Hexen geschändet und zu Tode gequält (1973)

... aka: Le streghe nere (The Black Witch)
... aka: Mark of the Devil 2: Witches
... aka: Mark of the Devil Part II
... aka: Torture
... aka: Witches
... aka: Witches Violated and Tortured to Death

Directed by:
Adrian Hoven

Likely prompted by the success of the then-controversial Vincent Price vehicle WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968), a slew of witch hunt / witch torture movies followed. One of those was MARK OF THE DEVIL (1970), a West German production starring the likes of Herbert Lom, Reggie Nalder and a young Udo Kier. Thanks to a memorable ad campaign, which claimed it was "Rated V for Violence" and banned in numerous countries, plus a notorious handing-out-barf-bags-to-theater-patrons gimmick, the film became a huge success. Hoping to cash in on the notoriety of that film was Hexen geschändet und zu Tode gequält ("Witches Violated and Tortured to Death"). It brought back Nalder in a similar role, was also filmed in Austria, was directed by the original Mark's producer, co-writer and (reputedly self-imposed) co-star and co-director and was re-titled as a sequel for numerous markets. For its American theatrical release in 1974, posters used the tagline "Exorcism Be Damned!" in an attempt to cash in on the previous year's hit The Exorcist... never mind the fact there is no exorcism to see here. To whip up additional controversy, the trailers proudly (and erroneously) proclaimed that it was "Banned in 19 countries!" Other alternate titles included The Black Witch, Torture and, simply, Witches.

When Count von Salmenau (an unbilled Hoven) stumbles upon some witch hunters trying to drown a woman suspected of witchcraft in an icy lake, a fight ensues and several people end up dead. Among those killed is the Count himself when Natas (Nalder) throws a dagger into his back. Now widowed and with a small son to raise, Countess Elisabeth (Erika Blanc) vows revenge against the religious hypocrites responsible. Unfortunately for her, after she barges into court to spill the beans she finds herself on their personal hit list. Led by sanctimonious, completely self-serving Balthazar von Ross (Anton Diffring), who whips out bible verses when they're convenient, the witch hunters set about gathering evidence that will incriminate the Countess as a witch so they can do away with both her and her young son Alexander (played by the director's real-life son, Percy Hoven), who they've dubbed "the devil's bastard." The noblemen first get their hands on the Salmenau's kitchen maid Marta, who is accused of making a "potion to rip men's trousers off" and is rolled across stones and stretched out on a rack until she's dead.

At a local convent, a sect of bald nuns also become involved. The insane, lesbian Abbess (Ellen Umlauf) aids in the witch hunt because she believes Elisabeth is a whore and sinner and doesn't like their family. A shy, friendly young nun named Clementine (Astrid Kilian) is forced to strip and gets whipped with a cat o' nine tails for even associating with the family. Then the Abbess hands her the whip and orders the naive nun to "Beat me!" while she screams "Yes! Yes! Yes! Harder! Harder! Don't stop!" Clementine continues to play with Alexander despite the Abbess' demands, which eventually gets her into hot water when she takes an injured Alexander to see Pompanne ("Rosy-Rosy" / Rosemarie Heinikel), a large-breasted "herb woman" who uses "the devil's mud" and other such outlawed plants in her treatments. The witch hunters barge in on them and drag them back to their dungeon for all of the expected scenes involving rape and torture.

The "torture master" (uncredited Joachim Hackethal) wastes no time twisting the wild woman's head around and then rapes Clementine while drooling all over her. She becomes pregnant because of the assault and is slated to die by being burned at the stake. Elisabeth shows up demanding they release her son and is almost raped herself by Balthazar, whose idea of pillow talk involves referring to her as "the devil's prostitute." Getting desperate, Elisabeth then goes to the governor in hopes that he'll pardon her son if she'll sleep with him. Instead, she's arrested, taken to the torture chamber, shaved down ("... especially the erogenous zone.") and stretched out on a rack. The corrupt religious leaders and witch hunters are actually mostly interested in getting her massive estate. The film ends on the day when Clementine, Elisabeth, Alexander and Father Melchior (Dietrich Kerky), a priest who falsifies documents in hopes of pardoning the innocent nun, are slated to be executed. A few will live (bet you can guess who), a few will die (there's a decapitation and a burning at the stake)... and, strangely enough, not all of the assholes you really want to see get it bad actually get what they have coming.

For the most part, this is pretty dreary and overly-familiar stuff, with much less gore and nudity than one might expect, but the production passably evokes the time and place, there are a couple of interesting tortures (the best being some fiery iron shoes being placed over one poor man's feet) and having talented actors such as Blanc (gorgeous as always here), Diffring and Nalder on board at least keeps the whole thing watchable. The supporting cast includes Jean-Pierre Zola as Blanc's uncle and Johannes Buzalski, reprising his role as a corrupt advocate from the first film.

Despite having a reputation as being vastly inferior to its predecessor (which was no great shakes itself), in actuality this is really just a slight notch below. Unlike the original, which has received numerous high-quality DVD releases over the years, this follow-up has completely fallen between the cracks. There's not only not an official DVD release, but the lone disc I'm aware of is a horrible bootleg VHS transfer. To my knowledge, all of the prints floating around have also been cut (judging by lobby cards that surfaced there was originally much more nudity) and some feature completely different soundtracks. The US VHS box also claims this is 97 minutes long but it's actually a little over 86 minutes.

★★

Man Who Could Cheat Death, The (1959)

Directed by:

Terence Fisher

Dr. Georges Bonnet (Anton Diffring), a talented sculptor and brilliant surgeon, seems awfully well-educated and worldly for someone in their mid 30s. That's because he's not actually in his mid 30s... he just looks it. Actually, Georges is 104 years old. Seventy years earlier, he and his now-elderly colleague, Prof. Ludwig Weiss (Arnold Marle), came up with a way to prolong life and youth with glandular transplants that must be administered every ten years. While Ludwig decided to simply let age run its course, Georges allowed himself to be the guinea pig. He's even concocted a special serum that can temporarily keep him alive while he waits for a new transplant. If he doesn't get the new gland, his face turns yellow, seventy years worth pain and agony flood him all at once... and someone else usually ends up dying. Every ten years, Georges relocates to a new city to begin a new chapter in his life, but the lonliness associated with living forever is finally starting to catch up to him.

Now in Paris, Georges is reunited with Janine Dubois (Hazel Court), a beautiful young woman he'd met and fell in love with years earlier but abandoned before things could get too serious. Janine has moved on with her life and is now casually dating Dr. Pierre Gerard (a very serious Christopher Lee), but finds old feelings resurfacing once again now that Georges is back in the picture. Problems arise when Ludwig shows up for their annual operation and, having suffered a crippling stroke, is unable to perform the necessary surgery. Ludwig, as well as Police Inspector LeGris (Francis De Wolff) are also curious about a string of missing models left in Georges wake, including his most recent lover, Margo (Delphi Lawrence).

It's a pretty predictable story (scripted by Jimmy Sangster and based on a Barre Lyndon play that was already filmed in 1945 as THE MAN IN HALF MOON STREET), but as per Hammer Studio's usual, the whole thing looks great. Mostly set indoors, the turn-of-the-century Paris setting is fairly well established through art direction and costumes (certainly not the British and thick German accents). It's also very colorfully photographed (by Jack Asher) and nicely scored (by Richard Bennett), but it's really the solid cast that keeps the whole thing on track since this is very much a dialogue-driven film. Diffring (who'd previously acted in the failed TV pilot TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN for Hammer) does a great job as the conflicted, ageless doctor who ultimately only has his best own interests in mind. His fear of death is so consuming that it's maddening, and he doesn't care who is taken out in the process. Marle gives a wonderful supporting performances and Court is a warm and appealing heroine. Lee, on the other hand, is so uptight and stuffy in his atypical hero role that he's completely overshadowed by the other three stars. Michael Ripper also has a typically tiny role as a morgue attendant.

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A "European version" of the film was released overseas that featured a brief topless scene with Court, which may be the first instance of mainstream nudity filmed in the UK. Neither the video or DVD release (from Legend Films) contain the nude shot.

★★1/2

Tales of Frankenstein (1958) (TV)

Directed by:

Curt Siodmak

Review coming soon.

★★1/2

Beast Must Die, The (1974)

...aka: Black Werewolf

Directed by:
Paul Annett

Invited to a secluded, heavily-guarded mansion under false pretenses by big game hunter Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart), a group of people are soon told by their host that he believes one of them to be a werewolf. This fairly popular British effort, while passable, could have been a lot better (at least in my opinion). I'm sure the premise seemed more high tech when first released, with some mild James Bond-like touches (video surveillance, automatic weapons, etc.), and elements of blaxploitation, Agatha Christie and monster movie woven into the storyline, but I don't think it was brought together all that well. I didn't really like the presentation of the "werewolf" (which is simply a big dog or a wolf), the cinematography was usually flat, murky and/or too dark and, as much as I like many in the cast, most were wasted and the dubbing was really distracting. Peter Cushing's accent seemed to come and go and bits of his dialogue appear to have been added later by someone else and sounds like a completely different person. No clue why they redubbed Marlene Clark either, as she's a fine actress in the other films I've seen her in. In addition, it was frustrating seeing Charles Gray (a suspect) and Anton Diffring (a surveillance expert) wasted playing colorless supporting roles, though the scene where the latter is killed was probably the highlight of the film for me.

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The "werewolf break" (narrated by Valentine Dyall) is kind of amusing, though in my opinion the film flat out fails as a mystery in the same exact way many other genre films fail as mysteries - it doesn't adequately flesh out its characters after cursory introductions, nor does it offer up any real clues to aid viewers in uncovering the killer. The identity is the kind of pull-it-out-a-hat crap shoot that annoys me, minus any kind of exposition or insight to tie it all together or make the big reveal satisfying. In other words, instead of giving us 30 seconds to think about what we've seen, only about 2 seconds are needed because one guess is as good as another. That said, there was one decent twist that did catch me a little by surprise, so I'll give it credit for at least providing that.

★★

Faceless (1987)

...aka: Depredadores de la noche, Los

...aka: Prédateurs de la nuit, Les

...aka: Predators of the Night

Directed by:

Jesus Franco

Franco is one of those directors who seems to miss ten times more than he hits. However, he did make a handful of OK genre films that, while wildly uneven, at least managed to merge the director's excesses to create an entertaining film. While FACELESS has myriad production woes (loopy plotting, big holes in the story, a very out-of-place/silly pop tune that is repeated about twenty times...), it is surprisingly good in other areas; particularly the excellent casting, the professional photography, the high production values (René Château produced and it was released through his own company), the location work in and around Paris, the fittingly gruesome make-up effects and some effective sick/trashy passages. By dropping the empty pretension that plagues much of his other work, Franco basically gives the intended audience a more straight-forward horror story sparked by exploitation elements hearkening back to Euro-horror cinema of the past, notably Franju's classic EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960) and Franco's own AWFUL DR. ORLOFF, from just one year later.

Crazed Parisian plastic surgeon Frank Flamand (Helmut Berger, who played the title role in DORIAN GRAY back in 1970) wants to restore the beauty of his distraught, slightly disturbed, facially-scarred sister Ingrid (Christiane Jean), who had acid thrown in her face by one of his disgruntled former patients. His clinic is not only a place to work on wealthy older women (including acclaimed French actress Stéphane Audran of all people!), but also (in a hidden wing of the hospital) a place to keep beautiful young ladies prisoner in padded cells. He plans on removing their faces and transplanting them onto Ingrid once he gets the technique down. Aiding him is his icy blonde nurse/lover Nathalie (former Euro porn queen Brigitte Lahaie), a hulking, perverted, semi retarded behemoth with shaved-off eyebrows named Gordon (Gérard Zalcberg) and Dr. Orloff (Howard Vernon, only in one scene), who sends him some help in the form of Nazi war criminal/doctor Dr. Karl Heinz Moser (Anton Diffring), who had previously caught fire experimenting on full face transplants. Meanwhile, New York City detective Sam Morgan (Christopher Mitchum) is on the case after Terry Hallen (Telly Savalas) hires him to find his missing, troublesome, pampered, drug-addicted model daughter Barbara (Caroline Munro). Guess where she disappeared to?

There's plenty of all-around sleaze to keep trash movie fans glued to the screen... Rape, heavily implied incest, voyeurism, necrophilia, threesomes, male gigolos, lesbians, a flamboyant fashion designer, bad disco dancing, decapitation by chainsaw, a needle piercing an eyeball in close-up, two full face scalpings (one of which is extremely messy!), scissors stuck in a neck and much more. Interestingly (and surprisingly) in the uncut version I saw, there is almost no nudity. It was shot in English, with only some of the supporting actors dubbed. The ending was unexpected and right out of Poe. And like I mentioned before, the cast is excellent.

It's hard to imagine a classier and more sophisticated couple of sick-o's than Berger and Lahaie. Both look great cruising the club scene for victims, engaging in kinky scenarios and lashing out violently at victims in the calmest, coolest fashion imaginable. I was particularly impressed with Lahaie. Of course she looks gorgeous (and naturally gorgeous, at that), but she also has great presence as a villainess. She is dubbed in this film, but it's easy to see why she has received mainstream work along with the sex films. Diffring (who has the most incredible pair of eyes in show business) adds his usual stamp of class and a much needed injection of credibility to his final role; a virtual replay of his famous CIRCUS OF HORRORS character. Even though he has nothing to do but sit behind a desk, Savalas is the consummate professional and doesn't embarrass himself. Neither does Munro, who spends most of her scenes in a cell trying to fend off Gordon and gets to show more emotion than usual. The only bad performance out of the principles is Mitchum, who is dull and one-note throughout. Florence Guerin (in an in-joke appearance as herself) and Lina Romay as Mrs. Orloff (she has one line of dialogue) are also here, albeit briefly.

The Shriek Show DVD has very good interviews with Franco, Munro and Mitchum, audio commentary from Franco and Romay, partial audio commentary from Mitchum and some trailers.

★★1/2

Circus of Horrors (1960)

...aka: Phantom of the Circus

Directed by:

Sidney Hayers

Anton Diffring was a talented German-born character actor who specialized in villains and probably deserved more fame than what he received. He had both a great look and a great on-screen persona; with blonde hair and piercing, pale blue-gray eyes, a demeanor that was classy, intelligent and somewhat icy (but never wooden), and a very thick, cultured-sounding German accent that kept him typecast as Nazis during a portion of his career. On the eve of WWII, the actor (who studied in both his home country and in Milan, Italy) was sent to England by his parents (who strongly opposed Nazism; Diffring would ironically go on to play sadistic Nazi's on many occasions) and was interred as a potential spy by the British government and sent to Canada. When the multi-lingual actor was released, he would move on to New York City stage, screen and TV work before returning to Europe to appear in all manner of films. After appearing in an episode of the TV series Tales of Mystery (an adaptation of "The Man in Half Moon Street"), Hammer Studios took notice of his potential as a horror heavy and gave him the role of the mad Baron Frankenstein in a pilot for a proposed TV series to be called TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958). It was never picked up, but Diffring's work was nonetheless impressive and Hammer gave him a second lead role in their 1959 shocker THE MAN WHO COULD CHEAT DEATH. The film was an international hit and a year later Diffring received the lead in CIRCUS OF HORRORS, which was co-produced Anglo-Amalgamated in England and AIP in the US. It turned out to be an even bigger hit than Man and the best genre showcase Diffring ever had for his unique talents.

He’s Dr. Rossiter, an unorthodox plastic surgeon in England (circa 1947) whose latest experiment backfired in a major way, leading to hideous disfigurement and a slip into insanity for his subject Evelyn (Colette Wilde). When the authorities close in on him, Rossiter is involved in a fiery car crash and believed to be dead, but has actually fled the country with his two associates; his dedicated lover Angela (Jane Hylton) and weak-willed Martin (Kenneth Griffith), who had both assisted him in the failed surgery. "Somewhere in France," the trio encounter a little girl named Nicole, who has a bad facial scar caused by a bomb hitting her school during the war. Nicole's poor, sad, drunken father Vanet (Donald Pleasence with hair) owns the shell of a circus, but was abandoned by his friends and had to close the place down. Dr. Bernhard Schuler (the name Rossiter now uses after having his face changed after the auto accident) makes a deal with him to both restore Nicole's face and turn the circus back into a prosperous business. After being successful at the former, Vanet signs the entire circus over for loan reasons only (agreeing that he will still keep ownership), has too much to drink and stumbles into "Roscoe" the bear (a man in a silly suit). Dr. Schuler sits back and watches as he's mauled to death. Now he's in control.

Ten years later in Berlin, the once run-down circus is now a thriving business for Schuler, who is still assisted by the miserably faithful Angela (who has been pushed off to the back burner, but is still in love with him) and Martin (who ends up stuck doing all the dirty work). Now a beautiful, innocent teenager, Nicole (Yvonne Monlaur) has been adopted by "uncle" Bernhard after her father's death and is in the process of being primed for stardom in "the most exciting circus in the history of show business." The rest of the ladies are actually once-scarred thieves, murderesses and prostitutes (or in one case, all three!) made beautiful by Dr. Schuler's knife. Among those is busty blonde "Queen of the Equestrians" Magda (Vanda Hudson), who does a leap of death through a ring of knives and can jump rope on a moving horse, and vicious aerialist Elissa Caro (Erika Remberg), who is jealous of Magda's star billing, incorporates a hangman's noose in her act and uses sex and blackmail to get what she wants. Hey, just because you get a new lease on life through renewed beauty doesn't mean you've changed any on the inside! There's also Melina (Yvonne Romain), Magda's acid-scarred friend, who pops in about midway through to take on lion tamer duties and strike the fancy of Schuler in her incredible push-up bra. (By the way, this move has a lot of bra scenes).

When any of the performers threaten to leave or try to cross Dr. Schuler, he arranges fatal "accidents" to occur in front of the live audience. Madga, who plots to run off with her wealthy, monocle-wearing sugar daddy, gets a blade stuck in her neck during Chief Eagle Eye's knife-throwing act. The rest of the deaths are usually in accordance to what act the person happens to be performing and most are actually carried out by Martin. And wouldn't ya know it, these tragic deaths and the horrific reputation of "The Jinxed Circus" are really appeasing the thrill-seeking audiences and drawing even larger crowds than usual! Since twelve have died already, the police think it's a little fishy and send Scotland Yard's finest; Inspector Ames (Conrad Phillips), who is such a pro that he gets two sentences into an interrogation of Elissa before falling prey to her seductive charms. Using the name Arthur Desmond, he claims to be a freelance crime reporter (which gives him free reign to snoop around and ask questions) and romances the naive Nicole, who he pumps for important clues and falls in love with.

All the backstabbing, false identities, botched facial surgeries, bloody deaths, love, hate and assorted treachery would be plenty for one movie, but this gem really knocks it out of the park when it comes to overall entertainment value. The setting gives us lots of fun stuff and the funhouse spirit of the circus is beautifully, colorfully handled; there's some fire-eating, elephants, fireworks, gasping audience members, a hostile caged gorilla (who figures into the ending), some chimpanzees who perform a mini-aerial act and roll around on balls, shaky beauties who do still modeling of famous historic characters (such as Adam and Eve, Helen of Troy and, yes, even Sappho and her "handmaidens!") and much more. There are also many great, sarcastic one-liners and caustic exchanges (best when spoken by Diffring or Remberg), some clever humor (like a charity performance for "The Mental Health Foundation") and some effective irony (Schuler's demise right in front of the "Temple of Beauty" exhibit). Though ads promoted this as "The Exploitation Movie of the Year," at the core is a surprisingly progressive theme that attempts to explore sexual perversity; with the main villain lovingly fondling wounds and scars and being sexually turned on by female disfigurement. The supporting cast is very good (particularly Hylton; Pleasence looks even more deranged than the psycho surgeon in his brief cameo!), but this move is dominated by Diffring.

The DVD from Anchor Bay sadly does not include any interviews (the director and a good deal of the cast have passed on, anyway), but does an excellent job in other areas. First off, the print is in vivid, pristine shape and looks terrific. Secondly, there is an excellent, detailed biography of star Diffring. And finally, and best of all, is an incredible, rare collection of stills, lobby cards, posters and ad art that are of great historic value. Browsing through them is taking a trip back in time to a day when an enthusiastic ad campaign and showmanship heightened box-office receipts. There are many fun things to learn here, such as theater owners having the option of ordering "special circus accessories" to decorate their movie houses with. There were also CIRCUS OF HORRORS balloons, comics, newspaper color-in contests, masks and even a novelization by Tom Owen that was once released by Panther Books. The great theme song "Look For a Star" (sung by Garry Miles and composed by Mark Anthony - no, not that one, he can't be that old) was released as a 45. The DVD is in English and French language versions and also comes with the trailer and three black-and-white TV spots.

★★★1/2