1970s British Horror Part Eleven

GOODBYE GEMINI
(1970)
Dir - Alan Gibson
Overall: MEH

Deviating itself quite a bit in structure and tone from Jenni Hall's Ask Agamemmon novel for which it it based, Goodbye Gemini is a strange, occasionally annoying thriller in the vein of others near the turn of the 60s which portrayed London's bohemian counter culture as unflatteringly as possible.  Whether it was intended or not, the film is loaded from top to bottom with unlikable characters.  The young hippies are spoiled, violent brats and the older gentleman are either sleazy, sexual deviants or in Michael Redgrave's case, (in one of his last roles), they just appear to be bored.  It does not help that at the heart of the cinematic version of the story, the incestuous relationship between the twins takes center stage instead of the more interesting, tripped out, non-linear dream sequences of the novel that more underplayed the exploitative elements.  Alan Gibson would go on to direct the last two Christopher Lee Dracula films for Hammer, but aside from a few decent moments that serve as exceptions, there is not enough style over substance with Gemini to lift it over its rather abundant, unpleasant qualities.

TOWER OF EVIL
(1972)
Dir - Jim O'Connolly
Overall: MEH

The only redeemable elements to Jim O'Connolly's Tower of Evil are many of the visual ones as the film has some nice, atmospheric sets, gruesome murders, and slimy, decomposed corpses for us to look at.  The opening is somewhat promising as well since the movie's setting is properly introduced in the most creepy of ways.  Very sadly though, the story itself is insultingly moronic.  A slasher movie with all of the stupid, stupid cliches in full-throttle, this is the type of crap where nearly everything that happens shows a severe lack of sound judgement on the character's, (and screenwriter's), part.  Everyone suspects a maniac is running about so characters wonder around by themselves, (unarmed of course), split up at the dumbest possible time, (unarmed of course), tell each other their imagination is playing tricks on them when they claim to see something, decide to bone each other while all of this is going on, laugh manically when they find hidden treasure, keep vital information from each other, and of course the mongoloid killer is astronomically proficient at outsmarting nearly everyone until the end.  You could say more about it, but really why bother?

NOTHING BUT THE NIGHT
(1973)
Dir - Peter Sasdy
Overall: MEH

Promising to a point yet sloppily handled in several respects, Peter Sasdy's Nothing But the Night, (The Devil's Undead), is another Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee staring vehicle where the two wonderful actors at least share plenty of scenes together.  The bulk of the film is rather dull.  There is a mystery as to who is killing a bunch of people, Lee and Cushing are there to uncover said mystery, and it goes on for quite a long time before the movie almost inexplicably unveils the true agenda of its premise for an awkward finish.  What ends up happening is quite sinister on paper, but there lies the problem since in the actual execution, it is a botched effort.  Clumsy editing equipped with the tedious nature of the pacing in general makes the creepy reveal more "huh?" than anything.  It springs up rather suddenly, with characters discovering it even more randomly as things only get more curious from there since the final scene is a conflicting mess of what should be disturbing yet is instead rather goofy and weird.  There are some nice, sinister twists and the talent is certainly present, (Sasdy made Countess Dracula after all and again, Lee and Cushing), but it is still unmistakably flawed.

1970s British Horror Part Ten

INCENSE FOR THE DAMNED
(1970)
Dir - Robert Hartford-Davis
Overall: MEH

Incense for the Damned, (also released as Bloodsuckers, Freedom Seeker, and Doctors Wear Scarlet), is a mess of a film, one that ran out of money midway through and had to resume shooting at a later date with a new director, new actors, and new scenes to accommodate the situation.  It certainly shows as it becomes very clear just where the production had to change the entire movie they were making.  The primary chunk of it takes place in Greece and follows a single, linear thread, but then the film appears to end about thirty minutes early and the last act seems awkwardly tagged on since that was exactly what it was.  Peter Cushing is wasted, only appearing in a single scene at the beginning and then again later on in a far more perplexing fashion.  The entire script never explains itself properly and gets more haphazardly handled as it goes on.  There is some dated, trippy orgy scenes near the beginning and a couple rather lame action moments, but the rest of the movie goes virtually nowhere and just features people talking, talking some more, talking some more after than, and then occasionally behaving irrationally towards each other while still talking a lot.

THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW
(1972)
Dir - Pete Walker
Overall: MEH

Though Pete Walker had directed the thriller Die Screaming, Marianne the year before, The Flesh and Blood Show can more properly be seen as his first bona fide horror film.  There is plenty of nudity right out of the gate to fit the sexploitation label appropriately and the script by Alfred Shaughnessy establishes to a tee the "old crazy people vs. the attractive youth of England" motif that Walker would routinely use.  The plot is void of the director's typical, tongue-in-cheek morality themes though and instead it is just a straight slasher outing where someone is picking off young, good looking people while we are just waiting to find out who it is.  While it occasionally seems that Walker is giving us red herrings as one is supposed to do with this type of fare, he does not play that angle enough and because of this, the mystery is resolved very predictably as well as unsatisfyingly.  Up until the final reveal, (which was initially presented in 3-D in theaters), it is just a bunch of naked boobs and people getting scared really.  Walker would do far better and interesting work with these themes over his next several movies, but for completists, it is worth a look.

THREE DANGEROUS LADIES
(1977)
Dir - Robert Fuest/Alvin Rakoff/Don Thompson
Overall: WOOF

Most horror anthologies, (particularly ones produced in England in the 1970s), were not only comprehensively solid but more often than not they represented some of the finest cinematic horror ever seen, with Amicus' marvelous series of films particularly coming to mind.  Three Dangerous Ladies on the other hand, bletch.  Each segment was originally part of a 1975 UK television program called Classics Dark and Dangerous that ultimately proved short-lived for reasons that become apparent upon viewing the collection put together here.  Even with some solid talent on hand such as actors Keir Dullea, (2001: A Space Odyssey), Charles Gray, (The Devil Rides Out, The Rocky Horror Picture Show), Glynis Johns, (Vault of Horror), John Hurt, and Dr. Phibes director Robert Fuest, the best Three Ladies can muster is in its first story "Mrs. Amworth" which is just a thoroughly unmemorable, poorly written vampire yarn.  The two that follow it are aggressively worse.  "The Island" is enormously boring and has a underwhelming, head-scratchingly stupid ending while "The Mannikin" has some truly awful, awful music, confused editing, and a surprisingly terrible performance from Nashville's Ronee Blakley.

1970s British Horror Shorts Part One

SALOME

(1973)

Dir - Clive Barker

Overall: MEH

 

Made in Liverpool when he was a mere teenager, Clive Barker's Salome was an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play of the same name in the loosest sense of the term.  A textbook experimental student art film in the vein of so many others, it plays out in intentionally super-grainy black and white, without dialog, and brimful of bizarre images that young energetic filmmakers would find profound.  This is not anything to make fun of per se, in fact the contrary; Barker and his crew of friends, (which also includes future Pinhead Doug Bradley), get by on their amateur charm more than anything else.  That said, it is a primitive effort that while managing to succeed with a few striking visuals, does not come off as a benchmark of avant-garde cinema.  That is unfair to expect of it though, and any horror connoisseur who would logically also be a Barker fan would be doing themselves a disservice by not seeking out this and its similar follow-up The Forbidden.

 

APACHES
(1977)
Dir - Neville Smith
Overall: GOOD
 
A government commissioned PFI, (public information film), made for the Central Office of Information and Health and Safety Executive, Apaches is meant to showcase the dangers of children playing unsupervised in a farm, something that must have been a point of concern at the time.  Six kids partake of cowboys and Indians while meeting gruesome ends, all with no adult narration and minimal musical accompaniment.  This gives it an eerie intimacy, and the cast of non-actors, (all of whom where chosen from a local school in Maidenhead, Berkshire), sell the material accordingly, staying in character as they use their imagination while falling into sudden danger and soldiering on, too young to comprehend the magnitude of their friend's demises.  There were several such educational films made at the time, but this one is more atmospheric than explicitly academic, letting its sobering images sink in more than any overt commentary would. 

 

PANIC

(1978)
Dir - James Dearden
Overall: GOOD

The second short feature from James Dearden was the seventeen-minute Panic, (literally "on the streets of London", nyuck nyuck), which would later be remade by Sean Ellis in 2001, again as short and titled Left Turn.  Speaking of Dearden and speaking of remakes, he would follow this one up with the cold semi-thriller Diversion, which would likewise get turned into Fatal Attraction seven years later.  Most likely based on an urban legend and utilizing the well-established and often effective premise of "picking up hitchhikers = scary", this one has some misdirects as Dearden leads the viewer down one or two different roads, (pardon the pun), as to what creepy doings are transpiring.  That said, the final sequence is easily foreseeable, yet it is also well done, bringing in more welcome and inconclusive supernatural elements that leave the viewer with a nice creeped-out feeling, as is appropriate.

A Ghost Story for Christmas Part Two

THE ASH TREE
(1975)
Dir - Lawrence Gordon Clark
Overall: GOOD

The final M.R. James adaptation done for the A Ghost for Christmas strand was The Ash Tree, yet another included in his 1904 collection Ghost Stories of Antiquary.  It is identically stylized just as the other Lawrence Gordon Clark directed installments were, playing out over virtually no dramatic music whatsoever and slowly becoming more and more otherworldly-centered as it goes on.  The then shortest in the run at only thirty-two minutes, it is one of the few that could benefit from a perhaps tighter screenplay.  Irish playwright David Rudkin's work is certainly decent enough, but it still feeling as if some core information is missing.  The main difference with The Ash Tree comparatively though is not only some brief nudity, but most certainly the finale which is shocking in the best of ways, going for a less subtle, more visually gruesome route than would be expected.  Then as a plus, Ramona II/Miss-Briefly-Tom-Baker Lalla Ward shows up as well.

THE SIGNALMAN
(1976)
Dir - Lawrence Gordon Clark
Overall: GREAT

The first A Ghost Story for Christmas segment to not be based off of an M.R. James work but instead one by Charles Dickens was The Signalman and it is possibly the most thoroughly well-done entry in a ceaseless slew of them.  Essentially using a two person cast, (Denholm Elliott and Bernard Lloyd), Lawrence Gordon Clark once again directs with a calm control, letting each of their exchanges play out deliberately and just as gradually upping the ghostly occurrences until they become appropriately bone-chilling.  The strengths that Clark routinely displays helming such entries in the Ghost Story series cannot be under appreciated as the mood is always impeccably maintained.  Whether working within a thirty-odd minute or near hour format, no moments are either wasted or rushed.  Dickens' story here is particularly strong as it uses respectable if standard motifs of specters behaving in a foreboding nature, (the man did write A Christmas Carol after all).  Done so stylistically well as it is here, few can argue that this is as exceptional of a supernatural horror work that can possibly be done.

STIGMA
(1977)
Dir - Lawrence Gordon Clark
Overall: GOOD

For whatever reason, the BBC decided to change up the formula to their successful A Ghost Story for Christmas strand with the penultimate installment, Stigma.  This was the first one not to be based off of an older literary work as it is instead an original screenplay by Clive Exton.  It is also the first to be explicitly set in modern day and the last that Lawrence Gordon Clark would direct.  While the eerie tone is as in check as ever, (likely due to Clark still being on board, who always handled the material in a deliberate, composed manner), the story is even more ambiguous than usual.  The supernatural forces at play are unquestionable yes, but they all remain off-camera and one could even argue that there are no ghosts at all present for this go-round.  Not that any of this particularly matters at the end of the day as quality is quality and Stigma still delivers as a slow, unearthly horror short, just in a different manner than what was seen before in the series.

THE ICE HOUSE
(1978)
Dir - Derek Lister
Overall: GOOD

Closing out the annual, A Ghost Story for Christmas anthology series was The Ice House, the first to be directed by someone other than Lawrence Gordon Clark, Derek Lister stepping in instead.  Similar to Stigma from the previous year, Ice House is set in modern day and resembles an old fashion ghost story even less than its predecessor.  This one in fact has no ghostly apparitions at all, yet it is still just as puzzlingly spooky and full of curious supernatural occurrences all the same.  It bares more in common with Invasion of the Body Snatchers or even the Batman the Animated Series episode "Eternal Youth" which is a good thing as it certainly warrants plenty of chills, literally in this particular case.  Some may find it too at odds with the previous installments or even too unresolved.  Though Lister does an adequate job, the flow is noticeably less creeping as well.  It is the only such entry that feels a tad rushed, be it only in a minor way.  The Ice House is a minute quality drop if anything and if not the strongest way to close out the strand, it is still a rewarding and challenging one.

A Ghost Story for Christmas Part One

THE STALLS OF BARCHESTER
(1971)
Dir - Lawrence Gordon Clark
Overall: GOOD

A Ghost Story form Christmas was an annual BBC One strand of short films that all aired during the week of Christmas, representing a sort of cinematic version of the tradition of telling such supernatural tales around the holidays. The first official entry to belong to the series, (though other similar works had been done before, most notably 1968's, M.R. James' Whistle and I'll Come for You as part of the Omnibus series), was The Stalls of Barchester, likewise an adaptation of one of M.R. James literary works.  All but one Ghost Story were expertly directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and Barchester is no exception in quality.  Though it perhaps spends a little too leisurely of a time fleshing itself out, (unlike others in the series which were pretty compact), it delivers superbly with hair-raising chills that both spring up in a sudden fashion and other times emerge rather tranquilly.  Some of the other James stories that were later adapted for the program were a bit more engaging, (the main protagonist here is somewhat underwritten, making it difficult to perhaps sympathize with him if we are even supposed to), but there is still a satisfying level of ambiguity where far more is alluded to than not.

A WARNING TO THE CURIOUS
(1972)
Dir - Lawrence Gordon Clark
Overall: GREAT

The second M.R. James reworking done officially for the annual A Ghost Story for Christmas program on BBC One was A Warning to the Curious, which still might be the series' most celebrated along with The Signalman from four years later.  Bringing back The Stalls of Barchester character Dr. Black to perhaps link the two, (though all future entries were presented more as stand-alones), this one also stars Peter Vaughan, (Fanatic, Brazil, Game of Thrones), as the main protagonist Mr. Paxton who was substantially changed from the source material version where he was a much younger man that accidentally stumbles upon what Vaughan's character deliberately seeks out.  Director Lawrence Gordon Clark once again creates a fantastically slow, spooky mood.  The supernatural elements are calmly suggested for most of the running time so that when they do become more blatant, they are positively chilling, nearly making you jump without resembling any moronic "boo scares" tactics in the slightest.  The story may not be equipped with any twists, but it is handled so expertly that the predictability of it is hardly a problem.  This stands as one of the most successfully atmospheric horror films ever made for television.

LOST HEARTS
(1973)
Dir - Lawrence Gordon Clark
Overall: GREAT

Still consistently excellent and questionably the most macabre and actually scary entry in the A Ghost Story for Christmas series was the third of them, Lost Hearts.  It may be because it revolves around a soon-to-be twelve-year old boy cooped up in a weird castle with his exponentially weird, far older cousin who seems to be gleefully obsessed with alchemy, astrology, and Satan knows what else.  Because after all, children getting spooked out of their wits generally seems to resonate most with many a viewer.  On that note, Lost Hearts uses the "creepy kids" horror gimmick better than most and there are a number of wonderful moments here that are borderline terrifying even if they still follow the same kind of ghost story logic of specters doing things that are certainly unnerving yet illogical at the same time.  Irish-born actor and playwright Joseph O'Conor is marvelous as the eccentric Mr. Abney and his childlike buoyancy makes the later plot reveal that much more ghoulish.  Throw in some positively creepy hurdy-gurdy music and long fingernails as well and you really cannot lose.

THE TREASURE OF ABBOT THOMAS
(1974)
Dir - Lawrence Gordon Clark
Overall: GREAT

Another very solid M.R. James adaptation, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas changes around a number of characters from the source material, removing some and adding others as well as switching the location from Germany to England and substantially tweaking the ending.  The latter detail is for the better as the last several minutes here are the strongest and director Lawrence Gordon Clark does marvelous work keeping it perplexingly creepy long after it is all over.  A number of later horror films such as The Church, The Borderlands, and As Above, So Below to name a few bare similarities to the premise here as people unlock ancient messages in search of some sort of hidden reward in or around a church or burial area.  As one of the shorter entries in the A Ghost Story for Christmas series, some may find that Treasure feels a bit rushed while others could argue that it refreshingly trims all of the fat and therefor delivers a more chilling result due to how quickly it is wrapped up.  The latter sentiment is one that is quite difficult to argue with.

1970s Boris Karloff

CAULDRON OF BLOOD
(1970)
Dir - Edward Mann/Santos Alcocer
Overall: MEH

There are a few redeeming qualities to the still greatly flawed Cauldron of Blood, (El Coleccionista de Cadaveres), one of the last films Boris Karloff shot, though it was not released until three years later.  Filmed in Spain with an international cast, Karloff is wisely undubbed at least and though the well-renowned actor is clearly worn down as he was in all of his later films, (he is usually either sitting down or using a cane), he does bring a level of class to what is essentially cheaply made, Euro-exploitation fodder.  The lazy script is not anything to impress as it is a rehash of other "artist uses human bodies for art" movies, full of the same cliches, and worse yet it does not make any amount of sense, using a "yeah whatever, just have them murder people" plot devise.  That said, the dialog is rather clever at times and the performances stray away from overt camp, sans a few exceptions such as one of them who gets a completely unexplained backstory of getting abused or something as a child maybe?  Yet directors Edward Mann and Santos Alcocer fill the movie with a few random visual flourishes such as psychedelic dream scenes and some gruesome, giallo-style murders.  There is not enough of these moments though and the mood still never becomes as ghoulishly engaging as it should be to elevate the unremarkable material they are working with.

ISLE OF THE SNAKE PEOPLE
(1971)
Dir - Juan Ibáñez/Jack Hill
Overall: MEH

Compared to the other three Mexican/American productions that served as Boris Karloff's cinematic swansongs, the only complaint besides being a rather bad movie overall of course with Isle of the Snake People, (La muerte viviente, Cult of the Dead, and Snake People in other countries), is that it is a bit too slow for its own weird, schlocky good.  There is a twist in this one which anyone with half an IQ point can spot almost as soon as the movie begins and the plot is another vague conglomerate of past movie voodoo rituals that we have all seen plenty of times before and since.  Credit where it is due though that is not saying much, but this is the least inane script out of the bunch, (House of Evil, Fear Chamber, and The Incredible Invasion being the others), and a lot of the horrory set pieces would have actually come off as rather creepy if most of them did not overstay their welcome by dragging out for too long.  Still, a guy resurrecting a zombie and then making out with it, nightmares of a woman also making out with her own doppelganger as well as a snake, and a horde of zombie ladies presumably eating a few people to death, (though this is shown in un-gory detail), are at least more striking than one would expect from such a low-cost, drive-in romp such as this.

THE INCREDIBLE INVASION
(1971)
Dir - Juan Ibáñez/Jack Hill
Overall: MEH

Another poor, semi-mash-up that combines visitors from outerspace with scientists doing scientist things and a sadomasochistic, women-murdering brute with angry villagers after him was Boris Karloff's very final film The Incredible Invasion.  All of these collaborations that the actor did with Mexican producer Louis Enrique Vergara and American director Jack Hill were pretty lousy and this one is no exception.  The story is asinine and the filmmakers once again forgo the common courtesy to try and rationally explain anything that is going on.  Because of this, we are either left laughing at all of it or worse, getting impatiently bored.  There is a, (very), few instances where The Incredible Invasion is rather nice to look at with some fog-laden, Bave-esque colorful sets and clever camera angles, but besides that and Karloff being charming as always, the film is a dull mess.  It is not as ridiculous as say Fear Chamber nor as forgettable as House of Evil, but it just kind of falls in the middle where not enough is "so bad it's funny" and too much is just dumb.  This makes it a pretty lackluster way for Karloff to end his career truth be told, but thankfully the man's legacy was in pretty solid shape at the time of his death anyway so all is forgiven.

1960s Boris Karloff Part Four

THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI
(1966)
Dir - Don Weis
Overall: MEH

The final installment in American International's ridiculous Beach Party series, (though they had to merely settle for a swimming pool here), was The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini which was the only one to be half horror.  Boris Karloff and Susan Hart, (wife of James H. Nicholson) were added after the movie was completed to give it an even more convoluted plot, one which was already as juvenile and enormously stupid as it gets.  This was nothing new to these films though which all featured random, terrible songs, scantily-clad women, young, tanned white people partying, a motorcycle gang for no reason, and non-stop, bottom of the barrel slapstick humor that is rarely if at all funny.  All of this is present here and thankfully the filmmakers have the good sense to treat it as preposterously as it deserves.  While this makes it more groan-worthy than anything and something to make fun of at best, the horror angle saves it from being completely forgettable.  Under various directors, (primarily Roger Corman), AIP still generally produced wonderfully fun, spooky sets and visuals.  On that note, there is a fog laden cemetery and a haunted house with a "chamber of horrors" torture chamber hidden in it that get an adequate amount of screen time here.  Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff being on board is likewise wonderful, particularly the former who gets to indulge in physical comedy for a change.

FEAR CHAMBER
(1968)
Dir - Juan Ibáñez/Jack Hill
Overall: MEH

The first released of four Mexican/American co-productions that Boris Karloff starred in just before his death was Fear Chamber which is probably the most absurd movie the legendary horror icon was ever in.  The plot, (if you can call it that), so desperately tries to combine cliched sci-fi elements like mutated life forms and scientists conducting the vaguest of experiments while using giant computers and analyzing data, all with random nudity, sadism, and even occultism kinda not really thrown into the mix.  The disastrous result is pretty consistently hilarious as the film jumps wildly all over the place when it is not settling down for actors to dub some of the most shockingly asinine dialog in the most shockingly bad of ways.  One lumbering ogre of a lab assistant spends the last twenty or so minutes of the movie manically ranting about how much he loves diamonds and is "king of the world" and it gets more embarrassingly stupid from there.  Elsewhere, this may have the most pointless nude scene in all of cinema and even more moronically, practically none of the characters are kept in check, illogically behaving completely different at a moment's notice which includes randomly killing people at times.  It is nonsense from top to bottom yet kind of a hoot because of it.  Also, an early scene where we get to see Karloff baptize women in the name of Satan is just wonderful.

HOUSE OF EVIL
(1968)
Dir - Juan Ibáñez/Jack Hill
Overall: MEH

It is on the one hand admirable that Boris Karloff kept working up until the very end of his days but on the other, the rather abysmal and last to be released while he was alive House of Evil, (aka Dance of Death), was hardly a necessary movie to make.  As part of his four picture deal with Mexican producer Luis Enrique Vergara, Karloff's scenes here were filmed all at once by American exploitation director Jack Hill and the veteran actor was quite ill while suffering from emphysema at the time.  Whatever the particular reason, Karloff is more hammy here than usual, over-dramatizing much of his lines and mannerisms though not necessarily to a fault.  That lies on the shoulders of everything else going on.  The dubbing is typically horrendous and nearly derails the film on its own, but the cinematography is also atrocious where a frequent number of scenes play out virtually in pitch blackness.  The story though, (credited sort of barely to the work by Edgar Allan Poe), is a stupid mess where a family full of people we do not care about are invited to get Karloff's Matthias Morteval's fortune and then for some reason animated toys/people dressed up as toys try and kill them or something.