Eric Veillette
Frankenstein
1931 (James Whale) PG, 69 min
Starring: Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, John Boles, Mae Clark
In 1931, two indisputable horror classics were released. While Tod Browning's Dracula (shown at The Revue in November) may have thrilled audiences, it was James Whale's Frankenstein that truly frightened them. The film even begins with a warning of the terrifying images to come, spoken by one of its stars, Edward Van Sloan. Frankenstein is a stark, Gothic affair, reminiscent of the previous decade’s German Expressionist films, such as Nosferatu. Boris Karloff, gaunt, ghostly and cadaverous, thanks to Jack Pierce's masterful makeup, played the career-defining role of the Monster, stitched together by a scientist (Colin Clive). Rejected by its creator, the Monster wreaks havoc on a nearby town, while a torch-bearing mob — soon to become an iconic staple of classic horror — is on the hunt for both the Monster and its Creator. The film’s Monster has the brain of a criminal, explaining his terrifying character. The original creature, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, published in 1818, turns savage, because of the way he is treated. A 35mm print from Universal's vaults, Frankenstein will be preceded by a 16mm reel of shorts, cartoons and trailers.
-Eric VeilletteWatch the Trailer
A Town Called Panic
2009 (Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar) G, 86 min
Starring: Cheval, Cowboy, Indien
In French with English subtitles
Based on a hit Belgian TV-series, PANIC brings us into the world which only existed when you left the sandbox; where stop-motion plastic toys, namely Cowboy, Indien and Cheval, share a house, drive tractors, take music lessons, read the newspaper, and use the internet. The latter proves problematic when plans for Cheval's birthday present go terribly wrong, causing hijinks on a massive scale. Full of demented slapstick, PANIC will leave you in stitches, with few attempts to catch your breath. "The resulting mayhem sounds like a grade-school French teacher, jacked on amphetamines, reading a storybook while huffing helium from a balloon," says TIFF's Colin Geddes.
-Eric VeilletteWatch the Trailer
Silent Sundays: Tillie's Punctured Romance
1914 (Mack Sennett) G, 92 min
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Marie Dressler
Silent
Charlie Chaplin. Cobourg-born Marie Dressler. Mabel Normand. And The Keystone Cops. All directed by the incomparable Mack Sennett, in Tillie’s Punctured Romance, one of Hollywood’s earliest feature-length comedies. This silent 1914 classic is coming to The Revue, on Sunday, March 14, at 4 p.m., and will be accompanied by Toronto’s own William O’Meara on the piano. Welcome to The Revue’s Silent Sundays, Toronto’s only year-round silent film retrospective. Sennett decided to make the feature after being inspired by the momentous efforts of his mentor D.W. Griffith in Birth of a Nation. Tillie came out when Chaplin was still creating his iconic Tramp character, so you’ll see a Chaplin here that you perhaps have never seen before. He plays an opportunistic,
villainous city slicker, with a pencil-thin mustache and derby hat, who latches on to Tillie (Dressler), a farmer’s daughter. His girlfriend (Normand) from the city also in on the action, once she realizes Tillie is heir to a multi-million-dollar fortune.
Daybreakers
2009 (Michael and Peter Spierig) 18A, 98 min
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, Willem Dafoe
In a world where vampires rule and humans are a commodity, whose side do you want to be on? The Spierig Bros. (Undead) return with a modern allegory about supply and consumption, crafting a world where a plague has transformed humans into blood-sucking creatures. But they do it in style: the look evokes a neo-noir similar to Dark City. While a human blood farm supplies the much-desired red stuff to the general populace, Edward Dalton (Ethan Hawke), a hematologist, seeks to develop an artificial blood supply before the real stuff runs out. Having second thoughts, he partners with vampire hunter Cormac (Dafoe, delivering some hilarious one-liners). Whether by blood, crossbow, or style, Daybreakers delivers.
-Eric VeilletteWatch the Trailer
