POOR DEVIL (1973)
TV-Movie
Article 3032 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-26-2009
Posting Date: 12-2-2009
Directed by Robert Scheerer
Featuring Sammy Davis Jr, Christopher Lee, Jack Klugman
Country: USA

An incompetent devil is given a last chance by Lucifer to get someone to sell his soul.

This was one of the TV-Movies I actually got a chance to see as a kid; I probably was attracted to a cast of very familiar names. Nevertheless, I was quite disappointed with the movie; it was nowhere near as funny as I hoped it would be. I like it a little better watching it now, but only a little; the script is weak and full of bad dialogue, but it has a few good moments. For me, the most enjoyment comes from seeing Christopher Lee having a lot of fun as Lucifer. Sammy Davis Jr. is a little over the top, but Klugman was just fine, and Adam West makes for a good unctuous villain. However, it seems as if the devil’s powers are severely limited to say the least; if it’s this difficult to do the requested task, it would be a surprise that anyone would go to hell. This was apparently intended as a pilot for a series, but I wonder if it would have sold even if the script was better; this type of comedy might have flown in the late sixties, but by this time sitcoms were working in a much more realistic mode, and this one would have come across as badly dated. Still, it would have been interesting to see Christopher Lee as a regular in a sitcom…

THE PIED PIPER (1972)
Article 3031 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-25-2009
Posting Date: 12-1-2009
Directed by Jacques Demy
Featuring Donovan, Donald Pleasence, Diana Dors
Country: UK / USA

In the year 1349, a traveling troupe of players picks up a musician and takes him to the city of Hamelin, where the villagers are engaged in building a cathedral and preparing for a wedding. When the town is overrun by rats, the piper offers to rid the town of the beasts for 1000 gilders. When he is not paid, he exacts revenge.

Now here is an audacious way to handle a fairy tale; rather than emphasizing the cuteness and whimsy, this one puts it in a historical context (the rats carry the black plague that was spreading through the country at that time), dovetails it with a tragic story of a well-meaning alchemist whose belief that the plague is a natural occurrence puts him at odds with the clergy and who is eventually charged with heresy, and places it all in an authentic milieu (the town is dirty and thoroughly medieval). It may be a fairy tale, but the mood is serious, dark and tragic, and it’s very well acted by an excellent cast which includes Donald Pleasence, Roy Kinnear, Diana Dors, and John Hurt. Donovan is a good choice for the role of the piper, and he ends up meshing well with the ensemble acting of the cast. His music is a tad bit anachronistic, but this ends up being a very minor problem. I love the complexity of the story and the relationships as well. It’s a little slow on occasions, especially in the middle of the movie, but it ends up having a real power to it, especially as the climax of the movie juxtaposes the familiar ending of the pied piper story with the tragic fate of the alchemist. All in all, I was quite impressed with this one.

THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE DARK (1976)
aka Ultimo deseo
Article 3028 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-22-2009
Posting Date: 11-28-2009
Directed by Leon Klimovsky
Featuring Nadiuska, Alberto de Mendoza, Tony Kendall
Country: Spain

A group of devotees of the Marquis de Sade are underground when atomic explosions rip through the country. They emerge to discover that they are the only ones with sight left, and they fight for their lives among increasingly hostile blind villagers.

Save for a couple of hints of the story to come, the first twenty minutes of this movie makes it look like it’s warming up to an exploitation-style horror movie. Then, once the bombs go off, it shifts to a survivors-of-the-apocalypse plot. A visit to the nearby village and an encounter with the blind villagers makes it look like a variation on THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS. Then, after some unfortunate murders, the angry blind villagers go on a rampage and the movie becomes a very strange version of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. The shear oddness of the concept is enough to hold your interest, and the cast (which also includes Paul Naschy, Maria Perschy and Teresa Gimpera) also helps things along. However, once your mind kicks in, you’ll see a lot of absurdity and silliness to the events. Why do the atomic blasts only blind the villagers with no other side effects? Why does the one survivor think he’s a dog? Why does another survivor knife a gun-toting blind man when he and the other five sighted people can easily take the gun from him? Why, when their very day-to-day survival is at stake, do the villagers decide to storm the home of the survivors for the sole purpose of terrorizing them and killing them? The more you think about, the more ridiculous the whole movie seems. Still, if you want to see the only movie that combines the talent of screenwriter Vicente Aranda and horror actor Paul Naschy, this is it.

PASSPORT TO HELL (1965)
aka Agente 3S3: Passaporto per l’inferno
Article 3027 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 8-21-2009
Posting Date: 11-27-2009
Directed by Sergio Sollima
Featuring George Ardisson, Barbara Simon, Georges Riviere
Country: Italy / France / Spain

A CIA agent is sent on a mission to investigate a criminal organization that is responsible for another agent’s death. He is searching for a former secret agent now known as Mr. A, and his only clue to his location is Mr. A’s daughter.

This is another example of the spyghetti genre, those Italian spy movies that followed in the wake of the success of the James Bond movies. This one is solid if unspectacular; the story is straightforward and the action sequences are okay. The music is pretty strange on occasion; I’d love to know the name of that freaky novelty record that plays on the jukebox during the bar brawl. The fantastic content is limited to a small handful of gadgets; all in all, this is one of the less parodistic examples of the genre. It would spawn one sequel before the character was retired. It’s not great, but enjoyable enough.

PAST MIDNIGHT (1991)
Article 3001 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-26-2009
Posting Date: 11-1-2009
Directed by Jan Eliasberg
Featuring Rutger Hauer, Natasha Richardson, Clancy Brown
Country: USA

A social worker takes on a case of finding a job for a parolee who was in prison for killing his wife and unborn child. She begins to suspect that he was framed for the murder, and she investigates on her own while falling in love with him. However, she may be in greater danger than she thinks…

Yesterday I mentioned Quentin Tarantino in passing; today I find myself unexpectedly encountering him. He’s listed as associate producer on this movie, though, according to IMDB, he got the credit from having done an uncredited rewrite on the script. I have yet to see any of Tarantino’s other movies, so I’m not going to make any judgments or generalizations, and I don’t know just how much was rewritten here. The movie is only fair; Rutger Hauer is well cast, but he’s in exactly the sort of role I’d expect him to be in. The story itself is standard, and I think it mostly falters towards the end when too many characters make stupid decisions. A serial killer aspect of the story is the primary horror element, though touches of PEEPING TOM also creep in. Incidentally, this movie predates Tarantino’s breakthrough movie RESERVOIR DOGS.

PHANTOM KILLER (1942)
Article 2878 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-25-2009
Posting Date: 6-30-2009
Directed by William Beaudine
Featuring Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, John Hamilton
Country: USA

An assistant D.A. is sure that several murders have been committed by a prominent citizen who is pretending to be a deaf-mute. However, the citizen has an alibi in which he was at public events at the time of the murders. Furthermore, it has been proven by doctors that the citizen is a deaf-mute, though witnesses to the murders claim that he can talk. What is the solution to this mystery?

If you’re familiar with THE SPHINX, and are aware that this movie is a remake of that one, you’ll know the solution. If you’re not, don’t worry; one of the characters gives away the solution to the mystery in one of the opening scenes, if you’re alert enough to catch it. There’s no phantom to speak of, so the only fantastic content is the implied doppelganger of the storyline. Overall, it’s a thoroughly ordinary poverty row mystery. At least one of the user comments on IMDB suggests you watch it for Mantan Moreland, but be aware that he has about one minute of screen time. This one is routine at best.

PROFANADORES DE TUMBAS (1966)
aka Santo Vs. the Grave Robbers, Dealers in Death
Article 2877 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-24-2009
Posting Date: 6-29-2009
Directed by Jose Diaz Morales
Featuring Santo, Gina Romand, Mario Orea
Country: Mexico

A mad doctor employs a hunchback (who he beats repeatedly) and two grave robbers (who really enjoy burning dead bodies). His experiments with heart transplants are unsuccessful because he needs a super-human heart, such as one from a masked wrestler named Santo. However, they have to kill him first…

Okay, the mad scientist needs to kill a masked wrestler for his heart. I can handle this; this is familiar territory. Then things start getting weird. The killer lamp with a bleeding heart on the shade is strange enough (hint for Santo: lamps don’t work if they’re unplugged), but we also get a bleeding painting, a killer violin, and… a killer wig. This is one mad doctor we’re talking about. Santo has wrestled a lot of nemeses in his days, but if you want to see him doing battle with a lamp, this is the movie for you. Oh, and Santo (and I’ve mentioned this before, I know), please, please, please don’t let your cape dangle out near the tires of your Santomobile when you’re out driving; this just makes me nervous. The cast includes actors named Frankenstein and Quasimodo; incidentally, the latter actor is NOT playing the hunchback. At this sitting, this takes the cake as the weirdest Santo movie of the lot; I only wish it was dubbed or subtitled in English.

THE PREMONITION (1976)
Article 2836 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-12-2009
Posting Date: 5-19-2009
Directed by Robert Allen Schnitzer
Featuring Sharon Farrell, Edward Bell, Danielle Brisebois
Country: USA

The natural mother of a girl given up for adoption plots to kidnap the daughter from her new parents. Helping her is a carnival clown with a psychotic streak. Unbeknownst to her, however, the child’s adoptive mother has psychic powers…

At the time of this writing, this movie is sitting with a 2.1 rating on IMDB, which leads me to believe that the movie is held in very low esteem. The movie does have some real problems, and, if I wanted to, I could just bring those up and quickly dispense with the film. However, I can’t quite do that; there’s something unique and engaging about the basic story here. And some of the condemnations that could be thrown at this film I can’t quite swallow. First of all, horror fans will be mightily disappointed by this one, because it really isn’t a horror film; despite the fact that it has several people who could be described as not sane (one of which who is homicidal), it’s much more of a drama about psychic powers, and is best watched without any of the expectations you would have for a horror film. Also, the plot relies on what seems to be at first glance some outrageous coincidences; however, if you are willing to buy one of the central premises of the film (that a woman’s spirit has returned from the dead and is influencing the lives of the people in the movie), then it is possible to see the coincidences as manifestations of the dead woman’s power.

However, other problems aren’t disposed of that easily. The movie’s physical-world-vs-metaphysical-world theme is clumsy and distracting. Certain scenes misfire badly. There’s something a little shrill about the movie as a whole (especially the mother’s psychic visions), despite the fact that it makes effective use of subtlety here and there. The biggest problem, though, is that the character of the adoptive mother is unconvincing; we’re supposed to feel for her and be caught up in her suffering and pain, but she often comes across as mentally unbalanced, and seems no saner than either the real mother or the psychotic clown. As a result, I found it very hard to warm up to her, and that feeling is necessary for the movie to have its emotional impact.

In short, the movie is badly flawed, though I still think it’s much better than a 2.1 rating would suggest. Still, it’s easy to see how some people might hate the movie, so use your own judgment. If you do give it a try, I suggest one thing; set aside your usual horror expectations.

PICNIC ON THE GRASS (1959)
aka Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe
Article 2815 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-21-2009
Posting Date: 4-28-2009
Directed by Jean Renoir
Featuring Paul Meurisse, Charles Blavette, Catherine Rouvel
Country: France

A candidate for the presidency of Europe advocates artificial insemination as a replacement for sex. While on a picnic to promote his views, he is separated from his party and ends up meeting a country girl who makes him question his dedication to science.

To say that this is a sex comedy runs the risk of making it sound racier and tackier than it is, but that’s exactly what it is; it’s a comedy that explores sex and, on a wider scale, the whole issue of science versus nature. Given this theme, it is perhaps appropriate that the movie manages to be both science fiction and fantasy at the same time; the prospect a man being so popular that he manages to unite the European nations in such a way that he is capable of forming a scientific dictatorship certainly moves it into the realm of science fiction, whereas the presence of a pipe-playing farmer (with his pet goat) who can bring on a windstorm with his playing is a fantasy element. It’s an odd but quite amusing comedy, with a wealth of interesting characters (particularly in the scientist’s entourage), and it explores the science versus nature theme very well indeed. The look of the film was inspired by the paintings of the impressionists, particularly Manet’s “Le Dejeuner sur L’Herbe”, thus inspiring the title; unfortunately, my print of the movie was somewhat faded, so it was a little difficult for me to enjoy it completely on that level. All in all, this is an enjoyable and interesting French comedy.

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974)
Article 2803 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-9-2009
Posting Date: 4-16-2009
Directed by Brian De Palma
Featuring William Finley, Paul Williams, Jessica Harper
Country: USA

When his rock cantata is stolen by a legendary music impresario, a musician seeks revenge, but gets horribly mutilated in a record pressing machine. He dons a mask and haunts the rock palace constructed by the impresario, but gets drawn into a pact with the devil when he seeks to have a female singer perform his music.

Given my general dismissive attitude towards musicals, my ambivalence about the oeuvre of Brian De Palma, my dislike for THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, and the fact that I have little use for singer/composer Paul Williams, one might well be expected to conclude that I would dislike this one intensely. Well, surprise of surprises, I really liked this one for the most part. I’m not particularly taken with the music (to its credit, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW wins out in this regard), but I think De Palma keeps his most irritating habits in check with this one; the style underscores the comedy quite well, it uses split screen effectively, and the Hitchcock references don’t seem forced. In fact, the reference to PSYCHO is one of my favorite laughs in the movie. Furthermore, I like speculating on who might be the models for the various characters in the story; I suspect Swan is Phil Spector, the group The Juicy Fruits is Sha Na Na, and Winslow Leach is (at first, anyway) a take on Elton John. There’s also a general parody of the shock rock/glam rock world of Alice Cooper and David Bowie thrown in. Unlike THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, it has a story; it’s a mutated cross between the Faust story and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. And however I feel about Paul Williams’s music, he gives a hell of a performance as the narcissistic Swan. Still, I did say “for the most part” above, and I have to admit that the movie starts to unravel in the final reel; it loses its comic edge and becomes just weird. Nevertheless, I think ultimately its strengths win out, and this goes under the list of De Palma films I really like.