BLACKHAWK (1952 serial)

Blackhawk and his associates (also known as Blackhawks) are a gang of pilots who go after spies for the government with, as the credits tell us every episode, "no weapons but their strong fists and alert minds," though they are not above using a gun if one finds its way into their hands. This 15-chapter serial features three fairly distinct plotlines, all involving a group of Eastern European spies led by the exotic Laska, who takes her orders from a Leader whose face we never see until the last chapter. The first three chapters feature Laska trying to get Stan, one of the Blackhawks whom she knew back home (in a land that, we are told, is now "in the hands of the Reds") to join her side. When he refuses, he is kidnapped and his twin brother Boris is planted at Blackhawks HQ for sabotage. The first fisticuffs scene occurs at nine minutes in and one happens at least once an episode—they are good, energetic fight scenes often done in long takes. By episode 4, with Boris taken care of, Laska's gang goes after an electronic combustion ray being worked on by Prof. Rolf that could eventually destroy an entire city. (In serials like this, it always seems to come as a surprise to inventors that such a device might be used for nefarious purposes.) Blackhawk asks Rolf to see a demonstration of what he calls "the secret device you've been secretly developing." Laska's gang tries to get the ray and when that fails, they kidnap the professor to make him develop a new ray for them. There are fights on a city street and in an oil field leading to the spectacular destruction of many of the towers in the field. In chapter 7, a new MacGuffin is introduced: Element X, a theoretically inexhaustible fuel, a vial of which gets tossed about between the good guys and bad guys for the next eight chapters until we finally see the Leader (a disappointing and predictable personage) who himself turns against Laska, accusing her of "selfishly thinking of yourself," though both are brought down in the end.

This Columbia serial came fairly late in the serial era but it's a pretty good one. Some pros: the emphasis on three different stories makes each episode seem a little less repetitious, even though they really are—someone or something is captured, people chase and fight, and someone is put in mortal danger at the cliffhanger. Almost all of the vigorous fight scenes are pulled off well. The larger scale destruction moments are effective, and one chapter that takes place in Mexico feels fairly fresh. Some weak points: the bad guys are, as usual, not well differentiated, though there's one who looks like Jerry Stiller who I could always tell apart. The promise of exciting flying scenes is mostly unfulfilled; despite the Blackhawks being pilots, most of the action happens on the ground, though there is one nice moment involving a parachuting man trying to catch a man whose parachute didn't open. The bad guys move to new hideouts in almost every chapter, but the interiors are all the same. This is made light of a couple of times when both good guys and bad guys wonder out loud why the hideouts all look alike. The acting is very good by serial standards. Kirk Alyn, the first live-action Superman (in a 1948 serial), is Blackhawk and he's fine, though his second-in-command (John Crawford as Chuck) outshines him in looks and acting, seeming more fully engaged in scenes of both talk and action. Busy character actor Rick Vallin nicely handles the dual role of Stan and Boris, though later he drops in and out at various places along the way. There are four other Blackhawks whom we see occasionally; they seem to live together at HQ and I would like to have seen more scenes in which they fought as a team. We never learn Blackhawk's real name. Seen with chapters spaced out over a few days, this was enjoyable and I recommend it to serials fans. The YouTube print is pristine and probably came from a DVD remaster. The serial is also known as Blackhawk: Fearless Champion of Freedom and The Miraculous Blackhawk. Pictured are Crawford and Alyn. [YouTube]

THE RESURRECTION OF ZACHARY WHEELER (1971)

A couple making out while driving crash into a car driven by Senator Zachary Wheeler (Bradford Dillman, at right). TV reporter Harry Walsh (Leslie Nielsen) is on the scene and rides in the ambulance that delivers the gravely injured Wheeler to a hospital. Walsh's station puts the story on the air, but later Walsh is told that Wheeler was never taken to the hospital, and Wheeler's office claims that the senator, who is considered a leading candidate for the presidency, is on a fishing trip and will be back soon. We see that Wheeler has been whisked away to a secret medical facility in New Mexico to be given an experimental treatment by Dr. Redding (James Daly) and Dr. Johnson (Angie Dickinson) in which Wheeler's DNA is implanted through an osmosis process into a "compatible life form," what they call a soma or what we would call a partially formed clone, which is then harvested for internal organs to be transplanted into Wheeler, making him as good as new, while the clone is then destroyed. Wheeler is horrified, especially when Redding tells him that the process must remain secret because the key to what could be eternal life can only be shared with the few important people, not the common many. The entire project has been run and funded by Hugh Fielding, who heads a committee which is called upon to select who might get the process. We cut back and forth between the recovering Wheeler having philosophical debates with the doctors about the ethics of what they’re doing and Walsh sneaking into the medical facility, trying to expose the operation. 

I assumed from the look and feel of this that it was a TV movie, but actually it was one of the first theatrical movies to be shot on videotape and transferred to film. (The 1965 Harlow biopic with Carol Lynley was made in a similar way though it looks worse, more like a cheap and murky theatrical feature than a TV movie.) The film is interesting if not fully successful, better at presenting ideas than at building a compelling narrative. The presence of the clones is unsettling, as are the ideas being promulgated by Fielding and Redding. But an atmosphere of fear and paranoia is never fully developed, adding to the TV- movie feel. The actors are fine. Nielsen is central to the first half but later fades away a bit. Dillman, Dickinson, and Daly are good. The discussions about ethics between Wheeler and Johnson are used partly to deepen Wheeler's character, making him a rare political good guy in 1970s cinema. Some viewers don't like the ambiguous ending: Johnson is injured in a car crash and Redding uses the process on her, though we don't see that outcome. Also, [spoiler] before we learn if Walsh and Wheeler will in fact go public with what they know, it's announced that Chinese premier Chou En-Lai has had a coronary and will be flown in to New Mexico to receive the cloning treatment. The film ends at that point. (Some critics and viewers miss this reference, and thus a major plot point, with one IMDb commenter interpreting the name as "Joanne Lie.") The ethical issues raised here remain relevant, and though Fielding is presented as fairly villainous, Redding and Johnson are less one-note. Interesting movie that I wish looked better. [YouTube]

CROW HOLLOW (1952)

Ann meets a doctor named Bob, they have a week-long whirlwind romance, and they get married. Mrs. Wilson, a dying patient who knew Bob's family, tells Ann to take good care of him, but to avoid going to Crow Hollow, the family's country home. The land was known for its gatherings of crows which were said to bring bad luck, though they rarely show up now. But Bob decides they should live at Crow Hollow, and be taken care of by his three older aunts: Aunt Judith who collects insects (her giant Australian spider freaks Ann out), Aunt Hester who does parish charity work and is known for her somewhat mysterious but therapeutic soups, and Aunt Opal who runs the house. Ann begins to adjust to the kindly aunts, though she does complain to Bob that she feels like she's just a guest in the house and would like to get their own home soon. Complicating matters even more is Willow, the young paid companion who seems rather haughty and acts coldly toward Ann. There is some mystery about Willow's background which is clarified a bit when Ann meets Diana, daughter of the now-dead Mrs. Wilson, who says that Willow had been her mother's maid. Ann also learns that Bob's mother, who was not well liked by the aunts, died young. The crows begin to return to the land, and when Ann is sickened by (she thinks) one of Hester's soups, she decides to leave for London, but when she enters her room, she finds Willow dead, stabbed in the back while wearing a dress of Ann's. The police are called in but Ann worries that she was the intended victim, and one day, she discovers that Bob has been called away on a phony case and she's alone with the aunts, one of whom or all of whom might want her dead.

Not so much noir as gothic lite, this B-melodrama has a lot of things going for it. The plot, while largely a rehash of any number of other damsel-in-distress stories, is solid and subverts one of the gothic genre's primary plotlines: instead of the young bride's husband acting menacing in an old dark house, we have three relatively friendly old ladies maybe being menacing in a brightly lit country house—as I recall, most of the scenes are set in daylight. The aunts mostly don't come off as threatening (though they do act a bit controlling) so for half the movie, we're not sure if Ann is really in danger or just imagining things. The house, while not ostentatiously creepy, does come to feel unsettling. I wasn't terribly familiar with the cast but the acting is fine, especially Natasha Parry as Anne (a little edgy without seeming too paranoid), Donald Houston as Bob (nice looking and, we're pretty sure, a nice guy, or is he?), Patricia Owens as Willow (trampy and secretive), and Melissa Stribling in the small role of Diana. The aunts don't draw a lot of attention to themselves and I found it difficult to tell them apart, but that's not really a problem. The movie has a drab look and though it's low-key feel is mostly welcome, it would benefit from a good background score—there is almost no music—to heighten the tension. Worth a view for fans of the gothic melodrama. Pictured are Perry and Houston. [YouTube]

BATMAN AND ROBIN (1949 serial)

Cranky old professor Hamill has invented a device that can, through remote control, take over the running of any vehicle, even able to force it off a cliff. But the prototype of the machine is stolen from a research plant by the cowled and masked villain The Wizard. The machine is powered by diamonds so he and his henchmen have to pull of some diamond robberies as they stay one step ahead of Commissioner Gordon and the police, who are getting help from the costumed crimefighters Batman (actually idle playboy Bruce Wayne) and Robin (actually his young ward Dick Grayson). Hamill is confined to a wheelchair, helped by his valet Carter, but we see that he can, in secret, seat himself in an electrified chair and regain the power to walk again. For most of the serial’s running time, we are led to believe that Hamill is the Wizard, though why he would want to steal his own invention is not made clear. Another suspicious character is radio host Barry Brown who is constantly reporting on the Wizard's next activities. Gordon thinks Brown has an inside source (duh!) but Batman and Robin begin to wonder if Brown himself could be the Wizard. The good guys chase the bad guys for fifteen chapters before the Wizard is finally unmasked.

There is so much wrong with this that I feel I should make note of the good things first. Overall, in terms of narrative, it's not quite as repetitious as your average serial of the era, and the cliffhangers are mostly adequate: an exploding plane, electrocution by iron rod, poison gas, a warehouse on fire, a fall from a tall building. A machine that can neutralize the remote control device appears on the scene, and the Wizard uses it and the other device in tandem to become invisible—though because they can quickly overheat, threatening to catch fire, he can only remain invisible for a short time. Robert Lowery, a B-favorite of mine, is fine as Batman, though his costume is a bit ill-fitting and you can tell it's difficult for him to see out of his equally ill-fitting bat-mask. Johnny Duncan is OK as Robin, though as Dick Grayson he looks a bit like a curly-haired, pug-nosed ruffian who says his lines like he's always pissed off. I didn’t like him at first but he grew on me. Lyle Talbot, who has almost 350 credits on IMDb, is his laconic self as Gordon. The handsome Rick Vallin (pictured at left) is quite good as the cocky and suspicious Barry Brown—he has a big scene in the climax but unless I missed something, we never quite learn if he's an active bad guy or not. Photographer Vicki Vale is played well by Jane Adams but she's a predictable pain in the ass, especially her complaining about the laziness of Bruce Wayne. Her brother Jimmy is a moderately interesting character; we assume he's a good guy but he's involved in the Wizard's gang, though he does try to un-ensnare himself in a memorable scene.

Now for the problems. The bad guys in their suits and hats are largely indistinguishable from each other and have no personality. William Fawcett as Hamill is pretty awful, stuck in a one-note performance as a mean old man. His ability to walk seems like it's a secret, but near the end, he walks about plainly and no one questions it. There is no Batmobile, just a big car which is parked at least once right in front of Bruce Wayne's house. For a couple of chapters, the bad guys inexplicably shift their focus to a new explosive, the X-90, which is then quickly forgotten. Fisticuff scenes are pulled off OK but are surprisingly short. Some viewers are put off by the Bat Signal being used and fully visible in broad daylight, but I didn't mind. Alfred the butler is present but is a total non-entity. Speaking of non-entities, the Wizard is ultimately revealed to be a very minor character and we get no explanation as to why he's been so (moderately) evil. Fifteen chapters is certainly four or five too many, but despite my criticisms, I enjoyed watching this over a period of weeks—it ran on Saturday mornings on TCM, and I recorded them and watched two or three chapters at a time. Is it worse than the 1943 Batman serial (with different actors in the lead roles)? Both are low-budget somewhat scruffy productions, and they seem pretty equal to me. [TCM]

THREE STEPS IN THE DARK (1953)

Cranky old rich man Arnold Burgoyne has gathered his heirs (two nephews and a niece) to his estate at Clarendon to hash out his affairs, and to figure out if he needs to make a new will. Philip and his wife Dorothy breed racehorses on a large chunk of land nearby and he claims not to want any money or the estate. Sophy is a successful mystery author who seems to be well-liked by the old man. The problem relative is Henry. Arnold paid for his education with the intention of hiring him someday to be the estate manager at Clarendon, and eventually leaving him the estate. However, Arnold has a big problem with Henry's fiancée Esme, whom he has discovered is not officially divorced from her previous husband, and he announces that, if Henry doesn't leave Esme, he will leave the property to his long-suffering housekeeper, the elderly Mrs. Riddle. With the old man's lawyer present, tensions are high and Esme, without telling anyone, decides to leave and catch a train to London that night. Henry leaves to take a long walk and think things over. Philip goes into the study to talk to Arnold. Mrs. Riddle hears two shots from the room and Philip reports that Arnold is dead. He claims the old man was shot from outside and that the second shot was Philip shooting through the window at a shape he saw. Esme and Henry return to the house and when Inspector Forbes arrives, he puts everyone under house arrest until the killer is caught. Henry comes down with a bad case of the flu, though Sophy suspects that someone is poisoning his medicine. We see that Philip may have the hots for Dorothy, and the butler, Stokes, is caught making a suspicious phone call. Sophy helps investigate, though she's still a suspect. Who did it and why? And is another murder in the offing?

This is pretty much the very definition of a British "quota quickie," a short B-movie made to satisfy a regulation that a certain percentage of films in British theaters had to be locally made. There's nothing special about this, but also nothing really wrong with it either. Everything, from the writing to the acting to the direction, is B-level, so it comes off as a well-made TV-movie. The biggest names are Norwegian born Greta Gynt as Sophy, Hugh Sinclair (who played the Saint in two British B-films a few years earlier) as Philip, and Sarah Lawson (the put-upon wife in THE DEVIL RIDES OUT) as Dorothy. Katie Johnson (in the small role of Mrs. Riddle) won a BAFTA award a couple years later as the little old lady in THE LADYKILLERS. There is no real standout performance, though there’s also no weak link either. This film was considered lost for many years and was eventually unearthed and released on home video. The worst thing I can say about this movie is that it’s sad that virtually no attempt is made at creating an interesting visual atmosphere, which leads to a distinct lack of tension. Still, I don't feel my hour was wasted. Pictured are Gynt and Sinclair. [YouTube]

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]

THE MUMMY AND THE CURSE OF THE JACKALS (1969/1986)

Amateur archeologist David Barrie lives in Las Vegas and keeps two coffins in his somewhat dilapidated house. They were being transported from Egypt when the plane they were on crashed and they wound up in Lake Mead from where David retrieved them. One, a glass coffin, contains the perfectly preserved body of a 4,000 year old princess named Akana; the other stores the mummified body of a fellow named Sirakh. Any classic-era Mummy movie fans will figure out quickly that there is a curse involved with these two, and that Sirakh is the guardian of Akana. Akana is set to wake up soon, and thoughtfully, her father gave her the gift of being able to know the language of whatever land she's in when she wakes up. At the full moon, anyone who is in the presence of the princess is cursed with turning into a were-jackal. David knows all this and, in the spirit of blasphemous fun, decides to spend the next full moon night in the coffin room. Surprise! He turns into a human jackal, then goes nuts, assaulting and killing some cops and winos on the streets of Vegas. The next day, Akana has come to life and we learn her mission is to spread the worship of the rightful Egyptian gods to the whole world. David, her new acolyte, teaches her how to put on a bra (!) and dresses her up to go out on the town with his friends. She also wears a snake ring with mildly hypnotic effects. But soon Sirakh, with one bulging eye, a pot belly, and oven mitts on his hands, awakens and goes on a bit of a rampage, winding up in a strip club and killing a dancer in an Egyptian headdress. In the end, a bit ramshackle because of the circumstances of filming (see below), Akana disintegrates as the mummy and the jackal fight in a lake.

This was apparently filmed in 1969, but funding dried up and the movie was never really finished. A feature length version of the footage was pieced together and released on home video in 1986 and has garnered a bit of a cult reputation since then. (There are unsubstantiated rumors that it played at a theater in LA in 1969, and I did find a newspaper press release from that year that mentions the movie has been finished.) The director, Oliver Drake, was mostly known as a writer, having worked on over a hundred screenplays and teleplays. It will not come as a surprise that he did uncredited work on Universal's THE MUMMY'S CURSE, which the plot of this film resembles a bit (not to mention that its Egyptian temptress is named Ananka). I'll try to ignore comparisons to the work of Ed Wood; instead, I’ll say this felt like chunks of a home movie that some enthusiastic amateurs who lived in Las Vegas were putting together. There are two professionals in the cast. Anthony Eisley, of whom I have fond memories from the 1960s TV show Hawaiian Eye, is David, and though he seems uncomfortable at times, he gives it his all. Old reliable John Carradine showed up for probably a day's worth of work and delivered a bunch of (mostly non-essential) backstory. Robert Alan Browne, as David's buddy Bob, had a decent career in small roles through the 1990s. Most of the rest of the cast didn't go on to other film roles. Marliza Pons (Akana) was a belly dancer in Vegas, and perhaps coached the dancing girl who gets attacked by the mummy. The production has the cheap and sleazy look of a Herschell Gordon Lewis movie like 2000 MANIACS. The mummy costume looks like it was slapped together in a hurry–when he shambles about the Vegas strip, onlookers are more amused than scared—and the were-jackal makeup is not terrible, even if it looks like a cross between a bear and a dog. Honestly, the best thing about this movie is the soundtrack, a mish-mash of jazz, lounge music, sci-fi sounds, organ funk, and rock. Bad movie fans will have fun with this as will fans of Eisley (there must be a few more out there like me!). Pictured at top is Pons; at right, Browne and Eisley. [Streaming]

DEVILS OF DARKNESS (1965)

In 1600s rural France, Count Sinistre was buried alive for his decadent behavior. Some time later (the timelines in this film are unclear), an acolyte in a red robe helps facilitate the resurrection of Sinistre as a vampire (again, how it's done is unclear). During a gypsy wedding in the woods, Tania and Bruno have a blood commingling ceremony during which a huge bat flies in and Tania falls dead. After her burial, Sinistre awakens her and claims her as his vampire bride. In the present day, a group of tourists are staying at an inn in Brittany. Paul, a writer, pals around with two spelunking lads (Dave and Keith) and their friend Anne (Keith's sister), and a visiting antiques dealer named Madeleine encourages them to witness a local All Souls' Day ritual. In the caves, they run across a stone coffin; Keith is left dead and Dave is never seen again. We see the mourning Anne meet up with the suave and caped Armond (actually Sinistre) as she walks by a lake, and soon she is found drowned in that lake. The official consensus is that the she committed suicide, but between noticing bite marks on Keith's neck and finding a silver bat-shaped talisman near the lake, Paul is suspicious. Back in London, Paul keeps up ties with Madeleine, who runs a hip antiques shop called the Odd Spot where she is inclined to throw decadent parties. Sinistre, as Armond, is also in London as an artist, with the gypsy girl Tania as his wife, and he wants his talisman back. Paul meets and is taken with the voluptuous Karen, an employee at the shop, and Sinistre decides to hold Karen as a hostage to get his talisman back. Oh yeah, Sinistre, in league with Madeleine, is the head of a Satanic cult who throw their own decadent parties, at one of which, held at a country estate, things come to a climax that ends in fire and destruction.

Many critics don’t like this B-film from Planet Productions because they assume it's trying to be Hammer lite (no gore or heaving bosoms). Well, it is and that's fine. I like that it has a Dennis Wheatley (THE DEVIL RIDES OUT) feel, as it throws vampires, Satanists, black magic and even voodoo into the mix. The film has a drab visual look except for the wild parties, and the acting is a bit all over the place. One of my B-movie favorites, William Sylvester (Paul), is maybe a bit too low-key for the proceedings, and Hubert Noel (Sinistre) is not terribly charismatic and rarely as threatening as he should be. But the women are fine (and sexy): Carole Gray as Tania, Tracy Reed as Karen, and Diana Decker as Madeleine. Eddie Byrne is a doctor, and the handsome Burnell Tucker appears briefly as Derek, another antiques shop employee who looks good in a devil worshipper robe. I don't think it’s ever made clear why Sinistre needs the talisman so badly—he says it protects the vampires though how is not explained—or even why Paul hangs onto it, just plot demands, I guess. The director, Lance Comfort, could turn out B-movies in his sleep, and it’s true that a Hammer director like Terence Fisher or Roy Ward Baker might have made this a better looking film with stronger atmosphere. For what it's worth, some claim that this was the first British vampire movie set in the modern day, Not top-rank horror, but worthy of at least one viewing. Pictured are Rona Anderson (Anne) and William Sylvester. [YouTube]

CURSE OF THE AZTEC MUMMY (1957) / THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY (1958)

As you may remember from the first movie in the Aztec Mummy series (which I reviewed many years ago), Dr. Krupp is a criminal mastermind known as The Bat, and something of a Dr. Moreau type who did horrible experiments on animals. He was jailed after his attempt to steal an ancient Aztec breastplate and bracelet, discovered by Dr. Almada, which is thought to be the key to finding Aztec gold. CURSE OF THE AZTEC MUMMY begins as Krupp's gang helps him escape, and Almada and his girlfriend Flor fear he'll return for the breastplate. In a flashback sequence from the first film, we see how Almada had put Flor under hypnotic regression and discovered that she is the reincarnation of Aztec princess Xochi. Now the freed Krupp does indeed return to kidnap Flor. Krupp and his men will have to deal with Almada, his cowardly sidekick Pinacate, Almada’s young brother Bobby, and Popoca, the Aztec mummy whose job is to protect the breastplate. But this time, Krupp will have to face a new enemy, the masked wrestler called the Angel (pictured at right), whom Bobby can call on at a moment's notice. Near the climax, as Krupp tries to make Almada translate the markings on the breastplate, Krupp throws the Angel into a snake pit and the Angel has to call on Bobby to be saved. Eventually, the Angel is unmasked as Pinacate and the shambling mummy tosses Krupp into the snake pit and leaves with the breastplate and bracelet intact. Despite the title, the mummy does not play a big role in the proceedings. 

But wait, there’s more! THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY begins with a statement that this film is based on fact (verified by testimony of a notary public!). Set years after the conclusion of CURSE, we get at least twenty minutes of flashbacks from the first and second movies to bring us up to date. By now, Almada and Flor are married and we learn that Krupp managed to escape the snake pit and has invented an atomic "human robot" that he plans to use to battle Popoca, the mummy, in order to get the breastplate. He has the typical mad scientist dreams of world domination with an army of these robots, put together like the Frankenstein monster with a human brain inside, and needs the riches of the hidden Aztec treasure to bankroll his plans. Flor is hypnotized to reveal the location of the breastplate, and Almada gets involved in the climactic battle between, yes, the Robot and the Aztec Mummy. Oddly, the sidekick Pinacate is back but he doesn't have a masked wrestler alter ego, or at least he doesn’t show it, and the flashback to the previous film doesn't depict him in his outfit. The final battle goes on for four minutes of not terribly thrilling action and this time, the mummy makes sure to kill Krupp.

Supposedly all three of these Aztec Mummy movies were filmed back to back, and, like The Empire Strikes Back, CURSE feels a bit like a placeholder between movie #1 and movie #3, even though it has more "new" action than the third movie. The inclusion of the flashbacks is annoyingly repetitious if you sit down and watch these films over a weekend, but they also allow a viewer who has allowed more time to pass between viewings to catch up. Your enjoyment of these films will depend on your tolerance for low-budget English-dubbed horror movies. I liked CURSE best, largely because of the weird and semi-kinky masked wrestler aspect—interestingly, the Angel is mostly ineffective until the end battle—though I must admit that the Robot is a pretty cool construction considering the genre. No one spends a lot of time critiquing the acting in these films, though I will say that Luis Aceves Castaneda is nicely hammy as Krupp. Ramon Gay and Rosita Arenas are fine as Almada and Flor. Crox Alvarado gets to shine in CURSE as the mild-mannered sidekick and the wrestling Angel. These are fun movies for a weekend matinee or a midnight showing with beer and popcorn, but I haven't decided yet if I'm going to give Wrestling Women Vs. the Aztec Mummy, related but without the same main characters, a shot. Pictured at left are Alvarado and Gay. [DVD]

VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972)

Count Mitterhaus lives in a castle in the village of Stetl and is rumored to be a vampire, responsible for the disappearance of several young women of the village. Albert Mueller discovers that his wife Anna, under the count's power, has taken their daughter Jenny into the castle to serve as a blood sacrifice to Mitterhaus. He gathers several villagers together to attack the castle and manages to drive a stake into Mitterhaus, but with his dying breath, the count curses the village and sends Anna off to find his cousin Emil who is with the traveling Circus of Night. Fifteen years later, though the Count's castle has been destroyed, a plague has spread through Stetl, leading nearby villages to block their roads to stop its spread. When the Circus of Night comes to Stetl, the villagers embrace the gypsy troupe, with its dancers and acrobats, its animal performances and hall of mirrors, as a way to forget about the plague. We soon discover that evil lurks beneath the surface: a pair of acrobats seem to turn into bats high in the air, and the darkly handsome Emil, Mitterhaus' cousin, is a shapeshifter—he can turn into a panther—and a vampire. Emil and the circus members plan to resurrect Count Mitterhaus. While a town doctor heads out to get medicines for the plague, the circus folk begin terrorizing the village, mostly the children (some of whom disappear in the hall of mirrors) and the doctor's son Anton and his girlfriend Dora are left, with only crucifixes as weapons, to fight the vampire plague. 

This Hammer film is colorful, stylish, and a little sexy, and it's nice to see them leave the Dracula movie formula, which they used for years to the point of overkill, behind and try something a little different. The whole thing has a folklore feel to it, and the concept of the Circus of Night is intriguing, though it ends up not being exploited as much as it could be. Characterization is minimal; when we discover that a gypsy woman with the circus is Anna Mueller from the opening, there is no real impact. The atmospheric look of the movie is its biggest selling point, with the circus at times conjuring up Ray Bradbury’s sinister circus in his novel Something Wicked This Way Comes. Adrienne Corri, usually an asset in her movies, is mostly wasted here. John Moulder-Brown and Lynne Frederick are fairly bland as the young heroes Anton and Dora. Anthony Higgins (Emil) doesn't really have a lot of acting to do—he just has to look mysterious or menacing—but he certainly looks the part of a sexy and evil panther man. The animal transformations are a welcome addition to the Hammer template. Recommended. Pictured are Corri and Higgins. [Amazon Prime]

THE EVIL (1978)

Old handyman Sam is trying to clean up the Vargas house, a Civil War-era mansion that has been empty for years. He gets freaked out, first by all the cobwebs then by weird sounds that lead him to the basement where a fireball shoots out of the furnace and burns him to death. Next, the house's new owners show up: a psychiatrist (Richard Crenna, at left), his wife (Joanna Pettet), and a teacher (Andrew Prine) who are planning to open a drug rehab center in the house. They've brought a group of students and former rehab patients to help out and they're all pretty gung ho about pitching in to work, but odd things begin happening right away: Pettet sees a demonic statue turn its head to face her, and a dog that belongs to one of the students wanders down to the basement and goes nuts, attacking his owner (Cassie Yates) then disappearing into the bowels of the house. Crenna is a strict rationalist so he has problems when his wife, who is of a more spiritual bent, starts seeing blurry visions of a ghost that she soon figures out is the original owner, Vargas, trying to warn the group to leave the house. Unfortunately, Crenna, poking around in the basement, sees a trapdoor in the floor, held shut by a huge metal crucifix. He pulls the cross out and, literally as we will eventually discover, all hell breaks loose. The doors and windows slam shut on their own and the film becomes a haunted house slasher movie as one by one the mansion's inhabitants wind up attacked (one woman is sexually assaulted by an invisible presence), injured (Prine slices into his own hand with a circular saw) or electrocuted. In the end, Crenna and Pettet go through the trap door and discover the devil (Victor Buono, below right), something of a dandy decked out in white. Can the two manage to lock Satan back up with the crucifix?

This overlooked and underrated B-movie is one of the better haunted house films. It’s not quite in the same rank as The Uninvited, The Haunting (1963), or The Amityville Horror, but it certainly is as good as other second-rank films like Burnt Offerings or The Sentinel, and it's way way better than the awful Haunting remake from 1999. After a few introductory scenes, it all takes place in the house, a very effective setting which combines some gothic set design with large empty rooms which become quite scary. The first part is a bit of slow burn, but by the time of the dog attack, around the 22-minute mark, things pick up and never let go. The acting gets better as the story goes along, with everyone going balls-out in the last half. Crenna, Pettet and Prine are professionals who might feel like they're slumming but they try not to show it. George O'Hanlon Jr. is good as a cocky clowny fellow who provides a nice fake scare early on, and Lynne Moody is equally good as the woman who is assaulted. The director, Gus Trikonis, started out as a dancer, played one of the Sharks in West Side Story, was married for a few years to Goldie Hawn, and wound up in a long career directing B-movies and TV shows. He provides some nice stylistic touches here, mostly in the scenes of menace. 

Even critics who love this movie usually point to the ending as a major mistake. After spending the whole time in the dusty old mansion, Crenna and Pettet end up in a bright white room with the chortling and chubby Victor Buono as the devil. He looks nothing like any depiction of the devil that I've ever seen, though Mick Jagger's description of him as "a man of wealth and taste" in "Sympathy for the Devil" might be what the director was going for here. As the scene continues, his face takes on a more satanic look, complete with horns. Buono underplays and comes off as slimy rather than truly evil. I don't think anyone who has written about this movie actually likes the ending, with most reacting with laughter rather than terror. For some, it ruins the whole movie. I have to agree that I would have liked to have seen a more traditionally dark and Satanic climax, but if you just accept it, it works OK. (The first time I saw this, I admit the ending made me laugh, but this time around, maybe because I was prepared for it, I didn't really have a problem.) There are rumors that some prints of the film left out the entire scene with Buono, but I've never seen that confirmed and it's unclear how the movie would have had a satisfying ending. As a solid B-horror film, I recommend this. [YouTube]

EARTH VS. THE SPIDER (1958)

Truck driver Jack Flynn is heading home one night with a bracelet he bought as a birthday gift for his teenage daughter Carol when, just outside the small town of River Falls, he hits a thick sticky rope stretched across the road and something attacks his truck: the last we see of him is blood spurting from his slashed face. The next day, a worried Carol gets her boyfriend Mike to search the roads. They find the sticky rope and the wrecked truck with her gift inside but no dad. Entering some nearby caves to see if Dad wandered into one, they find some skeletons and fall into a huge sticky web spun by a giant tarantula. They escape and contact the police who investigate, with the encouragement of Kingman, the science teacher, and manage to kill the spider with insecticide. Kingman has the spider taken back and stored in the high school gym so he can study it, but it turns out it’s not quite dead, and when a rock band enters the gym to rehearse for a dance, and a bunch of students follow them, the stage is set for giant spider mayhem, though it’s less Earth vs. the spider than River Falls vs. the spider. This was made during the heyday of horror and sci-fi movies which focused on teenage characters. Gene Persson (Mike) and June Kenney (Carol) were both in their mid-twenties and could more or less pass for students, though Troy Patterson, as Mike's buddy Joe, was 35 and looked it. Their acting sort of passes muster, but it's the special effects that people watch these movies for, and the giant spider is handled pretty well. Mostly we see real spiders photographed up close with a fake background or, most effectively in the gym scene, a split screen effect (pictured at left). Too much time is spent on Carol insisting on putting everyone in danger to get her bracelet back, which she lost in the spider cave. Produced and directed by B-movie royalty Bert I. Gordon; there are references here to two of his other films, ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE and THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN. Also released as THE SPIDER. A fine Chiller Theater watch. [DVD]

BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT (1971)

Southeast Asia, 1946. U.S. Army deserter Joseph Langdon, on the run in the jungle while leaving behind a trail of dead bodies, is confronted by a serpent who calls him evil. The serpent transforms into a chubby, loinclothed Satan who makes a deal with him. If Langdon will give up his soul, Satan will give him eternal life, reincarnating Langdon at the point of death, remaining evil in each new identity and "awakening the latent evil" in the people he comes into contact with. Some 25 years later, Philip Rogers, horribly mangled in an industrial accident, has died, or so the doctor thinks. But Satan has Langdon inhabit his body and when his bandages come off, he looks like Langdon. Philip's wife Julia, assuming his new face is from plastic surgery, takes him home where he resumes Philip's life, trying to free himself of Satan's influence. But Satan throws in a new twist: at certain moments, Langdon turns into a werewolf-type creature and literally feeds on human beings. It's unclear what triggers the transformations—Satan seems to cause them, but at one point, Satan says that Langdon brings them on himself. They mostly happen at moments of high emotion, including when initiating sex. During a bestial rampage, Langdon bonds with a blind man who tries to help the obviously disturbed Langdon. Though he keeps turning into a monster, Langdon begins to think that he may be on a path to salvation and with the blind man's help might be able to finally die for good and escape his cursed existence. 

This is another low-budget Filipino horror film written and directed by Eddie Romero and starring John Ashley (who was also a producer), pictured. Like the others (THE TWILIGHT PEOPLE, for example) it looks and feels cheap and shoddy though it has its moments. The script is ambitious, with a fair amount of philosophical chatter about life and death and good and evil bandied about, but these themes don't take root, and such talk winds up detracting a bit from the horrific elements. It would have been nice to have spent maybe ten minutes or so on the life Langdon leads between 1946 and the present—Satan notes in the jungle that Langdon's physical body is about to die from eating poisoned seeds, so he had to be somewhere for those 25 years. But undoubtedly I'm thinking too hard about this. As usual, Ashley is fine in the lead role and his frequent co-star Vic Diaz is, if not really good, at least entertaining as a slightly goofy Satan. Mary Wilcox (Julia) seems to have been given little direction and she's a bit wooden. Slightly better is Eddie Garcia as a sympathetic cop. Some critics make fun of the beast makeup, but it's really not bad. I like that he turns into a beast, not a wolf, though the "yellow night" reference in the title is never explained, and there are a couple of decently gory moments. If the phrase “Filipino horror” or the name John Ashley mean something to you, you'll want to see this. [DVD]