Dennis Hopper - 1936 - 2010

I suppose I could write a remembrance of Dennis Hopper on these pages but I don't think I could do a better job than this gent named Arbogast, who recently penned some fine words on the actor, writer, director that deserve re-reading.

I will say this though, in a weak and tepid attempt to put into words how powerful and underrated an actor Dennis Hopper was: For all its grandeur and spectacle and power and rage and visual beauty, Apocalypse Now doesn't truly come alive for me until Dennis Hopper enters the frame, and at a point when most people think the film falls apart. Rest in peace, Dennis.

Horror - But Once Each Year?

Every year around this time I feel like an interloper. The great blogs with a focus on the darker side, from Arbogast on Film to Final Girl, from Frankensteinia to Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire and even Cinebeats and Coffee Coffee and more Coffee, not exclusively horror blogs as they cover all genres of films but are certainly comfortable tackling horror with precise expertise, must get annoyed at all the non-horror blogs suddenly joining the club for a scant 31 days and acting like they know anything at all on the subject. I must admit that with each post I write in October I imagine they are all out there shaking their heads thinking, "I've read about this topic about a million times before on horror blogs dude. If you read them too you'd know how stale this is." And I know that while my most paranoid visions may be false the general belief is true. For instance, I wrote a post on Peter Cushing this October. How many posts on Peter Cushing have there been on horror blogs? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? A million? And yet each October I feel compelled to celebrate horror despite my amateur standing in the community. I feel compelled because I love both horror and science fiction and the fantasy elements they bring to film. But why only once a year?



I cannot stick to one genre for very long I admit. I once tried to do a whole month of nothing but Sci-Fi banners and even that I abandoned after a mere week. I love Sci-Fi but the idea of not using so many other great banners from so many other genres gnawed at me until I caved. In another case, a couple of years ago I devoted a whole month to movies and events important in the history of the Production Code. By the end of the month I was so sick of it I've yet to broach the subject again. But that's not the real problem. The problem is that I foolishly avoid the genre for most of the rest of the year. There have been times, too many to count, where I have an idea for a horror post that I don't do because I think, "I'll save this for October." Then when October finally rolls around the post has disappeared into the cobwebbed recesses of my doddering mind.

This has all been swimming around my brain lately because this year in particular proved a difficult one for saying what I wanted. There were and are many obligations that stood in the way of a full scale celebration of horror, mixed in with a generous dose of blogger fatigue and an ever increasing captivation with photo blogging (three of the four places I blog at are photo blogs). And so many of the posts I had planned never materialized, including a video post where I narrate the images to express my thoughts on the subject. And frankly, I know if I wait until next year almost all the ideas I had for posts this year will be lost forever and I'd still like to write them.

So write them I shall.

If you'll forgive me, this year's October celebrations will spill over into November, December, January and on through to September and why shouldn't they? Why restrict myself to one month out of the year? I don't want to be the interloper anymore. I don't want to feel like the Johnny Come Lately showing up at a bar full of regulars and acting like I own the place. So I think I'll follow the lead offered by Kimberly Lindbergs and Peter Nellhaus and throw horror into the mix whenever I feel like it. I still don't have anywhere near the expertise of either of them, or of the great Arbogast on Film, but I have a love for the genre and a compulsion to express it. If I'm honest, I suppose this whole post is just a way of saying I'm sorry I didn't do more this year. I'm sorry I let you down.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween and a safe one. This year it falls on a Saturday which, if you have children in their late teens and early twenties (and I do), is always a bit of a worry. Trick or treating is much less fretful than late night parties with kids who are under the delusion they're adults. No matter how much guidance you give, how many restrictions you enact, at some point, it's up to them and for a parent that's always a bit scary especially when you look back and realize you didn't figure anything out until around 40.

So have a safe one and a happy one boys and ghouls. Happy Halloween!

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P.S. - That's me in the blog banner (as well as the picture at the top of this post) by the way. It occurred to me that most people didn't know after I asked a couple about it. I don't look like that all the time, I just hadn't had my coffee yet.

P.P.S. - I would be remiss if I did not point out that both Bill and Arbogast made the decision to do a special post each day (31 posts on horror fiction for Bill and 31 posts on horror movie screams for Arbogast) and by God, they stuck to it! Spend some time reading through them all when you get the chance if you haven't already. I humbly bow before both of them.

I've got a lot of reading to do

Joanne Woodward reading to two children at speech therapy center in 1958.

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I've been gone for a while and my desire to return has been reluctant at best. Sometimes one needs a vacation from even a cherished pastime lest it grow into a dreaded obligation. I noticed a couple of my favorite blogs had anniversaries while I was out (Arbogast on Film and The Kind of Face You Hate) and though I commented on them I wish I could have engaged a bit more. And it wasn't just my own blogging that ceased, I wasn't even online except to watch movies for much of the past week so I have little idea what anyone has been doing. Facebook? I went on briefly to respond to a tag and that was it. Frankly, I'd like to take another month or so offline but I cherish the community of which I have become a part and don't wish to find myself on the outside looking in. In short, I'd miss the conversation too much. So I return but with little to say at the moment. Oh I have reviews to write, new movies to see, trailers for October to put up and under appreciated actors to highlight but all of that needs to find structure first in the dusty recesses of my idle mind. I even have a piece on a topic I've never really broached here at Cinema Styles that I hope will provide for an engaging conversation, even if I do believe most everyone will disagree with me. But that's for a later date. For now, hello again. It's good to back.

1st Ever Name That Movie Winner - Arbogast

He did it. Arbogast has made it to ten. He's the first ever Cinema Styles Name That Movie winner. All he needs to do now is e-mail with his choice of DVD ($49.99 and under per the rules) and it's his. Congratulations to Arbo.

Not all his points came from guessing movies. He also got a point for naming the actresses in a picture I put up a while ago. But the other nine points came from getting the movies right, a pretty damn impressive feat if you ask me. Congrats again. The new game begins next week. Everyone starts back at the beginning with zero points.

Your Attention Please

Some reminders if you please. First and foremost, today is the second which means we are just ten days away from the first film to be discussed at Ferdy on Films for the inaugural post of The Oldest Established Really Important Film Club. The film to be written up (by Marilyn) and discussed (by all) is The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams' Appalachia. If you haven't put it in your Netflix queue or picked it up from the library or video store yet DO SO NOW! Time's a wasting. I received it last week and won't say a word about it until our discussion, except that it is both evocative and provocative, a wonderful choice by Marilyn to get things going. And remember, you don't have to be a member of the club (which doesn't really mean anything anyway at this point because we haven't really defined what that means outside of picking movies) to discuss the film. All we humbly ask is that you watch it first. We would like the discussion to be amongst those who have recently viewed the film so that we're all familiar with it going in.

Also, our good friend Arbogast is in a ghost story telling mood and will be doing so in the month of January. He's made it clear that it's not an all-month, every-day-post kind of a thing but instead a month where the focus will primarily be on ghost stories. He has a new look to his site as well which is worth giving a look. I wonder who designed his brand new totally awesome banner?

Finally, Name That Movie returns tomorrow. As always, the clip goes up around 11:00 a.m. East Coast time. It's a New Year filled with new possibilities. Good luck to all. That is all.

Bonus Round!

The last one was pegged by Pierre Fournier of the excellent and exhaustive Frankensteinia blog. We've got several people with one point but still none with two.

So here's a bonus round. If Kimberly or Arbogast make it here before too long I'm betting they'll get it. Bill might know this one too. It's a favorite of mine that I purposely didn't bring up during a particular post during October Kill Fest because I didn't want it fresh in anyone's mind since I knew I was going to be using it for this. Answer in the comment section and good luck. Definitely double click to watch it full size on YouTube to see the dead give-away final second.