Shudder Saturday: Curse Of The Crimson Altar (1968)

I couldn't understand how I hadn't managed to get around to Curse Of The Crimson Altar before now, but now it's perfectly clear. This isn't a good movie, despite the attachment of some big names and apparently being (loosely) based on "The Dreams In The Witch House". 

The story deals with one Robert Manning (Mark Eden), an antiques dealer on a search for his missing brother. He knows that his brother was at Craxted Lodge, a large house owned by Morley (Christopher Lee). Morley is welcoming enough, as is his niece, Eve (Virginia Wetherell), but it turns out that they may be connected to some strange occult happenings, as explained to our protagonist by Professor John Marsh (Boris Karloff).

Written by Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, a duo who seemed to do better with TV work than they did with films (in fact, they only have one or two other features credited between them, in amongst the various TV episodes), this is an uninteresting slog that lacks any real thrills or atmosphere. Director Vernon Sewell has a filmography worth exploring, from what I can see, but this is coming along towards the very end of his career, and isn't one of his better efforts. Perhaps relying too much on the stars to carry the weak script, Sewell fails to impress with the blend of very British good manners, some scenes showing groovy individuals happily partying, and occasional nightmares. None of it works in isolation, and none of it works in relation to everything else going on.

The same can be said of the cast members, who are generally unable to do anything to elevate the material. Karloff arguably fares the best, thanks to his unmistakable presence and ability to imbue ridiculous dialogue with a gravitas that it often doesn't merit, but Lee feels a bit underused, which is all the more frustrating when that allows for more screentime for a bland Eden, Wetherell, and a laughable coterie of supporting characters. Michael Gough is also ill-served by the screenplay, and Barbara Steele is at least used in a visually-interesting way that tries to add to the impact of events by giving you a shot of, well, Barbara Steele.

Another film that many may mistakenly believe came from Hammer or Amicus, as it's one of those to come from the smaller stable of Tigon, I would simply remind anyone still tempted to check this out that Christopher Lee himself considered one of the worst of his career. And that man was in some stinkers. I've heard some people praise this, although I genuinely don't understand what won them over (perhaps just the atmosphere and the aesthetic of this kind of very British horror from this time), but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, with the exception of completists who, like me, always end up having to see these things for themselves.

3/10

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Bedlam (1946)

Directed by Mark Robson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Val Lewton, Bedlam is a wonderfully dark and nasty piece of work. I don't know what people would have thought of it when it was first released, but I can understand it not finding an audience immediately. While tame in many respects nowadays, it somehow retains an impressive power, thanks in no small part to the sterling central performance from Boris Karloff.

Karloff plays Master George Sims, the man in charge of an insane asylum (there are many better ways to word that, granted, but I think bluntness here matches the tone of the film). Sims keeps himself in the good graces of Lord Mortimer (Billy House) by occasionally using the patients in his care to put on a distasteful show. Sims is used to doing what he wants, and he makes extra money by charging people to enter the asylum and look around, but he starts to come unstuck when his ways are questioned by Nell Bowen (Anna Lee). Nell is a companion to Mortimer, which means she may have the ability to convince him of how badly the asylum is run, and Sims has to think and act quickly. Nell won't be much of a threat to him if she ends up IN the asylum.

A sadly familiar tale nowadays, we have had many films showing authority figures abusing their position of power, Bedlam remains a prime example of this kind of film. It also remains a twisted and vicious piece of work, as well as a damning indictment of the way society tends to deal with the mentally ill. Things have greatly improved over the years, thankfully, but there are also ways in which people continue to be misdiagnosed, mistreated, and stigmatized.

Despite stiff competition, Karloff delivers a performance that could easily be considered among his very best. There’s no soft centre this time around. The monster is all monster here, and Karloff portrays every bit of merciless scheming without feeling the need to wink or reassure viewers. He is thoroughly unlikable in a way that keeps you riveted, and the fact that Lee does such a great job in her role as the “woman who won’t stay quiet” is testament to her performance. With a number of enjoyable supporting turns dotted throughout, a good dollop of praise should be heaped upon whoever was responsible for casting, and the consistency of quality means I would once again rather direct people to browse the entire cast list than try to single out any one other performance.

Robson and Lewton do everything that they set out to do, using their central premise to link together a number of dark and unforgettable grotesqueries. They know how to make the most of their assets (mainly Karloff and Lee) and they have confidence in their own abilities. That confidence is not misplaced, and I can happily recommend this to anyone who has already appreciated some of the other films featuring people who worked on this, whether behind or in front of the camera.

8/10

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Isle Of The Dead (1945)

Although I have watched a number of the Val Lewton-produced films of the 1940s by now, I decided to review this one not so long after I Walked With A Zombie because it feels, in many ways, as if it covers familiar ground. It's overflowing with the usual atmosphere, of course, but at the heart of it is an examination of characters who disagree over the power of faith, with one particular individual seemingly happy to do make themselves look bad if it benefits the greater good.

Boris Karloff is General Nikolas Pherides, a man who visits the "Isle Of The Dead" to pay respects to his dead wife. He is accompanied by a reporter (Oliver Davis, played by Marc Cramer). Discovering the grave site has been disturbed, Pherides and Davis eventually wander through different parts of the island, ending up at the household of Dr. Aubrecht (Jason Robards Sr.), who also has the company of his housemaid (Madame Kyra, played by Helen Thimig), a visitor named St. Aubyn (Alan Napier), his poorly wife (Mary St. Aubyn, played by Katherine Emery), and their young companion, Thea (Ellen Drew). There are one or two others also packed into this one household, but these names make up the main group. Unfortunately, all end up quarantined when one of the guests dies from what a doctor diagnoses as the plague. Can everyone hold out, stay safe, and wait for quarantine to be over? Or will they remain in danger until they get rid of the vorvolaka (a malevolent demon in human form) in their midst? Most people don't believe in the vorvolaka, but Madame Kyra does, and she intimates to Pherides that she suspects Thea.

Written mainly by the talented Ardel Wray, Isle Of The Dead is a character study, an examination of the hold that folklore can have over some people, and essentially a battle between faith and science. The scenario allows neither side an obvious path to victory, but that does nothing to dim the belief of anyone hoping against all hope that they will be helped by the system they support.

Director Mark Robson has everything he needs to help make this a cracking little yarn. The script is solid, and has one or two genuinely creepy moments amidst the plague drama, the production design and set dressing is superb (allowing the locations to feel 100% real throughout), and there’s an absolutely fantastic performance from Karloff at the heart of it, a man who can steel himself to do what others would find unpalatable, to say the least.

Although there is ample screentime for both Cramer and Drew, the younger members of the group who end up trapped and in danger, and you also have some scene-stealing from Thimig and Emery, the two women causing tension in very different ways, this is a film that belongs to Karloff. When he is onscreen he is magnificent, but he also casts a lengthy shadow that slows you to feel his presence for many moments that don’t have him front and centre.

Clocking in at about 70 minutes, this is another lean chiller that does everything it wants to do, setting things up quickly and then allowing for a really interesting middle section before the resolution starts to play out. Although not mentioned half as often as some other great titles from this time, Isle Of The Dead deserves a hefty serving of praise and recognition. It’s a fantastic little film, and I hope others find it, or (for those who found it way before I did and are currently rolling their eyes at my standard tardiness) I hope people keep recommending it alongside the more commonly-mentioned titles in this category.

8/10

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Dead By Dawn 2018: Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

Some people put Bride Of Frankenstein above the original film. I am not one of those people. It loses a point for one important element - the performance from Una O'Connor. Never mind that now though, we'll come back to it later.

Most of the main players come back for this sequel, a story given a prologue in which Mary Shelley (Elsa Lanchester, who also plays the famous bride) tells her guests that there is more to the tale of Frankenstein than just her original story. She then proceeds to pick up from the end of the first film. Frankenstein has survived, his creature has also survived, and we get Doctor Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) added to the mix, an unscrupulous man who hopes to use Frankenstein's work to better his own.

William Hurlbut is the main credited writer this time around, although there are numerous other names who had a hand in crafting the screenplay, and James Whale is back in the director's chair, and it's clear that this is a film even more concerned with showing that the perceived monster isn't really the monster. In fact, he behaves better than almost all of the human characters that we see onscreen.

Thesiger is a lot of fun in his role, callous and calculating even as he seems to delude himself into thinking that he has good intentions, and both Clive and Karloff remain fantastic as the main creator and creation. Dwight Frye also returns, playing a different character not a million miles away from the one he played in the previous entry. Valerie Hobson takes over the role of Elizabeth, doing just fine in the role, and O. P. Heggie makes the most of his role, a blind hermit who befriends the monster and offers him some hospitality (a sequence among many brilliantly parodied in Young Frankenstein). Then we have Una O'Connor, mentioned in the first paragraph. I don't blame her for her performance, it was obviously asked of her, but I do find her to be one of the most irritating characters I have had to tolerate in any of the classic Universal horrors. Shrill and twitchy, I am constantly bemused when I hear from other viewers who enjoy her comic relief.

That performance from O'Connor IS enough for me to drop a point from my rating, but it's not enough for me to dissuade anyone from viewing, and loving, this horror classic. It's arguably the best of the sequels to the iconic horrors of this age and it often feels natural to stick it on for a watch as soon as the first film has finished.

9/10

This is a great collection for any fan.

This is it available in America.

And here is the Dead By Dawn schedule/site.

Dead By Dawn 2018: Frankenstein (1931)

I'll be reviewing most, not all, of the films shown at Dead By Dawn this year. The reviews won't be in order. Because my schedule doesn't allow for that. Deal with it. Anyway . . .

Although it was not the first of the classic Universal monster movies, and not even the first to be released in 1931 (Dracula beat it by a few months), Frankenstein, or his monster as portrayed by Boris Karloff, certainly deserves to stand as one of carved faces on any Mount Rushmore of the horror genre.

Based on the book by Mary Shelley, there seems little point in going over the plot, or any of the factors that make the film so memorable. But I will anyway, because this would be a very short review otherwise. Colin Clive plays Henry Frankenstein, a scientist obsessed with the idea of creating human life from dead flesh. He has the body all stitched together, he just needs to procure a brain, a task which he entrusts to his hunchback assistant, Fritz (Dwight Frye). It’s unfortunate that Fritz ends up dropping the healthy brain he was asked to acquire and so instead heads back to his boss with an abnormal brain. One atmospheric, lightning-filled, night later and the creature is alive, although not of the sound mind that Henry had hoped he would be. Things go from bad to worse, so Henry entrusts a friend (Dr Waldman, played by Edward Van Sloan) to take care of the creature and he heads home to busy himself with preparations for his wedding to the lovely Elizabeth (Mae Clarke). But his troubles are far from over.

A script written (by Garrett Fort and Francis Edward Faragoh) from an adaptation of a play (by Peggy Webling) from the source novel, Frankenstein is a masterpiece that stands tall today thanks to a perfect storm - no pun intended - of performances, direction, and writing (not just from those mentioned here, but also other credited and uncredited contributors). With certain moments and passages that still hold a magical power today, it's almost impossible to fathom how audiences would have felt when faced with this maelstrom of horror, blasphemy, and murky morality back in 1931.

Clive remains on of the best Frankensteins we've ever had onscreen, a man so driven by his obsession that he takes himself to a state of physical exhaustion. Frye is fun as Fritz, Van Sloan does just fine with his role, and Clarke is suitably lovely and poised to be a damsel in distress. But it is, of course, Karloff who owns the film, helped in no small part by the superb make-up work from Jack Pierce. There's a saying nowadays that goes something like this; intelligence is knowing that Frankenstein is not the monster, wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein is the monster. That idea may have been muddled by sequels and reworkings of the material, but it's clear as day here, largely because of the sweet and lumbering performance from Karloff.

Some might say that director James Whale does a great job here and then betters himself in the sequel. I am not sure about that. I think both films stand alongside one another as fantastic pieces of work, brought to the screen by a team determined to thrill and entertain, and yes even shock, audiences of the time. Deftly working within, and right to the edge, of what was allowed at the time (even going over the line, certain dialogue was excised from the film for many years when it was re-released, due to the blasphemous nature of it), everyone involved managed to craft part of Hollywood horror history. Some modern viewers may scoff at the melodrama and the tame nature of the content. That's their loss. I know many horror film fans who love this one as much as I do, and rightly so.

10/10

This is a great collection for any fan.

This is it available in America.

And here is the Dead By Dawn schedule/site.

Ani-MAY-tion Month: Mad Monster Party? (1967)

I won't beat around the bush, I love Mad Monster Party? despite knowing how flawed it is. The pacing isn't perfect, the jokes are a bit lame, the songs aren't exactly classics, and the story keeps throwing up ridiculous moment after ridiculous moment. Yet I still love it.

Baron Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) is throwing a party. He's due to retire, and so invites lots of famous monsters to his home on The Isle Of Evil, where he will also choose his successor. The guest list includes Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolfman, Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde), the invisible man, an aquatic creature (probably from a black lagoon), and . . . . . . . Felix Flankin, the Baron's nephew. Also in attendance are The Monster, of course, The Monster's Mate, and the lovely Francesca. And Yetch, an assistant to the Baron who is quite smitten with Francesca.

It may not be a Christmas-themed work, for a change, but this is unmistakably another wonderful Rankin/Bass production, with the usual cast of colourful characters, lovely visual details and musical interludes. Looking at it objectively, it's a couple of notches below their best work, but what horror fan can be objective when a stop-motion feature brings together such classic archetypes? And let's not forget the zombie bird men, and a gigantic ape that also makes an appearance.

The script by Len Korobkin and Harvey Kurtzman (with some uncredited help from Forrest J Ackerman, apparently) alternates between awful and great. Again, I just don't mind. Even when it's being pretty bad, in terms of dialogue and obvious gags, it's trying so hard to please that I give in to it.

The vocal cast isn't exactly a who's who of celebrities from the time, but the inclusion of Karloff is the biggest plus. Allen Swift is the man responsible for most of the other voices, and does great work in every role, while Gale Garnett gets to wind the men around her little finger in the role of Francesca. Phyllis Diller has fun as The Monster's Mate, but she's given a never-ending stream of bad jokes/puns to deliver.

The film is akin to one extra-large Halloween cracker, and crackers are always put out on the table when a party atmosphere is being created. The jokes in crackers are usually awful, the toys/gifts are rarely much better, and there are often times when you pull them apart and don't even get a satisfying bang (now, now, stop making up your own jokes). Yet that doesn't make them, or the party, any less enjoyable. The same can be said of Mad Monster Party?

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Mad-Monster-Party-Boris-Karloff/dp/B002ECJZG2/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1400367138&sr=1-2&keywords=mad+monster+party

Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1953)

Charles Lamont returns to direct Abbott and Costello in this lesser outing that sees the duo meeting up with the legendary figure of horror. The plot is very slim, it's essentially summed up in the title, and the movie suffers by not actually having Bud and Lou onscreen for large durations of the runtime.

Bud and Lou are two police officers who get themselves in a bit of trouble when they're embarrassed by some protesting suffragettes. Perhaps they'll be able to get themselves back in the good books if they find and apprehend the monster responsible for terrorising London. That monster isn't always a monster, however, and so the duo don't realise how close they are to the villain when they meet the very civil Mr. Hyde (Boris Karloff).

It's weak, there's no denying that it's weak, but there are still a few good moments scattered throughout this A & C adventure. The script by Lee Loeb and John Grant may be light on laughs but there's at least one great set-piece that involves Lou being unwittingly transformed and the finale is a fun mix of thrills and amusing confusion.

The leading men are good when onscreen but, as mentioned above, that's really not often enough. Craig Stevens and Helen Westcott are acceptable enough in their supporting roles but things improve whenever Boris Karloff is onscreen, making this worth a watch if you're a fan of the horror icon (he gets more to work with here than he did in his last appearance alongside the boys).

Some fans of the duo had already written them off by this point but their last few movies still contain enough entertainment if you've been on the journey with A & C over the years and remained a fan of their style and routines.

5/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abbott-Costello-Meet-Killer-Jekyll/dp/B000H7ZZH4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342632411&sr=8-1

Abbott & Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)

Compared to the high quality of the previous outings, this is another lesser Abbott & Costello movie (and easily one of the weakest movies that they starred in under the direction of the dependable Charles Barton) but, as I have said about a few of their other movies, it's still a fun viewing and worth watching if you're a fan of the duo.

Bud Abbott plays Casey Edwards, a hotel detective who ends up with a dead body in his hotel and a pretty decent amount of suspects (including, of course, Boris Karloff). Lou Costello is Freddie Phillips, the incompetent bellboy who ends up being the main suspect as pieces of evidence, and more bodies, start piling up around him.

While this doesn't have many of the really great routines that A & C were famous for it does have a few very good moments scattered here and there. One extended sequence involving some corpses that our leads don't want discovered in their vicinity is particularly enjoyable, mixing some good physical work with a number of fun verbal gags.

The script by Hugh Wedlock Jr, Howard Snyder and John Grant is okay but it's a shame that the whole thing couldn't have been given a bit more care around the important laughs. It's true that many A & C movies feel like little more than pantomimes put onscreen but this film seems to have been made without anyone involved remembering that it should also hang together as a whole movie. As such, it feels like it slightly outstays its welcome even at the brisk 84 minutes it runs for and there's very little of interest in the moments that focus on the murder mystery element of the film.

The direction is okay but the material is hampered by an instantly forgettable cast. Oh, our leads do their usual good work and Boris Karloff is enjoyable enough in the few scenes that he has but nobody else stands out. James Flavin, Lenore Aubert, Gar Moore, Donna Martell, Alan Mowbray, Mikel Conrad and others have their time onscreen but, while I won't exaggerate and say that I remember none of them, not a one of them makes any lasting impression.

Oh, and one last thing. Don't let the title mislead you.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Abbott-Costello-Meet-Killer-Jekyll/dp/B000H7ZZH4