(1973)
Overall: MEH
One of the strangest blood-sucking fiend demises in cinema history aside, (in the form of their sexy Countess leader falling asleep after being hit with a cross in the backseat of a car and then turning into a pile of maggots once the sun rises), The Vampires Night Orgy, (La orgía nocturna de los vampiros, Grave Desires), is an incredibly dull and formulaic outing. A bunch of tourist's buss breaks down in a weird village that apparently does not exist, they are forced to stay there and get picked off by the undead locals, two good looking strangers immediately fall in love, more car trouble happens, fill in the blanks, etc. Several Spanish and overall Euro-horror players are present, most notably Jack Taylor, Dyanik Zurakowska, and Helga Liné, but the violence and nudity are sparse for anyone expecting such things. Director León Klimovsky does manage to pull off a few effectively creepy set pieces, at least when someone remembers to shut off the horrendously inappropriate music that plays at random intervals throughout, which of course is another silly hallmark of such movies that is unfortunately abused here. The pacing is sluggish too, so outside of its highly predictable framework and low-end production values that will be of interest to those clamoring for such tropes, this does not have much else to offer.
(1973)
Overall: MEH
A somewhat inventive though ultimately lackluster vampire yarn, The Dracula Saga, (La saga de los Drácula, Death, Death, Death), offers up a unique narrative to an age old, Gothic framework. Stylistically, director León Klimovsky leans heavily into the type of Hammer horror aesthetic that countless Euro-genre films adhered to. It is set in a remote village with a spacious, creepy castle full of noticeably pale-faced undead who drink unnaturally bright red blood and dress in exquisite burial clothes, plus it even throws in the deformed, mute character for pure shock value. Said monstrosity is the result of the Dracula family's many decades of inbreeding, (gross), and certainly does provide some gasps due to its hilariously garish appearance as a child-sized, alien-craniumed, pink-fleshed cyclops. The always alluring Helga Liné once again returns in her usual role as a gorgeously evil fiend and the Spanish Vincent Price Narciso Ibáñez Menta plays none other than Count Dracula himself in a less vile and ergo sympathetic manner as his sole interest seems to be in simply continuing the family bloodline. Despite some quirky attributes and a plot line that does more than simply rehash countless other such films, the story gives way to a monotonous structure that is too easy to tune-out of along the way. Far from the worst, (or only), 70s European horror movie to bare the Dracula title, it is at least worth a look at least amongst the horde.
(1974)
Overall: MEH
There is much going on in León Klimovsky's topsy-turvy I Hate My Body, (Odio mi cuerpo), an interesting exploitation movie where as the tagline properly promises "The brain of a man... the body of a woman... the sexual horror story of our time!". The theme is relentlessly on the nose of male chauvinism reigning supreme in a society where all women in all walks of life or employment are at the mercy of the sex-crazed, macho scumbags holding positions of power. As the male-turned-gorgeous-female lead, Alexandra Bastedo is effective as she seems repulsed and furious at her current predicament after Narciso Ibáñez Menta's bold scientist performs an impossible operation that renders her not only incapable of landing the job she is qualified for, but also incapable of going through a single day or a single male encounter without fighting off their repugnant advances. The film says a lot about women's place in such a sexist driven society and uses its silly, science-fiction concept for taboo purposes as several scenes inter-cut Bastedo with Manuel de Blas as the character that she/he actually is, thus making particular rape and seduction scenes that much more uncomfortable. More of an interesting movie than a good one, Euro-trash fans will probably find it worthwhile.
(1975)
Overall: MEH
A combination of cliches and strangeness, Night of the Walking Dead, (El extraño amor de los vampiros, Strange Love of the Vampires), suffers many of the pratfalls of 70s Euro-trash for better or worse. As always, director León Klimovsky seems to use incidental music as an afterthought at best and there are several moments where the stock soundtrack is laughably at odds with what is happening on screen, especially when it appears to be taken right out of a whimsical Disney movie. Elsewhere, the story itself, (which has multiple screenwriters contributing to it), is period set, has a cursed village, a forbidden castle full of vampires, a beautiful young woman who falls inexplicably in love with said castle's white-haired Dracula stand-in, and plenty of moronic dialog that may as well be cut and pasted from gallons of other undead films that were already released at the time. The dubbing is extremely atrocious, but it is also in keeping with the spirit of such midnight movie exports. It is all far too derivative to be of much merit, but Klimovsky still manages to pack the proceedings with some creepy visuals and even a gala ball where the blood suckers kidnap townsfolk, dance around New Years Eve style, and hang a guy up by his feet to bleed him out like a pig for their amusement/nourishment.
(1978)
Overall: MEH
Near the final directorial work in León Klimovsky's filmography and the last one to fall into the horror-by-giallo field, Trauma, (Violación fatal, Sarsinti), has a single, isolated setting, minute cast of characters, and a simple slasher agenda that manages to occasionally entice along its predictable route. Actor/producer/behind the scenes man Heinrich Starhemberg flees from his gorgeous wife played by Sandra Alberti due to undisclosed circumstances, only to end up at a vacant boardinghouse run by the even more gorgeous Ágata Lys who speaks with her handicapped husband that is never shown to answer her. This is the type of minimalist thriller where the details play a predominant role. Though it is made all too abundantly clear who the murder is from the get-go, Starhemberg's possible unwholesome intentions are still teased along with his closeted homosexuality to obscure the true nature of his character, helped effectively by the actor's aloof performance. In typical slasher movie fashion, the kill scenes are mostly routine and boring in the sense that each of the murder's victims are impossible not to point out from the moment that they arrive on screen. Still, Klimovsky manages to slightly toy with a few of the viewer's expectations along the way and leaves the film with a preordained yet satisfyingly ambiguous ending. Certainly not the most clever of giallos out there, but it is also far from the most hare-brained.
I just found this page and I really enjoy these kinds of 70s horror movies, so thanks for writing your reviews.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for reading good sir \m/
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