Month: August 2019

La momia nacianol (1981)

LA MOMIA NACIONAL (1981)
aka The National Mummy
Article 3742 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-31-2011
Posting Date: 11-12-2011
Directed by Jose Ramon Larraz
Featuring Francisco Algora, Quique Camoiras, Azucena Capullo
Country: Spain
What it is: Monster mash

Nitwits encounter monsters. Comic mayhem ensues.

I’m assuming the title has some comic meaning in Spain; it certainly doesn’t when translated into English. For the record, the copy I have of this movie is in unsubtitled Spanish. One of the first scenes of the movie has a man staring lustily at a woman’s bosom; a minute or so later his nether regions have an encounter with the woman’s swinging purse. That should give you a level of the humor here, and the rest of the movie features a great deal of nudity. On top of the mummy in the title, we also have a bunch of vampires, a werewolf, and axe murderess to contend with in the horror department. Most of the humor seems to involve sex. The oddest moment has a man working with a midget to kill a vampire. The man holds up with the obligatory cross; the vampire counters with a hammer and sickle, and the midget counters back with a swastika, so I’m assuming there’s some political humor here as well. It has a rating of 5.4 on IMDB, and that seems to indicate that there are those out there who more or less appreciate this one. Me, I found it alternately impenetrable and crude.

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Leonor (1975)

LEONOR (1975)
Article 3741 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-30-2011
Posting Date: 11-11-2011
Directed by Juan Luis Bunuel
Featuring Michel Piccoli, Liv Ullmann, Ornella Muti
Country: Spain / France / Italy
What it is: Vampire tragedy

When his first wife dies by misadventure, a distraught fourteenth-century nobleman tries unsuccessfully to cope with his loss, even remarrying in the hope that this will help him to forget. He meets a stranger who has the ability of reviving his dead wife, and he gives in to the temptation. The wife returns, but she brings vampirism and the plague in her wake…

Apparently, this horror / art film directed by Luis Bunuel’s son was poorly received in its time, and reportedly even received the dreaded “Bomb” rating in the Maltin guide; I don’t have my copy of the guide handy to double-check. The fact that it sits with a 5.1 rating on IMDB also implies that the movie isn’t particularly well-regarded today. Me, I found myself rather taken with it. Yes, it is rather slow-moving in terms of its horror content, but I see it as more of a drama about the nobleman than a horror movie per se; in fact, it seems to fit the classic definition of a tragedy, wherein a man of high rank is eventually brought to ruin by a tragic flaw, in this case the flaw being the nobleman’s inability to deal with his grief. The first half of the movie deals with the nobleman and his attempt to come to terms with his loss, and we see his resolve to move on gradually deteriorate even to the point where he moves into the crypt with his dead wife. The character who can bring her back to life doesn’t appear until half the movie is over, and it’s only then that the horror content comes into play.

There’s some controversy as to whether the revived dead wife is strictly a vampire or not; some of the user comments on IMDB imply that she merely strangles her victims. I agree she’s not a vampire in the classic sense, but there is something inhuman going on here; the bodies of the children are never found, but actually seem to vanish altogether, and for this reason I don’t mind using the word “vampire” as something of an approximation. I think it’s interesting that she eschews the touch of her husband until she begins murdering children, which seems to revive her sex drive. Many horror fans will be disappointed by the lack of blood and the slow beginning, but those who like interesting characterizations woven in with their movies will find much to like here. I think this one is rather underrated, and deserves a reassessment.

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Immoral Tales (1974)

IMMORAL TALES (1974)
aka Contes immoraux
Article 3740 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-29-2011
Posting Date: 11-10-2011
Directed by Walerian Borowczyk
Featuring Lise Danvers, Fabrice Luchini, Charlotte Alexandra
Country: France
What it is: The title tells it all

Four tales of illicit sex are told. In the first, a man devises a plot to seduce his younger cousin. In the second, a woman is locked in a room and has fantasies. In the third, Countess Bathory kills virgins and bathes in their blood to regain her youth. In the fourth, Lucrezia Borgia and her brother have an encounter with their father, the Pope.

So this is what a Walerian Borowczyk movie is like! I take it that the title has a double meaning; not only are the stories about debauched, illicit and kinky sex, but they don’t seem to have any point, or “moral” to them. In fact, I’m not sure you can even call some of these segments “tales”; they seem rather plotless. Only the sequence on Countess Bathory has any fantastic content to it. I do have to take note that Borowczyk does seem to like to keep the dialogue to a minimum; in fact, I’m not sure whether Lucrezia Borgia utters a word of dialogue during her segment, though she does giggle on occasion, and she does have plenty of what we call in theatre “stage business”. Since this is supposed to be an art film of sorts, I suppose I’m supposed to get something out of it beyond what I’d get in your average porn film; if ever figure out what it is, I’ll let you know.

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Burnt Offerings (1976)

BURNT OFFERINGS (1976)
Article 3739 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-28-2011
Posting Date: 11-9-2011
Directed by Dan Curtis
Featuring Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Burgess Meredith
Country: USA / Italy
What it is: Evil house movie

A family is offered a good deal on a house for the summer, provided they care for the owners’ mother who lives on the top floor. The family soon discovers that the house has a baleful influence on those who live in it… and that influence begins working on them.

I found this to be a very interesting but flawed movie. First of all, I love the central concept; the house has the ability to regenerate itself from the suffering and death of its residents, and this gives the house more of a reason for its being evil than many other residences in similar movies. There’s also some creepy scenes with a chauffeur in a dream sequence, and some of the acting is really good; in particular, I like the intensity Oliver Reed brings to his role as the father. Unfortunately, I did feel the movie was flawed, with part of the reason being the script and the other being some of the other performances, which were problematic. First of all, I think Bette Davis is miscast; she plays what amounts to a rather ordinary elderly character, but Bette Davis is such a bigger-than-life actress that she comes across too strongly in the role, and I think a lesser-known and more ordinary actress would have worked better. There’s been some sniping at Lee Harcourt Montgomery’s performance here, and though it’s true that he becomes a fairly annoying character by the end of the movie, at least part of the problem is a script that gives him awkward moments. The biggest problem I have is with Karen Black’s performance, and for an odd reason. The movie works itself up to a final twist which I found was anything but surprising, and part of the reason I wasn’t surprised is that Black’s performance is so sharply realized that I knew exactly what was happening to her character, and this gives away the final twist; had her performance been less clear and more ambiguous, it would have worked better. All in all, this one was a mixed bag, but I think the good parts of it outweigh the bad parts, and so I like the movie all right.

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Curse of the Devil (1974)

CURSE OF THE DEVIL (1974)
aka El retorno de Walpurgis
Article 3738 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-27-2011
Posting Date: 11-8-2011
Directed by Carlos Aured
Featuring Paul Naschy, Fabiola Falcon, Mariano Vidal Molina
Country: Spain / Mexico
What it is: El Hombre Lobo movie

During her execution, the Countess Bathory places a curse on the Daninsky family. The curse manifests itself many years later when Waldemar Daninsky accidentally kills a werewolf, thus setting into motion events that place the curse on himself.

If you were to watch all of Paul Naschy’s “El Hombre Lobo” movies without any clue as to which order they were made, you might well pick this one as the first in the series; in actuality, it was several movies down the line. Not only does it deal most extensively with the backstory of Waldemar Daninsky, but it it’s one of the least cluttered of the whole series; despite a subplot involving the Countess Bathory (which serves as merely a setup for the rest of the movie), this one is focused most clearly on the story of the werewolf himself. Despite the fact that it opens with a badly done medieval fight scene, it’s a fairly decent movie overall, albeit a bit on the slow side. It’s also the one that most clearly borrows from Universal’s THE WOLF MAN; though it’s far from a faithful remake, the similarities are there, and some of the borrowings are rather explicit, including a variation on the “Even a man who is pure of heart…” poem. For me, the most interesting touch was seeing how the villagers themselves become a bit monstrous in their pursuit of the beast in the final scenes, violently killing anyone who they feel is responsible for the werewolf’s existence. It did help that I was able to see the uncut version with subtitles; that always makes foreign movies seem a bit classier.

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Superwheels (1975)

SUPERWHEELS (1975)
aka Das verruckteste Auto der Welt, Superbug, Craziest Car in the World
Article 3737 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-26-2011
Posting Date: 11-7-2011
Directed by Rudolf Zehetgruber
Featuring Rudolf Zehetgruber, Salvatore Borghese, Kathrin Oginski
Country: West Germany
What it is: Dudu

Dudu, the craziest car in the world, takes part in the goofiest race in the world. Dudu’s owner is hoping the money can be used to save a group of nuns from being evicted by a marchese.

This isn’t my first encounter with Dudu aka Superbug. This was several movies after the other one I saw, so Superbug has a much larger vocabulary, thanks to a computer that was installed by its owner. I think it’s important to realize that I watched the version dubbed into English; though I doubt that the movie is a classic in its native language, the dubbing is so awful that I’m sure it contributed in a big way to making it seem even more awful than it is.

Nevertheless, a strange thing happened to me during my viewing of the movie. After the first interminable thirty minutes, I found myself reaching what I can only describe as “Bad Movie Watcher’s High”, an almost zen-like state where I was feeling that I had transcended the experience of watching the movie. Suddenly, what had seemed gratingly annoying became harmlessly surreal, and I actually found myself somewhat entranced by the movie. I don’t think it was so much Superbug himself that fascinated me; it was the bizarre car driven by the two nuns that consisted of two front ends of Volkswagens attached together, with steering wheels aimed both forward and backwards, that really fascinated me. After a while, I just couldn’t take my eyes away from the movie.

Was the movie so bad that I achieved this state to mentally escape the pain? Probably not; if anything, on a purely critical level, I thought it was better than the first Superbug movie I saw. Maybe it was just my state of mind at the time. Maybe it was the culmination of all of the bad movies I’ve seen over the years. Or maybe not. I can’t explain it. But somehow, I don’t think I’ll ever have quite the same reaction if I see the movie again, and I’m in no hurry to do that. Besides, there are still other Superbug movies to see.

I’m rambling. It’s late. I’m sleepy. Good night…

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Craze (1974)

CRAZE (1974)
Article 3736 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-25-2011
Posting Date: 11-6-2011
Directed by Freddie Francis
Featuring Jack Palance, Diana Dors, Julie Ege
Country: UK
What it is: Black magic movie

An antique store owner worships an African idol named Chuku, and his human sacrifices to it bring him financial success. However, he finds he can’t stop sacrificing to the idol… and the police are on his trail.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen a Herman Cohen production, and for those who are interested in the subtexts that run through his work, you’ll find them here as well, especially in the antique owner’s relationship with a younger business associate; furthermore, it seems quite clear to me that Jack Palance (who is here in what I would like to think of as the Michael Gough role) is very aware of these subtexts. To be truthful, the main attraction here is Palance’s performance; he jumps back and forth between underplaying and histrionics, and though I can’t quite bring myself to call it a great performance, it does hold your interest. Unfortunately, once you get past these points of interest, it’s just not a very good movie; Freddie Francis’s direction is weak, and the movie has a lethargic pace, especially in those scenes involving the police investigation. It’s also a bit silly at times, though I will admit to liking the touch of seeing how Palance is haunted by the idol during the reading of his aunt’s will. Besides Palance, there are quite a few name actors in the cast, though I think only Diana Dors is well used.

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The Corpse Grinders (1971)

THE CORPSE GRINDERS (1971)
Article 3735 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-24-2011
Posting Date: 11-5-2011
Directed by Ted V. Mikels
Featuring Sean Kenny, Monika Kelly, Sanford Mitchell
Country: USA
What it is: Cat food

A doctor becomes suspicious when the city is overrun by a rash of cat attacks on humans. He discovers that a local cat food producer has a special ingredient they’ve been adding to their recipe – human flesh!

When I say that this is the best Ted V. Mikels movie I’ve covered for my series, I hope it’s understood that it has nothing to do with any intrinsic merit in this movie. It’s simply because it isn’t as head-scratchingly incoherent as ASTRO-ZOMBIES or as thuddingly dull as BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE-DEVILS. It’s also largely devoid of surprises; once you know the premise, you’ll probably find nothing in the storyline that you couldn’t have predicted from the outset. Probably the most striking thing about the movie is that it’s even more seedy-looking than you might have expected; almost all of the supporting cast looks like they’ve been dragged off of skid row, and the cat food factory certainly wouldn’t have passed any serious health inspection. Furthermore, those turning to this one in the hopes of serious gore will probably be disappointed, unless a barrel full of body parts near the end will satisfy them. On one side note, I can’t understand why one of the cat food manufacturers chooses to bury the wife of the undertaker at one point; after all, wouldn’t this be throwing away raw materials? Not that I have any desire to be giving business advice to these guys, I hope you understand…

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Spawn of the Slithis (1978)

SPAWN OF THE SLITHIS (1978)
aka Slithis
Article 3734 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-23-2011
Posting Date: 11-4-2011
Directed by Stephen Traxler
Featuring Alan Blanchard, Judy Motulsky, J.C. Claire
Country: USA
What it is: Monster movie

A series of gruesome mutilation murders are taking place in the town of Venice, California. The police believe it’s the result of a religious cult, but a journalism teacher knows the truth – it’s a creature mutated from radioactive mud known as Slithis.

I remember the ads catching my eye when it first came out; good-old fashioned monster movies were pretty hard to come by in those days. I remember seeing it a few years later and not being impressed with it. I went into this second viewing only remembering three things about it; the monster made a disgusting slurping sound, the best scene involved a conversation with a scientist hidden in the shadows that ends in a startling reveal, and the movie featured one of the single worst acting performances I’ve ever seen committed to celluloid. Watching it now, I can see more clearly what it’s problems are; it’s lethargic, full of dull conversations and pointless scenes, and spends far too much time with minor characters who we don’t care about. I also noticed for the first time that the end of the movie borrows at least partially from JAWS, but it never even comes close to the suspense level of its model. I didn’t find the monster’s slurping noises near as disgusting this time round, but that’s probably because I’ve seen movies that are even worse in that regard. I still think the scene with the scientist is the best scene. And the performance that appalled me the first time I saw it is still just as bad as I remembered. I think anybody who has watched the movie knows which performance I’m talking about, but for those who are curious, it’s the performance of the chief of police.

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Cops and Robin (1978)

COPS AND ROBIN (1978)
TV-Movie
Article 3733 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-22-2011
Posting Date: 11-3-2011
Directed by Allen Reisner
Featuring Ernest Borgnine, Michael Shannon, Carol Lynley
Country: USA
What it is: Follow-up to FUTURE COP

Many years ago, a partner of Officer Cleaver’s was killed by a millionaire, and the only witness (the murdered man’s wife) disappeared because she was too scared to testify. When the wife reappears on the scene, authorities convince her to testify, but she fears for the safety of her five-year old daughter. Can Cleaver and his android partner Haven protect the girl from the thugs the millionaire has sent out to kidnap her?

I rather liked the TV pilot movie FUTURE COP, and this follow-up to it has some of the same strengths; some good writing and thoughtful acting keep the premise from seeming silly, and it refuses to rely on the cliches you’d think would be guaranteed with the premise; the android has neither super strength nor invulnerability. In fact, as far as I can tell, there’s only one time where the android’s abilities are called on to help things along, and it’s the power of super-smell along with his efficient computing ability that makes the difference. Granted, since it was the android’s flaws that ultimately caused the situation that required his services, one is finally left with the question of just how useful the android would be to the police force overall. Nevertheless, it’s the nice balance and chemistry between Ernest Borgnine and Michael Shannon that makes it all likable, and I found myself enjoying this one as well as the previous one.

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