Gothic movies

So we meet again, little snarklings.

As promised, this week, I’ll be diving into Gothic movies. As I stated before, this is a part of a four week-long series in where I am diving into Gothic films, tunes, books and live shows.

Black Swan

2010

(Starring Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel and Mila Kunis)

Seven ½ bats out of 10

I have only one word to describe this movie and that word is: spellbinding. The story of Black Swan follows a talented, but mentally unstable ballerina, named Nina, who is on the brink of stardom. She is endlessly pushed by her artist director and is threatened by a rival dancer.

The choreography is amazing, Portman’s pointe work is very realistic and the storyline is beautifully written and well played out.

There is a reason why the movie is rated R- there is a lot of cussing, a bit a drinking, and a few adult scenes. Now I personally think Black Swan could’ve done without the extra vulgarity. It just doesn’t add to the movie, but it does show’s Nina’s darker side.

Hotel Transylvania

2012

(Starring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade and Cee Lo Green)

Nine ½ bats out of ten

(NOTE: the rating is based on the trailer’s storyline)

This is one movie that I can’t wait to come out onto DVD (I hate going to the cinema- it’s a terribly long story). The trailer shows that the story is about Count Dracula’s love for his only child, a sweet looking little girl named Macy. So to protect her from humans, he builds a giant resort for monster and ghouls to live in peace. But all that is ruined when a human finds them and “crashes the party”. He and Macy quickly fall in love, and the story (from what I can tell) revolves around the count trying to make his daughter fall out of love. But I got all this from the trailer, so I could be wrong. Please do not bombard me with emails tell me what the story is about- I’m hoping to get the DVD when it is released and be surprised by the story.

The Crow franchise

1994, 1996, 2000, 2005

Eight bats out of ten

Now I know that there are people who love these movies, and that there are people who loath these movies with every fiber of their being. I can’t really say that I’m one or the other because I’ve watched half of the first The Crow movie (the 1994 one starring Brandon Lee) on YouTube. And it was… gruesomely horrid. Macabre. Amazing special effects. It was just the film that I needed to watch on a day when thunder and lightning dominated the sky and hills near where I live. And I loved every bit of the forty seven minutes of that scary movie I watched. However, the power went out and later (once the power was restored) when I went to go watch the rest of the movie, it had been removed “due to copyright infringement”. So I hope to buy the entire collection sometime in the near future so that way I can dive into the world of revenge coming back from the grave to bite wrongdoers in the ass.

Phantom of the Opera

2004 (movie)

(starring Emmy Rossum, Gerard Butler and Patrick Wilson)

One ½ bats out of ten

2010 25^th anniversary concert musical composed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber

(staring Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess and Hadley Frasier)

Ten bats out of ten

I love the musical, not the movie. They butchered many of the songs. The historical accuracy doesn’t fit (back then, it would have been considered scandalous for an unmarried man and woman to be alone in a dressing room. Tongues would have been wagging.) Patrick Wilson (Raoul de Changy) had God awful hair. Gerald Butler (the phantom) shouted/ strained a great deal of his notes- he was yowling most of the time. Emmy Rossum (Christine Daae) and Wilson had an extremely weak on screen love connection. Emmy Rossum’s voice was weak and very untrained. Joel Schumacher butchered the film, and to borrow a line from Butler, it was “a lamentable mess!”

Now, the 25’th anniversary live at Royal Albert Hall. Wowzers. That was something to behold. This was a much better told story, however there were a few itty bitty baby like hiccups.

They got rid of the Christine lookalike wearing the wedding dress in “Music of the Night”. It looked to me that the phantom (played beautifully by Ramin Karimloo) grabbed her arm and that appeared to have made her faint.

I know that there are people out there who think that Sierra Boggess is superior to any other Christine. However, her voice was recorded and then modified on a computer for the trademark high E in the title song “The Phantom of the Opera”. You can also hear how high and strained her voice is in “Wishing you were Somehow Here Again” and when she is doing the vocalizations in the title song. I personally prefer Sarah Brightman as my choice for Christine Daae.

Raoul (Hadley Frasier) pops up during random moments (like in “Wandering Child”- at least the movie explains what he was doing in the cemetery).

Also, during the title song, Karimloo and Boggess walked back and forth in the catwalk, making me think that they were looking for a trapdoor to mysteriously vanish into or that they were lost.

These are all the issues that I had with the DVD, which was filmed during LIVE performance, I should add. (Trust me- it is harder than hell to act on stage and in a film at the same time- I tried it once and failed miserably.)

Dracula 2000 franchise

2001, 2003, 2005

Seven ½ bats out of ten

There have been many mixed reviews of this movie, so I’ll tell y’all of what I’ve seen on YouTube. (This is a movie that I’m planning on getting in the near future.)

Gerald Butler is said to look like a girl with his shoulder length hair. This is something that I find to be quite hysterical- to me, he can’t look like a girl.

Mama

2013

(Starring Jessica Chastain)

Ten bats out of ten

(NOTE: the rating is based on the trailer’s storyline)

 Waiting for this movie to come out on DVD. As I stated before, I hate going to the cinema with a fiery passion. But from what I understand from the trailer, the story is about two girls who are left in a cabin for five years, cared for by a mysterious ghost who they call “Mama”. They are rescued and sent to a physiatric hospital to recover from their animal like behavior.

The Woman in Black

2012

Daniel Radcliff

Eight ½ bats out of ten

(NOTE: the rating is based on the trailer’s storyline)

Again, this is a movie that I only heard about (I know, I know- I am quite pathetic.) but fret not- I have this movie on order!

Now I personally LOVE Daniel Radcliff’s acting- he is quite amazing, but in this historic horror movie, he plays a recently widowed father who takes his young son to an abandoned house in the country. But from what I can tell (from the trailer) is that there is something mysterious lurking in the house… and that something (or someone?) has evil intensions towards father and son.

Until we meet again. In next week’s post, I shall be going over Gothic theater shows.

Please feel free to follow the links that I have provided for more information on this week’s topic or email me at viktoryarozetassi@hotmail.com

And please do not hesitate to inform me of any errors that I make in my posts. I am always more than happy to accept feedback and criticism.

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