Yeah, being my first blog I thought I'd put my heart into this, but I'm very tired, so, y'know.
Mark Gatiss, of League Of Gentlemen fame, has done a good documentary on horror filums which is still on iPlayer (small i, capital P). Watch it. Despite his constant mugging when interviewing any relative of a b-movie star, he's a good host who is eloquent about the films he enjoys. Great news is, though, is that iPlayer have included Witchfinder General and The Quatermass Xperiment on their playlist this week (God knows if they actually broadcast them - who even has a television these days?)
Witchfinder is a good watch. A mildly camp plague of anarchy and christian mythology in which the horrors are wholly human. Reminds me of this post:
So yeah, I like it when the words 'You took him from me' are shouted over and over again while a woman screams uncontrollably in the foreground before everything goes black...
Quatermass is good, but i prefer the more ponderous (if as low-budgeted), slow-burning Hammer re-makes. This first one is good, and the alien/nuclear analogy is played to the terrifying full, but I don't like Quatermass as a speed-talking, spiv-moustached wiseguy. Having said that, Andrew Keir's later, full-bearded protohippy from the Hammer films is quite irritating as well. The bonus of this is that the writing is so good that it's quite within reason to assume that Bernard Quatermass was an actual historical figure, his exploits revered and made into populist films starring great actors of the day. The historical bite of cinema is palatable between the first Xperiment (1955) and the final hammer ...And The Pit (1967) It's a good'un. I'm quite fond of the idea of a real-life science fiction character being often inelegantly portrayed by rubbish actors, it certainly attributes the themes of the feature as smack bang in the era they were filmed. Makes Dr Who's 'regeneration' look like a pathetic plot device... Oh, hang on...
It does however cement Nigel Kneale's Quatermass as a popular figure, maybe not as well know as the shitspy thug James Bond, but certainly as iconic, if not a Guardian-reader's preference. (Yep Lee, that's you)
Going to bed now. bye.
