Hua pi (1966)

... aka: 畫皮

... aka: Painted Skin, The

Directed by:
Fong Pao

In this slow and somewhat typical, though worthwhile Hong Kong ghost tale, you'll find solid storytelling, good acting, several good horror sequences and a strong moral to the story. Actually several morals to this particular story. During a pleasant framing sequence that bookends the actual tale, modest writer and "collector of weird tales" Mr. Pu (Sek Lui) has just finished his latest manuscript "The Tales from Liao Chai;" which is a huge success with those in the village. His doctor friend shows up at his home with the good news that he's become famous and the two men, along with a servant boy, sit down for some wine. The doctor then tells him a ghost story he's just heard; one that he hopes his friend will consider writing, which is then visualized for us.

The story deals with Chun-wen Wong (Kao Yuen), a wealthy man who lives in a nice home with his mother (Tung Ngai), brother (Maan Saan), wife (Chen Juan-Juan), young son and some servants. The family is well-off but Chun-wen, a scholar and budding writer, has still been failing his exams and can gain no legitimate title despite having all the enthusiasm in the world. His problem? He depends far too much (and spends way too much) on fortune-telling and horoscope readings than he does actually studying. In other words, he wants wealth and success without actually having to work hard for it. His brother, a successful military man with political aspirations, is about to go away on duty, but warns his brother before he leaves that he can only rely on himself, not faith or Gods or spirits. A traveling fortune teller informs Chun-wen to go to the northwest of the village to the crumbling Kuei Hsing Ko Temple of Literature. There, he prays to a goblin-looking idol and promises that he'll rebuild the crumbling temple if he's granted the good fortune of passing his exams.

Immediately afterward, Chun-wen encounters Mei-hiang Chang (Zhu Hong), a beautiful, weeping woman dressed in white hiding out in the rubble. She runs off, but later shows up at Chun-wen's home. She claims she's from an area over a thousand miles away and ran away on her wedding night after her evil stepmother set her up in an arranged marriage with an ugly merchant. She also claims she's trying to locate her father, who's the Provincial Education Officer in charge of the rural examinations... the same one Chun-wen is having an impossible time passing. Chun-wen, who locks himself in a gated garden house away from his family for his one-month period of study, allows Mei-hiang to stay there for a month in agreeance that she'll pull strings to help him pass. It isn't long before Mei-hiang successfully seduces Chun-wen. He begins to ignore his family, becomes pale, weak and sickly, and rapidly loses weight. That's because the mysterious lady is actually some kind of ghostly, seductive succubus bent on getting her hands on her new lover's heart.

Mei-hiang claims to be oblivious to the fact that Chun-wen is married and has his own family. When she "finds out" he is, she threatens suicide, claims he "ruined" her (i.e. took her virginity), then tries to force him to chose between his wife and her. A weakened Chun-wun is almost coerced at one point into poisoning his wife's tea with arsenic, but Chun-wen slaps the cup out of her hand at the last minute. After her plans there fail, Mei-hiang uses her supernatural powers to lure a male servant into the wife's bed; arranging for Chun-wen to see them sleeping together. Though the wife and servant both proclaim their innocence, Chun-wen throws her out and plans to marry Mie-hiang. The wife attempts to hang herself out in the woods, but her brother-in-law stumbles onto the scene just in time to save her. He goes home and does a hilariously out-of-nowhere effortless leap over a ten-foot wall and then attempts to stop Mie-hiang before she is able to destroy the entire family.

Like many other vintage Asian ghost tales, the one's about 75 percent melodrama and 25 percent horror, and it isn't really going to appeal to certain viewers out there. However, if you don't mind a slow build, this does repay us for our patience by coming up with some great off-the-wall moments at the finale. There's a great sequence where the witchy Mei-hiang lures the sleepwalking servant into the wife's bed, as doors and curtains open and close by themselves along the way. When Chun-wen and his brother see Mie-hiang's true self they see a hideous, wrinkly, blue-faced, fanged old woman, who uses a painting to create her beauty. After she is sliced in the face, she simply covers up the wound on the painting and returns to "normal." During another standout sequence, Mie-hiang (in ugly form) sprays a stream of blood out of her mouth to knock a sword off of the wall, then rips out a human heart with her claws. Good use is also made of shadow throughout the film.

While I did see a haggard print of this rare film (which at least had English subs), it doesn't seem like it would be quite as visually opulent as some others in its category even in restored form, though I could be wrong. The story is also quite set bound, with the majority taking place in just one home. What is recommendable and commendable here is the nicely-turned script and fine acting. The actress playing Mie-hiang seems to be having a great time playing her deliciously evil role. The framing sequences are also nicely done, with writer Mr. Pu finding the relevance and philosophy in the ghost tale: "We have never seen a ghost, but there are people around us who behave like 'ghosts.' They fool people with their good looks. Careless ones will be devoured by them. Keep alert to keep away from them."

I'm not aware of an official VHS or R1 DVD release for this one.

★★★

Hackers, The (1988)

Directed by:
John Duncan

This no-budget, homemade, shot-on-video effort from the backwoods of Michigan (the Croswell and Lexington areas to be exact) is one of the rarest of the 80s VHS releases I've seen thus far. When trying to determine just how rare one of these things actually are, I typically look at three factors. The first is the amount of reviews and votes over on IMDb. If a film has fewer than 50 votes and just one or two reviews, it's typically pretty hard to come by. This one currently has no reviews and fewer than five votes. Well actually, the database doesn't bother registering fewer than 5, so it's hard to tell if thing has received even a single vote. Secondly, I look at the distributor. This film was apparently self-distributed by its own production company; Camelot Studios, who claim to have moved just 3,000 copies of the film during the VHS era. Finally, I do a google image search looking for posters or VHS / DVD covers. This film brought up just a few tiny images of the original VHS box cover, all of which are far too small to use here.

All of above begs the question: Is this film even worth looking for? The only answer I have for that is: It depends entirely on what you're looking for. If you're looking for an undeservedly obscure gem, then look elsewhere. However, if you happen to be a fan of 80s camcorder regional productions and love these things warts and all (or perhaps partially because of the warts), then you'll find a decent amount of home grown goodness to enjoy here. The film is clearly inspired by the first two Texas Chainsaw Massacre films and falls into the ever-popular "hillbilly horror" subgenre, which was popular in the 80s and has resurfaced again in recent years thanks to the popularity of the TCM remake, WRONG TURN and others. So basically, this is an attempt at black comic horror with a killer redneck / white trash family as our lovably scuzzy bad guys.

Elderly, bib-overall-wearin' drifter Eldon (or just "Pa" if you're kin) Hacker (Howard Coburn) heads up this particular clan of whack-jobs, which includes two mentally retarded grown sons. The first is Arnie (Dale Caughel). He's short, wears glasses and a bandana and has shaggy hair. He never grew up quite right cause (as Pa states) "...he didn't eat potatos when he was small." Eldon Junior (Steve Prichard) is the other son. He has a beard and rotten teeth, shakes when he's nervous and wears a silver mask over half his face because he accidentally mangled himself with a chainsaw. He's also mute because as a child he bit off his own tongue. Naturally, all three of these cats are pretty direct copies of the Cook, the Hitchhiker and Leatherface from TCM, but the actors are authentic and well cast in their respective roles. Hell, they're far more believable backwoods psychos types than what you'll find in any of Rob Zombie's films.

The Hackers stars Howard Coburn as Eldon "Pa" Hacker.

Dale Caughel as Arnie Hacker...

Steve Prichard as Eldon Hacker, Junior...

And introducing Michelle Rank as our helmet-haired object o' hick lust Marcie.

The unkempt trio basically drive around in a camouflage truck, taking up odd jobs for the locals here and there, and kill fairly indiscriminately. During the opening sequence, they even slice off a hitchhiker's thumb as they drive by him! Immediately after, they pick up an obnoxious girl (Laura Forbis) wearing headphones and cut her throat. When a couple refuses to pay them for a lousy roofing job they did, they hack them up with a machete. Eldon Junior eats worms during a fishing trip (before they decapitate a fisherman) and they impale a gardener (Bruce Phillips) on a light post and then jams a corn cob in his mouth. By the way, much - but not all - of the gory stuff takes place off-screen. In between killing, Pa takes his boys to a playground where they swing, play on monkey bars, go down the slide and then harass a woman trying to go across a rope bridge.


Our heroine is a writer named Marcie (Michelle Rank), who gets a housesitting gig at her bosses country home for a few weeks. Her sister Angelia (Denise Ferris) doesn't think it's a good idea to go to "redneck country" all by herself and gives her a gun to take along just in case. Apparently her boss had already hired Eldon and sons to fix the roof while they're away and poor Marcie gets stuck dealing with them. She gets annoyed with them for coming inside without knocking and gets even angrier after she catches the sons peeping on her after she gets out of the shower. Pa calls her a "sassy bitch" and blames her for distracted his sons, even going so far as saying she "put a hex" on them. During one scene, the sons are so busy staring that one slices off the other's fingers with a circular saw! The finale (which features use of guns, a machete and a hook), is fairly lively, though it's capped off with one of those annoying 'here we go again' style twists. There are a couple of 'police investigation' scenes of Lt. Badger (James Larsen) and Det. Hall (Dave Hall) trying to apprehend "The Lakeshore Murderer," but thankfully those bits are brief.


Compared to other SOV efforts from this time, this has decent acting from the leads (some of the "victims" on the other hand... whew!), a minimum of flubbed lines, a high enough body count and enough cheap bloody moments to please fans of this stuff. Despite being shot with a camcorder (and featuring some horribly bright exterior long shots), some attention is paid to the camerawork and there are tracking shots, panning shots and point-of-view shots. There's even a silly theme song ("Just slash 'em, bash 'em, trash 'em! Throw another corpse in the pile!"). A few of the scenes are half-baked and seem unfinished. During one of them, one of the sons approaches a woman sunbathing, reaches out and touches her hair and then disappears (?!) Oh well, it's just 71 minutes long, has some regional charm and passes the time easy enough so I'll cut it some slack.


Though the original VHS editions of the film are nearly impossible to find these days, Camelot Studios offer the film on DVD, along with another of their films called BLACK RIVER MONSTER (1986), which I don't think was ever really released. They also sell a limited edition Hackers poster. You can go RIGHT HERE for more information.

★★

Gorgasm (1990)

... aka: Main Force

Directed by:
Hugh Gallagher

Heading off this evening's shot-on-video double feature (to be be concluded with a viewing of the even-more-obscure THE HACKERS) is Draculina magazine publisher Hugh Gallagher's GORGASM. Things begin with a man sitting behind a desk giving a to-camera confessional... "He created us in his own image. Kind of scary, don't you think? I mean, everyone I know is an asshole. I think the world is being governed by a giant asshole." That bright analysis on life is offered up to us by Chase Nicholas (Rik Bullock - who looks sort-of like Clancy Brown), a frustrated, chain-smoking detective who has spent the past two years sitting behind a desk. While some of the more established officers are away on vacation, Chase's hard-nosed female boss (known only as "Sarge" and played with cue-card-reading emotative ability by Paula Hendricks) finally gives him the chance to get out there and "poke around" at an actual crime scene where a man has been tied up and murdered. Someone is obviously targeting guys who are into S&M, as evidenced by the porn tapes "Whip Me, Beat Me, Love Me" and "Sadist's Slave Stable" found at the crime scene. A sex trade ad is also found there, including one for "Gorgasm: The Ultimate Climax." Chase wonders "What kind of people could be into this shit?"

The 'killer' turns out to be a sexy, large-breasted woman named Tara Gross (played by one-hit-wonder Gabriela), who is first seen dancing around topless to a song called "I'm Your Sex Toy" before slashing a guy's throat and licking the bloody knife. Tara is using the Gorgasm ad to lure victims into her clutches, then kills them and empties their bank accounts. She's also deranged enough to sit at home and berate a mannequin. Soon falling into her scheme are Nicole (Paula Gallagher, the director's wife) and Byron (Kevin Patterson), a couple having relationship issues. He wants her to beat him. She confides in her co-worker Connie (Debbie Patterson) that "He's the only guy I know who can get a hard-on watching Friday the 13th movies!" But her friend tells her she should fulfill her man's wishes and kink it up a little bit because her boyfriend likes to wear women's clothes and it isn't that big of a deal. Nicole decides to get a dominatrix outfit, but doesn't get much of a chance to whip Byron into shape because Tara gets to him first. She chops up Byron's face with a weed whacker (?) and then strangles Connie with a cord.

Following clues leads Chase to a classy adult bookstore that charges a 50 cent "browsing fee" (!) and then to an obnoxious smut peddler and publisher (Flint Mitchell), who hands over the mail that's come in from the Gorgasm ad after Chase flashes his badge. He discovers that another schmuck named Bill (Dave Johnson) has answered it, but before Chase can question him, Tara decapitates him with his garage door opener (?!) Hey, at least they tried to be original! Eventually, Sarge hands Chase's case over to one of his co-workers, but Chase (now obsessed with the case) refuses to hand over the information he has acquired and decides to continue investigating on his own. He puts an ad in the trade claiming to want "The Ultimate Climax." After seducing a drunk guy, bashing a wine bottle over his head and have implied necro sex with him, Tara finally answers it...

As a cheapie, videotaped exploitation film, this one pretty much delivers on what is expected of it. There's blood and nudity aplenty, as well as numerous technical guffaws typical of the budget range. Aside from the lead actor (who had previously appeared in the fun zombie flick FLESHEATER [1988], moved up to a small role in Romero's THE DARK HALF [1993] and has more recently had small roles in the genre pics NEW TERMINAL HOTEL [2009] and DEAD ABOVE GROUND [2011]), the acting is awful. However, unlike most other comparable films, the plotline itself isn't too bad and interesting enough to keep you watching. Unfortunately, the actual finale - and horrendous fight choreography contained therein - is laughable. I'm not sure who our lead actress Gabriela is (one source I read claimed she modeled for biker and men's magazines), but whoever she is, she can't act a lick but looks great naked. Proving this to you means I'll probably get flagged for adult content, but I can't always expect you to take my word on these things, can I?

The trip to the adult video store is kind of interesting, too. There we get to see lots of close-ups of posters and VHS boxes for films like FLASH! and THE DRESDEN DIARY (future Scream Queen Michelle Bauer can even be seen on the latter's cover). There's also some beyond-R-rated graphic nudity here, including a full-frontal transsexual on a poster and some grainy home video paddling footage which shows all the gynecological goods. Said footage probably kept this title out of many video stores. Instead, this one was a male order only title upon release. In addition, there's plenty of original rock music. A couple of the songs are OK, but the theme song (by Pearl E. Touch) is ear splittingly annoying.

The director had previously made an ultra-obscure film called DEAD SILENCE (1989), which I can find almost no information on, and followed this one up with two unrelated pseudo-sequels; GOROTICA (1991) and GORE WHORE (1993). He also directed something called EXPLODING ANGEL (1994) starring Gunnar "Leatherface" Hansen and the Debbie Rochon-hosted 'zine DRACULINA VIDEO MAGAZINE (1996), before producing some of Jess Franco's later films for One Shot Productions.

★★

Fatal Pulse (1987)

... aka: Killer's Run

Directed by:
Anthony J. Christopher

Here's a sleazy lil' slasher for ya. Just how sleazy is it? It's so sleazy that if the all-female victims don't happen to be showering or changing clothing seconds before being murdered, the killer does us a favor by ripping off, or simply lifting up, their tops for us. Thanks pal! And it happens no less than six times here so it almost becomes a running joke after awhile. The entire film runs on what some refer to as 'slasher logic.' In other words, if people behave in a preposterous, nonsensical way, then we the viewer are supposed to overlook that. You know, because slasher movies (like their forefather, the Italian giallo) aren't about sense and logic; they're about creative bloodshed, trash, flash, style, body count and/or absurd, out-of-left-field twist revelations about the killer. And while FATAL PULSE does actually deliver on some of the above (primarily the 'trash' aspect), it's still not any good.

Immediately after getting into a fight with her amazingly monotone boyfriend Jeff (Ken Roberts) cause he won't put out, buxom Stephanie (played by Kitty... just Kitty) is strangled to death with her silk stockings by a black-gloved psycho. Jeff becomes prime suspect in this murder, and in the string of murders that will follow. Thankfully, Jeff's ex-girlfriend Lisa (the gorgeous Michelle McCormick), who also happens to live in the same sorority house where Stephanie bit it, is up to the task of helping him prove his innocence and eventually attempts to trap the killer. While those two try to find out what's going on, more women are killed in a rapid succession. Strangely, the murders aren't enough to actually drive a single one of the ladies out of the home. And neither does voyeuristic 'Nam vet Ernie, who spends his time twitching, crying, hiding in the shadows and peeping in windows. How many sorority houses do you know of where the creepy male owner actually lives in the home with the girls? As a side note, Ernie is played by "Joe Phelan," who eventually stopped caring about soiling the family name and began using his birth name Joe Estevez for future cheap-o horror flicks.

Ernie and Jeff aren't the only suspects. There's also the strange-acting, deep-voiced Professor Caldwell (Alex Courtney), who mostly just plays chess, as well as mullet-head Brad (Steven Henry), who becomes insanely jealous when Jeff starts rekindling things with Lisa. Of yeah, and Mark (Blair Karsch), a stoner freak whose alternate persona "Captain Marvelous" (?!) is accompanied with a "Boin-n-g!!!" sound effect. I kid you not. As far as the females go, they're all blonde and there's only a slight attempt to characterize them, so I had to pay special attention to provide you the following useless information. Cassie (Cindra Hodgdon) is a sweet, shy girl who doesn't understand why anyone would want to kill Stephanie and vents her anguish through a hilarious Flashdance-inspired interpretative dance sequence. Carol (Skylar Nicholas) wants a music career, Karen (Christie Mucciante) is a rich bitch, Sheila (Maureen O'Hanlon) is the compassionate one and Ann (Roxanne Kernohan), uh, likes to jog. Every single one of them is topless during her death scene aside from the one who has her throat cut with a record album. However, the actress had already gone topless earlier in the movie, so I guess one can't really consider that a wasted opportunity.

There's also death by drowning in a bathtub and being flung out the attic window, as well as two prolonged death scenes that are more misogynistic. One features the victim being tied up, having her top removed and then being electrocuted to death. The second involves the victim being tied down, having her top removed and getting wet cement rubbed all over her body before she gets her face covered with it. Police detectives (led by pudgy porn actor Herschel Savage as "Harvey Cowen") show up two different times, but refuse to do anything helpful in apprehending the killer. You know, such as posting a patrol car outside, or having a few officers set up shop in the home, or have a policewoman go undercover as a sorority girl, etc. etc. They simply pop in, say a few lines and then leave, simply allowing the murders continue.

Surprisingly, some of the cast members did actually go on to other things. Estevez went on to become one of the most prolific genre actors on the 90s and 2000s. Lead actor Roberts, despite showing the animation of a piece of charcoal here, would go on to appear regularly on TV and in film. Courtney appeared in the same director's not-released-in-the-US crime/thriller THE PLATINUM TRIANGLE (1989; which also stars Estevez) and ZOMBIE DEATH HOUSE (1987), amongst other things. Nicholas was also in the dreadful CANNIBAL HOOKERS (1987) and some soft-core erotica and Kernohan would have a memorable role in CRITTERS 2 (1988) and appeared as herself in the very fun B-movie valentine SCREAM QUEEN HOT TUB PARTY (1991) before passing away in a 1993 auto accident at the age of just 32. Surprisingly McCormick, the best-looking and most talented of the ladies seen here, only did three other movies.

To my knowledge, FATAL PULSE has never been released on DVD. The VHS release was handled through Celebrity Home Video.

★1/2

Fatal Games (1984)

... aka: Killing Touch, The
... aka: Olympic Nightmare

Directed by:
Michael Elliot

At the Falcon Academy for Athletics, seven student athletes excelling at swimming, track and field or gymnastics seem to be off to promising careers and possible Olympic dreams. That is, until someone starts spearing them with a javelin. As the madman or madwoman or mad-a-little-bit-of-both stalks the darkened hallways of the school, the surviving students try to stay alive, while surveying the possible suspects. For starters, there's Dr. Jardine (played by the director), who's been shooting up his star athletes with a special "medicine" (*cough* steroids *cough*) that may have worse side effects than just stomach cramps. Then there's compassionate nurse Diane Paine (Sally Kirkland), who seems to get a little too touchy-feely giving therapeutic massages to the females. And Coach Jack Webber (Christopher Mankiewicz, also the co-writer and producer), who's a little crazy and overdemanding. And let us not forget Coach Drew (Marcelyn Ann Williams, or as she is more commonly known, Spice Williams). The blurb on the back of VHS box claims she's a suspect but doesn't elaborate why beyond telling us she's a lesbian. You know, cause being a lesbian in an 80's slasher automatically lands you on a list of serial murderer suspects.

To supplement the repetitive and tame killings, the director decides to take this down an After School Special route about midway through, so there are scenes asking us to care about the relationship between our bland female gymnast heroine Annie (Lynn Banashek) and her equally dull track star boyfriend Phil (Sean Masterson). The acting is pretty abysmal, even by slasher movie standards. One gets the feeling most were cast for their physical prowess than for their thespian skills. In fact, several of the ones playing gymnasts, are clearly trained in the area, as we get to see them demonstrating their skills a time or two. Others on the roster of potential victims include future soap opera star Michael O'Leary, Teal Roberts (from the popular 80's teen sex comedy Hardbodies), Angela Bennett (a black actress who is seen running through the hallways buck naked trying to avoid the killer) and Nicholas Love (co-star of The Boogeyman, brother of Suzanna Love and former brother-in-law of Ulli Lommel) as a hot-headed javelin thrower. The best of the lot is probably Melissa Prophet, who'd later nab roles in Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995), but she's the very first one killed off.

None of this is to shame top-billed Kirkland though. She's an excellent actress when given good material. This just isn't good material. A few years after this was made, she'd receive a well-deserved Oscar nomination for playing a former Czech movie star struggling to find work in New York City in Anna (1987). Two other familiar actresses are also to be found in tiny roles. Linnea Quigley (who'd appeared in a more substantial role in the similar 1981 slasher Graduation Day) was the body double for Banashek during her massage scene, though she's billed as an "athlete" in the end credits. By sheer coincidence, Kirkland and Quigley were guests on the same episode of Chuck Woolery's short-lived talk show in 1991 and briefly discussed this film. Brinke Stevens - who isn't billed at all - can be seen in the background several times taking a shower.

So in short, another dud from the slasher era. OK-ish production values, plentiful nudity, next to no blood, zero suspense, terrible acting, choppy editing and continuity, a lame killer reveal (we really know nothing about the person until a newspaper clipping supposedly sheds light on it) and a terrible script. The former was co-written by Rafael Buñuel... the son of Luis Buñuel! Oh yeah, and there's an amusingly cheesy theme song called "Take It All the Way" performed by Shuki Levy and former Miss USA Deborah Shelton that we get to hear several times along the way.

★1/2

Alraune (1952)

... aka: Alraune - naispaholainen
... aka: Mandragore
... aka: Mandrake
... aka: Unnatural
... aka: Unnatural ... The Fruit of Evil
... aka: Vengeance

Directed by:
Arthur Maria Rabenalt

Hanns Heinz Ewers' 1911 novel Alraune was the basis for this interesting, tragic drama, which incorporates new ideas not found in the novel as well as touches of horror and science fiction. The same novel had already been the basis for four other film versions. In 1918, it was filmed twice; once in Hungary (that version is missing) and then again (by Eugen Illés) in Germany. In 1928, Henrik Galeen made a third silent version, this time starring Brigitte Helm (of METROPOLIS fame) and released some places under the title UNHOLY LOVE. In 1930, a fourth version - this time with sound and aka THE DAUGHTER OF EVIL - was also filmed in Germany. It again starred Helm, but was directed by Richard Oswald. Though the storyline would go on to influence many later films, this 1952 adaptation is the last semi-faithful version of the tale. It featued several well-known European stars, had two original songs (sung by the leading lady) and is a fairly lavish production, though the English-dubbed DVD version I saw was in very poor shape.

The opening scroll informs us that "Since ancient times, the legend of the alraune, or mandrake root, has held a mystical fascination for mankind. The root, which flourishes under the gallows of a hanged man, is believed to endow its master with the power of producing good or evil... to enable him to possess the powers of the gods. UNNATURAL is the story of one man's attempt to control destinies with the powers of the alraune root." They left out the part saying the root was fertilized with the semen or blood of the dead men and that witch's supposedly used the root for sexual purposes and to impregnate themselves with unfeeling, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED-style children, but hey, I wasn't really expecting the gory details from something made in the early '50s.

The film opens with a young man - Frank Braun ("Carlheinz Boehm" aka Karlheinz Böhm of PEEPING TOM fame) - heading out to visit his wealthy uncle. He's there to borrow tuition money for medical school, but when he arrives he briefly spots a young woman on the balcony. Since his uncle is away, the butler won't allow Frank to enter, but he's strangely, instantly smitten by the mysterious beauty. Meanwhile, we find the uncle, Professor Jacob ten Brinker (Erich von Stroheim), has taken a trip to a convent / boarding school. There he discovers his daughter Alraune (Hildegarde "Neff" / Knef) has run away. A nun tells him she was placed in a "cell" for causing unrest, excitement and disturbing behavior from other students, as well as hiding "obscene" literature under her mattress. The professor heads home and discovers Alraune is there waiting on him. Then Frank shows up looking for answers. If Alraune is really his uncle's daughter - and his cousin - how come he's never seen or heard about her until now?

Regardless of the awkward situation (and an incorrect assumption Alraune might be his uncle's much younger mistress), Frank ends up quickly falling for her. When the two make plans to run off to Paris together, the professor has a sit down with his nephew to explain the awful truth. Alraune is the bi-product of artificial insemination. He took the sperm of a double-murderer and implanted it into a prostitute and - wholla! - Alraune was born. Why? Because, as the professor puts it "Good people are so uninteresting." He also seems to believe in heredity of evil; that his daughter has received the worst qualities of both of her parents and she has no conscience, no ability to emphathize. In essence, he believes she has no soul. Also taking into consideration he's also been warned by family friend Princess Wolkonski (Trude Hesterberg) to steer clear of Alraune, it's enough to scare Frank off. He takes off for Paris by himself and ignores Alraune's letters.

While he's away, Alraune is pursued by nearly every man she comes into contact with, including Frank's two best friends - painter Ralph (Rolf Henniger) and handsome count Gerald (Harry Meyen). She also strikes the fancy of her father's friend and confidant, Dr. Mohn (Harry Halm). The Professor hires a governess, tutor and all-around mother figure (played by Denise Vernac) to live in the home with them and provide some guidance, but it's for naught. Intelligent, manipulative and clever, Alraune ends up, whether intentionally or inadvertently, causing a wave of depression, death or destruction.

With help from a bewitched Dr. Mohn, she sets up the governess as a thief and gets her fired. When he starts being a little too nosy for his own good, handyman Mathieu (Hans Cossy) dies when his carriage crashes. Olga (Julia Koschka) - who is set to possibly marry Frank when he finishes his studies - unsuccessfully tries to poison herself. Alraune also manages to turn friends Ralph and Gerald against one another, leading to one commiting suicide and the other dying of pneumonia because he went outside on a freezing night to talk to Alraune. By the time Frank returns, everything is in dissarray, and possibly because of Alraune... but he still loves her.

Though not for all tastes and somewhat artless compared to several of the earlier versions, the actors are all solid and well cast and I found the storyline intriguing and thought-provoking enough to keep me interested. Does Alraune possess powers that somehow enable her to subconsciously cause death? Are all the freak accidents and misfortunes sheer coincidence, or is it because Alraune was raised in a sterile environment without love and affection? Is she really emotionless... or just plain evil? The film - regardless of the conclusion you draw from it - doesn't exactly explain away some of the supernatural events that occur, and settles for a simple nature vs. nurture stance at the end.

★★1/2

Unearthly, The (1957)

... aka: House of the Monsters
... aka: Night of the Monsters

Directed by:
Boris Petroff

Oft-dissed, this low-budget time-waster (which was later poked fun of on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000), managed to keep me reasonably entertained for 70 minutes. Not that it's particularly good, and it's certainly not original, but it's also not without merit. The acting is uneven, but passable, for the most part, the science is silly, there are a few (unintentionally) hilarious moments, the make-up fx work from Harry Thomas is good and the Island of Dr. Moreau-inspired shock finale is surprisingly potent after a slow build-up. I was also surprised to discover that the works of Ed Wood had actually influenced other films immediately upon their release. How else can you explain the presence of slow-witted behemoth Lobo; who was transplanted here from Wood's semi-famous 1955 mad doctor tale BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (1955) with same actor (Tor Johnson) playing the part? The poster - complete with a seal promising it was "guaranteed to frighten!" - is pretty amusing, too. Good thing that wasn't a money-back guarantee!

Emotionally troubled Grace Thomas (Allison Hayes) - who has just suffered from a nervous breakdown - checks in at a large, remote clinic run by Dr. Charles Conway (John Carradine). Well actually she's been lured there under false pretenses by her own psychologist, Dr. Wright (Roy Gordon), who apparently doesn't think much of her despite the fact she's very kind and extremely polite. Not to mention a hottie. Dr. Conway doesn't want his "patients" to have any ties to the outside world, so Dr. Wright promises to arrange it to look like Grace has killed herself. In the meantime, she's led to believe that the clinic will cure her of her bouts of fright.

We're also introduced to an array of other characters who populate the clinic. There's Conway's assistant, icy blonde Dr. Sharon Gilchrist (Marilyn Buferd), who's in love with Conway, jealous over the attention he lavishes on the beautiful Grace and serves up midnight snacks of milk and sedatives. Then there's Danny (Arthur Batanides), a loud, obnoxious, chain-smoking neurotic who wants to break someone's neck for serving him cold toast and claims "It's a lousy world!" Natalie (Sally Todd) is a lovestruck, romance novel reading nympho who needs to "co-ordinate" herself. A thief and murderer named Frank Scott (Myron Healey) shows up fresh from a prison escape with an alias ("Mark Houston") and is blackmailed into doing Conway's bidding. And then there's hulking manservant Lobo (Tor J.), who also does the doctor's bidding and is described as "an overgrown moron" who has the "strength of a Hercules and the brain of chicken."

Naturally, Carradine's mad scientist is conducting unethical experiments and all of his patients are guinea pigs unaware of what's in store for them. Dr. Conway is interested is prolonging youth and vigour and feels he can do so by surgically implanting an artificially-developed "17 gland" (?!) and then shooting his test subjects up with a blast of radiation to kick the gland into gear. Unfortunately, his procedure hasn't quite worked out and sometimes the patient ends up a little lobotomized and/or deformed. One of his failed test subjects is a zombie-like man confined to a chair in the cellar with limited, jerky movement. Another female patient ends up getting her face horribly wrinkled. And well, let's just say those aren't the only two glandular experiments that haven't worked out.

Carradine had played this same exact egomaniacal, sociopathic mad doctor role a dozen times before this one and gives a typical John Carradine egomaniacal, sociopathic mad doctor performance here. You could make a drinking game out of the amount of times his character reminds us that he's a brilliant scientist who loves his work, so every other stoic line is something like "I am a scientist, thinking is my business!" or "As a true scientist, nothing is impossible!" or "They've always called the greatest scientists crazy!" During a completely bloodless (!) organ transplant surgery, Carradine dryly barks out orders to his assistant: "scalpel, sponge, sponge, clamp, clamp, clamp, wipe my brow, clamp, sponge, number 23 scalpel, brow, sponge..." as she hurridly tries to keep up with him. The transplant is done in about 90 seconds. Durng another amusing scene, Carradine plays Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D Minor' on the organ after dinner to try to cover up any noise being made while a patient upstairs is being drugged and prepped for surgery.

Hayes (immortalized as the title character in ATTACK OF THE 50 FT. WOMAN) is a fine actress but stuck here playing a sometimes annoyingly naive character ("I'll do as you wish, doctor!"). Still, she commands attention in all of her scenes simply because she's so damn gorgeous to look at and is often clad in form-fitting attire that shows off her statuesque figure. Healey is a little wooden but somewhat likable as the fugitive, Buferd does OK as the loyal but frustrated assistant and both Todd and Batanides try their best to be convincing nuthouse patients, with varying degrees of success. Johnson is very, very funny here, makes hilarious facial expressions throughout and gets such side-splitting lines as "Ohhh... Pretty girl. Ohhh... Prettttty!," "FerdiNAND?" and "Time for go to bed!" So while the film is nothing spectacular, there's some definite redeeming camp value contained within.

Hey, director / producer Boris Petroff liked the end result so much that he decided to remove his name from the credits and replace it with "Brooke L. Peters!" In many ways, this film was a family affair. Petroff's wife Jane Mann wrote the original story and co-scripted, and his daughter Gloria Petroff appears in the pre-credits sequence clawing Lobo's face and screaming. Petroff also made ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO (1961), which was also written by his wife.

Unearthly is an easy title to find. It's been released multiple times to both VHS - by Rhino and WEA Corp.; including a special version available with the MST3K commentary - and on DVD. The Image Entertainment disc includes a very good quality, nice-looking print of the film, but the special features are nearly nonexistent.

★★