---

Lord of the Rings is not a horror movie, but there is sufficient horror in it to warrant consideration.

Some of you may recall an old Ralph Bashie version of Lord of the Rings... an animated experiment that used greatly altered film clips of World War II footage, in addition to his distinctive "Felix the Cat" style of animation. Although left frustratingly incomplete, his version was somehow more disturbing than this newest release. (Go see if you can find a dusty copy in the bargain bin of your neighborhood video store.)

That is not to imply that this is a bad movie... far from it. I looked forward to it and was not disappointed, although I will admit that I believe it could have been edited down by a full hour without seriously hampering the story. It truly was too long... The imagery is gorgeous. The blasted areas are convincingly dank and evil looking. And the attention to detail is remarkable.

The bad guys were nicely horrific as one would expect, and Gollum was satisfyingly hard to make out, leaving much to the fertile imagination. But I must admit that the most disturbing element (and hence one of the most attractive to me) was the obvious detrimental effect the Ring had on Uncle Bilbo. He seems so nice and gentle, that it was truly effective when the grasping, selfish evil tendencies started to surface in his behavior. Well done.

Go see it, but be sure to take two tubs of popcorn and two cups... one cup to drink out of and one to pee in. It is a looonngg movie.

Chills...

Scuttles