Horror of Dracula (1958)

Horror of Dracula (1958)

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“It only remains for me now to await the daylight hours, where I will with God’s help forever end this man’s reign of terror!”

Synopsis:
A vampire hunter (John Van Eyssen) posing as a librarian arrives at the castle of Count Dracula (Christopher Lee), where he puts one of Dracula’s victims (Valerie Gaunt) out of her misery, but is bitten himself before he can kill Dracula. When Dracula invades the household of Van Eyssen’s girlfriend Lucy (Carol Marsh) and Lucy’s brother (Michael Gough) and sister-in-law (Melissa Stribling), Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) arrives to help.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Christopher Lee Films
  • Horror
  • Peter Cushing Films
  • Vampires

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary writes that while “Hammer Studios’ follow-up to The Curse of Frankenstein is a much better and more influential horror film”, it “isn’t the definitive adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel or much more than an introduction to the bloody-red and sexually oriented style of future Hammer vampire films”. He complains the “film is so rushed that we have a hard time realizing that major parts of Stoker’s story are being either distorted or eliminated“, that “all the performances” (other than the two leads) “are forgettable”, and that Cushing is “a little too humorless, as if his blood had already been drained”.

In favor of the film, Peary writes that the “graphic violence… fits the subject rather than being exploitative”, that the production in general is “well-mounted”, and that “Lee’s madly inspired vampire is terrific: cruel, energetic, intelligent, tall and imposing”.

Peary also points out how the film differs from “Universal’s 1931 Dracula chiefly in that it conveys the sexual nature of vampirism: not only does the vampire become excited when he bites into a victim’s jugular but his victims also relish the experience”. Indeed, according to DVD Savant, this film “made much more explicit the seduction-rape fantasy that underlies vampire mythology.” Savant is much more a diehard fan of this film, referring to it as “the Singin’ in the Rain of horror films — a show that transcends its genre and sums up what’s great about screen terror.” His praise feels hyperbolic to me, but provides evidence of the film’s cult following. Personally, my opinion lies closer to Peary’s: this remains a reasonably enjoyable, historically significant genre flick, but not must-see viewing.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Christopher Lee as Dracula — only on the screen for 7 minutes, but a menacing presence
  • Jack Asher’s atmospheric cinematography

Must See?
No, though it’s certainly worth a look for its historical importance.

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

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Brides of Dracula (1960)

Brides of Dracula (1960)

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“He was my son. Now he is only — a beast of the night.”

Synopsis:
A teacher (Yvonne Monlaur) on her way to begin a new position at a girls’ school is waylaid at the castle of a baroness (Martita Hunt) whose handsome, charming son (David Peel) is kept in chains. Peel convinces Monlaur to release him, and soon his identity as a ravenous vampire is revealed.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Horror
  • Peter Cushing Films
  • Vampires

Review:
In its follow-up to The Horror of Dracula (1958), Hammer Studios had to make do without the presence of Christopher Lee (who wanted to avoid being typecast, though he returned for later installments). David Peel — a devilishly handsome blonde — was cast as his pseudo-replacement:

… though the true heart of the story lies in Peel’s relationship with his mother, played (appropriately enough) by Martita Hunt of Great Expectations (1946) fame.

The mystery of why Peel is being kept in chains — and the devastating consequences of his release by naive Monlaur — fuel the narrative, clearly echoing sentiments from the previous year’s Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). Hunt evokes much sympathy as a tormented mother whose existence is consumed by her son’s “lifestyle choices”, and Freda Jackson adds energetic color as a cackling servant who helps fill in details of Peel’s past.

Cushing is also in fine form as Monlaur’s noble rescuer.

This one is certainly worth a watch by fans of the series.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing
  • Martita Hunt as Baroness Meinster
  • Freda Jackson as Greta
  • Atmospheric cinematography

Must See?
No, but it’s recommended as a worthy sequel.

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Gruesome Twosome, The (1967)

Gruesome Twosome, The (1967)

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“Napoleon, I’m afraid we have a problem!”

Synopsis:
A curious co-ed (Gretchen Wells) investigates a case involving a demented older woman (Elizabeth Davis) with a stuffed pet cougar who enlists the help of her mentally retarded grown son (Chris Martell) in scalping beautiful young women to turn their hair into wigs.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Amateur Sleuths
  • Herschell Gordon Lewis Films
  • Horror
  • Serial Killers

Review:
The ineptitude of this Z-grade exploitation film by goremeister Herschell Gordon Lewis is as profound as one would expect: terrible acting, tediously gratuitous splatter sequences, and the inexplicable inclusion of snippets from an even MORE inept drive-in movie involving attempted romance over burnt potato chips and beer. The opening “flashback” sequence of talking wigs on styrofoam heads — apparently added to pad the running time — is just surreal enough to hold one’s strained attention, in a slack-jawed fashion. Sadly, Peary lists no less than six films by Lewis in his GFTFF, when viewing one or possibly two — Blood Feast (1963) and/or 2000 Maniacs (1964) — would be more than enough for even the most curious and inclusive film fanatic.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Complete ineptitude and/or surreality across the board



Must See?
Most definitely not. If this kind of thing appeals to you, you know who you are.

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Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971)

Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971)

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“Hormones. Female hormones!”

Synopsis:
In his search for an elixir of life, Dr. Jekyll (Ralph Bates) accidentally discovers he can change into a female (Martine Beswick) by drinking a potion made from the hormones of dead women, and goes on a killing spree in the name of science. Meanwhile, his sweet downstairs neighbor (Susan Brodrick) continues to nurse a crush on the elusive Dr. Jekyll, while her brother (Lewis Fiander) lusts after Jekyll’s sultry “sister” (Beswick).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Gender Bending
  • Horror
  • Mad Doctors and Scientists
  • Mistaken or Hidden Identities
  • Roy Ward Baker Films
  • Serial Killers

Review:
This gender-bending take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s oft-filmed novella (scripted by Brian Clemens and directed by Roy Ward Baker) is surely one of the most original and creatively structured. Skillfully (albeit anachronistically) weaving in both the Whitechapel (a.k.a. Jack the Ripper) murders and grave robbers Burke and Hare, Clemens’ script portrays Jekyll as an admirable if hubris-filled scientist who will stop at nothing for the “greater good” of creating a series of life-saving anti-illness serums — which can only happen if he extends his own lifespan (hence, the sudden switch in focus). Interestingly, Jekyll’s transformation into a woman signals all sorts of provocative sexual and gender-based identity issues: Hyde (Beswick) seems less shocked than thrilled and turned on by her new, sexy body. Does becoming female allow Jekyll to finally explore his sexual desires in the only way possible for such a mono-focused, head-bound individual? Is Jekyll transgendered, at least on a subconscious level? Hyde openly acts upon her sexual desires by aggressively pursuing the man upstairs (Fiander); was Jekyll himself secretly attracted to Fiander all along? Jekyll’s interest in Brodrick never manifests as anything other than a compulsion to “be normal”, whereas Hyde’s interest in Fiander is primal: what does this say about his “real” urges? Meanwhile, when Jekyll visits a morgue attendant to purchase young female bodies for his studies, the attendant openly assumes necrophiliac interests much like his own. While it won’t appeal to purists, Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde is recommended for those who enjoy pushing the limits of literary tropes and classic characters.

Note: As others have pointed out, it helps that Bates and Beswick both possess gender-fluid, similarly structured faces; it’s not hard to imagine them as flip sides of one person.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Ralph Bates as Dr. Jekyll
  • Fine cinematography, direction, and sets

  • A clever, risque script: “I hope you’re not going to choose her; I’ve grown fond of her.”

Must See?
Yes, as an unusual and provocative take on a classic tale.

Categories

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Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb (1971)

Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb (1971)

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“This force may have us trapped — but it fascinates me; it’s part of me!”

Synopsis:
Twenty years after an expedition to Egypt, an archaeologist (Andrew Keir) gives his daughter (Valerie Leon) a ring from a mummified sorceress named Tera (also Leon), hoping it will protect her from Tera’s supernatural forces — but when Keir’s expedition mates begin dying off, he learns that an ambitious colleague (James Villiers) will stop at nothing to secure Tera’s soon-to-be-awoken powers for himself.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Egypt and Egyptology
  • Horror
  • Mummies
  • Possession

Review:
Bond girl Valerie Leon’s bodacious bust:

… is truly the main draw of this silly but atmospherically staged Hammer Studios horror film, which was infamously plagued with production issues: Peter Cushing pulled out one day into filming when his wife was diagnosed with emphysema, then director Seth Holt died on-set five weeks into the six-week filming schedule. DVD Savant writes that this film has “sharply divided horror fans over the years, with most finding it confusing and dull, while a few passionate defenders have hailed it as an underappreciated gem.” He goes on to assert that it suffers from “a script that is both confusing and uninvolving” — a point I would agree with. He writes:

[The film’s] greatest weakness is its failure to make Tera a compelling villain. All we know about her is that she wields great supernatural power, and kills anyone who gets in her way. What are her larger aims? What did she do to make the priests fear her? What is the significance of the torn throats on her victims? Without understanding her motivations, goals, powers or background, Tera becomes a mere abstract concept (Queen of Evil), and not a character. Consequently, it is difficult to find her very menacing or even interesting.

Indeed, if Leon herself weren’t so bewitching to look at, this film would be even more of a clunker (albeit an ambitious one).

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Valerie Leon as Margaret/Tera
  • Some effectively staged, chilling scenes

Must See?
No, though I suppose it’s worth a look if you’re curious.

Links:

Scars of Dracula (1970)

Scars of Dracula (1970)

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“He is the embodiment of all that is evil; he is the very Devil himself.”

Synopsis:
A young man (Dennis Waterman) and his girlfriend (Jenny Hanley) go in search of Waterman’s reckless brother (Christopher Matthews), who is trapped in the castle of Dracula (Christopher Lee) after bedding a vampiress (Anouska Hempel) and invoking Dracula’s wrath. Once there, they receive unexpected help from Dracula’s hairy man-servant (Patrick Troughton), who has an enormous crush on Hanley.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Christopher Lee Films
  • Horror
  • Roy Ward Baker Films
  • Vampires

Review:
It’s difficult to tell why Peary chose to include this sixth of nine Hammer Studios Dracula films in his GFTFF — unless it’s the credentials of director Roy Ward Baker. Sure, it’s both scary and silly (with plenty of bawdy humor), but it’s not focused nearly enough on Dracula, whose “scars” I presume are meant to be those continuously left on the necks of his prey. Instead, the storyline is concerned with a younger brother proving his mettle to a beautiful girl, who has until now been not-so-secretly obsessed with his rakish older brother; to that end it’s a reasonably satisfying tale of a heroic quest, but without much substance. Lee’s make-up is effectively creepy, though.

Note: The other Hammer Dracula titles included in GFTFF are The Horror of Dracula (1958) and The Brides of Dracula (1960).

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Christopher Lee as Dracula

Must See?
No; this one is only must-see for Hammer Studios fans.

Links:

Gorgon, The (1964)

Gorgon, The (1964)

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“I believe in the existence of everything which the human brain is unable to disprove.”

Synopsis:
When a professor (Michael Goodliffe) arrives in a village to investigate the death of his son (Redmond Phillips) and his son’s lover (Sascha Cass), he is turned to stone by a local gorgon, prompting his second son (Richard Pasco) to arrive for further investigation. Pasco soon falls in love with the beautiful assistant (Barbara Shelley) of a doctor (Peter Cushing) concealing evidence of the stony corpses from both Pasco and Pasco’s professor (Christopher Lee), who is convinced the ancient gorgon is embodied in human form.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Christopher Lee Films
  • Folk Tales, Fairy Tales and Mythology
  • Horror
  • Peter Cushing Films

Review:
This Terence Fisher-directed Hammer Studios film is based on an interesting mythological premise — a snake-haired female gorgon who kills people simply by staring at them, turning them to stone (a la Medusa) — but doesn’t quite capitalize on its potential. Lee looks uncomfortable rather than dapper in his tweedy professor gear (and his presence feels gratuitous as the third guest to arrive in town to investigate):

Meanwhile, Cushing’s motives remain unclear throughout, and the solution to the mystery of the gorgon is foreshadowed far too soon. Another problem is the ineffective make-up used for Megaera (the gorgon):

… which can’t hold a candle to the enjoyable special effects used for Medusa in the same year’s 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964).

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Some atmospheric cinematography

Must See?
No; this one is only must-see for Hammer Studios fans.

Links:

Creature From the Haunted Sea (1961)

Creature From the Haunted Sea (1961)

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“As a trained espionage agent, I could tell that she was attracted to me.”

Synopsis:
An American spy (Robert Towne) poses as a gangster to accompany a mobman (Anthony Carbone), a moll (Betsy Jones-Moreland), and two ditzy but loyal assistants (Beech Dickerson and Robert Bean) on a trip smuggling gold out of Castro-led Cuba. Carbone plots to get rid of the Cuban sailors by killing them and pretending it was done by a nefarious sea monster — not realizing such a monster actually exists and is putting all their lives at peril.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • At Sea
  • Cuba
  • Mutant Monsters
  • Roger Corman Films
  • Satires and Spoofs
  • Spies

Review:
This quickie-curiosity by the infamously frugal and industrious producer/director Roger Corman exists solely because Corman wanted to make use of available actors and sets after finishing two other films (Last Woman on Earth and Battle of Blood Island) in Puerto Rico. With Charles B. Griffith on hand to write the script, something at least marginally creative was bound to result, and the storyline does cohere — however, it goes off in countless tangential directions, always aiming for easy laughs, such as Dickerson’s propensity to make various animal noises; Carbone’s likeness to Humphrey Bogart:

… Towne’s dense delusion that Jones-Moreland is desperately in love with him:

… Dickerson and Bean’s silly romances with local women:

… and more, rather than genuine thrills. Jones-Moreland’s focused performance as the crew’s sociopathic beauty is the film’s highlight:

… while its lowlight is undoubtedly the “creature” itself: hard as this is to imagine, it really does seem to win a prize as one of the least convincing, most ridiculous Z-grade cinematic monsters ever created.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • The creative opening animation sequence (by Monte Hellman)

Must See?
No, though Corman fans will be curious to check it out. Listed as a Camp Classic in the back of Peary’s book.

Links:

Salesman (1968)

Salesman (1968)

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“If a guy’s not a success, he’s got nobody to blame but himself.”

Synopsis:
Four luxury-Bible salesmen in Florida experience varying degrees of success while going door to door in low-income neighborhoods.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Documentary
  • Salesmen

Review:
Self-funded by brothers Albert and David Maysles (former salesmen themselves), this “non-fiction feature” offers a pathos-filled glimpse at mid-century American men attempting to make a living by convincing customers they “need” something luxurious. This simple premise generates a surprising amount of tension, as we can’t help wanting the salesmen — particularly sad-sack, overly honest Irishman Paul Brennan — to succeed in their careers, but we also hate seeing vulnerable customers succumb to a pressure-filled sales pitch. The Maysles apparently followed these four men along on their travels, then edited their footage into a compelling narrative — one that happened to document a unique slice of American life along the way. This would make an excellent double-bill, of course, with Death of a Salesman (1951).

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • A moving if depressing look at the life of salesmen in America

  • Many memorable scenes


Must See?
Yes, as a classic American documentary. Selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1992.

Categories

  • Genuine Classic
  • Historical Relevance

Links:

Horror of Party Beach, The (1964)

Horror of Party Beach, The (1964)

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“They are the living dead — they’re zombies!”

Synopsis:
After his girlfriend (Marilyn Clarke) is killed by a radioactive sea creature, a scientist (John Scott) works with his mentor (Allan Laurel) and his mentor’s daughter (Alice Lyon) to help destroy the creatures.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Horror
  • Mutant Monsters

Review:
Del Tenney’s low-budget horror flick combines elements of just about every cinematic trope from the ’60s — biker gangs, beach parties, atomic mutations, slumber parties, folk music, and more — in one feature, complete with ludicrously silly rubber creatures from the deep, terrible acting, “teeny boppers” who appear to actually be in their 20s or 30s, laughably unrealistic sequences, a surf music soundtrack by the Del-Aires, and more. Add in the presence of a concerned, overly solicitous African-American maid (Eulabelle Moore) who’s convinced the creatures are the result of voodoo, and the recipe is set for a cliche-filled adventure only worth the time of true bad movie aficianados.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Effective low-budget cinematography
  • Plenty of humorously bad dialogue, costumes, and special effects:

    “Hey, that reminds me — did I bring my hot dog buns?”
    “Then they CAN be killed — with sodium!”

Must See?
No, but it’s certainly worth a look if you enjoy this kind of flick — especially so with MST3K’s commentary. Listed as a Camp Classic in the back of Peary’s book.

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