THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970)
Article 2188 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-13-2007
Posting Date: 8-9-2007
Directed by Daniel Haller
Featuring Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley

A curious man (who keeps a strange being locked up in his house) from the town of Dunwich is trying to get hold of the Necronomicon for ominous reasons. Toward that end he chooses a woman to take part in an unholy ritual.

Previous to this movie, Daniel Haller had served as an art director in THE HAUNTED PALACE and had directed DIE, MONSTER, DIE!, both adaptations of other H. P. Lovecraft stories. I assume from this that he had a working knowledge of Lovecraft’s works. I had seen this movie when I was a kid, and only one scene in the movie had really scared me. Then, a few years later, I read the Lovecraft story for the first time, and it remains for me my favorite of his works and one of the scariest things I ever read, which just made the movie all the more disappointing for me.

Watching it now, there’s only one thing I really like about this movie; the way the monster is handled is really quite effective, and I love the fact that you never really get a good long look at it; I’ve always felt that the indescribable horror of the story is best left to the imagination. I still find the scene that scared me back then to be very effective (for the record, it’s the scene where the farmer and his wife find their house being destroyed around them by the monster). But the rest of the movie still disappoints. I dislike the changes that were made to the plot, and many of the performances are disappointing; Sandra Dee never really develops much of a character, and neither Dean Stockwell nor Sam Jaffe look comfortable in their respective roles. For me, the best performance comes from Ed Begley. The crowd scenes are pretty bad; I like neither the cemetery sequence nor the meeting at the wrecked farmhouse. In the end, I hope someday to see a decent version of this story. Keep your eyes peeled for Talia Shire, Beach Dickerson and Barboura Morris.

DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS (1965)
Article 2147 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-31-2007
Posting Date: 6-29-2007
Directed by Gordon Flemyng
Featuring Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden

Dr. Who invents a time and space machine. He and his companions accidentally go to a distant world where a race of creatures known as Daleks are at war with a race of human-like creatures known as Thals.

In looking at this movie, it’s useful to remember that “Doctor Who” was originally designed as a children’s show. One of the show’s strengths was that it’s title character was hardly a hero; as played by William Hartnell, he was cranky, irascible, sometimes petulant and unpredictable, more anti-hero than hero at times. This was a surprisingly sophisticated concept for a children’s show when you think about it. Unfortunately, one of the problems with the movie versions is they reduced the character to one of good-natured but dotty eccentricity, and despite the presence of a great actor in the title role, there is really not a whole lot Peter Cushing could do to bring him to any real life. This, combined with the decision to turn the character of Ian into a comic-relief bumbler, made me realize that the real problem with these sixties movie adaptations of the series is the condescending air to them; they know their audience is children and they talk down to them. Still, I think this one works a little better than its sequel, if for no other reason than that the story better adapts itself to feature film retelling; it’s less cluttered with confusing secondary characters. It’s pretty to look at, and the Daleks come in a nice array of colors, but it’s entirely too setbound; it’s hard to believe you’re on another world when everything looks like it’s on a soundstage. The series was better.

THE DEEP (1977)
Article 2146 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-30-2007
Posting Date: 6-28-2007
Directed by Peter Yates
Featuring Robert Shaw, Jacqueline Bisset, Nick Nolte

Vacationers discover a hidden treasure underneath a downed military boat in the waters around Bermuda. They check with a local expert to find the source of the treasure, but run afoul of drug traffickers who are after a large supply of morphine hidden on the military ship.

This movie reunites Peter Benchley and Robert Shaw from JAWS , but if you dwell on that, the movie will only seem that much more disappointing. It’s not a bad movie; it’s just a rather ordinary thriller, too slow-moving at times and confusing at others, especially during the underwater sequences. I do like some of the attention to detail; in particular, the concept that in order for the treasure to really be worth something it must be historically traceable provides an interesting motivation for the continual return to the ship. The fantastic content here is pretty incidental; the drug traffickers’ use of voodoo as a means of frightening people really doesn’t lead anywhere, and the big moray eel in the ship is not my idea of a monster, even if it is the biggest one Nick Nolte has ever seen. At any rate, the classification of this movie as a horror film is highly inaccurate. When you get right down to it, I suspect the primary appeal of this movie is not the thrills, but Jacqueline Bisset’s costumes, especially the white t-shirt that she wears while skin diving in the opening scenes, which was probably just the movie’s way of getting as close to nudity as it could for a PG rated film.

DAVEY JONES’ LOCKER (1900)
Article 2102 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-17-2006
Posting Date: 5-15-2007
Director Unknown
No cast

No plot.

This very short short features a vision of a dancing skeleton superimposed on a sailing ship. Because the skeleton doesn’t remain in one piece, it ends up being an amusing enough early short for all that. And it there is anything you can say about all of these very early cinematic forays, it is that, with running lengths of about one to three minutes, they can never be accused of outstaying their welcome.

THE DAMNATION OF FAUST (1903)
aka FAUST, LA DAMNATION DE FAUST, FAUST AUX ENFERS
Article 2060 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-4-2006
Posting Date: 4-3-2007
Directed by Georges Melies
Cast Unknown (though I’m betting that’s Melies himself as Mephistopheles)

Faust goes to hell. Faust goes directly to hell. He does not pass go. He does not collect $200.

Do you get tired with the endless philosophizing in the Goethe’s Faust story and just wish they would get to the point where he’s dragged into hell? If so, this is the version of the story for you. Unlike yesterday’s scam, here’s a movie that earns its place in the canon of Fantastic cinema. Faust encounters all sorts of horrors on his trip, including a multi-tentacled creature, a gaggle of devils in their underwear (hey, it’s hot down there), and, worst of all, a bunch of ballerinas and marching women with mops; I don’t know about you, but I’m quaking in my boots. Jonathan Edwards (author of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”), eat your heart out; these are horrors even you couldn’t imagine. And it only runs about four minutes.

Postscript -Thanks to Doctor Kiss for the clarification on the exact year on this one.

DOG FACTORY (1904)
Article 2056 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-31-2006
Posting Date: 3-30-2007
Director Unknown
Cast Unknown

Enterprising businessmen maintain a thriving business turning dogs into sausages – and back again.

The concept of a machine that would turn dogs into sausages actually pops up a few times in early cinema. Apparently, this was a common theme in vaudeville at the time as well. Apparently, turning a dog into sausages doesn’t hurt him, and if you want him back, just pop the sausages back in and voila! Instant Dog. This movie stretches the idea to four minutes and pretty much exhausts the premise. My favorite touch – the sausages are hung on several hooks in the shop, each marked with the breed of dog the sausage came from.

Ahh, the joys of early movie-making…

DOCTOR DOLITTLE (1967)
Article 2052 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-27-2006
Posting Date: 3-26-2007
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Featuring Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley

A veterinarian who can talk to animals sets out on a quest to find a giant pink sea snail.

A big-budget musical version of a children’s classic? I went into this one expecting an exercise in excess on the level of CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, but such is definitely not the case. This movie projects an air of genteel whimsy, and it never once lets excess destroy this air. Yet therein lies the problem; genteel whimsy is not compelling or exciting, and if a movie is going to maintain interest level over a two-and-a-half-hour running time, it needs something compelling and exciting. But the songs (which aren’t particularly strong in the first place) are underplayed and muted, the dancing is virtually nonexistent (I think the pushme-pullyu has a few steps), the plot is extremely slight, the animals are surprisingly dull (Chee-Chee the chimp doesn’t engage in a single animal antic throughout the movie, and does Gip the dog do anything?), and the crowd scenes mostly have people standing around or doing uninteresting things). The only scene that really tries to instill any energy into the proceedings is an early scene that illustrates why the doctor abandoned his practice on humans, and, unless you really think a series of gags that mostly involve people stepping on the foot of a man with gout to be the height of hilarity, the scene is awful. The end result is that the movie pays the price of avoiding energy and excitement; it becomes terribly dull for much of its running time, despite the fact that it maintains its genteel whimsy. Still, I suspect that, whatever the flaws of this movie, I’d still prefer it to the 1998 Eddie Murphy remake.

DONKEY SKIN (1970)
aka PEAU D’ANE
Article 2051 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 9-26-2006
Posting Date: 3-25-2007
Directed by Jacques Demy
Featuring Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais, Jacques Perrin

A king vows to his dying queen that he will marry again when he finds a woman lovelier than her. The only woman he finds to match this description is his own daughter, the princess. He vows to marry her, but she disguises herself in a donkey skin, escapes with the help of her fairy godmother, and poses as a scullion in a local village.

This lovely French fairy tale would serve as a perfect companion to Cocteau’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Cocteau’s name appears in the credits, though I don’t know enough French to say what his contribution was, though I suspect it was of an inspirational nature, as he was seven years dead when this was made). It may lack the bizarre surrealism of the aforementioned Cocteau movie, but it’s elegant, delightful, beautifully photographed with lovely sets, and makes stunning use of color throughout. It is also laced with a fine sense of humor, and there are touches of weirdness to the proceedings; there’s a donkey that produces precious jewels out of its -well, I’ll leave you to find this out for yourself-, the households of the two royal families are color-coded (right down to the skin color of the servants), there is an ugly old woman who spits up toads on occasion, and the king uses a decidedly modern form of transportation (a helicopter) in the final scenes. It’s also a fairy tale I was not familiar with, so the story did come as a surprise, though you’ll probably figure out that its writer (Charles Perrault) is the same one who gave us “Cinderella”, as there are some very marked similarities between the tales. Wonderful work from Catherine Deneuve, Jean Marais and Delphine Seyrig (as the fairy godmother who has her own agenda).

DISCIPLE OF DEATH (1972)
Article 2050 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-25-2006
Posting Date: 3-24-2007
Directed by Tom Parkinson
Featuring Mike Raven, Ronald Lacey, Stephen Bradley

Two lovers make a blood vow near the grave of a suicide, and accidentally resurrect him. He is now a vampire and a Satanist.

All the best moments of this movie come in the last thirty minutes; it is here that the movie shows a modicum of wit, displays a certain creativity in coming up with a new monster mythology, actually gives a hint of the fairy-tale feel that the opening of the movie seems to promise, and it manages to dredge up a bit of energy. If this sounds like damning with faint praise, it is; when it comes right down to it, the last thirty minutes of the movie are really not that good. However, it’s worlds better than the first hour of the movie, which may be the single dullest cinematic stretch I’ve encountered this side of a Jerry Warren film; it could be more accurately renamed DISCIPLE OF SNORES. About the only point of interest I found in in this part of the movie was the presence of Louise Jameson, who would become known for playing Leela on “Doctor Who”. For the most part, it’s just an uninteresting variation on “Dracula”, and even if it does have a handful of nice touches near the end, that’s hardly enough to recommend it. The perfect insomnia cure.

DEMON SEED (1977)
Article 2049 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-24-2006
Posting Date: 3-23-2007
Directed by Donald Cammell
Featuring Julie Christie, Fritz Weaver, Gerrit Graham

A super-computer takes over the house of the estranged wife of its creator, with the intention of fertilizing her and creating a child for itself.

When I first heard of the concept of this movie, I thought it was an absurd idea, and had the script been any less well-written than it was, I’d still think so. Still, despite overcoming this obstacle, this cross between COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT and a certain type of exploitation horror movie (THE PSYCHO LOVER is an example) doesn’t quite work. It’s certainly scary enough, and it’s downright brutal at times (Proteus is more adept at terrorizing people than is strictly necessary), and the fact that it doesn’t aspire to crude exploitation doesn’t make the movie any less queasy. At times it even aspires to a 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY type of mysticism, and you might find some interesting parallels between the two movies. My biggest problem is with the ending, and I’m not even quite sure why; there seems to be something missing, and the movie seems a little incomplete. The special effects are extremely good, and I especially like that bizarre metallic structure that Proteus creates; it looks somewhat like a three-dimensional puzzle that was popular for a while several years back. I’ve always wondered as to whether a sequel might have been planned; I, for one, am quite curious as to what would happen next.