Starring Brian Donlevy, John Longden, Sidney James, Bryan Forbes, William Franklyn
Directed by Val Guest
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
Professor Quatermass stumbles upon a factory protected by armed guards which he discovers is connected to projectiles descending to Earth, and hiding a secret that could menace the world.
The second of Hammer's adaptations of Nigel Kneale's Quatermass serials brings back Brian Donlevy as the driven rocket scientist. Although Donlevy's been criticized for turning Quatermass into a more forceful bully than his portrayers on television, in my opinion, he provides the dramatic thrust the film needs, enlivening the tale, particularly with most of the filming taking place in routine settings, such as an oil refinery. James Bernard's eerie music helps as well. Kneale and director Guest collaborated on the script, and it's a great story, with special effects that hold up pretty well in the terror-fraught climax. With most of the film involving largely faceless villains, I don't think it fares quite as well as the earlier The Quatermass Xperiment, with Richard Wordsworth's transforming menace, but it's certainly another work of quality, thanks to Donlevy, Kneale, Guest, and the Hammer cast and crew.
Friday, December 27, 2019
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Pillow Of Death (1945)
Starring Lon Chaney Jr., Brenda Joyce, J. Edward Bromberg, Rosalind Ivan, Clara Blandick
Directed by Wallace Fox
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
After the wife of an attorney is murdered, his secretary's wealthy family is quick to suspect him, and turn to a medium for help in exposing him using the ghosts in their own mansion.
Here's the final film in Universal's Inner Sanctum series starring Chaney and adapted from the popular radio series, and I thought this picture didn't flow as well as the others. Despite its share of spooky sights and eerie music cues, I also thought it could have been much more atmospheric and suspenseful. The house of the film's Kincaid family, despite secret passages and mysterious murders taking place within, is more gloomy than frightening, with us never really seeing any of the spectres said to be haunting the grounds. Chaney is joined by a supporting cast which is capable enough, and I particularly liked Wilton Graff's smooth-speaking detective, but the story and direction just aren't of enough quality to make this a worthwhile thriller.
Directed by Wallace Fox
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
After the wife of an attorney is murdered, his secretary's wealthy family is quick to suspect him, and turn to a medium for help in exposing him using the ghosts in their own mansion.
Here's the final film in Universal's Inner Sanctum series starring Chaney and adapted from the popular radio series, and I thought this picture didn't flow as well as the others. Despite its share of spooky sights and eerie music cues, I also thought it could have been much more atmospheric and suspenseful. The house of the film's Kincaid family, despite secret passages and mysterious murders taking place within, is more gloomy than frightening, with us never really seeing any of the spectres said to be haunting the grounds. Chaney is joined by a supporting cast which is capable enough, and I particularly liked Wilton Graff's smooth-speaking detective, but the story and direction just aren't of enough quality to make this a worthwhile thriller.
Friday, December 13, 2019
War Of The Colossal Beast (1958)
Starring Sally Fraser, Roger Pace, Dean Parkin, Russ Bender, Rico Alaniz
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
The sister of Glenn Manning, the Army colonel who grew to a height of 60 feet after being exposed to an atomic explosion, traces him to Mexico, and urges the army to find a way to help him.
Bert I. Gordon's sequel to his own The Amazing Colossal Man, strangely returns none of the cast from the original picture, with Fraser stepping in as a new character and Parkin replacing Glen Langan as the titular monster, disguised by a skull-like makeup over half his face, to avoid confusion with the footage of Langan from the first film. That makeup and the special effects in this followup are a bit more accomplished than in the previous entry, although the story's pretty thin, and the plot point of giving the giant amnesia and making him mute doesn't help to flesh things out any. I did enjoy the buildup to the Colossal Man's reveal, with the mystery of a young boy in shock and Rico Alaniz's memorable appearance as a Mexican police official something of quality. However after the giant is captured, it's pretty much a rehash of the first film, including a lengthy flashback to the footage with Langan. Still, there's some entertainment to be had, and the 1950s atmosphere and production values were welcome to me.
Directed by Bert I. Gordon
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
The sister of Glenn Manning, the Army colonel who grew to a height of 60 feet after being exposed to an atomic explosion, traces him to Mexico, and urges the army to find a way to help him.
Bert I. Gordon's sequel to his own The Amazing Colossal Man, strangely returns none of the cast from the original picture, with Fraser stepping in as a new character and Parkin replacing Glen Langan as the titular monster, disguised by a skull-like makeup over half his face, to avoid confusion with the footage of Langan from the first film. That makeup and the special effects in this followup are a bit more accomplished than in the previous entry, although the story's pretty thin, and the plot point of giving the giant amnesia and making him mute doesn't help to flesh things out any. I did enjoy the buildup to the Colossal Man's reveal, with the mystery of a young boy in shock and Rico Alaniz's memorable appearance as a Mexican police official something of quality. However after the giant is captured, it's pretty much a rehash of the first film, including a lengthy flashback to the footage with Langan. Still, there's some entertainment to be had, and the 1950s atmosphere and production values were welcome to me.
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Slaughter Of The Vampires (1962)
Starring Walter Brandi, Graziella Granata, Luigi Batzella, Dieter Eppler, Edda Ferronao
Directed by Roberto Mauri
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A count and his bride move into an old castle, unaware that it still remains the home of an ancient vampire, who has eyes for the countess.
An Italian vampire film, also released under it's original title La strage dei vampiri as well as Curse Of The Blood Ghouls in America, per Wikipedia, the picture is a solid night's entertainment for vampire film fans, although it doesn't offer a whole lot that's new or different. All the stock characters from the Dracula films are here, from the virginal beauty to her supportive husband to the undead count and the vampire hunter imported to battle the fiend, and essentially retells the same story. What the film does offer is impressive sets, filmed at a real castle in Italy, according to IMDB, and a moving camera well used by cinematographer Ugo Brunelli to create suspense in the nighttime scenes. Granata is breathtakingly gorgeous as the countess and the vampire's primary victim, and has a real screen presence, dominating the scenes she's in, while Brandi is fairly bland as her husband. Eppler, as the vampire is okay but not distinctive or memorable enough to rank with other classic portrayals of bloodsuckers. I enjoyed Aldo Piga's driving score and the way it incorporated the countess' moody piano waltz, which apparently everyone in the castle knows how to play! It's a great looking film, and a fun enough diversion, but for me, it was really just stepping in the same footprints of earlier classics.
Directed by Roberto Mauri
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A count and his bride move into an old castle, unaware that it still remains the home of an ancient vampire, who has eyes for the countess.
An Italian vampire film, also released under it's original title La strage dei vampiri as well as Curse Of The Blood Ghouls in America, per Wikipedia, the picture is a solid night's entertainment for vampire film fans, although it doesn't offer a whole lot that's new or different. All the stock characters from the Dracula films are here, from the virginal beauty to her supportive husband to the undead count and the vampire hunter imported to battle the fiend, and essentially retells the same story. What the film does offer is impressive sets, filmed at a real castle in Italy, according to IMDB, and a moving camera well used by cinematographer Ugo Brunelli to create suspense in the nighttime scenes. Granata is breathtakingly gorgeous as the countess and the vampire's primary victim, and has a real screen presence, dominating the scenes she's in, while Brandi is fairly bland as her husband. Eppler, as the vampire is okay but not distinctive or memorable enough to rank with other classic portrayals of bloodsuckers. I enjoyed Aldo Piga's driving score and the way it incorporated the countess' moody piano waltz, which apparently everyone in the castle knows how to play! It's a great looking film, and a fun enough diversion, but for me, it was really just stepping in the same footprints of earlier classics.
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