The House That Dripped Blood.

Review #2606: The House That Dripped Blood.

Cast:

Framework story: John Bennett (Detective Inspector Holloway), John Bryans (A.J. Stoker), and John Malcolm (Sergeant Martin)

"Method For Murder": Denholm Elliott (Charles Hillyer), Joanna Dunham (Alice Hillyer), Tom Adams (Richard/Dominic), and Robert Lang (Dr. Andrews)

"Waxworks": Peter Cushing (Philip Grayson), Joss Ackland (Neville Rogers), and Wolfe Morris (Waxworks Proprietor)

"Sweets to the Sweet": Christopher Lee (John Reid), Nyree Dawn Porter (Ann Norton), Chloe Franks (Jane Reid), Hugh Manning (Mark), and Carleton Hobbs (Dr. Bailey)

"The Cloak": Jon Pertwee (Paul Henderson), Ingrid Pitt (Carla Lynde), Geoffrey Bayldon (Theo von Hartmann), Jonathan Lynn (Mr. Petrich)

Directed by Peter Duffell.

Review: 

Sure, let's march into the 1970s for Amicus to make their mark with anthology films. Apparently, it was reported that the movie was to have Freddie Francis to direct but it fell through due to prior commitments, which led to Peter Duffell. This was actually the feature film debut for Peter Duffell, who had gotten his start in 1961 with a number of shorts and episodes in television. He wound up spending most of his time in television (having rejected doing more films for Amicus due to not wanting to be typecast) but directed a few more times with England Made Me (1973), Inside Out (1975), and King of the Wind (1989). He wanted to go with "Death and the Maiden" as a title instead of, well, "The House That Dripped Blood" but ended up with the one insisted by producers because, duh (sure, there isn't actually blood in the movie, but, well...). Pertwee claimed in his memoir that the film was initially to be filmed as a comedy-horror piece but that the producer saw some of the rushes and insisted on the film being shot as is for horror. The movie was written by Robert Bloch, as adapted from his four short stories, although Russ Jones apparently delivered uncredited work on "Waxworks". Bloch wrote one more movie for Amicus with Asylum (1972).

It's an average anthology movie where you really only get some enjoyment out of certain stories because damn it, they really can only go so far with the pacing and violence, can they? Anyway, what's the framework of this 102-minute movie you say, well, here it goes: An old country house was rented out by an actor that happens to have mysteriously disappeared and a man from Scotland Yard comes to investigate only to be told about the history of the house (complete with the estate agent popping in for the latter setup) and the tenants that lived in the house beforehand (you might be wondering, why wouldn't the inspector just insist on getting the story of the guy who was missing *before* everyone else, well, who knows). The first story (lasting roughly 23 minutes) involves a hack writer (as played pretty well by Elliott) and his wife moving into the house that finds growing fear over trying to write a new novel about a crazed killer. The twist is the goofiest thing imaginable, but the monster is kind of interesting. The second story is basically the shortest at almost 20 minutes and probably disappoints me the most because it has Cushing and little else to show for with a story that involves a man that encounters a wax museum with a sculpture that happens to look like someone he formerly loved and the frenzied reactions that come with the two other people that also happen to be curious about the sculpture. A lonely Cushing is one thing to maybe drive something spooky, but it leads to nothing because, really, we are talking about a wax sculpture.

The third story, perhaps not surprisingly, is the longest at 24 minutes that has Lee play an oddball dad that kept his daughter away from school, socializing, or even dolls which naturally changes when a new tutor comes into the picture and a tantalizing secret is revealed. It's probably the only segment that would've made an interesting film in its own right, with an eerie Franks and a suitably composed Lee selling the payoff (which is necessary for a movie that shows a burning of a figure rather than, say, a body). The final story (roughly 20 minutes) is the one to wait for with some chuckles. Pertwee (in the middle between filming seasons of Doctor Who)* plays a stuffy star of horror movies (which, well, is basically him doing a riff on Christopher Lee, complete with saying that his favorite type of Dracula was Bela Lugosi at one point) that encounters an antique shop with "real" authenticity to it. Sure, the idea of a cloak being associated with maybe becoming a vampire is a bit corny, but I did like what I saw from Pertwee's hammy nature. All of this helps because the framework is pretty lame with the payoff from Bryans and his character that actually talks to the audience at the end about the house reflecting the personality of the person who lives in it (after getting the fate of the inspector encountering a vampire because....yeah). As a whole, it's a decent movie with some highlights that might make for a useful watch for those who love to see a few short stories try to get their due.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

*Yes, that's the Third Doctor. Did you know he did a novelty song? I Am The Doctor (Jon Pertwee)

The Wicker Man (1973).

Review #2289: The Wicker Man.

Cast: 

Edward Woodward (Sgt. Neil Howie), Christopher Lee (Lord Summerisle), Britt Ekland (Willow MacGregor; Annie Ross as voice and Rachel Verney as singing voice), Lesley Mackie (Daisy), Diane Cilento (Miss Rose), Ingrid Pitt (Librarian), Lindsay Kemp (Alder MacGregor), Ian Campbell (Oak), Russell Waters (Harbour Master), and Aubrey Morris (Old Gardener/Gravedigger) Directed by Robin Hardy.

Review: 

"When you get into The Wicker Man, Tony and I decided to do a film which was kind of a reverse Hammer film -- a Hammer film which was actually about, or used, the reality of all the witchcraft nonsense that Hammer had used. And there we decided to do a story which used the old religion as part of a game -- in other words: if you could understand that the clues we littered about the script were telling you that we were in a pagan world, then you started to realize and indeed dread what was going to happen."

Sure, you never really know what is going on in the eyes of certain religious folk. The genesis for what became this film was a desire by Christopher Lee to make something different from the Hammer films that he had been doing for over a decade. He met with Anthony Schaffer (the writer of Frenzy and Sleuth) and came to an idea to work together. Robin Hardy, who had a film company partnership with Shaffer for over a decade (where he did commericals and information films), became involved as a director. In 1971, the rights to the 1967 novel Ritual, as written by David Pinner (he had turned it from an intended film treatment to a novel) were purchased; as Pinner put it, "the basic idea and the structure" of his book is in The Wicker Man, albeit with less humor; one piece of research Shaffer used was James George Frazer's The Golden Bough. Owing to the situation of the studio behind the film (i.e. a buyout), different versions of the film persisted: the original release was 87 minutes after trimming was forced upon Hardy. The movie received a few notices even with limited press, but one magazine soon called it "the Citizen Kane of horror movies". In 2013, "The Final Cut", apparently the most complete version possible of the film intended by Hardy (read further about the weird history here). Hardy returned to write and direct a film thirteen years later with The Fantasist (1986) before serving as writer for The Bulldance [1989]. Shaffer apparently wrote an idea for a follow-up film in "The Loathsome Lambton Worm", which would've somehow involved considerable effects sequences and basically undoing the ending of the first film.  An American rendition of the Wicker Man was released in 2006 to a distinct reception from anyone who saw it, you might say. That same year, Hardy's novel Cowboys for Christ was published that dealt in similar ideas of paganism and Christianity with American interlopers. Five years later, it served as the basis for the 2011 film The Wicker Tree, which was directed by Hardy with a cameo appearance by Lee. He attempted to make a third film but nothing came out of it prior to his death in 2016 at the age of 86.

You really do have to just go with the film with as little to know as possible, which is amusing to say for a film where the one big shot of the film is so hard to forget. The horror that comes out in a film like this is one of sacrifice where the clues really are just in sight for those who look beyond saying the obvious about man and their devotion to a power beyond themselves. The film is all about people who have a reverence for the music (yes, really) and the rituals of an old one that requires a love and fear relationship with nature and to appease it when the time is right in ways that simply clash when it comes to the reckoning of sacrifice. You know how much Christopher Lee loved doing this film? He actually did the film for free, complete with doing a publicity tour all about getting critics to see and talk about the film. Lee plays the game with all of the air required of an actor with commitment and pride required that demands he play it right to the bone of someone who you really believe could live among the animals. Leader and devotee, his charisma may be at its peak here. Woodward was cast because after the role was rejected by David Hemmings and Michael York. His commitment (and subsequent appreciation of the film) is quite apparent for a role that with a lesser actor would've been just played it completely for bland rigidness, but he manages to come off completely fascinating because of just what we see in his reaction to the place around him in matching dedicated belief, particularly with the sequence between him and Lee about the practices of the island and which gods are alive in the modern parlance. The rest of the cast does well in selling the devotion needed for a film that doesn't play anyone out as just a kook but instead lets it all out (some with more flesh than others). The ending is the perfect way to close it all out in the logical conclusion of trying to tie the community all the way together in faith, complete with one great last shot in the sun. It is a devilishly unnerving movie to see play out and while I'm not sure if it is my favorite Lee film, I sure can see why he was all in on making it all count where it mattered most in commitment, which matches well with the direction and writing for a solid thrilling folk tale.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Next up: with a week to Halloween, the slate of films before October 31 promises to be spectacular, ranging from Cat People (1982) all the way down the line. 

The Vampire Lovers.

Review #2284: The Vampire Lovers.

Cast: 

Ingrid Pitt (Marcilla/Carmilla/Mircalla Karnstein), Pippa Steel (Laura Spielsdorf), Madeline Smith (Emma Morton), Peter Cushing (General Spielsdorf), George Cole (Roger Morton), Dawn Addams (the Countess), Kate O'Mara (Mademoiselle Perrodot), Douglas Wilmer (Baron Joachim von Hartog), Jon Finch (Carl Ebhardt), Ferdy Mayne (The Doctor), Kirsten Lindholm (the First Vampire), and John Forbes-Robertson (the Man in Black) Directed by Roy Ward Baker (#1742 - The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. #2106 - Scars of Dracula, #2120 - The Vault of Horror)

Review: 

Well, it was the dawn of the 1970s and therefore the dawn of trying to do something a bit different with vampire movies...The Vampire Lovers was the first of what is considered a "Karnstein Trilogy". All three films were produced by Hammer to go along with having a screenplay by Tudor Gates. Each had a different company responsible for getting it shown in the States, with this one being a co-production between Hammer and American International Pictures. The film uses the Gothic novella Carmilla (as serialized by Sheridan Le Fanu from 1871 to 1872; he died the following year), which involved a woman being prey to a female vampire that is later revealed be a Countess Karnstein. Harry Fine and Michael Style produced the film together and wrote the adaptation with Gates. Baker was once again directing a film (already noted for A Night to Remember (1958) and TV work) with Hammer after having done work for them with Quatermass and the Pit (1967), The Anniversary (1968), and Moon Zero Two (1969) It was the only one of the films to have AIP involved. The next two films of the trilogy were each released in 1971 with Lust for a Vampire (as directed by Jimmy Sangster with Yutte Stensgaard and Mike Raven as the new Karnsteins) and Twins of Evil (as directed by John Hough with Damien Thomas and Katya Wyeth as Karnsteins alongside the Collinson sisters)

Admittedly, one does get what they were looking for in leering power with as many bosoms as there are vampires. You have to love a movie that gives a warning on the poster that it is "Not for the mentally immature". It probably isn't as vaunted in devastating power of lurid sex and violence as one might wonder about, but it is a neat gem worth giving some interest for its craftsmanship in the long run. You get your melodrama that will build the inevitable in hunting and tombs and all that stuff that matters, albeit in a split format that gets you a head-chopping early before getting into the cyclical nature of a woman falling into the habit of being friendly with a young lady (first with Steel and then with Smith). Pitt went on to do other vampire-related films such as Countess Dracula (1971) to go along with dabbling in writing (such as Bedside Companion for Vampire Lovers). She had a clear view of how it felt to do films like these that works out here for alluring charm, one who plays it all much like a cat playing with the things around them (so not exactly in a carnal way). Smith probably plays it a bit too much like a deer in the headlights in innocence, but it does lend itself to some amusing moments when she and Pitt engage in play. You don't get as much of Cushing as you might wonder about, but I suppose not every vampire film with him needs to be him giving you exposition, though funny still to see him paired with Wilmer (who like Cushing played Sherlock Holmes), which works out fine. It's strange that there even is a "man in black" watching the proceedings at all to go along with nightmares of cats (vampires, cats, black-and-white, get it?). The vampire death gives you something different: stake to the chest and a head-chopping, although it probably is most striking to see a painting turn decrepit for that last shot. In general, it delivers allure in the gradual display of lurid entertainment you would expect in terms of appealing women and the patience to make the display of deja vu lady vampirism work out without seeming tired or out of its element. 

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.