Macabre Milestone: RDHP Hits 2/3 Point

Look at all the blood on our hands!
Ah, the memories…
As the Rich-Dimick Horror Project prepares to ingest its 65th film next week, we thought it appropriate to put down our red-stained machetes for a moment and reflect on the carnage.

The project has officially surpassed the 2/3rd completion mark, with 27 years/films remaining on the list. Our goal to view and review one horror film from each year since 1920 has taken us all on a mind-bending trip through spooky story history.

At this 2/3rd mark, or the aptly figured 66.6 percent, we’d officially like to thank you for joining us on this adventure, and encourage you to keep on readin’ through the final stretch.
As always, we invite you to watch along with us each week and provide add your own assy comments on films.

Over the last 64 films we have sometimes been asked why we started the RDHP. One reason was to examine the horror genre through time. Analyzing one horror movie from each year allows the viewer to observe how style, fear, and culture have changed over the last 90 years.
There is no better gauge of a time and place than what terrifies its inhabitants. The films of the RDHP continues to provide a fascinating and mind-opening trip through time and ideals.

Also, as rabid fans of the horror genre, we wanted to examine its roots and highlight long forgotten, but still relevant, films. We constantly watch horror movies, might as well do it in an organized format!
But the biggest reason for the RDHP’s creation is, simply, just for the fun of it.

Watching a horror movie a week has been a blast, and we invite you to do the same. It is better for the psyche and body than an apple a day, at least that's what asylum doctor told us. The RDHP is a celebration of horror for all fans of movies, obsessed or not. After all, why do anything in this world?!

As Robert Frost liked to remind us, there is no better time for reflection like the present.
Below, a look back at highlights and lowlights of the last 64 films, some of our favorite bits and quotes, and a quick look into the crystal ball for the final 1/3rd of the RDHP.

BEST PROJECT MOVIE TO DATE

Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Film #45: blogged Oct. 22, 2010
C and N Rating Average: 4.9
What do you expect from two zombie-heads? The film that created the modern mind-muncher deserved its props. As biting today as it was in 1968. (Full review here.)

C-Rating: 5
What Chris said: “This story line of human reaction to an unfathomable situation is intriguing because it sets up the viewer to think “what would I do in that situation?” The idealist in most of us feels that given an extraordinary situation like a zombie apocalypse, mankind would bond together, set aside their differences, and fight as one against the invading undead masses.
In reality though, that is a bunch of hippie bullshit.”


N-Rating: 4.8
What Nick said: “For my money, conceptually, it doesn't get any better than this. In the middle of the still, 1960's countryside you're suddenly thrown into the throes of the Zombie Apocalypse, with nothing but a rickety farmhouse full of jackalopes standing between you and your brains becoming ghoul fodder - priceless! This film just feels like you're trapped in a world crawling with zombies.”

Most Memorable Moment: “Ben punching Barbra!”

Other High Rated Films:

Let The Right One In (2008)
4.85 average
Film #9: blogged Jan. 20, 2010
C-Rating: 4.8
N-Rating: 4.9
Most Memorable Moment: “Vamp poon!”
(Full review here)

King Kong (1933)
4.85 average
Film #40: blogged Sept. 20, 2010
C-Rating: 5.0
N-Rating: 4.7
Most Memorable Moment: “Fay Wray; Kong’s twitching fur and picking at felled foes.”
(Full review here)

Session 9 (2001)
4.6 average
Film #19: blogged April 1, 2010
C-Rating: 4.6
N-Rating: 4.6
Most Memorable Moment: “La-ba-to-MY!”
(Full review here)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
4.5 average
Film #11: Feb. 4, 2010
C-Rating: 4.5
N-Rating: 4.5
Most Memorable Moment: “Crazy, nightmare/dream like set!”
(Full review here)

WORST PROJECT MOVIE TO DATE

Phantasm III (1994)
Film #48: blogged Dec. 10, 2010
Average rating: 0.7
The unofficial horror franchise of the RDHP, even our love for the hokey horror typically displayed in the Phantasm films couldn’t save this stinker sequel from getting a just thrashing. (Break out the nose plugs, there is still one more film, Part IV, to go!) Full review here.

C-Rating: 1.0
What Chris said: “Following the first nonsensical, pointless, so-bad-its-kinda-good-but-mostly-bad Phantasm viewing, Nick wanted to quit this much hyped 80s/90s series. But I was determined that the sequels would hold answers to all of our Phantasmy questions, and finally explain just what the hell is going on in these film. Readers, I feel it is my duty as a kind hearted individual to list the all the plot answers to the above 5 W’s. This will be done so no other human will again have to watch the Phantasm series just to learn what the hell is going on in the plot.”


N-Rating: 0.4
What Nick said: “If you're thinking of checking this flick out because you love bad movies and want to experience the horror of this one - don't! ...Just don't. I say this with the same sincerity a former teen-mom has during the abstinence talk with her blossoming daughter... just don't."

Most Memorable Moment: “Home Alone rip off.”

Other Low Rated Films:

Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
1.2 average rating
Film #28: blogged June 11, 2010
C-Rating: 0.9
N-Rating: 1.5
Most Memorable Moment: "Naked Old Man.”
(Full review here)

Faust (1926)
1.2 average rating
Film #56: blogged Feb. 18, 2011
C-Rating: 0.1
N-Rating: 2.3
Most Memorable Moment: “Faust’s beard!”
(Full review here)

Maniac (1980)
 1.3 rating average
Film #32: blogged July 9, 2010
C-Rating: 2.5
N-Rating: 0.1
Most Memorable Moment: “Mannequins hair pieces.”
(Full review here)

Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)
1.4 rating average
Film #42: blogged Sept. 24, 2010
C-Rating: 1.5
N-Rating: 1.3
Most Memorable Moment: “Boris's outfit/headgear, Abbot's bad acting.”
(Full review here)

COMING ATTRACTIONS

EXTENDED EDITION!

Behold, a look into the mystical future! Below lies the next ten years, ten films cycle the RDHP will partake in over the coming weeks. Feel free to watch along and post your comments!

Reincarnation (2005)

A Japanese actress (Yûka) comes face to face with a slew of restless spirits when she signs on to star in a horror film -- the true story of a crazed professor's murderous rampage that left 11 victims, including his young daughter, in its wake. But the film is being shot at the very site where the grisly killings took place. Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge) directs this darkly mesmerizing tale of crime, punishment and redemption.

The Haunted Castle (1921)

A suspected murderer crashes Baroness Safferstätt's stuffy party to reveal who really killed her husband.

Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998)

Final Phantasm movie, finally! The horror that is the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) rises again as he goes in search of a successor in this Phantasm series installment. Our hero, Mike (Michael Baldwin), is trying to learn how and why the Tall Man became so powerful while simultaneously attempting to escape the madman's clutches. Mike will need help from his friends, Reggie (Reggie Bannister) and Jody (Bill Thornbury), but can they make it in time?

The Bat Whispers (1930)

An audacious arch-criminal known as the Bat loves to taunt police by tipping them to his next job. After pulling off a high-rise jewel heist -- with a legion of cops surrounding the place -- the Bat heads to the country home of a socialite spinster looking for $500,000 from a bank robbery that may be hidden in a secret room. Enter wily Det. Anderson (Chester Morris) to get to the bottom of it all. Will he go batty trying to solve the case?

Cujo (1983)

Based on horrormeister Stephen King's best-selling novel, Cujo chronicles a tale of man's best friend turned satanic killer. Slobbery St. Bernard Cujo is much loved by owners Donna Trenton (Dee Wallace) and her son, Tad (Danny Pintauro), but when a rabid bat bites Cujo, he morphs from happy pup into crazed canine.

Scared to Death (1947)

Bela Lugosi, the screen's most notorious personification of evil, stars in B-movie Scared to Death. The pieces of a puzzling murder are revealed one by one in a frightening story narrated by a dead woman.

Seizure! (1974)

In Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone's freshman feature -- a tale based in part on the German legend of Faust -- a novelist's creative side turns against him. After suffering terrifying nightmares starring three of his most frightening characters, author Edmund Blackstone (Jonathan Frid) watches in horror as they literally show up at his door.

The Black Castle (1952)

Horror icon Boris Karloff -- best known for his portrayals of Frankenstein's monster and Im-ho-tep the mummy -- takes on a wide variety of roles in this collection of classics. In the atmospheric chiller The Black Castle (1952), he stars alongside Lon Chaney Jr. as the personal physician of a sadistic count (Stephen McNally) whose behavior is anything but noble.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)

After a drunk wanders into and disrupts his secret lab, Dr. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) decides he must find a new place to set up shop. Conveniently, he finds an innocent young girl (Veronica Carlson) who happens to have a boyfriend (Simon Ward) employed by the local hospital. Seeing his opportunity, Dr. Frankenstein kidnaps the couple and forces them to take part in a dangerous brain-swapping experiment.

***
LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FINAL 1/3 OF THE PROJECT! Come back next week for a freshly slaughtered movie write up, our 65th film, Reincarnation. As always, thanks for supporting the RDHP, where
if it screams, it screens.


Your horrific friends,
Chris and Nick