(1971)
Dir - Curtis Harrington
Overall: MEH
Another case perhaps of an overabundance of screenwriters resulting in a confused and sloppy end product, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, (Who Slew Auntie Roo?), has four people credited to concocting the somewhat modern day Hansel and Gretel revamp and it shows. Too many plot elements simply go nowhere and though the ending is appropriately disastrous and enough in keeping with the fairy tale source material, it is also rather abrupt and offers some perplexing insight into the main children protagonists at least. There is a cold brute of a orphanage head mistress, a phony psychic, a conniving butler, and then the kids and Aunt Roo herself who all could be seen as villains at one point, but only the title character's story arc is really seen all the way through. Which is fine, but it just makes a series of other scenes throughout come off as rather pointless. Director Curtis Harrington, (who also directed Shelley Winters in the same year's similar psycho-biddy thriller What's the Matter with Helen?), frames some suspenseful moments and ideal horror images here or there and Winters herself is sufficiently hammy, both allowing the film to hit the mediocre mark at least.
THE BEAST MUST DIE
(1974)
Dir - Paul Annett
Overall: GOOD
One of Amicus's more gimmicky entries, The Beast Must Die basically locks Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None and Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game together in a room with a werewolf. The premise being a rather clever "who done it?" hybrid, much of the movie's success stems from its concept alone. Peter Cushing has a bit part and the man could not come off as more classy and professional if he tried, plus other genre regulars Anton Diffring and Charles Gray bring in more familiarity. In the lead, Calvin Lockhart is either delightfully or annoyingly over the top as the eccentric millionaire who is as equally obsessed with hunting a lycanthropian beast as he is making grandiose speeches at every opportunity. The film slags a little bit as it becomes clear from the outset that we are going to sit through all three nights of the full moon before finding out what is transpiring. There is ultimately little else to do but have Lockhart continually shoot at a wolf that keeps getting away and then accuse his party guests who grow less and less tolerant of the monotony of it all. The climax is relatively satisfying though, all the more so for coming after a rather funny and meta "werewolf break", something rather unique to this movie.
(1978)
Dir - Jerry Skolimowski
Overall: GOOD
Boasting a genuinely strong cast, (including John Hurt, Alan Bates, and even Tim Curry for a few moments), Jerry Skolimowski's The Shout is the type of arty, psychological semi-horror film that very deliberately presents itself as a bewilderment. Based off pf the short story by Robert Graves, there are minor hints of Lovecraftian madness, but the appearance of it all is something uniquely credited to Skolimowski most likely. As a graduate from the National Film School in Łódź, (who also has Roman Polanski as one of its alumni), Skolimowski's direction of his actors particularly and the way the film is spliced together are its largest components to the intended on-screen delusion. Yet the avant score from two members of Genesis not only contributes to the movie's hipness, but also does a bang up job of furthering what is strange about it. The narrative increasingly bounces between what' is most likely the present and what is most likely not the "actual" past, and all the behavior from all of the characters does everything it can to make the viewer uneasy as to what on earth can be occurring. No audience spoon-feeding allowed, it is a welcomed approach regardless of the overall outcome, but thankfully said outcome is quite effective in its subtle eeriness.
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