Hidey-ho, people! Welcome to another edition of WTFHM! Thanks for stopping by!
So, in case you missed it. I discussed Criterion films and their significance in the world of movie making. Today, as luck would have it, we’re moving along with yet another Criterion film. This one starring Donald Sutherland.
That’s right. Keifer’s dad and the man responsible for one of the oldest sections of nightmare fuel in my brain (1978’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers is one of my all time favorites, btw, which is saying a LOT considering it’s a remake) is the featured actor in this week’s horror movie.
I did a little homework on this week’s movie and found out that once upon a time in 1973, times were more innocent in movies. The type of things that would rate a hard R usually got an X rating back in the day. I imagine that’s one of the reasons this one made the collection. I mean, it’s a pretty movie as B-movie horror goes, but a little controversy goes a long way towards making your mark on history.
Okay, so;
Don’t Look Now starring Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania, Massimo Serrato, Renato Scarpa, and Sharon Williams.
So, the story opens with The Baxters, who happened to be sitting at home while their young daughter is playing outside by a pond with her brother. John Baxter(Sutherland) - a restoration...guy (Sorry, I’m just not smart enough to know what the title for that) -- is looking over slides of an old cathedral when his spidey sense starts tingling. He runs out to the pond to find that his young daughter has drowned.
Fast forward sometime later, the two of them are in Venice. John has taken a commission to restore an old church. They also use the trip as a way to get away after the death of their daughter, of course. One day, while eating out at a restaurant, John notices two women sitting a few tables down and they seem to be looking at them. When a door opens and one of the women gets something in her eye, they go to the bathroom and John’s wife, Laura, decides to be a good Samaritan and help out.
In the bathroom, the women introduce themselves as Heather(Mason) and Wendy(Matania). Wendy tells Laura that her sister, Heather, is blind, but she’s got second sight.
Heather tells Laura that she sees her little girl and that’s why she and her sister were staring at them back at the table. She tells her that her daughter was sitting at the table with them. Laura is shocked and understandably emotion about the idea that their daughter is still with them.
She goes to John and tells him with all sorts of I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT energy and John’s all, “Yeah, right. Kid’s dead. Get over it, lady.” She keeps insisting until she faints, crashing into the table in 300 style slow motion.
I did a little homework on this week’s movie and found out that once upon a time in 1973, times were more innocent in movies. The type of things that would rate a hard R usually got an X rating back in the day. I imagine that’s one of the reasons this one made the collection. I mean, it’s a pretty movie as B-movie horror goes, but a little controversy goes a long way towards making your mark on history.
Okay, so;
Don’t Look Now starring Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania, Massimo Serrato, Renato Scarpa, and Sharon Williams.
So, the story opens with The Baxters, who happened to be sitting at home while their young daughter is playing outside by a pond with her brother. John Baxter(Sutherland) - a restoration...guy (Sorry, I’m just not smart enough to know what the title for that) -- is looking over slides of an old cathedral when his spidey sense starts tingling. He runs out to the pond to find that his young daughter has drowned.
Fast forward sometime later, the two of them are in Venice. John has taken a commission to restore an old church. They also use the trip as a way to get away after the death of their daughter, of course. One day, while eating out at a restaurant, John notices two women sitting a few tables down and they seem to be looking at them. When a door opens and one of the women gets something in her eye, they go to the bathroom and John’s wife, Laura, decides to be a good Samaritan and help out.
In the bathroom, the women introduce themselves as Heather(Mason) and Wendy(Matania). Wendy tells Laura that her sister, Heather, is blind, but she’s got second sight.
Heather tells Laura that she sees her little girl and that’s why she and her sister were staring at them back at the table. She tells her that her daughter was sitting at the table with them. Laura is shocked and understandably emotion about the idea that their daughter is still with them.
She goes to John and tells him with all sorts of I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT energy and John’s all, “Yeah, right. Kid’s dead. Get over it, lady.” She keeps insisting until she faints, crashing into the table in 300 style slow motion.
So, of course, an ambulance is called and Laura is taken to the hospital, where she recovers just fine. She tells John, a little more calmly, about what happened in the bathroom and what the ladies saw. John takes it a little better and treats her a little less like a hysterical woman and more like his wife. They go home soon after and then,
Yup. The infamous sex scene.
Now, I’ve seen a lot of sex scenes in a lot of movies in my not-so-young life and on a scale of Twilight to Caligula, I’d put this somewhere between Angel Heart and 9 ½ Weeks in terms of sexy. Like, it wasn’t really enough to get a rise out of many evangelicals today, but I can see how people would be shocked into protests in 1973. Fun fact, the scene was considered so realistic that people believed they two of them were actually screwing on camera. They weren’t, of course. In fact, Donald Sutherland’s recollection of filming the scene was that it was anything but sexy at all.
But anyway,
But anyway,
After the sex, they go out to dinner and decide to do a little exploring of the back streets of Venice.
I don’t know. People do that, you know. Just wander around strange cities and get lost for fun. Personally, I always thought that if you’re so inclined to do it at night, you’re asking for a horror movie outcome. And sure enough, that’s exactly what happens to John and Laura.
I don’t know. People do that, you know. Just wander around strange cities and get lost for fun. Personally, I always thought that if you’re so inclined to do it at night, you’re asking for a horror movie outcome. And sure enough, that’s exactly what happens to John and Laura.
They eventually get separated and John ends up seeing a small figure in a red rain slicker, just like the one his daughter was wearing when she died. He tries following her but is headed off when his wife calls for him. They find each other and their way out of the street maze.
Okay, so the next day, Laura’s all, we should have a seance with those two nice ladies Heather and Wendy. John’s all, I agree. You should have a seance with those two nice ladies. Leave my name out of it. Laura goes without him and right before Heather goes into a weird orgasmic trance she tells Laura that her daughter said that her husband is in danger and he needs to leave Venice. Now. Like, right now.
Laura goes back to the hotel and immediately tells John that he’s in danger. John goes all alpha male on her and goes off on her. He can’t just leave because of something a couple of old biddies said, after all. Later that night, they get a call that their son has been in a terrible accident. Laura immediately dips out, leaving John to stay in Venice to finish his restoration project.
The next day, John’s working while on a scaffolding and before he knows it, the scaffolding gives way and he’s almost killed. Clearly freaked out by the event, he realizes that maybe the crazy old ladies were right after all.
Later that day, he’s chilling in Venice when he spots Laura speeding by on a boat with the two sisters. Freaked out because Laura is supposed to be Venice AND, by the way, there are reports of a serial killer on the loose (no I didn’t forget. They kind of blend that into the background so you don’t really notice until around now), he understandably loses his mind.
He goes to the cops and tells them that he saw her with the old ladies. The inspector he speaks with(Scarpa) tells him that they’ll look into it and in the meantime, has John followed without his knowledge.
Okay, so the next day, Laura’s all, we should have a seance with those two nice ladies Heather and Wendy. John’s all, I agree. You should have a seance with those two nice ladies. Leave my name out of it. Laura goes without him and right before Heather goes into a weird orgasmic trance she tells Laura that her daughter said that her husband is in danger and he needs to leave Venice. Now. Like, right now.
Laura goes back to the hotel and immediately tells John that he’s in danger. John goes all alpha male on her and goes off on her. He can’t just leave because of something a couple of old biddies said, after all. Later that night, they get a call that their son has been in a terrible accident. Laura immediately dips out, leaving John to stay in Venice to finish his restoration project.
The next day, John’s working while on a scaffolding and before he knows it, the scaffolding gives way and he’s almost killed. Clearly freaked out by the event, he realizes that maybe the crazy old ladies were right after all.
Later that day, he’s chilling in Venice when he spots Laura speeding by on a boat with the two sisters. Freaked out because Laura is supposed to be Venice AND, by the way, there are reports of a serial killer on the loose (no I didn’t forget. They kind of blend that into the background so you don’t really notice until around now), he understandably loses his mind.
He goes to the cops and tells them that he saw her with the old ladies. The inspector he speaks with(Scarpa) tells him that they’ll look into it and in the meantime, has John followed without his knowledge.
So, John is looking all over Venice for the old ladies and his wife and after getting freaked out by the little girl ghost in the red coat, he goes back to the hotel and calls home to check on his son’s condition. When he calls, their nanny tells him that he’s fine and his wife has been taking good care of him.
John’s mad confused and he asks to speak to her. When she gets on the phone and confirms to him that she is, indeed, in England, John goes back to the police and tells them to call off the hounds, which they do. In the meantime, he notices that Heather is in the police station because, you know, they said they were going to bring her in.
John, feeling like a world class heel, offers to take Heather home. When he gets her back to the hotel where they’re staying, she goes into another trance. Wigged out, John leaves. Heather freaks out and tells her sister to go after him because he’s in grave danger.
I’m gonna pause right here to say that at some point during all this, Laura comes back from England. I don’t know how far England is from Italy, but she gets there pretty darned quick and by the time she does, everyone’s looking for John who’s now roaming the streets chasing after a little red coated girl.
Only it’s not a girl. He finally tracks the red-coated figure down, only to find that it’s a little old lady that’s been going around killing people. She kills him and in the flashes, before his life ends, he realizes that the images he’s been seeing were actually prophetic of his death and funeral.
The End.
So, what did I think? Again, I get why a movie like this is in the Criterion collection. The cinematography is stunning, the symbolism was fabulous. It’s a grade A movie. I’d be remiss to give it anything less than a jewel.
All right, so next week, we’ve got a movie that I’ve been repeatedly told to watch - Greenroom. Okay, my people. Don’t let me down. See you next week!
O~
*
John’s mad confused and he asks to speak to her. When she gets on the phone and confirms to him that she is, indeed, in England, John goes back to the police and tells them to call off the hounds, which they do. In the meantime, he notices that Heather is in the police station because, you know, they said they were going to bring her in.
John, feeling like a world class heel, offers to take Heather home. When he gets her back to the hotel where they’re staying, she goes into another trance. Wigged out, John leaves. Heather freaks out and tells her sister to go after him because he’s in grave danger.
I’m gonna pause right here to say that at some point during all this, Laura comes back from England. I don’t know how far England is from Italy, but she gets there pretty darned quick and by the time she does, everyone’s looking for John who’s now roaming the streets chasing after a little red coated girl.
Only it’s not a girl. He finally tracks the red-coated figure down, only to find that it’s a little old lady that’s been going around killing people. She kills him and in the flashes, before his life ends, he realizes that the images he’s been seeing were actually prophetic of his death and funeral.
The End.
So, what did I think? Again, I get why a movie like this is in the Criterion collection. The cinematography is stunning, the symbolism was fabulous. It’s a grade A movie. I’d be remiss to give it anything less than a jewel.
All right, so next week, we’ve got a movie that I’ve been repeatedly told to watch - Greenroom. Okay, my people. Don’t let me down. See you next week!
O~
*
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