Black and white movies

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Some really good modern black and white films:

"the heart of the world" a short film by guy maddin... Available on YouTube
"Brand Upon the Brain" also by guy maddin.
"the American Astronaut". Odd, funny, a rock and roll sci-fi western musical
"The Forbidden Zone" something to offend everyone.

One word: Clerks

Oh my gosh, how could I have forgotten Guy Maddin? By all means, yes, I like him, too. I own The Saddest Music In The World, which is one of my favorite movies. I do also like The American Astronaut, and Christmas On Mars, made by, and starring The Flaming Lips.
But please tell me, what is The Forbidden Zone?

-Bill, also known as Kraichgauer

Actually the title is Forbidden Zone <-- IMDB Link

It was directed by Richard Elfman and stars the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.

When Frenchy Hurcules gets curious about the portal to the 6th dimension in her basement, she ends up prisoner of the jealous queen and mistress of the horny midget king Fausto. Flash, gramps and Squeezit come to her rescue. Much nudity, singing and violence ensues. (Danny Elfman plays Saten)

There is a colorized version which was the film maker's original intent, but I don't think it works as well. It does have one extra song than the original release however.

A couple of modern black and white films I enjoy are Dead Man and Ed Wood. Both star Johnny Depp and Ed Wood is directed by Tim Burton.

Here's the upcoming movie, The Whisperer in Darkness. I'm really looking forward to this movie because I'm a big fan of H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd5gWGfnK5M[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQkos7WTHjg&feature=channel[/youtube]
What he is listening to is a recording of a Cult chant. One of the chanters is Human, the other is an alien called a Mi-go.


They cut of parts of the recording for this trailer. The full recording goes as follows.
Human:
... is the Lord of the Woods, even to... and the gifts of the men of Leng... so from the wells of the night to the gulfs of space, and from the gulfs of space to the wells of night, ever to the praises of Great Cthulhu, of Tsathoggua, and of Him Who is not to be Named(Hastur). Ever their praises, and abundance to the Black Goat of the Woods. Ia! Shub-Niggurath! The Goat with a Thousand Young!

Mi-go(speaking in a buzzing imitation of Human speech):
Ia! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!

Human:
And it has come to pass that the Lord of the Woods, being... seven and nine, down the onyx steps... tributes to Him in the Gulf, Azathoth, He of Whom Thou hast taught us marvels... on the wings of night out beyond space, out beyond th... to That whereof Yuggoth(alien name for Pluto) is the youngest child, rolling alone in the black aether at the rim...

Mi-go:
... go out among me and find the ways thereof, that He in the Gulf may know. To Nyarlathotep, Mighty Messenger, must all things be told. And He shall put on the semblance of men, the waxen mask and the robe that hides, and come down from the world of Seven Suns to mock....

Human:
... Nyarlathotep, Great Messenger, bringer of strange joy to Yuggoth through the void, Father of the Million Favoured Ones, Stalker among....
(Speech cut off by end of record)

Last edited by ShenLong on 27 Jun 2010, 2:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Normally, I can't stand black & white movies. It tends to annoy my eyes. There is, however, one mighty exception:

Schindler's List. May be the best, or at least the most touching, movie I have ever seen.

I own the Call Of Cthulhu DVD, which was of course made by the same people who gave us The Whisperer in Darkness; my wife got it for me as a Christmas gift. I know what I'm going to be asking for this Christmas!

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Yes. I have yet to seeCall of Cthulhu. I wish it was longer than just 48 minutes and wasn't silent(I can't stand silent movies for some reason). I'm content reading the short story however. I just started reading H. P. Lovecraft. I was fascinated by the Mythos before then though. Righ now, I'm reading Call of Cthulhu and The Whisperer in Darkness. Next I'm going to tackle "The Shadow over Innsmouth" and "A Shadow Out of Time". and then the "Dunwich Horror" and the "Colour Out of Space". So far, I find the stories to be extremely interesting. Which movie do you think they should make next? I wan t see either "At The Mountains of Madness" or "The Shadow Over Innsmouth".

Anyways, since you mentioned it, I'm gonna put up a trailer for Call of Cthulhu
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHuY2wXTd0o[/youtube]

Actually, The Shadow Over Innsmouth has been done a couple times - as Dagon (despite the fact Lovecraft wrote a story called Dagon, this film is really a re-telling of Innsmouth), and Cthulhu. Dagon was made by Lovecraft film maker Stuart Gordon, who gave us Re-animator, and From Beyond, among others. While Dagon isn't as well known a movie as Re-animator, it's closer to Lovecraft's original material of decaying, isolated towns inhabited by sub-human hybrids worshiping monstrous gods. The movie Cthulhu, which I also own, is also a repackaged Innsmouth, but with a homosexual sub-plot. It's hard to find anywhere else other than Amazon, because the distributor is Here, which specializes in Gay movies. But finding it is well worth the effort. There have been two Dunwich Horror film productions - and both were pretty awful. There's even a low budget, independent short film based my favorite Lovecraft story, Nyarlathotep. While this was a decent retelling of Nyarlathotep, it wasn't able to capture the spell of catastrophic, cosmic doom Lovecraft was able to weave on the page.
I understand Guillermo Del Torro was considering making At The Mountains Of Madness, but was persuaded to direct The Hobbit, instead. Since The Hobbit project fell through for him, we can only pray to the Great Old Ones that he'll go back to Lovecraft. Del Torro's work on Hell Boy shows a very definite Lovecraftian influence.
I'm always happy to communicate with a fellow Lovecraft fan. My dad raised me on vivid descriptions of fiction by Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. In Kindergarten, I drew a picture of Great Cthulhu, which the teacher was unable to make heads or tales of. She told my parents there was something wrong with me - - she had no idea. I ate up everything I could find written by Lovecraft and Howard while in high school and college, and even today, they are both two of my favorite authors.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Yes, I know of those movies, but I mean the next movie that the HP Lovecraft Historical Society makes. I know of the Dagon short story you're talking about. Never read it, but I have seen a machinama which follows it very, very closely from what I hear.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMOHpuxFbm0[/youtube]

Edit: I just read Dagon. It's my first Lovecraft story I've completed, and yes, the machinama was very accurate.

Last edited by ShenLong on 03 Jul 2010, 5:25 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Schindler's List
Citizen Kane
Brief Encounter
Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Browning Version
Lady in a Cage
Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Billy Liar
Pygmalion
My Man Godfrey
Of Human Bondage
To Kill a Mockingbird
Stardust Memories
Saddest Music in the World

Oh I forgot about "To Kill A Mockingbird". It was good, but the book is superior.

+1
QFT.

Back on track, I found another Cthulhu movie being made in black in white. It's being made of Germany and is based off of "The Color Out of Space".

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t-MxVyublk[/youtube]

Nosferatu
The Creature From the Black Lagoon
King Kong
Dracula
Psycho