Month: September 2017

Mr. Sardonicus (1961)

MR. SARDONICUS (1961)
Article 2202 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-27-2007
Posting Date: 8-23-2007
Directed by William Castle
Featuring Guy Rolfe, Oskar Homolka, Ronald Lewis

A doctor is called to a castle in a distant country to help cure a baron whose face has been contorted into a hideous smile as a result of a time where he dug up his father’s grave to get a lottery ticket. When the doctor refuses to try certain dangerous methods to cure him, the baron tries to force his hand by threatening to torture the baroness, who was once a lover of the doctor.

In general, this William Castle horror thriller is one the favorites of his fans, and I can see why; it has some memorable scenes, some interesting plot points, and the gimmick is great. The latter consists of allowing the audience to vote on the fate of the title character. This is not to say that the movie has more than one ending; Castle was a shrewd enough judge of human nature to figure out what the vote would be, and since the vote was only counted by a projected image of Castle himself, there was no chance of there being more than one ending to contend with. Still, I always find myself a little disappointed by this one; there are no scares here to equal the best ones from HOMICIDAL , HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL or THE TINGLER , and a number of the scares seem forced or contrived, a circumstance I attribute to the fact that there’s really not enough story to fill out the length of the movie. I also find myself noticing that the scenes between the scares are rather dull, and I don’t think Castle really manages to maintain the mood during these sequences. As a result, the movie is like the proverbial glass of water than can be seen as either half full or half empty, depending on how you look at it. I’m afraid I notice the half that’s empty too much for me to get really attached to this one. Still, the movie is helped by a good performance from Oskar Homolka as the baron’s manservant.

 

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The Mighty Gorga (1969)

THE MIGHTY GORGA (1969)
Article 2201 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-26-2007
Posting Date: 8-22-2007
Directed by David L. Hewitt
Featuring Anthony Eisley, Megan Timothy, Scott Brady

A circus owner joins forces with the daughter of an explorer to find a secret treasure and a fabled giant gorilla.

Is this the worst giant ape movie ever made? Well, it wouldn’t be my choice, though it is perhaps the one with the chintziest special effects. The first part of the movie is mostly competent low-budget film-making that gets by on some fun use of zoo footage and the presence of Anthony Eisley. It then turns into a Double-Stuffed Safari-O, and this is perhaps the most difficult stretch of the movie. It’s not until the explorers reach the top of the plateau that its low budget really shows its weakness; Gorga is obviously a man in half of an unconvincing gorilla suit (notice how you get no shots of Gorga below the waist), and he’s even better than the obvious puppet dinosaur that threatens the explorers at one point. The appearance of Kent Taylor enlivens things a bit, but Bruce Kimball’s prayers as the Gorga-worshipping witch doctor is consummate bad acting. And, of course, we get to visit Bronson Caverns as well.

So what do I consider the worst giant ape movie of them all? We’ll get to that soon enough; let’s just say I’m sure that movie has its own circle in hell.

 

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Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror (1968)

FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY TERROR (1968)
aka La Marca del Hombre-lobo, The Mark of the Wolfman
Article 2200 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-25-2007
Posting Date: 8-21-2007
Directed by Enrique Lopez Eguiluz
Featuring Jacinto Molina (Paul Naschy), Manuel Manzaneque, Dyanik Zurakowska

When a werewolf is accidentally revived by greedy gypsies, two romantic rivals join a hunting party looking for wolves. When the werewolf attacks one of them, the other one destroys it, but not before being bitten himself. Upon discovering that he has now inherited the werewolf curse, he has his rival lock him in a cell in an abandoned monastery. The rival then contacts a doctor who is believed to have cure for lycanthropy, but it turns out the doctor is actually a vampire. Complications ensue.

Let’s face it; the plot description above makes the movie sound fairly goofy, and the fact that the American title for this compendium of werewolves and vampires draws in the name of Frankenstein (who is only referred to in a dumb opening prologue that tries to tie his name to that of Wolfstein) only makes it seem sillier; there’s no mad science to be found here. In truth, the movie is better than that; it’s quite moody at times (I love the creepy forest with the bare white trees), it handles the transformation sequences with a creative use of acting, shadows and sound, and it paces its far-fetched plot in such a way that you have no trouble buying into it within the context of the movie. It’s also the movie that debuted Paul Naschy in his most famous role as Waldemar Daninsky, and it’s definitely one of the better movies of the series. As usual, Naschy plays his character with an interesting contradiction of being both hero and villain, though it needs the presence of extra monsters to help him accomplish this; it is only because he is a werewolf that he can resist the willpower of the vampires, and this makes him the hero, albeit one that must be destroyed himself. It helps that I saw this movie in a nice restored letterbox version, which compensates somewhat for the fact that it is dubbed, though not badly so. At any rate, it is a good starting place to explore the Naschy movies.

 

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Man in the Attic (1953)

MAN IN THE ATTIC (1953)
Article 2199 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-24-2007
Posting Date: 8-20-2007
Directed by Hugo Fregonese
Featuring Jack Palance, Constance Smith, Byron Palmer

While the Jack the Ripper murders are terrifying Whitechapel, a mysterious pathologist comes to stay in the home of an elderly couple. They soon begin to suspect that their new lodger is none other than Jack the Ripper, but their actress niece begins to fall for the man.

This is the fourth and last (to date) cinematic version of Marie Belloc Lowndes’ novel “The Lodger”, though a fifth version is apparently in the works. It is also one of the lesser versions of the story. This is not to say that it’s bad; it features good performances from Jack Palance, and I also enjoyed both Frances Bavier and Rhys Williams as the elderly couple. It also has an exciting chase scene near the end of the movie. It’s just that it can’t really compete with either Hitchcock’s 1927 silent version of the movie or Laird Cregar’s 1944 take on the story. Overfamiliarity with the story also works against it; the scene where the lodger proceeds to turn all the pictures in his room to the wall might have been more effective had I not seen it done much better in the Hitchcock movie, and there are few surprises in the story. Still, the movie does manage to keep you wondering as to whether the lodger is actually Jack the Ripper or not, and it helps that I’ve seen the answer to this question go in opposite directions in various other versions of the movie. I always enjoy seeing Palance at work as well; one thing I’ve really come to appreciate about him as an actor was that he played a much wider variety of characters than I had thought previous to my starting this whole project.

 

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The Toy Box (1971)

THE TOY BOX (1971)
Article 2198 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-23-2007
Posting Date: 8-19-2007
Directed by Ronald Victor Garcia
Featuring Sean Kenney, Ann Myers, Neal Bishop

A depraved man known as Uncle has been hosting parties where guests perform sex acts and are paid for their performances via a chest known as the Toy Box. However, this time Uncle is dead, but the party is still going on and the acts are performed before his slightly animated dead body. Then dead bodies start showing up…

I only cover sex movies when they have some fantastic content, but usually it’s only for the sake of comprehensiveness; usually, the fantastic content is only a lame framing device for the sex scenes. This is one of the exceptions; the revelations concerning Uncle are more interesting than usual, and the horror elements eventually evolve into some offbeat science fiction elements as well. Still, the movie primarily exists for the sex scenes, but the fantastic and horrific themes occasionally play interesting roles in the proceedings; I had to admit that the scene where a woman is seduced by her own bed was quite unusual. It’s pretty cheap (there are a lot of scenes that were unconvincingly dubbed after the fact, and there isn’t even one single exterior shot of Uncle’s home, which might have given us a sense of location), and the orgy scenes get pretty tiresome after a bit, but for this type of movie, I found it more interesting than usual.

 

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The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES (1974)
aka THE SEVEN BROTHERS MEET DRACULA
Article 2197 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-22-2007
Posting Date: 8-18-2007
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Featuring Peter Cushing, David Chiang, Julie Ege

Dracula takes the form of a Chinese warlord in order to resurrect the seven golden vampires, and then proceeds to terrorize a small Chinese village. Dr. Van Helsing comes to China and combines forces with a family of martial arts experts to do battle with the vampires.

This was the last of Hammer’s vampire movies, and the sheer novelty value of the concept helps put it over. Hammer combined with Shaw Brothers to produce this martial arts vampire movie, and the kung fu action combined with vampire thrills was enough to hold my interest. Some of it is quite eerie indeed; I love the shots of the undead minions rising out of the ground during the monster attacks, and the attack sequences are pretty exciting. My main disappointments here were minor ones; the bats are utterly unconvincing, and the final battle with Dracula is brief and anticlimactic. Nonetheless, there’s a decent amount of fun in this one, and I quite enjoyed it.

 

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The Trial (1962)

THE TRIAL (1962)
aka Le Proces
Article 2196 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-21-2007
Posting Date: 8-17-2007
Directed by Orson Welles
Featuring Anthony Perkins, Arnoldo Foa, Jess Hahn

A man finds himself arrested, but on what charge he is not told. He tries to wend his way through the legal system, but finds himself distracted, diverted and kept in the dark about his case.

It’s been years since I’ve read the Kafka novel on which this is based, so I can’t personally say whether this movie version is true to the novel; the novel, which feels like a bad and frustrating dream, is by its very nature difficult to remember. However, I have read that liberties were taken with the story, but that in essence, the movie does capture the book. I am inclined to believe this; the sense of impenetrable labyrinths, paranoia and claustrophobia is very strong. Furthermore, since Kafka himself never finished the novel (it was edited by a friend after his death), it’s nearly impossible to say what would constitute a true version of the novel. At any rate, this satirical fantasy is fascinating to look at, and the style of the movie may well have influenced directors such as David Lynch and Terry Gilliam (I found myself thinking of both ERASERHEAD and BRAZIL while watching this). Anthony Perkins is memorable as the beleaguered citizen under arrest, though he seems unaware how his own haughty arrogance and selfishness only make matters worse for himself. Akim Tamiroff and Orson Welles are also memorable as another accused man and as Josef K’s advocate. It’s rather difficult to follow, but I suspect that may be the point; I think we are supposed to be as lost as Josef K is in the process, and equally frustrated with the fact that no one ever gives a straight answer to any question. It’s fascinating, but it helps if you’re in the mood for something like this.

 

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Something Creeping in the Dark (1971)

SOMETHING CREEPING IN THE DARK (1971)
aka QUALCOSA STRISCIA NEL BUIO, SOMETHING IS CRAWLING IN THE DARK
Article 2195 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-20-2007
Posting Date: 8-16-2007
Directed by Mario Colucci
Featuring Stelvio Rosi, Mia Genberg, Farley Granger

Various people become stranded in a spooky old house during a storm, and they decide to hold a seance. They end up calling forth the spirit of a woman who takes possession of their souls.

Any movie that opens with a man commenting about seeing someone’s new nose is doing something interesting, and for anyone who likes their horrors on the offbeat side, this one will work. The above plot description makes it sound more ordinary than it is, and indeed, it is built on some very ordinary elements; it starts out like a standard “old dark house” variant, but what happens in the aftermath is hardly routine. It’s filled with quirky touches, bizarre scenes, and offbeat moments. The blurb on the back describes the movie as “impenetrable”, and to some extent, it is, but it’s impenetrable in a rather attractive and fun way; I really found myself wondering just what the ghost was trying to do. At times, the movie reminded me a little of CASTLE OF BLOOD, not so much due to plot similarities, but because I often found myself having the same slightly disoriented viewing experience as I did with that one, though it isn’t quite as good as that one. Nevertheless, I was charmed and fascinated by this one, and it is really unlike most of the Italian horror movies I’ve seen so far.

 

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Flying Disc Man from Mars (1950)

FLYING DISC MAN FROM MARS (1950)
(Serial)
Article 2194 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-19-2007
Posting Date: 8-15-2007
Directed by Fred C. Brannon
Featuring Walter Reed, Lois Collier, Gregory Gaye

A martian tempts a scientist with promises of power to get his help in preparing for an invasion of the earth. They find resistance in the form of an air patrol officer.

I can’t help but express my dismay with this one. The title promises a much greater amount of science-fiction thrills than is usual for the serial genre, but the disappointments start early. It initially seems like a remake of THE PURPLE MONSTER STRIKES , but this time the Martian doesn’t have any cool powers, and once he holes up in the volcano, he plays virtually no part in the action to come except for appearing for a few seconds and barking a few orders. Sure, the “flying disc” gets some air time, but other than the fact that it can fly straight up from the volcano, it pretty much functions like a normal airplane. It doesn’t even look like a disc; it’s pudgy and triangular. It’s also another one of those serials that was made after Republic lost their touch with the fight scenes, and this is especially disappointing since some of the locations of the fights would really lend themselves well to those scenes; when a fight takes place in a lab full of scientific glassware and almost all of it is still intact afterwards, that’s a bad sign. No, this one isn’t particularly awful; it’s just pretty ordinary. As a matter of fact, I don’t think the good guys ever figure out that they’re dealing with Martians.

 

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King Kong Escapes (1967)

KING KONG ESCAPES (1967)
Article 2193 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-18-2007
Posting Date: 8-14-2007
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Featuring Rhodes Reason, Mie Hama, Linda Miller

A nefarious organization is trying to mine a rare radioactive mineral. Towards that end, the head of the organization has a mechanical replica of King Kong built, but the radiation proves too much for it. When members of a submarine crew discover the existence of the real King Kong, the evil organization plans to kidnap both Kong and his discoverers.

Back when I was a kid, I thought this was the worst of the kaijus largely due to the fact that I find one of the central premises (that the best way to mine radioactive minerals is with giant gorillas, and if you don’t have one of those, the second best way is to build a mechanical replica of a giant gorilla) to plum the depths of absurdity. I still find it ridiculous, but I can get past that nowadays; it’s not a bad kaiju, the evil Doctor Who (nothing to do with the British timelord, but dubbed by Paul Frees) is one of the most memorable villains for one of these movies, and the final battle (with both Kong and mechani-Kong climbing Tokyo Tower) is pretty good. I also think that the Kong outfit here is a definite improvement over the one used in KING KONG VS. GODZILLA . The movie also has an interesting genesis; it was based on a forgotten American cartoon, and was co-produced by Arthur Rankin Jr., part of the production team of Rankin/Bass. Two of the main characters are played by Americans, though, for some reason, Linda Milller was dubbed rather poorly by another actress. As a side note, this is the second movie in a row I’ve seen to feature a boat wrecked by a giant monster.

 

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