Month: January 2019

House of Dark Shadows (1970)

HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970)
Article 3224 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-16-2010
Posting Date: 6-12-2010
Directed by Dan Curtis
Featuring Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Kathryn Leigh Scott
Country: USA
What it is: Theatrical adaptation of supernatural soap opera

A seeker after a hidden fortune releases a vampire from captivity, who returns to his native home. The vampire eventually falls in love with a woman who resembles his bride-to-be from 200 years ago, but what will the future hold for them?

I remember trying to get home in time to see “Dark Shadows” on TV when I was a kid, but I rarely did and only caught the show sporadically. I remember Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins, and a few of the other actors and actresses, but for the life of me, I can’t remember a single story line. So I can’t say if this movie adaptation was modeled off of specific story lines from the show, but the story line is somewhat fractured and a little meandering, and this does give me the feeling that it did adapt some of the story lines from the TV series. I thought the movie was a little too coy in keeping us from seeing the face of Barnabas Collins for as long as it does; since I suspect that the movie was mostly geared for fans of show who were expecting to see Frid and knew what he looked like, it hardly seemed necessary. The movie has some good things and some not so good things; of the latter, the music is repetitive and tiresome and the characters sometimes feel inadequately developed. Still, the acting is solid (especially from Frid, Thayer David and Grayson Hall), there are a few pleasant surprises (for example, when the policemen show up to do battle with a vampirized Carolyn, they actually are armed with crosses and know how to use them), and you’re never quite sure who will prove to be the ultimate hero. I still think it’s a bit of a shame that the next movie didn’t feature Barnabas Collins; the charismatic Jonathan Frid was really the center of attention here, and the sequel suffered for his absence.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

He Knows You’re Alone (1980)

HE KNOWS YOU’RE ALONE (1980)
Article 3223 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-15-2010
Posting Date: 6-11-2010
Directed by Armand Mastroianni
Featuring Don Scardino, Caitlin O’Heaney, Elizabeth Kemp
Country: USA
What it is: HALLOWEEN clone

A psycho killer who specializes in prospective brides (and anyone else he feels like) is on the loose. A detective (whose own bride-to-be was murdered by the psycho, who happened to be a jilted boyfriend) has vowed to catch him. A woman about to be married is the killer’s next target.

It’s a slasher script, modeled off of HALLOWEEN rather than FRIDAY THE 13TH, which means it’s more interested in the suspense than the gore. But Armand Mostroianni is no John Carpenter (but this was only his first movie, and he got better), Caitlin O’Heaney is no Jamie Lee Curtis, and Lewis Arlt is no Donald Pleasence. We get lots and lots of lines like “I think I’m being followed” and “Is someone there?” and unending conversations on the woman’s doubt about her impending marriage (all designed to lead up to a lame twist ending). There’s a few good moments; the opening murder is well-staged, and it effectively sets up a clever hint that the killer is in the house at one point (if you can count to five, you’ll know what I mean). However, the movie way overdoes its attempts to ratchet up the suspense; all too often it comes off as annoying rather than scary. By the way, this was Tom Hanks’s first movie; his character was originally supposed to be killed, but he turned out to be so likable that the murder was taken out of the script.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Hercules, Prisoner of Evil (1964)

HERCULES, PRISONER OF EVIL (1964)
aka Ursus, il terrore dei kirghisi
Article 3222 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-13-2010
Posting Date: 6-10-2010
Directed by Antonio Margheriti and Ruggero Deodato
Featuring Reg Park, Mireille Granelli, Ettore Manni
Country: Italy
What it is: Sword and Sandal

A monster is loose in the vicinity, and so far, Hercules has been unable to track it down. An evil king decides to use the situation as a pretense to invade the region, claiming that the monster is a creation of Hercules and its residents. However, complications arise; Hercules is in love with he woman who is the rightful heir to the throne, and not everyone is who they seem…

Whatever flaws this particular sword-and-sandal movie has, I’ll definitely give it credit for one thing; it avoids the trap of merely repeating the tired story lines that usually mark this genre. The key wild card that has been thrown into the mix is the monster, and the mystery surrounding it and its elusiveness sets up some very interesting plot twists indeed. Technically, it’s not a Hercules movie; the Italian movie indicates that the main character is actually Ursus. Another piece of trivia; this is the first directorial work for Ruggero Deodato, who would go on to direct the notorious CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST; he’s only credited as assistant director, but according to IMDB, he was an uncredited co-director. The story gets a little confusing at times, and parts of it are unsatisfying, but the unusual story line and revelations make this one of the more interesting examples of the genre.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Cagliostro (1910)

CAGLIOSTRO (1910)
aka Cagliostro, aventurier, chimiste et magiien
Article 3221 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-13-2010
Posting Date: 6-9-2010
Directed by Camille de Morlhon and Gaston Velle
Featuring Jean Jacquinet, Jacques Normand, Helene Du Montel
Country: France
What it is: Version of the Cagliostro story

Cagliostro kidnaps a gypsy girl and uses his hypnotic powers to turn her into a medium.

Sometimes you just accept these short silent films for what they are, but others you find yourself acutely aware that the story can’t be told in the time allotted. That’s the feeling I had about this one; in terms of story, there is a perfunctory feel about the whole affair here. However, I suspect that it isn’t so much about the story as the special effects; the beginning scene (in which a wizard uses special effects to show Cagliostro the gypsy girl) and a party scene (which is basically Cagliostro using the girl in his magic act) seem to exist solely to make extensive use of camera tricks. Nevertheless, it was nice to see another version of the Cagliostro story; I have had several on my hunt list over the years, but most of them seem unfindable.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)

THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI (1966)
Article 3220 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-12-2010
Posting Date: 6-8-2010
Directed by Don Weis
Featuring Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley, Aron Kincaid
Country: USA
What it is: Beach Party horror comedy

A deceased con man has a chance to go to heaven if he does a good deed, but his spirit is unable to leave his crypt. He recruits an old circus partner to help make sure that the heirs to his fortune are not bilked out of it by a crooked lawyer. Then beach partiers show up.

A cross between a Beach Party movie and a horror comedy isn’t really a bad idea, and, due to the presence of Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone and George Barrows in a gorilla suit, I found myself really hoping that this movie would pull itself together. Alas, this was the movie that killed the Beach Party series. The absence of both Frankie and Annette is noticeable, the antics of Harvey Lembeck have an air of desperation, and by the end of the movie it all degenerates into loud, frantic confusion. And you’d think that a Beach Party movie would have at least one scene at a beach, but not so. In a sense, it’s pretty sad; the series really didn’t need to go out with this sickening a thud.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Gamera vs Zigra (1971)

GAMERA VS ZIGRA (1971)
aka Gamera tai Shinkai kaiju Jigura
Article 3219 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-11-2010
Posting Date: 6-7-2010
Directed by Noriaki Yuasa
Featuring Koji Fujiyama, Daigo Inoue, Reiko Kasahara
Country: Japan
What it is: Giant Japanese monster mayhem

An invader from the planet Zigra threatens to destroy the Earth with earthquakes of unimaginable magnitude. The invader has also enslaved an Earth woman and sent her on a mission to kill two children. Will Gamera be able to save the children and the world?

Save for the concocted-from-previous-movies-hodgepodge of GAMERA – SUPER MONSTER, this is the last movie of the original Gamera series. As the series progressed, it directed itself to younger and younger audiences; here it seems positively infantile, what with its bratty children who seem to always know the correct thing to do and its condescending attitude (when told that Zigra comes from a planet 40 light years away, someone comments that “even if you went at the speed of light, it would take you 40 years to get here”). Plot errors and contradictions abound; for one, is the woman who was kidnapped an actress or a geologist? Older audiences will most likely prefer to ogle Eiko Yanami (if I have the correct name) as she parades around in alien garb, a bikini, or a miniskirt. Zigra isn’t near as much fun as Gaos or Guiron, and the plot is often slow and cumbersome. To its credit, at least it doesn’t pad itself out with footage from previous Gamera movies, but this is still the weakest of the series. Most memorable moment: Gamera plays Zigra like a xylophone.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

El Supersabio (1948)

EL SUPERSABIO (1948)
Article 3218 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-10-2010
Posting Date: 6-6-2010
Directed by Miguel M. Delgado
Featuring Cantinflas, Perla Aguiar, Carlos Martinez Baena
Country: Mexico
What it is: Comedy with science fiction gimmick

A renowned scientist is working on a formula to transform seawater into gasoline, while his assistant is working on a formula to preserve roses. When the scientist dies unexpectedly (right after he finds the solution to his assistant’s rose preservation problem), the assistant becomes the target of a rapacious oil company who thinks he has the gasoline formula.

I got most of the plot description here from the Phil Hardy book, though I did change the occasional detail based on what I saw in the movie. I wouldn’t have figured out the plot myself, as the copy I found on YouTube was in unsubtitled Spanish, and, being a dialogue-heavy movie, was very difficult to follow. It looks amusing enough at times, but it’s really impossible for me to make a judgment call on this one. I couldn’t help but notice one thing, though; when Cantinflas disguises himself in a fake beard, he has an uncanny resemblance to Ross Martin disguised in a fake beard.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Flesh Gordon (1974)

FLESH GORDON (1974)
Article 3217 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-9-2010
Posting Date: 6-5-2010
Directed by Michael Benvenite and Howard Ziehm
Featuring Jason Williams, Suzanne Fields and Joseph Hudgins
Country: USA
What it is: Science fiction serial porno parody

Flesh Gordon, Dale Ardor and Dr. Flexi Jerkoff fly to the planet Porno to defeat the evil Emperor Wang.

The movie opens with a crawl in which the filmmakers acknowledge the great influence the serials and superheroes of the thirties had on this movie. This is a pretty odd touch for a porno parody, but it’s a telling moment. If this movie works, it’s because it actually seems that the makers of this movie had seen, enjoyed, and been influenced by their target; the plot of the movie does parallel the plot of the Universal serial. On top of that, a few other movies appear to have had an influence as well; there are moments here that will conjure up memories of THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD and KING KONG. It even throws in a cliffhanger, stops the movie for an intermission, and resolves it in part two with the classic “bail-out” solution that was all too common in the form. Even the design of the robots harkens back to THE UNDERSEA KINGDOM and THE PHANTOM EMPIRE. Throw in some fine stop-motion animation from Jim Danforth and a cameo by John Hoyt and you have that rarity of rarities; a porno parody that is genuinely amusing. Only in the seventies could something like this come out.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Paradisio (1961)

PARADISIO (1961)
Article 3216 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-8-2010
Posting Date: 6-4-2010
Directed by H. Haile Chace
Featuring Arthur Howard, Eva Wagner, 20 international beauties
Country: UK
What it is: Comic science fiction nudie thriller travelogue

A British professor witnesses the death of his friend Professor Kropotkin. However, he comes by Kropotkin’s last invention – spectacles that can see through clothing. He tries to deliver them to a colleague, but discovers spies are also after the glasses. In the meantime, he checks out how well they work.

Let’s face it; the movie is basically an excuse to look at nude women in 3D. The science fiction element is the glasses themselves, the comedy is tepid, the travelogue is just that, and the thriller (which includes a chase scene by gondola) is thrill-less. To its credit, it occasionally uses the central gimmick in clever ways; for one, it proves essential in helping him figure out Laura Hinkle is a Russian spy. My favorite touch is early on when he uses the glasses for the first time; if you can tear your eyes away from the shepherdess, take a look at the sheep. Inconsequential, but harmless.

0 CommentsLeave a comment

Kyuketsu-ga (1956)

KYUKETSU-GA (1956)
aka The Vampire Moth, Bloodthirsty Moth
Article 3215 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-7-2010
Posting Date: 6-3-2010
Directed by Nobuo Nakagawa
Featuring Ryo Ikebe, Asami Kuji, Ichiro Arishima
Country: Japan
What it is: Japanese horror-mystery

Models are being killed by a werewolf-like creature. Detectives investigate.

Since my print of this is in unsubtitled Japanese, I’m not really sure what’s going on most of the time. I do know this; it’s part of a series of movies about Kosuke Kindaichi, a detective who investigates mysteries with supernatural elements which, in the end, prove to have non-supernatural explanations. Still, the horror elements are here; the killer wears a scary mask with jagged teeth, and some of the scenes have a definite eerie quality to them. There’s a number of striking scenes here; my favorites include the discovery of a corpse on a raised platform, and a dance scene in which all we see are six pairs of legs when there are only five dancers; the latter has to be seen to be believed. Apparently, part of the plot involves a blackmail scheme of some sort involving dress designs, as far as I can tell. Until I can see a version of this one with subtitles, I doubt I can say anything more about it.

1 CommentLeave a comment