(1971)
Dir - Dan Curtis
Overall: MEH
Released a year after House of Dark Shadows and completed after the soap opera was officially off the air, Dan Curtis returns with Night of Dark Shadows. Though he had initially wanted it to be a straight sequel to the previous film by bringing back Barnabas Collins, actor Johnathan Frid was done with the character. Instead, vampires are out of the equation and the focus is now on another key member of the Collins family, Quentin. Utilizing the alternate timeline concept from the series, some actors return playing different characters. Similar concepts such as resurrection play a major role, deepening the mythos of the supernatural-entwined family. The results are properly moody and atmospheric at times, even if they are rather void of frights. Sadly, they are also a bit messy as Curtis was forced to cut thirty-five minutes from the finished run time and allegedly given a single day to deliver a new edit. It all shows in the finished product, one that is also bogged down by stagnant pacing even in its mangled form. A disappointing follow-up, but one that is still made with a level of admirable class at least.
(1973)
Dir - Marc B. Ray
Overall: WOOF
Screenwriter Marc B. Ray seldom got behind the camera and his second stab at it was with the low-rent exploitation bit of nastiness Scream Bloody Murder, (The Captive Female, Claw of Terror, Matthew). Shot in rural California with actors that no one has ever heard of, it has the usual regional horror trappings of amateurish production values and performances, focusing on a mentally unstable young man who murders whoever because whatever. First, Fred Holbert offs his own father on a tractor when he is a kid, (an incident that also takes his left hand which is now a hook), then once he is released from an asylum, he quickly does away with his stepfather and accidentally does away with his mother. Holbert then hits the road and gets triggered into a murderous rage, usually whenever anyone is intimate with a woman and all for reasons that are never divulged, even though the film is sluggish enough in its pacing to afford a hackneyed explanation of sorts. Who cares though when we can just watch Holbert cry, say "Mama" a lot, kidnap a woman, and crudely murder people, (including a dog), at the slightest breeze?
(1977)
Dir - Don Taylor
Overall: GOOD
American International Pictures made three H.G. Wells adaptations in less than two years, the second of which was the most famous and horror-centric The Island of Dr. Moreau. Directed by Don Taylor and staring Michael York and Burk Lancaster in the leads, it is quite solid from a production standpoint. The mostly excellent make-up effects were led by Thomas R. Burman who would go on to create Sloth in The Goonies, amongst much else. Out of the exclusive club of actors who have played the title character, Lancaster matches the description in Wells' story the most and the actor basically could not deliver a bad performance if he tried, which is certainly the case here. His Moreau is more calmly and almost pathetically insane than sadistic and his inevitable downfall is fittingly dour. The script differs significantly from the source material and other versions, changing the fate of certain characters, particularly a rather underused Nigel Davenport as Montgomery. It all follows a satisfying, self-contained trajectory though. Things catch on fire, blood is spilled, and real life tigers fight stunt doubles so, not much to complain about.
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