I'm trying to compile a list of films I want to watch, to see if they're available from one of those postal film club type things. I want to come up with an initial list of twenty films. This is what I've come up with so far:
The Best Pair of Legs in the Business
I just need to think of two more. I don't know if they'll all be available through the club.
Robin Davies writes:
Stalker, El Topo and The Innocents are among my all-time favourites. Plan 9 From Outer Space is also a joy in its own peculiar way. Do you want any further suggestions? If so what sort of films are you after?By the way, if you get the Artificial Eye release of Stalker I suggest you select the original mono soundtrack option on the menu. The 5.1 remix has extra music added which, not surprisingly, really annoyed the Tarkovsky purists.The BFI release of The Innocents has a superb commentary by Christopher Frayling. His “Introduction” is also excellent but it’s more of a documentary than an introduction and it’s best to watch the film first.
I suppose I was thinking, to fill the last two spaces, of a classic/odd 30s or 40s horror film in the vein of White Zombie and perhaps another film in the dreary seaside resort tradition of Funny Bones and The Best Pair of Legs in the Business, but a bit older. Having said that, I already have those two on the list, so might not need more. I was also thinking of including a Bergman and maybe some others. I’ve seen Parents a few times, anyway, so I can drop that, if necessary (I think twenty is the most the film club allows you to fill in on their form at one time). I recently watched The Body Snatcher, by the way. I’ve seen it before years and years ago, but it was something of a rediscovery for me. It’s excellent.
By the way, I mentioned Neil Gaiman recently. I always wonder whether I go too far in the things that I say (I mean, not that anyone should take my opinions seriously or anything), but I saw Stardust yesterday and, sadly, it just confirmed that everything I said in my diatribe against Gaiman a while back is accurate. As a storyteller, Gaiman is a conman. Particularly bad was the confession-of-love scene between Claire Danes (?) as Yvaine, and a dormouse. I prefer Richard Curtis to Neil Gaiman. At least he writes more believable characters, and his stories are not quite so sickly.
Justin Isis writes:
Seen Ed Wood, Capote, El Topo, The Innocents, and Plan 9. ‘Glen or Glenda’ by Ed Wood is possibly more insane than Plan 9; I have it on DVD but it’s hard to find. El Topo is probably my single favorite film. If you want to watch a great ghost story check this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqElsnH6CXU&feature=related“The Changeling”
That does look interesting, but can it compete with this?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN3aETNaThIMy mind is destroyed.Why can’t life be like that?I bought a ukulele.I practice on it daily.It sounds wicky wacky waily.
I’ve seen Dead of Night, but not, I think, Vampyr, so I’ll look that up. Of the Val Lewton films I’ve only seen Cat People, I Walked With a Zimmer-Frame and, as mentioned, The Body Snatcher. Oh… was Night of the Demon… No, I don’t think it was, was it? But it was Jacques Tourneur, I think. I’ll have to check. I’ve seen a clip from The Curse of the Cat People. As far as I remember, a first spanking is an important occasion. I think I’ll have to look up the other titles before deciding on just one, though…They all look interesting, actually, especially The Leopard Man and Isle of the Dead.That reminds me, I re-read Ancient Sorceries the other day. I’m currently reading all the John Silence stories, and am on Nemesis of Fire, if I’ve got the title right. I enjoyed Ancient Sorceries more than I remembered. I think you’re right that he has a slow build up, and perhaps for that reason he only left a vague impression on me when I first read him as a teenager. It’s a very interesting tale. I kind of agree with Lovecraft’s view that the rationalising that takes place weakens the story (that it was all in Vezin’s (?) mind), but I have a theory about that. At the end Dr Silence says something about there being no way to help the man. To be honest, as I was reading it, I was egging the man on. I feel like he missed a great opportunity. So my secret and no doubt erroneous theory is that Dr Silence thinks there’s no help for him because he actually envies the man having had that experience, and he feels the allure of it, too.As I say, I’m probably completely wrong about that.
Robin Davies writes:
“a classic/odd 30s or 40s horror film in the vein of White Zombie”Vampyr and Dead Of Night spring to mind. And if you like The Body Snatcher there are all the other Val Lewton productions (listed in the order I like them, best first): The Curse Of The Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie, Cat People,The Leopard Man, The Seventh Victim, The Ghost Ship, Isle Of The Dead and Bedlam. Though I suppose The Curse Of The Cat People only has elements of horror. It’s mostly a delicate fantasy about childhood imagination.
Justin Isis writes:
I also feel like he missed the opportunity. My favorite part in that story is when the cat girl is like “Let’s go fuck in front of Satan and rub cum on each other!” (I think that was what she said, it’s been a while since I read it). Cordwainer Smith’s stories also have sex-based catgirls in them. I got the feeling from those stories that John Silence sat around reading The Forsyte Saga and occasionally felt like masturbating, but every time he actually unzipped his pants a maid entered the room and was like “Stop masturbating and get back to The Forsyte Saga!,” and he became so frustrated that he decided to go around being a ‘psychic detective’ and ruining life for other people by preventing them from getting catgirl action.
Robin Davies writes:
Night Of The Demon: you’re right it’s not one of the Lewton productions but it was directed by Tourneur.I’m re-reading some Blackwood novels at the moment. I’ve just finished The Garden Of Survival (interesting and heartfelt, though not one of the best) and Jimbo (his first novel: really excellent. Like Curse Of The Cat People it’s a superb exploration of a child’s imagination), and I’ve just started The Centaur. The philosophy of the latter seems similar to yours and a few quotes leapt off the page:”Reason and intellect, as such, had come to be worshipped by men today out of all proportion to their real value.””Reason should be the guardian of the soul’s advance, but not the object.”I like your theory about Ancient Sorceries. It makes John Silence seem a bit less square and goody-goody than he seems to be on the surface. According to Mike Ashley’s Blackwood biography the basic story (like Secret Worship) was written before the idea arose of grouping several stories together under the unifying concept of a psychic detective. Silence has a rather peripheral role in both stories and was grafted on in the final revisions. The book was heavily promoted and sold very well, enabling Blackwood to become a full-time writer.
Cordwainer Smith’s stories also have sex-based catgirls in them. I had a dream the other night that I discovered a volume of Cordwainer Smith’s work in my room. It was a tatty hardback in a kind of A4-ish format, and it was his notebooks, but in published form, and I knew in the dream that his notebooks had the reputation of being just as interesting as his finished pieces.and I’ve just started The Centaur. The philosophy of the latter seems similar to yours and a few quotes leapt off the page:
“Reason and intellect, as such, had come to be worshipped by men today out of all proportion to their real value.”
“Reason should be the guardian of the soul’s advance, but not the object.”The Centaur is on one of the bookshelves here, and I might read it (I will if I get round to it, basically). I do sense that Blackwood’s philosophy is similar to my own, not that I really think of myself as having a philosophy, as such. I think one difference might be that – as far as I can ascertain – Blackwood seemed very positive about what he did believe in, rather than simply… not simply, actually, since I can’t seem to finish that sentence.I suppose I keep meaning to write about my philosophy, such as it is, in a constructive manner, rather than what I suppose is a defensive manner, but I haven’t really, so far. Maybe I enjoy having an enemy.I started reading the Blackwood volume (this one) right after finishing the two Tatarus volumes of Aickman’s collected stories, and the difference was quite striking. I don’t actually know that much about the professed beliefs of the two writers (well, a little), but judging from their fiction, I find myself distinctly more in sympathy with Aickman. I was thinking of writing a little about this difference.According to Mike Ashley’s Blackwood biography the basic story (like Secret Worship) was written before the idea arose of grouping several stories together under the unifying concept of a psychic detective. Silence has a rather peripheral role in both stories and was grafted on in the final revisions.This doesn’t surprise me, actually. I wonder how much, then, Blackwood had originally conceived of the experience in the strange town as being all in Vezin’s head. I wouldn’t like to entirely disparage Blackwood’s aims in explaining things rationally, since this represents, I think, a very particular development in supernatural literature, and was part of Blackwood’s seriousness, as far as I can see. At the same time, here at the beginning of the 21st century, I feel like I’m quite ready to suspend my disbelief about the man’s experience without someone building the rational bridge for me of it being ‘all in the mind’. I know it’s all in the mind. It’s all in my mind as a reader, and I don’t need further justifications around this, as long as the story itself is good. But then, the story itself being good requires the serious judgement of the writer, and I suppose Blackwood made what judgements he thought necessary to his particular art.It’s interestng that Lovecraft, not believing in supernatural phenomenon, should therefore feel less need to justify them rationally in his work – the reverse of Blackwood’s attitude. Aickman, for me, represents another attitude again, and, as I said, the one with which I seem to be in most sympathy.
Robin Davies writes:I love the work of both Aickman and Blackwood and I’m slightly miffed that they are often mentioned as just “ghost story” writers who didn’t quite fit into the mould defined by M. R. James (a fine, but much less ambitious and interesting writer in my view). Although both Aickman and Blackwood wrote “ghost stories” their best work is harder to pigeonhole. Aickman’s work demonstrates his reverence for mysteries and enigmas that cannot be fitted into any system of reasoning, be it rational or occult. I see him as a sort of elegant, vaguely Pinteresque surrealist. Blackwood was a mystic who seemed to regard the world as populated by spirits or souls of various kinds, particularly nature spirits. I suppose another difference between the two is that Aickman seems more pessimistic in his worldview than Blackwood. Aickman often expresses nostalgia for a lost golden age which existed before he was born and says things like “when at last you are really happy, die at once”. As you say, Blackwood’s philosophy is a more positive one and, though his stories sometimes evoke fear, this is usually a by-product of the awe and wonder that he seems more concerned with (particularly in his novels). For someone labelled a horror or ghost story writer he seems remarkably optimistic.
I love the work of both Aickman and Blackwood and I’m slightly miffed that they are often mentioned as just “ghost story” writers who didn’t quite fit into the mould defined by M. R. James (a fine, but much less ambitious and interesting writer in my view).In slightly more adolescent terms, this reminds me of the way, when I used to hang out in a heavy metal crowd, certain members of that crowd would be confused for instance, by the likes of The Cure, because they were using electric guitars, but had somehow failed to find the correct distortion pedals to get a heavy sound. The criterion for good music was simply using the distortion pedal to heaviest effect. Actually, I do tend to think of horror (not necessarily ghost) stories as the heavy metal of literature.I think the main difference between Blackwood and Aickman that I’ve noticed is that Blackwood writes as if there is some objective truth that, for instance, Dr. Silence will make clear, sorting out what is real from what is not. For Aickman, the objective and subjective are far less clearly defined.