Carrie (1976) Review

July 6, 2022July 5, 2022 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

Welcome to my first ever Stephen King deep dive, over the next few weeks we will be discussing his first story Carrie by reviewing the original movie, the films sequel, the two remakes, the failed Broadway musical and finally the original novel!.

The only version I won’t be discussing is the Riverdale Special as I have never seen the show and if I do ever watch and review the series I will discuss that version then.

I am going to begin this series starting with the first adaptation of the novel and ending on a review of said book this will allow me to actually read through the story but also to have lots of material to look back on when I review it and to have a better picture of how accurate the various versions are to Kings.

This is the first film adaptation of any of Kings books it was released only two years after the original publication and is actually the preferred version of the story by King, in fact he actually has started that he thinks that it is better than his novel.

The film really is excellent mainly due to its cast and the directors decisions for specific camera shots and realistic effects

Carrie was portrayed by Sissy Spasek who had to be convinced to go for the role by her husband, another prominent actress in the film Amy Irving was originally chosen but was swapped with Sissy Spasek who was more comfortable with being naked on camera. She is also terrifying at the end of the movie when she gets her revenge.

Irving was instead given the role of Sue Snell originally a bully of Carrie who sees remorse in her actions and tries to make up for it by asking her boyfriend Tommy to take Carrie to the prom.

In the movie Carrie is portrayed as a shy girl who hasn’t been made ready for the real world, the scene where she gets her first period and doesn’t know what it is and panics thinking that she is being punished by god is very well done, it gets us rooting for Carrie in the films closing moments due to how the girls treated her in that scene.

The main villains in the movie are Chris and Billy played by Nancy Allen and John Travolta in his first major film role. These guys are pure evil and while the other girls are also really horrible it’s Chris that is the main leader who sets up the awful plan to drench Carrie in the pig blood during the Prom, Billy plays along and actually beats a pig to death to get the blood which is really messed up and leaves viewers with no remorse for these characters when Carrie fights back.

Carries mother is a religious nut played by Piper Laurie, she has brought Carrie up with Bible and has forced her to pray and obey the laws of god, one of the main reasons she does this is actually due to a fear of her daughter becoming evil, Carrie was born with the ability of telekinesis a power to move things with her mind. These powers only really come out when Carrie is in an emotional state of mind so in her mother’s eyes shielding Carrie from sin is the best way to help prevent Carrie from going to hell.

The movie is really good and while at times it can seem a little bit silly in its premise, it manages to maintain a serious tone and leave a feeling of uneasiness and chills.

There really isn’t much I can criticize with this one, I would say I wish the school was portrayed a little more alive, perhaps with more background actors to help fill the scenes as it does seem rather small for what is meant to be a High School but apart from that this is a perfect horror film in my eyes and if you haven’t seen it or are a fan of pychological horror then Carrie from 1976 is definitely a movie to check out!

If you would like to help support the website please use the donation button at the top of the page, your donations will help to improve the website by allowing me to afford products to review and to be able to execute any costly updates and changes, any amount in donations are welcome.

Thank You for all of your support.

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Review

October 20, 2017October 20, 2017 ragglefragglereviews5 Comments

Bride-of-Frankenstein-Poster

The monster returns in this exemplary sequel to Universals original Frankenstein film, James Whale came back to direct the Bride of Frankenstein much to his displeasure , Whale never wanted Frankenstein to continue in his vision the monster had died at the end of the first film and he had too make a sequel due to his contracted agreement with Universal and the massive success of the original picture.

Bride_of_Frankenstein_2

As much as James Whale didn’t want to make the picture it actually ended up being one of the greatest horror films of all time and a favorite for many critics including myself.

brideofranknstn_083pyxurz

Boris Karloff is back playing the role of the monster and as can be expected he is absolutely fantastic playing the part, the monster is a killer but Karloff plays the part with so much emotion and innocence it is so difficult to not feel sorry for him, my favorite scene in the movie is a perfect example to sum up not only why this film is so brilliant but also just how amazing Karloff was as an actor, in the scene the monster while running away from trigger happy villagers stumbles across a blind hermit in the woods and the hermit is the only human from the village that doesn’t want to kill the monster, this is great because the guy is blind and wont judge the monster because he cant see him, the hermit takes care of the monster and teaches him how to speak, during the scene the monster becomes more calm and even somewhat gentle and friendly, and once he loses the hermit and the villages start acting aggressively towards him the monster becomes dangerous and deadly once again.

Bride-of-Frankenstein-1935-3

As well as packing in plenty of action and emotion, Bride of Frankenstein is also extremely creative and the special effects are very impressive, the most impressive has got to be when Doctor Pretorius shows Frankenstein his previous experiments to create life which involved him growing humans, this led the people that Pretorius grew to be very small and they all kept in separate glass bottles.

jack&elsabw

Makeup artist Jack Pierce who has done a lot of the famous monster makeups in the past came back for Bride of Frankenstein to do Karloff’s monster makeup and Elsa Lanchester who played the monsters bride, Pierce’s makeup work is iconic he created the way we view the original horror icons and his work is always highly respected and inspirational, as well designing the makeup for the monster pierce was also the mastermind behind the brides hair and makeup, Pierce’s work was masterful and many makeup artists have taken inspiration from him.

884862_61cb718b203946aab2a76f29d6e83bc0-mv2 The Bride of Frankenstein is my favorite horror movie of all time, its a perfect mix of horror, comedy and emotion, it truly is a wonderful film, the cast are all very good at playing their roles and with such a legendary director leading the project you honestly cant go wrong, if you enjoyed Frankenstein I guarantee you will love his Bride.

The Blu-Ray for Bride of Frankenstein is unfortunately once again lacking in special features apart from one documentary and a commentary track all you get are some production shots, advertisement pictures and a collection of trailers, with this being my favorite horror movie it was incredibly disappointing when I wasn’t given more bonus material.

you can purchase the Universal Classics Monsters Collection on Blu-ray here

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Universal-Classic-Monsters-Essential-Collection/dp/B008H45YSO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506697249&sr=8-1&keywords=universal+monster+collection

A DVD version can be bought here

https://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-CLASSIC-MONSTER-COLLECTION/dp/B001GQWT24/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506697249&sr=8-2&keywords=universal+monster+collection

You can contact me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

The Witch (2015) Review

October 14, 2016 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

The horror movie critics loved but was hated by everyone else

mv5bmty4mtu2njmynv5bml5banbnxkftztgwmzuwmdk4nze-_v1_uy1200_cr9006301200_al_

The Witch was a movie that got me really pumped after I saw the trailer, I absolutely love dark history from Jack the ripper to the great western railway murders and I honestly cant get enough of it, but if there is any one particular part of history that fascinates me the most it has to be anytime between the 1400’s and the 1600’s, the time between these three decades was when the biggest threat in existence was that of a witch.

lets_get_hysterical_the_witch_1050_591_81_s_c1

Witchcraft was believed to be the work of the Devil and anyone who was believed to be a witch would have been put on trial in a court where they must prove their innocence in order to avoid execution, a very famous court case was the Salem Witch Trials.

sc33_dinner-finished_1020-0-0

The Film (The Witch) takes place in the 1630’s, the story is about a religious family who have to deal with a barrage of bad luck and unusual circumstances after their youngest child mysteriously goes missing, from reading the title of the movie it is obvious that the cause of these issues is obviously some type of witchcraft, the main premise may sound like your average horror movie involving evil witches but you may be surprised to learn that the film actually has a very slow pace and most of the time you are seeing the family deal with emotional and financial problems a lot more than watching them meet a grizzly fate, a lot of the hate is caused by the slow pacing of the movie but I believe that most people dislike the film due to the directors choice for the dialogue, the movie uses English words and phrases taken directly from the King James Bible which is how people used to speak back in the day, unless you have studied the old English language and at least have a basic understanding of its translation and meaning then you will most likely pull your hair out trying to understand what people are saying in this film, for example here is some dialogue I took from IMDB.

William: [before the court] What went we out into this wilderness to find? Leaving our country, kindred, our fathers houses? We have travailed a vast ocean. For what? For what?

Governor: We must ask thee to be silent!

William: Was it not for the pure and faithful dispensation of the Gospels, and the Kingdom of God?

Old Slater: No More! We are *your* judges, and not you ours!

William: I cannot be judged by false Christians, for I have done nothing, save preach Christ’s true Gospel.

Governor: Must you continue to dishonor the laws of the commonwealth and the church with your prideful conceit?

William: If my conscience sees it fit.

Governor: Then shall you be banished out of this plantations liberties!

William: I would be glad of it.

Governor: Then take your leave, and trouble us no further.

William: How sadly hath The Lord testified against you.

Do you see what I mean?

I personally loved the film but I have studied the history of the English Language and I do prefer more slow paced horror films over the more traditional and in your face style we usually get these days, critics adored this movie because of how historically accurate it was, the film even got the Witchcraft elements accurate for the most part, this is traditional Witchcraft more than it is Harry Potter Witchcraft, regardless of the mixed reviews this film received I think everyone should at least give it a go.

I hope you enjoyed this Review of The Witch

BTW if you want to learn more about traditional Witchcraft may I recommend this documentary about the Pendle Witch Child, its really interesting and is one of my all time favorite documentaries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv-JDUfADiw

you can contact me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

Is there a true meaning to Christmas?

November 29, 2015 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

Whats the meaning of Christmas?

Some would say its too celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ

Others would explain that its about spending time with family and appreciating those around you

and these days most children would say that its about getting presents from Santa Claus

but is there a real answer?

In order to try and figure out an answer to such a controversial question I think that we should at first talk about what Christmas used to be about.

Christianity is probably the most famous and popular religion in the world and of course December 25th is a very important day in regards to the Christian faith as this is indeed the birth date of Jesus Christ.

Christians traditionally celebrate Christmas by acting out the birth of Christ through Nativity plays, opening advent calendars which are used to count the days before Christmas, Singing songs about the good Lord and by exchanging gifts between friends and family members to help remind each other of the gift of God.

Whats that?

Christmas cant be a Christian tradition because your child plays Mary in the Nativity every year at her non catholic school, you and your family knock on doors singing Christmas songs to your neighbors, your children open a door on their advent calendars every morning in December and on Christmas day they have lots of presents to open.

You say you do all of this without fail every Christmas but you and your family are not in any way religious?

Well I would be lying if I said that you didn’t make a good argument, so how did we change Christmas from a religious holiday to a holiday that is celebrated world wide?

The answer to this is quite simple, all we actually did is we just made a few slight and sneaky changes first of all the Nativity hasn’t changed much if not at all and I think this is important because it helps remind us of the holidays origins.

Advent calendars are known to provide between 24 and 25 chocolates as a little treat for children to enjoy every day leading up to Christmas but originally they included small wooden religious figures such as baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the Angel but most of them were just used to help children count the days leading up to the birth of Christ, the days leading to Christmas are known as Advent according to the Christian Faith.

Christmas Carols have always been a thing but the songs have changed immensely from what used to be sung, for example most Christians would sing O Little Town of Bethlehem or Hark the Herald Angels Sing but most non religious Christmas lovers may sing Rudolph the red nose Reindeer or Jingle Bells which of course have absolutely nothing to do with Jesus or the religion that follows him.

Earlier I mentioned that Christians would give gifts to friends and family members in order to help remind them of the gift of god, the biggest difference here is that traditionally you would give one small gift to a friend of family member and most of the time this would be hand made, these days children tend to get loads of presents which will usually include an I-Pad an XBOX or a computer and of course these gifts are usually brought by Santa who I may talk about in a Christmas blog next year.

So whats the meaning of Christmas?

I hope this article has left you pondering an answer to this question, personally I like to celebrate Christmas like most people of the 21st century but I have always considered Christmas a celebration of the birth of Christ and I don’t think that will ever change.

I suppose the true meaning of Christmas is what ever you make of it but in reality these days the meaning is more to do with corporate companies making a lot of money on advertising than it is too do with religion or appreciating family and to me that’s a very sad and unfortunate reality which will probably never change.

Why else do you think we see Christmas stuff in October

I hope you enjoyed this festive article

Any references to Christian celebrations are in reference to old Christian traditions

I know this is slightly early for a Christmas blog but there is a good reason behind this.

Every two days from the 2nd of December on-wards I will be using a special system which will select a random Christmas movie for me to review (even if it’s not animated) and I may also be doing some collaboration blogs with another blogger which will involve some fun Christmas antics.

The First of the Twelve films I am going to review is