Next Saturday (Oct.19, 2013) from 8PM to Midnight, TCM will be showing the cult classics FREAKS, MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935) and THE DEVIL DOLL (1936). I've heard about these movies, read about these movies but I've never seen these movies!
Can't wait til Saturday!
Also on Thursday 10/24, I will be seeing Rifftrax's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD!
Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, something good happens!
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I think the only Tod Browning films I've seen are Dracula and Freaks.
I've seen Freaks and Devil Doll, both are good. Mark of the Vampire is the one I haven't seen but I've heard some good stuff about it.
The source story for Freaks was a short story by Tod Robbins called "Spurs". This has as different storyline to the film, but it's similarly a story of dark revenge.
The Devil-Doll derives from Abraham Merritt's novel Burn, Witch, Burn!, but I understand it departs from the novel very greatly. The novel is a supernatural story about a witch, while the film's action has a different motivation and its fantastic elements a different explanation.
If anyone doesn't know, Mark of the Vampire was a sound remake of the lost Lon Chaney silent London After Midnight, which Browning also directed, and has Bela Lugosi in the cast.
MARK OF THE VAMPIRE is a cool film, but the strange thing about it is, so much of looks and feels like it's either a remake of DRACULA, or a sequel to it... more so, in many ways, than DRACULA'S DAUGHTER turned out to be. Except... it isn't, for reasons that come out at the climax.
Freaks is a blast! I've got it on DVD, and it might be time to watch it again. But I hope to check out The Devil Doll!
And plans are for us to see that Rifftrax show, too!
BIG THUMBS UP!!
Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:
Mark of the Vampire could have been a classic horror movie if only...
Don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it.