THE SHAME OF THE SABINE WOMEN (1962)

This film starts with a five-minute history lesson about the founding of Rome in 753 B.C.E. climaxing with Romulus killing his brother turned rival Remus. Years later, Rome is a great city but it's populated almost entirely by men, something which is never explained. So that Rome will have a future, Romulus sends delegations out to nearby lands in an attempt to barter for groups of women who will become Roman wives and mothers. All their requests are turned down, so Romulus and his chief sidekick Hostus trick Titus Taitus, ruler of the Sabines, into sending their women to Rome for a market festival. The women have a fine time, but when they go to leave, the Romans take them prisoner and the men have a free-for-all gathering in which they claim women as wives. The women are told, "You will find the man you have unconsciously wished for"” Still, this does not go down well with the Sabine women. We follow three primary pairings: Romulus takes Hersilia, a modest and quiet type; Hostus takes Rhea, who is what they might have called in the 1960s a spitfire who never stops fighting back; their friend Horatius takes Agea, whom he tries very hard to comfort and get on his side. In the pages of history, this event is referred to as the "rape of the Sabine Women," and we do see a couple of women being assaulted, but we also see those men whipped in public as punishment. One man who is whipped into unconsciousness is revived by the "wife" he raped, a clue to the sexual politics this movie will espouse: the women eventually, even if it takes years, fall in love with their captors, bear them children, and begin to feel like Romans. One ragtag army tries to fight the Romans but are defeated. Two years later, Titus finally feels like he has gathered an effective army and they attack, but the Sabine mothers rally themselves to protest both sides in the conflict and get the Romans and Sabines to agree to live together. 

According to Wikipedia, the overarching story here is fairly accurate, though of course the character specifics are fictional, even though some real names are used (Romulus, Titus, Hostus). Genre purists might not call this film a peplum because it wasn't made in Italy, but it looks and feels like one. There is little information out there about this Mexican/Spanish movie, perhaps because there was a competing Italian film the year before that stole its thunder. The Rape of the Sabines, aka Romulus and the Sabines, starred a young Roger Moore as Romulus and seems to have been marketed as a comedy adventure. There was also a more legit peplum from 1961, DUEL OF THE TITANS, about Romulus and Remus, which ends where SHAME begins. As a B-adventure, this is OK, though it's not the epic it wants to be. The two battle scenes are poorly handled, generating virtually no excitement. The acting is a smidge better. Wolf Ruvinskis, also a Mexican pro wrestler, is the only cast member to exhibit the physical bearing to play a hero, but his voice in the English dub, done by Paul Frees or an exact soundalike, doesn't do his appearance justice. Alex Johnson (Hostus) and Leandro Vizcaino (Horatius) are handsome and energetic and enough on the hunky side to be effective in their roles. Of the women, Lorena Velazquez is the most effective as Hersilia. Her real-life sister Tere is mostly compelling as the fiery Rhea, but sometimes her reactions are used in a comical manner that doesn't fit the character. Also released as The Rape of the Sabine Women. Pictured are Ruvinskis and Johnson. [YouTube]

THE RETURN OF CHARLIE CHAN (1972/1979 TV-movie)

This Charlie Chan TV-movie reboot is set in the present day (of the 1970s). The retired Hawaiian detective lives on a pineapple farm with his family. His son Stephen is in a rock band, and he delights in the time he spends with his grandchildren, though he is also actively trying to get his kids to stop calling him "Pop." But Chan is coerced out of retirement and heads to Vancouver (accompanied by his stowaway son Peter and daughter Doreen) to help rich Greek tycoon Alex Hadrachi who was shot at on his yacht. Others present, and therefore possible suspects, include Hadrachi's adult children Paul and Irene; Andrew Kidder, an author and old friend of Chan's; Lambert, the head of security on the yacht, who foiled an apparent assassination attempt against Chan at the Vancouver airport; a German couple who own a vineyard; Alex's young second wife Ariane; and actor Noel Adamson who may be flirting with Ariane. Chan notices tensions among most of the yacht occupants, and discovers that not everyone is who they say they are. Kidder's secretary is killed, apparently while he was typing something. Thinking he's unnoticed, Adamson leaves the yacht with Ariane in tow after a party, but Lambert brings them back. It turns out that Ariane has had a number of affairs. The cops suspect Adamson, but Chan's not so sure. There’s another death and another potshot taken at Chan before he gathers the suspects to announce the identity of the killer.

There is a lot of misinformation out there about this movie. It was produced by NBC as a TV pilot in 1972 (some sources actually say 1970 or 1971) but shelved and not broadcast until 1979 (and then as an ABC late night movie). Wikipedia claims it was broadcast on ABC in 1973 which is demonstrably false (I think it's just a typo because they have the month and day of the 1979 showing correct), though it did get a theatrical release in England in 1972 under the title Happiness is a Warm Clue, one of Chan's aphorisms in the film. Following the Hollywood model, Chan is played by a non-Asian actor, Ross Martin—some online sources say the show was originally shelved over PC concerns about having a white actor in the role but that's never been corroborated. He was probably chosen because of his portrayal of Artemus Gordon, master of disguises, in The Wild Wild West, and he's not bad; I like that he downplays the broken English of the 30s and 40s Chan actors though he is still in yellowface makeup (he's pictured at top right). He's lighter on his feet and less heavy than previous portrayers. Second billed is Richard Haydn as Andrew Kidder, who acts for much of the movie as Chan's sidekick. He's quite good, and sounds and acts nothing like he did as Max in The Sound of Music. Leslie Nielsen, who is billed as a guest star, is pretty good as Alex, and he gets to do a Zorba the Greek dance at one point. There is a large supporting cast which is a bit problematic: there are too many characters and they are introduced quickly, so it took me a while to be able to keep track of them. Louise Sorel, who became a renowned soap opera actor, is fine as the wife; the only other standout is Don Gordon (at left) as Lambert. Ultimately though I liked this, and think it could have been the start of a decent series, it didn't quite feel like a Chan mystery, more having the style of a generic TV mystery. Though two children are present, they have little to do and I missed the byplay between Chan and one of his sons. [YouTube; also available on gray market DVDs]

EQUINOX (1970)

David Fielding is running down a highway from an unseen figure, and is knocked over by a speeding car with no driver. A year later, he is still in a hospital, catatonic and diagnosed as a melancholic. A reporter arrives to do a story on him and is allowed to listen to taped interviews done with David a year ago. In flashback, we see David and his friends (Jim, Susan and Vicki) at an isolated cabin to visit their geology teacher, Prof. Waterman, but are dismayed to find his cabin mostly destroyed and him missing. A studly park ranger who calls himself Asmodeus is both friendly and a bit threatening, and warns the kids away from searching for Waterman. But the group persists and runs into a variety of strange occurrences. They see a castle in the distance which later vanishes. Large claw prints are found in the ground. A giggling old man offers to give them an old book which is a "veritable encyclopedia of evil." Eventually Waterman shows up and the kids discover that he has been using the book to conjure up demons (which will come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with the name Asmodeus). We see that a giant tentacled creature (Cthulhu, anyone?) destroyed the cabin. The rest of the movie consists of the group's adventures involving escaping from a giant ape-like creature, a giant shambling man, and the park ranger who tries to rape Vicki. But one by one, the kids are possessed by the devil until only David is left, running for safety as we saw at the beginning. A satanic creature had predicted that David would die in a year and day, which happens to be the very day the reporter has come visiting.

This amateur film was shot over two years' time, finished in 1967, for some $7,000. The director, twenty-year old Dennis Muren, also co-creator of the special effects, used the film as a demo reel in order to get a job in the movie industry, but producer Jack H. Harris saw its potential as a feature film. He hired Jack Woods to direct a new version and got the cast together to shoot new scenes, with Woods himself playing Asmodeus. Released in 1970, it became a minor cult hit. Muren went on to become a creative director at George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic effects studio, and was a celebrity guest on this year's TCM Classic Cruise. The movie largely vanished until Criterion released a deluxe 2-disc version that includes the original demo film. For me, the appeal of this movie is that it feels like something that anyone could have shot in a backyard (indeed, some scenes were shot that way). To say it's rough around the edges is an understatement: the acting is mostly amateurish because most of the actors were indeed amateurs—Barbara Hewitt (Susan) was a Rose Bowl queen; all the dialogue was post-dubbed, sometimes awkwardly; it's full of plot holes. But all that adds to the charm of the film. 

On top of that, the effects, though also rather roughly done, are effective, especially a really creepy flying devil (pictured top right) that swoops down and carries Susan off. Frank Boers Jr., who plays Jim, was the only actor who went on to a professional career, changing his name to Frank Bonner and playing Herb on the long-running series WKRP in Cincinnati; he's quite good and his dubbed dialogue is excellent. (According to the audio commentary, he was the only one of the actors who had much experience and so he dubbed his own lines; the rest of the cast was dubbed by others.) Though shot mostly outdoors and in daylight, a nicely demonic atmosphere is sustained throughout. I watched the original film (66 minutes versus the later version’s 82 minutes) and the story is basically the same, with the order of events shuffled a bit. Both versions are watchable, though the Asmodeus figure really adds a shot of energy to the longer film. The ending is anti-climactic, as though they ran out of time and money to shoot the final scene, though the filmmakers argue that they intended the conclusion to be a bit ambiguous. Both versions have commentaries that are fun to listen to. Pictured at left are Bonner and Edward Connell as David. [DVD]

THE BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW (1971)

In a small British village in the 1700s, a young farmer named Ralph digs up a buried skull with, oddly, one intact eyeball still in place and a patch of fur. Calling it the face of a fiend, he reports it to the local judge but it vanishes before the judge can see it. But this seems to be the catalyst for a number of odd occurrences in the village. Young Peter brings his fiancée Rosalind to stay in the home of his aunt, where the judge is lodging while he's in town, but that night, she claims that she was attacked in the dark and goes a little nuts, barricading herself in her room. She has to be led screaming out of the house, during which time Peter notices that one of her hands has become a furry paw with claws. The next night, Peter is attacked by a clawed creature and tries to chop away at it, only to find he's cut off his own hand. Meanwhile, Reverend Fallowfield is upset at the "insolent ungodliness" being displayed by the young members of his Bible study group who are falling away into a possibly satanic circle (looking a bit like 60s flower children) led by the sexy Angel Blake who tries to seduce Fallowfield and leads her followers in dangerous games, one of which results in the death of a young boy. The upshot of all this: Angel is conducting black masses to resurrect the demon that Ralph found in his field, with fur sprouting on the skin of various body parts of people which are intended to be used in the reconstruction of the demon. The judge, who left town to study up on fighting the devil, returns for the bloody climax at a ritual intended to be the final step in the return of the devil in earthly form.

Over the past few years, a new horror genre has been identified, folk horror, which is, somewhat like film noir, a label that is being retroactively applied to movies from the past. It usually involves the use of rural folklore and pagan or satanic rituals. 1973's The Wicker Man is the most famous movie to receive the folk horror name, with 2019's Midsommar being one of the more obvious recent entries. The problem with the label—as with the noir label—is that it can end up being too inclusive and losing its definitions. Some people call anything that features witchcraft folk horror—early examples supposedly include Night of the Demon, Witchfinder General and The Devil Rides Out, all of which are good movies but on shaky ground as folk horror—and that makes the genre too elastic for my taste. The more the film involves a small community, locally passed-down rituals or actual folklore (The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, The Blair Witch Project), the more it feels like legitimate folk horror. I think this movie fits the bill, though it's unclear how Angel's teen cult comes into being. Did the demon possess her because she touched a claw remnant? Did she have a bent for evil? Did it involve some elements of the village's past? 

A muted color palette and mostly outdoor settings give the film a darkly folkloric feel, with production values that make it seem like a scruffy version of a Hammer movie. The central presence of teenagers as the main cult members feels like a very Seventies strategy, though it also harks back to Arthur Miller's The Crucible. Specifics of the demonic reconstruction are left rather vague, which for me is a fault, keeping me from fully engaging with the plot and characters. Acting is about average, with the only real standout being Linda Hayden as Angel. I appreciate that the judge, the witchfinder stand-in played by Patrick Wymark, is not presented as evil or perverted, but he is also absent for the bulk of the film and his return near the end doesn't feel organic to the narrative, though it is necessary for the town's salvation. But overall, as an example of folk horror, this is worth seeing. An alternate title is Satan's Skin which is actually more appropriate if less interesting. Pictured top right are Linda Hayden and Godfrey James as Angel's father; above left is Simon Williams as Peter.[Streaming]

GIANT FROM THE UNKNOWN (1958)

In Pine Ridge, a small town in a wooded area of California, residents have been dealing with the mysterious mutilation of cattle and horses. Now a man named Banks has been found dead out near Devil's Crag, a spot where geologist Wayne Brooks has been hanging out doing research. The sheriff suspects Brooks, though for no clear reason, or maybe old timer Indian Joe who warns that vengeful Indian spirits may be roaming the area. Enter visiting archeologist Frederick Cleveland and his spunky daughter Janet, searching for the remains of the legendary seven-foot tall Vargas, the Diablo Giant, leader of a group of conquistadors who vanished five hundred years ago. As Wayne cozies up to Janet, the three set up camp at Devil's Crag and, using metal detectors, find some buried conquistador armor and a skull. Also nearby, though they don't see him, is Vargas who has been lying in suspended animation all these years—we're told later that something in the soil might have served as a super-preservative. He dons his armor, grabs an axe, and engages in more mayhem, eventually kidnapping Janet with Wayne, Cleveland, and a posse from the town in pursuit. As monster movies go, this is fairly mild stuff. Though he's definitely menacing looking, Vargas looks more like a cranky old prospector with a mud-caked face. Six-foot-seven Buddy Baer, who plays him (pictured), was the uncle of Max Baer who played Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies and he's reasonably effective in the dialogueless role. The rest of the actors are just about adequate. Ed Kemmer (Wayne) was the star of an early 50s TV show called Space Patrol and had a long career in television. He has a heroic bearing but never comes off as very commanding. Sally Fraser (Janet) is fine and has decent chemistry with Kemmer. 1930s western star Bob Steele is colorless as the sheriff though Morris Ankrum is a bit more energetic as Cleveland. When we first see Vargas, he appears to be awakening from his long sleep, so I was uncertain if he was indeed responsible for the earlier mayhem. Maybe it was Indian Joe the whole time (though he becomes a casualty of Vargas' rampage). At the end (spoiler!) Vargas falls into a waterfall and is assumed to die, but the promise of a sequel does hang in the air, though it never happened. This B-film is no gem but it’s fine fodder for Chiller Theater night. [YouTube]

KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (1963)

At a funeral in a Bavarian village, Prof. Zimmer arrives and thrusts a shovel into the coffin. From inside comes a scream and a flow of blood. Has a vampire just been destroyed? Next we see a honeymooning couple, Gerald and Marianne, run out of gas and take a room at an inn where Zimmer, an alcoholic, happens to be staying. Dr. Ravna, the owner of a huge nearby castle, sends the couple an invitation to dinner which they are happy to accept. The next night, they attend Ravna's elaborate masked ball and we soon discover Ravna's secret: he is a vampire and is the head of a vampire cult whose members wear white robes for their meetings. Marianne is spirited away and given an initial bite, and Ravna plans for her full initiation into vampirehood the next night. A drugged Gerald is returned to the inn alone and the innkeeper denies that Marianne ever existed. Luckily, Gerald gets help from Zimmer, whose own daughter had become a victim of the cult (and whom Zimmer destroyed in the opening scene). The two men engage in what Bram Stoker, in Dracula, called "wild work" in an attempt to free Marianne from the cult's bondage. Plotwise, this Hammer horror film doesn’t stray far from their 1960s formula as established in the 1958 HORROR OF DRACULA. Though Dracula is not a character, there is a European village, scared villagers, busty women, blood trickling from lips, and brave men trying to save a young woman from a fate worse than death. The addition of the Satanic-like cult is welcome, and the typical baroque and colorful sets are effective. Zimmer doesn't quite have the solid authoritative personality that Van Helsing does, but Gerald is glad to have anyone on his side. The final scene in which Zimmer conjures up evil to fight evil is one of Hammer's better climaxes. Acting is so-so. Noel Willman as Ravna is OK as a decadent castle owner but not as commanding as he should be as a vampire. Clifford Evans is better as Zimmer, but none of the characters have much presence which waters down to some degree how invested we are in Marianne's rescue. Still, I give points for the cult and for the ending. Also for a scene in which a potential victim scares away a vampire by making a crucifix shape in blood on his chest. Directed by Don Sharp who later did a couple of the Christopher Lee Fu Manchu movies. Pictured is Clifford Evans. [DVD]

ATTACK OF THE MAYAN MUMMY (1964)

Dr. Munson is leaving his old life as a TV commentator behind as he is tired of chasing empty dreams of riches and glory, and tells a reporter an improbable story from his past. Munson worked with a doctor named Redding who dabbled in hypnotic regression though Munson was eventually ousted from his job. Redding's best subject was Ann Taylor who apparently lived a previous life as a Mayan princess. She was sacrificed to the gods but knew the location of a Mayan breastplate which is the key to finding a hidden treasure, though it is supposedly guarded by a mummy. Munson, through Redding's teenage stepson Timmy, keeps tabs on Redding and his plan to head to the Yucatan with Ann, find the Mayan pyramid where the treasure is, and take it. When they get there, the mummy kills Redding and is taken back to Pasadena to be studied. The mummy gets all hot and bothered for Ann and kidnaps her, but both are killed in a car accident. Back in the frame story, the reporter decides that Munson’s tale is too far fetched for publication and tosses the story in a wastebasket.

This movie was put together by B-film producer and director Jerry Warren who was notorious for buying the rights to foreign films, usually horror or sci-fi, cutting them up and piecing them back together with cheaply shot new footage with different actors, sometimes shot years after the original film. This is Warren’s version of the 1957 Mexican film The Aztec Mummy. Munson's story, shot by Jerry Warren, is cut into huge chunks of the original Aztec Mummy movie. The characters from that movie have new names—Redding is Alamada (Ramon Gay, pictured) and Ann is Flora (Rosita Arenas)—and any footage that even comes close to being exciting or scary is from the original film (probably half of this movie's 75 minute running time). But Warren didn't bother to dub that dialogue; instead, we get narration from Munson over virtually every scene with people talking. Most of Warren's footage consists of two dumpy guys talking (Munson and the reporter, Munson and a former colleague). The scene that gets the most attention from online critics features Munson getting info from Timmy in a soda shop where we are distracted from dumpiness by watching teenagers dance rather badly. Without the context of how this was put together, I imagine this would be nigh unto impossible to sit through. Luckily (one way of putting it), I came to this after watching the original Aztec Mummy trilogy so I had some fun seeing how footage was appropriated and how relationships among characters were altered. For the record, George Mitchell is Munson and Bruno VeSota, a B-actor who has a bit of a cult following, is the reporter. Do I recommend this? Hell, no. But if you've seen The Aztec Mummy, you might get a mild kick out of this. [DVD]

THE LIVING HEAD (1963)

In 1525 Mexico, we see an elaborate Aztec human sacrifice ritual. The great warrior Acatl has been killed in battle and a cowardly soldier blamed for his death is sacrificed to the goddess Quadiliku by having his heart ripped out. Acatl's head is buried in a tomb, and the high priest Xiu proclaims that he and the high priestess Xochiquetzal are to be buried alive in the tomb to protect Acatl should his tomb be profaned. In 1963, Professor Muller and his assistants Charlie and Tony find the tomb with the head of Acatl (whom Muller, in the English dub, refers to as a "great military celebrity") still intact. Also intact is the body of Xochiquetzal, though it quickly crumbles to dust, and the beefy body of Xiu, holding a large ceremonial knife, which does not crumble. A "ring of death" is also found which sometimes glows and which Muller unwisely gives to his daughter Martha. Muller takes all his booty to his home to examine further, though Martha's boyfriend Robert thinks it all belongs in a museum. Another unwise thing that Muller does is to ignore a parchment that mentions a curse on all defilers. Soon, Charlie is found stabbed to death, then Tony, with a knife very much like Xiu's. The ring that Martha wears allows Xiu to control her. The last person Xiu needs to kill is Prof. Muller, and it looks like Xiu will enlist the unwilling Martha, who looks a lot like the gone-to-dust Xochiquetzal, to help out.

This cheapie Mexican horror film is a rehash of ideas from the Universal Mummy movies of the 1930s and 40s, even though the mummy character, Xiu, doesn't look at all like a mummy in his Aztec garb and face paint, though the way he stands still in his stand-up coffin conjures up Boris Karloff in the opening scene of the first Mummy movie. The opening segment in 1525 is nicely done, with lots of extras and good sets, but the rest of the movie looks cheap, shot almost entirely in Muller's house. The ring of death is a silly gimmick; even when Martha has gotten rid of the ring, she is still under Xiu's power so there seems no reason for it to exist. Ana Luisa Peluffo plays both Martha and Xochiquetzal; it could be that when the Aztec priestess crumbles, her spirit enters Martha's body, but that’s never clarified. Oddly, Mauricio Garces plays both Robert and the head of Acatl, though I didn't notice this during the movie—as Robert, Garces resembles Clark Gable, and as the head, he just opens his eyes occasionally and glowers. The creepiest scene for me is when a big spider crawls across Acatl's face. (BTW, the way that Acatl's name is pronounced causes the auto-generated subtitles to interpret it as "a cuddle" which made me chuckle every time.) Guillermo Cramer has the thankless role of Xiu (pictured), looking moderately threatening most of the time. Abel Salazar, a prolific filmmaker and actor, plays the fairly unimportant role of the cop whose men continue to shoot at Xiu even though bullets don't hurt him. He also produced the film. Directed by the even more prolific Chano Urueta—over 100 credits on IMDb. The English dub (original title: La cabeza viviente) was produced by the infamous K. Gordon Murray. Mostly slow and dull. [YouTube]

TEENAGE ZOMBIES (1959)

We meet cleancut teenagers Reggie and Julie at the Campus House soda shop, meeting their friends Skip and Pam to go water skiing at a nearby lake. Reggie makes plans to pick up their friends Morrie and Dot at a horse ranch when they get back. Skip tells Reggie about the existence of an island several miles out, and when they get there, they think the beach would make a great spot for summer partying. Soon they see disheveled laborers (who look "doped or dead or something" according to Reggie) led by a sexy lady in an evening gown and cape. When they try to leave the island, they discover their boat is missing. The boys seek help at the only house they can find; the gowned lady, a Dr. Myra, invites them in but insists she knows nothing about the boat. She takes them to a basement laboratory where Ivan, a hulking zombie assistant, has Julie and Pam in cages. He tosses the boys in as well, and when Reggie asks, "What kind of creep joint is this?" she replies, "A place where science is free from the interference of stupid politicians!" Myra is working with two agents to develop a gas that, when dropped from the air, will paralyze the will of people and turn them into mindless zombies. Their bosses ("from the East") are pressuring Myra to deliver the gas now even though she hasn't worked out all the kinks, so she plans on making the teenagers her next and final subjects. Meanwhile, Morrie and Dot, concerned that their friends never showed up, come to the island looking for them. A run-in with Myra convinces them that all is not well and back on the mainland, they get the sheriff to go with them to the island. But the sheriff is actually in cahoots with Myra; he has been providing her with drunks and lawbreakers for her experiments. Now it's six teenagers versus four adults and some zombies (and, oh yeah, a completely ineffective gorilla). The bad guys don't have a chance.

Critics really hate this movie, and with good reason. The director is Jerry Warren, renowned for his amateurish B-films; it's cheaply made with sets that are just a notch above Ed Wood sets; the 70 minute movie is padded out with long scenes of the teenagers walking from place to place; the final fisticuffs scene is people rolling around on the floor waiting for the director to explain his vision; the adult actors, especially Katherine Victor as Myra, are terrible; despite the title, there are no teenage zombies (though Julie and Pam are briefly stupefied by the gas), nor are there many teenagers—the "teen" actors whose birth dates could be verified are all between 25 and 30, and only Morrie (Jay Hawk) looks like he might be a teen. Actually, there are damn few zombies of any kind; aside from the string of laborers we see near the beginning, creepiness is supplied only by the mute and scruffy Ivan (Chuck Niles, a jazz DJ in real life). But I sat through this movie and must take my pleasures where I can get them, with the six teenagers. They are all attractive and are more adept at dialogue than most of the adults. Don Sullivan (Reggie) had a short career in the late 50s in B-films (see THE GIANT GILA MONSTER) and TV, and he and Paul Pepper (Skip) are believable protagonists. The other teens (Jay Hawk, Mitzi Albertson, Brianne Murphy and Nan Green) hold their own. Katherine Victor's bland performance as Myra sinks any possibility this movie had for being a camp classic; an over-the-top performance in the main villain role would have been welcome, though Victor does get to wear, by my count, three different evening gowns (sometimes with a lab coat), doing none of them justice. Whatever you do, don't pay to watch this, but as a YouTube algorithm discovery, this was bearable. There is conflicting information about the movie's date. It was made in 1957 and got a general release in 1960, but played some theaters in 1959. Pictured are Sullivan, Pepper, and Victor. [YouTube]

TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972)

While taking a tour of old catacombs, five people get separated from the group and wind up in a room with a robed and hooded man seated on a stone throne in front of a rock background sculpted like a skull face. This man, the crypt keeper, tells them, one by one, stories that they think will predict their future. 1) On Christmas Eve, while her little restless daughter waits in bed for Santa Claus to arrive, Joan Collins kills her husband, drags his body out of the living room, and cleans (astonishingly well) the bloody white carpet where she attacked him. Meanwhile, the radio reports that a murderous lunatic dressed in a Santa suit has escaped a nearby asylum. Of course, he shows up at her door (pictured at left). 2) Ian Hendry has run away from his wife with his mistress (Angela Grant), but their car goes off the road during a storm and catches fire in a ravine. Hendry comes to, having been thrown from the car, doesn’t see Grant, and leaves the scene. As he makes his way home, every person he has contact with looks at him and screams. Finally finding Grant alive and at her home (which was supposed to be their new home), he discovers that more than a year has passed since the accident, and also discovers why he is eliciting shrieks of horror from all who see him. 3) Upper-crust Robin Phillips is upset that his elderly neighbor's (Peter Cushing) house is in disrepair and his antics while entertaining neighborhood children are bothersome. Phillips gets Cushing's beloved but noisy dogs confiscated, spreads rumors that Cushing is a child molester, and on Valentine's Day, sends him dozens of cruel valentines supposedly from the neighbors. Cushing kills himself. A year later, Cushing climbs out of his grave and visits Phillips, and pulls his own bloody Valentine's Day prank.

4) Richard Greene tells his wife (Barbara Murray) that his business dealings have gone sour and he has to sell off his art collection. But when Murray runs across an ancient Chinese statuette that promises the owner three wishes, she wishes for money. She gets her wish, but only because her husband is killed in a car accident and she inherits his insurance. Her lawyer (Roy Dotrice) points out the similarity of her situation to the one in the famous tale The Monkey's Paw but she ignores him and wishes for Greene to be returned as he was just before the accident. She comes to regret her wish as well as the one she tries to use to set things right. 5) Nigel Patrick, a former army officer, takes over the running of a home for the blind, bringing his faithful German Shepherd with him. Patrick runs the place with a tight fist, cutting back on food, heat, and blankets to save money. After trying to talk Patrick into changing his ways, Patrick Magee, one of the patients, leads the rest in a plot for revenge in which the dog plays a big part. Finally, the five listeners realize that, rather than the future, the Crypt Keeper has told them their recent pasts before they are sent through a passageway leading to Hell.

In the early 1950s, EC Comics published a popular line of horror comic books with titles like Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, and Weird Fantasy. The stories, like similar stories that Rod Serling wrote a few years later for The Twilight Zone, were usually ironic tales of revenge, with gory details in the artwork, and often a darkly humorous twist. As they appealed to children, censorship problems broke out and EC quit publishing the line in 1955. Since then, they have reprinted often, and a TV series, Tales of the Crypt, had a long run on HBO. This British anthology film from Amicus dramatized five EC stories, two of which I have vivid memories of from paperback reprints in the 60s: "And All Through the House," the Christmas story, and "Wish You Were Here," the Monkey’s Paw adaptation,  both of which had particularly disturbing final panels. This movie has a PG rating, so the visuals are not as explicit as the comics were, but still there are a few nice horror jolts here along the way. The Santa story and the Valentine's story, are the best vignettes here, with the final story the weakest, partly because it's too long and partly because it strains credibility. The acting is adequate, with Ralph Richardson effortlessly taking the honors as the Crypt Keeper—he's never referred to by that name in the movie but in the comics, a different version of him narrates the stories—a role he apparently filmed in one day. Joan Collins and Peter Cushing are also good. Your reaction to Patrick Magee (pictured at right) will depend on your reaction to his over-the-top style, which I happen to like. The production values are not especially high but, like the acting, they're adequate. It’s been pointed out that not all the main characters deserve to be sent to Hell, but there’s no need to think about that too much. I reviewed the sequel, THE VAULT OF HORROR in 2023. [Streaming]