Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)

... aka: Blood Suckers, The
... aka: Die Todeskarten des Dr. Schreck
... aka: Le train des épouvantes (Train of Terrors)

Directed by:
"Freddy" (Freddie) Francis

Neither the best nor the worst anthology from either Amicus or director Francis. The film is generally well-made, the cast is good and it's entertaining, but it also suffers from trying to cram too many stories (five of 'em, plus a lengthy framework) into just an hour and a half. This results in three of the five tales being sadly underdeveloped. Late one evening, five different well-groomed men board the same compartment on a train for presumably an all-night trip. Mysterious occult / metaphysics expert Dr. Schreck (Peter Cushing, with fake caterpillar eyebrows and a German accent) becomes the sixth. A few of the men help Scheck pick up his belongings after he drops his bag and notice he's in possession of a deck of tarot cards. Franklyn Marsh (Christopher Lee) labels it "nonsense" and accuses Schreck of being a charlatan, but the other men are interested in having their fortunes told. All they have to do is tap the cards three times, then they're shuffled and dealt. The first four cards foretell destiny and the fifth gives him the knowledge to change it if he so chooses. Well, unless it's already too late.

After selling his ancestral house, located on a foggy island, architect Jim Dawson (Neil McCallum) gets the opportunity to go back to help its new owner - wealthy and attractive widow Deirdre Biddolph (Ursula Howells) - with some alterations. She wants to tear down a wall to create a large room to showcase her deceased archeologist husband's collection of artifacts. Also living there are a groundskeeper Caleb (Peter Madden) and his granddaughter Valda (Katy Wild), who both lurk around acting mighty suspicious. Jim gets to work on the renovation, but discovers a coffin behind a newly built wall in the cellar. The coffin - decorated with an ornate wolf head - supposedly belongs to one Cosmo Waldemar, who was rumored to be a werewolf and has a grudge to pick with the Dawson family for a wrongdoing centuries earlier. Cosmo's body disappears from the coffin, wolf tracks are found on the dirt floor, howling is heard at night and Valda turns up dead after trying to warn Jim of something. He makes silver bullets out of a heirloom cross and waits by the coffin... Cramming all of this into just over 10 minutes turns out to be a mistake, since it's poorly paced and underbaked. The 'werewolf,' by the way, is just a dog.

Upon returning from holiday, Bill (Alan Freeman) and his wife Ann (Ann Bell) notice a strange vine growing alongside their home. The plant seems to cry out in pain when hit with a hoe and even knocks a pair of shears out of Bill's hand when he tries to snip it! The family seeks the aid of a few scientists (including Bernard Lee), who draw the conclusion that this is the new evolution in plant which may take over the planet if not stopped. It's superintelligent (enough so to cut the phone line!), kills the pet dog when it digs at the roots, strangles one of scientists and eventually surrounds the entire home, trapping the family inside. But like most other living beings, it's scared of fire. Potentially interesting segment but again it's too short and could have used some fleshing out. The open ending won't sit well with some viewers.

In our next story, jazz trumpeter and all-around goofball Biff Bailey (Roy Castle) gets a gig at the Flamingo Club on an island in the West Indies. Though he's warned against it, Biff sneaks out at night to attend a voodoo ceremony, where he copies down the catchy music of the "Great God Damballah." Natives warn him not to use, but when he returns to London he does anyway, which leads to wind destroying his club and an evil presence following him home. Much better than the first two segments, this seems paced about right, is amusing, has several great musical numbers and a surprisingly non-horrific or mean-spirited finale. By the way, the misleading title for the film comes from this segment: the lead characters passes by a mock "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" poster on a wall stating its stars are "Franklyn Marsh," "Sandor Shreck" and "Biff Bailey!"

Back on the train, Dr. Schreck finally convinces Mr. Marsh / Lee to have his fortune told. Marsh is a snooty, uptight art critic who gets his jollies humiliating artists with bad write-ups in the local paper. During a showing of work from painter Eric Landor (Michael Gough), the tables are turned when it's Marsh who gets humiliated by praising a painting done by a chimpanzee. Landor continues to harass Marsh by constantly referencing the incident to destroy his credibility. Fed up, Marsh runs him over with his car, severing his hand in the incident. Unable to paint, Landor gets depressed and commits suicide. But Marsh gets his just desserts in the form of a living, disembodied hand that never seems to go away regardless of what Marsh does to it. This segment is the most memorable of the bunch, has one of the more enjoyable Lee performances and the special effects on the crawling hand are surprisingly effective.

Finally, things wrap up with a rather ordinary vampire tale. Doctor Bob Carroll (Donald Sutherland) has just taken a new bride - the sexy Nicole (Jennifer Jayne). Nicole disappears late at night every night; turning into a bat and going out to do her bloodsucking thing. Meanwhile, a young boy shows up at Bob's clinic with a bad case of anemia and puncture wounds on his neck. Strangely, this segment completely ignores the vampires cannot go out in the daytime mythology but sticks to the rest (turning into bats, being afraid of crucifixes, being killed with a stake through the heart, etc.). There's a cheeky end twist involving Bob's boss, Dr. Blake (Max Adrian), which is the only thing to breath any life into this tired tale. We return to the train for the final twist involving Dr. Schreck and the passengers, which is rather predictable itself.

What would have greatly improved this would have been to cut out one of the lesser segments, preferrable the werewolf one since it's the weakest, least interesting and boasts the lamest twist of the bunch, and then used that saved time to expand upon the other two weaker tales. The "Voodoo" and "Disembodied Hand" stories work just fine as they are, as does the framework itself thanks to the wonderfully sinister Cushing. It's worth watching for these... just expect some lulls along the way.

Francis also made the Amicus anthologies TORTURE GARDEN (1967) and TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1971) as well as the non-Amicus TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS (1973). The widescreen German DVD from Koch Entertainment is the one I viewed (their title translates to something like "Death Cards of Dr. Schreck"). It was distributed by Anchor Bay in the UK and might finally be getting a DVD release in America later this year through Olive Films (though I wouldn't hold my breath waiting).

★★1/2

Demon Rage (1980)

... aka: Dark Eyes
... aka: Demon Seed
... aka: Fury of the Succubus
... aka: Satan's Mistress

Directed by:
James Polakof

Originally filmed as Satan's Mistress, this was re-titled Fury of the Succubus for its theatrical release, then re-titled Demon Rage for its initial U.S. video release and then renamed a fourth time as Dark Eyes for cable TV broadcasts. As if that didn't cause enough confusion already, the title I got my hands on had the superimposed new title of Demon Seed. To avoid mixing this up with the 1977 evil computer film with that same title, I'm going to go ahead and list this under the Rage moniker since that's probably what this is best known as anyway. By any title, it sucks. They really should have just called it "Excuse To Get Plenty O'Toole Naked" since that's what the true agenda seems to be from the very first scene of Lana Wood running down the beach in slow-motion with her breast popping out of her nightgown. The well-endowed Ms. Wood was, of course, the sister of actress Natalie Wood. And just like in real-life where she was always in the shadow of her much more famous sister, Lana even has to play second banana to someone else in her own starring vehicle. Despite the fact she's the clear lead and this was obvioulsy made to showcase her talent(s), she still gets billed behind Swedish sexpot Britt Ekland, who only plays a supporting role here.

Things open with a nightmare sequence and then title cards letting us know that lonely people may be more in touch with the supernatural than anyone else. Lisa (Wood) is one such lonely person. She's stuck in a bad marriage with successful, busy architect Burt (Tom Hallick), who not only ignores her sexually, but is distant, emotionally abusive ("Bitch!") and may be having an affair behind her back. Lisa, Burt and their teenage daughter Michelle (Sherry Scott) have recently moved into a nice, secluded beach house but it has failed to inject any life into the failed marriage. In fact, since it's haunted by a sex-starved demon it ends up making things much worse. One evening while Lisa and Burt are entertaining another couple; Ann-Marie (Ekland), a psychic, and Carl (Dan Galloway), a classy fellow who refers to the hostess as a "Goddess of sensuality" and says he wants to "ravage" her, a black cat shows up from out of nowhere. When Michelle tries to grab it, it scratches her and runs off. Michelle realizes something bizarre is afoot, picks up a strange aura from the home and has visions of a statue crying blood. Burt also starts picking up signs that the place may be haunted and starts having nightmares of his own.

Though Lisa's husband isn't all that interested in her any more, there's a horny, bearded demon / ghost who is and he (Kabir Bedi) starts paying Lisa nightly visits to ravish her in her sleep. Eventually, Lisa moves into a spare bedroom, keeps the door locked at all times, starts ignoring her family and paints evil faces when she isn't being molested. Her hubby decides that he wants to reconcile and the two start to get back on track, but the demon returns to take possession of her again. Meanwhile, Michelle encounters a mysterious woman named Belline (Elyse-Anne) on the beach who informs her that she shares the name with an angel who left God to be with Lucifer. Michelle then keeps hearing Belline's voice telling her "You WILL help us!" She also has a nightmare which is distorted so badly through a wavy effect that I couldn't tell just what was happening. It appears that a cat is killed and people drown in quicksand on the beach but it was too difficult to make it out.

Blood appears on people's hands but disappears, the black cat keeps showing up (accompanied by a hilarious synthesized hiss) and the water in a hot tub suddenly becomes so hot it starts smoking. After her husband gets decapitated with a guillotine conveniently located in the basement, Ann-Marie urges the family to leave, but they don't. Burt is finally convinced to try to get them out and they get advice from priest and supernatural expert Father Stratten (John Carradine, who has just one scene in this one) beforehand. The ending is a complete anti-climactic mess with the gates of hell having been apparently opened in the basement, demons cackling, someone holding a severed head and everything being enveloped in fire.

Despite the frequency of nudity from Wood and about a hundred picturesque shots of the beach, this is a dreary, poorly made bore. I have to say though, that I think this movie is based on the same "true story" as THE ENTITY (filmed in 1981; released in '83) and beat it to the punch by at least a year (the copyright date for Demon Rage is 1980). The two films have a near identical premise, though The Entity - which isn't very good either - had the luxury of a big budget, an actual marketing campaign and respected actress Barbara Hershey in the lead role. This one's much lower budgeted, the acting is uneven, the photography is too dark and it becomes annoyingly repetitive after a short while.

The director also made the dull getting-back-to-nature pacifist hippie drama SLASHED DREAMS (1974), which was falsely marketed as a horror film because it featured Robert Englund in an early role.

★1/2

Doomwatch (1972)

... aka: Island of the Ghouls

Directed by:
Peter Sasdy

Environmental issues have been prevalent in the horror genre ever since the 1950s, where nuclear waste and pollutants of all kinds have been responsible for creating giant monsters and mutants. This one is based on the Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis created television series, which was popular enough on BBC to last for three seasons (1970 to 1972) and spawn this feature-length film (Clive Exton is credited with the final screenplay). A new government agency called "Doomwatch" has been formed to combat a worldwide pollution problem. To find out what effects lead additives from a recent oil spill and the detergents used to clean up said oil spill are having on sea life, Dr. Del Shaw (Ian Bannen) travels to Balfe; a small, sparsely-populated island worst hit by tanker spill. Sent to retrieve samples of seaweed, gastropods, bivalves, crustacean and possibly gulls for study, Shaw plans on just staying long enough to gather samples and then be on his way. Upon arrival, he notices the villagers living on the close knit island are an odd bunch and less than hospitable. He's constantly questioned about how long he'll be staying and what he's doing there, he has a difficult time finding accommodations and notices nearly everyone acts secretive or even downright hostile, including the local policeman and priest. He's finally able to get a room from Miss Johnson (Constance Chapman) and there meets fellow foreigner Victoria Brown (Judy Geeson), a school teacher who seems to be turning a blind eye to whatever is going on there.

The next day, Del ventures out to gather specimens on the beach but thanks to more peculiar behavior from the villagers - and the fact someone seem to be following him everywhere he goes with a shotgun - he decides to stay a few extra days to see if he can figure out just what is going on. While taking a stroll through the woods, he catches two dogs digging at the dirt. After getting attacked by one of them, he discovers the body of a young child in a shallow grave. When he reports it to the police and returns there, the body has been moved. One of the villagers destroys his camera and he's attacked by something hideously disfigured in the barn. Eventually, Victoria agrees to help him under the condition that nothing bad happens to the islanders. She confides in him that people are starting to refuse to leave their homes, the men suffer from violent outbursts and people have been disappearing. Many townspeople also seem to be changing physically, with overhanging brows, widening of the nose and lips and worse. While catching some fish, Dr. Shaw notices a prohibited area of the island called Castle Rock, which used to be a military dumping ground for "mild" radioactive waste.

Shaw returns to London to piece together the clues with a few colleagues. He gets underwater photographs of what the military actually had dumped there... along with hundreds of mysterious canisters the military didn't dump there. Turns out the unaccounted for drums (dumped there illegally) are full of a growth hormone which stimulates the pituitary gland and, in large enough doses, can causes mutation. The fish in the nearby waters have been contaminated and thus some of the folks living on Balfe have also been contaminated, resulting in widespread epidemic of the disfiguring disease acromegaly (which 40s horror star Rondo Hatton suffered from). The islanders, who are ashamed of their past history of inbreeding and immorality and want little to nothing to do with progress, aren't all that willing to cooperate either.

Going into this expecting a mutant horror flick is absolutely the wrong way to go, though the film has been advertised as such over the years. It's non-exploitative for the most part, quite dialogue-heavy and has only a handful of shock sequences. In short, it's not very exciting to watch in an action-oriented sense. However, it is intelligently written and a well thought out film, with a more credible science component than usual. It accurately disassembles the pecking order of illegal chemical dumping, with the chemical company who produced the toxic chemical subcontracting the actual dumping work to a disreputable firm and then playing stupid so that they're not actually responsible for any of it. How all of this goes down is approached from a multitude of perspectives and we see how different groups; the science community, the business community, the religious community (represented by Joseph O'Conor's vicar who believes the epidemic is punishment from God) and the military (George Sanders has a few brief scenes as an admiral) react. And much of the reaction is sadly quite accurate to how something like this would pan out in real life.

The film made its biggest splash in America re-titled Island of ther Ghouls and playing on "The Ghoul Show" triple feature along with GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE (1972) and GARDEN OF THE DEAD (1972). Paul and Simon Oates (who apparently did not like this film adaptation) reprise their roles from the BBC series and - along with Jean Trend - comprise the primary Doomwatch team. The solid supporting cast also includes Percy Herbert, Shelagh Fraser (doing a very nice job as an islander with an infected husband), Geoffrey Keen, Norman Bird, James Cosmo and George Woodbridge.

★★1/2

Endless Night (1972)

... aka: Agatha Christie's Endless Night

Directed by:
Sidney Gilliat

Michael Rogers (Hywel Bennett) isn't too happy with his lot in life. From humble beginnings and currently working as a hired driver to chauffeur around rich people all over Europe, Michael gets such a big taste of the high life on a daily basis that he wants it for himself. Not content with visiting art auctions (and pretending to have the means to actually purchase the pieces) and passing off his borrowed Rolls Royce as his own, Michael's biggest dream in life is to build a beautiful modern home on a picturesque plot of land called Gypsy's Acre, which has the luxury of beautiful pastoral fields and an ocean view not far off in the distance. It's an obsession of his and he's determined to get it at all costs. One of his clients, a wealthy, world-famous architect named Santonix (Per Oscarsson), who has only a few years left to live, tells him not to give up on his dreams because, "If the wish can be willed, then perhaps the means will follow." And to a sociopathic social climber like Michael, the "means" are soon found in a sweet, pretty, nubile young woman... who happens to come from a very wealthy family.

While out at Gypsy's Acre taking photographs and dreaming of his future home, Michael bumps into a young American girl named Fenella Thomsen (an emaciated and bony-looking Hayley Mills), who prefers to be called Ellie and is studying singing at a conservatory. There's an instant connection between the two and they part ways with a kiss, with an agreement to meet up again soon. One thing leads to another and the two quickly get become hitched. As it turns out, Ellie is a filthy-rich heiress who has just come into a considerable fortune. The union quickly gets Michael and Ellie into all of the newspapers, with the "World's 6th richest girl" marrying a lowly chauffeur and all. Though her parents are dead, Ellie's extended family, including icy stepmother Cora (Lois Maxwell) and family lawyer Andrew Lippincott (George Sanders), try to pay him a considerable sum for him to quietly divorce Ellie. Being in love, he refuses the offer. The new couple purchase Gypsy's Acre and construction is immediately underway on their dream home. Or at least Michael's dream home...

Once everything is complete, the happy couple are finally able to move into their new digs; an elaborate monstrosity with huge pictures windows, a floor that moves to unveil a pool underneath, walls that flip around to unveil a music chamber, a bar and other things, conveyor belts and remote-controlled everything. With a flip of a button, even the seasonal ambience can be altered. Ellie and Michael open an antique shop in town and settle into what should be nice, wonderful life together. However, everyone seems to be getting ample warnings from just about every place possible. For starters, Miss Townsend (Patience Collier), a local psychic lady who family used to own the property, tells Ellie she's doomed if she stays there. Then there's the attractive Greta (Britt Ekland), Ellie's former tutor, who was let go by the family for lying to help facilitate Michael and Ellie's relationship during the early stages. Both Ellie's family lawyer and Santonix warn Michael not to get too close to her. Regardless, Greta comes to their home for a protracted stay.

Problems arise in the marriage, many caused by Greta's overbearing presence, nosiness and the fact she seems to be trying to take over the home. Several of Ellie's family members move to their town to keep tabs on things and are constantly spying on them. And the creepy old psychic lady and her Siamese cat lurk around outside. One strange thing after another happens until numerous people end up dead. One character may or may not be a ghost, there's a relatively easy-to-spot twist at the end and we get brief glimpses into Michael's childhood, which unveil bickering parents, possible sexual molestation from his stepfather and witnessing a childhood friend drown.

I really liked the chemistry between Bennett and Mills in the underrated psycho-thriller TWISTED NERVE (1968), so I was looking forward to seeing them paired here again. Unfortunately, this "thriller" (often listed as a horror film though it barely even qualifies) is lacking in both originality and dramatic punch. Bennett tries his best to give an intense, tortured performance and most of the supporting cast is solid, but the two primary female leads could have been better. British actress Mills' attempt at a countrified American accent is laughable and after awhile she stops even trying and sounds British again, though otherwise she gives an OK performance. Ekland never was much of an actress and does nothing to change anyone's perception of her here with her usual wooden, pouty-lipped line delivery and empty, deer-caught-in-headlights facial expressions.

It's based on a novel by Agatha Christie. Christie herself apparently didn't like this adaptation, and apparently neither did British critics or audiences of its day. The film flopped and was never released theatrically in the U.S. The cast includes Aubrey Richards as a friendly doctor, Madge Ryan as Michael's disapproving mother, Walter Gotell and an uncredited Leo Genn as a shrink in the final scene. Bernard Herrmann (with assist from Howard Blake on the Moog Synthesizer) did the eerie score and Shirley Jones dubbed Mills' singing. The title comes from the William Blake poem "Auguries of Innocence."

★★