Harefooted Halloween: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

What I Liked: This film is famous for two things and one is the makeup effects.  To transition from Jekyll to Hyde makeup effects artist Wally Westmore (Double Indemnity) and director Rouben Mamoulian (The Mark of Zorro) applied layers of different colors to Fredric March’s face that were revealed in real time through various colored filters in front of the camera.  The end result is arresting.  The shift is so smooth and quick that it looks impossible.  On top of this March is gagging and writhing in agony accentuating his now ghastly discolored face.  Just incredible.  The other transformation scenes are very well done too with the camera panning down to March’s hands to show them turning a darker color and then quick panning up to his face that is either in the midst of transforming or has already fully converted over.  I think a key element to selling these scenes is how fast the changeover is.  It’s not instantaneous but it isn’t dwelled upon either as if to nudge you in the ribs while saying “hey check this out!”  All convincing and marvelous decisions.  I had to rewind these scenes a couple of times to soak them all up including one showing Jekyll only from the back when he suddenly starts to eerily grow taller.

If you came for the effects then you’ll stay for the other famous aspect, Fredric March’s (The Best Years of Our Lives) performance.  He pulls off the genial and amorous Dr. Jekyll and the barbarous and hateful Mr. Hyde perfectly.  We see that as Jekyll he cares for his patients, has a good rapport with his colleagues and friends and dearly loves his fiancé, Muriel (Rose Hobart (Wolf of New York)).  But we also glean that he’s impatient and impulsive.  For example, he hates that his future father-in-law won’t move up the wedding date or when Muriel goes out of town for a month that’s when he decides to take the potion to turn himself into Hyde because he doesn’t know what to do with himself.  As Mr. Hyde March successfully pivots to an entirely different persona.  Aside from outwardly appearing more ape-like (inspiration was a Neanderthal) with a helmet of matted hair on his head, more hair in general, a forward brow, a larger wider nose, buck teeth with top and bottom fangs and a darker complexion, March alters his voice to be gravellier, moves sharply and speedily like a squirrel, has facial ticks where he can’t stop moving his mouth, creepily smiles most of the time and acts like a total piece of shit to everyone he comes in contact with.  It’s one thing for Hyde to look beastly but boy, he definitely acts like a goddamn monster (more on that in a minute).  Part of what makes March so good here is he gives you the sense that Jekyll has some unsettling shit bubbling beneath the surface so the leap to Hyde isn’t insurmountable.  His portrayal is truly sad where you feel for Jekyll’s inability to get a handle on his circumstance.  He feels horrible about the choices he’s made and attempts to make good but Hyde’s devastation is inescapable.

Miriam Hopkins (The Heiress) as prostitute Ivy Pierson is just as compelling.  Jekyll shows her kindness when she needed help so she sorta falls for him.  He can’t seem to forget about her either and as Hyde he chases after her.  The moment Ivy lays eyes on Hyde she’s appalled by his appearance but tries to keep it together.  She’s able to entertain him for a moment but soon after runs for the exit.  Tragically she’s held prisoner and, well, uh, oh jeez, I’m pretty sure the implication is that she’s repeatedly raped by him over the course of a month.  I don’t think you can interpret the situation any other way.  Hyde’s torture extends to psychological abuse as well with him constantly questioning her devotion and remaining physically close to her whenever they’re in the room together.  It’s suffocating to watch.  And man, Hopkins gives a masterful and completely heartbreaking performance.  She’s absolutely terrified but doesn’t know what to do.  She’s too scared to run away or fight back.  She pleads with Jekyll to help her but of course, she’s unknowingly tipping off Hyde that she’s looking for a way out.  It’s unbelievable how awful this character is treated.  Hopkins makes you wanna leap in there and save her.

A third, and lesser talked about element, is the camerawork.  From the very start cinematographer Karl Struss (The Great Dictator, Some Like it Hot) uses a POV shot of Jekyll playing the organ, checking himself in the mirror, riding a buggy to the lecture hall and greeting his colleagues.  It’s weird and different.  Struss employs this POV technique several times with the mirror work being the most impressive where he has to sync March’s movements in the mirror with what’s happening directly in front of the camera.  And I’m no expert but a bunch of other angles and camera moves used throughout I think are unique for the early 30’s.  He gets shots that are more like what you would see decades later in the 50’s or 60’s.  I never knew this type of camerawork existed at that time.  Stunning and remarkable.

Finally, the set design is beautiful.  Jekyll’s mad scientist laboratory has all the wonderful hallmarks like a million glass tubes of various solutions bubbling away, smoke, fire, paperwork scattered about, dramatic lighting, the works.  Dance halls and sex worker quarters are filthy, the streets are foggy, the lecture hall is grand, Jekyll’s and Muriel’s homes are enormous and opulent.  Additionally, the world the characters live in has a labyrinthine quality that’s slightly disorientating.

What I Didn’t Like: Sure, I could bring up some nitpicks like Hyde’s teeth are so bulky March clearly has some difficulty speaking in them, there are these counter-clockwise scene transition wipes that tend to awkwardly start before the current scene is finished, everyone pronounces Jekyll’s name “Jeek-all” instead of “Jeck-all” which I’m sure is more accurate if a touch distracting, but I mean everything else is so expertly crafted none of this shit matters that much.

Overall Impressions: A classic for sure.  This is by far the best version of Jekyll and Hyde I’ve seen (haven’t checked out the infamous 1920 silent version yet though).  Not only is it captivating, devastating, thrilling, moving and disturbing but it’s also scandalous.  This was made pre-Hays Code so there’s suggestive stuff like bare leg, side boob, implied rape and brutal head bashing with a cane.  Damn.

If you thought the Jekyll and Hyde concept was dumb or hokey or a metaphor for human nature that’s too on the nose then try this one out.  I can’t recommend it enough.

Final Destination Wrap Up

We made it guys!  At least I hope we did.  Death could still be stalking us so let’s wrap this sonuvabitch up.

Prior to this run I had seen parts 3 and 4 when they came out and pieces of the rest over the years.  I knew what I was in for and I gotta say the series delivered.  From the very start these insane complex deaths are what got people interested in the concept and they kept rolling them out every few years.  The premonition part of the ordeal isn’t focused on too much and that’s for the best.  It doesn’t matter how or why a character has a vision of doom because there’s no time, the devastation is right around the corner.  Your attention needs to be on the next event if you hope to stop it.  So there’s an immediacy to the series that keeps the train right on rolling without distractions.  Even though we know from part 2 or 3 on that death is inescapable it’s still mesmerizing to see how the events unfold.  We can’t wait to see what the filmmakers will come up with next and are engaged despite basically knowing where it’s going.  That’s a quirky viewing relationship to have.

A key component to keeping the audience tuned in, and part of what makes these breeze by so quickly, are all the red herrings.  Each sequence has a dozen moving parts with the potential for all or none of them to be involved in the final deathblow.  The construction of every deathtrap is mind boggling but your brain tries to figure it out anyway.  Equal attention is paid to the pieces that ultimately will and will not have an impact on the end result.  Therefore the outcome becomes impossible to predict.  This is unique to the series.

Another distinct aspect is that the villain is a never seen Death.  Yea he’s some sorta transparent blob in the first film but they do away with that in the sequels.  The only form he takes consistently is the wind.  That’s smart.  There’s no need to put a face on the threat since everything is supposed to look like an accident.

And that leads to yet another special quality the franchise possesses.  There’s an it-could-happen-to-you tilt to them.  You could call it Freak Accident: The Movie but of course they’re not really accidents, the Reaper is orchestrating everything.  Despite that I still think people view at least some of the incidents as plausible real life events.  In a lot of other horror pictures you’re presented with scenarios that are extremely unlikely to occur, like being attacked by a maniac killer with a chainsaw or being eaten by zombies.  I think most folks can understand and compartmentalize that along with things that carry some kind of inherent risk like driving a car or working in a factory.  However, these movies propose that simply going to the salon to get your hair done or getting a massage or ordering takeout at a drive thru, stuff that’s not innately dangerous, could also end in tremendous disaster.  That’s a big part of what makes the premise of the series so ingenious and captivating.  As bonkers as the setups are there’s a strange relatability to the whole affair.  Mundane people carrying out mundane tasks could result in a horrific demise, your horrific demise.  So you better watch out the next time you cook dinner.

I need to mention the legendary Tony Todd (Candyman, The Crow) makes an appearance in all the pictures except part 4.  He hams it up in parts 1 and 2 as a coroner/autopsy guy where he has dramatic entrances, corpses he fiddles with and a sinister aura.  Cool.  At first I thought he might be the stand in for Death but apparently that’s not the case.  He’s the sage that somehow has knowledge of what’s going on, although he’s never very helpful to our protagonists.

These movies fall into two categories, the serious ones (parts 1, 3 and 5) and the silly ones (parts 2 and 4).  And I much prefer the silly ones.  Part 5 is the most serious where nearly all the traps are treated with an almost Saw-like solemnness.  They do throw in a handful of bad (and even disgustingly racist) jokes but it’s straight faced.  Part 4 is the silliest which has a couple of the wackiest setups (ex: getting your head stuck in the car’s sunroof while rolling through a carwash).  Overall I think part 2 just edges out part 4 as my favorite because it balances the humor with the nastiness of the killings better.  They also minimize the narrative between the “accidents” making them more streamlined.  I fully admit that should be a gigantic strike against them however, it works somehow.  I do wanna give a shoutout to the original as my third favorite.  It’s definitely a solid movie that laid the groundwork for everything that came after it.  All things considered it’s maybe technically the best of the bunch.  From what I gather most fans prefer the serious ones so I’m probably alone on my rankings.  But to be clear, even though I have a preference for the lighter toned entries I don’t hate any of them.  None are miserable to sit through or anything.  They’re all enjoyable which is not an easy feat for any franchise.

What’s even more amazing is that each installment is the same goddamn movie.  Sure, a lot of horror sequels tend to stick to a formula and repeat stuff but I mean these are EXACTLY the same.  Every time we’re starting over from scratch (give or take part 2) so a new set of characters go through the same trauma, have the same questions about what’s going on, make the same discoveries, try the same methods to invalidate Death’s list, someone’s turn to die gets skipped, the survivors think they’ve finally cheated Death but eventually realize they’re wrong and everyone dies anyway.  At least the Saws have a soap opera woven into the narrative but this is purely deathtraps.  Yet they still satisfy.  I guess the main gimmick is strong enough that all other elements can be reduced to their lowest state and miraculously the thing still flies.  Wow.

If a different type of Destination were made, a sober or perhaps philosophical version, you would need to flip the focus of the main sections.  The story would need to be driven by strong characters who approach their predicament in varying ways.  Their background, social standing and economic status would inform how they take the news and what they might do to alter their destiny.  Most of the focus should be on these areas.  The deaths would need to be reduced to simple acts like a fall down the stairs or a mix-up in medications or something to avert suspicion.  No bizarre intricate concoctions.  Fake outs may be ok.  And this picture might already exist for all I know.  It could be compelling.  But look, if we’re not gonna do that then I want the comical zaniness of parts 2 and 4.

So yea, these are fun.  I totally get why there are five of them (with more on the way).  That’s pretty wild considering there’s no real continuing narrative to speak of.  If anything I would put them in the anthology category although that doesn’t feel entirely accurate either.  Doesn’t really matter.  The point is they’re a good time.  Not only are they impressively creative but they’re so damn easy to watch.  It’s a bunch of crazy ideas for deaths strung together with a bare minimum plot all in ninety mins or less.  I’ve already compared them to the Saw pictures a couple of times and that’s because they’re sorta similar.  You have a chain of elaborate deathtraps involving victims that share a connection to one another.  The big difference is instead of some asshole coordinating everything it’s Death/God/Nature.  Spooky.

Harefooted Halloween: Final Destination 5

What I Liked: Some of the death ruses are especially well done.  These are the smaller things that eventually build up to the actual deathblow.  Like there’s a little upturned screw resting on a balance beam while a gymnast is practicing their routine on it.  You’re just waiting for a foot to plop down on it and get stabbed.  Or someone else goes in for laser eye surgery and the machine malfunctions burning the retina.  Neither of these are what kills the person but they’re good squirm worthy setups.

This is probably the best looking film in the series.  No offense to cinematographer Brian Pearson (My Bloody Valentine (2009)) but I would credit this more to director Steven Quale.  He’s a James Cameron protégé who’s worked with him all the way back since The Abyss.  He shot second unit on Titanic and Avatar.  The effects are also a huge step up from the previous film with the showpiece being the initial bridge collapse scene (Greg Baxter (Zathura, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu)).  I do wanna mention the opening credits are neat too with various deadly objects from the other pictures smashing through glass over and over.  Sorta hypnotizing.

Most of the characters are your usual blandness but similar to part 4 there’s one survivor with some dimension.  He lost the love of his life to one of these freak accidents and has become completely despondent.  The destruction all around him is too devastating.  He gets the idea that if he kills someone else, anyone else, Death will spare him.  So he goes nuts and targets his friends with a gun.  This idea of one of the survivors being so desperate he’s willing to murder to save his own life is flirted with in part 3 but it’s taken much further here.  Usually in the other films the characters attempt the opposite, they save each other’s lives from the deathtraps in the hope that that brings them permanent salvation.  It never works so it’s interesting to see a new approach.

What I Didn’t Like: Folks did not seem too enthused about how comedic they went with part 4 so they made part 5 serious.  In fact it’s the most serious one.  I mean sure, there’s comic relief but the jokes aren’t funny.  If you’ve been with me on this FD journey you know I like the sillier installments so this is not a turn I’m all that into.  If you’re gonna go this route I don’t think they went far enough.  Having brooding leads and attempting to make the deaths weightier while also keeping the ridiculous Rube Goldberg type elements just doesn’t mesh for me.  I’ll go more into what I think an absolutely sincere version might look like in the wrap up.

Overall Impressions: The technical side of things gets a nice upgrade which I definitely appreciate.  However, the tone and meat of the movie isn’t my favorite.  It’s probably my least favorite actually due to the dour attitude.  And what little humor they do throw in is utterly terrible.

Like the rest of them you’ll get your elaborate deaths and there’s plenty of amusement to be had in them.  Once again, it’s the stuff in between the deaths that determines more than anything how the picture shakes out, because nuanced characters and a truly thought provoking plot still haven’t materialized (with some minor exceptions).  So this one’s still fine but just doesn’t have the goofiness that I prefer.

Harefooted Halloween: The Final Destination

What I Liked: The fun is back with director of part 2 David R. Ellis returning.  Immediately the tone shifts back to a borderline tongue-in-cheek approach.  The coffee shop the characters frequent is called Death by Caffeine, the movie they go to see is called Love Lays Dying, they attend a NASCAR type race for the explicit reason of hoping to see a car crash, etc.  Some of the deaths are the most gruesome yet (getting your bowels sucked out by a public pool pump) but because of the long cartoonish buildup and all the fake outs and humorous attitude they don’t come off as stomach-churning.  When the tension is finally relieved and the person’s remains are splattered everywhere you do go “ahh!” but you also chuckle.  This is an extremely hard needle to thread and Ellis has been able to do it twice now.

One thing Ellis has improved on since his last outing is the characters are more likeable.  They’re still not interesting whatsoever but this time only a couple are total douchebags.  And holy shit, this installment includes the most nuanced person in the entire series.  One survivor is a middle-aged security guard (Mykelti Williamson (Heat)) who we learn is a recovering alcoholic.  He killed his wife and kid in a car accident because he was drunk and has had to live with that for a while.  When he discovers he’s going to die soon he says he’s at peace with it and is ready to go.  His torment will finally be over.  The guy even contemplates having one last drink before checking out.  For a picture that’s generally on the lighthearted side this somber aspect should clash with everything else around it but I’m surprised at how well it plays.  It makes me wish they explored more avenues like this in the other films.

What I Didn’t Like: Unfortunately there’s quite a bit of questionable CGI with most or all of the deaths employing it.  Our lead also has premonitions before each death that are these ten second complete CGI sequences offering clues to the demises in a mashup of items that will be involved like scissors or a snake or something.  Aside from not looking very good I think this tips the hand a little too much.  The previous films do a better job of vaguely hinting at what will happen.

This was made during a 3D revival period and boy do they lean into that angle.  A ton of crap is inexplicably thrown in your face and that hasn’t aged too well.  To be honest this isn’t really a negative for me.  I’ve mentioned before that I find it kinda charming when you watch a movie that was meant to be seen in 3D way after the fact.  Even though you’re not getting the full experience the way it was originally intended it takes on a new life as an interesting artifact of a bygone era.

Overall Impressions: What a difference a director makes huh?  Ok maybe that’s being uncharitable to part 3.  But for me the cut-to-the-chase attitude of this one is where it’s at.  All the stuff in between the deathtraps is breezed through to move shit along so we can get to the next “accident”.  Similar to part 2 this shouldn’t work, however, in this case it’s welcomed.  All the setups are essentially horrifying bloody live action cartoons.  Ellis knows we want the explosions and guides us through with just enough investment in the characters to get us to the finish line satisfied.

Oh and by the way, despite the title this was not THE Final Destination.  They did more.

Harefooted Halloween: Final Destination 3

What I Liked: Even though the side characters are obnoxious the leads are likeable.  Similar to the previous films they don’t have strong identities but they’re totally fine to hang out with for a short while.

What I Didn’t Like: Part 2 went with a somewhat lighter tone where all the deaths had almost a humorousness to them which led to a fun time.  Here we swing back to more weighty territory, which admittedly is a little disappointing, but the problem is actually worse than that.  Some scenes are portrayed very silly while others are deadly serious inducing nasty whiplash at times.  Case in point, two self-centered teen airheads are at a tanning salon grooving to the 70’s R&B classic “Love Rollercoaster” (a nod to the opening involving a malfunctioning roller coaster) when they get trapped in the beds and are cooked alive.  The scene is bouncy and the characters are designed to not make you feel too bad about their demise.  Cut to the next scene of their funeral where the protagonists discuss how clues of tragic events are left in photographs before they occur.  Some examples are shown: a line across Abraham Lincoln’s forehead and a shadow of a plane against the World Trade Center.  9/11 was only five years prior.  Hell, it doesn’t play well now.  Having bimbos get tanned to death one moment and then be reminded of 9/11 the next is kinda jarring.  So this shit just doesn’t blend well together in areas.

Overall Impressions: Part 3 comes off like a worse version of part 1.  Aside from some passing mention of the events of the first two we’re essentially starting over with brand new characters, a new setting and a new way for our lead to predict the future.  Beside the initial premonition during the opening she uses photos she took to try to determine the fates of the survivors.  None of it is handled as well.

The biggest issue is the sharp tone shifts.  Director of the original, James Wong, is back from taking Part 2 off and my guess is he wanted to sober the franchise up a bit, bring it back to where he had it, but then outside forces pushed for some witty angles.  The end result is sorta messy and not great.

If you’re looking for some absurd deathtraps then sure, you’ll find them.  But it’s the weakest so far.

Harefooted Halloween: Final Destination 2

What I Liked: Those damn deathtraps get amped up like they should.  I mean the opening sequence with a massive highway pileup, loose timber logs twice the size of telephone poles, crashes, flips and explosions galore is an incredible spectacle.  Good news, spectacular explosions are all over this thing.  Not to mention other nasty shit that of course, all comes out of left field due to plentiful misdirection.

They got the tone just right.  While the first film took the material fairly seriously, especially in the first act, you could sense the atmosphere getting a bit lighter as it went.  As I mentioned previously it ends on a joke.  This time the filmmakers lean more towards the comical and playful.  They know the people are here to see the deathtraps and are looking for a good time so they focus on that.  Only the barest story is set up as a framework to tie the outrageous “accidents” together.  This shouldn’t work because we’re opting for cheap thrills at the expense of character and story.  However, the deaths and everything leading up to them are handled cheekily enough that it kinda works.  For example one victim is in a dentist’s office all gassed up for a procedure so he’s conscious yet can’t move.  Above him is a mobile of plastic fish and one falls right into his mouth blocking his airway.  Or another victim gets into an elevator with a man carrying a box full of prosthetic arms, some with hooks.  Her hair somehow gets caught on one of them and she can’t get it undone.  It’s weird but amusing choices like these that give the horrific fatalities a humorous edge.  There were two gags in particular where I laughed out loud.

What I Didn’t Like: Unfortunately the characters aren’t nearly as likeable this time around.  They’re all strangers and mostly adults of different ages and backgrounds which is a nice change of pace instead of a group of teenaged classmates.  But they’re here to be fodder so they’re given a distinct singular trait so you can tell them apart and nothing more.

Most of the budget must of went to designing and executing the elaborate death sequences because the rest of the production has a tad of a cheap feel to it.  That’s a minor negative though because they put the money in the right places in my opinion.

Devon Sawa does not return as Alex due to some sort of dispute between him and the studio.  This is fine except they kill the character off between films making it difficult to bring him back if they choose (spoiler, to date they have not brought him back).  It’s also sorta insulting he dies by a brick to the head which is such a lame sounding way to get rid of your main character that kicked off the franchise.  Oh well.

Overall Impressions: Now this is what I’m talking about.  The previous picture has some weight to it which appropriately makes sense since they were trying to sell a horror concept to audiences based around catastrophic tragedies where dozens or hundreds of people will perish.  But now that we have that one out of the way we can go wild with the freak accident ideas and have some fun with it.

Director David R. Ellis (who had an insane career as a stunt man (Lethal Weapon, Road House, Days of Thunder) and second unit/assistant director (Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone, The Matrix Reloaded)) manages to balance the deaths out with enough humor and winking at the camera that you’re never bogged down by dread or disgust.  He knows the type of movie he’s making (a sequel about a bunch of folks getting killed in ridiculous and intricate ways) and dials in the climate fittingly.

This one falls into the category of movies that technically aren’t better than the original but you would rather watch most of the time anyway.

Harefooted Halloween: Final Destination

What I Liked: Neat Twilight Zone type concept about a teenager, Alex (Devon Sawa (Chucky)), who has a premonition involving the plane he’s about to travel on exploding right after takeoff.  Several other of his friends/classmates bail off the plane with him and the events occur as he predicted.  Death doesn’t like this so he settles the score by going after each survivor.  They’re all meant to look like (insane) accidents to avert suspicion.  The first act in particular does a good job setting up the mysterious circumstance that leads to mixed emotions by all those affected.  Some are grateful for Alex saving their life and others hate him for being the catalyst of their trauma.

We’re all here for the deathtraps and yea, they’re fun.  While I would only categorize one as being straightforward the rest are Rube Goldberg type concoctions that consist of several moving parts and pieces.  In fact they throw in so many red herrings of what you think will happen that it becomes impossible to predict the true outcome in any situation.  Since the Reaper is orchestrating all of this I’m fine with it.  Of course there’s the question of why can’t he simply make someone have a heart attack?  ‘Cuase this is a movie and we need to be entertained goddammit.  Case in point: one victim gets a giant shard of glass straight to the throat, suffers a gas explosion, a knife to the chest and finally a full on house explosion.  Ok, the filmmakers may have gone a bit overboard with that one but it brought a smile to my face and made me laugh out loud.

What I Didn’t Like: This isn’t a huge negative but the characters are pretty bland.  It’s your usual assortment of teens like a bad boy, a doofus, an outcast, a middle-of-the-road kid, etc.

All the stuff in between the elaborate deaths isn’t very intriguing.  Alex attempts to figure out what Death’s grand design is and how he can break it.  I understand we need to have the characters do some investigating and make an effort to save their lives but the entire thing feels futile.  How can you fight it?  They would have to venture down a distinctly more paranormal path to even have a chance, which they don’t do.  With that said…

Overall Impressions: One of the selling points for me is I dig how the film isn’t too supernatural.  But yes, the Reaper undoubtedly exists here and is pulling the strings.  Actually, he shows up in the form of wind and some sort of amorphous floating transparent blob.  The filmmakers wisely decided to make everything look like an accident, a ridiculous freak accident, but an accident nonetheless.  That lends a nice unpredictability to the scenario.

This is a good time.  While it starts off kinda serious laying a sturdy foundation to get you invested things ease up when the bizzarro killings begin.  You can tell the filmmakers were having a ball because the movie ends on a joke instead of a big time scare or ominous beat like most other horror pictures.