(1960)
Dir - Sidney Hayers
Overall: MEH
Genre regular Anton Diffring (The Man Who Could Cheat Death, The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire), plays another brilliant-gone-mad doctor in Sidney Hayers Circus of Horrors, which was distributed by the same company that released the much lauded and superior Peeping Tom the very same month. Circus has an exclusive enough premise melding two otherwise worlds-apart ingredients such as plastic surgery and well, a circus. Donald Pleasence is nearly wasted as he only appears for a few scant minutes, but Diffring oozes somewhat illogical arrogance and menace as he is certainly supposed to. The pacing stumbles a bit as it mostly becomes an exercise in sitting through competently performed circus routines, (provided by Billy Smart's Circus extras), and waiting for inevitable "accidental" deaths to occur. How this guy does not get recognized, investigated, or caught earlier than he does is a bit of a stretch which would easily be forgivable if the film itself was not as tedious to sit through. For the time it was made, Circus pushes its sexualizing and sadistic characteristics farther than most, but again, not far enough to really to make it anything but an average, less than memorable British horror entry.
(1965)
Dir - Lance Comfort
Overall: MEH
Lance Comfort directed a good boatload of B-movies in his two-plus decades behind the lens, Devils of Darkness being his very final effort. The components of vampires, black magic, and Satan are a mighty fine and dependable bunch to make up your horror movie brew and all of them are present here. Hubert Noël's lead Count Sinistre, (get it?), comes off as a French Udo Kier and though we never see his fangs or any fangs from anyone for that matter, he has got the type of ultra suave mannerisms to be expected in such fare. Similarly, underground crypts, robe-wearing occultists, sacred talismans, and even a random voodoo doll, (that is never followed-up upon nor explained), all find their way into the proceedings. The problem is that all the pieces just seem to be there because they just seem to be there. The story is barely compelling and the lead good guy is as bland as they often come and there are no spooky or even gruesome moments. If anyone gets stabbed or bitten, it is generally off camera and the most exciting "horror movie music" cues come in for shots of a newspaper front page sensationalizing something about the occult. In general, everything is rather going through the motions really, leading up to a very lazy, almost "huh?" climax. The film does not insult your intelligence though and stops a few bricks shy of being a complete bore, so it is nearly acceptable enough.
(1967)
Dir - Vernon Sewell
Overall: MEH
Whatta snorefest. Despite Peter Cushing's irretrievably prestigious reputation, he can do nothing to save the utter boredom experienced in viewing Vernon Sewell's (House of Mystery, Curse of the Crimson Altar) far-more-excitingly-named-than-it-is The Blood Beast Terror. Pacing is a gigantic problem here. The film is a reasonable eighty-eight minutes yet it consists of numerous sequences that either need not be one tediously long take, could be trimmed considerably, or flat out should be completely removed to keep things moving. There is also an intentionally dreadful play meant to be humorous that is put on to give us one tiny piece of data, but it is dragged out ad nauseam. Furthering the unfortunateness, the main monster is given about thirty seconds of screen time which is probably due to the fact that it looks about as convincing as an old Doctor Who creature. Sewell's direction ultimately bogs down the film to the point of only being recommendable to see Cushing in a Hammer-esque, good guy role that he can excel at in his sleep. It is difficult to hate something the man is still so effortlessly classy in, though this particular film is rather asking for such score nonetheless.
