70's American Horror Part Thirty-One

IMAGES

(1972)

Dir - Robert Altman

Overall: MEH

 

The only official horror title in Robert Altman's filmography, Images is exclusively of a physiological nature, essentially being a hundred and one minutes of experiencing the topsy-turvy, reality-morphing of a schizophrenic woman.  In the lead, Susannah York bypasses the usual tropes of hysterical madness, instead putting on a disbelieving smile and occasionally playing along while her abusive lovers co-exist with actual people.  This storytelling approach is considerably off-putting for a time, made even more indecipherable due to York also narrating the words of her author character, sometimes over her subconscious phantasms also talking.  Altman bleeds all of these interactions deliberately to the point where the audience is just as confused as she seems to be, if not more so.  Elsewhere, you could make an alcohol-poisoning drinking game every time that René Auberjonois says "Jesus Christ", "Goddamit", or "Son of a bitch", usually choosing one particular phrase to repeat ad nauseum at a time.  John Williams unorthodox score is pretty effective when it emerges, but despite the consistent tone and challenging approach, the movie does not quite get past its monotony, overstaying its quirky welcome in the process.

DEATHDREAM

(1974)

Dir - Bob Clark

Overall: GOOD

 

The second horror film from Bob Clark and likewise the second collaboration between he and screenwriter Alan Ormsby, Deathdream, (Dead of Night), is a marked improvement over 1972's obnoxiously silly Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things and easily stands as the director's finest work in the genre.  The tone here is persistently dour and unnerving, helped by Carl Zitter's avant-garde score and some sincere performances.  Richard Backus is frustratingly creepy as a soldier-turned-ghoul, returning home from Vietnam by way of his traumatized mother's will alone.  John Marley and Lynn Carlin reunite from John Cassavetes' Faces, both standing in for any other set of American parents who lost and/or found it impossible to cope with their child's significantly changed, post-war re-emergence.  Though the film was clearly shot on a modest budget, Clark avoids any pronounced humor or B-grade schlock.  It is a bit too slow at times, lingering on Backus refusing to wipe the disturbing smirk off his face while he rocks away endlessly in a chair, ignoring people.  Still, it delivers a simple yet effective message while being plenty chilling at significant intervals.

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC

(1977)

Dir - John Boorman

Overall: WOOF

 

One of the most infamous sequels in cinema history, practically everything goes awry in Exorcist II: The Heretic.  By deepening the mythos, it narratively undermines the original in a way that offers up a never-ending slew of terrible ideas.  While Linda Blair and Max Von Sydow regrettably returned, William Friedkin, William Peter Blatty, and Ellen Burstyn all wisely refused to participate, which left money-hungry producers to cobble something together with director John Boorman and playwright William Goodheart.  Boorman had and would continue to be a worthwhile filmmaker, yet his persistent re-writes of the material, illness setbacks, and various other production malfunctions seemed to significantly contribute to making an ill-conceived project even worse.  A completely unintentional hilarity goes with every bombastic choice being made, starting with the increasingly incomprehensible script, to the lack of establishing shots, jarring ADR, recreation of certain scenes, recasting of young Regan MacNeil, Richard Burton's embarrassing performance, the "go big or go home" finale, and a fundamental concept that good and evil can be exorcised subconsciously through the linking of minds via a blinking lamp or whatever.  So basically, it is as bad as everyone has always said it is.

70's American Horror Part Thirty

THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN

(1971)

Dir - Bernard McEveety Jr.

Overall: GOOD

Emerging in a post-Rosemary's Baby era where occult-fueled exploitation movies were a dime a dozen, the independent The Brotherhood of Satan seems like it would fit right in with other cheap, shameless cash-grabs.  Shockingly though, this is a deeply chilling and stylized effort from seasoned television director Bernard McEveety Jr who takes a challenging, nebulous approach to the material while maintaining a deliberate tone.  Incidental music is almost non existent and it helps wonderfully to set the mood that something profoundly disturbing is afoot.  That and the bizarre opening where a harmless couple innocently enters a town only to be bombarded upon by the frenzied locals.  The script by William Welch is quite conservative with the expository details throughout though, engaging the viewer as to what could be happening as we witness one unexplained and therefor eerie set piece after the other.  When things become alarming clear though, the movie loses none of its menacing momentum and the finale not only escalates effectively, but it also leaves a sinister taste which is quite fitting.

 

BEN

(1972)

Dir - Phil Karlson

Overall: MEH

 

A much lousier sequel to an already lousy movie, Ben is the follow-up to the previous year's Willard and takes an overtly sappy, confused approach to a premise that is already barely engaging in the first place.  Beginning where the previous movie left off, this time an aww shucks, ten year-old boy befriends Willard's old pets and anyone in the production department who though this approach would be well-equipped to wield skin-crawling frights should have gotten fired.  This is easily the least scary film ever made to be labeled as horror.  A couple of times, a handful of rats climb onto people and adorably squeak while murdering them, but they predominantly seem a harmless bunch so it becomes just laughable when everyone keeps considering them a top priority/neighborhood menace that must be dealt with.  Everything being taking so seriously is one thing, but the cutesy aspects along with how yawn-inducingly boring it all is makes this as forgettable as they come.  Hey, at least the Michael Jackson song is solid.

 

THE OMEN

(1976)

Dir - Richard Donner

Overall: GOOD

 

Still benefiting from the Satanic juice that Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist managed to muster, The Omen was yet another commercial triumph that would in turn inspire an endless stream of horror movies.  Conceived of by producer Harvey Bernhard and written by David Seltzer, the film established its fair share of occult cliches, some of which continue to be confused as coming directly from the bible.  A fake Book of Revelations excerpt is regularly quoted and the very concept that the Antichrist would be the Devil's son as opposed to just his follower was more or less established here in the collective consciousness.  Of course Jerry Goldsmith's borderline ridiculous, Latin chanting score, 666 tattoos, and death premonitions caught on camera would also have a lasting influence.  Due to the abundance of elements that graduated to pop culture staples, the movie's fright factor is comparatively limited now, but it is still a significantly fun bit of popcorn horror.  Richard Donner maintains a consistent pace, Seltzer's script is both tight and inventive, the cast is highly respectable, and the overall high production values help to give it a serious tone even if the material is harmless, demon-child silliness.

70's American Horror Part Twenty-Nine

THE NIGHT STALKER

(1972)

Dir - John Llewellyn Moxey

Overall: GOOD

One of the most popular and endearing television horror movies on the 1970s, The Night Stalker spawned a sequel and a season long series.  Some heavy hitters were involved in the production, namely screenwriter Richard Matheson and producer Dan Curtis, making this the first of several collaborations between the two.  The story was based on Jeff Rice's then unpublished novel The Kolchk Tapes and seasoned TV actor Darren McGavin was brought in to play the title character.  Along with the dad in A Christmas Story, this would become McGavin's signature role and he is effortlessly likeable as the stubborn reporter who undermines the authorities while never being allowed to get the real supernatural news published to the masses.  While the hilarious banter between he and Simon Oakland's Tony Vincenzo would be much further elaborated upon later, they still have a handful of intense scenes here which set the template.  British director John Llewellyn Moxey takes a wonderful, subdued approach to the material, staging numerous moments to heart-pumping silence and maintaining a frightening aura of mystery around Barry Atwater's non-speaking, blood shot-eyed vampire.

 

SEIZURE

(1974)

Dir - Oliver Stone

Overall: MEH

 

Writer/director Oliver Stone began his career with the odd, mostly unintentionally goofy horror film Seizure.  The then upstart filmmaker scored a considerably notable genre movie cast for his modest debut, including Johnathan Frid, Martine Beswick, Hervé Villechaize, and Mary Woronov.  Save a few exceptions, the performances are all either oddly aloof or unnaturally pretentious though.  The script features laughable, faux-profound monologues one after the other and it becomes difficult to follow what the point of any of it is supposed to be.  Stone's skills behind the lens were just as shoddy, with several attempts to liven things up involving warped close-ups and horrendously inappropriate, romantic music interjecting characters as they wax poetically.  Further chuckles can be found in Villechaize being about as menacing as you would expect him to be, looking quite foolish as he adorably threatens and jumps on people.  There are plenty of other baffling moments to make it a head-scratching experience to be sure and one that Stone probably wishes would be better left forgotten.

CARRIE

(1976)

Dir - Brian De Palma

Overall: GOOD

The first published Stephen King novel Carrie also fittingly became the first to be adapted for the screen.  Brian De Palma was steady off of a block of thriller/horror films when he pushed for the rights from King and the result became one of the best received and highest grossing genre movies of the decade.  In the title role, Sissy Spacek is miles away from the homely, chubby, acne-ridden description in the source material, yet her performance is nevertheless fantastic.  The famous "prom night from hell" scene where she switches from a frail, horrendously mistreated outcast to a terrifying revenge monster is one of the most memorable ever filmed and Spacek channels such wildly different emotional states flawlessly.  As her disturbed mother, Piper Laurie is rather scene stealing as well and with a few more benevolent exceptions, the rest of the recognizable cast make textbook cruel high school bully foibles.  De Palma is still directly drawing upon his hero Alfred Hitchcock for thematic references with split screens and screechy violin cues right out of Psycho, plus his further use of slow motion and the occasional lush score from Pino Donaggio gives everything the right bizarre, unnatural feel.

70's American Horror Part Twenty-Eight

DUEL

(1971)

Dir - Steven Spielberg

Overall: GOOD

 

Though it later received a theatrical release, the full-length debut Duel from Steven Spielberg maintains a reputation as one of the better ABC Movie of the Weeks from the 1970s.  Richard Matheson penned the screenplay based off of his own semi-autobiographically inspired short story of the same name and it is in a way a gimmick film, taking place in real time and essentially featuring one character, minimal dialog, minimal music, and an unseen, unspeaking villain.  While some of Dennis Weaver's internal monologuing comes off as a bit unnatural, it is necessary in fleshing out the bare bones story and giving us an insight into his increasingly desperate situation.  The California dessert landscape is a character unto itself, representing a sense of lawless, vacant abandon where a psychopathic trucker can wreak havoc without any worthwhile aid coming to his victim.  Spielberg is the real star of the show though, maintaining a Hitchcockian grip on the audience who is left second guessing various subtle moments along the way.

 

LEMORA

(1973)

Dir - Richard Blackburn

Overall: GOOD

The sole, full-length directorial effort from Richard Blackburn, Lemora, (Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural, The Legendary Curse of Lemora, and Lemora, Lady Dracula), is a highly crude yet imaginative, coming of age vampire film with a strange, singular presentation all its own.  The frequented metaphors of vampirism representing blossoming womanhood, independence from the sins of your parents, the rejection of societal norms, and the unshackling of religious repression are all present.  Performance wise, it is all over the place with laughable accents, dialog, and line readings with half of the cast coming off wooden while the rest are as over the top as can be imaginable.  Blackburn struggles with the pacing during the middle of the movie and the makeup effects are only a notch above what could be expected from a twelve year-old shooting something on super 8 film with their friends.  Atmospherically though, it is unwavering in an eerie, fairy-tale manner.  Almost the entire film takes place at night and everything is bathed in unearthly blue light with interjections of animal growling, spooky music, and gospel singing.  It is a curious juxtaposition of elements to be sure, yet a rewardingly interesting one as well.

 

THE SENTINEL

(1977)

Dir - Michael Winner

Overall: GOOD

One of the numerous occult horror films of the 1970's was Michael Winner's mostly engaging adaptation of Jeffry Konvitz' novel The Sentinel.  The most noticeable element is the large and highly recognizable supporting cast which includes Burgess Meredith, Ava Gardner, John Carradine, Eli Wallach, Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Berenger, Beverey D'Angelo, William Hickey, and Jerry Orbach.  So many past and future A-listers in a primarily silly genre movie makes for a fun spotting game while viewing, which is good in that the first two acts are a little slow to get things under way.  The more creepy supernatural bits, (including a rather odd birthday party for a cat and the demonic, freakshow ending), are a lot of fun though, even if they never become particularly frightening.  In this sense, it is not profoundly disturbing as say Rosemary's Baby or The Exorcist which clearly influenced it, but for harmless and goofy gates of hell merriment, it suffices better than most.

70's Asian Horror Part Two - The Bloodthirsty Trilogy

THE VAMPIRE DOLL

(1970)

Dir - Michio Yamamoto

Overall: GOOD

 

The first of three Western styled vampire films from Toho Studios, The Vampire Doll, (Chi o suu ningyo), gets things off to a sufficiently chilling start.  It has the standard set up that Roger Corman utilized in some of his notable Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, which is an out of town stranger arriving at a large, curiously spooky house, only to go missing and have more people venture out to look for him.  Director Michio Yamamoto lets the pacing lull a bit during the second act while we wait for some inevitable answers to reveal themselves, but there are a few wonderfully creepy moments regularly sprinkled about.  Yukiko Kobayashi makes for a most startling on screen vampire, with her blue skin, golden eyes, and unwholesome smile providing sufficient goosebumps.  The eerie sound design and musical score go a long way as well, livening up the low-key presentation with the ideal atmosphere.  It certainly has its familiar tropes in place, but there is a sincere approach to the material and enough memorable details to recommend it.

 

LAKE OF DRACULA
(1971)
Dir - Michio Yamamoto
Overall: GOOD

The second entry in Toho Studio's Bloodthirsty trilogy, (all of which were directed by Michio Yamatoto and two of which featured Dracula in the title), Lake of Dracula is a mostly sufficient if occasionally flawed entry.  Getting past the gimmick of essentially watching a contemporary set Hammer horror movie except everything is Japanese, the film has some nice, harrowing moments at regular intervals to spice up the rather textbook plot that we have seen variations of, countless times.  Even excellent visual flourishes such as a creepy house, vampires with golden eyes and light-blue make-up, eerie flashbacks, a ghastly staking, and the occasional gore are not anything new, but they are still appropriately and lovingly done here.  For every moment of fun ghoulishness though, there is another that drags everything down a bit.  The ending in particular succumbs to too much exposition with a twist that is barely if at all necessary.  With so many cliches even fittingly there, it is easy to tune out due to the very standard structure.  That said, this is both harmless and interesting to be sure, especially for the vampire aficionado who is curious as to another country's take on the undead.

 

EVIL OF DRACULA

(1974)

Dir - Michio Yamamoto

Overall: MEH

Adequately done though not the most memorable of 70s vampire films, Eye of Dracula, (Chi o Sū Bara), was the final entry in Michio Yamamoto's Bloodthirsty trilogy.  Three years went by before production began on it, with director Yamamoto initially being reluctant to retread the same ground so soon after the one-two punch of Vampire Doll and Lake of Dracula.  Like the latter, Shin Kishida plays the head vampire who is not only a different character but also still not Dracula.  In fact the titular Count is not even mentioned here, though it does borrow a bit directly from Bram Stoker's novel in the opening scene where a stranger arrives from out of town and gets visited by a series of undead brides during his first evening in the main baddie's abode.  Though the vampires here bite their victims in the chest as opposed to the neck, otherwise all of the plot details are interchangeable with countless other movies of the same ilk that were produced across the globe at the time.  There are also a few chuckle-worthy moments involving either curious choices by some of the actors or just oddball script details.  While such things do not make the film particularly bad, there is also nothing really present to elevate it above being an easily forgettable trek down bog standard terrain.

70's Foreign Horror Part Twelve

INN OF THE DAMNED

(1975)

Dir - Terry Bourke

Overall: MEH

 

The bloated and messy genre mash-up Inn of the Damned from Australian filmmaker Terry Bourke at least gets points for throwing as many clashing elements at the screen that it can think of.  In simplest terms, the movie is a Western, though its foreign setting and collection of various accents give it an aloof feel right out of the gate.  Confusing matters more is that it also makes various attempts at horror, softcore erotica, and goofy comedy, none of which it does convincingly and many that it does quite randomly.  The musical score changes depending on the completely different tone that Bourke is going for from scene to scene and the increasing number of characters detour everything to the point where a primary narrative is virtually undetectable.  Some of the tough guy dialog and Western cliche pandering is downright silly, though not in an intentional sense and the two-hour running time is quite unnecessary considering how aimless the presentation is.

THE TENANT

(1976)

Dir - Roman Polanski

Overall: GREAT

 

The final entry in Roman Polanski's apartment trilogy, The Tenant, (Le locataire) is probably the most richly thematic and narratively obscure out of the lot.  An adaptation of the 1964 novel Le Locataire chimérique by Roland Topor, (whom Polanski was friends with), the project was originally in long, on-again/off-again development with Jack Clayton.  As his follow-up to the world renowned Chinatown and the last film made before his infamous, underage sex scandal, it is a deliberately personal work for Polanski.  Besides directing and co-writing the screenplay, he also plays the lead role and as the soft-spoken, unassuming Polish immigrant Trellovsky he gets to explore a psychologically obtrusive environment where his neighbor's persistent and trivial annoyance, interference, and distrust of his every action drives him to paranoia.  There is far more going on than even that though with sexual repression and deviance, loss of identity, unwilling social compliance, an an inescapable, looped cycle where the entire movie can even be seen as a traumatic fever dream of another character.  It is one of the many he has delivered.

CATHY'S CURSE

(1977)

Dir - Eddy Matalon

Overall: MEH

The Canadian The Exorcist/The Omen rip-off Cathy's Curse, (Une si gentille petite fille, Cauchermares), from French filmmaker Eddy Matalon has a number of cheap, unintentionally laughable qualities to it, but it also regularly drags.  The first English-speaking movie from Matalon, the story is simple enough and provides a number of opportunities for a young girl to be possessed by unwholesome forces, but her behavior is more bratty than disturbing.  When the movie's attempts at being scary mostly revolve around her saying "bitch" and "whore" to grown-ups, it hardly constitutes as anything to take seriously.  The inappropriate profanity is not limited to the obnoxious title character though and a lot of the supernatural set pieces are too random to be chilling.  Performance wise, it is predominantly an embarrassing assortment of stilted line readings and overacting, providing even more accidental hilarity.  Flatly lit and blandly directed, when the film is not making you chuckle with its awkward attempts at malevolent profoundness, it is sluggishly and sloppily structured.  Silly in all the wrong ways, it does not get by enough on its nonsensical charm to warrant more than a single, curious viewing.

70's Foreign Horror Part Eleven

GIRL SLAVES OF MORGANA LE FAY

(1971)

Dir - Bruno Gantilon

Overall: MEH

An erotic fairytale that hints at more horrific elements than it ever shows, Bruno Gantilon's Girl Slaves of Morgana Le Fay, (Morgane et ses nymphes), is an interesting exploitation film, if still a far too meandering one.  Based off of Arthurian legend elements though set in the modern day, it was partially shot at the castle Château de Val in the Czech commune of Bort-les-Orgues.  The somewhat dilapidated location makes for an ideal, unearthly setting where beautiful, ageless women live an immortal existence of pleasure.  The story alludes to vampirism and several characters deliver dialog that seems to dictate that they have a torturous way of inflicting punishment on those who break their mystical code, though no such graphic material is ever depicted on screen.  It is still certainly in the realm of Euro-trash by way of being softcore pornography.  Gantilon stages an effective opening and introduction to the island of Avalon, but the entire middle of the film stalls in its tracks with one repetitive, slow dialog exchange and lesbian love making scene after the other.  It does have a somewhat ethereal, provocative tone, but it also overstays its welcome.

 

THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE

(1976)

Dir - Nicolas Gessner

Overall: MEH

The French/Canadian/American co-production of Laird Koenig's novel The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is a curious film, one that has some chilling moments and stellar performances, but also one that suffers from a highly implausible script.  One of five 1976 movies that Jodie Foster appeared in, this was her first substantial, leading role and one that she rather excels in.  Playing an alarmingly self-sufficient thirteen year-old, she speaks with the confidence of a veteran con-woman and seems to be in complete control of her far-fetched situation.  Just before undertaking Apocalypse Now, Martin Sheen delivers an equally solid performance as a frightening creep and Bad Ronald's Scott Jacoby is a likeable, adolescent love interest for Foster.  Hungarian-born director Nicolas Gessner keeps the pace up even if the large majority of the movie is people checking up on Foster's character who perpetually thwarts any grown-up's attempts to talk to her ever-missing father.  Here lies the problem though in that plausibility is stretched detrimentally thin as there are just too many times where every speaking character at some point behaves in an ill-logical manner that breaks verisimilitude.

 

THE BROOD

(1979)

Dir - David Cronenberg

Overall: GOOD

 

By his own admittance, The Brood was David Cronenberg's warped, more bitter, yet "realistic" answer to the same year's Kramer vs. Kramer.  Written after the director went through a divorce and custody battle over his daughter, the movie hits quite close to home in its subject matter.  Of course always one to explore his own fascinations with horrific, psychological mutations of the human body, the story goes to far more monstrous lengths than just a standard broken relationship drama.  Themes of motherhood and repressed rage also play into those of marital dysfunction and thankfully, Cronenberg is skilled enough as a filmmaker to not let the movie's more grotesque and borderline ridiculous moments undermine the story's honest intentions.  Hammer regulars Oliver Reed and Samantha Egger are quite solid in their eccentric performances, though Reed is comparatively more toned-down than usual.  This was the first film to be scored by Howard Shore who would go on to collaborate with Cronenberg on virtually every following project, though his work here is a bit much at time as hardly any scenes play out to any natural and far more unsettling silence.  Still, the movie is plenty unsettling as it stands and represents another memorable genre effort from Cronenberg who was very much in peak form at the time.