(1974)
Dir - Don Chaffey
Overall: MEH
When a thriller only poses a half-assed mystery at best and that mystery is not even the least bit interesting, you know you have a problem. It is also not a very pleasant idea to open your movie with a young boy drowning a cat in milk before an excruciating "let's get on with it already" opening title sequence over children singing "Good King Wenceslas" that seems to go on for centuries. More complications than this derail Don Chaffey's Persecution, (also released as Sheba, The Terror of Sheba, and The Graveyard throughout the years), which is probably one of the most lame-scripted, badly-paced psychological horror films ever made. The plot is all over the place, having characters be conniving villains and then helpless victims at the drop of a dime with hardly anyone's actions making any sense. Poor Lana Turner, (in a role she fairly considered one of her worst), is practically humiliated on camera near the end as she is forced to meow and behave like a cat. It remains unfocused throughout the entire film though just what in the hell her problem is to begin with. Because both her and on-screen son Ralph Bates are playing such poorly written characters, we feel absolutely nothing for either of them with the breakdown and torment of both just becoming straight-up boring to watch.
(1976)
Dir - Norman J. Warren
Overall: MEH
Norman J. Warren's first horror film and the first to be independently funded by his and former cameraman Les Young's production company Monument Pictures had a working, appropriate title of Evil Heritage which was changed to the more crowd-enticing Satan's Slave by distributors. It is a common example of many occult themed, 70s horror outings where posh, upper class socialites act out their devil worshiping shenanigans, this time operating more on the traditional, "direct decedent" angle where sacrifices, resurrections, and blah blah blah have to be made. The filmmakers chose to shoot additional, more ghastly scenes once the film was first cut, omitting much of the expository dialog that they found redundant. This pushes Satan's Slave squarely into the exploitation vein as it is chock full of nudity, very nasty violence, and sadomasochism towards women. Which are all hallmarks of such cinema to be sure. Michael Gough was a sport and agreed to appear for less than his normal fee and it is certainly fun to see him giving praise to Satan while wearing a red robe and a wicked goat mask. The script is rather juvenile as one would expect as it is easy to lose count of how many times the unnecessarily cockamamie scheme of Gough's character could have went wrong. Plus Candace Glendenning's main heroine falls for the "I must've had a bad dream" ploy far too frequently and easily. All that said, it would be a lie to say it does not present an adequate amount of unholy, goofy fun.
(1979)
Dir - Bob Clark
Overall: MEH
The last foray that Bob Clark would take into semi-horror was with the unique Sherlock Holmes/Jack the Ripper hybrid Murder By Decree, a co-production by both England and Canada that was based somewhat on The Ripper File by Elwyn Jones and John Lloyd as well as Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution by Stephen Knight. It is a frustrating film that muddles its tone too much, features a ramshackle plot, and is way too long. The latter element being the most prominent shortcoming as the unnecessary length only hurts the end result further. Clark makes wonderful use out of his small, fog-ridden, late 19th century London sets though and he still displays a knack for menacing visuals such as the Ripper's stone black eyes and mysterious, slow motion horse and cart. The cast is without flaw as Christopher Plummer and James Mason make a fine Holmes and Watson when they are humorously playful with each other at least. Elsewhere, Holmes is rather uneven and comes off bafflingly emotional at the worst times when the script is getting even more confusing. The movie then goes on for twenty more minutes longer than it should have and only gets more "huh?" from there. It is a shame as a more consistently funny, user-friendly adaptation would have worked far better from the evidence presented here. Instead, all of the added ambition pretty much undoes what actually works.
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