THE COLLECTOR (1965)
Article 4904 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 8-18-2015
Directed by William Wyler
Featuring Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar, Mona Washbourne
Country: UK / USA
What it is: Thriller

A butterfly collector kidnaps an art student and holds her prisoner in his isolated house. His hope is that he can make her love him, but that may prove impossible.

IMDB classifies this in three categories: Drama, Romance and Thriller. It does not classify the movie as Horror. As a matter of fact, almost all of my reference works from which I draw my lists similarly reject this one as a genre work, and I’m not sure why; it’s definitely closer to Horror than it is to Romance, even if the subject of love is a central part of the story. I think it gets rejected because Terence Stamp’s character, even though he is clearly psychotic, is NOT homicidal; my usual category for this type of movie (“Psycho Killer”) doesn’t apply. But that doesn’t make him any less unhealthy or the scenario one whit less nightmarish. He wants something that his very actions have made impossible. And Samantha Eggar’s character’s situation is also impossible; her every failed attempt to escape or to fake what she’s feeling only eradicates the trust that she must build in order to finally be free. The end result is a nightmarish spiral that is quite horrific in its own right, and we sit on the edge of our seat because we don’t know exactly what this psycho will ultimately do when he finally realizes he’s not going to get what he wants. In my opinion, this IS a horror movie; it’s certainly closer than any other number of films I’ve covered. Furthermore, this one is highly recommended.

CARRY ON UP THE JUNGLE (1970)
Article 4903 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 8-17-2015
Directed by Gerald Thomas
Featuring Frankie Howerd, Sidney James, Charles Hawtrey
Country: UK
What it is: Carry On movie, of course.

Several British subjects take an expedition to Africa. There they encounter a jungle man, a gorilla, a tribe of cannibals and a tribe of man-hungry women.

This is the third Carry On movie I’ve seen, and based on this one, I get the impression that the series became even more of what it was as time went by, which is to say that it is a non-stop compendium of double entrendres and sex jokes. This one tackles the jungle movie, with an emphasis on the Tarzan story. The fantastic content here is the usual “marginal fantasy” element of the whole Tarzan series, though it does throw in the element of the appearance of a supposedly-extinct bird to add to the mix. If you’ve seen a Carry On movie before and like the series, this one will go down easy for you; if you’re not taken with the series, it won’t change your mind. For me, the sex jokes and double entrendres wear thin quickly, but you might as well try to enjoy them; the jokes that don’t fall under those classifications are unfailingly lame.

THE CRAZIES (1973)
aka Code Name: Trixie
Article 4868 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 7-11-2015
Directed by George A. Romero
Featuring Lane Carroll, Will MacMillan, Harold Wayne Jones
Country: USA
What it is: Nightmarish science fiction thriller

A plane crash releases a bioweapon virus into the drinking water of a small Pennsylvania town. The military places the town under martial law to try to keep the virus from spreading, but some of the citizens resist, and the situation begins to spiral out of control…

In this movie, Romero tries to capture the same magic that resulted in his classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and though this movie doesn’t have anywhere as high a reputation as that one, I think he succeeds for the most part. The scenario is truly nightmarish; a virus developed by the military with no known antidote infects a town. The virus either kills its victims or drives them mad, and the desperate attempts of the military to keep it contained while keeping it a secret results in armed resistance from the citizenry, many of whom have become homicidal in the process. The story follows roughly four storylines; there’s the military staff trying to keep things under control, a couple that’s trying to escape from both the military and the infected citizenry, a scientist trying desperately to find a solution, and the political and military forces behind the scene trying to figure a way to cover up the truth and minimize the damage. With the possible exception of the people involved in the fourth of those storylines, the people involved are somewhat sympathetic and trying to do the best they can in a situation that is rapidly disintegrating, and trying to fight a battle that may have already been lost. Like NOTLD, it’s a low budget movie with a cast of unknowns, and the story is kept moving by some excellent editing. Granted, the situation isn’t quite as archetypal as that of the earlier film, and the quieter, sadder ending doesn’t have the same level of shock. Nevertheless, I was on the edge of my seat throughout this one, and I found it a worthy entry in Romero’s oeuvre.

COUNT DRACULA (1977)
Article 4866 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 7-9-2015
Directed by Philip Saville
Featuring Louis Jourdan, Frank Finlay, Susan Penhaligon
Country: UK
What it is: The classic tale retold

A vampire comes to England from Transylvania and threatens the lives and souls of two women, Can the men in their lives save them?

For those who like their adaptations of classic novels to be faithful, this TV-Movie from England is the closest they’ll get to the original Bram Stoker novel. Which is not to say that there aren’t a few differences, the most striking of which is the combination of Arthur and Quincy into a single character, and surprisingly enough the resultant character is closer to the latter (he has an American accent, though not a very convincing one). Still, I’m not quite thrilled with this version; it doesn’t quite generate the level of suspense it needs to sustain its two and a half hour length, and some scenes are awkward and silly. It is surprisingly bloody for a TV-Movie, and occasionally lapses into artiness. On the plus side, it is anchored by some excellent performances; I really like the work of Jack Shepherd as Renfield, Judi Bowker as Mina, and especially Frank Finlay and Louis Jourdan as Van Helsing and Dracula; the movie works best when these actors are allowed to shine. Overall, it’s an interesting and ambitious adaptation, but it doesn’t rank as one of my favorites.

CARRIE (1976)
Article 4864 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 7-7-2015
Directed by Brian De Palma
Featuring Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving
Country: USA
What it is: Stephen King adaptation

A young, timid girl (whose mother is a mentally unstable Christian fanatic) becomes the target of cruel teasing by her fellow classmates, the latter of which are punished by detention. Several of them plot a horrible revenge, but are unaware that the girl has developed telekinetic powers…

I blow a bit hot and cold on De Palma, because sometimes I find his stylistic excesses and obsessions to be more annoying than exhilarating. However, this is one of his triumphs. He wisely keeps the stylistic flourishes under control for the first half of the movie so the viewer can absorb the superb performance from Sissy Spacek as the title character; she brings so much life and humanity to Carrie that we end up caring about her immensely. The stylistic flourishes only come into play when they enhance the story and add to the atmosphere; they feel natural and organic here. Piper Laurie is also very memorable as the insane mother, and Amy Irving does a find job of playing up the ambiguity of whether she’s involved in the revenge or not. The movie proved to be a big boost to the careers of De Palma as well as Stephen King, who would soon emerge as one of the most popular horror writers of all time. And even if I’m not really fond of the final little shock moment (it seems a little forced to me), I will admit that it is exquisitely timed.

CITY HALL TO HARLEM IN 15 SECONDS, VIA THE SUBWAY ROUTE (1904)
Article 4853 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-22-2015
Director unknown
Country: USA
What it is: Comic short

A subway working man tries to set off an explosion and is too close to it when it goes off. What will be his fate?

From the title, I was half expecting a rapid fast-motion chronicle of the trip aboard a subway car, but it looks like the mode of transportation is the working man flying through the air as a result of the explosion. The effect is done by having the man suspended in the air while a moving background whizzes past; in fact, it’s a bit difficult to tell if the man is flying right to left or left to right. It all leads up to a fairly obvious gag. Incidentally, the whole movie runs about two minutes and a half, and the flight sequence does run somewhat longer than 15 seconds. It’s an okay trick film, but nothing special.

LA CITE FOUDROYEE (1924)
aka The Thunderstruck City
Article 4851 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-19-2015
Directed by Luitz-Morat
Featuring Daniel Mendaille, Jane Maguenat, Armand Morins
Country: France
What it is: An epic of destruction…maybe

An angry scientist has come up with an idea for a machine that can control lightning and cause it to strike where he pleases. Such a machine could be used to blackmail the city of Paris…

The full-length version of this movie runs about 72 minutes, and I’ve not seen it. However, I have seen a cut-down show-at-home version which reduces the story to six small reels that altogether run about a quarter of the length of the movie. Seeing how this may well be the only way I’ll be able to see this one at all, I’m going for it. Yes, in this format the story is very rushed, but there are some truly moody scenes and impressive scenes of destruction. In some ways, it’s quite impressive…. that is, until the final reel comes around. Now, being that this is an edited version of the original movie, there is the real possibility that the ending of this cut-down version may not match the ending of the full version, but if that’s not the case, then this movie has the most jaw-droppingly maddening plot twist of all time, and I don’t mean that in a complimentary way. In fact, I imagine the plot twist would be even worse if it was encountered after seeing a full-length feature film. It’s still worth seeing for the good scenes, but beware of that last reel; it’s a doozy.

LE CHAT BOTTE (1903)
aka Puss in Boots
Article 4842 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 6-5-2015
Directed by Lucien Nonguet and Ferdinand Zecca
Featuring Brettau and Edmund Boutiloon
Country: France
What it is: Fairy tale

A young man is disappointed that the only thing he inherits from his father is a cat, but once he puts boots on the cat, the cat proceeds to make his fortune.

I managed to find a copy of this one on YouTube in which an orchestra plays music to the action. On the downside, the actual movie is small enough that some of the action is hard to make out. On the plus side, the addition of a live orchestra adds a lot of flavor to the proceedings; the inevitable moments when the story stands still for dance sequences work much better when proper music is added to them. The plot was difficult to follow, but that may be simply because this particular fairy tale has a tendency to not stick with me; I’ve seen a few different versions, but I always forget the storyline. Fortunately, an elaborate plot summary of the action on IMDB helps me out. It was definitely interesting watching the film in a way that it might have been shown in its original era; that’s probably the thing that stands out most here.

LES COCOTTES EN PAPIER (1909)
aka Paper Cock-a-Doodles
Article 4825 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-18-2015
Directed by Segundo de Chomon
Featuring Julienne Mathieu
Country: France
What it is: Magic trick short

A woman magician performs tricks, many of which involve chickens made out of paper.

This short epitomizes just what you’d expect from a Segundo de Chomon magic trick short. He borrows several touches from Melies (the basic format, finding times to fit in dancing girls and acrobats), but adds a few of his own touches (such as the extensive use of stop motion animation). The most striking moment to me is when the magician walks in front of the special effects; usually, these type of shorts have the magician steering clear of doing something like that (which I assumed was to avoid calling attention to the double-exposure of the effect), but here she twice walks in front of the illusion to position herself at the opposite side. The special effects are very solid in this one as well. This one is a strong example of the early magic trick shorts.

CURSE OF THE OILY MAN (1956)
aka Sumpah orang minyak
Article 4812 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-3-2015
Directed by P. Ramlee
Featuring P. Ramlee, Sri Dewi, Ahmad C.
Country: Singapore / Malaysia
What it is: Fantasy/Horror

A hunchback, tormented by ruffians in a nearby village, is given a another chance by a supernatural entity that changes him into a handsome man. However, will he prove worthy of this change, and what will the price be if he fails?

The oily man is apparently a creature of Malaysian legend, a human-like creature that was a serial rapist; the oil covering was to make him hard to catch. This is one of several movies based on the legend; it basically concocts an elaborate story on how the creature came to be. The title creature really doesn’t appear until near the end of the movie; for the most part, the movie feels more like a moody fairy tale than a horror movie. The middle section of the movie, where the hunchback is drawn into a supernatural environment is the most memorable sequence here, though there are plenty of effective touches throughout; there are a couple of impressive storm sequences as well. My print of the movie is in Malay rather than English, so certain plot details evade me. However, the general thrust of the story is quite easy to follow, and this is one of those foreign-language movies that I can recommend even to those not familiar with the language. All in all, this is atmospheric and well-done.