Friday, October 24, 2008

The Norliss Tapes



I’ve gotten a lot of good horror movie recommendations from folks based on my Hammer and Robot Monster posts. Paul Rogers’ recommendations can be seen in the comments for the Robot Monster post (though I’ll be steering clear of Weasels Rip My Flesh, thank you Paul.) I’ve seen all but Weasel multiple times. The one recommendation I haven’t seen before was from Leanne Hannah. She told me about a British made-for-TV movie called The Woman In Black that I absolutely can’t wait to check out. I watched a clip on YouTube and it really creeped me out. So I’ll definitely be watching that. Thanks, Leanne.

I thought I’d return the favor and recommend a good Halloween movie I remember from my childhood. Often, when I revisit films I really liked as a kid, I’m sorely disappointed. For instance, I remember being terrified by a low-budget flick called Let’s Scare Jessica To Death. I saw it on my grandmother’s tiny black and white TV sitting in her kitchen late at night. Her house was very old and there were often spiders crawling in the most inconvenient places. She was always finding ways to save money so, when we stayed with her, she would turn out all the lights when she went to bed and you’d have to blindly navigate the claustrophobia-inducing hallways to the back bedroom and I would always swear I could hear the spiders skittering after me in the dark. So it was with that journey ahead of me that my seven-year-old self watched Jessica and it was no wonder I suffered from nightmares for weeks afterward. Flash forward 30 years and I’m renting the just-released video on NetFlix. I practically jumped up and down in anticipation as I put the disc in the player. Suze was out of town for the weekend and I had the house to myself. I turned out all the lights in the house and curled up on the couch with a bag of popcorn, looking forward to ninety minutes of spine-tingling delights. Not to be. The movie turned out to be an acid-trippy, hippy-infested borefest. There's even a musical number. Granted, there were a few chilling moments (including a show-stopper at the lake) that made it worth checking out but it was nowhere near the thriller I remembered. I was sorely disappointed.

Fortunately, that is not the case with The Norliss Tapes.



This Dan Curtis-produced TV movie featuring Roy Thinnes and Angie Dickenson was made by the same team that brought us the original The Night Stalker movie starring Darren McGavin. And you can tell. All the elements are there: the writer protagonist, the story revealed by the playing of audio tapes, the mute, snarling creature in a suit and tie nobody believes exists. Heck, Claude Akins even shows up as the doubting sheriff. While certainly dated (an aspect not helped by the funky 70's soundtrack) the film holds up well has some genuinely creepy moments, not the least of which is the scene depicted in my sketch above. That's the shot that stuck with me all these years. A young woman staying in a motel room can't shake the feeling she's being watched. As a storm rages outside, she slowly, reluctantly forces herself over to the window and, with one quick jerk, yanks open the curtain to reveal that blue, blank-eyed face.



This movie was another film that plagued me for years (along with Gargoyles, Agent from H.A.R.M. and the aforementioned Giant Claw and The Creeping Terror)and I was so relieved when some deft Googling finally revealed not only the title but the fact that it was available on DVD. Netflix to the rescue. It does suffer from a hokey ending but it has some really good performances (especially Thinnes and also Nick Dimitri who wasn't given much to do but seemed to have a great time doing it) and quite a few chills. If you can get past the pasty blue makeup, I think you'll really enjoy this one.

Now, if I can only figure out what that movie was with the headless female ghost haunting the old Victorian mansion...

12 comments:

Warren said...

I vaguely remember the Norliss Tapes. For some reason, it didn't grab me like the Nightstalker did.

Did you ever see a TV movie called the Soul Survivor about a WWII bomber that crashed and stranded its crew in the desert? It was pretty creepy and the ending really disturbed me when I was a kid.

The original 13 Ghosts (a William Castle film) scared the heck out of me when I was a kid too, even though now I find it a litle cheesey.

Also cheesey to the grown-up me, but scary as hell to the ten-year-old me was the Mad Goul. I dare not reveal the shock ending!!!

The Screaming Skull, Bucket of Blood, Carnival of Souls... I can barely remember the plots of these movies, but I can remember being scared silly by them.

And one more -- The Innocents. A truly frightening ghost story.

This post really has no point other than my own nostalgic trip down Nightmare Lane. Move along. Nothing to see here...

... or is there?

Boo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wApJhkmKau4

renecarol said...

Very nicely done. scary. It makes me want to see the movie.

Matt Wieringo said...

Then my drawing had the desired effect!

Christian D. Leaf said...

Nice rain pattern/effect on that piece. I tip my hat you, boyo.

Don't recall NORLISS, but I do remember GARGOYLES. We taped it off the local horror movie show and watched it ad nauseam. The skeleton always seemed so real and the opening quote always stuck with me. Good stuff.

Matt Wieringo said...

Heh. You said, "ad nauseam."

Leanne said...

Firstly, that drawing is awesome, Matt! I love the rain effect on the window. I think I would completely lose it if I saw something like that outside my house.

I've never seen The Norliss Tapes, but it sounds pretty cool. I'm going to track it down after I get through this Hammer stuff (we ordered even more last night-- including that third set you told me about). I'm also going to have to check out Warren's suggestion on The Innocents. I am always after good ghost movies.

I hope you enjoy The Woman in Black-- you'll have to let me know what you think. If anything, it should leave an impression... I hope!

Matt Wieringo said...

Thanks, Leanne. I was going for that razor blade effect demonstrated HERE. (Thanks for the link, Christian.) I've always wanted to try that but I ink with Microns and Pitt brush pens so the technique wouldn't work. Besides, I drew that on laser paper. I absolutely love that original comic art is messy with notes in the margins, blue lines visible under the inks and stuff like razor technique, opaque white and paste-ups all over them. That's the fun of owning original artwork.

Anyway. Off on a tangent. I think I'll do a post about that....

Parker said...

Oh yeah, Gargoyles scared the hell out of me as a kid- I watched it on a little black and white tv in a creepy motel one weekend and I couldn't shake it for a long time.

Bill White said...

I thought I was the only person who had seen this movie! Your drawing brought a dozen childhood nightmares back.

now I must go to Netflix...

Josh said...

I just watched Shaun of the Dead this week, though it's more of a comedy than horror. I was going to watch more than one horror movie for Halloween this month but I've gotten behind and it looks like the only ones I'll get in are Shaun of the Dead and An American Werewolf in London. I might watch the others in November. I've got at least two others. Ghost Rider's not really a horror movie but it's fit for Halloween. By the way, Matt and anybody else on here who wants to check it out, I've got a blog at www.jmralls2001.blogspot.com. I put Matt's blog on my links. I hope that's okay with you Matt.

Matt Wieringo said...

Hey, Josh. I checked out your blog. Those are some nice likenesses. Those always give me trouble.

You could do a lot worse than SHAUN OF THE DEAD and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON for Halloween movies. I'm on a never-ending Hammer kick right now or I'd be watching those myself. AAWIL is probably the best werewolf movie ever made.

And I would say that GHOST RIDER really is a horror movie, just not in the way it was intended. It's got great visuals and I was happy to see GR brought to life on the big screen but that movie really is bad. It's almost unwatchable except for the effects and the lovely Eva Mendes.

Brian said...

All Hallows Eve, Eve.

Yipeeeee!