Trailblazing Sci-Fi & Horror Films

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by P47P47

I see what you're getting at and agree that the scene is somewhat superfluous, but we have to remember that audiences at that time weren't quite as familiar with the concept of "psycho killers" as they are now, partly because of media references like "Psycho".

True. Which is another reason why PSYCHO was truly groundbreaking.

But that scene is still bad storytelling. It breaks the primary rule of good storytelling: Show. Don't tell.

It would be like an additional scene at the end of THE WIZARD OF OZ, if Auntie Em sat Dorothy down to explain to her, "Now, Dorothy, you do realize that you simply got knocked out in the storm, and all this Oz business was just a dream you had."

Or if SHANE ended with the mom sitting the little boy down to explain, "Shane had to ride off, son. He represents violence, and we represent civilization. The two just can't stay together for long. Besides, he's dying, son, and he didn't want you to see that."

We didn't need either of those scenes because we already got it. The story showed us that already. The director doesn't need Character X to explain everything. A good storyteller or a good director gives us 2 + 2, then lets us come up with 4 on our own.

[Pawporri]

Anyone remember an oldie called "Mr. Sardonicus" ? It was definitely a "trailblazer"
since there was nothing like it before or after. A rather sinister and disturbing film
for its time.

[Pawporri]

Originally Posted by victimofGM

Metropolis was many decades ahead of it's time in both science fiction theme and special effects.
Still love watching "The Forbidden Planet" today.

A movie that was scary in one era is not so scary in another era. I prefer to look at the scary movie in relation to the fear it created in audiences of it's time. One example is "When A Stranger Calls". In the time it came out, young teen girls often worked as a neighbor's babysitter. It scared my sister from working as a babysitter. When "The Exorcist" came out there were literally some people passing out in the theater. "The Phantom of The Opera" really scared audiences of it's time when the mask was removed. The original classical monster movies (Frankenstein & The Mummy) were very good but later turned into a caricature of themselves through remakes and attempted continuations and comedies. Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney were great actors who managed to deliver a great performance even under all that movie make-up costume. Only one living actor today can come close to their acting in heavy make-up and it's Ron Pearlman.

I can recall my father telling me the story about how audiences were running out of the theaters
when Lon Chaney, Sr.'s mask was taken off in the film. He also said that Chaney did all his own
makeup. My father claimed that in order to do his "Phantom" face he used fish hooks inside his
mouth to pull back his lips so far that his teeth looked like a skeleton's.