Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (1974)

CAPTAIN KRONOS – VAMPIRE HUNTER (1974)
Article 3200 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-24-2010
Posting Date: 5-19-2010
Directed by Brian Clemens
Featuring Horst Janson, John Carson, Shane Briant
Country: UK
What it is: Interesting period vampire flick

A master swordsman roams the countryside with his hunchbacked assistant in search of vampires.

For attempting to take the vampire concept in an exciting new direction, I applaud Hammer for making this movie. It was the first of an intended series, and I can see how it might have made a dandy one; in particular, I liked the concept that there are different strains of vampires that require different means of dispatching them. Unfortunately, the movie was a box office failure, and, rather than inaugurating a series, it contributed to Hammer’s decline. Upon watching it, I can think of three possible reasons it failed. One is that the title character really needed to be a fun, energetic, fascinating character in his own right, but Horst Janson simply doesn’t fit the bill; though I can’t say he was sleep-walking through the role, he doesn’t appear to be having any fun, leaving John Cater (who does appear to know what is needed here) as Grost the hunchback as the most interesting character here. Secondly, given that the movie does aspire to being at least partially a swashbuckler, it needs to directed with verve and energy to do justice to Brian Clemens’s script; unfortunately, Brian Clemens also undertakes directing for the first and only time in his career, and his pacing is far too deliberate and leaden to bring this one to life. Thirdly, the score itself, which should also energetic and rousing, is for the most part missing in action, and when it is there, it’s aspiring to a dour moodiness instead. The end result is a movie that, despite the interesting script, isn’t anywhere near as much fun as it should be.

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The Brotherhood of Satan (1971)

THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN (1971)
Article 3199 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-23-2010
Posting Date: 5-18-2010
Directed by Bernard McEveety
Featuring Strother Martin, L.Q. Jones, Charles Bateman
Country: USA
What it is: Devil worship thriller

A man, his girlfriend, and his child become stranded in a strange town that seems to have fallen under an evil spell. Children are disappearing, families are being slaughtered, and strange powers prevent anyone from leaving and entering the town.

After having watched this movie, I was quite startled to see it sitting on IMDB with a measly 3.9 rating. Near as I can figure, it’s one of those movies that is more apt to alienate and bore the viewer than entice him; it all depends on who the viewer is. Me, I was sucked in from the beginning. It opens with a child’s toy tank juxtaposed with what appears to be a very real tank crushing a car and its inhabitants during the pre-credits sequence. The story then continues with the travelers discovering the crushed car, driving into town to report it to the sheriff, and then finding themselves threatened by that same sheriff and then by the whole town. Between these two scenes I found myself glued to the screen trying to figure out what was going on and waiting to see what was going to happen next. The movie does have the potential to be dull and confusing, but even the slow scenes have something going on in them; the long conversationless drive near the beginning of the movie will either bore you or entice you, depending on what you’re paying attention to. This movie was part of a handful of productions co-produced by L.Q. Jones and Alvy Moore (who appear in the movie); they also gave us THE WITCHMAKER and A BOY AND HIS DOG. Apparently, this movie was paired with THX 1138, which must have made for a very interesting double feature.

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The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973)

THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF (1973)
Article 3198 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-22-2010
Posting Date: 5-17-2010
Directed by Nathan Juran
Featuring Kerwin Mathews, Elaine Devry, Scott Sealey
Country: USA
What it is: Werewolf movie

A young boy (whose parents have separated) accompanies his father on a camping expedition. When they are attacked by a werewolf, the father is bitten. Soon the boy has to contend with the fact that his father has now also become a werewolf… but no one will believe him.

You know, the basic concept behind this movie has some promise; I can see possibilities in how the lycanthropy could play an interesting role in the son’s having to deal with the separation of his parents. Unfortunately, the movie itself doesn’t do much with the premise, and the clumsy, poorly written dialogue, the weak acting (especially from the boy), and certain ideas that don’t make that much sense (why would a werewolf bother trying to bury the head of one of his victims in a barn) all combine to make this one a real disappointment. As it is, the most interesting sequences involve a commune of Jesus freaks who unexpectedly (even to themselves) turn out to have the ability to battle the evil of the curse; the fact that they’re largely played for comic relief doesn’t really hurt this, but I do wish they were actually funny as well. Somewhere in here is a better movie trying to get out.

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Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971)

TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (1971)
aka The Blind Dead, La noche del terror ciego
Article 3197 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-20-2010
Posting Date: 5-16-2010
Directed by Amando de Ossorio
Featuring Lone Fleming, Roger Whelan, Maria Elana Arpon
Country: Spain / Portugal
What it is: Spanish zombie flick

A woman jumps off of a train in the middle of nowhere and ends up camping out in the deserted ruins of a monastery. However, the ruins are the home of rotting blind Templars who have used black magic to gain eternal life… and who still thirst for human blood and flesh.

I’ve not been impressed by any of the other films I’ve seen by Amando de Ossorio, but I also kept in mind that he also had directed this one, the first of the “Blind Dead” series. I’d originally seen this one many years ago and had been quite impressed with it at the time; watching it now, there are still things I admire and other things I don’t. On the plus side, the blind dead themselves are very memorable and eerie, especially when they trot around on their horses in slow motion (the use of sound during these sequences is effective). I also like some of the settings, such as the creepy monastery and the warehouse full of dummies. I’m less impressed with the plot holes, the poorly thought out characters, certain unnecessary scenes of exploitation value, and the lapses of logic; in particular, given the logic behind the nature of the Templars, there is no reason why one of their victims should come back to life and start attacking people. I rather liked the idea that the Templars had to track their victims by sound, but then giving them the ability to hear heartbeats felt something like a cheat. Still, this is certainly Ossorio’s scariest and best movie.

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Hilde Warren and Death (1917)

HILDE WARREN AND DEATH (1917)
aka Hilde Warren und der Tod
Article 3196 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-19-2010
Posting Date: 5-15-2010
Directed by Joe May
Featuring Mia May, Bruno Kastner, Georg John
Country: Germany
What it is: Depressing drama

A vivacious actress turns down an honest man’s proposal of marriage and instead weds a criminal. This event causes her life to enter a downward spiral…

My print runs only about 42 minutes, but though there are obviously some scenes missing, the main gist of the story seems to be intact. The script is by Fritz Lang, though the movie is not directed by him. It opens with a man telling a lively, vivacious actress that she won’t understand his play about a woman embracing death because she herself is too full of life. Of course, this is foreshadowing, and what follows is simply the chain of events that causes her to lose all the love of life. This is one depressing movie, largely because it’s pretty unrelenting in putting her through the wringer. The fantastic content consists of her seeing visions of death personified at various moments in the story, though I would stop short of calling it a horror movie. Though it’s not one of the better efforts from Lang, it does give an idea of some of the places he would go later in his career, and in its own bleak way, the movie is rather engrossing.

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The Bell from Hell (1973)

THE BELL FROM HELL (1973)
aka La campana del infierno
Article 3195 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-18-2010
Posting Date: 5-14-2010
Directed by Claudio Guerin and Juan Antonio Bardem
Featuring Renaud Verley, Viveca Lindfors, Alfred Mayo
Country: Spain / France
What it is: Bizarre Eurohorror

After his release from a mental institution, a young man seeks revenge on his aunt and her daughters, who were responsible for his being committed so they could get his inheritance. What follows is a battle of wits between several parties.

I’m not sure what to make of this surreal, often confusing, perverse and sometimes nasty horror movie. The disjointed narrative is probably the main culprit; our introduction to the various characters is done through a bewildering series of seemingly disconnected incidents, and often certain story threads get lost in the shuffle. Part of the problem may be that the American version is shorter than the Spanish version by thirteen minutes. Nevertheless, there’s an undeniable power to this movie, and it can creep you out; when the young man takes a job at a slaughterhouse, then leaves after a few days with the comment that he’s “learned enough”, you’re definitely prepared for the worst. The most unsettling thing about this production, though, is something that happened behind the scenes; on the last day of shooting, director Claudio Guerin either fell or jumped to his death from the bell tower used in the film. One can’t help but wonder what other movies of his might have followed in the wake of this one. I somehow suspect that this is one of those movies I won’t shake off easily.

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Voodoo in Harlem (1938)

VOODOO IN HARLEM (1938)
Cartoon
Article 3194 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-6-2010
Posting Date: 5-6-2010
Directed by Rudy Zamora
Featuring Walter Lantz
Country: USA
What it is: Musical cartoon

During a stormy night, an inkwell is tipped over, leaving a big black blot on a piece of paper. Out of the blot emerge several black natives, who sing “Voodoo in Harlem”.

I found this cartoon on a set of banned cartoons – those cartoons which can’t be shown on television anymore because of the racial stereotypes they perpetrated. In this cartoon, it is the black caricatures that consign this cartoon to its current state. There are some great cartoons out there that can’t be shown for similar reasons; however, this one is fairly forgettable. Outside of a beginning and end that feature some live action footage (a cartoonist drawing a character and then a cleaning lady cleaning up afterwards), there’s little novelty to this one. It primarily consists of animated characters singing and dancing to the title song, and though the song isn’t bad, it doesn’t really make for an interesting cartoon. It doesn’t even try for comedy, but maybe that’s just as well, given that the comedy would probably have resorted to jokes involving watermelons and dice. And, unless the characters arising out of the inkwell count, no voodoo is in use during the cartoon.

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Atragon (1963)

ATRAGON (1963)
aka Kaitei gunkan
Article 3193 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-16-2010
Posting Date: 5-12-2010
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Featuring Tadao Takashima, Yoko Fujiyama, Yu Fujiki
Country: Japan
What it is: Invaders from an undersea kingdom, Japanese style

The underwater empire of Mu threatens to take over the world with their superior technology. The only hope for the world is a missing Japanese captain who has designed the ultimate fighting machine, a flying submarine known as Atragon.

I think this popped up on TV when I was a kid, and I watched it expecting a monster movie; I soon switched it off in frustration, and even had I stayed with it, I would have been disappointed by Manda, who is more reminiscent of Reptilicus than any of the great Japanese monsters. However, as an adult, I can admire it for what it really is; I consider it the best of the various Japanese invasion movies of that period, as I find it more interesting and enjoyable than either BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE or THE MYSTERIANS. Not that I don’t see some problems with the story. The residents of Mu show real shortsightedness in their attempts to keep Atragon from being used against them, as their every action seems destined to encourage that the machine be used, such as calling the attention of the Japanese government to its existence in the first place. However, the scenes of destruction are colorful and well done, and I enjoy various touches. I like the scene where the humans taken prisoner by the Mu empire are brought in during an impressively staged ritual dance, and I like the way that Kenji Sahara really underplays his role; given that the common acting mode in Japanese movies seems to be rather strident, underplaying is always a striking touch in their movies. I originally started watching this in the English-dubbed version on my disc, but the dubbed acting was so weak I eventually switched to the Japanese version with English subtitles, which I liked a lot better. Jun Tazaki’s role of Captain Jinguji was originally to have been played by the great Toshiro Mifune, but a prior commitment kept him out of the production. That’s a real pity; I would really liked to have seen him in one of these Japanese science fiction movies.

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The Block Signal (1926)

THE BLOCK SIGNAL (1926)
Article 3192 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-15-2010
Posting Date: 5-11-2010
Directed by Frank O’Connor
Featuring Ralph Lewis, Jean Arthur, Hugh Allan
Country: USA
What it is: Railroad drama

An engineer whose eyesight is beginning to suffer depends on his fireman to tell him the color of the signals. An ambitious fireman, hoping to open up a position for himself, deceives the engineer about the color of the block signals, and the result is a two-train collision. The engineer loses his job and the fireman takes his position. Can the ex-engineer be vindicated?

You’ll have to get through half of this movie before the fantastic content starts to manifest itself; the second half of the movie revolves around the ex-engineer’s attempt to invent and test a new type of brake that can be used to prevent train accidents, an element which pushes the movie into the realm of science fiction. The overall story is entertaining enough, though it is a bit clumsy and rather contrived. Fortunately, the heroes are likable enough that you hope they come out all right, and some of the train footage is quite exciting. Overall, not a bad little movie.

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Dracula vs Frankenstein (1970)

DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN (1970)
aka Los monstruos del terror, Assignment Terror
Article 3191 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-14-2010
Posting Date: 5-10-2010
Directed by Tulio Demicheli, Hugo Fregonese and Eberhard Meichsner
Featuring Paul Naschy, Michael Rennie, Karin Dor
Country: Spain / West Germany / Italy
What it is: Naschy monster mash

Aliens from outer space possess the dead bodies of humans and seek to take over the planet Earth by the revival of the classic monsters: Dracula, Valdemar the werewolf, Pha-ho-tep the mummy, and the Farancksalen monster.

I know of three movies from the early seventies that have this same title, or at least one that’s really close, the other two being from Al Adamson and Jess Franco. This one was Michael Rennie’s last film, and he does about as good a job as anyone could have with the role of the head of the aliens. Most of the movie seems to be concerned with the aliens puttering around the world collecting monsters interspersed with scenes of police investigating the various killings. The invasion never really gets off the ground because there’s just too much infighting between the aliens and the monsters. The thing I found the most interesting about the movie is the way it references a whole slew of other movies, especially the various Universal classics and any number of mad scientist movies, most obviously HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Still, the title is a cheat; not only does Dracula never take on Frankenstein or his monster, there isn’t even a Frankenstein in it; the monster is called the Farancksalen monster, a name substitution that is as clumsy as it sounds. The script is a bit of a muddle; at times, Valdemar seems to be helping the aliens, but fighting them at other times, and since he barely speaks, we don’t know what’s going through his mind. This is far from the best of the Valdemar the werewolf series, but I have to admit I liked it a little better this time than when I first saw it.

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