I’ve watched 3 episodes so far and I think this is the worst Star Wars related story I’ve seen and I’m not a huge fan of anything except the first 3 movies. I like the other movies, but not geeking out over them like I did when I saw the first 3 when I was a kid with my Dad & Brother at the movies and then watched them over and over on cable. Mando has its moments and Boba was decent even though I would like more violence and cool stuff like the opening seen of Mando season 1. The Star Wars franchise has always had a few weak links when it comes to acting, but the first 3 episodes are by far the worst acting I’ve seen so far in anything Star Wars related. Specifically the actress that is pursuing Kenobi everywhere. I mean Flea’s acting was better and he was awful too. Not a big fan of the Princess either and the whole Jedi chasing a 10 year old that doesn’t look or sound like she’s 10 around a city and across rooftops was just ridiculous. I could go on, but why bother. Disney is going to keep ruining this franchise like they are the Marvel one. I’ll be finishing this one just to see if it can actually get worse. This show is not even “fair”. I don’t know what # is for “poor” but if it’s anything higher than a 4 it’s worse than that, and probably closer to a 3/10 than a 4/10.
This is a classic for a reason, it’s a must see. Most of the movie is a 6 or 7, but the last 20ish minutes, with the child scene and once the mob gets going, the movie is a 9 or 10. I remember thinking when I was a kid how tragic the scene with the child was (although I’m not sure I knew what tragic meant at the time, the idea definitely conveyed). He was out of flowers to float and made the next logical step in his damaged child like mind. I also wondered what happened to the poor kitten. As an adult watching old movies it’s amazing how lackadaisical parents are about watching their children. I was a child of the 70s and we ran the neighborhood alone, but leaving your kid that couldn’t swim, alone near a lake while you go to check traps…I would think that was poor judgment even in the 1800s when the story was written.lol One thing the movie didn’t do, was explain, even a little, how the father came to the conclusion that his daughter was murdered and how they came to the conclusion that it was the monster who did it. I mean the way I see it he had an alibi, everyone saw him crashing a wedding. At one point when they are listening for the monster that is loose in the wedding building the monster “groans”, and it sounds more like a fart box which I laughed at. Anyway I’m going to research how many actors were hurt in the making of this. Colin Clive or a stunt man rolled his leg over a torch in one scene which looked like it could have hurt and I doubt they had much in the way of safety precautions or equipment in 1931. If you get a chance read up on Mary Shelley’s life and all the people that were part of her life…talk about tragedies.
The biggest prop bat on strings or real bat for that matter I’ve laid eyes upon. Love the music in the opening credits. I’ve heard it many times before, but can’t place it and don’t know if it’s original to the movie (going to have to do some research). To be honest, this movie was a little disappointing to me. I’ve seen 100s of vampire movies, but wasn’t sure if I had seen this before. I probably would have given it a 6, but I bumped it up to a 7 keeping in mind that it was made in 1931. It’s not very exciting, the movie is mostly silent and there isn’t any suspenseful music in the background and besides lighting up his stare, a stormy boat trip, some fog and lightning, a dangling bat, and a crawling spider there isn’t much in the way of camera tricks or special effects (not even bite marks or fangs). The acting isn’t bad, for the most part, and the sets are really good. It’s the OG Dracula, so it’s a must see. Updated: The music played during the opening credits is from “Swan Lake”, no wonder it sounded familiar, everyone has heard parts of it somewhere wether they know it or not. It fits the opening perfectly.
I think there is more fog in this movie than in “The Fog”. Venetia Stevenson, whose daughter was the inspiration for the Guns N’ Roses song “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and was married to Axl Rose, is absolutely stunning…what a beauty. She has some decent acting chops as well. Another fun fact, her likeness has been printed on Sweetheart Stout bottles and cans since 1958. Anyway to the movie…more fog machine please. The beginning part of the movie has the witches declaring their souls to Satan which may have been edgy at the time and seemed almost as if it was a different film with a darker tone. The acting is above average for a horror film and takes a little bit of the bad taste out of your mouth at having been fed plot points repeatedly. In classic horror film fashion, the lead ignores all the clues, even though she reads them out loud to the audience, and she goes into the basement anyway. This is a good movie even though the writers let you know at every turn what lies ahead. Literally…there is a guy at a stop giving directions and unheeded advice throughout the film, and another one that hitches rides at a turn towards town that is an omen of bad things to come.
This movie is a wreck if you dissect it, but it is also what makes it slightly more enjoyable. The problem is I don’t believe that was the intent. After the nurse faints from hearing a voice telling her something on the phone (the main plot of the movie), she takes what seems like 15 minutes of overacting and being cajoled to let us know exactly what was said to her during her 20 second phone call…I was cringing during this whole exchange. Later on there were flashback sequences that were much, much longer than most movie flashbacks and they showed things that the person having the flashback wouldn’t have been involved in, which I found funny (although I may have misinterpreted this, as I had some real life goings on outside my house that drew my attention away a couple of times while watching this and I didn’t care to watch it again). This was one of those movies that at every turn you will find yourselves thinking that no real person would react or act the way the characters did in almost every situation presented to them and this movie is probably worth the watch for that reason alone. This one will leave you scratching your head at times, not in a trying to figure it out way, but more in a that really just happened and I bore witness to it sort of way.
