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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Saturday, June 16, 2018

Gargoyles (1972)

Starring Cornel Wilde, Jennifer Salt, Grayson Hall, Bernie Casey, Scott Glenn
Directed by Bill Norton
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

An author and professor in the study of demons travels with his daughter into rural New Mexico, where they find the skeleton of a gargoyle, but its living brethren are soon after them. 

Probably most notable as one of special effects wizard Stan Winston's earliest credits, as one of the men behind the gargoyle makeup, this production was a TV movie with a limited run time that might have been better  off with more time devoted to a fuller exploration of the gargoyles' backstory.  There's still some good shocks and thrills and the makeup is really extraordinary for a telefilm.  Bernie Casey is cast as the lead gargoyle and although the actor gives the creature presence within the suit, it's a shame his fine voice wasn't used, instead dubbed over by Vic Perrin according to IMDB.  Also in the cast is Scott Glenn, a familiar character actor in blockbuster movies decades later.  Stephen and Elinor Karpf's screenplay is probably a bit too simplistic, but I enjoyed Robert Prince's score, and it was good to see favorite filming location Carlsbad Caverns standing in for the gargoyles' lair.

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