but they decide to give him time to see if he can become a killer and one of them. Caleb refuses to kill, and holds out long enough for his family to rescue him. His father manages to cure him of his vampirism (more on that in a bit), and he manages to cure the woman who turned him after killing off the the rest of the vampire family.
First, the things I liked about the film: Lance Henriksen plays the lead vampire, and he is his usual awesome self - disturbing and menacing. Bill Paxton plays another of the vampire clan, and he is HIS usual awesome self - high-strung and spastic. I like that they attempt a different vibe for a vampire film - it really shies away from a lot of the supernatural elements (other than them being vampires). There are no crosses or holy water. No changing into bats or being able to hypnotize anyone. The sun is really the only thing they fear. Finally, there is a pretty great scene in a bar, where the clan is giving Caleb one last chance to become a killer. The tension really mounts as each member of the family tries to show him how its done.
Now, the things I didn't like: Caleb is cured of his vampirism by a simple blood transfusion from his father. That seems like a giant cop out to allow the film to have a happy ending. I could see it if maybe they gave some sort of explanation, like it worked because he never actually fed on a victim (just on Mae, the vampire who turned him), or it worked because it was from a family member. However, they used the same technique on Mae at the end to turn her back. Another negative is that there was no attempt to have a realistic passage of time at night. It seemed that, just to suit the plot, whenever they needed to ratchet up the tension, it was almost dawn, whether it made sense for it to be or not (this town must have the shortest nights on record - in one scene it was almost dawn after they left a bar that was still open for business, and at the end, it was almost dawn when it really hadn't been all that long since Caleb and his family finished dinner). Lastly, there were way too many stretches with not enough happening.
I might have to give this one another viewing in the future to see if the positives outweigh the negatives the 2nd time....
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