Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)

Writer-director Bob Kelljan doesn't have too many movies to his credit. That's a shame, considering how good this one is. He also did the sequel, which I will be checking out soon, and the enjoyable, if inferior to the first, Scream, Blacula, Scream.

Robert Quarry plays Count Yorga, a mysterious and debonaire man who has moved to America from Bulgaria. Ingratiating himself with some locals, the Count also professes to have a talent for mediumship. This makes him interesting to Donna (Donna Anders), a young woman who would like to contact her dead mother. Things don't go according to plan for Donna, but maybe they do for Count Yorga, who starts to munch his way through her friends. He starts with Paul (Michael Murphy) and Erica (Judy Lang), attacking them when they get stuck in some mud after dropping him off back at his home, but looks forward to killing, or feeding off, all of them. Dr. James Hayes (Roger Perry) might be able to save them, or some of them. He's at least willing to eventually acknowledge that the problem could be vampirism.

Although there are one or two mis-steps here, including some narration from George Macready that unnecessarily sets up some of the rules of vampire lore, Count Yorga, Vampire is a bit of a minor classic in the crowded vampire movie sub-genre. It feels very much like a film poised between the traditional cinematic vampires of the past, many of whom were beautiful creatures until the fangs were bared, and the films that were more overtly exploring the sexual and sensual intimacy of mesmerising people and converting them with a bite on the neck. There are moments here that impress with their strange creepiness, be it a woman trying to drain blood from a kitten or a third act that mixes the usual vampire brides with moments of the head vampire toying with his prey.

Quarry is superb in the main role, as smooth and polite as expected when maintaining his air of civility, yet all too able to despatch his victims with all of the cool dispassion of someone prepping a microwavable ready meal. His casting is a major coup for Kelljan, who repays his lead with a script that serves him up a number of individual fantastic scenes, not least of which occurs when a group of people visit the Count at his home, trying to find some clue about the whereabouts of missing people while Yorga plays the perfect host. Perry is decent enough in his role, playing a character with enough courage to make up for the fact that he may be woefully unprepared to tackle the full reality of the situation, and Anders is very good as the woman manipulated by promise of being able to communicate with her dead mother. Edward Walsh is fun to watch as Brudah, a memorable manservant to the Count, and everyone else, from Murphy and Lang to Edward Walsh, Julie Conners, Paul Hansen, Sybil Scotford, and Marsha Jordan, puts in solid work.

HIGHLY recommended, especially to vampire movie fans (obviously), I'd even be tempted to put Count Yorga, Vampire up there with the very best of them. It's a contender for a place on any Top 10 list. Top 20, at the very least. If you have also been sleeping on this one for years, as I did, then change that as soon as possible. You won't regret it.

9/10

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Shudder Saturday: Strange Behavior (1981)

Filmed in New Zealand, but set in Illinois, and considered by many to be an Ozploitation flick, Strange Behavior is a very odd experience. And it's not a very satisfying one, which is a shame when you consider how well the premise could have worked.

A number of teens are turned into killers. A local police officer (John Brady, played by Michael Murphy) believes it may be the work of Dr. Le Sange (Arthur Dignam), who happens to be deceased. Perhaps his work is being continued by a loyal assistant, Gwen Parkinson (Fiona Lewis). Whatever is really going on, Brady needs to get to the bottom of it, even before he realises that his son (Pete, played by Dan Shor) has been dragged in to the plan.

Directed by Michael Laughlin, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Bill Condon, Strange Behavior is almost an entirely flat and unexciting time for the duration (and it runs at just over 100 minutes). Very few of the supporting characters are memorable, occasional set-pieces just appear and then end, without any feeling of being properly framed for maximum impact, and even the third act lacks any decent scares or tension. I suppose it is also structured in a way that is supposed to have viewers looking forward to the central mystery being solved. If anybody else watched this and cared about the resolution of the mystery then please let me know.

As well as lacking any decent thrills, Laughlin also wastes almost his entire cast. Okay, Murphy and Shor are okay as the older and younger Brady men, mainly because they get the most screentime, but Lewis doesn't have half as much fun in her role as she should have been allowed to have, Dignam is used to have a sly bit of fun that just doesn't work, and Louise Fletcher, perhaps worst of all, is just sidelined for much of the film. Louise Fletcher. If you get her to take a role in your movie then, dammit, you should make that role as good as she deserves it to be.

There may be some people reading this who think I missed the entire point of the film, which is a homage to certain films of the 1950s. Unfortunately, I don't think it works in that regard either. Those making the film had a choice to either make a straight horror, make a homage, or make something that landed somewhere between the two. This works as none of those things, and one sequence featuring a character wearing a Tor Johnson mask isn't enough to convince me otherwise.

I know there are some people out there who seem to enjoy this one. I just struggle to think of anything that would appeal to most film fans.

3/10

You can get a pack of discs here (R1).

Sci-Fi September: Phase IV (1974)

Not a film for those who can't stand insects, Phase IV is all about ants that can kill. They're not oversized ants. They're not out to attack everyone who crosses their path. They're intelligent, and it's up to scientists to figure out what their grand plan is.

Everything starts off with a cosmic event, some mysterious phenomenon that may or may not affect life on our planet. It turns out that nothing much changes, or so it seems. One man notices that different species of ants have stopped fighting one another, and have instead started to work together. A scientist (Nigel Davenport) asks for permission to head out to the main area in which this behaviour has been observed, hoping to find out what will happen next, and what can be done about it. He takes along a fellow scientist (Michael Murphy) he thinks may best be able to help him, and then starts to provoke a reaction from the ants. Which may not be such a good idea.

The one and only feature film directed by Saul Bass (the man best known for some of the best title sequences in cinema history), Phase IV was sadly given short shrift when initially released. It received some good reviews, but didn't do well at the box office at all. It's only the passage of time that has allowed the film to grow a small, but loyal, fanbase. I consider myself one of those fans, always have been and always will.

It is, however, quite easy to see why this didn't do any great business back in 1974. It's a movie that's hard to sell to people. Anyone who loved killer ant movies could see some more impressive moments in films such as Empire Of The Ants, The Naked Jungle, and Ants! AKA It Happened At Lakewood Manor. And any fans of intelligent sci-fi had an even greater pool to fish selections from. Not all of these films mentioned were released in 1974, with two of those ant movies coming along a few years after this one, but they're representative of the various movies that could cater for more traditional tastes in this particular subgenre.

The script, by Mayo Simon, is very low-key and minimalistic, in terms of spoken dialogue, but it sketches out each section of the movie without taking time out to patronise viewers. The tech is explained, even if it's only a brief explanation, and tensions arise between Davenport and Murphy, but most of the film is devoted to the actions of the protagonists, be they human or ants. One scene showing how the insects determine to overcome a particularly dangerous poison remainins a stunning highlight, thanks mainly to the close-up photography of Ken Middleham.

Davenport is a bit over the top, but his performance is tempered by the quieter turn from Murphy, making the two men good company throughout the movie. Lynne Frederick also joins them, portraying a scared woman who used to live in the area, and she does just fine, veering between moments of near-hysteria and calm acceptance of the situation.

Bass directs with an impressive lack of haste (in terms of how events unfold). He shows faith in the material, faith in the audience (which, sadly, wasn't repaid back in 1974), and faith in his own abilities. The ending may have been changed, thanks to studio interference (watch the original ending here), but what remains is still an interesting, thought-provoking, atypical final sequence that lingers in the mind long after the end credits have finished. It may be his only feature, but it's a damn fine one to have on the CV.

I encourage fans of smart sci-fi to check out Phase IV whenever they can. And I hope that one day it receives the treatment it deserves on a home cinema format.

9/10

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