(1964)
Dir - Paul Henreid
Overall: GOOD
The penultimate theatrical film to be directed by Paul Henreid, Dead Ringer, (Who Is Buried in My Grave?), continues Bette Davis' career revival in the psycho-biddy sub-genre post Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. Here, Davis plays a set of identical twins which she had also done eighteen years prior for A Stolen Life, with said movie's cinematographer Ernest Haller likewise returning. Though mislabeled as horror and far more in line with intricately plotted noir, it serves as a remake to the 1945 Mexican film La Orta and has some of the usual noir tropes in place; a smokey nightclub, an infidelity murder scheme, a police inspector love interest, etc. In place of the traditional femme fatale, Davis gets to excel in a more restrained performance as both the down on her luck, mistreated sibling and her conniving sister, with their role reversal serving as the main sense of tension as to how long she can keep up such a doomed-to-fail charade. Cleverly, things unfold in a combination of both the obvious and the unexpected and though Davis' character arc is melodramatic enough, it is also well-rounded and leads to a satisfyingly dour finale.
(1965)
Dir - Harvey Hart
Overall: GOOD
Shot as a failed television pilot for a series to be called The Black Cloak, (and done by Alfred Hitchcock's production company), Dark Intruder was instead re-edited and released theatrically by Universal Pictures even though it has a running time of only fifty-nine minutes. Brisk and to the point then, veteran TV director Harvey Hart keeps things moving agreeably and the period, 1890 San Fransisco's dark alleys are bathed in fog, giving it a Jack the Ripper type feel that is inherent in the actual material where a mysterious murderer is on the loose in dark attire where nobody can see his face. Another working television personality in Leslie Nielsen is in the lead, perfectly cast as a wise-cracking occult expert who intentionally defuses his sarcastic wit to unveil the diabolical mystery afoot. They also gave him a dwarf-sized butler in typical sidekick fashion. The Mr. Hyde-styled makeup work is impressive and suitably monstrous, plus British-born screenwriter Barré Lyndon's screenplay dishes out the twists in a well-oiled manner. All in all it is a gripping, well-acted, and atmospheric work, inadvertently fitting into Universal's Gothic horror heyday except just done several decades later.
(1966)
Dir - Harold P. Warren
Overall: WOOF
Rightfully lingering in obscurity for decades and just as rightfully resurrected by Mystery Science Theater 3000 nearly thirty years after it was made, Manos: The Hands of Fate is a quintessential anti-masterpiece for the ages. Following in the Ed Wood tradition of having one man to blame for all of its incompetence, the "film" was done on a bet by an insurance and fertilizer salesman Harold P. Warren in El Paso, Texas; a bet with the actual professional screenwriter Stirling Silliphant that horror movies are not that hard to make. Warren certainly showed him, (or the other way around), as his lone written/directed/produced/stared-in cinematic exploit is a gem of "What in the goddamn fuck?!?" filmmaking. A lack of proper coverage and no sound equipment on set gives way to inconsistent editing and audio, inconsequential cutaways to random characters are used to pad out the running time, each sequence consists of awkward actors having no idea what to do while Warren fails to say "Cut", the atrocious dialog is repeated literally verbatim at times, cliches are used in the most lazy of manners, and the plotting and character behavior is as illogical as you can imagine. Sleaze, laughable melodrama, all the stupidity, plus Torgo the caretaker of course and this clueless abomination has the necessary goods and then some when it comes to being gloriously terrible.
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