Killer in Every Corner, A (1974) (TV)

... aka: Thriller: A Killer in Every Corner

Directed by:

Malcolm Taylor

Professor Marcus Carnaby (Patrick Magee) is such a brilliant criminal psychiatrist he's in the running to receive the next Nobel Prize in his field. However, just because you're intelligent, accomplished and world famous doesn't mean you can't also be self-involved, unscrupulous and career-driven to the point of being downright evil. At his secluded country mansion, Carnaby has been experimenting with controlled conditioning; think Pavlov's drooling dogs, only Carnaby is more interested in applying similar techniques to human beings. And instead having people salivate over the prospect of food, Carnaby is more interested in being able to control his mentally-imbalanced subject's murderous impulses given the proper stimuli. In this instance, the stimuli to induce the urge to kill is a loud alarm bell, while the sound of a serene classical music piece releases one from their desire to murder.

Up to this point, Carnaby has mostly been experimenting with three men; all of whom came to him with criminal histories and severe mental problems. Two of them also work for him as hired help when they aren't being subjected to his various "physiology of violence" experiments. There's chauffeur / servant Boz (Don Henderson) and secretary / librarian George Thibedon (Max Wall), who's actually Jorg Kesselheim, an escaped Bavarian mass murderer. While Boz can be temporarily hypnotized into doing Carnaby's bidding with sound cues, both he and George / Jorg also require daily shots of a secret serum to keep their murderous impulses in check.

As he's been known to do once a year, Carnaby has invited three university psychology students over for a week-long "seminar" at his mansion. On the train ride over, the three are unable to determine why they of all people were singled out of thousands of students. There's Sylvia Dee (Joanna Pettet), a pretty blonde American who's in her final year of studies, Tim Hunter (Peter Settelen), a British junior and wants to teach and Helga Muller (Petra Markham), a German interested in social work who's just a freshman. Later, all three discover the only thing that really links them is that none of them have parents. Upon arriving at the mansion, they meet fellow guest Michael Slattery (Eric Flynn), a journalist interested in penning a biography on Carnaby. It's a difficult task seeing how the professor is known for being unsociable and reclusive.

The mansion comes complete with a laboratory on the top floor where a third man named Martin Aldridge is kept in a padded cell. He's monitored by some kind of computer system that keeps track of his brain waves as he indulges in the act of murder. The good professor isn't above just tossing a random, naive college student like Tim into the cell so he can have data to study as Aldridge kills him. As for Helga, she's the perfect specimen to test out ole sex predator George. If she can survive five minutes alone with him without being attacked, then success! However, experiments aren't always foolproof and overconfidence in one's abilities can leave the door wide open for, say, an underling test subject to come right in and take advantage of the situation.

Episode #5 of the fourth season of Thriller is, sadly, a bit of a disappointment. The premise is pretty good but most of the plot twists are predictable, there's a weak attempt to emulate Wait Until Dark's famous jump scare, the finale is sloppy and it's then capped off with an irritating non-ending. However, the actors are at least able to keep it all afloat. While Pettet is a decent leading lady and Henderson and Wall are both very good in their roles, this is Magee's show all the way as is usually the case when he's given a large enough role. The Tony-winning Irish theater actor supposedly had little interest in film and TV work, nor was he a fan of the genre he ended up being typecast in, and did these just for the money. However, none of that ever seems to come through in his actual performances, he always excels at these smarmy, seedy bad guy roles and appears to enjoy playing them even if he was actually indifferent about it.

As with all of these episodes, this was scripted by Brian Clemens. Pettet was later re-used in another entry titled A Midsummer Nightmare (1975), while director Taylor went on to make the later Murder Motel (1975) episode. This was released as a standalone video feature here in the U. S. by ThrillerVideo in the mid-80s and is now very easy to find on DVD box sets and streaming platforms.

★★

Die, Monster, Die! (1965)

... aka: Colour Out of Space, The
... aka: Monster, The
... aka: Monster of Terror

Directed by:
Daniel Haller

Though Roger Corman's The Haunted Palace (1963) is still to this day grouped into the director's eight-part Edgar Allan Poe series, it was actually based primarily on H.P. Lovecraft's short story "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." Despite how it was initially promoted, Palace was in fact the very first feature-length attempt at bringing Lovecraft to the big screen. Die, Monster, Die! (UK title: Monster of Terror) was the second attempt and is based on Lovecraft's wonderful short story "The Colour Out of Space." Screenwriter Jerry Sohl has altered many things from the story and added new ideas and characters, but he at least honors the general premise of the tale here. Director Haller, making his directorial debut, had previously done splendid economy-class art direction on many of the Corman-Poe films (including Palace) and brings that same kind of attention to detail and atmosphere to this one.

Honoring a request for a visit from his girlfriend's mother, American Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) arrives via train to the small British village of Arkham. Once there, he's unable to get a taxi ride or even rent a bicycle to transport himself to his destination. Seems the folks round those parts have a problem with the same family Stephen is planning to visit. He's forced to walk a good piece to his destination. Along the way there, Stephen must ignore no trespassing signs everywhere, sidestep strategically placed bear traps and, strangest of all, pass by a huge empty crater and a forest full of charred trees. Upon arriving at the Witley home, Stephen is given a cold, rude reception by wheelchair-bound patriarch Nahum (Boris Karloff), who immediately asks him to leave. His girlfriend Susan (Suzan Farmer) greets him warmly, however, and takes him upstairs to meet her mother Letitia (Freda Jackson). Mum's not doing very well it seems.

Not only is Letitia sickly and bedridden, but she's also strangely light-sensitive and refuses to be seen. She warns Stephen about the family history (Nahum's father apparently dabbled in Satanism) and tells him her maid went crazy and has since vanished. She also begs Stephen to take her daughter out of the home. Because of her mother's illness and her father's erratic behavior, Susan refuses until she finds out just what is going on. At dinner that evening, servant Merwyn (Terence de Marney) - forced to wear dark glasses because he's inflicted with the same malady effecting Letitia - collapses and then later dies. Strange screams are frequently heard throughout the home but seem to have no source and a shrouded figure lurks the grounds brandishing a knife. Stephen goes to a local doctor (Patrick Magee) for help, but he's a drunk who has been driven half mad himself by whatever's going on at the Witley estate and is of no help.

If you're familiar with the story or have seen any of the later film adaptations, such as THE CURSE (1987) or the recent Italian adaptation Colour from the Dark (2008), then you already know that a fallen meteor is responsible for everything odd that's been occurring. Nahum keeps a huge chunk of it down in the cellar and has it spread throughout his greenhouse and who knows where else. Enough exposure to the radioactive alien mineral leads to excessive growth in plants (plus enables them to attack) and madness and mutation in both plants and animals.

Despite the old school Gothic setting (large castle, fog-shrouded forests and graveyards), this seems strangely modern at times in terms of character actions, pacing and sound design. Haller and his crew make it all quite atmospheric, there are some interesting aural and light effects used at the finale, nice use of matte paintings throughout, some mildly icky make-up fx (such as a face melting down) and an interesting metallic-looking meteor monster that shows up at the very end. It runs just 75 minutes.

★★1/2

Black Cat (Gatto nero) (1980)

... aka: Black Cat, The
... aka: Gato nero, El

Directed by:
Lucio Fulci

When I say "surprisingly good" it typically means that either the film has totally flown under the radar to little fanfare or that it's been outright rejected by critics and / or fans... but I liked it, anyway. This is one such case. The film came in between Fulci's living dead splatter-fest ZOMBI 2 (1979) and his spate of early 80s gore flicks such as THE BEYOND (1981) and NEW YORK RIPPER (1982). All of those were hits on VHS during the video boom era and established Fulci as an icon to gorehounds around the globe, so I suppose it should come as no surprise that many of them were disappointed by what The Black Cat had to offer. After all, this is one of his least gory, least bloody films of the period. You won't find eyes being gouged out or sliced with razors in close-up, brains oozing out of crushed heads or anything of the sort. So what do you get instead? For starters, a better made movie. The budget seems to be higher than usual; it's vividly and creatively photographed by Sergio Salvati (who utilizes lots of low level cat POV shots) and boasts an excellent Pino Donaggio score. You also get an intense performance from talented character actor Patrick Magee, a man of the stage who it's said only did films for the money. Magee's acting is so far above the norm for a Fulci movie that it instantly lends a distinction that's lacking in most of Fulci's other films.

"Freely adapted" from the story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe, things open with a fiery car crash that sends the driver out of the windshield before cutting to some charming opening credits of a black cat navigating the rooftops of the village and making its way back home. But don't become too fond of the cuddly kitty. Immediately before the crash, the driver discovered it in the back seat of his car and, somehow, the cat put him into a trance, caused him to let go of the steering wheel and then crash into a parked vehicle; killing him. The cat returns to his home, heads upstairs to where its owner - Professor Robert Miles (Magee) - is intently listening to some strange, distorted tapes, and then scratches the hell out of his hand. As we'll later find out, the Professor and the feline share a very odd link. Or as he says, they're "bound together by hatred."

Miles is feared and hated by the townsfolk in about equal measure. A loner, he frequents a nearby cemetery late at night with his audio equipment in an attempt to capture the voices of the dead. Aside from communicating with the spirit world, Miles possesses psychic powers and the ability to hypnotize people. He believes that the black cat who's hounding him will eventually kill him, but attempts to poison and hang it don't work. It keeps coming back. After a young couple disappear, Lillian (Dagmar Lassander) comes to Miles for help locating her daughter. Miles leads Lillian and the authorities to the missing girl and her boyfriend, but by then it's too late. They've both suffocated after being locked inside an airtight boat house. Cat prints and fur are found at the scene of the crime. A gossipy drunk (Bruno Corazzari) is then pushed onto some spikes. Local cop Sgt. Wilson (Al Cliver) decides to call in Scotland Yard Inspector Gorley (David Warbeck) to get to the bottom of the sudden rash of seemingly accidental deaths. Meanwhile, American photographer Jill Travers (Mimsy Farmer), who's come to England to shoot pictures of ancient ruins, starts getting to know the Professor and slowly comes to the realization that the cat is somehow acting out Miles' subconscious impulses.

Everything here isn't perfect; especially the confused supernatural elements. Though I can accept the concept of a human to animal psychic link, there's no attempt made to explain how the ghost cat is connected to Miles. Or better yet, why the ghost cat is connected to Miles. Since the Professor isn't given proper motivation, and some of the victims are innocents who we've never seen cross or mistreat him, the murders that occur are as much random as revenge oriented (or just a case of wanting people who know too much out of the way). Other scenes, such as the failed attempt to kill the cat causing Jill's windows to explode, lights to flash and bed to levitate, seem completely out of place. One could also gripe about the obvious dummy during a sequence where a victim is burnt up in her apartment and jumps out of the window. But the whole thing is so interesting, and so nicely presented with a modern Gothic feel, that I was willing to say to hell with logic.

Unusual direction, too. I doubt you'll ever see more close-ups on eyeballs in any other film! The cast includes Geoffrey Copleston as another Scotland Yard detective called in at the end to help out, and Daniela Doria (who - as per her usual - provides some nudity) as the boat house victim. DVD from Anchor Bay.

★★★