[A MONTH OF HORROR – VII] Francis and a Summation of the First Week

On October 11, 2025 By Cullen M. M. WatersIn A Month of Horror, Monster Movies, Short Film, SummationLeave a comment

A girl rows out to the middle of the wrong lake.

Thought I watched this for a Month of Horror. The second one, in fact. As that’s in the archives and not easily gotten to, I’m reprinting what I said here about the short:

So I’m looking for an animated Horror short to watch on YouTube. This one looked interesting to me for whatever reason, and I clicked on it. As it loaded up, I thought I’d look for another one after I was done here. A cartoon about a young woman going to the center of a lake, where something knocks at the bottom of her boat. Thought it was called Knock, Knock.

It wasn’t. It was called Francis.

Well I thought it was a funny coincidence.

That out of the way, this is a nice little feature, with only one or two missteps along the way. These are Cullen Carps, though, and we can ignore them safely.

(Well, no, let’s hit one: we see the underside of the boat when the knocker should be there and see nothing. Shouldn’t have done that.)

Everything else, though, works. It’s narrated, and the narrator does a hell of a job selling the story. Even without the animation, just listening to it, you’d have a nice chill going for you.

No points given in that golden oldie. So here’s what I thought about tonight’s viewing:

4 out of 4

Summation of Week One

This is what was watched:

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

The White Reindeer (1952)

House on Eden (2025)

Suspiria (1977)

The Vampire (1957)

Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory (1961)

Francis [SHORT] (2013)

Best Movie of the Week

This was a great week for Horror, with only one stumbling block out of the bunch. I’m going to give the nod to Suspiria, as that never fails to delight me. Honestly, though? It could easy be a six way tie as far as I’m concerned here and now.

Worst Movie of the Week

Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory. Hands down. Not a chill to be found. The Vampire is a better werewolf movie.

Unintended Themes

Three werewolf movies and three movies out of the Fifties. I don’t care, just noting something interesting

Biggest Surprise

House on Haunted Hill. That one was creepy, and I’d seen it before. Most interesting.

Newest Film Watched

House on Eden at 2025.

Oldest Film Watched

The White Reindeer at 1952.

Best Monster Flick

Francis.

One week down, three more to go!

[A MONTH OF HORROR – VI] Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory

On October 10, 2025October 13, 2025 By Cullen M. M. WatersIn A Month of Horror, Monster MoviesLeave a comment

A werewolf stalks around a girl’s dormitory

The title makes it sound more interesting than it is. It’s dubbed, so I couldn’t tell about the acting. The story… meanders. The werewolf looks awful.

It’s a movie I’ve seen. Though I kind of liked it…

God, my taste is horrible.

I’ve been using AI for the headers in this series. The above one? Not only is it scarier than the flick in question, it doesn’t even remotely look like the werewolf in this picture.

2.5 out of 4

[A MONTH OF HORROR – V] The Vampire

On October 9, 2025October 13, 2025 By Cullen M. M. WatersIn A Month of Horror, Monster MoviesLeave a comment

Taking the wrong pill changes a small town doctor.

I picked this because of its short run time. I got plenty of bonuses to go with it.

First off, this stars Kenneth Tobey, star of The Thing from Another World. He brings a lot to a flick, and this one is no exception. Though, frankly, he’s underused.

Then there was the movie itself. I’d avoided it for years because it’s more Sci Fi than Horror. That was a mistake. This is a entertain film, well made, if questionable in its science (which, thankfully, it doesn’t go into much.) The protagonist (not Tobey) probably should have acted sooner in handling the matter, but I’ll let that slide.

I’ll also let the FX slide. They ain’t primo, just enough to get the job done. But I’ve seen worse.

All in all, I had fun with this one.

Amusingly enough, this is about as much a Werewolf flick as a Vampire one.

3 out of 4

[A MONTH OF HORROR – IV] Suspiria (1977)

On October 8, 2025 By Cullen M. M. WatersIn A Month of HorrorLeave a comment

A young woman picks the wrong school to learn dancing from.

I watched this one for an earlier Month of Horror, and what I said there remains true.

While I try not to repeat movies, I honestly don’t care if I do. This one felt right, you know? And it had been a while.

I noticed something this time that I hadn’t realized before. This flick moves. It wastes so little time. It builds its moments up nicely.

I will say, though, that I feel Deep Red is the better film, and probably Argento’s best flick

Still 4 out of 4

[A Month of Horror – III] House on Eden

On October 7, 2025 By Cullen M. M. WatersIn Stuff Cullen Forgot to LabelLeave a comment

A trio of filmmakers go ghost hunting and find something worse.

And here we have year another of the Blair Witch’s prodigy. We get three young people (in this case two girls and a guy) head out to a spooky location, ignore all good sense, and end up… pretty much like everyone else in a found footage flick.

Not a great deal gets explained and some scenes seem there for scene’s sake. But it’s well acted, well shot, and very creep. One of the best in the subgenre, I’d say. I liked it.

3.5 out of 4

[A Month of Horror – II] The White Reindeer

On October 6, 2025 By Cullen M. M. WatersIn A Month of Horror, Monster MoviesLeave a comment

A herder’s wife transforms into a white reindeer that leads hunters to their doom.

This is a 1952 Finnish Horror flick that frankly makes no sense to me. This young woman seems happily married to a reindeer herder. One day, though, while her husband is away, she heads off to a local wizard. She wants him to make her a love potion that makes her irresistible to men. What happens instead is she periodically transforms into a white reindeer, then leads men off to their doom.

Why she wants this potion is never explained. Why she now transforms into a reindeer is never explained.

You’d think she’d kill the men as a reindeer. Not the case. Instead, she changes into her real form, only with vampire teeth. Which is not explained.

I dunno. Maybe it’s a cultural thing I’m not getting.

What I am getting is a creepy vibe from the proceedings. There’s a expressionistic silent movie vibe to the proceedings. Long shots of empty snowy wilderness. Not a lot of talking–this film made me realize how chatty American movies are.

There’s no special effects to speak of. The murders all take place off screen. This is only noted in passing, and not a note passing judgment.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it. Not a bad little flick. I rather liked it.

3 out of 4

[Month of Horror – 1] House on Haunted Hill

On October 5, 2025 By Cullen M. M. WatersIn A Month of Horror, Ghost MoviesLeave a comment

A millionaire holds a party at a haunted house.

I was feeling guilty about starting late this year only to find out I didn’t even finish last year. The tradition has already been blown.

So we start again, shall we?

Tonight’s feature is the classic William Castle flick House on Haunted Hill. I’ve seen this I don’t know how many times. The acting is good, with Vincent Price in fine form. The script… makes no damn sense if you think about it and the end really, really doesn’t make sense. A rewrite here and there might have helped.

And yet tonight, for the first time, this film unnerved me in a way Horror films should. How it did this, I don’t know. Maybe credit Castle for that. He was most known for his showmanship, but he really could direct.

All in all worth my time any yours. If you can ignore the problems with the plot.

And the ending.

3 out of 4

[3D MODELING] Fiddling With the Island

On September 14, 2025 By Cullen M. M. WatersIn 3D ModelingLeave a comment

I didn’t finish a video today, but I did fiddle around on Blender. I “sculpted” the island more than it was, to make a path up the hill/mountain/thing.

Quick story: I didn’t save my work yesterday. Nothing on the island was changed, but the light house and the buildings weren’t moved.

This proved to be a problem, as light house, island, and water all seemed to be connected. When I tried to move or resize one, they all moved and/or resized. The tricks that should have disconnected the three failed.

What I ended up doing was cut and pasting the island and the light house. I went from the original Blender file and pasted onto a new one. That done, I reversed the process. Problem solved.

Below is the first try with the latest hotness. I have a second angle lit to show the path a little better.