Month: March 2019

Phase IV (1974)

PHASE IV (1974)
Article 3411 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-4-2010
Posting Date: 12-16-2010
Directed by Saul Bass
Featuring Michael Murphy, Nigel Davenport, Lynne Frederick
Country: USA
What it is: Mystical science fiction war thriller

Two scientists go to Arizona to study ants whose behavior has begun exhibiting very unusual signs. However, they soon find themselves fighting for their survival against a deadly and intelligent foe…

How do you stage an epic war thriller when your cast only consists of six people? Well, if one of the sides consists of a non-human species, you’re on the right track. And if this movie works as a war thriller at all, credit must go to Ken Middleham, the man who shot the ant sequences here (as well as the insect sequences in BUG and THE HELLSTROM CHRONICLE); these sequences are chillingly effective, at least partially because you feel you can see the ants thinking, working out strategies, and waging a complex campaign against their human adversaries. After a while, the ants feel like the heroes; when you see a succession of ants on a suicide mission to drag a lump of poison to their queen so she can use it to develop ants who will be resistant to it, or the scene where an ant tries to take out an air conditioner guarded by a preying mantis, the effect is indeed like an epic war thriller. Still, as stunning as these scenes are, the movie does have a problem; it tries to delve into a mysticism (especially towards the end of the movie) that doesn’t quite work. One senses that the movie is missing something, and if director Saul Bass is to be believed, there was some studio tampering going on. Nevertheless, I’m willing to forgive its failings because its strengths are are so great; the movie is chilling, fascinating, and highly recommended.

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Il Dottor Crippen e vivo (1958)

IL DOTTOR CRIPPEN E VIVO (1958)
aka Dr. Crippen Lives, Dr. Crippen lebt
Article 3410 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-3-2010
Posting Date: 12-15-2010
Directed by Erich Engels
Featuring Elisabeth Muller, Peter van Eyck, Fritz Tillmann
Country: West Germany
What it is: Crime thriller

Police are on the trail of the mass murderer, Dr. Crippen.

This one fell off my hunt list and ended up on my “ones that got away” list some time ago, so I’m glad it turned up. However, the only copy I could find was dubbed into Italian and has no English subtitles. Furthermore, this is a fairly talky movie, and this makes it very difficult to follow for me due to the language barrier. I don’t know how interesting the talk is, but from the way it looks now, it seems to be a dull little movie with very little action and only slight fantastic content with the mass-murdering Crippen, and he really doesn’t appear until the end of the movie. Still, I’m glad to be able to check this one off the list.

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The Living Coffin (1959)

THE LIVING COFFIN (1959)
aka El grito de la muerte
Article 3409 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-2-2010
Posting Date: 12-14-2010
Directed by Fernando Mendez
Featuring Gaston Santos, Maria Duval, Pedro de Aguillon
Country: Mexico
What it is: Mexican horror western… in Color!

A cowboy and his sidekick visit a ranch which is haunted by the ghost of an aunt.

Let’s see. The last time I encountered a Mexican horror western was when I watched the dreaded SWAMP OF THE LOST MONSTER. That’s warning enough in itself, but the truth be told, this one is much better. There’s actually a bit of spookiness to some of the events here, for one thing. Another plus is that they use the comic relief sparingly (he’s mostly obsessed with sleeping), and he’s actually useful in the final fight. Furthermore, the hero’s horse is also useful; he actually points out some of the clues to solve the mystery, sort of like Scooby-Doo. Wait a minute… did I just give away something there? Maybe so, but I saw it coming early on; after all, SWAMP OF THE LOST MONSTER was also a horror movie of the Scooby-Doo variety. Still, if you just have to watch a Mexican horror western, this one may fill the bill; it’s rather silly, but it’s certainly better than SWAMP OF THE LOST MONSTER.

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Los invisibles (1963)

LOS INVISIBLES (1963)
aka The Invisible Man
Article 3408 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-1-2010
Posting Date: 12-13-2010
Directed by Jaime Salvador
Featuring Marco Antonio Campos, Gaspar Henaine, Martha Elena Cervantes
Country: Mexico
What it is: Invisibility comedy

Two toymakers invent a liquid that renders things invisible, but run afoul of a jewel thief who wants to use the formula for his own purposes.

It’s in Spanish without English subtitles, but although many of the verbal jokes passed me by, this one was fairly easy to follow. Furthermore, the subject of invisibility lends itself to visual humor, which is always helpful when the language barrier gets in the way. Unless the verbal humor is particularly strong (which I doubt), this looks like a fairly ordinary slapstick comedy, fairly obvious in the way it uses its central concept. Still, it does get pretty weird on occasion, especially towards the end when the two comic leads sing a song while a bunch of dolls and puppets come to life and sing along.

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One of Our Spies is Missing (1966)

ONE OF OUR SPIES IS MISSING (1966)
Article 3407 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-31-2010
Posting Date: 12-12-2010
Directed by E. Darrell Hallenbeck
Featuring Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Leo G. Carroll
Country: USA
What it is: Feature made from a two-episode story of “The Man from UNCLE”

Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin investigate reports of older men regaining their youth, and find that THRUSH agents are also on the same trail.

Whoever titled these movies culled from episodes of “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” should have picked plot elements that actually play a major role in the story; this has about as much to do with missing spies as THE HELICOPTER SPIES had to do with helicopters. I’d say this was one of the weaker movies from the series; it’s culled from the two episodes of “The Bridge of Lyons Affair”, and it feels pretty lightweight for the series, though the existence of a process to restore youth gives it a significant amount of science fiction content. Maybe I’m just a sucker for character actors, but I think the best moments involve Mr. Waverly; when he leaves his office and takes an active part in the proceedings, the story brightens up considerably. Still, that’s not until the last fifteen minutes or so. The cast also features Maurice Evans, Vera Miles, and, in a small role, James Doohan.

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The Nightmare Never Ends (1980)

THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS (1980)
aka Cataclysm
Article 3406 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-30-2010
Posting Date: 12-10-2010
Directed by Phillip Marshak, Tom McGowan and Gregg C. Tallas
Featuring Cameron Mitchell, Marc Lawrence, Faith Clift
Country: USA
What it is: The devil in the flesh

A policeman investigates the murder of an old Nazi hunter who thinks he found the man who killed his family. Meanwhile, a woman worries about the fate of her husband, who has written an atheistic book; she’s been having dreams of devils and demons for a warning. These have something to do with an arrogant young man living in a mansion nearby… who may not be as young as he looks.

With a title like THE NIGHTMARE NEVER ENDS, I had two thoughts. The first was that it might make a handy self-review if the movie is really bad and really long. The second was that it probably had a downbeat ending; otherwise, the nightmare would end. Well, the movie isn’t really that long, but it is pretty bad; the central idea is workable, but the script is silly and muddled, and the acting is pretty weak throughout. Even the usually reliable Cameron Mitchell isn’t very good. It’s basically a variation on THE OMEN, albeit one that isn’t a clone. In the final analysis, the movie consists mostly of endless philosophizing about God and the devil interspersed with people getting killed. And though I won’t tell you how it ends, let’s just say that I wasn’t surprised.

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The Killer Nun (1978)

THE KILLER NUN (1978)
aka Suor Omicidi
Article 3405 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-29-2010
Posting Date: 12-10-2010
Directed by Giulio Berruti
Featuring Anika Ekberg, Paola Morra, Alida Valli
Country: Italy
What it is: Nunsploitation giallo

Sister Gertrude (who suffers from hypochondria, is addicted to morphine, is having a nervous breakdown and leads a double life to fulfill her sexual desires) has a problem; patients at the hospital where she works keep turning up dead around her. Is she also a homicidal maniac?

IMDB places this one under several genres, including mystery. Me, I find the mystery element extremely weak here; it’s so obvious who the killer is that I can’t believe they actually try to make it a big revelation at the end. The movie walks the line between nunsploitation and giallo. The stylistic touches here are bizarre and confusing, but not really ineffective. At least one of the murders is truly sadistic. I remember seeing Anita Ekberg in SCREAMING MIMI which I covered several years ago; for what it’s worth, she’s a much better actress in this movie than she was in that one, though I don’t think she quite pulls it off. If my review seems a little disjointed, then that’s appropriate; the movie itself is so, and sometimes I found myself wondering if it was a comedy, especially in the earlier scenes. All in all, it’s a real mixed bag, but at least I’ve never quite seen anything like it.

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Isabel (1968)

ISABEL (1968)
Article 3404 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-28-2010
Posting Date: 12-9-2010
Directed by Paul Almond
Featuring Genevieve Bujold, Marc Strange, Gerard Parkes
Country: Canada
What it is: Drama with some fantastic touches

A young woman returns home for the funeral of her mother. She then reluctantly finds herself roped into staying and caring for her ailing uncle. She eventually starts to learn more about her family, her history, and herself.

If the plot description doesn’t sound genre to you, that’s because it isn’t; the fantastic content is that the woman occasionally sees strange visions, and there is occasionally a sense of dread to the proceedings. However, those scenes don’t make up a significant part of the movie. It’s an interesting enough drama in some ways, but it’s overlong and a bit of a trial to sit through. Genevieve Bujold gives an interesting and curious performance; the trouble is that the movie becomes overreliant on it at the expense of the story. Most of its big scenes are towards the end, but it’s just too long a ride to get to those scenes. All in all, this is just too much of a mixed bag to recommend.

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Girl in Room 2a (1973)

GIRL IN ROOM 2A (1973)
aka La casa della paura
Article 3403 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-27-2010
Posting Date: 12-8-2010
Directed by William Rose
Featuring Daniela Giordano, Raf Vallone, John Scanlon
Country: Italy
What it is: Horror / mystery

A woman is released from prison to spend her parole in a boarding house. She soon discovers that horrible things have been happening to other women who have stayed at the house… and it involves a mysterious masked figure.

This chintzy and somewhat mean-spirited horror movie is supposed to have been shot in Italian, but it looks to me like most of the cast members are speaking English; the voices don’t look dubbed. It’s somewhat reminiscent of BLOODY PIT OF HORROR, only it’s not quite as much fun; it’s muddled and somewhat static, and there’s a hangdog air to the proceedings that leaves the movie feeling dull, and because of that some of the potentially nasty violence loses its power. If the movie avoids awfulness at all, it’s because it occasionally shakes itself out of its doldrums and catches the attention, mostly when it’s trying to work as a mystery rather than a horror movie. All in all, this one was pretty dreary.

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Anima Persa (1977)

ANIMA PERSA (1977)
aka Forbidden Room
Article 3402 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-26-2010
Posting Date: 12-7-2010
Directed by Dino Risi
Featuring Vittorio Gassman, Catherine Deneuve, Danilo Mattei
Country: Italy / France
What it is: Drama/mystery with touches of horror

A young aspiring artist goes to Venice to study, and moves in with his aunt and uncle. He discovers a room in their dilapidated mansion, and in that room is a family secret…

This movie seemed to have an unusually high-powered cast for what seems on the surface a fairly hackneyed story of the mad-relative-in-the-attic variety. However, I don’t feel like I’m engaging in spoilers by giving away that plot element; the movie itself reveals that information early enough that it doesn’t give away the ending. Of course, by giving away that information early on, the movie clues you in that there’s more here than the familiar scenario, and sure enough, you find yourself given bits and pieces of backstory that really starts to pique your interest. You seen get caught up in the various mysteries; what drove the relative mad? What was the actual fate of the aunt’s daughter? Why is the aunt so scared of the uncle? The solution is complex and very sad. In the end, it’s more of a drama than a horror movie, but the theme of madness is prevalent. All in all, this one is fairly interesting.

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