#double features

Dracula and Frankenstein

Dont Look Now and Wicker Man

The Blob and Dinosaurus

The Fog and Phantasm

Dracula Prince of Darkness and Plague of the Zombies

Godzillas REvenge and Island of the Burning Damned(Night of the Big Heat )

King Kong vs Godzilla and Brides of Dracula

Spirits of the Dead and Destroy All Monsters

Die Monster Die and Planet of the Vampires

And

Jail House Rock and Curse of Frankenstein

@the-blue-fairie @countesspetofi @themousefromfantasyland

@ariel-seagull-wings @amalthea9 @alexa-santi-author @tamisdava2

@theancientvaleofsoulmaking @maimoncat @princesssarisa

Transit & A City of Sadness

Conclave & Twelve Angry Men & Doubt

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance & As We Were Dreaming & La Haine

Jacob the Liar & Ay Carmela

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All titles available through YouTube, iTunes, Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, Criterion Channel; I highlight which specific paid subscriptions have certain titles now, but you can always check YouTube and iTunes for any of these:

1. GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST SILENT CLASSICS The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) - YouTube (free) Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (1922) - YouTube (free)

2. 1940s CHILLERS PRODUCED BY VAL LEWTON, WRITTEN BY ARDEL WRAY & DIRECTED BY JACQUES TOURNEUR The Leopard Man (1943) - Criterion Channel I Walked with a Zombie (1943) - Criterion Channel

3. TESTING YOUR LIMITS Eyes Without a Face (1960) - Criterion Channel The Evil Dead (1981) - Hulu

4. AMERICAN VALUES Night of the Living Dead (1968) - Criterion Channel Ravenous (1999) - Hulu

5. HORROR SUPERHEROES Blade (1998) - Hulu The Crow (1994) - Netflix

6. VARIATIONS ON BLOODLUST The Lure (2015) - Criterion Channel The Hunger (1983) - Amazon Prime [$2.99], iTunes [$3.99], YouTube [$2.99]

7. FEAR BEGETS FEAR The Brood (1979) - Criterion Channel The Devil's Backbone (2001) - Criterion Channel

8. SCHOOL IS OUT OF SESSION Diabolique (1955) - Criterion Channel Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) - Criterion Channel

9. ABOUT WOMEN, WRITTEN/DIRECTED BY WOMEN (COLLEGE EDITION) The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) - YouTube (free) Sorority House Massacre (1986) - YouTube (free)

10. ARE OUR BODIES OUR SELVES? The Skin I Live In (2011) - Amazon Prime [$2.99], iTunes [$3.99], YouTube [$3.99] Under the Skin (2013) - Netflix

11. SCENES FROM TWO MARRIAGES Rosemary's Baby (1968) - Hulu Hour of the Wolf (1968) - Criterion Channel

12. THIS APARTMENT BUILDING ISN'T WORTH ALL THE MURDER Shivers (1975) - Hulu Inferno (1980) [sequel to Suspiria] - YouTube (free)

If movie monsters represent anxieties of their times, it’s interesting how the execution of the films themselves in can represent a reaction to those anxieties.  In the white-picket-fence days of The War of the Worlds (1953), our heroes lay on the Christianity fast and thick. In a move that I’m positive would please the religion-critical HG Wells, the narrator explains that even the germs that do in the invaders in the end were part of God’s divine plan.  Meanwhile, Spielberg’s 2005 adaptation wraps itself in the flag as it lionizes the military in response to the aliens’ terrorist threat.

 Thematic navel-gazing aside, there’s plenty to enjoy in both films.  War of the Worlds (2005) is perhaps Spielberg’s last truly unique project before he slipped into a long trail of reliable but ultimately unremarkable movies.  We get hints of the chaotic-family energy that make earlier efforts like E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind so memorable. And its 1953 cousin… has fun, goofy special effects, I guess?

 THE RULES

SIP

Someone says ‘space’, ‘scientist’, or ‘solah flayre’.

A meteor or lightning bolt appears onscreen.

Radio transmission or television broadcast.

Someone bellows “Robbie” in the 2005 version.

 BIG DRINK

Narration begins.

A branch of the military is named.