(1960)
Dir - Edward Dein
Overall: MEH
A forgettable, late monster entry for Universal Pictures' B-level branch, The Leech Woman has all of the typical, overtly-talky pratfalls of such dramas with dated cultural aspects thrown in for "good" measure. This includes Hollywood's steadfast, insensitive depiction of natives who are seen as half naked, tribal primitives that will kill any white people who discover their ancient secret of rejuvenation and eternal youth. This plays off of the particularly superficial characters who treat Coleen Gray as an annoyance at best and a leper at worst, unless she is temporarily rendered beautiful and irresistible after working the African mojo on herself, which naturally comes at the price of murdering people. While there is plenty going on for a campy drive-in movie, everyone on screen is unlikable, several to a comical extent where their short-sided, vain behavior makes them difficult to relate to on any logical level. Pacing wise, it is a chore to sit through and the old, withered makeup effects are awful, unconvincing, and not at all frightening if that was actually the intention. In this regard, it barely belongs in the horror genre in the first place and serves a far greater purpose as mock-fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000, which of course it was.
(1962)
Dir - Ralph S. Hirshorn
Overall: MEH
An independent, Philadelphia-shot oddity and the lone full-length directorial effort from Ralph S. Hirshorn, The Dismembered is a long forgotten/barely remembered, regional cross between Roger Corman cheapies, sitcom humor, and local theater acting and production values. The movie had a limited release in its own area, only to disappear for five decades before getting randomly unearthed in 2017. Hardly any of the personnel on board went on to greater or better things, (if they went on to anything at all), but the results are actually more competent than one would expect from something that was allegedly made for less than $5,000. Things begin far more hilariously than they continue with self-depreciating opening credits that clearly announce that the filmmakers were in on their own quirky joke, a joke that was done far outside the confines of Hollywood. Sadly, the pacing takes a hefty drop after this with a monotonous structure involving a democratically organized stable of ghosts who have various sit-down meetings as to how they should deal with the small gang of criminals that are holding up in their cemetery-adjacent haunted house. It has some spooky atmosphere here or there which mostly stems from the sound design, but it is far more charming as a curiosity than as a properly engaging movie.
(1966)
Dir - Bert I. Gordon
Overall: MEH
The final directorial effort of the 1960s from Bert I. Gordon, Picture Mommy Dead is a snoozer with a derivative script involving unwholesome characters backstabbing each other in various fashions over a hefty inheritance that is tied up in legal formalities. This includes grown child star Susan Gordon who returns from a convent years after her mother died in a fire, only to find her dad, former governess-turned-mother-in-law, and a butler with half a burnt face all clamoring for money while being in one-sided love with each other. Of course Gordon immediately starts to question her sanity as a number of hallucinations occur where she sees her dead mother who keeps pointing her in the direction of a swanky, diamond necklace that everybody else on screen eventually seems obsessed with locating as well. Don Ameche, Martha Hyer, and Zsa Zsa Gabor round out the familiar faces with Wendell Corey making an obnoxious cameo as an unnecessarily rude lawyer who unintelligibly mumbles all of his dialog. There is a fair amount of lost potential to do something more spooky with the large, Gothic estate that the entire film is set in, plus the eventual reveals in Robert Sherman's overly-talky screenplay are not even silly enough to provide some unintended chuckles.
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