60's British Horror Part Ten

THE HAND

(1960)

Dir - Henry Cass

Overall: MEH

Mislabeled as a horror film as it is instead merely a police procedural drama with a lone macabre element, The Hand was one of the last projects produced by Walton Studios and it is one that slowly runs out of steam to the point where most audience members will probably check out before the measly sixty-four minute running time has run its course.  The opening segment sets things up with an, (incorrectly dated), flashback to World War II in the Burma campaign where a small handful of POV's are roughed-up appropriately, but once things switch back to Merry Ole England, the entire rest of the movie plays out with detectives following leads until things come full circle in a rushed, anticlimactic manner.  Henry Cass' direction is as flat as can be, though to be fair, he seems to be working with a budget of almost nothing and sans any atmospheric cinematography or gripping set pieces in Ray Cooney and Tony Hilton's script, the only move to be made is loading the film up with stock jazz music to try and create some sort of upbeat pace.

 

THE PSYCHOPATH

(1966)

Dir - Freddie Francis

Overall: MEH

 

Amicus steps into the psychological thriller vein with The Psychopath, the second film for the production company to be written by Robert Bloch.  Director Freddie Francis had several horror movies under his belt at this time already and he does good work here staging some eerily quiet, suspenseful moments.  Though clearly capitalizing on the "psycho" word in the title, Bloch's script is a far cry from his source material to Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece even as it borrows some minor narrative details that are easy to spot.  Speaking of easy to spot, the mystery reveal is anything but surprising and is actually downright lackluster in the final moments, though we still get some odd/silly images to leave off on.  The movie is mostly a slapdash combination of weird dolls, detective work, a crazy old woman, and her slightly eccentric son, again ala Psycho.  Margaret Johnston is a delight though as said wacka-doo lady, chewing the scenery in heaping mouthfuls as one would expect or even demand.  There is not enough else here to heighten the proceedings, but it is an adequate production that was just made by many who have done much better.

IT!

(1967)

Dir - Herbet J. Leder

Overall: MEH

 

Deliberately tailored after Hammer Studio's unique brand of horror film by writer/director/producer Herbert J. Leder, It!, (Anger of the Golem, Curse of the Golem), has some intriguing elements despite a half-baked script.  Scoring Roddy McDowall in the lead is of great advantage to the production as he effortlessly portrays a young, eccentric would-be museum curator who finds himself in control of an ancient golem that has just been obtained.  There are bizarre elements to the story that are directly ripped off from Psycho that serve no other purpose than to further enhance the neurotic nature of McDowall's character who is plenty socially aloof enough without keeping his mother's corpse in his home while pretending that she is still alive.  Aside from that pointless ingredient, the story eases into its fantastical elements well enough, even if Leder scripts himself into a wall for the finale which ends on a whimper instead of a bang, (even though there is a literal "bang" present).  None of the other performances are anything of much note, leaving McDowall to carry the proceedings along with the indestructible stone monster of Jewish folklore, both of which thankfully get to some decent, macabre business along the way.