(1960)
Dir - Edmond T. Gréville
Overall: MEH
Shot in both English and French, Edmond T. Gréville's remake of The Hands of Orlac, (Hands of the Strangler), is easily the weakest adaptation of the story yet made. Besides Christopher Lee's presence, it bares absolutely zero resemblance to any kind of horror film whatsoever. In fact it's so tediously dull that it can barely fit even into any kind of thriller mold. The editing and pacing are mangled in quite a unified manner. Seemingly important sections which were tensely built upon in previous versions are glossed over with abrupt cuts to often enormous amounts of time later, making the film seem like it is missing quite a bit of footage. At over ninety minutes in length though, there's plenty of footage left alright, it is just that what is left moves things along at a crawl and offers so little suspense it's routinely difficult to even tell what the confrontation is supposed to be. The story would get yet another treatment two years later from an American B-movie studio in the form of Hands of the Stranger.
(1967)
Dir - Claude Chabrol
Overall: MEH
The murder mystery The Champagne Murders, (Le scandale), from French filmmaker Claude Chabrol is not as flashy or outlandishly plotted as the giallos that were gaining momentum out of Italy at the time, but it has some noteworthy stylistic elements all the same. Featuring an international cast, (with the French speaking actors phonetically miming their dialog in English for dubbing), it is the first of Chabrol's collaborations with Anthony Perkins, the later being 1971's Ten Days' Wonder which added Orson Welles as well. The director makes solid use out of several long, single takes as he cleverly teases the audience with some inevitable murders which always happen off screen. The film is low on violence and high on chatty dialog as it's mostly a serious of scenes where rich people are either intoxicated, snobbish or both. It is ultimately more bland than invigorating as a part-psychological thriller, but it is impressive from a production standpoint at least.
(1967)
Dir - Khwaja Sarfraz
Overall: MEH
Notable as the first Pakistani film to be X-rated and as a rare Dracula adaptation from said country, Zinda Laash, (Dracula in Pakistan, The Living Corpse), holds some historical merit to be sure. Unfortunately, that's about its only redeemable attributes. At a hundred and three minutes in length, the laboriously slow direction, flat presentation, and melodramatic music make for a rather rough watch. The story is so cliche ridden that anyone who's seen any of the countless other films based off Bram Stoker's novel will have zero problem following along even without subtitles. The handful of distracting dance sequences and one or two atmospheric moments give it a bit more uniqueness, but the Dracula stand-in disappears for the entire middle hour of the movie which leaves scene after scene after scene of characters sitting around talking about how they can't believe such tales of vampirism. Then more dance sequences. It is a slog, but a culturally significant slog.
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