CLASSIC HORROR DVDS
THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU
(aka Kiss and Kill)
Blue Underground
Movie: 2.0; Disc: 3.0Christopher Lee always complained that the chief problem with the Hammer Film Production Dracula series was the simple fact that Hammer did not do Stoker, that they failed to portray the character as envisioned by the author. After doing the first two Dracula films, the ones directed by Terence Fisher, Lee always maintained that he did the others because he was blackmailed with the threat of putting loads of people out of work if he refused to do the production (which had already been presold with Lee's name). However, after the at-best good Face of Fu Manchu , the series rapidly deteriorated into a sorrowful state that made Taste the Blood of Dracula look like a classic. For instance, The Blood of Fu Manchu , released in 1968, contained very little style and even less charm. Director Jess Franco's penchant for quirky sex and nudity does not see much light of day here (yes, 10 women are chained and imprisoned in various stages of undress, and yes, a snake does nip at an exposed breast or two); however, Blue Underground must be praised for releasing a pristine widescreen print that is uncensored containing these flashes of nudity that never made the initial American release.
But with a cast featuring Christopher Lee as Fu, Shirley Eaton as one of the viper death squad, Richard Greene as Nayland Smith (who is blinded early on and spends most of the movie too weak to do much of anything) and Tsai Chin as Fu's daughter, the performances appear to have been phoned in. Christopher Lee, who looks imposing as Fu Manchu, has little to do except stand around unemotionally and bark orders. He literally does not blink an eye.
And putting Fu Manchu in South America and turning the film into a jungle programmer is deadly dull, at least when compared to the James Bond-ish antics of having the insidious Fu and his band of henchman invade the village green of jolly old England in the debuting Fu Manchu entry. Fu Manchu's operations transformed into the jungle just wreaks of budget constraints and makes the production unable to create Gothic chills and a menacing mood. The premise of having 10 luscious women filled to the brim with Cobra snake venom, making the kiss from each beauty deadly and ultimately fatal, is a good premise. But too much time is wasted having the women chained and bound in the jungle with Fu planning to eliminate his 10 most hated enemies.
Basically The Blood of Fu Manchu is a tedious programmer with little to offer except a gorgeous presentation. Extras include recent onscreen interviews with Christopher Lee, Jess Franco, producer/writer Harry Alan Towers and stars Tsai Chin and Shirley Eaton. These forums are worth the price of admission. Other extras include talent bios, trailers, poster and still gallery and the facts of Fu Manchu. Blue Underground offers quite an impressive package for a less than stellar movie. But as part of the four-film Christopher Lee Collection boxed set, the movie is worth a look.
THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND
Shanachie Entertainment
Movie: 2.5; Disc: 3.5Months after the rare Gaumont British film The Ghoul was restored and released on MGM DVD, we now have another seldom seen Gaumont British horror chiller starring Boris Karloff restored and released to DVD, The Man Who Changed His Mind (1936). And a relatively new DVD label, Shanachie, as part of its British Cinema Collection, has released the movie to little fanfare. The release sports a duo-tone photographic cover without any booklet insert, but the movie itself features a generally pristine 35mm print with excellent contrast and very good sharpness. The film's only flaw is a slighty hissy soundtrack that could have been cleaned up digitally, but the sound is still full-bodied.
Boris Karloff, in one of his first mad doctor performances as Dr. Laurience (perhaps The Invisible Ray a year earlier started the trend), portrays a solitary scientist who is working on a contraption that switches brains electronically from one person to another (no gloppy brains in beakers or the use of scalpel or brain surgery required), much as we might transfer data from our computer's hard drive to a backup hard drive system. While the tone of this stodgy Brit production (directed by Robert Stevenson) works against itself at times, Boris Karloff submits one of his best performances ever as a mad doctor. Sporting a full head of graying hair with a slightly stooped posture, always holding, sucking on or lighting a cigarette, a world-weary look of defeat always stamped on his face, Dr. Laurience surprisingly, especially for the time, invites a female scientist to join him in his research and medical experimentation because she is the only colleague open to new ideas.
After working solo in a dilapidated lab, Laurience is seduced by the offer of corporate sponsorship by journalist Lord Haselwood (Frank Cellier) who offers Laurience richer quarters for his research and whose son Dick is making a play for Laurience's female assistant, Clare (Anna Lee). Haselwood rushes things and forces Laurience to publish his research and present his radical medical research to a public audience that verbally mocks the recluse. Of course this public ridicule is the impetus needed to drive Laurinece off the deep end, causing him to switch Lord Haselwood's brain with his patient/servant Clayton (Donald Calthrop) who earlier told Clare that he doesn't know what was worse, his miserable body or his perverted mind (the man is wheelchair bound, obviously a stroke victim with one side of his body partially paralyzed). Clayton's body dies during the experiment but not before laughing at the suggestion that Clayton makes, now in the seemingly fit body of Haselwood, that he at last inhabits a healthy body. In an ironic twist it is revealed that Haselwood is dying of heart disease and that Clayton's brain has literally jumped from the fat into the fire.
By the time of the chilling climax, Laurience in wild-eyed abandonment (with shadowy photography emphasizing the lisping delivery of dialogue) strangles the body of Lord Haselwood and makes sure he is seen by both servant and policeman leaving the Haselwood home, guaranteeing Laurience will be convicted of the journalist's murder. Laurience's scheme, in the meanwhile, is to switch his brain into Dick Haselwood's body, and switch Dick's brain into his own body, so Dick (in Laurience's body) will be executed for the murder of his father and Laurience (in Dick's body) will inherit Lord Haselwood's estate and fortune. In a weirdly imaginative performance during the climax, John Loder as Dick actually tries to imitate Karloff's Laurience with his clenched hand holding a cigarette and his stiff gait and full head of hair resembling the gestures of Karloff from earlier in the film. After a terrifying fall from the second floor window, the body of Laurience lies dying on the ground, but Clare is able to undo the brain switching experiment, thus returning Dick to Dick's body and Laurience to Laurience's body, just before the evil scientist dies recanting his research and ordering his lab destroyed by Clare.
The Man Who Changed His Mind lacks the twisted and audacious shenanigans inherent in both the Monogram, PRC and Columbia mad doc films featuring Karloff and Bela Lugosi, but Karloff's performance is nuanced and rises above the film's other limitations. Seldom seen, classic horror buffs may be inclined to over praise the production, but while the film is at best of journeyman quality, Karloff's performance makes The Man Who Changed His Mind one film worth returning to time and time again.
THE DEVIL COMMANDS
Columbia Home Video
Movie: 3.0; Disc: 3.0Back in 1941, Boris Karloff was about to conclude what has come to be known as his four Columbia Mad Doctor pictures; the best remains The Devil Commands , here rendered in a sharply focused fine-grain black and white 35mm print. Of course a few lines and scratches surface here and there, but the print is simply outstanding. Director Edward Dmytryk, still directing B programmers, was on the brink of an outstanding motion picture career ( The Caine Mutiny, Murder My Sweet, Raintree County ). So we have Boris Karloff in a performance that is both sympathetic and monstrous (and he's on screen in almost every sequence) working with a first-rate director in a tight 65-minute B production that thoroughly entertains.
The film opens in noirish voice-over fashion, and ends the same way, with a moody shot of a spooky old home out in the country. Karloff begins the movie with slicked-to-the-side dark hair, portraying a respected science department chair of the local college whose research (communication using thought projection and brain waves) upsets his university peers. In a gut-wrenching sequence, Karloff's wife dies tragically in a car accident, Karloff's spirit dying with her. Now his research turns to contacting the dead, and after hooking up with a fake spiritualist, a very domineering woman Mrs. Walters (Anne Revere in one of the strongest female horror film performances of the 1940s), he ignores his grieving daughter and surfaces two years later, now with dour expression and graying hair that is demonically frizzy and wild. His laboratory is unlike any lab in horror film history, with corpses seated around a table with metal helmets around their heads, which, when activated, create a whirlwind of tornado activity causing the stiffs to lean inward toward the center of the table. For a low-budget, such special effects, aided immeasurably by the storm-within-the-lab sounds, are quite effective.
Interestingly, Boris Karloff's performance runs the gamut of emotions from dutiful father and husband to obsessive scientist, grieving widower, to victim of his experiments, to emotionally vacant and heartless automaton. For a B production, Karloff dares to convey the heightened emotions that Bela Lugosi always gets credit for creating. It is definitely one of Karloff's finest 1940s performances, and the film more than holds up its end (its sometimes too abrupt ending only channels the theme that humans that invade God's turf are doomed to sudden destruction). No extras are included, but the beautiful print and the chance that the other three entries in the series may see release gives us grounds for hope!
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1932)
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1941)Warner Home Video
Movie [1932: 3.5; 1941: 3.0]; Disc: 3.5Amazing, only a few days into 2004 and one of the most important DVD collections of the year was released, a budget-priced double-feature of both the Fredric March and Spencer Tracy versions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde , two important horror classics from the early 1930s and 1940s.
The most lauded version, the 1932 Rouben Mamoulian-directed version that stars Fredric March (who was co-winner for Best Actor at the Academy Awards for his performance as Jekyll and Hyde) is perhaps the greatest non-Universal horror classic of the 1930s. Even though sound cinema was still in its infancy, Mamoulian amplifies every grasp as Jekyll transforms into monstrous Hyde, emphasizes every bubbling beaker in his laboratory and sometimes allows the sound of a broken cane smashing the human skull to graphically depict grisly murders. Mamoulian innovatively starts off his movie with a subjective sequence allowing the movie audience to become Jekyll, the audience seeing its own face when the good doctor glances into a mirror. Later, when Jekyll first transforms into Hyde, the audience again watches the sequence subjectively with our own cinematic hands mixing the chemicals and gulping them down.
What makes this version of Jekyll and Hyde a classic horror movie is the fact that Hyde is a primitive, simian version of earlier man, stripped of his social consciousness allowing the beast to dominate. Basically, the movie is a were-ape tale where a decent human being transforms into his primordial pre-civilized self, first induced by chemicals, but soon induced by the simple power of mind over matter as the beast gains control over the rational human.
March as Hyde is breathtaking in a landmark performance that still rivets audiences today. When the ape-man Hyde, wearing top hat and tails, goes into the rainy evening, looking skyward and opening his mouth to taste the rain, such a simple sequence sums up all our primitive pleasures. In the club sequence with Ivy (Miriam Hopkins) where Hyde attempts to woo her with his bottle of champagne and promise of money to be thrown her way, the sexually driven man whose self-imposed sense of power fuels his libido becomes classic cinema. Contrasted is the earlier sequence where the not-so-innocent Jekyll comes to Ivy's aide taking her home and putting her in bed. There she playfully strips for the good doctor, plants kisses on his lips and dangles her naked leg from underneath her flimsy covers and moans "Come back soon!" Jekyll, quite physically interested, is interrupted by good friend Lanyon (Holmes Herbert) who reminds him of his decency. However, the doctor's sexual longing for the desirable lower-class tart comes to the surface in the guise of Mr. Hyde.
Rose Hobart is unfortunately bland as good-girl Muriel Carew, Jekyll's fiancée. The polite young thing is bound by the dictates of her oppressive society, as represented by her father. Equally bland and stiff is Fredric March as Jekyll, who delivers lines such as "This is my penance" as he announces to God, looking skyward, that he will give up the love of his life in order to maintain his humanity. Whereas as Hyde, March exudes delirious energy in a performance that literally twitches, Jekyll's every line seems overly rehearsed, deliberate and theatrical. But March's Hyde joins the ranks of icon horror film performances and every sequence in which Hyde appears is a classic one.
This Mamoulian 1932 Paramount classic almost disappeared when MGM decided to remake the Paramount version nine years later. Hoping to avoid comparisons between the two productions, MGM attempted to buy the rights to the earlier production so they could destroy prints and make their own version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the definitive version. In this version Spencer Tracy portrays the dual roles with luscious cinematic sex symbols Ingrid Bergman (as Ivy) and Lana Turner (as fiancée Beatrix) as the female love/sex interest. In this Victor Fleming-directed production, Bergman and Turner are interestingly cast against type with Bergman playing the lower-class floozy who attempts to seduce the good doctor and usual femme fatale Turner playing the socially acceptable demure bride-to-be of Jekyll. While Mamoulian's movie was cast as hardcore horror with the emphasis on Jekyll's transformation into the simian Hyde, nine years later the Fleming version seems more Hollywood mainstream and focuses on Freudian suspense and romance (let's face it, Miriam Hopkins was sexual from the neck down but she was no classic beauty), courtesy of Turner and Bergman, two of Hollywood's sizzling female stars of the era. The movie's most innovative sequences involve brief Freudian dream/visions as Jekyll transforms into Hyde. Sequences of the two females smiling seductively overtly tempting the socially acceptable Jekyll into sexual merriment is best symbolized by the sequence of Jekyll gleefully riding a white horse and fiercely whipping the poor beast to run faster, a delirious look on Hyde's face. When suddenly, in the dream, the horse morphs into the naked head and shoulders of Bergman and Turner. While such dream sequences are short, they are visually tantalizing and symbolic of the raging desires bubbling just below Jekyll's surface (or stirring just below the waist).
Spencer Tracy's Dr. Jekyll, becoming a more complex character than March was ever allowed to be back in 1932, is passionate about medical science being a business of risk taking and self-sacrifice and he gallantly decides to put his life on the line to advance knowledge. Tracy, squat and not conventionally handsome (at least when compared to March), becomes a figure of passion and commitment. However, his Edward Hyde is subtle and almost ordinary looking. Just as March's Hyde progressively deteriorated and became uglier with each transformation, Tracy's initial transformations make him look different, perhaps bed-headed and wild-eyed but definitely not monstrous. Even at the end of the movie, his Hyde develops bags beneath his eyes, his eyebrows grow wild and bushy and his hair becomes messy, but no one would mistake him for a gorilla in top hat and tails. While audiences wish for Tracy's Hyde to become monstrous and bestial, his transformation is one of internal characterization based more upon acting than makeup. While both approaches are valid, I prefer March's monster portrayal over Tracy's human degenerate approach, so while March earns my attention for his Hyde, Tracy wins me over with his multi-layered performance as Jekyll.
Both prints feature pristine fine-grain 35mm prints (the 1932 is slightly rough, but considering the fact that this film was once lost, the DVD version is the absolute best I have ever seen) with the 1941 Tracy version being close to pristine. Extras include a beautiful looking Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny cartoon, Hyde and Hare , a trailer of the 1941 film and audio commentary of the 1932 version by Midnight Marquee staff writer Greg Mank (whose theatrical background makes his commentary dramatic and insightful).
When it comes to essential DVDs for the horror movie buff, this double feature is a must-have.
THE GHOUL
MGM DVD
Movie: 2.5; Disc: 3.5People were shocked when, over the course of the last few years, 70 years of cobwebs, deterioration and inferior release prints were replaced by digitally corrected and restored DVD releases of many of the Universal horror classics. But even that cannot prepare the aficionado for the magnificent restoration that occurred with the seldom-seen British chiller of 1933, The Ghoul , starring horror film icon Boris Karloff. For years and years, all existing prints (16mm and VHS home video) of The Ghoul have been inferior, boasting light contrast and a third generation duped look. However, back in the 1970s and 1980s, we were told to be glad for any existing source material, for The Ghoul was virtually lost and this was the best we would ever get.
Now, for a realistic sell-through price of $10, MGM has released a pristine fine-grain print of The Ghoul looking better than it has looked since its original release 70 years ago. This lackluster release (from the promotional aspect) deserves to be shouted from marquee rooftops across the land, and it very well may be the most important release for classic horror movie fans this year.
The Ghoul , which at last can be fairly evaluated, is never better than 2.5 to perhaps 3.0 stars (fair to good at best), yet it features one of the finest horror movie casts (Karloff, Ernest Thesiger, Ralph Richardson and Cedric Hardwicke) and Karloff's performance is eerily interesting. Surprisingly his portrayal of Egyptologist Dr. Morlant is robust, even if he plays a dying man at the film's beginning and reanimates from the dead as a living corpse for the remainder of the movie. It is odd that Karloff's deathbed sequence features the wearing of makeup that makes Karloff resemble a corpse even before he dies, and he doesn't look any different after death claims him. Karloff delivers some spectacular sequences, especially when he is outside in the rain eying up Ernest Thesiger who is lurking in the cellar. With maniacal zeal, Karloff smashes the glass window and bends the metal bars protecting the home from intruders, easily squeezing through and stalking the terrified Thesiger. The cinematography illustrating Karloff's energetic corpse roaming about the old dark house is the stuff of which classic horror is made, but perhaps the most visually interesting sequence is the one where Karloff bows down to the Egyptian god who is supposed to open her hands to offer Karloff everlasting immortality. In the creepy sequence this does occur, but suddenly the viewer sees that the outstretched statue's hands have been replaced with human ones who snatch the immortality-bearing gemstone. A very visually mesmerizing sequence suggests the subtlety of Karl Freund's The Mummy, made one year earlier.
While this old dark house mystery variation of The Mummy with its focus on life after death is pedestrian in most ways, Karloff's contribution makes it something extra special. The Ghoul won't bump any of your top-20 horror classics from the list, but it is somehow refreshing to see such a landmark restoration of an almost lost horror classic hit the American shores in the fall of 2003. Rediscovering old chestnuts is what it's all about, and The Ghoul is one of the most important finds in many a year. Too bad no extras are included, but with a print looking and sounding (the film's sound, with full dynamic range, is almost equal to the superior visual appeal) this good, who needs the extras?
THE HAUNTED PALACE
TOWER OF LONDONMGM Midnite Movies DVD
Movie: [ Palace 3.0; Tower 3.0]; Disc: 3.5Here we have a double-bill of two fine movies that have unfairly become the bastard children of seemingly better productions. First, we have Roger Corman's 1963 production of H.P. Lovecraft's Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward, released as The Haunted Palace , based upon a poem by Edgar Allan Poe to tie in with the successful Poe series. While The Haunted Palace is inferior to such superior Poe efforts as The Fall of the House of Usher and Pit and the Pendulum , it is nonetheless a horror movie of merit featuring one of Vincent Price's finest performances. And on the flip side of the DVD, we have Gene Corman's production of Tower of London (also directed by brother Roger), a low-budget 1962 remake of the 1939 Universal classic, but a movie that goes beyond the historical costume drama of the Universal original to evoke a ghastly sense of horror as low-rent Macbeth . Both of these films never garnered the credit they deserve, so what might appear to be one of the lesser releases in the MGM Midnight Movie series might very well become its shining jewel.
The Haunted Palace , once again demonstrating Roger Corman's artistry using Gothic Pathe color and the Panavision widescreen pallet, is an eerie chiller whose plot becomes secondary to its mood and vision. Using the frame of films such as Black Sunday and City of the Dead/Horror Hotel , the film begins over 100 years in the past as warlock Joseph Curwen (Vincent Price) is burned alive for his quest to mate human beings with mutated creatures to allow the Old Gods to return to rule the Earth. Like Fall of the House of Usher , Curwen's palace (moved to New England, stone by stone, from Europe) becomes a central character, his demonic portrait hanging over the fireplace becoming the symbol of evil that drives the movie. Curwen's heir, the identical looking Charles Dexter Ward (again played by Price), inherits his ancestral home and is immediately possessed by the spirit of Curwen who gains dominance over Ward via the evil portrait and its hypnotic influence. Vincent Price winningly executes a dual role segueing between the kindly and frightened Ward and the possessed and totally evil Curwen. It is truly one of Price's finest performances. The manner in which the timber of his voice changes, along with the intensity of his stare and the curl of his mouth, subtly conveys a powerful duality. Ward is saved from the burning castle at film's end and he rests against the very tree where his ancestor was most likely burned a century ago. Suddenly he turns around, a slight smile on his face, perhaps even an arrogant sneer, and the audience realizes that Ward has most likely been possessed by his demon ancestor once again and for the final time.
Add to this pivotal Price tour de force is Lon Chaney, submitting a fine supporting performance as Simon, where he creates a character similar to that of Klove, Count Dracula's dedicated manservant, in the middle-period Hammer Dracula movies. Chaney, looking healthier and in far fuller command of his faculties than he would appear a scant few years later, creates an eerie aura and makes two startling entrances during the course of the movie. Also, Elisha Cook does a wonderful turn in dual supporting parts. Debra Paget is quietly intense as Ward's concerned wife who appears totally in the dark throughout all the horrible proceedings.
The Haunted Palace 's script, written by Charles Beaumont, is a might too sketchy and underwritten, but the cinematography and mood and Vincent Price's performance all add up to a solid horror chiller that stands the test of time.
For me, the almost forgotten 1962 Tower of London is more entertaining and creates a better Gothic canvas than does the larger production of Universal's 1939 historical drama starring Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff. In the Gene Corman produced and Roger Corman directed United Artists release, Vincent Price crafts a monstrous performance of hunchbacked Richard III as influenced by Shakespeare's Hamlet (Richard is always seeing ghosts who prompt him to action) and Macbeth (his bloodthirsty quest for power at all costs). This bargain basement Shakespeare reveals the Gothic and ghostly subplots that always inherited Shakepeare's plays (he was one to always please the masses). So we have a beardless Price (looking remarkably different than he does one year later in The Haunted Palace ) murder his brother by stabbing him in the back and sliding the body into a vat of wine less than 10 minutes into the production. When an innocent woman refuses to help Richard renounce the birthright of the dead king's two sons, she is severely whipped and stretched on the rack until she dies, amid ghastly screams. When her ghost returns, sensually mocking Richard's deformities, she works him up into a rage so that when his wife Ann enters the room, he strangles his own wife, believing he is choking the ghost. In another cinema moment of derring-do, Richard and his henchman, played by Michael Pate, use pillows to suffocate the royal heirs, young children in their beds. We know that Hollywood frowns upon the murder of children, and the sequence is ghastly. Throughout the proceedings, Richard visits with the ghosts of his murder victims who taunt and threaten him, allowing Price to essay a slightly over-the-top performance that is surprisingly rich and always fun. This is the type of performance that Vincent Price is so wonderful at creating and why he is such a popular icon performer of horror cinema.
Perhaps Vincent Price is best in his coronation sequence where the archbishop is reluctant to perform the religious ceremony, so Richard puts on the robes and crown and carries his scepter to the open window where he proudly appears before his citizenry. At first Richard imagines hearing cheers and applause and smiles broadly, but soon he hears boos and shouts of disdain, and he pulls back inside. Because of the low-budget, the entire sequence is photographed tight on Price's face with his vanity and pride disintegrating into shock and dismay--we never see the hordes of crowds assembled, and to be truthful, all the noise Richard hears might only be a product of his own mind. But as directed by Roger Corman, the sequence picks up power because of (not in spite of) its bargain basement budget.
Simply stated, Tower of London is a delight and features a Shakespearean and even Dickensian influence, merging historical cinema with cinematic hauntings and the horror genre in a much more rewarding manner than the 1939 original could ever hope to achieve.
As is true with MGM DVD, both prints are absolutely gorgeous, with The Haunted Palace anamorphically enhanced for 16:9 monitors; however, the non-enhanced Tower of London (shot in crisp black and white) is only slightly letterboxed framed, so the resolution is strong. Also, each film features documentaries (filmed especially for the DVD release) with Roger and Gene Corman talking about the production of each movie. For a $15.00 list price, this double-feature package is a bargain.
THE HILLS HAVE EYES
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Movie: 3.0; Disc: 4.0Wes Craven's second film helped define the 1970s horror film, making this era in horror cinema distinct and easily identified. The Hills Have Eyes , almost too artistic a title for a low-budget drive-in style movie, stands with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , Deep Red and Halloween as definitive horror classics of their era. The film was one of the first (along with David Cronenberg's The Brood and Sean Cunningham's Last House on the Left ) to deal with the destruction of the American nuclear family. In the movie we have the extended Carter family off on a vacation traveling through the American southwest on their way to California (attempting to sneak over the border). In the rocky desert they encounter a feral, cannibalistic family of savages--inbred, deformed and mentally retarded--who are out to destroy America's finest. Interestingly, at first the primitive invaders only appear to be looking for food, which Pluto (Michael Berryman) steals when he first enters the camper. However, soon Mars (Lance Gordon) attacks and rapes the youngest daughter of the family and steals the infant child of oldest daughter (Dee Wallace). Along the way father Big Bob Carter (Russ Grieve) is set afire in the desert, mother Ethel (Virginia Vincent) is shot in the stomach and dies slowly over the course of the evening and Lynne dies trying to save her baby.
The traditional family takes on the feral family, all fighting over the possession of the baby (who is to become a special meal for the cannibals). In order to live, the human survivors have to mimic the savage actions of their animalistic counterparts, the film ending on a freeze frame as hero Bobby (Robert Houston) savagely stabs Mars to death. In the final moments of the film, with the traditional family members viciously fighting back, the fine line between Christian family (who join hands at one point and pray standing in the desert) and feral one is blurred.
Unfortunately, The Hills Have Eyes is dated by its low-budget 1970s look, even though the relentless pacing and surprise shocks still manage to create malaise throughout. We have the clever use of the two dogs--Beauty and Beast--who represent the two extremes, with Beauty being savagely gutted early on, and soul-mate Beast becoming the avenging angel later in the movie (showing that the "beast" must emerge in order for survival to occur).
The two-disc set contains some fascinating extras, including two documentaries, one featuring interviews with the surviving cast, and the second highlighting all the films of Wes Craven. Both shorts are exceptional. We have one alternative ending (which re-edits an earlier sequence placing it at the end, with additional footage creating a more normal "everything-is-okay" ending). And finally we have poster and still gallery, trailers and bios. And best of all, The Hills Has Eyes has been remastered with a beautiful widescreen 16:9 enhanced print with sound remixed with DTS 6.1 or Dolby Digital 5.1 EX. The film has never looked nor sounded this good. While time has diminished the impact of the movie, The Hills Have Eyes still packs a visceral gut punch and features the ritualistic slaughter of a family for which we care a great deal. Wes Craven's second feature is one that still frightens audiences today.
HORROR CLASSICS 3:
THE BAT and HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL
The Roan Group
Movie: (The Bat 2.5; House on Haunted Hill 3.0); DVD: 3.5Even though House of Wax in 1953 established Vincent Price as the new horror movie king, and even though the artistic zenith of Price’s horror film work would continue until the early 1960s with Roger Corman’s AIP Poe series, there was something very special about Vincent Price’s work in the late 1950s, a blending of film noir, horror camp and red herring mystery thrillers typified by his work in Allied Artists’ House on Haunted Hill (1958) and The Bat (1959).
William Castle’s direction and Robb White’s script (with equal elements haunted house hokum and film noir snarling dialogue) made House on Haunted Hill a genuine B classic, a film that invigorated the haunted house whodunit for a new generation, one filled with gimmicky skeletons on wires extended into theater audiences upon its initial release. But whether seen with Emergo or not, Castle’s House on Haunted Hill chilled to the bone, with its bickering husband and wife team (the oh-so-perfect Vincent Price as Frederick Loren and Carol Ohmart as his conniving wife Annabelle), its house of hidden passages, falling chandeliers and blood dripping from the ceiling.
Robb White’s script and clever dialogue made the movie special, with its adult banter between husband and wife (“don’t you see a touch of greed—around the mouth and eyes”; “spend-the-night ghost party was your idea”; “Why strangers, why not our friends?”... “Friends!”... “Your jealousy took care of that!”; “You call this a party!!!”... “Could be!”; “Of all my wives you’re the least agreeable!”; “The only ghoul in the house is you!” Annabelle to Frederick) contrasted to over-the-top visual chills (Carolyn Craig’s bending down alone in a darkened room, tapping on a hollow wall, communicating with Richard Long in the other room, and her slow turn to the right, revealing the presence of a horrifying servant/witch woman, who glides across the set on rollers, never fails to bring the house down with deafening screams).
Double cross upon double cross leads to Vincent Price’s ultimate victory as the intended victim who ultimately becomes the victor, making him almost sympathetic. “A pity you didn’t know when you were playing your game of murder, I was playing too!”
Vincent Price with his mustache curled at the end, making him the very essence of stereotyped villainy, has never been oilier nor more obnoxious; however, his subtle expressions and letter perfect line reading of the intelligent dialogue elevated this performance to one of the finest of his career.
The slightly letterboxed print is simply gorgeous, mastered from an excellent 35mm print, with sharpness and clarity and perfect contrast. Only a few sequences feature some white speckling, but otherwise, the print is superb (and the sound is infinitely superior to the Fox laserdisc released 10 years ago).
Similar in theme yet infinitely different in tone comes The Bat, released one year later, another horror house whodunit, but this time the emphasis is on mystery and not horror (this was the fourth screen adaptation of the Hopwood and Rinehart play). Agnes Moorehead, in a delightful “cozy” mystery setting, rents an old house, the Oaks, to set the mood as she writes her latest mystery novel. However, a murderous fiend, the Bat, returns to his lair to continue killing innocent people as he searches the hidden passages and rooms to try to find one million dollars hidden away there.
It seems the bank president John Fleming (who owns the Oaks) embezzled one million dollars in securities, converted them to cash, and hid the money in the Oaks, a house rented to Moorehead by his nephew Mark, but rented unknown to him. John Fleming enlists the help of his physician, Dr. Wells (Vincent Price), to help him pull off the scam, but Wells gets greedy and murders Fleming, desiring all the money for himself.
Simply stated, while Price is immediately revealed to be a greedy, murderous fiend, the audience is never sure if he is the Bat or not, and as things turn out, he is simply one of several red herrings. Moorehead’s butler, Warner, a man acquitted of a recent criminal charge, is also given motive to be the killer. In this movie, almost everyone has an angle or reason to be considered a suspect, but the Bat’s identity, revealed at the very end, is quite surprising with so many red herrings running around the premises.
Unfortunately, critics and fans never went wild over The Bat. With Vincent Price only playing a red herring role in a murder mystery, The Bat was sold as a horror chiller and perhaps most mystery fans never realized what they were missing, since the film was not geared nor advertised to that market. The screenplay and direction by Crane Wilbur is crisp and mood-evoking, constantly throwing shadowy figures into the mix, having innocent victims venture out of their rooms in the middle of the night to discover hidden passageways or hidden wall panels. The Bat himself is quite imposing, a man wearing a dark suit and hat, his face silhouetted by his black hood, wearing leather gloves with huge steel claws which he uses to tear out the throats of his victims (but in those innocent days of 1959, nary a drop of blood is to be found, except a spot of blood on the finger of the police detective who touches the back of Vincent Price’s head after his car crashes into a ditch).
The tone of the movie is always playful, even when a potentially rabid bat is released into the bedroom of Agnes Moorehead and flops around the room before biting the arm of faithful servant Lizzy. The plot enjoys implicating guilty suspects as the potential fiend. As Price returns to the house he nervously utters that perhaps the Bat is still in the house. Lt. Anderson says, “That’s possible,” while staring at Price, suggesting that Price is the Bat who is now in the house. Price continues, “He’s looking for something.” Later, when the Bat charges an innocent female victim running down the stairs and tearing her throat out in plain view of several witnesses, Agnes Moorehead throws an object at the fiend, hitting him in the back of the head. After the Bat runs out the front door, in runs Lt. Anderson, followed a few moments later by Vincent Price, who recounts his car accident story and how he hit the back of his head, now bloody (thus the implication is made again that Price is the Bat).
Even though Vincent Price’s role in The Bat is only a supporting one, the entire ensemble cast, most notably Agnes Moorehead, is superb and the clever dialogue and creepy surroundings keep the viewer on the edge of his/her seat.
Once again, The Bat features a pristine 35mm print, projected in its original aspect ratio (slightly letterboxed), that just shimmers. This film has never looked this good since its original theatrical release in 1959, and to be honest, the movie is seldom shown on television, so this DVD version is indeed something to value.
Roan Entertainment has captured the essence of late 1950s Vincent Price, in his B horror black-and-white pinnacle, with these two excellent thrillers (one horror, one mystery) showcased with pristine, letterboxed prints. For fans of Vincent Price and horror/mystery cinema, things seldom get better than this.
LON CHANEY COLLECTION:
THE ACE OF HEARTS
LAUGH, CLOWN, LAUGH
THE UNKNOWN
LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT (restored)
LON CHANEY: A THOUSAND FACESWarner Home Video/TCM Archives]
Movies: 3.0; Disc: 4.0Thanks to the DVD medium, forgotten and sometimes lost silent films are being photographically reconstructed, restored and rescored. In the pages of the immortal magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland , editor Forrest J Ackerman started the mantra "Lon Chaney Shall Not Die!" And while Chaney's films were almost forgotten back in the late 1950s, today in the zeroes his films are more accessible than ever before.
Turner Classic Movies and Warner Home Video have done a great service to classic movie lovers by lovingly reconstructing four of Chaney's movies (one, the long lost London After Midnight , has been reconstructed from available photos using an actual script of the movie and is almost utterly pointless). Also included is a 2000 documentary about the film career of Lon Chaney. The films receive insightful commentary by Lon Chaney historian Michael F. Blake and feature photo galleries. The terrific gatefold package unfolds to reveal two discs with delightful photos and graphics appearing on both the gatefold packaging, as well as the slipcase, giving the movies a deluxe treatment they most definitely deserve.
As host Robert Osborne reminds us, these Chaney movies explore the theme of unrequited love in all its perversities. In fact, these three movies (let us remove London After Midnight to the level of curiosity, as its presentation is hampered by the lack of stills used, with the camera zooming in or out of the same photos, which produces tedium after about 45 minutes) are eccentric, cutting edge delights revealing Lon Chaney not to be a horror icon, in the gist of a Boris Karloff or a Bela Lugosi, but an obsessive oddball in the sense of someone who might appear in a David Lynch production today. Chaney is not horrific as much as he is insidious, quirky or obsessed.
Theses traits are quickly evident in Chaney's performance in The Ace of Hearts (1921), the oldest film appearing in this collection. While the print features some lines that come and go and lots of speckling which produces a snowy look, overall the print remains sharp and clear with good contrast. The newly composed contest-winning score is also quite compatible with the film's tone--keyboard driven with sound effects added quite appropriately. As the movie opens, a group of men are meeting to decide the fate of a man guilty of "unscrupulous ambition on a colossal scale. Death would rid the world of such a menace." Chaney, playing a portrait painter, is one of the group who stands to seal the man's fate--death! These men will draw cards, and the one who gets the ace of hearts will be the assassin. Lillith, the only woman in the group, seems to be in love with the handsome man chosen as assassin; however, Lon Chaney's character secretly loves her from afar, and cut-aways reveal the sense of his passionate obsession to win her heart. In a very Hitchcockian sequence, the assassin becomes a waiter at a fancy restaurant where young lovebirds are holding hands and playing footsy under the table, as the waiter plants a small explosive nearby. Stating Lillith corrupted him, the assassin returns with the explosive in his possession, unable to kill, especially when young lovers are so near. The movie progresses from this point. But those intense shots of Lon Chaney pining away in the shadows, his face registering his dismay over being unable to win the heart of Lillith, becomes the hallmark of a wonderful performance.
Laugh, Clown, Laugh , released in 1928, features a dense 35mm print with no speckling and some superficial scratching. A teenaged Loretta Young stars as the abandoned child taken in by circus clown Lon Chaney who raises her in the world of the circus. Showing that silent movies can be as weird as modern movies, Laugh, Clown, Laugh shows a truly depressed Lon Chaney (depressed because he loves his adopted daughter Simonetta and feels it would be inappropriate to express his physical desires) portraying an always-happy circus clown. While, for contrast, Count Ravelli has physical desires for Simonetta. She cuts her leg while climbing over barbed wire to fetch a flower on the Ravelli estate. The Count, all in the cause of prompt medical attention, takes the young girl up to his bedroom, yanks off her stocking and gently fondles her extended bare leg and foot. Fortunately, he is interrupted, which allows the young girl to escape. But the Count suffers from a nervous condition: bursts of uncontrollable laughter. The Count's doctor tells him that only by falling in love will he be cured. Thus, we have parallel contrasting characters with the morbidly depressed clown and the deliriously off-putting laughing Count. As Chaney's character reveals, he can make all of Rome laugh but he can never make himself laugh.
The third movie, The Unknown , released in 1927, features another sharp 35mm fine grain print with some lines that come and go. With a scenario worthy of David Lynch and other avant garde directors, The Unknown tells the story of armless knife-throwing circus performer Alonzo (Lon Chaney) who uses Nanon Zanzi (Joan Crawford) as his sexy assistant, the provocative woman who strikes sensual poses on a spinning platform after she sheds most of her clothing. Of course Alonzo has desires for her, but she has a deep psychological fear of men, having always been pawed by frisky males causing her to shrink with fear when she thinks of men touching her. Alonzo, always near, swears "no one will get her but me." You see, Chaney's character is never a threat since he has no arms and throws his knives with his feet. However, early on, after taking a beating from Zanzi (Nick De Ruiz), Nanon's father, Alonzo and his dwarf assistant Cojo (John George) pay a visit to Zanzi's wagon, when Alonzo gleefully drops his cape to Zanzi and reveals he does possess arms (using a harness, he has them strapped to his body during the day to win the sympathy of Nanon), which he gleefully uses when he bends over and slowly extends his massive hands closer to Zanzi's neck. From the wagon a horrified Nanon sees the murder, except the murderer's back is facing her and all she can really see is those murderous hands. Once again, Lon Chaney appears bold and masculine at times, yet when Nanon hurts his feelings, his face erupts into a baleful of tears. And considering that his quirky character is placed within such an offbeat plot, The Unknown becomes one of the strangest movies ever produced.
When we consider these three features plus the addition of the photo-restored London After Midnight and the Chaney documentary, the Lon Chaney Collection becomes a treasure trove of lost cinema carefully restored to its absolute finest visual quality. With the addition of audio commentaries and photo galleries, the collection becomes one of the top-10 DVD releases of the past year, absolutely essential for fans of Lon Chaney, silent cinema and the offbeat.
SHIVERS (aka THEY CAME FROM WITHIN)
Image Entertainment
Movie: 2.5; Disc: 3.0David Cronenberg was much more fun when he began his feature film career as a horror film director who made Shivers (retitled They Came From Within by American International for US release) in 1975. When released in the US, the MPAA forced AIP to trim the release print to get an R rating and so Americans never saw the uncut director's print of the movie, until now.
Right at the dawning of sexual conservatism with the emergence of AIDS a few years off and other blood-borne sexually transmitted diseases slowly gaining publicity, Shivers details the end of the Age of Aquarius and the sexually promiscuous lifestyles promoting orgies, swinging and wife swapping. In this exploitative gem, a scientist uses a sexually active young woman to create a phallic (of course!) parasite that eliminates all sexual inhibitions. She infects several people living in a newly opened Canadian high rise apartment complex, and for the rest of the movie, the sexual acrobatics between male and female (and female and female and male and male) escalate until this modern plague finally hops into automobiles and threatens to infect all of Canada.
Of course this film depicts such an epidemic not as a softcore sex movie might but as an exploitative horror movie 1970s-style, with a male host existing in semi-zombie state throughout the movie, the phallic pet slithering out of his mouth and back in again, the parasite writhing slightly under the skin wiggling across his abdomen. Sexual predators force themselves on unwary victims, climaxing by transferring the parasite from themselves to their newly initiated victims orally. Once infected, humans become zombified hosts for their parasite and resemble a product of the George Romero school of filmmaking. Even horror cult actress Barbara Steele has a cameo as Betts, portraying a lesbian ready to exit her closet (or in this case, bathtub).
As seen today, Shivers has lost a lot of its edge and surprise; however, David Cronenberg's direction is still devilishly claustrophobic (getting the most out of his swinging apartment complex) and features shock upon shock, delivered in his typical gooey biological manner. Perennial Cronenberg actor Joe Silver delivers an effective supporting role, and heroine Lynn Lowry submits a heroin-chic performance that resembles the similar turn committed by Dana Wynter in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Lowry seems to have been selected for her parasite-infected performance, which is outstanding, contrasted to her generic pretty heroine performance.
Extras include an onscreen interview with David Cronenberg and a trailer. While Shivers was innovative and cutting edge back in 1975, today, almost 30 years later, it reveals an uninhibited, non-pretentious David Cronenberg directing one of the best exploitative horror films of the decade, one that still holds up pretty well.
Universal Home Video Legacy Collection
FRANKENSTEIN: The Legacy Collection[Frankenstein: 4.0; Bride of Frankenstein: 4.0;Son of Frankenstein: 3.5; Ghost of Frankenstein: 3.0; House of Frankenstein: 3.0]DRACULA: The Legacy Collection [Dracula: 4.0; Spanish language Dracula: 3.5; Dracula’s Daughter: 3.0; Son of Dracula: 3.0; House of Dracula: 3.0
THE WOLF MAN : The Legacy Collection [The Wolf Man: 3.0; Werewolf of London: 3.0; Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man: 3.5; She-Wolf of London: 2.0]
Disc: 4.0
For fans of classic horror movies, these three box sets are to drool over. First, yes, all of these movies have been formerly available on DVD, all except House of Dracula (DVD premier), but I wanted to make the case that Universal monster collectors would do well by purchasing all three box sets.
First of all, let’s discuss the packaging. True, we do not get individual poster art of each movie, but the title depictions of Frankenstein’s Monster, The Wolf Man and Dracula are superb graphic designs. Each gatefold box easily slides out of the slipcase which features a transparent panel on the front that allows the dominant monster in the set to be seen, but the transparent panel has a spooky background setting into which the face of the monster is perfectly framed. Inside the slipcase is a one page glossy insert, one side advertising all three box sets, the other detailing (short description with cast and credits) all four or five films contained in each box set. Then we have the expensive looking gatefold DVD case, the front containing the cover monster painting and title, the back containing sepia photos with a detailed description of what is found on disc 1 (always one sided) and what is found on disc 2 (front side and back side). Then when we open the gatefold, we are hit with a panoramic two page sepia photo spread from the movie (a key scene such as the laboratory creation sequence from Frankenstein, the underground crypt sequence with Bela Lugosi as Dracula near his coffin and Claude Rains confronting his son Larry Talbot) housing the two DVDs included in the package. A defining quote from the movie runs along the bottom edge of the inside gatefold. The packaging is extremely impressive and has that expensive “we care” look.
Okay, okay, you agree that the packaging is impressive, but why splurge if we already own the movies? Fine, here’s more to consider. Each box set, containing four or five movies (The Wolf Man Box only contains four films), sells for $25 street price at Best Buy (on sale for $20). That rounds out to be $4-$5 per film. But all the extras from previous releases are included, and a marvelous new documentary appears in each box (and each documentary is different for each box set).
First let’s examine the Frankenstein: The Legacy Collection box set. We get audio commentary on Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, trailers, Boo! a short film, poster and photo archives for Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein and two documentaries. But what is new is the remastered soundtracks on some of the movies which eliminate most of the hiss, pops, crackles and feature a less end-high tinny soundtrack (such remastering is advertised on all three box sets). I have not yet had the time to compare sound between older and newer versions of these movies, but the sound has a heavy bottom and sounds very clean. Unfortunately, the censored grunts and groans of the dying Bela Lugosi from Dracula, restored to laserdisc, are once again missing from the soundtrack here. Also a negative splice near the end of the credits for Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, resulting in an audible, annoying pop, still has not been repaired digitally. But what is new are documentaries hosted by writer/director Stephen Sommers whose new film Van Helsing rethinks the original Universal monsters for a new generation. Each documentary in each box focuses on Frankenstein’s Monster, The Wolf Man or Dracula. The documentary has on-screen interviews with not only Sommers but members of the cast of Van Helsing as well (Kate Beckinsale, Hugh Jackman, etc.) and features impressive montages from all the Universal classics plus footage from Van Helsing. As Sommers enthusiastically makes clear, his wish in making Van Helsing was to demonstrate that he loved these classic Universal movies.
Dracula: The Legacy Collection box set offers the option of hearing the original minimal Dracula musical score or easily switching to the recently-composed Philip Glass score performed by the Kronos Quartet. We also have the Dracula Stephen Sommers documentary. Lupita Tovar introduces the Spanish version of Dracula, and we have the documentary, The Road to Dracula. David J. Skal provides auditory commentary to the original Dracula. And we have a poster and still gallery.
Finally, The Wolf Man: The Legacy Collection box set offers the third and final new Stephen Sommers documentary, this time focusing on lycanthropy. A documentary, Monster by Moonlight, appears. Author Tom Weaver provides auditory commentary for The Wolf Man.
So, besides getting each movie for at most $5.00, Universal has included all the older extras of insightful and carefully executed documentaries, audio commentaries, poster and still galleries, remastered soundtracks and new documentaries featuring a tie-in to Van Helsing. And each collection is housed in attractively designed gatefold boxes that fit inside slipcases.
Still not convinced?????
Here’s two more reasons to purchase. The print and soundtrack to House of Dracula, first time on DVD, is outstanding. The print barely features a mark and the contrast creates true blacks and subtle shades of gray. Most fans consider House of Dracula to be perhaps the worst of the monster rally B productions and feel it is inferior to House of Frankenstein. What House of Frankenstein has is Boris Karloff, but his performance is totally lethargic with J. Carrol Naish stealing the show. John Carradine is good, as is Chaney, Jr., with teenaged Elena Verdugo submitting a fresh performance. But the movie is segmented into parts—the traveling circus, Count Dracula, the Wolf Man and returning Frankenstein’s Monster to full potency. For me the film is poorly paced and disappoints. However, House of Dracula, directed by Erle C. Kenton, is darker and more shadowy. The plot is fully integrated as one story and Onslow Stevens does a better mad scientist than Karloff did in House of Frankenstein (playing a sympathetic Jekyll-Hyde performance). John Carradine is just as effective a Count Dracula here, as is Lon Chaney, Jr. as Larry Talbot/The Wolf Man. For me House of Dracula is the black sheep of the Universal horror factory and its restoration with perfect picture and sound allows fresh evaluations. Don’t get me wrong, House of Dracula is a B programmer so it does suffer from the same flaws as Universal’s other B productions, but I just happen to consider it vastly superior to the generally over-praised House of Frankenstein.
Also, the bane of the originally released Universal horror film DVDs has been the subpar print of Bride of Frankenstein. Many writers have already pointed out that the laserdisc release was superior in many ways to the well-worn and soft (with less than perfect contrast) DVD release, and most people consider Bride of Frankenstein to be the hallmark release of the monster legacy series. However, unannounced, the DVD print of Bride of Frankenstein has been quietly upgraded and the result is amazing. Just put in the old DVD release and compare it to this new Legacy box set release. Yes, if one were to quibble, of course one could find flaws in the original source material, and Bride of Frankenstein does cry out for the type of restoration accorded Vertigo and Singin’ in the Rain. But the upgraded print provided by Universal is vastly superior to the older DVD print and Bride of Frankenstein can once again be seen for the eccentric classic it most certainly is.
Finally, if sales warrant (here’s the third and final reason to buy these box sets), Universal intends to perhaps provide Legacy box sets to the Mummy movies, the Creature movies and perhaps other Universal titles that never appeared on DVD. Isn’t it about time for The Black Cat, The Raven and The Invisible Ray to hit DVD (which of course they did recently, but not at the time of this release)!!!! If sales dictate Universal might bring out any number of cherished horror classics (and not just classic releases). So even if you think you have everything included in these three box sets, well, think again. Just like memorable dining experiences that we pay for many times throughout our lifetimes, buying these cherished cinematic classics a second or third time is not insane. I expect to buy them again without complaint, but Universal, please just bring out some new titles as well!