Top 10 Musicals

Recently, I met a challenge on Facebook to name my Top 10 Musicals. I posted photos with no explanation just the photo. Well here they are with titles and an explanation for each one. These are in no particular order and I promise I will return to this soon and name my Top 10 Golden Age Musicals.

Bright Star

I had heard so much about this musical from friends that when it came on tour to Pioneer Theater Company with the original leading lady, Carmen Cusack, I had to go see it. I was blown away by her incredible performance in this Steve Martin/Edie Brickell musical! I was moved and uplifted by this incredible true story based on a newspaper article and my life was changed forever. Click here for my review of the production.

Memphis

I never got to see this live on Broadway, but when Fathom Events brought it to the big screen I took my mom to see it and was completely blown away by the incredible touching and heartbreaking story of love, prejudice, and the love of music. This story was about two vastly different people who fall in love over their love for music and who are eventually torn apart by the prejudices of the day but in the end are reunited briefly and the message of not allowing anyone to steal your dreams comes through loud and clear. An incredible piece of work!

Billy Elliot

I went to see this through Fathom Events on the big screen but unfortunately the local theater showing it had received an IMAX copy and were unable to screen it. I bought it through iTunes when it came out and fell in love with this musical adaptation of the wonderful British film of the same name. I loved the film and the screenwriter and Elton John teamed together to bring it to the musical theater stage with wonderful results! This particular performance that was captured live featured one of my all-time favorite British actresses, Ruthie Henshall in that famous Julie Walters role in the film of Mrs. Wilkinson the ballet teacher who encourages a young man to follow his dreams to be a dancer despite the horrible social uprising happening in his hometown and pressure from his very stubborn and prejudiced father and brother. Absolutely touching story that is enhanced by the incredible Elton John score.

Newsies

I have a love-hate relationship with Disney Theatricals and most people that know me well know that I only love 5 of their musicals: "Aida," "Beauty and the Beast," "Hunchback of Notre Dame," "The Lion King," and "Newsies."

I remember when the original film came out and how I fell in love with it but did have a few problems with it and it wasn't a huge box office hit, but became a cult classic when it came out on home video.

But when Disney Theatricals decided to green light adapting it for the Broadway stage, playwright, the wonderful Harvey Fierstein teamed with Alan Menken and Jack Feldman (Composer and Lyricist) to adapt this incredible story for the stage, I feel the show improved vastly and IMHO is better than the film all around.

This story touched me deeply and I fell resonates today with the new millennial generation. It calls them to action, to be the change in the world they want to see, and to let no one stand in their way of their dreams! That nothing is impossible if you believe in yourself and your friends and family around you!

Rent

I am not ashamed to call myself a "Rent Head!" When I first saw this live on stage at the Capitol Theater with the national tour I fell instantly in love with this incredible story! I was blow away by its simplicity. Its themes of tolerance, unconditional love and acceptance, survival, never giving up on your dreams are still relevant today! When they so wisely filmed it live on stage I quickly bought it on iTunes and watch it regularly! I love it more and more each time I watch it! This was my generation post college and I related it to so much. Thank you Jonathan Larson!

Sunday in the Park with George

I remember seeing this on Broadway after my senior year in high school. I personally feel that this is Sondheim's masterpiece! The story of love, art and how it connects generations was so moving to me and the performances by Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters blew me away! The entire ensemble was so incredible! This was so avant garde for its time and highly criticized by some, but I loved it and it will always hold a special place in my heart!

110 in the Shade

I had the great honor of being able to see Audra McDonald and Will Swenson perform this wonderful and incredible touching musical at the Hale Theater in Orem with my mother and was completely blown away by their performances. This is the musical adaptation of the beautiful play, "The Rainmaker." Audra McDonald's performance as the lonely spinster, Lizzie, broke my heart and I could so relate to her plight. I was completely drawn in by this story and it changed my life forever!

Dear Evan Hansen

Out of all of the contemporary musicals, this one hits very, VERY close to home. Almost TOO close! From the moment the incredible Ben Platt took the stage, I was in tears the entire show! We're talking Ugly Cry. I went through an entire box of Kleenex. NO KIDDING! Evan Hansen was me in school. I made up stories to get attention. I was the one everyone made fun of, and until I moved to Utah at age 16, my younger years in school were miserable. I feel from the very core of my being everything this show is about and expresses to its audience! This musical from the heart takes you by the throat and doesn't let up. It's not an easy show to sit through but it will definitely change you.

Next to Normal

Okay. This is another incredibly tough show to sit through but so well worth it. I relate as well to this story and understand depression very well and how it an affect an entire family. This wonderful musical really presents mental illness very well but at the same time respects the sufferer highly and brings to the stage all of the ugliness that comes with depression but does it with a whole lot of love. I was so blessed to be able to work on the UVU production of this incredible show as a costumer/dresser and each night sitting backstage listening to the incredible score and the several times I got to sit in the audience and view this wonderful production with incredible performances by dear friends and fellow UVU students is an experience I will never forget! Those performances touched me deeply and will follow me the rest of my life. This show will be forever part of my DNA!

Wicked

I am such a huge fan of this musical. It was the last Broadway production I took my mother too before she passed away and it was one of her favorites as well. I adore "The Wizard of Oz" and this take on the story was incredible! Stephen Schwartz's wonderful score and Winnie Holzman's incredible script left me in emotional tatters by shows end. I so related to Elphaba and her plight and this musical touched me deeply.

There you have it. I adore musical theater immensely and I have had so much fun watching countless wonderful musicals over the past 30 years but these stand out as ones that touched a chord within me and will forever be with me!

Friday the 13th

Day 14 of my Halloween Film Fest. Nothing compares to this horror classic! Of course, when this came out, rightfully so, my parents wouldn't let me anywhere near this film. It was so controversial and considered almost pornographic. So I never saw this classic on the big screen, but when I finally got to see it when I was much older I absolutely appreciated it for what it is! It is nowhere near pornographic and the blood and gore is kiddie stuff compared to the crap that is done in movies today, but for it's time it was shocking and I can see that after viewing it many times since and appreciating it as a horror classic. This film was a box office hit back in 1980, but unfortunately, it spawned a huge sequel franchise that would almost destroy the horror genre forever. Every producer of horror films tried to beat it, create their own franchises, but what we got for so many years after, until Wes Craven came out with his classic, "Scream," was nothing but plot less junk with the focus on how bloody and how gory they could make it, nudity and sex taking center stage and characters you didn't give a damn about. These stupid "so called" artists nearly destroyed this genre and I have zero respect for any of them. I also include the sequel to this film, which I absolutely despise! I know it gave rise to the most famous of all horror movie villains, Jason Voorhees, but I feel if he had never come along, the horror genre would have stayed a much more respectable and artistic medium, but history is history.

Director, Sean S. Cunningham plays homage to Carpenter's "Halloween" as well as Hitchcock's "Psycho" in this horror classic and directs the incredible script with such artistry and give us a story of sheer terror and suspense! It never lets up from beginning to end and no other film following it has equaled it!

Don't mess with any of the sequels or the horrible remake. There is only one true original!

The Fog

Day 13 of my Halloween Film Fest. Out of all of the 80's horror classics, this is my all-time favorite! Not only do you have the scream queen herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, you have her sharing the screen for the first of only two times with her famous mother, the legendary Marion Crane herself (Psycho), Janet Leigh. You also get a fantastic performance from John Carpenter's famous spouse, Adrienne Barbeau and a wonderful supporting performance from the legendary Hal Holbrook as Father Malone.

Following his huge independent hit, the cult classic, "Halloween," Carpenter and his producer from "Halloween" Debra Hill, pull no punches in this phenomenally terrifying film which gave me nightmares when I first saw it as a teenager. Carpenter and Hill have written a horror classic filled with vengeful ghosts, romance, children in peril, and suspense so thick you can cut it with knife. 

Taking a simple premise and using a climate phenomenon "Fog," Carpenter and Hill send shivers up your spine throughout the entire course of this film.

If you haven't experienced this classic, WATCH IT NOW! You will see why it is considered a cult classic of the finest kind!

Carpenteresque

Dracula Untold

Day 12 of my Halloween Film Fest. I can't believe it's been 4 years since I first saw this exciting and spectacular film in the theater's. It still is exciting and thrilling as it was 4 years ago when I first saw it!

There have been so many films made with the most famous vampire of all time as its central character, the one and only Dracula. This wonderfully thrilling film from Gary Shore doesn't disappoint in any way and gives us a new and interesting take on the legend with bits of real history put in.

The basic premise is that Vlad is put into a no-win situation when the ruler of the Turks demands that Prince Vlad of Transylvania give up 3000 of his loyal subjects first born sons including his own for his army. Vlad decides to make a deal with the devil (so-to-speak) and the rest of the story is the legend we all know and love, to become the most feared creature on Earth in order to beat the Turks and save his own kingdom.

This is a classic tale of good and evil and the price paid for what seem to be on the surface, choices made from good intentions. This is a classic horror/adventure film of the best kind! I enjoyed it the first time I saw it on the big screen and this time around I fell in love with it all over again!

Luke Evans brings the performance of his career to the role of Vlad/Dracula and the rest of the ensemble surround him with excellent performances!

I highly recommend this film if you haven't seen it yet! It's a fun and scary adventure for the adventurous at heart!

A Star Is Born (2018)

I went into this film with an open mind being a fan of Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's. I was not disappointed to say the least!

I was blown away by Lady Gaga's performance and Bradley Cooper broke my heart! But also, two surprises for me, two incredible supporting performances by Sam Elliott, who always delivers superb performances, but Andrew Dice Clay playing Lady Gaga's father? OMG! What an incredible performance!!!!!

Of course there is much criticism to be had about this one since it has been made three times prior: Barbara Streisand/Kris Kristofferson (1976), Judy Garland/James Mason (1954), and Janet Gaynor/Frederic March (1937). Each film was completely different in their own right. 

The one thing that stood out for me in this incarnation was the boldness of it! It held nothing back! I do agree that the mid-portion of the film could have used a few cuts for running time purposes, it did get a bit tedious in places, but overall, the film resonated with me, and I am totally in love with Lady Gaga as an actress. I knew she'd be good! The modern day aspect of physical beauty being so much a part of the showbiz industry, it helped that Lady Gaga, who has dealt with that issue most of her life, was cast in this part! I feel that Lady Gaga is absolutely beautiful and I adore her and this film made me love her in even more!

I highly recommend this film! It's timely and it really does show how fame can destroy someone so easily!

Halloween (2018)

I remember when I was barely 10 years old when the original John Carpenter film classic came out in the theater's. Of course, my folks would never allow me to see it but only 8 years later when I went to college and saw it on the big screen at a midnight Halloween showing I was completely blown away! What an intense and exhilarating experience! And, Jamie Lee Curtis, the original Scream Queen herself giving a performance of a lifetime.

Now, nearly 40 years later, director/writer David Gordon Green along with his fellow writers, Danny McBride and Jeff Fradley, have created a true and worthy sequel to the original based on the premise that none of the films after the original exist. This idea paid off in a big way! And I'm so glad for these writers and the director's boldness in taking such a leap!

From the very opening scene to the eerie credits, all those memories from when I first saw the original came flooding back and I was hit with a lot of emotion, in a good way! What a fitting tribute to John Carpenter's original vision as well a new vision for today's audiences!

CLICK HERE

As Jamie Lee Curtis mentions in the video (click on the link above) that this film resonates today with the Me Too movement and women and men taking back their lives from past trauma's and saying No More. I will take back control of my fate and will not allow myself or anyone to turn me into a victim ever again!

Jamie Lee Curtis gives the performance of her career as the traumatized Laurie Strode, who, 40-years later, finds herself as the victim, having nearly destroyed her daughter's life with her obsession with Michael Myers, who randomly chose her and nearly killed her and actually succeeded killing her closest friends. This film is not only a homage to the original, but it brings back the terror of what random terrorism is and puts you "the audience" in the front seat to witness the horror.

Director, David Gordon Green pulls no punches, but still manages to not focus on the blood and gore, but on the brutality of someone like Michael Myers. A brilliant modern masterpiece of horror that proves that this genre can still produce great work and not stoop to "pulp" and almost "pornographic" type of entertainment that has so long soiled this genre. Thank you David Gordon Green for producing such a work of integrity and a great horror masterpiece!

CLICK HERE

Let The Right One In

Once again, An Other Theater Company has produced an incredible production that has gone beyond anything they've done so far!

Director's Christopher Clark and Morag Shepherd have taken this stage adaptation of the John Ajvide Lindqvist novel of the same name and truly have produced an artistic and theatrical gem. A hauntingly disturbing yet beautiful production!

The basic premise is a young boy who is being taunted viciously by schoolmates is befriended by a young girl who isn't what she appears to be.

Come see what that is and be taken in by this incredible and haunting story! The entire ensemble work so well together and deliver stunning performances all around! Deep and soul searching performances that left this audience member in emotional tatters by the end of the play. I love thought provoking theater like this and I am so proud of An Other Theater Company for having the courage to do theater like this! If you love Halloween and eerie entertainment don't miss this spectacular production! The word is out though, performances are selling out quickly. An Other Theater Company is becoming the theater to compete with in Utah County. The audiences that are craving new and innovative theatre are flocking to this little theatre company. Please come and support this type of theatre in Utah County. It is so needed!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Beautiful Creatures

Day 11 of my Halloween Film Fest. Out of my entire list this year, this is one of my personal favorites, my "Sleeper." I remember sitting by myself in a darkened theater viewing this film and falling in love with it minute by minute. I feel, personally, this is one of the most beautiful Horror/Romance films of all time. A thrilling and bewitching tale of love in the face of the battle between good and evil. This film will always have a special place in my heart.

Director & Writer, Richard LaGravenese has put together an incredible story along with a fantastic ensemble cast. The incredibly handsome Alden Ehrenreich (Solo-A Star Wars Story), Alice Englert as Ethan and Lena, the star crossed lovers who are destined to meet but find themselves separated by fate. A tale as old as time. They are surrounded by a superb supporting cast: Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Eileen Atkins, Viola Davis, Margo Martindale and Emma Rossum.

If you haven't seen this gem, do it now! You will fall in love with it as I did! It is a beautifully done adaptation of an awesome novel (which I recommend as well)!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Hocus Pocus

Day 10 of my Halloween film fest. This has to be, hands down, my all-time favorite horror comedy. And this one only Disney could have pulled off! Where can you go wrong: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy. 

Director, Kenny Ortega along with writers, Mick Garris & Neil Cuthbert, have created a horror comedy classic for the ages in true Disney fashion. I'm sure that if Walt Disney were still alive he would have loved this film!

The basic story, if you happen to be one of the rare few that haven't seen this gem, is about three witches who upon trying to drain the life of Salem's children are caught and brought to justice and hung for their crimes, but not before Winifred Sanderson, the eldest sister, places a curse upon Salem that one night they would be brought back to life to get their revenge. Well they get their chance, and hilarious mayhem ensues!

There is not one weak performance in this wonderfully fun film from beginning to end! I always have to sit down and watch this classic every Halloween! It combines all that is great about the classic horror genre, witchcraft, full moons, black cats, zombies but at the same time pure Disney comedy magic combined in with it all!

Do yourself a favor and revisit this wonderful Disney classic!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - The Stepford Wives

Day 9 of my Halloween Film Fest. I remember when I was much younger seeing the original version of this based on the novel by Ira Levin, who not only wrote the screenplay to the horror classic, "Rosemary's Baby," but also one of the greatest thrillers for the Broadway stage, "Deathtrap." It was your typical 1970's B movie which had it's terrifying moments and the idea, particularly back in 1975, was very controversial and horrendous.

Skip to 2004 when this Frank Oz directed re-make of this film, and he takes it down the "Horror Comedy" route to perfection. Even today, this re-make is still relevant along with the original film. This film got a huge backlash but I loved every single moment of it. Matthew Broderick and Nicole Kidman were fantastic as Joanna & Walter, a Manhattan society couple who, after Joanna has a mental breakdown after being fired from a major television network, move to an idyllic town in upstate Connecticut called "Stepford." But all is not what it seems in this town. Thus begins a strange tale that you have got to see to believe.

The rest of the supporting ensemble: Glenn Close, Christopher Walken, Bette Midler, Roger Bart and John Lovitz make this delicious Horror Comedy treat a delight to watch. I personally feel that Frank Oz and screenwriter Paul Rudnick (In & Out) have taken this B movie gem and turned it into a Horror Comedy classic. I really enjoyed it this time around re-visiting it! You will too!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - So I Married An Axe Murderer

Day 8 of my Halloween Film Fest. It has been real fun re-visiting these films this past week and this one is no exception. I have always been a huge fan of Mike Myers from SNL but when this film came out back on the 30th of July 1993, I will never forget it. This Horror Comedy classic was a sleeper hit and wasn't what I expected.

It really felt like a normal romantic comedy until the last 25 minutes of the film. It then turned so dark, so quickly, and it was so much fun to finally find out the "real" story.

Mike Myers plays a free-lance San Francisco poet who meets a quirky butcher played by the wonderful Nancy Travis when coming into her shop to get some haggis for his mother for family dinner. The rest I will leave for you. With a great supporting cast including Mike Myers doubling as his father, the wonderful Brenda Fricker, Amanda Plummer, Anthony LaPaglia, and great cameo's by the late-great Phil Hartman, Charles Grodin and Steven Wright.

This Horror Comedy defies all conventions of the genre, mixes in romantic comedy elements, and gives you a quirky and goofball movie going experience. It was so much fun to watch again. Do yourself a favor and watch this one!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Gremlins

Day 7 of my Halloween film fest. This was another Horror Comedy classic from 1984, premiering on the 8th of June 1984, the same day "Ghostbusters" came out, which by today's standards would be considered risky, but it did farely well alongside it and it is considered a classic as well. Of course, this alongside "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," which came out a month prior, led to the MPAA creating the PG-13 rating.

A young boy named Billy, played by Zach Galligan, receives a present one Christmas Eve from his father, played by the wonderful Hoyt Axton; a tiny, very cute creature called a "Mogwi." The young Chinese boy his Dad buys the creature from warms him that you can't expose him to bright light (sunlight will kill him), expose him to water, and never feed him after midnight. Well things don't go as planned, and mayhem ensues.

This movie is a bit  darker than "Ghostbusters," but Steven Spielberg (Producer) and Joe Dante (Writer) created a fun and spooky romp, a tribute to the B-movies of the 1950's and 1960's. Setting it at Christmas time gives it even more of a twisted climate.

This film is definitely an 80's film but is still holds the test of time IMHO. It was so much fun watching it last night after a long hiatus. I had so much fun, like I did when I first saw it in theater's. You will too. The supporting cast: Corey Feldman, Phoebe Cates, Frances Lee McCain, Polly Holliday, Harry Carey, Jr., and Dick Miller all create a fantastic ensemble. This will be the most fun you've ever had being scared!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Ghostbusters

Day 6 of my Halloween film fest. This has to be the best Horror Comedy of my generation hands down! I will never forget seeing this in theater's for the first time with my father. We had so much fun and laughed so hard! This was one of my favorite memories of spending time with my father!

This comedy classic premiered in theater's on the 8th of June in 1984. The worldwide gross for this film was $291, 632,124. This was a blockbuster hit, I can't believe it's been, 34 years ago and still is today. It has stood the test of time and is still considered to be a classic!

The teaming of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis was pure genius! The script by Aykroyd and Ramis was brilliant! The supporting cast: Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson and the wonderful Annie Potts all combined to give us one hellava knockout Horror Comedy for the ages!

The basic plot is that three scientists are thrown out of their university and they venture out on their own and soon are confronted with major paranormal activity in the heart of Manhattan. The result is madcap hilarity combined with a few scares and just a fun time to be had by all.

If you are one of the few that haven't seen this gem, get off your tush and do so! This is a must see for every hardcore Horror Comedy fan!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein

Day 5 of my Halloween Film Fest. This happens to be one of my favorite genre's: The Horror Comedy. And you can't get any funnier than the classic "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." 

I had forgotten how funny this gem was. It is absolutely adorable and so much fun to watch. It is so much fun to see two of the classic horror actor's of their time, Bela Lugosi (Dracula) and Lon Chaney, Jr. (The Wolfman) come together and basically poke fun at themselves and the horror genre in particular. This is just an old-fashioned, fun comedy that is a joy to watch each and every time I've seen it.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were the leading hit comedy team of the golden age of Hollywood alongside Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. This comic duo did over 35 films together and they were all hits.

This particular film premiered on the 15 June 1948 and grossed over $3,200,000 in the United States alone, which back in 1948 was a lot! 

The basic plot is a fugitive surgeon working for Count Dracula, pretends to fall in love with Bud Abbott's character to lure him into becoming a unwilling brain donor for the Frankenstein Monster who has grown weak. The rest I'll leave for you!

Do yourself a favor and sit down and watch this Horror Comedy classic from Universal Pictures!

The True Joy Of Live Theatre

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Vertigo

Day 4 of my Halloween film fest. This Hitchcock masterpiece premiered in theater's on the 9th of May, 1958. Like "Rope," James Stewart gives another stellar and haunted performance, this time playing retired police detective, John "Scottie" Ferguson. After chasing a thief on the rooftops of San Francisco, John stumbles and his partner goes to save him and falls to his death. At this point, John realizes that he has a fear of heights, "Vertigo." After recovering from his injuries, John is shooting the breeze with his best friend, Midge Wood, played brilliantly by Barbara Bel Geddes. John is asked by a former college mate, Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) to follow his wife around to find out what is happening to her. Gavin is afraid that his wife is being haunted by the past and is suicidal. The role of Gavin's wife is played brilliantly by the incredible Kim Novak. The story goes on from here and I won't spoil it for you.

What we have in this masterpiece, is a mystery/suspense thriller of the ages. Hitchcock so brilliantly plays the audience little by little in the background until you don't know what to think. Then when the true story reveals itself you're left shocked and appalled at what has taken place. Vintage Hitchcock. This film premiered just two years prior to "Psycho," and like "Rope," it showed how the film maker was perfecting his craft up to his shining "magnum opus."

This is a slow paced drama so-to-speak, so it isn't as terrifying and action packed as some of Hitchcock's other films, but is so worth it just for the brilliant character study and look into the psyche of humans; as well as for the magnificent performances by Novak, Geddes and Stewart.

If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and watch it!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Rope

Day 3 of my Halloween film fest. This amazing and white knuckle thriller premiered on the 25th of September 1948, nearly twelve years before "Psycho" premiered in theater's. This crafty and well written thriller was based on a play by Patrick Hamilton and adapted for the screen by Hume Cronyn and the screenplay was written by Arthur Laurents (West Side Story) and Ben Hecht (The Front Page).

The basis of the story is two roommates in a New York loft apartment, strangle their friend David and then hide his body in an old chest and then host a party, one of the guests being David's father, and serve dinner on the chest that is hiding the body. I remember my mother telling me that this film was so disturbing to her that when we finally sat down to watch this together, she appreciated the genius of Hitchcock and the incredible performance by James Stewart, who plays Rupert Kadell, a former headmaster at the men's prep school, but she said the idea was so horrible, particularly back in 1948 when the film premiered.

The two men guilty of the crime are John Dall (Brandon) and Farley Granger (Phillip), who both give well-crafted performances. Along with them are an incredible ensemble: Edith Evanson as Mrs. Wilson, the housekeeper; Joan Chandler as Janet, the victim's girlfriend; Cedric Hardwicke as Mr. Kentley, the victim's father; Constance Collier as Mrs. Atwater, the victim's Aunt; and Douglas Dick as Kenneth, the former boyfriend of Janet's.

Hitchcock really shows his mastery of suspense in this incredible piece of film making. From beginning to end you are sitting there watching a train wreck and you just can't look away. This was one of many performances by James Stewart for Hitchcock and it really shows off his genius as an actor and artist. This really is an amazing study of the human psyche and the war between the classes. Someday I would love to see the play.

Do yourself a favor, sit down and watch this amazing piece of film making. You will not regret it!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - Psycho

Day 2 of my Halloween Film Fest. This is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece! This, above all other films this master made, really is a testament to this gentleman's genius. I remember the first time I saw this film was in college at the age of 18. Of course, by that time I had heard and seen scenes of the famous shower scene so I really couldn't relate to this film the way the audiences of 1960 did when it premiered in theater's on the 8th of September. No one was giving away it's secrets, and even Hitchcock himself ordered all theater's showing the film to admit no one after the film had started. It worked. If you really want a fun look into the making of this classic, I highly recommend the film "Hitchcock" starring Anthony Hopkins as the man himself. The best way I was finally able to really begin to understand was when I watched this for the first time with my mother, who, almost to the day she died, always locked the bathroom door when she took a shower.

She explained to me how in 1960, the morays of the day and the sensors that controlled the film industry, almost made this film not come to life on the screen. Even the flushing of a toilet in one scene caused the sensors to almost shut down filming permanently. She explained to me how Janet Leigh and her then husband, Tony Curtis, were Hollywood's dream couple, and to kill her character off within the first 20+ minutes of the film was so utterly shocking to audiences. She remembers when that shower curtain was pulled, the blood-curdling screams that came from the theater was so bone chilling, that she still could remember that feeling as she sat in the theater with my father. Upon viewing the film from that perspective, yes, I can see going into the film never knowing about that scene, how "out of nowhere" shocking a scene like that could be, particularly to a 1960 audience.

Now onto the film itself. Anthony Perkins, who was so shocking in the role of the famed Norman Bates, because up to that point in his career, he had only played the "boy next door" type. Anthony Perkins shines in this role. This role actually became his most famous role. He is so innocent but at the same time so creepy. This is truly one of the most significant and honest performances in the history of the horror genre. Janet Leigh is equally convincing in her role of the "good girl" gone bad, Marion Crane.

The rest of the incredible cast are equally stunning; John Gavin (Sam Loomis), Marion's lover; Vera Miles (Lila Crane), Marion's sister; Martin Balsam (Detective Milton Arbogast) the private detective, and John McIntire as Sheriff Al Chambers.

Hitchcock, like in "The Birds" which followed this film three years after in 1963, defies expectations and leads you down paths only to create twists and turns that are so jarring, even by today's standards. During last night's viewing, the film still creeps me out and is such a horror masterpiece. The script is impeccable and brilliantly adapted from the novel by Robert Bloch.

If you haven't seen this film, sit down and watch it this Halloween season. It's one of the best horror films ever made! If you already have, sit down and revisit this masterpiece of suspense and horror!

Halloween Watch List 2018 - The Birds

Every year, this tradition started when my mom was still alive, and we would dedicate the entire month of October each year to watching a scary movie each night. Mom loved a good scary movie.Last night I started that ritual again with Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece, "The Birds." This is probably one of his most underrated films. I have heard so many complaints from the "younger" generation stating that this is a stupid film, makes no sense, blah blah blah. My favorite criticism of this film is "You never find out why the birds start attacking." Really?! That is what makes this film a horror classic! That is what makes it so terrifying is the very fact that you DON'T find out why! In the age of M. Night Shyamalan and his "Why" endings, the art of "No Motive" and "No Concrete Answers" has died out almost completely. Don't get me wrong, I adore "The Sixth Sense," "Devil" and "Split," but why does every question need to be answered? Give me a break! Shymalan's "The Happening" is a perfect example of this. Great film up to the ending, which ruined the entire film for me. He explained why. PMEO!

This film is an incredible example of why Hitchcock was dubbed "The Master of Suspense." There isn't a relaxed moment in this film once Tippi Hedren's character of Melanie Daniels is attacked by the seagull. This film, like so many other Hitchcock masterpieces, completely turn you for a loop as an audience. You go into it expecting one thing and you get something completely different and unexpected.

What really makes this film for me is how excellent the writing is and the cinematography. But the real stars of this show are Tippi Hedren and Jessica Tandy. The developing relationship between these two characters are amazing and these incredible actresses’ performances will go down in motion picture history as two of the greatest performances ever! I sat last night in front of my laptop just riveted just like every other time I have watched this incredible film. I'm happy I chose to start my film fest this year with this gem! Do yourself a favor and watch this film with an open mind! You will be pleasantly surprised!