60's American Horror Part Eighteen

THE DUNGEON OF HARROW

(1962)

Dir - Pat Boyette

Overall: WOOF

Future comic book artist Pat Boyette cranked out three no-budget drive-in cheapies in the 1960s, a sexploitation comedy, a war film, and the pathetically lackluster The Dungeon of Harrow, (Dungeons of Horror), which serves as a regional, D-rent version of Roger Corman's stellar Edgar Allan Poe vehicles from the time period.  The story has a shipwrecked survivor showing up on an island with a weirdo in a castle who keeps his deformed wife locked up in a dungeon for reasons, and it all goes on in endless, snail-paced circles.  For the clearly minimal amount of budget that the crew is working with, Boyette pulls off what should be some halfway decent, Gothic scenery.  Yet the staging is clunky at best, plus he leaves too many lights on for the cinematography to create the desired, creepy mood.  The dialog is endlessly pretentious and the performances are too cumbersome to even be lousy, except for Russ Harvey, (whose only screen credits are this and Boyette's follow-up No Man's Land), who is remarkably dull in the lead and about as charismatic of a leading man as a bag of rice.  A large part of the problem is that producer's allegedly wanted the length to be as close to ninety-minutes as possible, so many of the scenes are either pointless or drag out past the acceptable amount of time that Boyette should have yelled "Cut!" for.

 

MONSTROSITY

(1963)

Dir - Joseph V. Mascelli/Jack Pollexfen

Overall: MEH

 

Shot in 1958 though not theatrically released until five years later, Monstrosity, (The Atomic Brain), is as bad as its reputation dictates.  This was the only directorial effort from cinematographer Joseh V. Mascelli, with producer/co-writer Jack Pollexfen also allegedly having a say from behind the lens and admitting later on that it was a troubled ordeal to finish.  A mad scientist scenario plays out where a disgraced doctor agrees to work for a relentlessly awful, crotchety old woman who wants her brain transplanted into the body of a pretty young lady because that is obviously how science works.  Various failed attempts up until then involving animal-to-human brain switcheroos render two different characters as "zombies", one of whom is an unfortunate new housekeeper that acts like a cat for most of the movie.  Silly stuff which thankfully does not overstay its welcome at a brisk sixty-four minutes, it is surprisingly not as tortuously paced as most D-rent drive-in trash of its kind.  A small handful of absurd plot points make it amusing if one is generous enough to even be paying attention to what is happening, plus the finale is fitting where the two worst characters get their proper comeuppance.

 

THE WITCHMAKER

(1969)

Dir - William O. Brown

Overall: MEH

 

Though obviously far from a masterpiece even of the obscure variety, regional filmmaker William O. Brown's second of only two movies The Witchmaker, (The Witchmaster, Witchkill, The Legend of Witch Hollow), is an interesting, bottom budgeted bit of blasphemy.  Filmed in Louisiana with a cast of actual professional actors, it is typically talky yet sufficiently plotted as to not stagnate in its tracks.  Utilizing the ole cabin in the woods set up mixed with the loose premise from Shirley Jackson's The Haunting, it also has the usual occult silliness found in many horror films of the time period where coven leaders give alms to Satan, conduct complicated rituals, and are generally up to no good.  The film would be reedited six years later with comparatively more graphic content and re-released as The Naked Witch, but there is still some almost-nudity here and mild violence to slam home its exploitative nature.  Things fall apart at the ending and it could afford to shave off several minutes of several scenes where Anthony Eisley and Alvy Moore politely discuss the existence of witchcraft, but Brown somehow manages to keep the whole thing on the macabre, atmospheric side with a striking Satanic temple as well as creepy cinematography.