(1974)
Dir - Stephen Weeks
Overall: MEH
An odd and lackadaisical haunted house yarn from director/producer/co-writer Stephen Weeks, Ghost Story, (Madhouse Mansion), is difficult to make heads or tails of. Shot on location in India of all places at the Bangalore Palace, it is aggressively British in every other aspect. Upper class university dandies all meet up at a manor house that was recently bequeathed to one of them, mostly to engage in uninteresting chitchat as they experience vivid nightmare flashbacks, (or something), and supernatural occurrences with a doll, (or something). Weeks seems to be going for something that is psychologically trippy, but the way that scenes nonchalantly bleed into each other with various characters who may or may not be real, hallucinatory, or ghosts all gives it an incomprehensible feel instead of a spooky one. This is even taking into account the low-key atmosphere that utilizes music sparingly and lets things play out gradually in what should be an unnerving setting. It is too bad that both the story and presentation is so nonsensical not to mention boring, since it could have wielded some chilling results in better-suited hands. Also, Marianne Faithful shows up, as does Barbara Shelley for two and a half seconds in her final non-television appearance.
(1973)
Dir - Jack Smight
Overall: GOOD
Equipped with a surprisingly hefty budget for a television film whereas typical BBC productions by comparison where shot on video and utilized cost-cutting measures as much as possible, Frankenstein: The True Story remains one of the most extravagant and ambitious cinematic adaptations of Mary Shelley's novel. Released the very same year as Dan Curtis' TV movie which was simply titled Frankenstein and was likewise shot in England, this one was initially broadcast in two different, ninety-minute parts, though it elaborates on and bypasses enough ingredients from the source material to be interestingly singular. As Don Bachardy and Christopher Isherwood's script deviates substantially from previous versions, it also alludes to many of them, particularly with the inclusion of James Mason's dubious Dr. Polidori who is a deliberate stand in for The Bride of Frankenstein's Dr. Pretorius. Besides its excessive length, it is perhaps mostly known for tweaking the monster's initial appearance as Michael Sarrazin emerges with picturesque features, representing the man-made Adam that is ideally "perfect" until his physicality begins to slowly morph into the more standard and grotesque variety. Though redundant after so many other Frankenstein films had come before it, (most notably six in the Hammer series up until this point), it is well acted, well paced, and beautifully staged enough to warrant a solid placement amongst the herd.
(1978)
Dir - Alan Birkinshaw
Overall: WOOF
A formulaic and uneventful slasher-adjacent thriller from Alan Birkinshaw and his second full-length, Killer's Moon gained some notoriety for its then-risque depiction of rape and animal cruelty, but it hardly crosses the threshold of later-day torture porn. Not that it still fails to be an abysmal offering, but this is due more to its tonal imbalance and staggeringly boring narrative. A group of schoolgirls are on their way to a thing, their buss breaks down in the middle of nowhere because that is what happens in these movies, they eventually find an off-season hotel to stay the night, and there is a group of escaped mental patients running around as well, also because that is what happens in these movies. Said psychos are under the shared delusion that they are dreaming everything that happens, thus excusing their murderous, sexually deviant behavior. Believing that even crazy people would go along with such a scenario is a difficult probability pill for the audience to swallow, but expecting us to stay interested in a film that is eighty percent people hiding and behaving in a nonchalant manner as killers are after them is even more absurd. It ends up having an awkard comedic tone with everyone not making such a big deal out of their predicament, plus throw in the aforementioned animal murder and raping of minors and it is just an icky, dull experience.
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