American Horror Story: Murder House

Aired: October 5 – December 21, 2011
DVD Release:  September 25, 2012

 

American Horror Story: Murder HouseIn American Horror Story: Murder House, on the precipice of divorce, Ben (Dylan McDermott) and Vivian (Connie Britton) relocate from Boston to a renovated mansion in Los Angeles with their daughter Violet (Tassia Farmiga) in order to start again. Little do they know that the great price that they got on the mansion is due to its dark history of violence. Will they become eternal tenants to be the rare people to leave the house alive? Continue reading American Horror Story: Murder House

Eloise (2017)

Release Date: February 3, 2017

Jacob Martin (Chace Crawford) is a mechanic who has been estranged from his father for many years when a lawyer contacts him to say that his father has died. Jacob travels to his hometown of Detroit for the reading of the will and discovers that his father had a sister he never knew about but who was a patient for many years at Eloise Hospital in Westland, Michigan and is assumed to have died there. The only thing standing between Jacob and the immediate transfer of his father’s wealth is proof of the sister’s death. Jacob and his friend Dell (Brandon T. Jackson), make the trip to Eloise where the administrator tells them that the file is in the “Annex” and will take time to locate. Jacob and Dell make a plan to slip into the Annex at night to find the file themselves with the help of Eloise expert and oddity collector Scott (P.J. Byrne) and his very reluctant sister, bartender Pia (Eliza Dushku). What they encounter may not be worth the money they stand to gain.

 

I had high hopes for Eloise. I grew up about 20 minutes away from the hospital. There was a teacher supply store very near that my mom liked to frequent and when I’d see the cemetery, even at a very young age, it seemed creepy and mysterious. Many years later (mid-90s) while working at the Ann Arbor library a photographer exhibited pictures he’d taken in one of the abandoned buildings and whenever I had the chance I’d look at them envisioning when they were full of life and activity and, in a sense, that’s what Eloise brings us.

The story opens with Pia, a lone survivor, sitting on a bed while she’s questioned by an investigator who tells her that the three men have been confirmed dead and Scott could only be identified with dental records. What happened during what seems like it should be a quite straightforward night in the abandoned hospital? Eloise, as a story, raises a few questions. Are we supposed to be afraid? The evil doctor H.H. Greiss (Robert Patrick) rules the hospital like a sadistic tyrant and according to the movie is well known for his “fear therapy.” The idea is that in order to conquer ones fears a person must be placed in an extreme confrontation with them. If a person is claustrophobic an appropriate “cure” is to stuff them in a body bag and then a locker in the morgue. There are several examples of the fear therapy shown and as awful and misguided as they are, they read as a distraction from the real story-line which involves parallel timelines existing in Eloise. The hospital comes to life little by little. Pia walks down a hallway and sees babies in newborn cots and then looks down a hallway to see a little girl holding a box. Jacob sees patients, doctors and nurses bustling around. While there are several “idiot viewer” signs (LOOK AT THIS! This is going to be IMPORTANT), ultimately the story is a very simple one that is neither frightening or thrilling. Jacob is taken to the day his aunt (played by Nicole Forrester) dies and, coincidentally, a devastating (wholly fictional) fire that destroyed several of the buildings on the Eloise campus happened.

The actors weren’t given much to work with but their acting can’t be faulted. Jacob is the stereotypical brooding anti-hero, Dell is a wild child mixed up in drugs and hard living, Pia is a sardonic bartender with a hard life and a heart of gold who has sacrificed her life for her developmentally disabled brother. Griess is psychotic and seems to half believe in fear therapy and half get a kick out of how horrible it can be. He’s the standout in the cast leading a public display like a cult leader selling his followers on their own demise.

So did I like this movie. No. It had a lot of promise but never really carried through. Everything seemed disconnected and leading to a predetermined result without really giving any thought to making sense or engaging the viewer. I turned off Eloise several times during it’s 89 minute run. Ultimately I was left disappointed because given the promise of the location, I’d expected so much more.

To cap this review, I’d like to highlight the danger of a good story. Looking online I see a lot of people who claim Greiss as fact. From what I’ve read, he’s entirely fictional and the actual Eloise in its day was a lovely and progressive place to live out your remaining years. Elijah McCoy, the African-Canadian inventor and engineer, spent the last year of his life there. There were community gardens and bakeries and by all account, Eloise was a lively and lovely place. Recently the Friends of Eloise led ghost tours that sold out in a matter of minutes from ticket release. The cemetery is said to be haunted and the former asylum did experience deaths credited to medications of the day like opium but there was no Greiss and quite the contrary to the assertion that patients never left, they did and they lived happy lives.

If you’d like to see a movie about Eloise, this is the only one I’ve heard of and if you’re interested, check it out. Let me know what you thought.

Eloise is available as a DVD, Blu-ray and on Amazon Instant Video.

Amazon U.S.   Amazon U.K.   Amazon CA

Title Eloise
Director Robert Legato
Actors Chace Crawford, Brandon T. Jackson, Eliza Dushku
Length 89 minutes
Rating R
DVD Release March 21, 2017

 

 

Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography by Victoria Price

Release Date: August 5, 2014

 

Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography by Victoria PriceVincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography by Victoria Price, is a look at the life of the great Vincent Price through the eyes of his daughter, Victoria Price.

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography by Victoria Price

Spooky Reads for Halloween 2014

Rabid Reader’s Reviews presents a selection Spooky Reads for Halloween 2014

 

 

IA_BeholderBeholder by Ivan Amberlake

Genre: paranormal, new adult, serial fiction, mystery

Seemingly disconnected deaths and abductions around the world are connected with a symbol branded on them or in their living environment. Jason, an average New Yorker, has been having strange dreams of a beautiful woman warning him of a power lurking within him that is the only thing to stop coming evil. Will Jason embrace his power in time to stop the ultimate destruction? Read more about Beholder.

Continue reading Spooky Reads for Halloween 2014

Stephen King’s: Sometimes They Come Back (1991)

Halloween Movie Review – Rabid Reader’s Halloween Special 2014

DVD Release Date: March 26, 2002

 

Stephen King's: Sometimes They Come BackIn the movie Stephen King’s: Sometimes They Come Back, Jim Norman’s brother died in 1957 after being stabbed by a gang of greasers. In 1974, Jim returns to his hometown to teach at the local school. After the death of one of Jim’s students, a new student arrives in town. The new student looks like one of the greasers that killed Jim’s brother but he couldn’t possibly be the same boy, as he looks the same age as the young gang member did in 1957. Weird coincidence or do they sometimes come back?

 

 

Continue reading Stephen King’s: Sometimes They Come Back (1991)