Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly.

Review #2429: Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly.

Cast: 

Michael Bryant (New Friend), Ursula Howells (Mumsy), Pat Heywood (Nanny), Howard Trevor (Sonny), Vanessa Howard (Girly), Robert Swann (Soldier), and Imogen Hassall (Girlfriend)

Directed by Freddie Francis (#854 - They Came from Beyond Space, #856 - The Evil of Frankenstein, #860 - Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, #1145 - Tales from the Crypt, #1419 - Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, #2143 - Trog)

Review: 

Apparently, Freddie Francis wanted to just do a movie on his own without studio assignments in his way, and this is the end result. Francis enlisted the services of Brian Comport, who had provided written material for the 1968 documentary The London Nobody Knows. The adaptation material to freely crib little from was a play called The Happy Family, which had been written by Maisie Mosco that apparently was quite weird. All Francis wanted was to make sure that the film could be set and shot in Oakley Court, a castle that overlooks the River Thames in Bray, Berkshire, England that had been used for a handful of movies for exterior shooting. Comport wrote just three more screenplays: Moon (1970), Beware My Bretheren (1972) and The Asphynx (1972). He later moved to Australia to become a journalist and did corporate videos before he died in 2013. Reportedly, this was the movie that Francis admired best among the movies he directed as a filmmaker. The movie was released on VHS but not on DVD until 2010. An event to honor the film at the Court was done in 2015 and it may very well be possible to call this a cult favorite. While the movie had an opening in the States in early 1970 and a premiere in the United Kingdom in April, it only was released in its native country for theater showings in September, which as it turned out was just a few weeks before the release of Goodbye Gemini, a movie involving a pair of close siblings and its own implications of their closeness together. Apparently, the fact that a horror movie daring to show or hint at something controversial was shocking to media watchdogs (read: losers but are they the biggest losers imaginable?) that led to backlash and led to theaters not being big on wanting to screen the film. For whatever reason, the movie was called "Girly" outside the United Kingdom, which seems like a foolish thing to do.

Admittedly, it is a pretty British type of movie, dangling bits of humor in the fuss it has in manners in the same breath that sees quite a few people get hacked off. Sure, it isn't a bloody affair, but it has an unusually chipper attitude that I can't help but appreciate in the slow burn for 101 minutes. It is a cheery type of film for people that like macabre things with a worthwhile group to play the game in characterization. Mostly, it is up to the viewer to consider just how anybody goes around calling themselves Mumsy or if these folks are even related to each other at all. They just go around with devilish whimsy that happens to resonate well with the interesting choice of setting in such beautiful isolation. There is a morbid elegance to people trying to play house while corpses are around the place (don't forget that in one instance Sonny goes and records one of the murders to show as a snuff film later on) that I imagine would be extremely deserving for a following or at least recognition. Francis may not have been big on doing horror film after horror film as a director, but he at least had an eye for trying to make the best out of what could've easily just been silly British stuff. Howells and Heywood were the among most experienced actors in the film (i.e. more than a few) and they do a pretty good job in establishing the unsettling nature of play-acting in roles of alleged authority, one that has them more concerned about who finishes knitting first than the business of disposed bodies. Howard Trevor (not to be confused with Trevor Howard, as one might find when trying to Google) apparently made just one film as an actor and it was this one, while Howard had a handful of horror films and that was it, since she retired from acting not too long after getting married, doing just three more movies after Mumsy (All the Way Up [1970], The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer [1970], What Became of Jack and Jill? [1972]); she died in 2010 at the age of 62. Incidentally, a bench in her memory was dedicated at Oakley Court in 2015. She does a pretty unnerving job in making it more than just with a detached commitment that is more than just being a bit. It all collides with Bryant, who plays the lone detached force with clever interest, managing to maneuver around the strange order of things without just being a bland would-be final "guy" (well, at least by how the ending may, or may not, go in the long run...). As a whole, Mumsy is a strange piece of macabre amusement, one that plays with its environment and expectations for a few enjoyable moments within the horror of people bound to structure and the ones who have the misfortune to have to try and adjust to it without losing their head. If you like seeing movies that deserved better from the time it was made, this one may be up your alley.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Trog.

Review #2143: Trog.

Cast: 

Joan Crawford (Dr. Brockton), Michael Gough (Sam Murdock), Bernard Kay (Inspector Greenham), Kim Braden (Anne Brockton), David Griffin (Malcolm Travers), John Hamill (Cliff), Thorley Walters (Magistrate), Jack May (Dr. Selbourne), Geoffrey Case (Bill), Simon Lack (Lt. Colonel Vickers), Chloe Franks (Little Girl), and Joe Cornelius (Trog) Directed by Freddie Francis (#854 - They Came from Beyond Space, #856 - The Evil of Frankenstein, #860 - Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, #1145 - Tales from the Crypt, #1419 - Dr. Terror's House of Horrors)

Review: 

"What a terrible film that was. I did it because of Joan Crawford, and poor Joan by this time was a very sad old lady. We had to have idiot cards all over the place because she couldn't remember her lines. It was the last thing she ever did and she shouldn’t have done it. Neither should I. She had no friends, and she kept writing sad letters to my wife and I until she died."

Okay, so you might be wondering just what the appeal for this film is. Well, it was a horror film that just happens to be the last film appearance of Joan Crawford. By the year of 1970, she had appeared in over eighty films in nearly a half-century of work in films to go with a handful of television appearances (one of those notably saw her perform a role several years younger than her - she was filling in for her sick daughter on a soap opera!). But this was her last film before her death in 1977 at the reported age of 69. The 1960s saw her go from starting with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) to ending with Berserk! (1967). That latter film was produced by Herman Cohen, who happened to produce this film. Three writers were credited for this film: Peter Bryan, John Gilling, and Aben Kandel (the first two had previously collaborated on The Plague of the Zombies while the latter was a mainstay on Cohen productions, even at the ripe age of 73). It's a shame for Francis to be here directing a horror film like this, because while he wasn't exactly pleased to be pigeonholed as a director of the medium (he was once quoted as saying horror films liked him more than he liked horror films), he was an acclaimed cameraman. This is the man who shot Sons and Lovers (1960) and later Glory (1989), winners of Academy Awards for cinematography. Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (1970), his previous effort as a director, was one he was quite proud of even though it took a few years to become a cult favorite. While this film wasn't exactly a hit for anyone, Francis would stay busy as a director for the rest of the decade, which included The Vampire Happening (a West German comedy horror film that apparently was just as bad of an experience for Francis released in 1971), and, well, Craze (1974), the last production spearheaded by Cohen.

You're kidding me, right? This is the way a vaunted actress such as Joan Crawford went out? Wearing her own wardrobe while apparently enjoying quite the amount of alcohol? This is such a miserable film when it comes to the amount of time it spends in trying to establish credibility with some sort of ungodly presentation of nurture and nature that has no sense of tension or doing anything beyond making one wonder just long before you get to see the silly mask again. Supposedly, the outfit for the title character was cribbed from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), but I guess they got the worst outfit of the bunch, because it is a very sad looking thing to say the least. The fact that the film has the balls to re-use footage that had been produced by Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen for The Animal World (1956) for a sequence involving dinosaurs is probably the most hilarious part of a movie that has nowhere to go but digging up from the pit that it has buried itself by the first half of a 93-minute movie of amusement. Crawford may or may not be under the influence of some liquor (vodka, reportedly) or cue cards, but there is definitely something stilted about her role in the film, which never really manages to make a compelling argument for why anyone would care for Trog in the first place (this is a beast that we first see kill folks in a cave, remember). Seeing her try to show the creature colors and play catch with it only furthers this amusement that comes full circle when you realize, yes, she really did bring her own colorful clothes for this. Honestly, I was expecting her character to become another victim of the beast to close the circle, because, well, wouldn't that be a surprise to have someone who was completely on Trog's side just get blindsided? Gough just comes off as the most obvious strawman when it comes to "beast bad", most amusingly coming for the court scenes that see him continuously interrupt the proceedings until he finally gets kicked out after like the 4th time this happens. I think the death sequence (hell, you know it was coming) is especially amusing, because he lets the beast go and seems completely unplanned for, well, getting the hell away from the one thing that could kill him like it was a cockroach ASAP. Kay and the others don't chuckle at the material in the same way one might see from even the lesser Hammer film experiences. This is the kind of thing that can appreciated for folks such as, say, John Waters when it comes to the cheapies, but this is just one of those dubious British films where the material lives and dies on just how much the actors care, and the answer here is "slim". Kitsch for some sure, but this is just crap.

Overall, I give it 3 out of 10 stars.

Turkey Week 4 is upon us, folks. From November 19 to November 25, enjoy a round of cruddy "turkey" films to enjoy the Thanksgiving season. Trog is merely an appetizer for some rancid films to come, which will see a return of such great voices like Uwe Boll and Neil Breen and more. Enjoy the suck, because the next few films are much worse than this. House of the Dead, for example....

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors.

Review #1419: Dr. Terror's House of Horrors.

Cast: 
Peter Cushing (Dr. Schreck)

"Werewolf" segment": Neil McCallum (Jim Dawson, Ursula Howells (Mrs. Deirdre Biddulph), Peter Madden (Caleb), Katy Wild (Valda), and Edward Underdown (Tod) 

"Creeping Vine" segment: Ann Bell (Ann Rogers), Bernard Lee (Hopkins), Alan Freeman (Bill Rogers), Jeremy Kemp (Jerry Drake), and Sarah Nicholls (Carol Rogers)

"Voodoo" segment: Roy Castle (Biff Bailey), Kenny Lynch (Sammy Coin), Harold Lang (Roy Shine), Christopher Carlos (Vrim), and Thomas Baptiste (Dambala)

"Disembodied Hand" segment: Christopher Lee (Franklyn Marsh), Michael Gough (Eric Landor), Isla Blair (Pretty girl), Judy Cornwell (Nurse), and Hedger Wallace (Surgeon)

"Vampire" segment: Donald Sutherland (Dr. Bob Carroll), Max Adrian (Dr. Blake), Jennifer Jayne (Nicolle Carroll), and Al Mulock (Detective)

Directed by Freddie Francis (#854 - They Came from Beyond Space, #856 - The Evil of Frankenstein, #860 - Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, #1145 - Tales from the Crypt)

Review: 
"As far back as I can ever remember, without really knowing it I wanted to be an actor. I was always dressing up, you know, playing pretend, putting on mothers hats and things. I'm sure Freud would have something to say about that. It was very much in my blood."

"Making films has never just been a job to me, it is my life. I have some interests outside of acting - I sing and I've written books, for instance - but acting is what keeps me going, it's what I do, it gives life purpose."

Horror, particularly horror in a decade of expanding tastes like the 1960s, can come in any kind of package. Anthology is a particular interesting manner in telling stories revolving around something creepy that can be linked together by either a theme, a character or a framing device. There have been plenty of anthology films in numerous genres, but one key anthology film that helped inspire this was Dead of Night (1945), a British production that producer Milton Subotsky liked enough to feel inspired to do his own multi-story film. He had started his work in television, but soon moved to films such as Rock, Rock, Rock (1956) and The City of the Dead (1960), which he produced with Max Rosenberg. In 1962, they would form Amicus Productions, a British company led by the American producers and writer that lasted until 1977. They specialized primarily in horror over the years that would have a share of name actors alongside young and old actors in the cast, particularly when it came to their anthologies. This was the first of seven anthology films they would do over a span of nine years, with those including Torture Garden (1967), The House That Dripped Blood (1970), Asylum (1972), Tales from the Crypt (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973) and From Beyond the Grave (1974). This was filmed in a span of less than three months from Freddie Francis, who had a career of over four decades in both directing and cinematographer that was known for his work on British horror films while winning two Academy Awards for the latter.

Honestly, the parts that are really interesting are the scenes inside the train with Cushing and the main five, since he tries on a beard and an German accent that stand out from the curious others. This isn't surprising to me at this point, because he had a perfectionist and dignified attitude that served him well in six decades of film, stage, television and radio, treating every role with seriousness that he felt his audience would like. One can have a soft spot for British horror when it is done right and Cushing always seems to end up fitting in to most of the right ones. Accompanying him is fellow British actor and friend Lee, who had a career just as versatile and long (nearly seven decades! This includes a singing career before turning 90!) with a distinctive voice that for a change is not playing someone villainous but merely just pompous, which he breezes by without trouble. McCallum and Freeman aren't exactly as well-known in presence (the former being an actor of stage and television and the latter being a disc jockey and radio personality), but they are least serviceable to starting the film with decent leads in their respective stories. Castle, a dancer/singer/comedian comes off with the lesser of the five stories and suffers for it. Sutherland, a Canadian actor doing British roles in film and TV before hitting it big later in this decade, makes for a composed turn in his third career role, fresh in looking for more beyond horror fare.

The segments each have a focus on something you've likely seen in a horror film before, whether that means a supernatural beast or a killer plant/hand or voodoo, and they generally range from average to slightly above average. In this sense, the Lee story involving a hand that follows him around is my personal favorite of the bunch, since it also features Gough for a time (making fun of an art critic, no less) in a segment that has a silly looking effect but enjoyment value regardless. I would say that the werewolf story is a notch below that, having a bit of interest in its coffin hidden in a fake wall that leads to a somewhat played out ending. The vine story also has a silly-looking effect, particularly since it doesn't have much of an ending (regardless of the resolution for the film, which is just as odd), although at least it is nice to see Bernard Lee play his type of authority role and utilize a pipe for safety. The vampire tale is fair, although it probably suffers from having a small time to build a story from the most, complete with the final twist in the knife with its last line (as is the case with the wolf and hand story). The voodoo is the lesser of all the tales (although none are actually terrible), mostly because of how hokey it is in generating actual suspense (copying a tune and getting followed for it, what a twist), but at least none of these tales manage to bore the senses or hold for too long. In the long run, this is a fair package of horror that utilizes its familiar trappings of its genre and stars to useful effect, and it is a serviceable film for its era to pick up on a day for curiosity.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Tales from the Crypt.

Review #1145: Tales from the Crypt.

Cast:
"...And All Through the House" segment: Joan Collins (Joanne Clayton), Martin Boddey (Richard Clayton), Chloe Franks (Carol Clayton), and Oliver MacGreevy (Homicidal Maniac)

"Reflection of Death" segment: Ian Hendry (Carl Maitland), Susan Denny (Mrs. Maitland), Angela Grant (Susan Blake), Peter Fraser (Motorist), and Frank Forsyth (Tramp)

"Poetic Justice" segment: Robin Phillips (James Elliot), David Markham (Edward Elliot), Peter Cushing (Arthur Edward Grimsdyke), and Robert Hutton (Mr. Baker) 

"Wish You Were Here" segment: Richard Greene (Ralph Jason), Barbara Murray (Enid Jason), and Roy Dotrice (Charles Gregory)

"Blind Alleys" segment: Nigel Patrick (Major William Rogers) and Patrick Magee (George Carter)

With Ralph Richardson (Crypt Keeper) and Geoffrey Bayldon (The Guide). Directed by Freddie Francis (#854 - They Came from Beyond Space, #856 - The Evil of Frankenstein, and #860 Dracula Has Risen from the Grave)

Review: 
Tales from the Crypt is an anthology film with five segments that are based on stories from EC Comics, which had done numerous horror comics in their three horror comic series - Tales from the Crypt, The Haunt of Fear, and The Vault of Horror (each created by Al Feldstein and William M. Gaines) from 1950 to 1955 before censorship pressure led to its end. It wasn't the first anthology film that Amicus Productions (founded by Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky) had been behind, as they had been behind films such as Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), The House That Dripped Blood (1970), and a few others. A year later, they would be behind The Vault of Horror, which also was based on stories from the EC Comics line. In any case, the stories here are meant to feature someone facing ironic punishment through their wicked actions, with the Crypt Keeper (played by a hooded and yet somewhat eerie Richardson) showing up for the wraparound segments.

The segments are a bit uneven, but there is just enough that works to make a winner. To talk about the film, I'll just simply say what I thought about each segment in terms of entertainment quality, since they have their own respective actors and run-times. The first segment is named "...And All Through the House", featuring Collins alongside Martin Boddey, Chloe Franks, and Oliver MacGreevy. It's a decent little segment, with a little bit of terror generated from its setup (involving a maniac dressed up as Santa Claus), although it does manage to get a bit lost with the other parts. Collins doesn't have much to say, but at least she is someone we can follow along with in their terror and own fears, and the ending helps make it worth the effort. The second segment, named "Reflection of Death" features Hendry, Susan Denny, Angela Grant, and Peter Fraser. It is an okay segment with a bit of a simple premise, but it isn't really too memorable, having only one shot that makes it stick out - although it probably won't have as much effect upon a re-watch. The third segment is called "Poetic Justice", featuring Phillips, David Markham, and Cushing. It certainly takes time to get interesting, but it does manage to hold itself enough to warrant entertainment, and it is nice to see Cushing in a warm role that goes well against Phillips. The penultimate segment, titled "Wish You Were Here", is my least favorite segment, featuring Greene and Barbara Murray. It comes off as a tedious version of "The Monkey's Paw" while not really having a satisfying payoff. Honestly, I wonder why they included a story where the lead doesn't even do anything adversarial (is a ruthless businessman that bad when compared to murderers, abandoning your family, an exploiter of the blind, or driving a man to suicide?) to merit his ironic punishment - which is made especially weird since the other stories feature main characters who all do misdeeds. The last segment of "Blind Alleys" makes up for it with a strong foundation featuring Patrick, Magee, and George Herbert. It moves along at a fine pace while being chilling just enough to help carry the film to the finish line smoothly enough. On the whole, the movie does manage to work as entertainment in giving chills to its audience. This is done with enough competence and care generated from its screenplay by Subotsky and direction from Francis to go along with a mostly game cast that manages to overcome some uneven edges to make this a fair piece for the season.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Dracula Has Risen from the Grave.

Review #860: Dracula Has Risen from the Grave.

Cast:
Christopher Lee (Count Dracula), Rupert Davies (Monsignor Ernest Muller), Veronica Carlson (Maria Muller), Barry Andrews (Paul), Ewan Hooper (Priest), Barbara Ewing (Zena), and Marion Mathie (Anna Muller) Directed by Freddie Francis (#856 - The Evil of Frankenstein)

Review:
For Halloween Eve (as I would call it), here's one more Hammer film. With a title like that, what can you expect? This was third Dracula film with Christopher Lee in the title role, and he actually does speak this time. It starts out with a girl found in a bell tower, an apparent victim of Dracula (who is she? Who knows?), which is somewhat amusing. Dracula (still frozen in ice) is brought back in a particularly amusing scene, as a priest falls on a rock, and the blood from his head reaches a crack in the ice and bleeds onto Dracula's mouth, with Dracula arising not long after, with reddish eyes to boot. Andrews is interesting, and he has some decent enough scenes with Carlson (another person familiar with Hammer films). Davies is pretty good as well. I liked the previous film a bit more than this in terms of the characters, but it works just enough on its own merits. There certainly is a good deal of style with the camera shots (especially when Dracula is around), and the effects are fine as usual. This time around, Dracula can only be killed with a stake if you have faith, which either is a bit clever or just a way to make the film last a bit longer. I guess it's better than being killed by water. At 92 minutes, this is a decent enough film that has enough flair and Hammer cliches to work.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

The Evil of Frankenstein.

Review #856: The Evil of Frankenstein.

Cast:
Peter Cushing (Baron Victor Frankenstein), Peter Woodthorpe (Zoltan), Duncan Lamont (Chief of Police), Sandor Elès (Hans), Katy Wild (Rena the Begger Girl), David Hutcheson (Burgomaster of Karlstaad), James Maxwell (Priest), Howard Goorney (Drunk), Anthony Blackshaw (Policeman), David Conville (Policeman), Caron Gardner (Burgomaster's Wife), and Kiwi Kingston (the Creature) Directed by Freddie Francis.

Review:
This was the third Frankenstein film released by Hammer, released six years after The Revenge of Frankenstein (#469) and the first in the series not directed by Terence Fisher, but it is also the first film in the series where the Monster resembles the classic Universal look, due to a deal between the two. The monster here resembles the classic look somewhat, but it honestly isn't very terrifying, resembling papier-mâché more than anything. If you're going to emulate the classic look, you invite the criticism when comparing the looks. The sets do look pretty good, with the same kind of neat scenery one would expect. The continuity of the first two films seems to be thrown out the window, which is disappointing, though the biggest problem is that Frankenstein seems to be less evil than he usually is (apart from the opening scene), seeming to emulate the Universal films a bit (obviously). It's funny that the least villainous incarnation of Frankenstein is in the movie called "Evil of Frankenstein", with a hypnotist being the true villain. Woodthorpe is only as threatening as one would be of a hypnotist, so take that for what it is Elès and Wild are moderately enjoyable as well. There is some decent horror (and some interesting effects for ice), at least. It isn't boring, but it certainly isn't as good as the other two films, falling around the same quality as one would see in the Universal Frankenstein films, which is only as good as you make it.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

They Came from Beyond Space.

Review #854: They Came from Beyond Space.

Cast:
Robert Hutton (Dr. Curtis Temple), Jennifer Jayne (Lee Mason), Zia Mohyeddin (Farge), Bernard Kay (Richard Arden), Michael Gough (Master of the Moon), Geoffrey Wallace (Alan Mullane), Maurice Good (Agent Stillwell), Luanshya Greer (Female Gas Station Attendant), John Harvey (Bill Trethowan), and Diana King (Mrs. Trethowan) Directed by Freddie Francis.

Review:
It figures I had to pick some low budget sci-fi flick for today, especially one made from sets from another Amicus Productions film, Daleks - Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D (#472), while being based on a novel named "The Gods Hate Kansas"...while utilizing a title as cliche as one would expect. It is evident early on the lack of charisma this movie has, with everything being conveyed in a very dull manner with its ridiculous aspects seeming to be cobbled from better projects. If you like seeing random sets and random splotches of plot (like a metal plated scientist being protected from some sort of attack), this is the movie for you, with all the stops of lunacy one would expect from a low budget, low rate film. This is the kind of movie where you fight to stay attention and watch it, in part because you want to make sure you're still conscious. The cast doesn't really have any seeming life to them, with Hutton being as standard as it gets, and there is no real charisma between any of these actors. One highlight (or whatever word you would use) is one of the characters melting down their silver trophies in order to make a "helmet" to protect himself from the intruders...and it looks about as you'd expect. Naturally, the climax is a cluster of stuff thrown on the wall, with Michael Gough appearing as the Master of the Moon, where it is revealed that they did their intrusion in order to get workers to get them home to die. Yes, I'm serious. At the end (to spoil it for you), the two groups agree to have a partnership together, because I guess enslaving humans as workers to build a ship can be swept under the rug because they learned they could just have asked. The best thing about the movie? It lasts only 85 minutes. If you know me and this show well, I do have a spot for low budget flicks, provided that the movie actually looks like it's trying to be good, but this is not the right example of a good low budget film, nor a competent one.

Overall, I give it 3 out of 10 stars.