What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

It's definitely a lot better than you expect it to be isn't it.

I really enjoyed it.

It knows what it is and doesnt pretend to be anything more.

[keirarts]

Dr Terror's house of Horrors.

Kicking off a run of popular anthology horrors from Amicus films, Dr Terror takes the structure used in the 40's Ealing classic Dead of night and re-invigorates it for the 60's British audience. Here, a group of men board a late night train and find themselves in the company of Doctor Schreck, played by Peter Cushing. While Schreck is German for 'terror' (and also the surname given to the actor who played Nosferatu in the Murnau picture though I'm not sure that's intentional) he seems amiable enough and the group decide to pass the time by having the good doctor read their futures from his 'house' his deck of Tarot cards. Naturally this kicks off a series of short spooky stories.
First up is Werewolf where a young Scottish architect head's back to his ancestral home to do some renovation work for the new owner. While there he discovers a hidden tomb underneath the house that seems to belong to Cosmo Valdemar, a werewolf and someone who claimed rightful ownership of the estate from the architects family. It turns out Valedemar vowed revenge on the family for stealing his rightful property and as the night draws on it seems the legend might be true. The first story in the anthology is a great start to the picture, with some excellent set design and effects work for the period. The story is tightly constructed and well delivered with some great performances. We then move on to Creeping Vine which falls a little flat on its face, Alan 'fluff; freeman and his family return home from holiday to discover a strange vine growing across their house. When he tries to cut it the vine reacts in a way that suggests its sapient so he calls in some scientist chums to investigate. After the first scientist is killed his friend, plays by Bernard Lee ( M from the bond films) steps in and realises the plant may have the potential to take over the world. The flaws in the story are the weak ending and chiefly the diabolically bad script. Fluff isn't much of an actor and struggles, Lee however is pretty decent and manages to deliver some dreadful lines with conviction. Overall its not terrible and has moments that make it worthwhile but I can see why it wasn't first in order.
We then move on to Voodoo with the late great Roy castle as a Jazz musician whose agent lands him a gig in the west Indies which he enthusiastically tells his band about with the most wrong and racist accent I've ever heard that comes across as 70's racist trying to do an asian accent. While at their gig, Castle discovers the residents of the island are all voodoo practitioners. Heading out into the Jungle he spies on a ceremony and takes notes on the music. Discovered by the high priest he is warned not to steal the music but Castle ignores this and begins to use it in his act back home bringing evil down upon his head. This one is better than the vine story. Its central premise is simple and effective, the writing for the most part is terrific and there are some great scenes including castles walk home that's torn straight from a Val lewton picture. Ok, Castle himself is not the greatest actor but compared to Alan Freeman his Marlon Brando. Next up we get Disembodied hand one of my favourites of the film, partly because we get both Christopher Lee and Michael Gough, but also because I have a soft spot for killer hand films. Lee plays a pompous art critic, Franklyn Marsh who takes pleasure in deriding the work of Eric Landor, played by Gough. Landor shows Marsh up for the pompous sod he is by showing a work of art that he praises only to reveal it was done by a chimp. Making sport of Marsh and taking pleasure in making him squirm, Marsh takes his reprisal a bit to far and runs Landor over, destroying his hand and ruining him. As a result the artist kills himself but Marsh soon discovers himself tormented by Landors hand. Both Lee and Gough are excellent here, Lee clearly relishing a chance to play something different to his usual roles, like the werewolf story its well told and tightly structured and delivers everything it needs to in its running time. Finally we get Vampire an early role for Donald Sutherland, before he would go on to become an international mega star. Here he plays an American with a new, European bride. Shortly after arriving home people begin to get attacked, with puncture wounds on their necks and Sutherland begins to suspect his missus is a vampire. Like most wives she may be intending to bleed him dry! (apologies for that joke, couldn't resist) the twist in the ending is a little silly, however its a fun story and Sutherland is (as one would expect) terrific. We then get the wrap around segments closure with a twist that in retrospect blindingly obvious given that Amicus would use it again and again.
Overall Dr terror isn't perfect, however its a landmark in British horror that still remains very entertaining. I doubt modern audiences will find it scary however I do hope they at least find it as entertaining as I do. The Odeon Blu-ray is a slightly different cut to the previous anchor bay DVD, there is a tiny blink and you will miss it moment missing at the end, pointed out courtesy of Troy Howarth on Facebook, a scream from Christopher lee is not audible as it was in that release. Factor in the Olive release may represent the ABUK release then it may be that there are different sources used as this appears to represent older UK releases. I suspect that there may be both export and domestic releases with these slight changes that would account for the slight variations in content and the differences in transfer. Nonetheless its nothing that most of its audience would ever notice unless pointed out.

[keirarts]

Tales from the crypt

At this point Amicus had managed to refine the art of making anthology pictures having delivered Torture Garden (1967), The House That Dripped Blood (1970), and Asylum (1972). This one, coming the same year as Asylum was adapted from the bloody and controversial 50's horror comics from EC comics published by William Gaines and subject to a witch hunt not unlike the video nasty furore. Here we get another collection of stories, not all of which are sourced from Tales, with a wrap around featuring Ralph Richardson as the Crypt keeper.
A group of visitors to some underground catacombs get lost and end up running into the crypt keeper who begins to issue each person a warning about their future.
First up we get And all through the house with Joan Collins playing another bitch, this one who kills her husband on xmas eve in order to get a quickie divorce and a tidy sum of cash. Unfortunately for her, but in keeping with the moral endings of the tales in the comics, a murderous lunatic dressed as Santa is on the loose and arrives at her house. She can't call the police as hubbies corpse is still in the room (though why she didn't just pin it on the nutter is beyond me) so she has to keep him out while she stages the 'accident'. Sadly her little girl spies Santa outside so lets him in.... This one is a terrific little story with plenty of suspense and a great ending.Collins gives one of her best performances here. It keeps up the tradition of starting with one of the strongest stories.
Next up is Reflection of death with Ian Hendry who is dumping his wife on Christmas eve to run off with his lover. On the way back to his new birds the car runs off the road. Hendry wakes and tries to head home, trying to get people to help. Everyone he encounters reacts in horror. He gets to his wifes and finds her with another man, he then heads to his mistresses and discovers she is blind. She states it impossible that its him as he died in the crash tow years ago! Perhaps its a little obvious where this one was going but I like it. Hendry is a great actor, though admittedly underused here and its one of the weaker stories in the film.
We move onto the best story in the film Poetic Justice about a snobbish father and son in an area gradually becoming gentrified who resent their elderly neighbour Arthur Grimsdyke, a council worker and widower whose house looks a little run down and keeps dogs in the yard. In a bid to get rid of him and raise house prices in the area they hatch a scheme to make him sell up. Firstly framing his dogs so the police remove them, getting him fired from his job two years from claiming his pension and poisoning the neighbours towards him by implying he's a child molester. To cap it all off they send a pile of abusive valentines cards on valentines day which finally drives the poor man to suicide. One year later however, Grimsdyke returns to deliver his own valentine to the snobs. There are a number of reasons why this is one of my favourites. Firstly Peter Cushing is exceptional in the role of the old man. He maintains a stoic and cheerful exterior but the devastation is clear through his eyes and voice. Its a terrific and genuinely heartbreaking performance. The make up for the returned Grimsdyke is brilliant and genuinely creepy as well. Its also worth noting that the subject matter is still very relevant today.
Next up is a surprisingly nasty entry wish you were here which riffs on the monkeys paw tale in an almost post modern way as a businessman who has discovered he has lost everything and his wife discover a statue that offers three wishes. Her husband urges caution, reminding her of the tale of the monkeys paw. She disregards this and begins making wishes. The first involves lots of money so her husband dies in a car wreck and the life insurance pays out. The second brings him back before he died only for her to discover he died of a heart attack right before the accident. For the third she brings him back to life 'for ever and ever' only to realise he's been embalmed and is now in eternal agony. She tries cutting him up with a sword which does nothing. Fairly obvious story to this one but its also quite nasty and still manages to make me wince.
Finally we get Blind alleys as a retired army Major takes on a job running a home for the blind. Taking a 'modern' approach he begins cutting back on everything to save money including food and heating, noticeably not cutting back his own luxuries. This raises the ire of George Carter a vocal resident of the home played magnificently by Patrick Magee and almost as terrific here as Cushing. The Major disregards the residents anger and things come to a head one one resident dies of hypothermia. Its at this point that Carter and the other residents plot a bloody revenge.
The film ends with the 'twist' ending that most people at this point could probably see coming. The film is still terrific however and well worth checking out when you get the chance. scream factory's blu-ray looks terrific.

[Delirium]

Went and saw Gaspar Noés latest, Love, at the cinema; his explicit foray into art-porn, shot in 3D -- of course.

While ticking the requisite boxes of a Noe film, not least with its unique visual style (Benoît Debie returns as DP, so the film certainly looks sumptuous), non-linear storytelling, lingering close-ups, use of narration, overarching melancholy, and the uncompromising approach to forthright explicitness - it remains Noés lighter work to date: a ménage Ã* trois turned sour, told in fractured reverse time-frames.

While undoubtedly a handsome looking film, narrative drive is lacking; our characters ****ing or fighting in abandon, but neither developed or sympathetic enough to encourage any form of empathy (some rather risible dialogue is thrown into the mix too). The sex, beautifully shot and certainly explicit, avoids being too gynecological - save a money shot scene that is almost de rigueur considering the format - but eventually becomes repetitive.

Noé fans might appreciate his frequent nods to his other features, but I feel that his self-indulgence was allowed to reign a little too freely - 135 mins is certainly too long for this type of film which could have lost half an hour easily.

While I often appreciate Noés work as a watch-once type of experience, it's usually as I don't wish to diminish the film's power through re-watching; in this case, it's because I'm not sure I could patiently sit through their company again. Still, glad I went -- and despite my general disappointment, even lesser Noé is still something to behold.

[keirarts]

Vault of horror

One year after Tales from the crypt Amicus delivered another anthology film. Once again we have a wrap-around segment. This time its about a group of men who get into a lift and are taken to a sub-basement. With no way out they sit and have a nice drink ( whoever trapped them down there left plenty of scotch & brandy) and the men sit around and discuss frightening dreams they have experienced.
First off we start with Midnight mess where a psychotic Harold Rodgers (Daniel Massey) is hunting down his sister Donna (Anna Massey) a private detective played by Mike Pratt ( Randall from Randall & Hopkirk) has tracked her down for him and as a thanks Harold murders him. He then heads to the town his sisters holed up in and murders her so she can't inherit. leased with the days work he heads to the local restaurant that seems to only serve blood based dishes and discovers the whole town is vampires. This is once again a good start to things. The twist is fun and actually works and the whole piece is well delivered.
we then move to the second story The neat job where legendary cad Terry Thomas decides to settle down with a younger woman for a spot of married life. Terry has been a bachelor for too long however and soon begins to nag and whine whenever his new wife does anything. Eventually she snaps and does him in with a hammer storing him neat and tidy in jars. Its essentially a one-joke story this one and not at all scary. It is pretty funny though thanks in part to Terry Thomas who seems to have a lot of fun in the role.
Next up is This Trick’ll Kill You where German actor Curd Jurgens plays a magician travelling around India looking for tricks. They stumble across a woman with a trick where she summons rope from a jar with a horn, desperate to know how it work the magician tries to bribe her with no luck so he kills her instead. As his wife attempts the trick she passes through the ceiling and a patch of blood appears. When he investigates the rope it wraps around his neck and hangs him. The woman he killed returns to the market they found her in and resumes performing the trick. Once again its a pretty good story enlivened by some great acting.
Next is Bargain in Death where a young man decides to try a bit of insurance fraud. Managing to slow his breath to the point he appears dead he gets buried and then the plan is that his partner in crime will then come and dig him up. Sadly his mate decides to screw him over and leaves him buried. Two doctors who are in the graveyard looking for fresh corpses to study pay up to have the body exhumed and when our main character jumps up for air. The startled pair leg it into the road causing the double crossing chums car to crash. Heading back into the cemetery to discover the grave digger has brained him to close the sale. Somewhat unmemorable but reasonably well done. For me this is the weakest of the stories.
Finally we get Drawn and Quartered where Tom baker plays a struggling artist living in Haiti who discovers a crooked art dealer played by Denholm Elliott and some of his mates have screwed him over and are making a fortune on his work. Enraged he buys some voodoo that allows him tgo cause harm to people through his painting and heads back to london vowing revenge. It all works like a charm until a workman spills Turps on his own self portrait killing him.
Th wrap around segment ends and its no surprise how it ends. This is a fun film but my only problem is non of the stories are memorable enough to really stand out. Non of them are dire either so the film is definitely worth watching.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Enjoying these reviews Keirarts.

I didn't read the Dr. Terror one as i'm going to give it a rewatch shortly.

You might want to add a 'D' to the title rawn and Quartered in your Vault review.

[Prince_Vajda]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The Walking Dead (1936)

Boris Karloff is unscrupulously framed for murder by the mob and sent to the electric chair. A mad scientist, played by Edmund Gwenn (Miracle on 34th Street), revives him and the undead Karloff wreaks bloody revenge on the gangsters who betrayed him.

This macabre take on the Frankenstein story from director Michael Curtiz, who would just six short years later direct one of the greatest films of all time, and my personal favourite in Casablanca, is a remarkably moving film which benefits from a superb performance by Karloff as the hollow eyed zombie pianist.

Curtiz' direction is flawess, with some almost expressionistic photography and a script allowing Karloff and Gwenn to shine as well as gain the audiences sympathy. Like so many B-pictures of the time the film is short -a mere 65 minutes. However it's 65 minutes well spent with three of the finest names in Karloff, Gwenn and Curtiz, of Hollywood to come.

I couldn't agree more. A very fine film with an outstanding Karloff. It's actually one of my favourite films. The scene where he sits in his cell and asks for a musician to provide some background music during his walk to the death chamber is incredibly moving.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Prince_Vajda

I couldn't agree more. A very fine film with an outstanding Karloff. It's actually one of my favourite films. The scene where he sits in his cell and asks for a musician to provide some background music during his walk to the death chamber is incredibly moving.

Have you known about it a long time Prince?

I picked it up almost by accident as part of a 4 film Karloff / Lugosi set and only saw it for the first time last year. It is the best of the four by a long stretch.

[Prince_Vajda]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Have you known about it a long time Prince?

I picked it up almost by accident as part of a 4 film Karloff / Lugosi set and only saw it for the first time last year. It is the best of the four by a long stretch.

I'm quite sure that The Walking Dead was amongst the very first horror films that I ever saw (the others were Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum and The Most Dangerous Game); I guess that partly explains my fondness for the film. I had already watched my dad's worn out tape many, many times when I finally bought the same Karloff / Lugosi set that you own. It's the Region 1 Warner set, isn't it?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Prince_Vajda

I'm quite sure that The Walking Dead was amongst the very first horror films that I ever saw (the others were Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum and The Most Dangerous Game); I guess that partly explains my fondness for the film. I had already watched my dad's worn out tape many, many times when I finally bought the same Karloff / Lugosi set that you own. It's the Region 1 Warner set, isn't it?

Yes. That's the one.

The film that interested me the most was Zombies on Broadway as it co-starred Darby Jones and was seen as a tenuous sequel to I Walked With a Zombie.