My 2016 October Horror List (aka Why I'm Extremely Pale in October)
Movie #4

I can't help but feel that the entire movie was shot just for the joke that Bela Lugosi delivers in the final scene.

There's a lot of scenes of people running around, tying weeds to door handles, or arguing about whether vampires are real, but the only time that I was really into this was when the vampires were on screen. Tod Browning knows how to shoot horror and set dress horror that actually is effectively creepy. Too bad that most of the film is just a seemingly plot-less mess. With a surprise ending that sort of explains things, but not really. And the aforementioned final Bela scene which is almost enough to save everything and made me laugh out loud. So yeah, there's at least that.

Hooptober 4.0 Film #12
TASK #5: Six films from the following: James Whale, Tod Browning, John Carpenter, Sam Raimi, Wes Craven, Tom Holland (mix-and-match or all one)!

DIRECTOR #5: Tod Browning

A horror film that manages to expertly skewer the entire genre, Tod Browning's Mark of the Vampire may not have the best-constructed story but it's still a rather delightful watch thanks to its creepy atmosphere and entertaining performances.

Hooptober 2017: 15/38 - Directors, Tod Browning

Afterthoughts: This ain’t a scene, it’s a goddamn snoozefest!

All I can muster for this one is that it’s bloody boring.

Best thing about it is it’s only 60 minutes long, and every time Bela Lugosi is onscreen it brings back happy memories of Tim Burton’s best film, Ed Wood.

One Depraved Month in Hell: Michael & Lorna's Hooptober 2017

Hooptober 2017

MGM's attempt at a Universal horror picture that ends up almost a parody of those films, especially Dracula.

Bela Lugosi is here but the standout is his alluring and entrancing female accomplice Luna played by Carroll Borland- who has an iconic look that inspired numerous female vampires.

The film can't make up its mind if it wants to play it straight (which it does quite well with spooky atmosphere on par with Dracula) or if it wants to send-up the genre with broad comedy that doesn't really work.

Needs more vampires and less of the uninteresting plot.

Lionel Barrymore (playing a doddering Van Helsing clone) and Lionel Atwill (who would get cast in similar roles in Universal flicks) are both in it as well.

The Scooby Doo-like twist ending doesn't quite make sense but worth it for the punchline with Bela.

It's all a little too silly to be considered a horror film, and Barrymore, playing a vampire expert, doesn't seem to be taking it too seriously, either, as it's the first time I've seen him phone it in. Just a tad, Lionel, just a tad! As a sort of folk tale with vampires it kinda works (at least until the twist towards the end), the special effects have a DYI feel to them that give it an unexpected charm, and the vampire girl was super creepy, with her floating walk and the long hair and that weird stare. I liked that she could put people to sleep just by staring at them.

Dull, but with some great gothic imagery. I loved every time Luna was on screen.

Mark of the Vampire sees Todd Browning doing to the Bela Lugosi vampire movie what, decades later, Tobe Hooper would do to slasher films with Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2.

Browning is having fun playing inside the rules he established a few years earlier (that by now had been copied repeatedly by others) while critiquing them. The film has some comic moments and a shocking amount of self-awareness, including a very funny and very meta twist ending.

Unforgivably stupid eleventh-hour plot twist and long stretches of boredom aside, worth it for the over the top performances, half-successful comedy and in-jokes. When Lugosi as Count Mora (not Dracula) and daughter Luna (Carroll Borland) make their way down the gothic castle staircase, candelabras in hand, with fishing-line bats and groaning possums following behind… yeah, that’s the good stuff. Pseudo-remake of Browning’s own London After Midnight, but I haven’t seen that one.

ridiculously boring and slow for something so short. The twist ending is insane and barely makes any sense,but Bela Lugosi’s last line is pretty funny..

The characters and plot are super meh, but this has some of the most spectacular gothic horror atmosphere I’ve ever seen in a film from this era. It’s worth seeing just for that and the costuming/styling of not-Dracula’s daughter.

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

I thought the ending was cute, no reason for Bela Lugosi to complain about it.

This really hit the spot. Mark of the Vampire is such a sneaky little movie with some delightfully meta casting in Bela Lugosi. Even having Tod Browning at the helm adds to the sense of cinematic rug-pulling. While it's satirical of the genre, it isn't unbearably hammy. Bela Lugosi, final scene aside, looks to be taking things seriously, ramping up the mystery. Browning slathers on the horror vibes, slapping cobwebs, bats, spiders, and opossums (???) everywhere. It's just the right amount of over the top. The film's ridiculous reveal is outrageous and requires some serious suspension of disbelief. But really, that only makes it more fun.

Atmospheric if goofy horror hokum from Todd Browning, infamous for a twist ending that negates everything that's happened in the first 50 minutes. Interesting to see how much filmmaking had moved on in the couple of years since Browning's stagy Dracula.