Month: January 2019

Flesh for Frankenstein (1973)

FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN (1973)
aka Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein
Article 3204 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-27-2010
Posting Date: 5-23-2010
Directed by Paul Morrissey and Antonio Margheriti
Featuring Joe Dallesandro, Monique van Vooren, Udo Kier
Country: USA/Italy/France
What it is: Over-the-top horror and sex black comedy

Baron Frankenstein is in the process of creating a man and a woman in his lab in the hopes that they will mate and produce a race of perfect Serbians. His wife/sister has the hots for the oversexed stable boy and brings him into the house as a “personal servant”. Their two children sneak around the house and observe everything.

Though IMDB doesn’t classify it as a comedy, I think that’s the only way to interpret this ultra-gory sexed-up version of the Frankenstein story. We have a Baron Frankenstein whose extreme sexual repression has manifested itself in some truly outrageous ways, which are unfortunately picked up by his impressionable but stupid assistant. We have the oversexed wife/sister who is only disgusted with sex when someone else is getting it, and the stud of a manservant who actually seems a little bored with it all and has other things on his mind. You have a case of mistaken identity; the doctor is searching for the head of a man for his monster who is sex-obsessed and ends up with the head of man who aspires to be a monk. If you think about it, this is all pretty amusing, and the over-the-top gore is just part of the joke. It was originally shown in 3D, and even watching it flat you can see how it made some interesting (if occasionally disgusting) uses of the gimmick. I remember that I first saw this one on the USA network (NOT a pay channel); I’d actually like to see it again having seen the unedited widescreen version, if for no other reason than to marvel at the ingenuity they must have used to edit this into anything that could have actually been shown on the channel. Andy Warhol was one of several producers, but you can ignore the Antonio Margheriti credit; he was credited for quota reasons in Italy, but had nothing to do with the movie.

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Deliverance (1972)

DELIVERANCE (1972)
Article 3203 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-26-2010
Posting Date: 5-22-2010
Directed by John Boorman
Featuring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty
Country: USA
What it is: Tense adventure drama

Four men from the city take a canoe trip on a backwoods river prior to the area being converted into a huge lake. When two of the men are sexually assaulted by backwoodsman, the other two come to their rescue and kill one of the assaulters. Then they are faced with a dilemma; report the incident to the police and face the danger of not being believed due to being strangers in a close-knit community, or try to cover up the incident. And the other assaulter is still out there…

I’ve always admired this harrowing exploration of what it must be like to be strangers in a strange land caught in a compromising situation, and the movie does such a fine job of exploring its various themes (civilization vs. wilderness, guilt, fear, what men will do when they are desperate, etc.) that it remains engrossing from beginning to end. Add to that the fine performances from the four leads (two of which, Ned Beatty and Ronny Cox, were making their movie debuts) as well as their courage and commitment (it’s amazing to see how well they remain in character while performing their own stunts), the bravura direction of John Boorman, the wonderful cinematography and the stunning use of “Dueling Banjos”, and you have an indelible cinematic experience. Even the minor parts are well performed, with Billy Redden as the banjo-playing boy, Bill McKinney and Herbert Coward as the two backwoodsman, and author James Dickey as a sheriff standouts. The occasional ambiguities only add to the tension of the story. I certainly don’t question this movie’s status as a classic.

However, for this series, the main question is whether it qualifies for inclusion here. I’m covering it because “The Motion Picture Guide” classifies it as horror, but since I’ve questioned their genre assignments, I feel compelled to do so again. There’s no doubt that it’s scary at moments, and the whole story could be described as nightmarish, but it’s really not a horror-style nightmare. Perhaps the most relevant element in this regard is the movie’s touching upon the concepts of degeneracy and inbreeding, especially during the opening scenes. Still, on a lighter note, I can’t help but remember a segment of SCTV in which Count Floyd hosts a “scary” talk show, with one of his guests being the banjo-playing boy from this movie.

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The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969)

THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU (1969)
Article 3202 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-25-2010
Posting Date: 5-21-2010
Directed by Jesus Franco
Featuring Christopher Lee, Richard Greene, Howard Marion-Crawford
Country: West Germany/Italy/Spain/UK/Liechtenstein
What it is: Fu Manchu movie

Fu Manchu plans to take over the world by using a secret formula that turns water into ice.

It took five countries to make this movie? This is the last of the Christopher Lee Fu Manchu movies, which, given the quality of this one, was no great loss. What can you say about a movie in which the big opening action sequence (a confused mess) is made up entirely of footage from two other movies (namely, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (about the Titanic) and THE BRIDES OF FU MANCHU), one of which was in black and white? I’d say it was either a sign of desperation or a sign of laziness, but in truth, it was probably the sign of an extremely low budget and the fact that nobody seemed to really care about the production. Most of the rest of the movie is full of dead space; do we really need to see the complete coffin-transportation scene to grasp that the doctor and his nurse have been kidnapped by Fu Manchu? Still, in the movie’s defense, I can say this; despite its obvious weaknesses, it never becomes unwatchable, despite the snail’s pace. And one must also remember that much of this movie’s reputation is due to MST3K fans who are judging it solely from its appearance on that show, where certain scenes are missing and some plot points get lost in the shuffle; the movie does have a plot that can be sorted out, and a certain amount of your attention can be occupied trying to do so. In short, as weak as it is, it’s not one of the worst movies ever made. And one should keep in my mind that my copy is NOT the recent DVD release by Blue Underground, which is reported as having given the movie a much better presentation.

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Visions of Evil (1975)

VISIONS OF EVIL (1975)
aka So Sad About Gloria
Article 3201 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-22-2010
Posting Date: 5-20-2010
Directed by Harry Thomason
Featuring Lori Saunders, Dean Jagger, Robert Ginnaven
Country: USA
What it is: Disturbed woman in a scary house movie

An heiress is released from a mental hospital and tries to rebuild her life. She meets a man and marries him, despite her uncle’s misgivings. They move into a house that was the setting of an axe murder. Soon she’s hearing sounds and having strange visions…

For what it’s worth, this movie manages to take a storyline that usually annoys the hell out of me and keeps it from bothering me, which is something of an accomplishment. Nevertheless, the movie has a whole other set of problems. The dialogue is clumsy, often belaboring cliches, tossing in odd literary references (to Tolkien and Shakespeare, for instance), or breaking into a semi-poetic mode that just sounds odd. The pace is painfully slow at times; though the axe murder scene during the first twenty minutes is bit on the gratuitous side, it may be the only thing during the first hour of the movie that will make you stick with it till the end. One big problem is that director Harry Thomason has too much of an affection for the romantic montage, a problem that afflicted the previous movie I’ve seen of his, ENCOUNTER WITH THE UNKNOWN. Dean Jagger is also saddled with a character who ultimately becomes unworkable; you won’t buy his last scene. Still, when it works, it works, and the woman’s recurring dream about a man trying to open a crate with an axe at a railway station actually does come to an interesting conclusion. Still, once the movie shows its hand, you’ll probably be able to anticipate its very final twist.

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Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (1974)

CAPTAIN KRONOS – VAMPIRE HUNTER (1974)
Article 3200 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-24-2010
Posting Date: 5-19-2010
Directed by Brian Clemens
Featuring Horst Janson, John Carson, Shane Briant
Country: UK
What it is: Interesting period vampire flick

A master swordsman roams the countryside with his hunchbacked assistant in search of vampires.

For attempting to take the vampire concept in an exciting new direction, I applaud Hammer for making this movie. It was the first of an intended series, and I can see how it might have made a dandy one; in particular, I liked the concept that there are different strains of vampires that require different means of dispatching them. Unfortunately, the movie was a box office failure, and, rather than inaugurating a series, it contributed to Hammer’s decline. Upon watching it, I can think of three possible reasons it failed. One is that the title character really needed to be a fun, energetic, fascinating character in his own right, but Horst Janson simply doesn’t fit the bill; though I can’t say he was sleep-walking through the role, he doesn’t appear to be having any fun, leaving John Cater (who does appear to know what is needed here) as Grost the hunchback as the most interesting character here. Secondly, given that the movie does aspire to being at least partially a swashbuckler, it needs to directed with verve and energy to do justice to Brian Clemens’s script; unfortunately, Brian Clemens also undertakes directing for the first and only time in his career, and his pacing is far too deliberate and leaden to bring this one to life. Thirdly, the score itself, which should also energetic and rousing, is for the most part missing in action, and when it is there, it’s aspiring to a dour moodiness instead. The end result is a movie that, despite the interesting script, isn’t anywhere near as much fun as it should be.

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The Brotherhood of Satan (1971)

THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN (1971)
Article 3199 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-23-2010
Posting Date: 5-18-2010
Directed by Bernard McEveety
Featuring Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Charles Bateman
Country: USA
What it is: Devil worship thriller

A man, his girlfriend, and his child become stranded in a strange town that seems to have fallen under an evil spell. Children are disappearing, families are being slaughtered, and strange powers prevent anyone from leaving and entering the town.

After having watched this movie, I was quite startled to see it sitting on IMDB with a measly 3.9 rating. Near as I can figure, it’s one of those movies that is more apt to alienate and bore the viewer than entice him; it all depends on who the viewer is. Me, I was sucked in from the beginning. It opens with a child’s toy tank juxtaposed with what appears to be a very real tank crushing a car and its inhabitants during the pre-credits sequence. The story then continues with the travelers discovering the crushed car, driving into town to report it to the sheriff, and then finding themselves threatened by that same sheriff and then by the whole town. Between these two scenes I found myself glued to the screen trying to figure out what was going on and waiting to see what was going to happen next. The movie does have the potential to be dull and confusing, but even the slow scenes have something going on in them; the long conversationless drive near the beginning of the movie will either bore you or entice you, depending on what you’re paying attention to. This movie was part of a handful of productions co-produced by L.Q. Jones and Alvy Moore (who appear in the movie); they also gave us THE WITCHMAKER and A BOY AND HIS DOG. Apparently, this movie was paired with THX 1138, which must have made for a very interesting double feature.

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The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973)

THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF (1973)
Article 3198 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-22-2010
Posting Date: 5-17-2010
Directed by Nathan Juran
Featuring Kerwin Mathews, Elaine Devry, Scott Sealey
Country: USA
What it is: Werewolf movie

A young boy (whose parents have separated) accompanies his father on a camping expedition. When they are attacked by a werewolf, the father is bitten. Soon the boy has to contend with the fact that his father has now also become a werewolf… but no one will believe him.

You know, the basic concept behind this movie has some promise; I can see possibilities in how the lycanthropy could play an interesting role in the son’s having to deal with the separation of his parents. Unfortunately, the movie itself doesn’t do much with the premise, and the clumsy, poorly written dialogue, the weak acting (especially from the boy), and certain ideas that don’t make that much sense (why would a werewolf bother trying to bury the head of one of his victims in a barn) all combine to make this one a real disappointment. As it is, the most interesting sequences involve a commune of Jesus freaks who unexpectedly (even to themselves) turn out to have the ability to battle the evil of the curse; the fact that they’re largely played for comic relief doesn’t really hurt this, but I do wish they were actually funny as well. Somewhere in here is a better movie trying to get out.

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Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971)

TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (1971)
aka The Blind Dead, La noche del terror ciego
Article 3197 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-20-2010
Posting Date: 5-16-2010
Directed by Amando de Ossorio
Featuring Lone Fleming, Roger Whelan, Maria Elana Arpon
Country: Spain / Portugal
What it is: Spanish zombie flick

A woman jumps off of a train in the middle of nowhere and ends up camping out in the deserted ruins of a monastery. However, the ruins are the home of rotting blind Templars who have used black magic to gain eternal life… and who still thirst for human blood and flesh.

I’ve not been impressed by any of the other films I’ve seen by Amando de Ossorio, but I also kept in mind that he also had directed this one, the first of the “Blind Dead” series. I’d originally seen this one many years ago and had been quite impressed with it at the time; watching it now, there are still things I admire and other things I don’t. On the plus side, the blind dead themselves are very memorable and eerie, especially when they trot around on their horses in slow motion (the use of sound during these sequences is effective). I also like some of the settings, such as the creepy monastery and the warehouse full of dummies. I’m less impressed with the plot holes, the poorly thought out characters, certain unnecessary scenes of exploitation value, and the lapses of logic; in particular, given the logic behind the nature of the Templars, there is no reason why one of their victims should come back to life and start attacking people. I rather liked the idea that the Templars had to track their victims by sound, but then giving them the ability to hear heartbeats felt something like a cheat. Still, this is certainly Ossorio’s scariest and best movie.

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Hilde Warren and Death (1917)

HILDE WARREN AND DEATH (1917)
aka Hilde Warren und der Tod
Article 3196 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-19-2010
Posting Date: 5-15-2010
Directed by Joe May
Featuring Mia May, Bruno Kastner, Georg John
Country: Germany
What it is: Depressing drama

A vivacious actress turns down an honest man’s proposal of marriage and instead weds a criminal. This event causes her life to enter a downward spiral…

My print runs only about 42 minutes, but though there are obviously some scenes missing, the main gist of the story seems to be intact. The script is by Fritz Lang, though the movie is not directed by him. It opens with a man telling a lively, vivacious actress that she won’t understand his play about a woman embracing death because she herself is too full of life. Of course, this is foreshadowing, and what follows is simply the chain of events that causes her to lose all the love of life. This is one depressing movie, largely because it’s pretty unrelenting in putting her through the wringer. The fantastic content consists of her seeing visions of death personified at various moments in the story, though I would stop short of calling it a horror movie. Though it’s not one of the better efforts from Lang, it does give an idea of some of the places he would go later in his career, and in its own bleak way, the movie is rather engrossing.

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The Bell from Hell (1973)

THE BELL FROM HELL (1973)
aka La campana del infierno
Article 3195 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-18-2010
Posting Date: 5-14-2010
Directed by Claudio Guerin and Juan Antonio Bardem
Featuring Renaud Verley, Viveca Lindfors, Alfred Mayo
Country: Spain / France
What it is: Bizarre Eurohorror

After his release from a mental institution, a young man seeks revenge on his aunt and her daughters, who were responsible for his being committed so they could get his inheritance. What follows is a battle of wits between several parties.

I’m not sure what to make of this surreal, often confusing, perverse and sometimes nasty horror movie. The disjointed narrative is probably the main culprit; our introduction to the various characters is done through a bewildering series of seemingly disconnected incidents, and often certain story threads get lost in the shuffle. Part of the problem may be that the American version is shorter than the Spanish version by thirteen minutes. Nevertheless, there’s an undeniable power to this movie, and it can creep you out; when the young man takes a job at a slaughterhouse, then leaves after a few days with the comment that he’s “learned enough”, you’re definitely prepared for the worst. The most unsettling thing about this production, though, is something that happened behind the scenes; on the last day of shooting, director Claudio Guerin either fell or jumped to his death from the bell tower used in the film. One can’t help but wonder what other movies of his might have followed in the wake of this one. I somehow suspect that this is one of those movies I won’t shake off easily.

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