(1981)
Dir - Roy Ward Baker
Overall: GOOD
The last theatrical release from director Roy Ward Baker, (Scars of Dracula, Asylum, The Vault of Horror), The Monster Club is a rather fun be it honestly flawed anthology outing. Though there is no mistaking the very lighthearted nature of it, the most significant problem is the fact that it is a part musical and the song breaks are hugely obnoxious due to how noxiously terrible the actual songs are, (even if known British bands such as The Pretty Things are performing them). It is worse yet to see both Vincent Price and John Carradine awkwardly dancing to them by the finale, all while a club full of monsters in laughably stupid Halloween masks party around them. Again, this is childish stuff, but it still comes off a bit too embarrassing to work. Outside of that though, the stories themselves from author Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes are pretty good, with only "The Vampires" segment slagging behind a bit in quality. "The Shadmock" and "The Ghouls" are both successfully creepy while still being on the more kid-friendly side and it is an added bonus that comic book artist John Bolton's illustrations are used in the latter. Of course Price is having all the fun in the world as usual, this time being a very polite vampire who fangirls out over Carradine playing an onscreen version of R. Chetwynd-Hayes himself.
(1983)
Dir - Pete Walker
Overall: MEH
Vincent Price and John Carradine reunited again, (along with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), for House of Long Shadows, the seventh film adaptation of Earl Derr Biggers' Seven Keys to Baldpate and the last from Pete Walker before he would hang up his directorial hat for good. The main selling point is indeed the featuring of all of the elderly horror icons together for the first and last go-round before most of them would start dying off. Plus Walker being on board who had a relatively impressive filmography of his own while bringing along his trusty on screen sidekick Sheila Keith. It is not a particularly renowned movie though for clear reasons. The pacing is cumbersome for so long that by the time things finally start moving at a comfortable rate, it is then time for the plot holes to take over and there are a generous amount of them. The twist is not all that difficult to spot and the "aw shucks" final tag throws unnecessary confusion on an already disappointing story. Seeing Price, Cushing, Lee, Keith, and Carradine taking the material seriously and being effortlessly likeable even as supporting characters is the film's one saving grace as Long Shadows is lovingly done while weak everywhere else. As a near send-off to some of the personnel, (aside from Lee whose career would continue for another three decades and even go A-list again), it is more of a "what could have been" affair than anything else.
(1987)
Dir - Jeff Burr
Overall: GOOD
This anthology debut from Jeff Burr, (who would later have a somewhat odd career as a go-to, direct to video horror sequel director), is a decently macabre one. Vincent Price came on board for the framing segment where he mostly just gets to sit in a chair and drink wine, but he still does his professional best in a role that was allegedly offered to him at his own home by Burr in person. Even without Price there to class up the conservatively-budgeted film, it is still a success due to how gruesome and creepy the individual segments are. There is voodoo, dismemberment, necrophilia, incest, and circus freaks, but it is all surprisingly taken seriously enough to actually be a little nerve-wracking, with most tongue-in-cheek elements kept at bay. Also, none of the stories are conceptually weak and any of them would have fit right at home on Tales from the Crypt just a few years later where awful people getting their comeuppance was the general rule of thumb. Cameron Mitchell, Susan Tyrell, Martine Beswick, and Angelo Rossitto in his final screen appearance further round out more of the genre players and it is also amusing to see Bernie himself Terry Kiser as a guy who gets the short end of the stick while simultaneously gaining immortality.
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