As a rule, I always post the reviews in the order that I see the movies. That's part of the journey. But somehow I actually forgot that the first movie I watched this Season was...
This is an old favorite of mine from when I was a child watching Creature Feature on Sundays where they basically went through the entire Hammer cataglogue, one each Sunday in a double-feature with a kaiju movie or some old Italian or Spanish Horror that was dubbed in English and edited for American television. And when they got through the entire catalogue I think they just started over again. Mostly what I remembered was skeletons riding skeleton-horses in the dark which, when you're like five or six years old, is the greatest thing that you have ever seen. If you're like me. And probably you, too.
This one features Peter Cushing as a "Parson" (or is he) of a small town that may or may not be running a smuggling operation in defiance of the King. Meanwhile, for some reason, there are spooks known only as The Marsh Phantoms stalking the marshes around this small town, seemingly randomly killing the occasional passerby. What diabolical goings-on could possibly be afoot in the quaint little town of Dymchurch and in the eerie Romney Marsh surrounding it? What indeed.
The question that I always consider with this film is, well, "Is this a Horror movie
at all?" And the answer, almost certainly, is "No. It is not." Hell, the original, British title is actually just "
Captain Clegg", which hardly sends the shivers up one's spine.
However... when you have skeletons riding skeletal horses, creepy scarecrows...
... (who doesn't love a creepy scarecrow?), Peter Cushing, Fall vibes, and Hammer... honestly, who cares? This is fun and it has the October feels for me, even if it is, in fact, not a Horror movie at all. I mean, when the skeletons on skeletal horses chase down a man to his death in the Marsh, it feels enough like one that why the hell not, even if it really is a 90-minute, British episode of Scooby-Doo.
So, as always, I had a lovely October time with
Night Creatures and if anyone is looking for something breezy and old-fashioned to watch this month, I give this my full October Blessings.