A Review of "Frankenstein" (1931)

I have come here to chew bubblegum and strangle villagers... and I'm all out of bubblegum

The counter piece to Bela Lugosi's Dracula, from 1931. So much of a counter piece that it included a few of the same actors. That, or it could've just been because it was the same studio. Anywho, fresh off the incredible success of Dracula, Bela Lugosi was offered another part almost immediately; the mute, murderous creation of Dr. Victor Frankenstein in director James Whale's Frankenstein, based off of the Mary Shelley novel where a doctor plays God and creates another man. Lugosi disliked being offered a role with no lines where he would be caked in make-up, made unrecognizable, so he made the highly notable decision to pass. In came then-unknown, 44-year-old actor Boris Karloff... a late-bloomer when it comes to breaking into Hollywood... and he accepted the role. Little did anyone know that Jack Pierce's make-up work to turn Boris Karloff into the monster would make him the most famous, iconic image in Hollywood history.

"Fritz, we really should've done something about
this guy's fingernails. Yeesh!"

Frankenstein begins with Edward Van Sloan, Abraham Van Helsing in Dracula, stepping from behind a curtain and delivering a brief caution before the opening credits. It seems laughable by today's standards but back then, this movie was a rather scary, gut-wrenching experience, with highly questionable material about to be portrayed. So this warns the audience to leave if they don't "wish to subject their nerves to such a strain". It's parodied in Rob Zombie's The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, same deal. After the opening credits, we find ourselves in a village of the Bavarian Alps, where a young scientist named Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye), a hunchback, piece together a human body, the parts of which have been collected from various sources, including stolen freshly buried bodies in a cemetery, and the bodies of recently hanged criminals. Frankenstein desires to create human life through electrical devices which he has perfected. He then sends Fritz to a school where Dr. Waldman (Van Sloan), Henry's old medical professor, teaches, to steal a brain; Fritz drops the normal brain and has to take the brain of a criminal. This is spoofed in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, with the "Abby Normal" routine.

You guys ever get the feeling you're being watched?

Elizabeth (Mae Clarke), his fiancée, is worried over his peculiar actions. She cannot understand why he secludes himself in an abandoned watch tower, which he has equipped as a laboratory, and refuses to see anyone. Hopefully thinking it isn't her, like a precarious women would in this situation. Thankfully social media wasn't a thing back then. She and a mutual friend of Henry's, Victor Moritz, go to Dr. Waldman, and ask Waldman's help in reclaiming the young scientist from his experiments. Waldman tells them that Frankenstein has been working on creating life. Elizabeth, intent on rescuing Frankenstein, arrives just as Henry is making his final tests. He tells them to watch, claiming to have discovered the ray that brought life into the world. In one of, if not the best mad scientist laboratory set and scene that has ever been put on film, they watch Frankenstein and the hunchback as they raise the dead creature on an operating table, high into the room, toward an opening at the top of the laboratory. A terrific crash of thunder booms, and Frankenstein's electric machines flash, crackle and buzz. Shortly, the hand of Frankenstein's creature begins to move. This prompts Frankenstein to shout his famous line 'It's alive!'. Side note, the rest of the line had to be censored, as Frankenstein claimed "Oh in the name of God! Now I know what it's like to be God." The censors felt this was sacrilegious, so they cut out the second half of the line and overdubbed it with thunder. It has since been restored.

The manufactured creature, despite its grotesque form, initially appears to be a simple, innocent creation. Frankenstein welcomes it into his laboratory and asks his creation to sit, which it does. He then opens up the roof, causing the creature to reach out towards the sunlight. Fritz enters with a flaming torch, which frightens the creature. Its fright is mistaken by Frankenstein and Waldman as an attempt to attack them, and it is chained in the dungeon. Thinking that it is not fit for society and will wreak havoc at any chance, they leave the creature locked up, where Fritz antagonizes it with a torch. As Henry and Waldman consider the creature's fate, they hear a shriek from the dungeon. They run down and find that the creature has attacked and hung Fritz. It then lunges at the two but they escape, locking the creature inside. Realizing that the creature must be destroyed, Henry prepares an injection of a powerful drug and the two conspire to release the creature and inject it as it attacks. When the door is unlocked the creature lunges at Frankenstein as Waldman injects the drug into the creature's back. The creature falls to the floor unconscious. The injection was also cut by the censors in 1931. So originally, the film looked to show to the creature attacking Henry and Waldman before just becoming delirious and collapsing. It, too, has been restored.

"Dr. Frankenstein, have you seen the chompers in this thing?
He could probably chew bricks!"

Henry collapses from exhaustion, and Elizabeth and Henry's father arrive and take him home. Henry is worried about the creature but Waldman reassures him that he will destroy it. Later, Henry is at home, recovered and preparing for his wedding while Waldman examines the creature. As he is preparing to vivisect it, the creature awakens and strangles him, killing him. It escapes from the tower and wanders through the landscape. It has a short encounter with a farmer's young daughter, Maria. She is not afraid of him and asks him to play a game with her in which they toss flowers into a lake and watch them float. The creature enjoys the game, but when they run out of flowers he thinks Maria will float as well, so he throws her into the lake where, to his puzzlement, she drowns. Upset by this outcome, the creature runs away. This scene was met with backlash by the 1931 audiences, as expected, but surprisingly it was either not cut at all or minimally altered. I haven't found word online about it, but I've watched the scene and while you don't see the girl drown, the sounds of her struggling are there. Meanwhile, with preparations for the wedding completed, Henry is serenely happy with Elizabeth. They are to marry as soon as Waldman arrives. However, Victor rushes in, saying that Doctor Waldman has been found dead. Henry suspects the creature. Meanwhile, the creature enters Elizabeth's room, causing her to scream. When the searchers arrive, they find Elizabeth unconscious on the bed. The creature has escaped. Luckily, she is unharmed.

I actually don't have a joke for this one.

Maria's father arrives, carrying his daughter's drowned body. He says she was murdered, and the villagers form a search party to capture the creature, and bring it to justice, dead or alive. In order to search the whole country for the creature, they split into three groups: Ludwig (Michael Mark) leads the first group into the woods, Henry leads the second group into the mountains, and the Bürgermaster (Lionel Belmore) leads the third group by the lake. During the search, Henry becomes separated from the group and is discovered by the creature, who attacks him. The creature knocks Henry unconscious and carries him off to an old windmill. The peasants hear his cries and they regroup to follow. They find the creature has climbed to the top, dragging Henry with him. The creature hurls the scientist to the ground. His fall is broken by the vanes of the windmill, somehow saving his life. The prop that hits the blade is clearly a dummy, but I mean still; the fall should've killed him either way, and would've been a far more satisfying conclusion to both, but if a sequel had to be made, this is the best course of action to make sure Colin Clive can return. Anywho, some of the villagers hurry him to his home while the rest of the mob set the windmill ablaze, killing the entrapped creature inside. At Castle Frankenstein, Frankenstein's father, Baron Frankenstein, celebrates the wedding of his recovered son with a toast to a future grandchild, who could be the future Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, played by Basil Rathbone in Son of Frankenstein eight years later.

Frankenstein is my favorite of the classic Universal Monster films. For being 1931, it was incredibly groundbreaking. It took chances, terrified audiences and made a career for Boris Karloff. Karloff wasn't even credited until the end of the film. In the beginning, the monster is credited as "?". It's weird this movie decided to do a 'name switch', so to speak. In the novel, the doctor is called "Victor Frankenstein" and his friend is called "Henry", but then in this movie, the doctor's name is "Henry Frankenstein" and his friend is called "Victor", so I guess they just decided to Americanize the main character? Whichever the case, there's also the subject of 'the monster'. That's another thing. Ever since this film, people around the world constantly call the monster "Frankenstein". They think when they see that green face, big forehead, bolts in the neck that "that's Frankenstein". He's simply 'the monster', 'the creature' or 'Frankenstein's monster'. He's a nameless creature, but still it persists even to this day that people call him "Frankenstein". Maybe it's because the old posters feature Karloff's face as the monster, with the title "Frankenstein" plastered over him. Name association, I dig it. Also for being 1931, the acting is superb. Usually in these old movies, you find that the acting is quite hokey, and dialogue is clunky, but neither of those are the case for this film. It was groundbreaking in more ways than one, and is easily watchable by anybody, even today nearly ninety-years later.

Do yourself a favor, if you have time after Dracula and trick-or-treaters are still coming to your door, pop in Frankenstein. It's just as eerie as it's ever been, a true timeless horror masterpiece.

A Review of "Dracula" (1931)

Your senior picture is very ominous, Mr. Dracula!

I'm taking us back to the past. Way back. Back to when my grandpa was just a kid. A really, really young kid. 1931, to be precise. When sound first came into movies. All movies were black and white, and they didn't really know how to utilize the lack of sound, because most of these movies sound like the empty spots on vinyl records. What we're starting with is one of the crown jewels of horror movies, and the first staple of the 1930s. While the 1920s gave us horror masterpieces such as Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and the Lon Chaney staples The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, the 1930s would kick off a massive horror movie renaissance for Hollywood, and it started with 1931's adaptation of Bram Stoker's gothic horror novel Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi.

As is yours, Mr. Renfield!

Renfield (Dwight Frye) is a solicitor traveling to Count Dracula's (Bela Lugosi) castle in Transylvania on a business matter. The people in the local village fear that vampires inhabit the castle and warn Renfield not to go there. Renfield refuses to stay at the inn and asks his carriage driver to take him to the Borgo Pass. Renfield is driven to the castle by Dracula's coach, with Dracula disguised as the driver. En route, Renfield sticks his head out the window to ask the driver to slow down, but sees the driver has disappeared; a bat leads the horses. A bat on a string, no less. OH THE HORROR. Renfield enters the castle and is welcomed by the charming but eccentric Count, who, unbeknownst to Renfield, is a vampire, an unholy creature of the night... and not the kind that shops at Hot Topic. They discuss Dracula's intention to lease Carfax Abbey in London, where he intends to travel the next day. Dracula hypnotizes Renfield into opening a window. Renfield faints as a bat appears and Dracula's three wives close in on him. Dracula waves them away, then attacks Renfield himself to suck his blood and turn him into a demonic presence.

Not really sure what you're going for
here, Dr. Van Helsing

Aboard the Vesta, Renfield is a raving lunatic slave to Dracula, who hides in a coffin and feeds on the ship's crew. Off screen, of course. When the ship reaches England, Renfield is discovered to be the only living person. Renfield is sent to Dr. Seward's sanatorium adjoining Carfax Abbey. Across town, at a London theatre, Dracula meets Seward (Herbert Bunston). Seward introduces his daughter Mina (Helen Chandler), her fiancé John Harker (David Manners) and the family friend Lucy Weston (Frances Dade). Lucy is fascinated by Count Dracula. That night, Dracula enters her room and feasts on her blood while she sleeps. Lucy dies the next day after a string of transfusions.

Renfield is obsessed with eating flies and spiders. Professor Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) analyzes Renfield's blood and discovers his obsession. He starts talking about vampires, and that afternoon Renfield begs Seward to send him away, claiming his nightly cries may disturb Mina's dreams. When Dracula calls Renfield with wolf howling, I guess being good at hunting and animal calls, Renfield is disturbed by Van Helsing showing him wolfsbane, which Van Helsing says is used for protection from vampires. Later that night, Dracula visits Mina, asleep in her bedroom, and bites her. The next evening, Dracula enters for a visit and Van Helsing and Harker notice that he does not have a reflection. When Van Helsing reveals this to Dracula, he smashes the mirror and leaves. Van Helsing deduces that Dracula is the vampire behind the recent tragedies. Pretty smart deduction considering he has no reflection and the problems only started after this exotic dude with a foreign accent showed up from Transylvania.

Just the picture please, thanks Count.
Don't actually bite the poor woman.

Later that night, Mina leaves her room and runs to Dracula in the garden, where he attacks her. She is found by the maid. Newspapers report that a woman in white is luring children from the park and biting them. Mina recognizes the lady as Lucy, risen as a vampire. Harker wants to take Mina to London for safety, but is convinced to leave Mina with Van Helsing. Van Helsing orders Nurse Briggs (Joan Standing) to take care of Mina when she sleeps, and not to remove the wreath of wolfsbane from her neck. Meanwhile, the looney-tune Renfield escapes from his cell and listens to the men discuss vampires. Before his attendant takes Renfield back to his cell, Renfield relates to them how Dracula convinced Renfield to allow him to enter the sanitorium by promising him thousands of rats with blood and life in them. Dracula enters the Seward parlour and talks with Van Helsing. Dracula states that Mina now belongs to him, and warns Van Helsing to return to his home country. Van Helsing swears to excavate Carfax Abbey and destroy Dracula. Dracula attempts to hypnotize Van Helsing, but the latter's resolve proves stronger. As Dracula lunges at Van Helsing, he withdraws a crucifix from his coat, forcing Dracula to retreat. Elsewhere, Harker visits Mina on a terrace, and she speaks of how much she loves "nights and fogs". A bat flies above them and squeaks to Mina. She then attacks Harker but Van Helsing and Seward save him. Mina confesses what Dracula has done to her, and tells Harker their love is finished. Probably the most badass break-up note somebody could get... and one that sounds like it would come out of an Off the Wall store.

Dracula hypnotizes Briggs into removing the wolfsbane from Mina's neck and opening the windows. Van Helsing and Harker see Renfield heading for Carfax Abbey. They see Dracula with Mina in the abbey. When Harker shouts to Mina, Dracula thinks Renfield has led them there. Renfield pleads for his life, but Dracula kills him. Dracula is hunted by Van Helsing and Harker knowing that Dracula is forced to sleep in his coffin during daylight, and the sun is rising. Van Helsing prepares a wooden stake while Harker searches for Mina. Van Helsing impales Dracula through the heart, killing him, and Mina returns to normal...

Count, a senior portrait should have your face--
oh never mind.

Dracula from 1931 loosely adapts the novel, leaving out many things or not fleshing them out all the way. It had to cram the entire novel in a 70 minute runtime. I guess people's attention spans were much shorter back then. Still, Bela Lugosi really defined Dracula for the coming decades, century even. Seeing as how we're a mere twelve years from the movie's centennial birthday, that's a lot of time for Bela to define vampires in popular media. Even to the point of his slicked back hair and his thick Hungarian accent becoming synonymous with vampires. The only unfortunate part is that for the rest of his life, he became typecast; playing mythic gothic figures with foreign accents that commanded screen presence every time you saw him. It affected his career, but appearing in 103 films doesn't sound too bad to me. The only other memorable characters to me are Renfield, Dwight Frye, and Abraham Van Helsing, Edward Van Sloan. Both have their perks in what they bring, but Renfield is more memorable. Edward Van Sloan's speeches can get pretty dry at times. He's not quite as enticing and unnerving as Donald Pleasance in Halloween, but he gets the job done.

Nevertheless, while the entertainment value might be lacking to some of today's audiences, if you get a chance in the few days we have left this Halloween season, check out the classic Dracula. It's a masterpiece of a mood chiller. Set the viewing mood for yourself, too. Lights out, window open (unless it's butt cold outside) and popcorn in hand. Bela Lugosi is one of the old-time horror masters, so you won't be disappointed.

A Review of "Scream" (1996)

"Sorry ma'am, usually I prank call Domino's Pizza"

In space, nobody can hear this movie! At least, that's how I think the tagline goes. As part of my subpar, minimalistic Halloween 2K19 celebration, I wanted to take a look at a series of films I hadn't every seen before. I had seen the first Scream many moons ago in high school, but the sequels I hadn't ever bothered to watch. Until now! First, let's start off with my rewatch of Scream, a slasher movie made in the 90s to tribute the slasher movies of the 70s and 80s. Wes Craven directs this tale of a horror movie buff shrouded in a cheap, common "Father Death" costume, hacking teenagers just after asking them what their favorite scary movie is. There's even references to A Nightmare on Elm Street, Wes Craven's slasher classic, including a line that shits on all the sequels. Take that, Hollywood franchising!

She could report on watching different brands
of paint drying... I'd still watch.

The movie starts as high school student Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) receives a flirty phone call from an unknown person, asking her, "What's your favorite scary movie?" However, the caller turns sadistic and threatens her life. He reveals that her boyfriend Steve Orth (Kevin Patrick Walls) is being held hostage and demands she answer questions about horror films. After Casey gets one wrong, Steve is murdered gruesomely. When Casey refuses to answer more questions, she is murdered by a masked killer. Her parents come home to find her corpse hanging from a tree, gutted like a deer. Well that's always fun. Let this be a lesson that caller ID is more valuable than we give it credit for. In fact, I read online that caller ID setups quadrupled after this movie came out. The following day, the news media descend on the town and a police investigation begins. Meanwhile, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) struggles with the impending first anniversary of her mother's murder by Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber, of all people). While waiting at home for her friend Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan), Sidney receives a threatening phone call. After she hangs up she is attacked by the Ghostface killer, but manages to escape. Sidney's boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) arrives shortly after, but after he drops his cell phone, Sidney suspects him of making the call and flees. Billy is arrested and Sidney spends the night at Tatum's house, where she receives another threatening call. This film is eerily similar in story flow and plot elements to A Nightmare on Elm Street. The girl in the beginning that we think is the main character gets killed, a boyfriend is wrongly accused and gets arrested while the new lead girl is desperate to get to the bottom of it all? No wonder Wes Craven seemed like such a shoo-in.

"Stu, is that your hand?"

Billy is released the next day. Suspicion has shifted to Sidney's father Neil Prescott (Lawrence Hecht), as the calls have been traced to his phone. School is suspended in the wake of the murders. After the students have left the school, Principal Himbry (The Fonz, Henry Winkler) is stabbed to death in his office. Tatum's boyfriend Stu Macher (Shaggy himself, Matthew Lillard) throws a party to celebrate the school's closure. The party is attended by Sidney, Tatum, their friend Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), and many other students. Reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) attends uninvited to cover the situation, as she expects the killer to strike. Tatum's brother deputy sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette) also looks out for the murderer at the party. Tatum is killed during the party by having her neck crushed by the garage door. Meanwhile, the recently freed Billy arrives to speak to Sidney privately, and the two ultimately consummate their relationship. Dewey and Gale investigate a nearby abandoned car that is parked in the woods near Stu's house, and nearly awkwardly consummate their own brooding relationship. Back at the house, many party attendees are drawn away after hearing news of Himbry's death; Sidney, Billy, Randy, Stu, and Gale's cameraman Kenny (W. Earl Brown) remain.

I was going to call myself "Ghostknife", but I had
to dial that back.

After bumping uglies, Sidney and Billy are attacked by the Ghostface killer from out of nowhere, who seemingly murders Billy. Sidney narrowly escapes from the house and seeks help from Kenny, but the killer slits his throat. Gale and Dewey, having discovered that the car belongs to Neil Prescott, return to the house. They believe Neil is the killer and has come to the party to continue his spree. Gale tries to escape in her van, but drives off the road to avoid hitting Sidney and crashes. Dewey is later stabbed in the back (literally, not figuratively) while investigating in the house, and Sidney takes his gun. Stu and Randy appear and accuse each other of being the killer. Sidney retreats into the house, where she finds Billy wounded but still alive. She gives Billy the gun; he lets Randy into the house and shoots him. Billy reveals that he feigned his injuries and is actually the killer; Stu is his accomplice. Not going to lie, pretty sick twist.

"Come on, lady. It's my first day. Stop yelling at me."

Billy and Stu discuss their plan to kill Sidney and frame the murder spree on her father, whom they have taken hostage. The pair also reveal that they, not Cotton, murdered her mother Maureen, as she was having an affair with Billy's father, which drove his mother away. Gale, who survived the crash, intervenes, and Sidney takes advantage of this to turn the tables on her attackers, killing Stu. Yep, that's right, you get to witness Shaggy get murdered by the chick from Masters of the Universe. God, I love Hollywood. Thankfully, Randy is revealed to be wounded but alive. Billy attacks Sidney one last time, but she shoots him in the head, killing him. As the sun rises and police arrive, Dewey, badly injured, is taken away by ambulance and Gale makes an impromptu news report about the night's events.

Scream is a lot of fun, and it pays tribute to a lot of old-fashioned slasher movie tropes while still seeming fresh and original. Sidney is a great lead character, but her boyfriend I gotta say is one lousy actor. A lot of his deliveries seem creepy. This, of course, isn't a problem when he's revealed to be the killer at the end of the movie, but when he's just in Sidney's bedroom trying to seduce her in the beginning of the movie? Seems like his overacting is kind of a stretch. He's way too hammy. Stu is obviously a treat. The exchange we see between him and Randy is glorious when Randy is discussing the rules to follow to survive a horror movie. The rules are as follows:

1. You may not survive the movie if you have sex.
2. You may not survive the movie if you drink or do drugs.
3. You may not survive the movie if you say "I'll be right back", "Hello?" or "Who's there?"

They both look like one farted and neither one knows who did it

Upon delivering the third rule, Stu goes "I'm grabbing another beer, you want one?" Randy says "Sure" and Stu comically replies "I'll be right back!" I don't know why, always loved that. Courteney Cox is hot... er... I mean... fiercely present as Gale Weathers, the bitch reporter that exploited Sidney's mother's murder for book money. Dewey is such a lovable dud, but he only kind of plays it off like that. Other times, he's strong-witted and brave. Kind of an awkward mish-mash, considering I was expecting your average country bumpkin. The kills are pretty brutal, but also lowkey and not on screen for very long. In fact, the only way this movie got an R rating as opposed to an NC-17 rating was that Wes Craven told the MPAA to view it like a comedy movie, not a horror movie. Once this was said, the MPAA's viewpoint changed and the film was awarded an R rating. I chuckled at that when I read it. It has typical, over-the-top background horror movie characters. Obviously it couldn't be entirely original, but this isn't really a detriment. The Ghostface costume has become synonymous with slasher-movie horror, and has become an icon ranking right up there with Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and even Michael Myers himself. Also being one of the few besides Freddy that has a voice and a personality... supplied by the eerily creepy sounding Roger L. Jackson. I already checked... no relation to Samuel L. Jackson.

Scream is one you should definitely check out. A 90's tribute to classic slasher movies while being a brand new franchise all on its own. Pretty great.

A Review of "Joker"

The big night is finally here. One of the most controversial movies in recent years has finally had its release date. Based on the DC Comics super villain and everybody's favorite Tumblr relationship mascot, Joker takes an inside look at not just the legendary comic book character, but also mental illness and society's response to those different from them. This film couldn't be more poignant with today's audiences because of that reason. Mass shootings, political hysteria, a common urge to understand those different from us; Joker manages to take a look at all that and more, all while adapting the famous comic book character yet again, and in quite an astounding, jaw-dropping, gut-punching, thrill ride that I dare say is the best comic book movie and best psychological thriller in many years. Let's dive in.

As with many movies I review while they're in theaters, Spoiler material is beyond this point. Stop and get off the ride if you plan to see it. Otherwise, read on!

"You haven't been flossing, have you?"

In 1981, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) works as a clown-for-hire and lives with his mentally-ill mother, Penny (Frances Conroy), in Gotham City. Around them, the city is collapsing under unemployment, crime, and financial ruin, leaving segments of the city's population completely disenfranchised and impoverished. Arthur suffers from a neurological disorder that causes him to laugh at inopportune times, including many points throughout the movie that causes anger and disdain to those around him... further disheartening him. Arthur regularly visits a social services worker to obtain medication for his mental illnesses and neurological ailment, but to no apparent avail. After a group of street kids beat him in an alley and steal his sign, which I found to be a little weird, Arthur's co-worker, Randall, loans him a gun illegally for protection. See that? Illegal gun ownership. That's what you're looking for, Democrats. Not all gun ownership... that gun ownership. Anywho, political statement aside... Arthur also meets Sophie (Zazie Beetz), a single mother who lives in a neighboring apartment, and invites her to his stand-up comedy routine.

Now that's all setup. The movie begins when, while entertaining at a children's hospital, Arthur's gun falls out of his pocket in front of them by accident. Arthur is fired for this infraction; Randall lies and says that Arthur bought the gun himself. During the subway ride home, Arthur is beaten by three drunken Wayne Enterprises businessmen when his laughing affliction flairs up inadvertently; after the beat-down, he shoots two in self-defense and executes the remaining man in cold blood. The murders unintentionally and against Arthur's intentions, start a protest movement against Gotham's rich, with protesters donning clown masks in the unidentified killer's image. Arthur later learns that funding cuts are shutting down the social service program, leaving him without access to his medication. Without it, he begins to spiral out of control.

"Mr. Phoenix, this seems too sinister for your driver's license."

Sophie attends Arthur's stand-up comedy routine, which goes poorly; he laughs uncontrollably and has difficulty delivering his jokes, much to the chagrin of those in the audience. A popular talk show host, Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) later mocks Arthur by showing clips from the routine on his TV show, crushing Arthur's spirits further. Elsewhere, Arthur intercepts a letter written by Penny to local billionaire and mayoral candidate Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen), alleging that he is Thomas's illegitimate son, and berates his mother for hiding the truth. Shortly after a visit from two GCPD detectives investigating Arthur's potential involvement in the train murders, Penny falls ill from a stroke and is hospitalized. Arthur goes to Wayne Manor for answers, where he meets Thomas's son, Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson). Arthur flees after the Wayne family's butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Douglas Hodge) tells Arthur that his mother made everything up due to her delusions and getting into a scuffle with him. Later, at a public event, Arthur confronts Thomas, who tells him that Penny is mentally unstable and not his biological mother. In denial, Arthur visits Arkham State Hospital and steals Penny's case file. He discovers that he was adopted after being abandoned as a baby and that Penny was a neglectful mother who allowed her boyfriend to physically and sexually abuse him as a child, causing serious head trauma. Distraught, heartbroken, and officially mentally insane, Arthur goes to the hospital and kills his mother. He returns home and enters Sophie's apartment. Frightened, she tells him to leave; this reveals that their previous encounters were Arthur's delusions of them being friends and probable lovers. A sickening and astounding twist at the same time. Absolutely brilliant storytelling.

"Ma, Hungry Man dinners are bad for you"

Things get even more demented and pick up pace when Arthur is invited to make a guest appearance on Murray's show due to the unexpected popularity of his routine clips. The 80s version of a YouTube video going viral, I suppose. As he puts on his makeup and outfit, he is visited by his former co-workers Gary and Randall. Arthur murders Randall for lying about his gun acquisition and getting him fired, but he surprisingly leaves Gary unharmed for treating him well in the past. I rooted for Gary to live. After Gary leaves, Arthur officially dons a suit and clown make up and christens himself "Joker". En route to the Murray Franklin TV studio, he is pursued by the two detectives onto a train filled with clown protesters; one of the detectives accidentally kills a protester and incites a riot while Arthur escapes in the chaos. The cops are trampled and left in critical condition from the assault. In fitting with his new mental state and persona, Arthur requests that Murray introduce him as Joker, a reference to Murray's previous mockery of him. Arthur comes out to a warm reception, but begins telling morbid jokes, admits that he killed the men on the train and rants about how society abandoned and mocked him. Arthur then kills Murray in an absolutely shocking, gut-wrenching moment, before being arrested. Outside the studio, riots break out across Gotham. One of the rioters corners the Wayne family in an alley and murders Thomas and his wife Martha, leaving Bruce alive after stealing her pearls, inadvertently setting off a chain reaction that would cause Bruce to grow up to become the dark knight Batman in the future. Meanwhile, a group of rioters in an ambulance crash into the police car carrying Arthur and free him; he is hailed as a hero by the crowd and dances to their cheers on the hood of the crashed police cars. He is later shown imprisoned at Arkham State Hospital. Laughing to himself maniacally, his court-appointed psychiatrist asks him to tell her the joke that is making him laugh so; he replies that she would not understand it. He is then seen running down the hall being chased by the orderlies, leaving a trail of bloodied footprints in his path....

"Tonight on Franklin, we'll answer the question:
'Why was I in the Bullwinkle movie?'"

Joker astounded me. There have only been three movies I've seen in my lifetime that have left me unsettled, unnerved. The first was The Exorcist, the second was Schindler's List, and the third is Joker. Joker managed to tell a story about a man, a man afflicted with a psychological disorder, a man who has the worst luck in the world, a man who's just trying to survive day-to-day life in a brutal and difficult society and having nothing to show for it day-in, day-out... and make it almost near relatable. There are freak-out moments, "shit your pants" moments, and there are moments where you wonder what you yourself would do in this situation, or that situation. The movie is brilliantly paced, masterfully executed and contains one of the most legendary comic book performances in history, competing with that of... well, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight when he played... The Joker. Here's the thing... soon everyone, including myself, will throw Joaquin into the mix of "Joker debating". For me, there is no debate. Joaquin is the Joker. He's down on his luck, he's sickly, he's begging for the answers to his psychological state, and he doesn't get his answer. This reveals more dark and twisted parts of his psyche; he's sinister, he's deranged and he's mad at the world for making him the way he is... so he lashes out. A real Shakespearean tragedy that makes you question everything about the society around you. Joaquin Phoenix has officially, officially unseated Jack Nicholson as my favorite Joker portrayal.

This movie is immaculately unnerving. I've seldom heard of a legendary movie that makes its impact by scaring and creeping the ever-loving shit out of you . Joker is one, and it's my bid already for best movie of 2019. Joker is a thrill-ride that will entertain and shock you at the same time. It's truly a film for the ages, regardless of what political overtones the media may tell you it may carry with it. I loved every minute of it, for reinventing the character with a re-imagined portrayal of a timeless comic book backstory. The Killing Joke inspired a few elements, you could just tell, but director Todd Philips was very smart on how they were depicted.

Go see Joker. A cynical-yet-compromising comic book movie masterpiece.