Corpse Bride

In 2005, I was part of my college’s student union board films committee and had the delight of helping host a sneak preview for Corpse Bride.  We handed out tickets all week and put it on at the theater within walking distance from campus.  I got to enjoy the film with everyone else and afterwards dutifully interviewed a few people about the event and their thoughts on the film.  And of course, I stole the poster.  I believe my brother still has it in his room.  

In Corpse Bride, Victor (voiced by Johnny Depp) is engaged to marry Victoria (voiced by Emily Watson).  Through their first meeting, we see that they would be a very sweet couple, but the rehearsal goes terribly for poor Victor.  Upset, he takes a walk in the woods trying to learn his vows.  When he finally nails them, complete with placing the ring on what he thought was a branch, it turns out someone was listening and taking his every word to heart.  

Emily (Helena Bonham Carter) is our perfectly sweet, lovely, lively Corpse Bride.  When she hears Victor’s perfect vows and feels the ring on her bones she knows her time has come.  From Bonejangles, a singing set of bones, we get a fun and jazzy musical number explaining the predicament that sent poor Emily to her grave.  Feeling sorry that she was betrayed and murdered by her fiance, Victor doesn’t have the heart to simply leave Emily.  And when things get more complicated when they go back upstairs Victor decides to stay with Emily, but there’s a catch.

One of Burton’s trademarks is the way he uses color, or the lack of color.  Here, like in Edward Scissorhands, he uses it to show distinction between two worlds.  Victor’s mortal world is very gray geometric and bleak.  Emily’s world of the dead is full of bright colors, fun lighting effects and jazzy dance moves.  One of the few elements that brings color into the mortal world are butterflies, which has a wonderful significance to the film, bridging both worlds together peacefully.  

Right now, Corpse Bride is a go-to movie for my son and I on Netflix Instant.  While it is partially about dead people, it is not frightening, gory or violent.  My son likes to dance along with the skeletons to the best song in the film.  And I enjoy the great stop-motion animation, Peter Lorre maggot and a short trip down memory lane.  

“I’ve spent so long in the darkness, I’d almost forgotten how beautiful the moonlight is.”

Sleepy Hollow

Most are familiar with the legend of Sleepy Hollow.  Growing up, it was a favorite at home.  There was a cute Disney short we fired up into the VCR every year and a local hayride where an actor on a horse would make a special appearance headless along the wagon.  The basics of the story go that the murderous phantom of a soldier who was beheaded has come back to the town of Sleepy Hollow.  At night, he rides his black demon horse, chasing his victims until he catches up, chops their head off and leaves nothing but a decapitated body.  Where do the heads go?  Some say he takes them back to hell.  

In Tim Burton’s 1999 adaptation, Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is called to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the recent string of strange beheadings.  Welcomed by everyone and a guest in the Van Tassel home, Crane begins to tackle this demon in a very sensible and forensic manner.  Then he comes face to… neck stump with the horseman and realizes evil forces are at play.

I must say, I really enjoy Burton’s kind of violence.  Somehow there is an air of whimsy and style to the gory parts.  However, those who are weary be warned, there is a good amount of blood and gore.  We see plenty of bloody neck stumps, sometimes with a surprise crawling out.  And the blood is not all swift beheadings.  The creative approach put into Michael Gambon’s death was my personal favorite.

What I like about this movie most is that at first it feels very set in a realistic world, but about half way through it becomes clear that there is something very supernatural happening.  Once the supernatural elements are let loose, the fun really begins.  We see the horseman jump out of a bleeding tree.  We meet a witch, who squirts bat blood everywhere and attacks Crane.  And we see that the Headless Horseman, who is already dead, cannot be vanquished in a mortal way.

I for one was surprised how well Sleepy Hollow was received by the Academy.  It was nominated for three Oscars, Best Cinematography, Costume Design and won Art Direction-Set Direction.  I have to agree, the overall visual aesthetic of the film is spot on, giving the film a very dark and foreboding atmosphere.  

For a dark, bloody and fun fall evening to prepare for Halloween, I highly recommend Sleepy Hollow.  It’s not perfect, the age gap between Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci is weird for any hint of romance, and a few deaths may be laughable to some, but I think that adds to this film’s charm.  

“The Horseman comes, and tonight he comes for you!”

Beetlejuice

Under the wonderfully warped direction of Tim Burton, Beetlejuice is one of my favorite comedies to watch around Halloween.  In my family, the black and white stripes of sandworms and Beetlejuice’s suit are instantly recognizable.  I grew up on this film, watching it early enough that most of the more perverse jokes flew right over my head.  Today, I laugh more than ever and keep it as a staple in my modest DVD collection.

When a normal young couple die in a car accident, they become ghosts that cannot leave their home that have spent so much time decorating.  They encounter a frightening wasteland full sandworms if they step one foot outside the house.  Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Greena Davis) are confused for a while, not quite sure if they are dead, but soon things become all too clear.  A guidebook entitled “Handbook For the Recently Deceased” is lying on their table and soon a new family moves into their house.

The new family is not at all the kind of people Adam and Barbara want to share their home with.  The mother, Delia (Catherine O’Hara) is an eccentric artist, whose work looks like half baked nightmares.  The father, Charles (Jeffrey Jones) is stressing out about trying to relax in their new quaint small town setting.  And the daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder) is stewing in her dark, teenage misery.  It becomes apparent that Delia plans to completely redecorate the house, in a very dark fashion.  So Adam and Barbara try to scare the family away, but they are not very good at it.  Lydia, the only one who can see them, try to help Adam and Barbara, but her parents become interested in harnessing this haunting for profit.  When things get desperate, the couple calls on Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton), a bio-exorcist, who sounds like a crass used car salesman.

One of my favorite scenes in Beetlejuice is when Delia’s dinner party turns into a possession-dance scene.  While dinner conversation is flowing, suddenly everyone seems to lose control of their movement, singing and dancing to Day-O.  The expressions of fright and confusion on their faces are a comical contrast to how they sway and dance together.  If nothing else cracks you up, it’s when they find themselves involuntarily bending over and waving their butts towards the table.  It continues hysterically until they all sit down and enjoy one more surprise in their shrimp cocktail.

The ghoulish visuals in Beetlejuice are unforgettable and wickedly fun.  When Adam and Barbara visit the bureaucracy in the Netherworld, it’s apparent how others have died.  A woman sawn in half takes up two seats on the couch and has a bluish glow to her skin.  A man who was run over by a car hangs flat on a cable like sheets on a clothesline with tire marks over his body.  Some of Adam and Barbara’s techniques to scare off their living pests are wonderfully creepy.  They warp their faces into grotesque monstrosities, complete with eyeballs either in their open mouth or on their fingertips. The things Beetlejuice shapes himself into are always a fun surprise, whether he becomes a giant snake from the banister or a spinning carnival ride.  It’s enough to make his head spin.

“Don’t you hate it when that happens?”

Frankenweenie

There is an old VHS tape in my parents’ house with the original Frankenweenie short on it.  My mother must have recorded it from the television, along with other Halloween-ish shows in the early 1990s.  During my childhood, my siblings and I watched that wonderful little film countless times.  The story of young Victor, Sparky and that crazy town with the fantastic pet cemetery is very dear to me.  I had my worries about the animated feature, if it could possibly live up to its predecessor.  Thankfully, Tim Burton kept to the heart of his story.

The animated Frankenweenie is basically an extension of the short.  The main plot is Victor (voice of Charlie Tahan) bringing Sparky back to life and the town seeing the reanimated dog as a menace.  Alongside that, we get a broader view of Victor’s classmates, who all look like young horror film characters.  When the new science teacher, Mr. Rzykruski (voice of Martin Landau), brings out the science fair, the kids see it as a competition.  Edgar (voice of Atticus Shaffer), a young Igor, discovers that Victor brought Sparky back to life, and blackmails Victor to show him how he did it.  Soon, Edgar and all the other kids are harnessing the town’s frequent lightning strikes and bringing all sorts of pets to life.

To my delight, some of the best details of the short are present in the film.  Some of the tombstones in the pet cemetery are just how I remember them in the short’s credits, my favorite always being the tall slender one for a pet snake.  Victor’s lab still has the light-up Christmas reindeer and a clock spinning backwards.  Dramatic shots using the front of cars still pack a powerful punch.  Even one of the neighbors looks just like an old familiar character, but sadly doesn’t yell, “It tried to eat my Raymond!”

To my surprise, the new parts of the movie were just as fun.  There’s a weird girl with a psychic cat.  The other kids’ life-giving experiments become fun nods to classic horror movies, including The Wolfman, The Mummy, The Invisible Man and Godzilla.  We see more of Sparky’s adventures while Victor is at school.  And Mr. Rzykruski was so wonderfully creepy that a child in the theater started crying every time he was on screen for a while.

There’s a moment in the film that may come off as preachy, but I see only Burton’s good intentions.  At a PTA meeting, some parents decide to get rid of Mr. Rzykruski, not liking -or understanding- the things he is teaching.  Though he ends up insulting everyone, he makes a good point that not enough people are interested in science and though the angry mob of parents might never care to understand, there’s still hope for their children.  If there’s anything kids need these days, it’s a push to pursue science.

No matter your age, Frankenweenie is good fun and perfect for the Halloween season.  There is enough action and wonderfully weird characters for kids and plenty of horror movie style and references for adults.  Perhaps this could be a springboard for kids to seek out horror films that served as inspiration for Frankenweenie.  And even though it’s black and white, there is no need to see it in 3D, this film does not need a gimmick to be good.  Put that money towards some popcorn, or a young scientist’s education.

“Your dog is alive!”

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I remember well the time Sweeney Todd came to theaters.  It was late 2007, my little brother was in the height of his everything Tim Butron phase and excited to see his latest film.  Naturally, I decided to take him to see it, our parents concerned about their youngest seeing his first rated R film.  I reassured them that it was R for “just a bunch of throats being sliced while singing” and we were off to the theater.  I can’t remember if afterward, my brother was still thrilled that his first rated R film was a Tim Burton musical, but I ended up liking it much more than I expected.

Now, back in 2007, I was years away from starting this project and had little respect for musicals.  I had agreed to see Sweeney Todd for two main reasons: to spend some time with my brother and I too enjoyed Tim Burton films.  Johnny Depp’s surprisingly beautiful singing, a richly dark setting, blood-spraying murder and a bit of cannibal-consumerism were just layers of delicious icing.

As Oscar nominations approached, I honestly thought Sweeney Todd had a good chance of being nominated for Best Picture.  It was like no other film that year, bold, daring, an odd sense of beauty and a musical.  Sadly, all it was only nominated for was art direction, costume design and Johnny Depp was up for lead actor.  How ironic that There Will Be Blood beat out a movie that used so much blood so beautifully.

Based off the Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd takes place in Victorian London.  Benjamin Barker, the barber, had a lovely wife and beautiful daughter, Johanna, but was sent away from them on false charges so that Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) could be with the wife.  Fifteen years in hell later, the barber returns, only to find his wife poisoned herself and daughter has been raised by the Judge.  As a young sailor, Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), tries to save Johanna (Jayne Wisener) from the cage the judge keeps her in, the barber sets up shop above Mrs. Lovett’s (Helena Bonham Carter) meat pie shop.  He calls himself Sweeney Todd (Depp) and seeks revenge against the Judge.  When Todd’s plan fails and he’s sure he’s lost his chance of revenge, he turns to slicing nearly every throat that sits in his chair and supplying Miss Lovett with fresh meat for her pies.

Though this is a musical, I don’t watch the film for the songs.  In fact, I don’t find them to be the kind of songs that get stuck in your head easily; they’re not that catchy.  They’re the kind of songs in musicals that mostly expand plot slowly, add emphasis to a character’s feelings or motives or create a wonderful juxdeposition between music and inpending doom.  I love the suspense as Depp and Rickman sing “Pretty Women,” while we all wait on the edge of our seat, seeing if the next stroke of the razor will end the Judge.

What I find most engaging about Sweeney Todd is the atmosphere, the characters and the visualization of the blood.  Everything in this London is so gloomy and covered in soot.  It perfectly portrays one of my favorite lines: There’s a hole in the world like a great black pit. Most of the characters fit this description as well.  Everyone is so pale, like they haven’t seen the sun in years.  Their clothes are dark, gloomy (except for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Pirelli) and at the opposite end of festive.

The visual use of blood throughout the film is beautiful.  In the opening credits, it starts a machine, lubricates the gears with a glistening, gooey and nearly neon glowing effect and runs like a torrent through the sewer.  The red blood is the brightest color you will see in the entire film.  It appears like a phantom flash on Todd’s sleeve.  It sprays and flows multiple times like fireworks and gurgling waterfalls.  I honestly found it not disgusting, but brutally beautiful.  And I couldn’t help but thinking, this is worth an R rating?

I grew up with my father calling me into the living room in time to see the severed horse head in The Godfather.  With still beating hearts bursting into flames as Indiana Jones witnessed human sacrifice.  And a child back from the dead slicing an old man’s Achilles tendon.  A little throat slicing and blood spraying does not make me think an R rating is necessary.  But until I’m in charge of the MPAA, whole generations of Tim Burton fans may be missing out on the one musical they’ll really enjoy.

“No denying times is hard, sir.  Even harder than the worst pies in London.”