Starring Eric Porter, Angharad Rees, Jane Merrow, Keith Bell, Derek Godfrey
Directed by Peter Sasdy
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
The unknown daughter of Jack The Ripper, after committing a shocking murder of her own, is taken into the care of a doctor experimenting with the new technique of psychoanalysis.
A terrific premise, fine acting, and good production values highlight this 1970's picture from Britain's Hammer Films, with Porter (as Dr. Pritchard) and Rees (as the troubled young Anna) definite standouts. The shocks in the film are as potent as any of Hammer's past output, even though we know the killings are coming ahead of time, thanks to the cues the audience knows that drive Anna into her mindless violence. The music score by Christopher Gunning (somewhat reminiscent of James Bernard's scores for the company) has some lovely melodic themes as well as darker material for the killings. It's a well-produced and directed, intelligently written and acted production and one I found disturbing long after viewing.
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
Fangs Of The Living Dead (1969)
Starring Anita Ekberg, Gianni Medici, Diana Lorys, Rosanna Yanni, Cesar Benet
Directed by Amando de Ossorio
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A young heiress visits the castle she has inherited, and learns her uncle may be a centuries old vampire, with plans to initiate her into the undead.
This Italian/Spanish co-production is distinguished by its strong performances (from Ekberg as the heiress Sylvia and Julian Ugarte as the count in particular), as well as Fulvio Testi's beautiful cinematography, with many scenes lit in sumptuous color. It is a tad slow moving as Ugarte tries to convince the defiant Ekberg of the reality of the supernatural, and later as a local doctor (Carlos Casaravilla) tries to impress Ekberg's fiancee (Paul Muller) of the same, and I thought attempts at comic relief fell a little flat. However, the production values and the impressive exterior shots of the castle really make this an aesthetically pleasing picture, and Ekberg looks stunning in her various outfits. When the film reaches its climax, the screenplay comes up with a twist I didn't see coming, thanks to convincing acting from all the cast.
Directed by Amando de Ossorio
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A young heiress visits the castle she has inherited, and learns her uncle may be a centuries old vampire, with plans to initiate her into the undead.
This Italian/Spanish co-production is distinguished by its strong performances (from Ekberg as the heiress Sylvia and Julian Ugarte as the count in particular), as well as Fulvio Testi's beautiful cinematography, with many scenes lit in sumptuous color. It is a tad slow moving as Ugarte tries to convince the defiant Ekberg of the reality of the supernatural, and later as a local doctor (Carlos Casaravilla) tries to impress Ekberg's fiancee (Paul Muller) of the same, and I thought attempts at comic relief fell a little flat. However, the production values and the impressive exterior shots of the castle really make this an aesthetically pleasing picture, and Ekberg looks stunning in her various outfits. When the film reaches its climax, the screenplay comes up with a twist I didn't see coming, thanks to convincing acting from all the cast.
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Serpent Island (1954)
Starring Sonny Tufts, Mary Munday, Tom Monroe, Rosalind Hayes, Don Blackman
Directed by Tom Gries
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A woman in search of gold her ancestor hid in the region of Haiti hires a former naval engineer to help her find it, and they embark on a dangerous journey.
Most notable for future sci-fi filmmaker Bert I. Gordon's involvement as cinematographer and supervising editor, this is a low budget and pretty amateur effort compiling lots of stock footage around the limited cast. Tufts, although a bit old and out of shape to play the leading man, at least gives us an anchor for the story, narrating most of it, although the cliche-filled script doesn't do him any favors. Munday is attractive, but not particularly a good actress, and several scenes padded with the stock footage run much too long. However, the film's most abject failure is its haphazard editing, which becomes rather comical during the climactic scenes. Although the music is credited to Domingo Rodrigues, much of the main title and later sections are obviously taken from Elmer Bernstein's score for Cat-Women Of The Moon.
Directed by Tom Gries
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A woman in search of gold her ancestor hid in the region of Haiti hires a former naval engineer to help her find it, and they embark on a dangerous journey.
Most notable for future sci-fi filmmaker Bert I. Gordon's involvement as cinematographer and supervising editor, this is a low budget and pretty amateur effort compiling lots of stock footage around the limited cast. Tufts, although a bit old and out of shape to play the leading man, at least gives us an anchor for the story, narrating most of it, although the cliche-filled script doesn't do him any favors. Munday is attractive, but not particularly a good actress, and several scenes padded with the stock footage run much too long. However, the film's most abject failure is its haphazard editing, which becomes rather comical during the climactic scenes. Although the music is credited to Domingo Rodrigues, much of the main title and later sections are obviously taken from Elmer Bernstein's score for Cat-Women Of The Moon.
Friday, January 10, 2020
Octaman (1971)
Starring Pier Angeli, Kerwin Mathews, Jeff Morrow, David Essex, Jerome Guardino
Directed by Harry Essex
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A scientist researching atomic fallout in a primitive village discovers a mutated octopus that can walk on land and has savagely been attacking the natives and his assistants.
This is a real oddity. Harry Essex, who wrote many Hollywood screenplays including Creature From The Black Lagoon, appears to be trying to remake that classic film with a sillier monster and limited production values. The story features similar characters, and similar situations from Creature, including the beast falling for the woman in the cast, and a sequence where the Octaman traps the expedition party. It's not a good film, with a lot of too darkly lit sequences, a music score cobbled together from stock compositions, and not much character development in the screenplay. The Octaman costume really is rather well put together if you can suspend your disbelief, but some of the beast's gory attacks are rather laughable given the limited budget spared to those effects. Given all that, I believe the film has become something of a cult item with fans over the years, and the Octaman is definitely unique, even if his story isn't.
Directed by Harry Essex
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A scientist researching atomic fallout in a primitive village discovers a mutated octopus that can walk on land and has savagely been attacking the natives and his assistants.
This is a real oddity. Harry Essex, who wrote many Hollywood screenplays including Creature From The Black Lagoon, appears to be trying to remake that classic film with a sillier monster and limited production values. The story features similar characters, and similar situations from Creature, including the beast falling for the woman in the cast, and a sequence where the Octaman traps the expedition party. It's not a good film, with a lot of too darkly lit sequences, a music score cobbled together from stock compositions, and not much character development in the screenplay. The Octaman costume really is rather well put together if you can suspend your disbelief, but some of the beast's gory attacks are rather laughable given the limited budget spared to those effects. Given all that, I believe the film has become something of a cult item with fans over the years, and the Octaman is definitely unique, even if his story isn't.
Thursday, January 9, 2020
The Undead (1957)
Starring Pamela Duncan, Richard Garland, Allison Hayes, Val Dufour, Mel Welles
Directed by Roger Corman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A psychic researcher brazenly tries to regress a streetwalker to one of her past lives, and succeeds, taking her back to medieval times, where a young maiden faces execution, accused of witchcraft.
One of Corman's most unique films of the fifties, combining science fiction and fantasy elements with the medieval setting, involving witches who can change their form, and a personification of the devil. Though Duncan is the lead, as both the modern streetwalker and accused maiden, Hayes steals the show as a voluptuously costumed witch, who's responsible for Garland's predicament, and pines for her beau played by Garland. Hayes' screen presence is off the charts, especially for any smitten young men in the audience of which I confess to being one. Although Corman's budget only allows for limited settings, plenty of colorful characters speaking in medieval English help transport the viewer with Billy Barty as Hayes' imp companion, Welles as a friendly gravedigger, and Richard Devon as the pitchfork wielding Devil, all standouts. Composer Ronald Stein adds a flavorful score, and as my friend Mark Holmes pointed out, Mark Hanna and Charles B. Griffith's screenplay ignores the temptation to lead up to a predictable climax for something far different.
Directed by Roger Corman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A psychic researcher brazenly tries to regress a streetwalker to one of her past lives, and succeeds, taking her back to medieval times, where a young maiden faces execution, accused of witchcraft.
One of Corman's most unique films of the fifties, combining science fiction and fantasy elements with the medieval setting, involving witches who can change their form, and a personification of the devil. Though Duncan is the lead, as both the modern streetwalker and accused maiden, Hayes steals the show as a voluptuously costumed witch, who's responsible for Garland's predicament, and pines for her beau played by Garland. Hayes' screen presence is off the charts, especially for any smitten young men in the audience of which I confess to being one. Although Corman's budget only allows for limited settings, plenty of colorful characters speaking in medieval English help transport the viewer with Billy Barty as Hayes' imp companion, Welles as a friendly gravedigger, and Richard Devon as the pitchfork wielding Devil, all standouts. Composer Ronald Stein adds a flavorful score, and as my friend Mark Holmes pointed out, Mark Hanna and Charles B. Griffith's screenplay ignores the temptation to lead up to a predictable climax for something far different.
Saturday, January 4, 2020
The Creation Of The Humanoids (1962)
Starring Don Megowan, Erica Elliott, Frances McCann, Don Doolittle, David Cross
Directed by Wesley E. Barry
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
After an atomic war, humanity becomes more dependent on robots and an officer in a resistance group tries to thwart efforts by the robots to pass themselves off as humans.
This independent science fiction film has some intriguing ideas, and profound parallels to contemporary race relations, comparing the robots' struggle to integrate with humanity with those of minorities in our current age. For that it's definitely worthwhile viewing, but it's a very talky and slow-moving film which requires dedication to sit through. There's no musical score, and not many action sequences, with the plot driven by lengthy speeches by the actors, most of which could have been truncated and accomplished better visually. I thought the art direction was unique and worked for me, with minimalistic sets and futuristic painted backgrounds, and enjoyed Megowan's performance as an anti-robot crusader who has to face previously unknown truths about himself. Sadly the other cast members don't have roles as well developed. Regardless, the film is a noble attempt at rendering a worthy science fiction tale, but sadly too wordy for its own good.
Directed by Wesley E. Barry
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
After an atomic war, humanity becomes more dependent on robots and an officer in a resistance group tries to thwart efforts by the robots to pass themselves off as humans.
This independent science fiction film has some intriguing ideas, and profound parallels to contemporary race relations, comparing the robots' struggle to integrate with humanity with those of minorities in our current age. For that it's definitely worthwhile viewing, but it's a very talky and slow-moving film which requires dedication to sit through. There's no musical score, and not many action sequences, with the plot driven by lengthy speeches by the actors, most of which could have been truncated and accomplished better visually. I thought the art direction was unique and worked for me, with minimalistic sets and futuristic painted backgrounds, and enjoyed Megowan's performance as an anti-robot crusader who has to face previously unknown truths about himself. Sadly the other cast members don't have roles as well developed. Regardless, the film is a noble attempt at rendering a worthy science fiction tale, but sadly too wordy for its own good.
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