PUFNSTUF (1970)
Article 2250 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 5-14-2007
Posting Date: 10-10-2007
Directed by Hollingsworth Morse
Featuring Jack Wild, Billie Hayes, Martha Raye

A young boy with a magical golden talking flute ends up on Living Island where he is befriended by a dragon and terrorized by a witch.

“H.R. Pufnstuf” and the other Sid and Marty Krofft productions were part of my Saturday morning viewing when I was a child, but (with the marked exception of “Land of the Lost”) not a revered part. I watched them just to be watching something. Maybe that’s why I don’t have fond nostalgic memories of them, and this travesty certainly doesn’t inspire me to revisit them. On the plus side, some of the costumes are bizarre enough to catch my attention, there is a joke here or there that actually amused me, and the cast features Billy Barty and Angelo Rossitto. On the minus side, all but one of the songs are godawful, and the one that isn’t (which has the benefit of being performed by Mama Cass, someone who can actually sing, which is an advantage none of the other songs have) is merely passable and ludicrously out of place. And for the most part, the comedy consists of desperate, loud, screechy, repetitive, twitchy, ham-fisted, obvious, brain-numbing slapstick. In this context, Martha Raye comes off as the most dignified. Incidentally, the movie is directed by the man who gave us all of the Rocky Jones features.

The movie ends with Witchiepoo telling you to go home and have a nightmare. My response is “I’m already home and I just had one.”

THE POSSESSION OF JOEL DELANEY (1972)
Article 2209 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-3-2007
Posting Date: 8-30-2007
Directed by Waris Hussein
Featuring Shirley MacLaine, Perry King, Lisa Kohane

A dominating society woman tries to look after her resentful brother who has recently begun to act very strange. She dislikes his friendship with a homicidal Puerto Rican friend she has never met. When a close friend of hers is horribly murdered, she discovers that the friend is dead, and that his spirit may have taken over the body of her brother.

At the time of this writing, this movie has a 5.3 rating on IMDB, which tells me that this movie is not well-liked. Well, there are things to dislike here. In my case, I’ve never been a big fan of Shirley MacLaine, not so much for her acting abilities (which are considerable) but more for the fact that I’ve found so many of her characters cold and unlikable, and the first time I saw this movie, I was initially turned off by those very qualities. Also, the final scenes of her and her family being terrorized by the possessed brother are truly upsetting, since the terrorizing involves a great deal of psychological and physical humiliation. However, these factors ultimately don’t bother me, because there is something psychologically correct about it all; much of what happens in the movie is driven by the psychological motivations of everyone concerned. Ultimately, it was the relationship of the brother with both his mother and his sister that drove him into the friendship with the killer, and in this context, the unlikable aspects of MacLaine’s character plays a significant role. There is also one absolutely stunning scene here, in which the MacLaine’s character takes part in a Puerto Rican ritual in an attempt to exorcise the spirit from his brother; I’ve seen similar scenes in many horror movies, but this one is absolutely riveting and convincing. All in all, the movie utterly fascinates me, though those expecting a more conventional horror movie may be disappointed. And taking the movie overall, the only thing I do not like is the final twist in the last few seconds, which feels more horror-movie-convenient than psychologically compelling.

THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES (1966)
Article 2208 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-2-2007
Posting Date: 8-29-2007
Directed by John Gilling
Featuring Andre Morell, Diane Clare, Brook Williams

A doctor visits a former student who practices medicine in a small village in Cornwall. The village has been plagued my mysterious deaths, and bodies have begun to disappear from their graves. The doctor begins to suspect that someone is practicing voodoo.

I was disappointed by this movie when I first saw it years ago because I felt that the zombies were underused; back then, things like that meant a lot to me. Watching it now, I still think that’s somewhat true, and I’m also a little put out by the fact that the scariest scene featuring them turns out to be someone’s dream (though, in all truth, I saw it coming). Nevertheless, I liked it much better this time, largely because I really have grown to appreciate the excellence of Andre Morell’s performance as the doctor searching for the truth; his presence adds a great deal of character and humor to the proceedings, and this makes the movie thoroughly enjoyable throughout. There’s also a nice sense of mystery to the proceedings, and all the other performances are quite good, especially from Diane Clare and Jacqueline Pearce. Originally, I didn’t think it was modeled off of any of the older horror movies, but I couldn’t help but notice that there’s a strong similarity in story to WHITE ZOMBIE . The ending is particularly good here; I especially like the events that ultimately lead to the destruction of the zombies. Though there are some questionable plot elements, I do recognize why this one is a favorite of many Hammer aficionados.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1962)
Article 2207 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-1-2007
Posting Date: 8-28-2007
Directed by Terence Fisher
Featuring Herbert Lom, Heather Sears, Thorley Walters

Mysterious setbacks have plagued the presentation of an opera about Joan of Arc. The cause of these setbacks has to do with a mysterious phantom who terrorizes those involved in the production.

Though I had little hope that this version of the Gaston Leroux novel would eclipse the wonderful Lon Chaney version of the story, I did have hopes that I would like it better than the 1943 Claude Rains remake , which has always disappointed me somewhat. I did enjoy parts of this one well enough; Terence Fisher’s direction is solid, the movie is efficient, and the movie is anchored by an excellent performance from Herbert Lom as the most sympathetic phantom I’ve seen yet; he’s even allowed to be heroic on occasion. This compensates somewhat for a weak and clumsy script. At times it’s emotionally unsatisfying; the comeuppance of the Michael Gough’s evil Lord d’Arcy is singularly unsatisfying, and the movie leaves an insane dwarf on the loose at the ending. The mystery aspect of the movie (who is the phantom and why is he doing this) is also fairly weak, especially if you’ve seen the Claude Rains version, and it’s a dramatic mistake to recreate certain scenes after the movie has already sufficiently explained them. And there’s a huge logic error in the chandelier sequence; given that the rope frays because of the extra weight caused by the dwarf hanging on it, shouldn’t it fray above the dwarf rather than below? Incidentally, the cast also features Michael Ripper as a cabbie, and a memorable cameo from Patrick Troughton as a ratcatcher.

THE POSSESSED (1975)
aka LA ENDEMONIADA, DEMON WITCH CHILD
Article 2187 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-12-2007
Posting Date: 8-8-2007
Directed by Amanda de Ossorio
Featuring Julian Mateos, Marian Salgado, Fernando Sancho

The spirit of an old hag who was the head of a witch’s coven possesses a young girl and gets her to do horrible things.

Though I haven’t covered any of them yet, I quite like what I’ve seen of Amando de Ossorio’s Blind Dead movies. I like them well enough that I’m somewhat surprised that I’ve been singularly unimpressed by his movies that aren’t part of that series. In the case of this one, I’m sure that the horrendous dubbing is partly responsible. The fact that the movie is mostly just a lazy rip-off of THE EXORCIST doesn’t help matters any, and it’s further hurt by a musical score that I can only describe as rinky-dink; it’s one of those scores that distracts you from the movie by making you wonder when they’re going to feature that goofy tuning-the-timpani Boooiiinnnngggg! sound again. The fact that there’s something simply not scary about a little girl in old woman makeup attacking people and that the pace is deathly slow at times also work against it. It’s at its worst when it’s borrowing too much from THE EXORCIST (especially when it bends over backward to fit in a subplot about the priest’s ex-girlfriend), but it’s probably at its best when it engages in some horror that is fairly edgy.; at least two children are killed during the course of the movie, and what the girl does to her mother’s boyfriend is certainly shocking enough. Again, the movie would probably be better subtitled and appropriately letterboxed, but I suspect that it would still be on the weak side.

PORTRAIT IN TERROR (1965)
Article 2171 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-24-2007
Posting Date: 7-23-2007
Directed by Rado Novakovic
Featuring Patrick Magee, William Campbell, Anna Pavane

The theft of a valuable Titian painting ends in murder, and the police investigate. Meanwhile, the murderer discovers that the painting is a forgery, and he believes that his accomplice knows the whereabouts of the real painting.

This rather obscure movie is generally known among horror fans as the source for some of the footage in BLOOD BATH, aka TRACK OF THE VAMPIRE. As a result, this movie is misclassified as horror, when it is only marginally so; outside of the fact that one character goes mad and that a body is disposed of in a rather horrific way, this is really just a crime movie at heart. Furthermore, only snippets of the footage were used in BLOOD BATH, hardly any of the original plot footage remains, but several of the background, establishing shots and mood moments appear in both movies. The fact that only one actor gets credit in both movies (William Campbell) should clue you in. Though this movie has a fairly low rating at IMDB, it’s actually better than that, though it does suffer from confusing exposition and a final twist that you should see coming a mile away. The movie may actually remind you a little more of DEMENTIA 13, though once again there’s very little similarity in the way of plot; not only does this movie share two of its stars, but the disposal of one body is quite similar to one in that movie. All in all, it’s so-so, but I think it’s best not to go in expecting a horror movie.

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1970)
Article 2145 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-29-2007
Posting Date: 6-27-2007
Directed by Billy Wilder
Featuring Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Genevieve Page

When an amnesiac and nearly drowned woman is brought to the apartment of Sherlock Holmes, he finds himself drawn into a hunt for the woman’s missing husband, a case which brings him to Scotland and to an encounter with the Loch Ness Monster.

Billy Wilder does such a fine job is this comic take on Sherlock Holmes that I wondered what it would be like it he did a serious take on the Doyle character. Still, that would be short-changing the movie a little; yes, it is a comedy, but Wilder’s comedies are never just comedies; the story, though a little far-fetched, works fine enough the way it is, and it does provide some truly mysterious and intriguing elements, such as the challenge of discovering the identity of an amnesiac woman who can’t even remember what country she’s from, the curious tale of the missing midgets, the warning from Mycroft Holmes (an excellent performance from Christopher Lee, perhaps the best known name in the cast) to not pursue the case, a parasol, some trappist monks, and the riddle of the green wedding ring and the three white canaries. The horror elements are obvious from the above description, but there is a strong touch of science fiction to add to the mix before it’s all over. The plot doesn’t really get going until about thirty minutes in; the first part of the movie deals with a separate episode designed to elucidate Holmes’s character somewhat by setting up an incident with a Russian ballerina that ends up resulting in extreme embarassment for Dr. Watson. The movie takes itself seriously enough when it needs to, especially in the heartbreaking and powerful final scene. And once again, I find it a little sad that I will be touching on so little of Wilder’s oeuvre whilst covering nearly half of the oeuvre of his less-talented brother.

PERIL FROM THE PLANET MONGO (1966)
Article 2137 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-21-2007
Posting Date: 6-19-2007
Directed by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor
Featuring Buster Crabbe, Carol Hughes, Charles Middleton

Flash Gordon returns to Mongo to do battle with evil emperor Ming the Merciless.

When feature versions of serials were being cobbled together in the mid sixties, it looks like FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE had the distinction of having two feature versions carved out of it. I’m thinking that the other version has the more interesting footage. As usual, I prefer the original serial because I find this sort of action movie easier to take in bite-size chunks. For the record, I still prefer the cast members playing Princess Aura and Prince Barin in the original FLASH GORDON, simply because they didn’t look like standard-issue leading men and women of the period as the ones here do. Buster Crabbe is still one of my favorite serial actors simply because he allows his characters to express a greater range of emotions than other serial heroes did. The best thing about this feature version is that, in comparison to most of the other ones put together in the mid sixties, this one is relatively short.

PAJAMA PARTY (1964)
Article 2130 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-14-2007
Posting Date: 6-12-2007
Directed by Don Weis
Featuring Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, Elsa Lanchester

A martian arrives on earth as the vanguard of an invasion. Meanwhile, a con man has set his sights on finding the hidden fortune of the dotty old woman next door, and he enlists an American Indian and his Swedish bombshell sidekick to help him. Meanwhile, teens party on the beach, and a motorcycle gang vows revenge on a muscular teen in a crazy broad-billed red baseball cap lovingly called Big Lunk. Hilarity ensues.

This movie is dumb, but it’s a beach party movie; what do you expect? I’ve always liked the way that these movies found places for older actors and actresses to take part in them, and this one features Elsa Lanchester, Dorothy Lamour, Don Rickles, and Buster Keaton. I’m always a bit embarrassed to see the kind of shtick that was handed to the latter near the end of his life; he was capable of being funny without the help of silly costumes or goofy characters, but that’s pretty much what they gave him. His best moment is a perfume feud he has with a saleslady because it relies on comic timing rather than goofy dialogue. I’ve heard that MARS NEEDS WOMEN (which also features Tommy Kirk as a Martian) was partially based off of this; this one, which is fairly energetic, is certainly much better than that one. The movie also features a young Teri Garr, Frankia Avalon in a cameo (you’ll know who he is), and the usual cast of beach partiers.

THE PERVERSE COUNTESS (1974)
aka LA COMTESSE PERVERSE, THE EVIL COUNTESS, LES CROQUEUSES
Article 2077 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-21-2006
Posting Date: 4-20-2007
Directed by Jesus Franco
Featuring Alice Arno, Howard Vernon, Kali Hansa

An evil count and countess lure beautiful women to their island and hunts them (among other things).

Yes, it’s Franco again. This is supposed to be a variation of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, and I suppose it is; it’s kind of hard to follow the plot between the endless scenes involving bodies thrashing about, which account for about fifty percent of the movie. Of the remaining half of the movie, most of that consists of women either standing around naked, sitting around naked, or in the process of getting undressed. Given that this movie is rated highly (for a Franco film, anyway) on IMDB, I can only come to the conclusion that Francophiles consider this one an expression of great cinematic art. Me, I’ll give it credit for two things; the Count and Countesses’ abode is a fairly unnerving architectural structure, and the music is a little better than usual for a Franco film. Other than that, I have little use for this one.

I’m ready to move on.