ANOTHER GOTHIC HORROR (FUN)
This is another English gothic horror movie from the 1960s. I have added the word fun into the title because these movies are not particularly scary by today's standards but there is something so charming and fun about them that I cannot resist watching them over and over again.
This movie was uploaded by the Channel entitled New Castle After Dark where two guys present the movie and talk before, at an intermission, and after the movie is over. They are just as charming as the movies. They are movie buffs and share insider information about the movies as well as the actors who appear in their movie choices.
I love their format because it feels like you're not watching the movie alone. They appear just long enough before, during and after to add to the watching experience -- at least for me they do.
THE MOVIE STATS:
The movie was produced and directed in 1959 by British director Gordono Hessler. This movie stars Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. It is the first movie that stared both actors.
The movie was loosely based on the short story written by Edgar Allan Poe entitled "The Oblong Box". I say loosely because I don't believe voodoo is mentioned in the original Poe story.
Although Vincent Price is often accused of overacting, I think he fits perfect into the Gothic Horror Fun genre! I don't see his acting as anything but great in these films.
Christopher Lee plays a co-star role in this film but as usual he is, deadly serious, but great too! Below is a snapshot from the film from Wikipedia Commons.
QUICK SUMMARY OF THE MOVIE:
I don't want to spoil the story for anyone so I'll just give a very quick summary of what the movie is about. Sir Edward was disfigured in Africa and is now hidden away in an attic room by his guilt-ridden brother Sir Julian.
Sir Edward is tired of being couped up and comes up with a plan that he forces the family lawyer into carrying out with him. If everything went as planned, it would have given Sir Edward his freedom but of course, Julian throws a wrench into the plans and everything goes haywire.
The plot, although a bit crazy as all plots in British gothic horror from the 1960s is, is a good one. It's plausible and easy to follow. This is a great pick for autumn, even Halloween season. It's a great movie for enjoyment but a good one for writers to learn from as I'll go into below.
THE ATMOSPHERE: The movie is anchored in the late 1800s and brief atmospheric scenes support his. This is a good way for authors to learn about anchoring the story in England, in the historical time period and giving it the 'gothic vibe' which I'll be referring to throughout this review.
THE SCENERY: The scenery was beautiful but it played a supportive role in this movie. It was just beautiful enough to give the movie a great look and add to the beauty of the movie in general. Any snapshot still could be a writer's exercise is describing an 1800's historical scene.
SETS/STAGECRAFT: I love the sets used in this film. I also include the lighting in this category. Although it was a gothic movie, it takes place 'with the proper stage lighting'. This means that you can see everything and every scene is well-lit for drama and atmosphere. It adds to the beauty and enjoyment of the film. Is there anything worse than a modern horror film where you're squinting to see scenes shot in the dark with only one Bic lighter?
This is a great place for writers to look and learn from the ways the background scenes and objects support the scene, transmit additional information, and just anchor the scene into the time period.
COSTUMING: The costuming for everyone is great. All of the actors and actresses in this time frame were beautiful, thin and they all looked amazing in their costumes.
GOTHIC ELEMENTS: It wouldn't be a British gothic movie if it didn't have the prerequisite mansion, candelabra, harlots showing their ankles, wild pub scene, cabriolet, mist in the woods, silhouetted horse chase or a sinister 1800s grave-robbing scientist! It's all here and it's all delicious. This one even has a grave-digging scene which I always love!
STORYLINE/PLOTLINE: This is a great movie for beginner writers to learn from as there is a crazy horror plotline that does require the viewers to suspend their modern belief system to watch. For beginner writers, sometimes it's hard to imagine that you can rely on people setting aside their logic and reason to watch, but they do.
This is also a great plotline to learn about 'the plot twist'. The original plan that Sir Edward had, although it was crazy, it could have worked. But the twist is what happens as the result of his brother Julian wanting to do the right thing.
There are also a couple of additional turns in the plotline towards the end that have a lot to teach about keeping the tension and surprises coming. This would even be a good plotline for an author to reverse engineer to see how it all needs to be foreshadowed from the beginning.
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND EMOTIONS:
Any movie with Vince Price is a good one to learn about facial expressions for an author. He is often teased about over-acting, but I don't agree. When you watch him from now almost 65 years later, his acting is perfect for this 1960s gothic horror. His face is very expressive and can teach new authors a lot about the raising of eyebrows, eye movement, and more.
Author Writing Exercise Idea: Make a gif of an actor responding to an action and then describe it. Use a thesaurus and see how many new ways to describe the facial movement you can find. Here is a gif from this movie as an example. See if you can write this scene.
And finally, this is a great script and storyline to learn about 'clipping dialogue tightly'. This storyline is a long one, and with the twists and turns, a lot is covered in each scene. Almost every word spoken -- with the exception of the romance scenes with the ladies -- are conveying important story information. It can teach a lot about how to keep scene lean and move the plot along.
CROSSWORD PUZZLE:
Try your hand at a crossword based on The Oblong Box
Shared background picture
So when you upload a book onto KDP, especially as a Word document, it is uploading one paragraph and one headline at a time. Then when it delivers the books, it is like pouring the book onto an eReader like a glass of iced tea. Most of the font choices will be ignored in this upload. EVEN IF YOU EMBED THE FONTS!
Now, you will upload pdf files for the paperback and hardcover manuscripts, so you can use whatever font you want. You will need to embed the fonts in the document (which is done from the options section) but however your book looks in the pdf, it should be okay.
What makes it possible to use a 6" x 9" ebook template for the eBook is the easy flow settings that are needed so that eBooks can fit on any size eReader, tablet, or phone.
As soon as the movie starts, an information panel with the date is posted giving the viewer an exact time frame. It also gives you the name of Dr. Knox and tells you he's a scientist. The viewer is immediately anchored in the late 1800s when the story starts. Aside from this, the scene further anchors you in the 19th century by the fashion, the kerosene lights, the cobblestones, the scientific props and the dialogue.
What I love about the old movies in particular is that most of them were moral tales of one type of another. The scriptwriter and director had a point in presenting the story and it was almost always a moral point. Today, there are thousands of these 'a slice of a meaningless life with one glorified sin' movies that I abhor mainly because they are empty and pointless. So the fact that this story had a dual moral tale made it all the more enjoyable.
The characters are very "Charles Dickens like" almost to the point of being comical. An author can learn a lot about creating characters, especially ones who fit into a Charles Dickens type of story. The bad guy and bad girl characters were a little over the top -- but not too much. Just enough to make them colorful, enjoyable and watchable.
It's so helpful to also see how the set director arranged the backdrop of the scenes to add in historical elements, all of which enrich the story. For example, the cobblestones, the street gas lights, occasional hand-held torches, the mob with torches, even the archaic scientific lab. These all kept the story anchored in the time frame.
They present the movies on their channel and they begin with a short introduction and quick discussion about the movie and who plays what parts.
The story for anyone that doesn't know it is that an artist paints a picture of Dorian Gray while he is in his youth. He wonders out loud that wouldn't it be great if the picture could age and he could stay young, instead of the other way around. Well, that's what happens.
These movies that are shot almost like plays are very helpful in setting a scene for a book. Nothing is ethereal or being described with shooting camera angles or other MTV style movie effects.
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