El refugio del miedo (1974)

... aka: Creation of the Damned
... aka: Refuge of Fear

Directed by:
José Ulloa

Not usually well-regarded by the masses and often written off as being boring, this post nuke tale from Spain managed to keep me reasonably entertained for 90 minutes. It's talky, set-bound, low on action and not particularly original, but the film manages to undermine many of our early expectations in a good way, especially in regards to its characters. After establishing a sensible, level-headed hero in one of them and painting another as a demanding, uncooperative adulteress, the film slowly and effectively does a 180 with both, turning the presumed hero into a raving lunatic who ends up seriously cracking under the pressure and a presumed victim into a resilient type who does whatever it takes to survive a pretty dire situation. Risking turning the latter into someone completely unlikable in doing so, the filmmakers refreshingly never paint her as some kind of saintly super-woman. She survives simply because she's selfish enough to know that she's best off looking out for number one... even if that means locking herself inside her bedroom while one of her unhinged shelter mates is trying to kill one of her friends!

Refuge gives no real details about the nuclear holocaust that's occurred in the United States (where this is set), but we can only assume it's war based, especially since two of the central characters are high-ranking military officers. Aside from the two brief scenes, the entire film is set inside an underground bomb shelter that's basically decked out like any other 70s house. Well, aside from having an elevator going up to the surface and its own miniature mortuary in the basement. Five people; Robert (Craig Hill), his wife Margie (Teresa Gimpera), her teenage son Chris (Pedro Mari Sánchez), Robert's army pal Arthur (Fernando Hilbeck) and his wife Carol (Patty Shepard), plus a Siamese kitty cat, are living there and - as the film opens - have already been down a good deal of time. Supplies are running short, tensions are on the rise and being stuck in the claustrophobic confines of the shelter for God knows how long is starting to seriously wear on everyone. Via radio, they do have contact with other pockets of survivors and everyone's just playing the waiting game until radiation levels to drop to a safe level. There is mention of a sixth member of the group who we learn had to be "put down" when he went crazy and tried to set fire to the shelter.

Because Robert paid to have the shelter built to begin with, he feels licensed to be a complete control freak and balances his time between playing billiards and doing inventory on the supplies to make sure no one is taking more than their share. Likely because of his military training, he expects everyone else to show "discipline" and even goes so far as telling one of the women she can't wear a revealing outfit to dinner! His wife just stays drunk and knits sweaters all the time, while her lonely son mans the radio and pines for his (most likely dead) girlfriend on the surface. Arthur is so stressed out he's taken to pills and has to heavily medicate himself in order to sleep. Carol spends most of her time in her bedroom, feigns illness so she doesn't have to fraternize with the others and is so prone to boredom she's not above performing a strip tease in front of everyone. She also finds herself drawn to the teenage son and the two eventually start having sex... starting with a tryst in her bedroom with her husband zonked out right next to them! When Carol finds herself pregnant and reveals the affair, things go from bad to worse.

With food, water and oxygen all in short supply, cabin fever setting in, personal relations in shambles and seismic activity creating cracks in the shelter's foundation causing it to shift, the stress finally takes its toll on Robert, who snaps and starts injecting the others with poison. The cat is the first to go and, needing the food, it's skinned and put in the refrigerator. Robert also starts sneaking down to the mortuary to cannibalize the corpses; serving the meat to the others. When blamed for one of the deaths, the teen son decides to leave the shelter. He finds a house full of shriveled corpses before succumbing to radiation poisoning. Eventually, only Carol and Robert remain and a game of cat-and-mouse in close confines is underway. In a scene VERY reminiscent of THE STEPFATHER (1987), Robert merrily sings "My Darling Clementine" while cleaning blood off his tie in front of the bathroom mirror.

Though some of the actors appear to be speaking English here, it was still obviously dubbed and suffers a bit because of that (Gimpera's character's dub is especially whiny). That aside, the cast acquits itself fairly well under the circumstances. I'm not too familiar with Hill (who's married to Gimpera in real-life), but he does an especially fine job as the psycho. Hill and Shepard had previously appeared together in the Paul Naschy vehicle ASSIGNMENT TERROR (1969) and Shepard and Gimpera also shared the screen in the same year's vampire tale CRYPT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1973).

The DVD is from Substance, who unfortunately use a full-screen VHS print of the movie.

★★1/2

Lost Hearts (1973) (TV)

... aka: Ghost Story for Christmas: Lost Hearts
... aka: Lost Hearts by M.R. James

Directed by:
Lawrence Gordon Clark

Young orphan Stephen (Simon Gipps-Kent), who's eleven-years-old and will be turning twelve soon on All Hallow's Eve, goes to stay in a secluded country manor with his elderly cousin Peregrine Abney (Joseph O'Conor), motherly housekeeper / cook Mrs. Budge (Susan Richards) and grumpy butler Mr. Parkes (James Mellor). Mr. Abney is a eccentric, scholarly man who seems one part giddily absent-minded and one part completely out of his mind. Either way, he seems to be pretty removed from reality, constantly rants about immortality and shows a peculiar interest in both Stephen's age and his health, all with an aloof smile on his face. Understandably, Stephen is wary of him right from the start. Mrs. Budge informs him that he isn't the old child to have lived there. Years earlier, Mr. Abney brought home an Italian orphan named Giovanni (Christopher Davis), who had an affinity for playing the hurdy-gurdy; before him, a young girl named Phoebe (Michelle Foster), who was descended from gypsies, came to stay. Both children disappeared after just a few weeks of living there, never to be seen or heard from again. Stephen immediately begins being visited by the pale-faced ghosts of both missing children, who seem to be trying to warn him about something...

Set in the mid-19 Century, this was the third entry in the British "Ghost Story for Christmas" series that ran on BBC around Christmastime every year from 1971 to 1978. Lawrence Gordon Clark directed all but one of them; 1978's THE ICE HOUSE, and all but three; THE SIGNALMAN (1976; from a Charles Dickens story), STIGMA (1977) and Ice House (both from original screenplays) were based on the works of M.R. James. It's well-made, with good performances and period detail, some faintly creepy images and nice shot compositions throughout. The presentation of the ghost children, who have long purple fingernails (which reminds one of later Hong Kong vampire movies) and bloody holes on their chests where their hearts have been removed, is fairly interesting, as well. Unfortunately, the storyline (Robin Chapman adapted the James story; part of his Ghost Stories of an Antiquary collection) is a little on the predictable side. It runs 35 minutes.

The same story was previously filmed for British television in 1966 (part of the Mystery and Imagination series). Young lead Gipps-Kent went on to a successful acting career, which was cut short after he suffered a fatal morphine overdose - a possible suicide. He was just 28 years old.

★★1/2