(1963)
Dir - Francis Ford Coppola/Jack Hill
Overall: MEH
Obviously notable as the first film written and directed almost solo by Francis Ford Coppola, (Jack Hill was hired to shoot addition scenes since producer Roger Corman was displeased with the initial version), Dementia 13 suffers from some understandable problems. As usual, Corman had just wrapped up a movie in Ireland under budget and offered Coppola the chance to make a cheap, Gothic horror outing while they were still there with the same crew. Coppola then wrote the script in three days with the help of friend as well as art director Al Locatelli, the result coming off as quite the rushed, limited funded project it is. To say that the story is confusing would be an understatement with most of the character's motivations underwritten and several plot avenues abandoned at various points. It kind of just goes through a number of sections and by the end, it has the feeling of being three or four different movies disastrously spliced together. Coppola even this early on had a flair for some nifty camera work and the opening scene on a row boat, as well as the moment where Luana Anders, (The Pit and the Pendulum), undresses, swims underwater, and then meets some grisliness once she resurfaces are indeed pretty well done.
(1966)
Dir - Curtis Harrington
Overall: GOOD
Made for American International Pictures on a typically small scale budget, Curtis Harrington's Queen of Blood further swiped its special effects shots from two Russian films Mechte Navstrechu, (A Dream Come True), and Nebo Zovyot, (Battle Beyond the Sun). They also scored Basil Rathbone for a day and a half of shooting as well as a young Dennis Hopper, who is always amusing to see in such clean-cut, pre-Easy Rider roles. Even though Harrington takes quite a long time to get to the good stuff, the film's first two acts are pretty briskly paced as all of the pieces are quickly set up to get our astronauts in contact with the title character. Every aspect of Queen of Blood looks as silly and dated as can be and once cannot think of how incredible 2001: A Space Odyssey must have come off in comparison a mere two years later. As was common for many hokey sci-fi movies of the day, (even if this one more closely resembles the ones that were coming out in droves a decade or so earlier), everyone takes things rather seriously which makes it possible to fully invest in the proceedings. Harrington's script is rather textbook, poses some thoughtful questions, wisely glosses over the space travel details as they are hardly important, and also has some laughable leaps of logic, yet it is still plenty charming and occasionally memorable.
(1966)
Dir - William Beaudine
Overall: MEH
Boring, stupid, and cheap, William Beaudine's companion piece to the comparatively less boring, stupid, and cheap Billy the Kid Versus Dracula plays nearly all of its cards wrong. The movie is competently acted and Estonian actress Narda Onyx chews as much scenery as possible in the Dr. Maria Frankenstein role, but there is hardly anything to recommend anywhere else. Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter goes through the motions for the first half, presenting two totally different movies for awhile before haphazardly smashing them together later. It never gets tortuously inept, but it also never picks up any momentum either and the amount of lazy plot devices mount up embarrassingly. Any "scientific" details to Miss Frankenstein's experiments seem like they were imagined by a five year old and her entire motivation in the first place is shrugged off as an afterthought. Both of the female characters fall dramatically in love with Jesse James within minutes of meeting him and the amount of charisma John Lupton brings to the role is completely unconvincing. It is not his or anyone else's fault though since the film barely tries and all these years later, it is nearly impossible to find the end product even sparsely interesting.
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