(1973)
Dir - Georg Fenady
Overall: MEH
The second and ergo the last of only two theatrical releases from director Georg Fenady, (both of which were horror, shot at the same time, featured several of the same actors, came out in 1973, and were financed by Bing Crosby Productions), Arnold is slightly superior and at least more interesting than its unassuming companion piece Terror in the Wax Museum. Premise wise, it concerns the aristocratic title character and Stella Stevens getting married in the odd opening scene, post the former technically being a corpse in an open casket. Such a silly narrative gimmick is used to the fullest as Lord Arnold Dwellyn's shenanigans seem to come from beyond the grave as he is twelve steps ahead of everyone that is trying to double-cross the fine print in his last will and testament. Lighthearted and mildly amusing with copious amounts of fog and a macabre finale at its disposal, the familiar cast appears to be in on the fun with a particularly scenery-chewing Elsa Lancaster and a swarmy Roddy McDowall being the most enjoyable.
(1974)
Dir - Dan Curtis
Overall: MEH
Overall: MEH
Shot in London with a nearly exclusive English cast, Dan Curtis' ABC Movie of the Week interpretation of The Turn of the Screw is a largely unnecessary teleplay variation that fails to capture the astonishingly chilling heights of Jack Clayton's seminal 1961 film The Innocents. Oddly, Megs Jenkins returns from said movie, once again playing the exact same role in the exact same manner where most of her monologues are delivered while concernedly gazing away from Lynn Redgrave's protagonist in proper somber, melodramatic fashion. Redgrave is fine as the governess who slowly unravels a string of supernatural manipulation, plus child actors Jasper Jacob and Eva Griffith handle their charming mannerisms in a sinister fashion as is appropriate to Henry James' source material. It is mostly the shot on videotape presentation that fails to impress as the entire production looks as low-end as any other BBC serial from the era and it is therefor not adequately suited for creating cinamatically atmospheric spookiness. The two-hour running time is also less than ideal as so many "I swear I saw someone...oh wait, now they're gone" set pieces get thrown in that it becomes a grating, talky experience as poor Miss Cubberly simply cannot get a break in convincing anyone else of what is happening.
(1978)
Dir - Randall Hood
Overall: MEH
Equipped with one of the most misleading film posters of all time, Die Sister, Die!, (The Companion), is a lackluster psychobiddy thriller and the final directorial effort from Randall Hood, who died two years before it was released. The movie was actually shot in 1972, but production difficulties let it linger on the shelf until it was finally finished by star Jack Ging. In any event, it certainly comes off as dated since the budgeting video nasty boom was on the horizon and the TV movie presentation here lacks the necessary exploitative qualities to peak the interest of audience members that were clamoring for sleaze and overt violence. Instead, we have Ging playing an unwholesome man who hatches an illogical scheme to smooth-over a new live-in companion for his mentally unstable sister, all in an attempt to allow her to commit suicide and ergo leave their father's vast fortune solely over to him. Several obvious things can go wrong with such a plan and indeed they do, leading to a predictable climax that not even a later plot twist can strike any life into. The small cast is made up of respectable veteran actors and they do the hum-drum material solid, but the story is pedestrian and Hood only manages to throw in one rubbery, surreal, Roger Corman-esque nightmare sequence into the mix to break up what is otherwise a stagnant affair.
No comments:
Post a Comment