Diary of the Dead 2018: Week 3

I’m logging my Monster Movie Month © viewing with ultra-mini reviews at the end of every week this October. I write it. You read it. No one needs to get hurt.

October 12

Straight Jacket (1964- dir. William Castle) ***

This is a minor William Castle shocker, but Joan Crawford makes her presence felt as a woman trying to put her life back together after a long stint in an asylum for offing her husband with a wire hanger an axe. The twist is so-so, but getting the chance to see Crawford ham it up in a Castle picture is enough. The picture loses half a point because Castle never actually appears on screen to charm us with a schlocky gimmick while sucking on a giant cigar.

October 13

It Follows (2014- dir. David Robert Mitchell) ****½

366 Days at the Drive-In: Day 182

The Date: March 30

The Movie: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

What Is It?: Quite possibly the first great horror movie, quite probably the ultimate expression of German expressionism. A distorted fantasy land of artificial sets, mad mesmerism, and monstrous somnambulists. I bet this movie made Max Fleischer drool.

Why Today?: Today is  Doctor’s Day. I hope yours is more professional than this one.