Thundarr the Barbarian

Animation Block: Thundarr the Barbarian

 

Going back to the well of the 1980’s, we find today a rare gem in the animated world. Jack “King” Kirby blessed the world with many characters, yet his foray into animation is often downplayed. Hired by Ruby-Spears in the early portion of the decade, Jack did the layouts for what would become Thundarr the Barbarian.

 

In the year 1994, a runaway planet hurtles between the Earth and the Moon, causing global upheaval. Mankind is cast into darkness. Our narrative begins two thousand years later. Earth is reborn as a world filled with sorcery and super science. Thundarr, a barbarian, escapes from his life as a slave alongside the Princess Ariel and Ookla the Mok.  With his Sunsword, a gift from Ariel, Thundarr and his companions ride the strange worlds under a broken sky.

Looking back at the show, I am amazed and disappointed it didn’t last longer. Airing in 1980 and before the FCC loosened all the rules meant the children of the era were spared Thundarr action figures, comics, and general merchandise. With Steve Gerber and Mark Evanier doing scripts, I am utterly dismayed that the show lasted as short as it did, finally ending production in 1982 with reruns on various networks after that.  Violence was never shied away from but it was never glamourized. The entire show had a fairly grim look at things to be yet there was also some degree of optimism. Princess Ariel deserves special mention as well. She was sassy but never obnoxious and her magic powers were consistent; or at least not used as a deus ex machina as much as other shows of the time period. She actually did stuff on the show rather than simply be the token female.  

What went wrong? Typical of the time the show was formulaic; Thundarr and company enter a ruined city or former landmark and encounter a wizard or other type of ne’er-do-well.  A battle is fought, hostages sometime taken and Thundarr and company leave much the same as they entered. But other shows were structured just the same and still lasted longer. Cost and ratings were given as the chief reason for the show’s cancellation, but unlike every other bit of 1980’s nostalgia, Thundarr the Barbarian seems to have been skipped by the retro toy companies and comic books companies, save for a few action figures made a couple of years ago.

The entire series was finally released onto DVD and is well worth the time to re-watch.

New Adventures of the Lone Ranger

The New Adventures of the Lone Ranger (1980)

 

With the passing of famed producer Lou Scheimer, I felt it right to look back on one of Filmation’s lesser known properties. The Lone Ranger, also known as the New Adventures of the Lone Ranger, began properly with the Tarzan/Long Ranger Adventure Hour on CBS in 1980. With reruns of the animated Tarzan series, viewers would see the animated adventures of the masked rider of the plains.

With William Conrad as the Lone Ranger and Ivan Naranjo as Tonto, viewers could tune in and see the Western duo fight bushwhackers, mad scientists, and encounter such historical figures such as Nelly Bly. The animation was slick, although since this was a Filmation production it also meant we would endlessly see the same close-up of Tonto’s face and the same shot of the heroes mounting their horses. With the concerns of various parents groups and before the loosening of rules regarding advertisements, the focus was mostly on education. There was plenty of action, but every so often it would stop so our heroes or someone else could lecture on new-fangled things like refrigerators or hot air balloons. There would also be a short public service announcement after every episode.

None of the episodes were interconnected and the plots only lasted as long twenty minutes long. The music, consisting mostly of the famed William Tell Overture, was used to great effect. 

A DVD was released last year, but it only contains most of the series. A possible second volume would solve this, but with underperforming Long Ranger reboot it appears that would be very unlikely.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 25

Bride of the Monster (1956), dir. Ed Wood, Rolling M Productions

And now friends we come to the end of the horror movie countdown; what began with the silent era and moved into the sleazy grindhouse has now drawn its last bow. As we moved into directors we started with the masters of the genre, we now end with arguably the worst. Ed Wood was never in anyone’s top ten lists, but the man had determination. Nothing else, mind you, but he could at least be counted to show up on time and wear nice pants.

 

Mac (Bud Osborne) and Jake (John Warren) are out hunting when they get caught in a terrible use of stock footage. Seeking shelter at the old Willow place, they are surprised to learn the place isn’t as abandoned as they thought. Dr. Eric Vornoff (Bela Lugosi) orders the men away, but when they demand to be let in, Lobo (Tor Johnson) is summoned. Fleeing into the stormy night, Mac is promptly set upon by a mutant octopus and devoured. John is beaten up by Lobo and taken back to the house.

 

Once there, Dr. Vornoff straps John to a machine and informs him that he is about to take part in a great experiment…or else he’ll end up dead. Once John is pumped full of radiation, Lobo drags him back to the octopus for disposal.

 

The recent deaths have managed to motivate the local news, as reporter Janet Lawton (Loretta King) has it out with police captain Tom Robbins (Harvey B. Dunn), who orders her to stay out of police business. Janet’s boyfriend, Lt. Dick Craig (Tony McCoy) is put in a rough spot.

 

Enter Dr. Vladimir Strowsky (George Becwar), noted monster hunter, who claims that there might actually be a monster responsible for all the deaths. That’s enough for Janet, who drives out there and promptly wrecks her car. She is also dragged to Dr. Vornoff by Lobo. It seems Dr. Strowsky has a sinister motive too, as he is actually there to woo Dr. Vornoff to come work for their homeland. Dr. Vornoff is less than nostalgic and murders his former coworker. From there he hypnotizes Janet and plans to once again try with the radiation. The police, meanwhile, have figured out where Janet is and rush to her rescue. Will they make it in time?

 

Ed Wood does get a bad rap from the going public, but honestly? I would take this over Fart: The Movie any day, or anything by Michael Bay. The performances are less then stellar, and the octopus prop is noticeably that, but seeing actors pretending to fight with limp rubber limbs just makes my heart glad in ways bouncing CGI robot testicles don’t.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 24

The Last House of the Left (1972), dir. Wes Craven, Sean S. Cunningham Films

Easily on the nastiest films in this countdown, and one of the most infamous, Wes Craven’s debut began as a genuine roughie before being reworked into a rougher (yet still softer than the first draft) version of Ingmar Bergman’s the Virgin Spring.

 

 

Mari Collinwood (Sandra Cassell) is celebrating her 17^th birthday. She and her best friend Phyllis Stone (Lucy Grantham) are off to the big city to see a rock concert. Mari’s parents John (Gaylord St. James) and Estelle (Cynthia Carr) are concerned, especially about Phyllis, but in the end they relent.

 

Once they enter the city proper, both girls decide to buy some weed from the sleaziest fellow they can find, a smack addled no goodnik named Junior (Marc Sheffler). Junior lures them back to the rattrap hotel he’s crashing at with his dad, Krug Stillo (David Hess), Krug’s best buddy “the Weasel” Fred  Podowski (Fred J. Lincoln), and Krug’s best gal pal Sadie (Jeramie Rain). Krug and Weasel have just broken out of prison, and it seems they are up for anything.

 

Some time later, both Mari and Phyllis are roughly pulled from the trunk of Krug’s car. From there the girls are humiliated, raped, tortured, and finally killed. Car trouble forces Krug and company to seek shelter during a thunderstorm at the only house for miles, a quaint cottage with the name ‘Collinwood’ over the front door…

 

While the film’s reputation for utterly depravity is well earned, there are several missteps. After nearly every horrible thing Krug does the film then cuts to the wacky antics of the sheriff (Marshall Ankers) and his deputy (Martin Cove) as they bumble and scamper around. It kind of defeats the horror of it all when we go from a brutal rape to the sheriff yelling at chickens.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 23

Piranha (1978), dir. Joe Dante, New World Pictures

Moving ahead, we find one of the many graduates of Roger Corman’s school of cheap filmmaking. Joe Dante cut his teeth on the sometimes sleazy world of Hollywood, directing what Steven Spielberg would eventually call the finest of all Jaws rip-offs. 

 

Two teenagers, Barbara Randall (Jane Squire) and her boyfriend David (Roger Richman) are having a typical make-out session in the woods when they get the idea to continue their carnal questing deeper in the wooded area. Finding an abandoned Army testing ground, they decided to consummate their passion within the crumbling area. Ignoring the warning signs, they easily enter the area. Deciding a full moon skinny dip would set the proper mood before their little death, both are soon naked and splashing without care. Something then kills them both.

 

After some time has passed, private eye Maggie McKeown (Heather Menzies) has been hired to find the missing teens. She retraces their steps with the extremely reluctant help of local man Paul Grogan (Bradford Dillman), who takes time from his busy scheduling of drinking and trying to look after his hydrophobic daughter Suzie (Shannon Collins), who was recently dropped off a camp down the river. They follow the teen’s trail exactly and soon end up at the testing ground. When Maggie empties the pool to search it, all she finds a small pile of bones and Barbara’s locket; this action prompts a wild-eyed man to scream at them and try to steal Maggie’s jeep. One car wreck later the man identifies himself: Dr. Robert Hoak (Kevin McCarthy).

As the trip float down the river on a homemade raft, Dr. Hoak explains the reason for his outburst. It seems he was the head researcher of Project Razorteeth, an attempt by the military to breed an aggressive type of piranha capable of living in both salt and fresh water for use against the Viet Cong.  Maggie and Paul dismiss Hoak as crazy, at least until they find the remains of Jack (Keenan Wynn), Paul’s neighbor. His legs have been bitten off. Also, Jack’s house was in a straight line straight to the summer camp where Suzie is right now.

Paul, Maggie and a boy Hoak rescued before dying manage to escape the river and get word to the authorities, represented by Colonel Waxman (Bruce Gordon) and his aide, Dr. Menger (Barbara Steele). Neither the colonel nor the doctor wants the word of their screw up reaching the public, so Paul and Maggie end up in the slammer.

The piranhas, on the other hand, don’t care about public relations and plan on turning the summer camp into an all you eat buffet. Can our heroes stop them in time?

Remade and squeals aplenty, none compare to the first. Dante has enough humor and scares to balance everything out. Dick Miller as the cheapskate amusement park owner is a nice touch.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 22

It Conquered the World (1956), dir. Roger Corman, American International Pictures

Moving backwards slightly we go to the king of the low budget, Roger Corman. Corman, like Castle, had been a producer and used to low budgets. Deciding to direct, mostly to save on costs, It Conquered the World was his first horror film.

Dr. Paul Nelson (Peter Graves) is overseeing the launching of the first man made satellite. While the control room watches in rapt attention, Dr. Tom Anderson (Lee Van Cleef) is in another part of the base arguing against the launch. It seems all previously attempts have failed, because argues Anderson, the other planets in our system don’t want us polluting the skies with our special brand of aggressive lunacy. The higher ups refrain from laughing in his face, but they make it clear the launch is going ahead.

 

Three months later, Anderson and his wife Clara (Beverly Garland) are hosting Nelson and his wife Joan (Sally Fraser) over for dinner. Nelson is in a good mood, as the satellite is working perfectly and Anderson’s worries about annoyed aliens has obviously been proven false.  Anderson takes it in stride and proceeds to show Nelson his new hobby: A giant radio. He claims to be in contact with Venus. When Anderson points out that he can’t hear anything, a phone call from the base brakes up the awkward scene. It seems the satellite has just vanished.

 

From there things get crazy. The satellite crashes and the town surrounding the base lose all power. It seems Anderson was talking to Venus, or at least one surviving member of the planet. It, for lack of a better word, is quite keen on relocating to Earth. Anderson promised to help It after It promises to rid Earth of its stupidity. Anderson then gives a list of people it needs to convert, via flying manta ray puppets. The list includes most of the base’s higher ups and several civilians, including Nelson’s wife. After Nelson kills Joan, he and both Andersons decide that maybe this wasn’t such a hot idea and each go their own way in trying to kill It.

The actors save the movie, even if Graves is prone to making endless speeches. It, when we finally it, is less intimidating that the poster would have us believe. If one has to see it, stick with the version with Joel and the Bots.

 

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 21

Macabre (1958), dir. William Castle, Allied Artists

Moving ahead, we take a look at the man sometimes considered the low rent version of Hitchcock, William Castle.  With Macabre, Castle, no stranger to showmanship when it came to promoting his work, had a life insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London to insure any audience member who died of fright while watching the movie.

Doctor Rod Barrett (William Prince) is a small town doctor with a beautiful daughter and a struggling practice. After his wife died three years ago and his sister-in-law not soon after, Dr. Barrett’s former father –in-law Jode Wetherby (Phillip Tonge) has made it his hobby to ruin Barrett’s life and career. Town police Chief Jim Tyloe (Jim Backus) isn’t Barrett’s biggest fan, as he even he suspects Barrett of some degree of incompetence. Aside from that, everything seems more or less okay, except one day when he gets a phone call. It seems his daughter won’t be coming home. She’s tied up…inside a coffin with roughly five hours of air left.

From there it is a frantic race against time. Barrett desperately tries to follow the stranger’s instructions while Chief Tyloe tries to go through the suspects, which quickly expands to include nearly everyone in town.

As a mystery goes, Castle is a genius. The crime is set up early with a clear deadline in reach. The stranger is kept mysterious enough that anyone is a suspect. The film waffles a bit near the end, as once the stranger is revealed, the typical reaction is “wait, what? Then why did that character act like that?”

 

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 20

The Lodger (1926), dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Woolf & Freedman Film Services

While the countdown continues we turn our focus to the first horror films directed by the famed and the infamous. The first one is also the earliest made and was directed by one called the master of suspense: Alfred Hitchcock. This was also the first film Hitchcock appeared in a cameo.

 

On the fog covered streets of London, a masked killer calling himself the Avenger is murdering blond women with curly hair on Tuesdays. Daisy Bunting (June Tripp), a showgirl with curly blond hair, is a bit spooked by the deaths, as is her policeman boyfriend Joe (Malcolm Keen). Her parents (Marie Ault and Arthur Chesney) are concerned too, but their finical worries are concerns too. They decided to rent their attic out to a nice young man named Jonathan Drew (Ivor Novello). Drew is charming, witty, and utterly taken with the Buntings and their daughter. He also makes a habit of walking the streets on Tuesday nights with his face covered, demands that paintings and photos of blond woman with curly hair be removed from his sight, and his only luggage is a satchel containing a gun and map, a map marked with every single location of the Avenger’s victims.

Surely Joe is simply jealous when he starts to suspect Drew is the Avenger? Eve can’t believe Joe’s arguments, especially when he gets assigned the Avenger case. When Joe serves a warrant on the Bunting house and finds the aforementioned items, as well as several pictures of the Avenger’s first victim, Joe is more than convinced. Can Drew prove his innocence? Will Daisy believe him?

 

The hallmarks of the Hitchcock’s style are evident even here, with plenty of camera tricks to keep the viewer guessing. Hitchcock’s disdain for the authority is evident even here as well. Surprising, Hitchcock rarely uses title cards, letting the audience follow the story through the performers and their body movements.  As it is a silent film, this does present a challenge at times, but it is worth it to see the first steps towards Psycho and the Birds.

 

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 19

The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (1935) dir. Dennison Clift, Hammer Film Productions

 

 

Ending the Hammer section of 2013, we go back to the 1930’s and Hammer’s first horror film, also starring Bela Lugosi. Hammer was just starting out as a film studio at this point, so the standard Hammer tropes were not yet in place.

Two captains are the main characters. Captain Briggs (Arthur Margretson) and Captain Morehead (Clifford McLaglen) are best friends, but when Morehead introduces his girlfriend Sarah (Shirley Gray) to his friend, things get complicated when Sarah decides she likes Briggs more than Morehead and dumps the captain. Briggs makes it clear he’s going to marry Sara no matter what Briggs feels, and his ship is a bit understaffed so if Briggs could spare him some sailors he’ll make sure he gets a good seat at the wedding.

Morehead sends him one, Volkerk Grot (Herbert Cameron) who has orders to sabotage the ship. Briggs manages to find one sailor on his own, Anton Lorenzen (Lugosi), who is clearly troubled. The voyage is troubled from the start, as the crew is disappearing one by one. A murderer is on board, but who could it be? Lorenzen seems the most obvious suspect, as he easily dispatches a crewman who puts the move on Sarah, but his crying fit after the fact doesn’t seem paint him as the cold blooded killer that is still whittling down the crew.

Who is the killer? As far as murder mysteries go, this isn’t going to give Sherlock Holmes a run for his money. The film was also released in America as the Phantom Ship, with nearly eighteen minutes cut. Lugosi gives it his best, but the rest of the film simply drags everyone else down.

 

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 18

The Vampire Lovers (1970) dir. Roy Ward Baker, Hammer Film Productions/American International Pictures

The 1970’s were not a kind decade to Hammer. The Frankenstein and Dracula series were both running on fumes, and Christopher Lee’s increasing refusal to play another vampire kicked off a sense of desperation that is almost palatable. Desperation can drive some people to do many things, a film studio more so. Hammer decided to roll the dice on another vampire picture, the difference being the idea came from outside the studio.

In 1794, the Baron Joachim von Hartog (Douglas Wilmer) tracks and kills the vampire who murdered his sister. He then spends a great deal of time digging up the cemetery around the vampire’s lair, staking any corpse he can find.

Sadly not all vampires sleep in coffins, as some time later the Countess Karnstein (Dawn Adams) is arriving at the home of General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing). She arrives unannounced at a party the general is throwing with her daughter Marcilla (Ingrid Pitt). The two are welcomed, especially by the male partygoers. All save the general’s servant Carl (Jon Finch), who only loves the general’s niece Laura (Pippa Steele). Marcilla seems to be fond of Laura equally, spending almost all the time with her. When word reaches the Countess that a relative has died and that her presence is urgently required, the Countess asks if the general could keep Marcilla for a few days, as the girl’s frail constitution would be in danger by the long trek back through the mountains. The general would be delighted, as would Laura, but Carl senses something off about the two women.

 

Almost at once Laura begins to take ill, wasting away and claiming nightmares where something evil is attacking her. Soon Laura dies, with two strange marks on her neck. Marcilla vanishes, but some time later, on the estate of Roger Morton (George Cole), a carriage crashes. Inside are the Countess and Marcilla, only now the Countess is passing her off as her niece Camilla. The Countess claims to be in a hurry due to a family death and her niece’s ill health having delayed her travel plans. Morton’s daughter Emma (Madeline Smith) is rather taken with Camilla, however, and insists the Countess’s niece stay with them until she can get her affairs in order. Soon Emma begins to fall ill, claiming to being attacked in the night. The town doctor (Ferdy Mayne) can’t help but notice the similarity in both cases and soon the General is notified. He sends word to the baron, who is older now but still ready to fight vampires. Sadly their search will force them to leave Emma behind with two vampires on the prowl…

This was truly a marked departure for Hammer, in both good and bad. The idea was actually the brainchild of Tudor Gates, Harry Fine, and Michael Style, who took the idea to Hammer. For Hammer, sadly, the concept of seeking outside their studio for ideas would prove to a fluke. For the rest of the decade the higher-ups insisted on rehashing the old sets and actors, an idea that would prove disastrous in the long run.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 17

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) dir. Terrence Fisher, Hammer Film Productions

By this point in time Hammer Studios was on a roll. With Fisher as their main director and the two powerhouse talents of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, there was nothing stopping them save themselves. Still working in the horror genre, they instead moved into what is now considered gothic horror.

 

Some time ago, Sir Hugo of Baskerville Hall (David Oxley) was entertaining his friends by torturing a servant. The servant incurred Sir Hugo’s wraith by asking the man to reconsider forcibly having sex with his younger daughter. The daughter, upon hearing her father’s cries, opts to escape the Hall and flees to the moor.

Sir Hugo, not to be denied anything, gathers his men, horses, and dogs to go on what he charmingly calls a nighttime hunt. As the group pursues the girl, each man and dog is frightened off by the cries of something monstrous on the fog enshrouded moor, to the point where only Sir Hugo remains. He finds the girl in the ruins of an old abbey and murders her. He doesn’t have long to relish the sight, however, as a hellish beast springs from the fog and rips him apart. Ever since then, no Baskerville is safe upon the moor.

Skipping ahead to the then present day of 1899, Dr. Mortimer (Francis de Wolff) is recapping the story to Sherlock Holmes (Cushing) and Dr. John Watson (Andre Morell). It seems Dr. Mortimer’s close friend Sir Charles Baskerville died under odd circumstances, being found dead of a heart attack on the moor, large paw prints around him. Dr. Mortimer insists that Sir Charles was murdered and wishes to hire Holmes to protect the new owner of Baskerville Hall, Sir Charles’s distant relative Sir Henry (Lee) who recently arrived and is staying in London currently. Holmes considers the matter unimportant, but upon meeting Sir Henry is barely in time to save him from a deadly spider that somehow got into his boot.

 

Upon arriving at Baskerville Hall, seemingly everyone within twenty miles has reason to do Sir Henry in; there’s the Hall’s servants Barrymore and his wife (John Le Mesurier and Helen Goss) who seem oddly hostile to their new boss, there’s the Hall’s only neighbors the Stapletons, the father (Ewen Solon) and his daughter Cecile (Marla Landi), who seem to despise Sir Henry on sight. Then there is the bishop (Miles Malleson) who collects poisonous spiders as a hobby, leaving us the question of who isn’t trying to kill Sir Henry?

The film does take some liberty with the source material, but Fisher manages to make everything work. Cushing would later go on to play Holmes again for another series on the BBC, but this outing would be the last time Hammer did a Holmes story. Which a great shame, as evidenced here Hammer knew how to craft a perfectly decent atmosphere.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 16

Four-Sided Triangle (1953), dir. Terrence Fisher, Hammer Film Productions

Moving back in the Hammer library, we go to what is considered their first foray into the genre of mad science. With Fisher at the helm and a story based on the novel by William F. Temple, the story showed some of the same themes would pop up in their Frankenstein series.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 15

The Mummy (1959), dir. Terrence Fisher, Hammer Film Productions

With Frankenstein and Dracula proven hits, the Mummy seemed the next Universal Monster to remake. With Fisher directing the returning Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, Hammer set out to make a Mummy film, but not simply to rehash the same story as the Universal film, but taking sections from all the Universal films and mixing them together to form a new story.

 

In 1895, the Banning brothers Stephan (Felix Alymer) and Joseph (Raymond Huntley), along with Stephan’s son John (Cushing) have discovered the long lost tomb of the Princess Ananka. While opening the tomb, a well-dressed man (George Pastell) appears and tries to be a halt to the work, claiming a curse.

Stephan laughs the man off and enters the tomb anyway. Marveling at the treasure, especially the previously thought to be a myth Scroll of Life, Stephan sends Joseph out to inform John of the treasures. Moments later, however, Joseph rushes back inside as Stephan is now sprawled across the floor, rambling.

 

Three years later, John visits his father in the local asylum. Having finally come out of his state, Stephan informs John that he didn’t suffer a stroke, but rather a severe state of shock. After reading aloud from the Scroll of Life he accidentally brought a mummy back to life. A mummy he is sure will come for all of them. John is skeptical.

Stephan is right, as the well-dressed man, now identified as Mehmed Akham, arrives in the countryside with a large box. A box that is sadly lost in the bog that borders the asylum. Akham reads aloud from the Scroll of Life and Kharis (Lee) rises from the muck. It seems some thousands of years ago, Kharis was the high priest of Karnack. When the princess Ananka died, he attempted to bring her back using the Scroll of Life. He was caught at the last minute and buried alive, cursed to stand guard over the princess for all time.

 

From there things progress the usual way in a mummy film. John’s wife Isobel (Yvonne Furneaux) naturally has a strong resemblance to the princess and this is brought up more than once. Lee manages to emote purely through his eyes and keeps the pace with Cushing evenly.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 14

Horror of Dracula (1958), dir. Terrence Fisher, Hammer Film Productions

With the Curse of Frankenstein winning both praise and condemnation, and more importantly money, Hammer opted to repeat the formula. With Fisher as director and the team of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as leads, the next logical horror franchise to go after would be Dracula.

The film begins much the same as Stoker’s novel, but the beginnings are about the only things the two works have in common. Jonathan Harker (John Van Eyssen) arrives at the remote castle home of Count Dracula (Christopher Lee) after spending a night in a village filled with terrified villagers. The count isn’t present, but Harker makes himself at home, as we learn that he has been hired to catalogue the castle’s library.

Things are a miss though, as that evening Harker is approached by a strange woman (Valerie Gaunt) who begs him to help her. Before Harker can do anything, Count Dracula arrives. He’s charming and cordial as he escorts Harker upstairs, but we learn something about Harker. It seems he’s really to kill the Count, for reason that soon become obvious.

 

The strange woman appears again. When Harker goes to comfort her, she opens her mouth to reveal fangs. She bites him as Dracula reappears, his eyes red and his mouth bloody. He slaps the woman away and knocks Harker out. When the doomed librarian wakes up, it’s nearly dark. He notices the two fresh wounds on his neck and rushes though the castle. He finds the hidden crypt and two coffins. Opening the first one, he finds the strange woman asleep in a bed of dirt. He stakes her in a bloody fashion, but when he opens the count’s coffin, it’s empty. Dracula, however, arrives seconds later and he’s not happy.

Later, Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) arrives at the same village. He was the one who sent Harker on his doomed mission. The villagers are just as helpful to Van Helsing as they were to Harker, but the inn keeper’s daughter finally screws up enough courage to point Van Helsing the way to the castle and  give him Harker’s journal. Van Helsing arrives at the castle in time to see a hearse loaded with a coffin galloping away. Ignoring that, he explores the castle, finding the remains of Harker’s handiwork and an empty picture frame that Van Helsing recognizes as formerly containing a picture of Harker’s fiancée’s Lucy Holmwood (Carol Marsh). He also finds Harker, now a vampire.

A quick staking later, Van Helsing races back to Austria to inform Lucy and her brother Arthur (Michael Gough) of the news. Lucy takes the news badly, as does Arthur’s wife Mina (Melissa Stribling). When Lucy starts showing signs of a strange wasting sickness and has two fresh wounds on her neck, Van Helsing springs into action. She dies three days later.

When Lucy starts hanging around the home, Arthur finally believes Van Helsing and they start hunting for Dracula.

While there is plenty of excitement, and a climax that sets the bar rather high for vampire films, the entire story is extremely dependent on coincidence and Lee is utterly wasted in a role that barely has ten lines and almost as much screen time. Cushing saves the film, however, as his Van Helsing is better than Edward Van Sloan in almost every way of measuring.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 13

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), dir. Terrence Fisher, Hammer Film Productions

Here the focus changes. Moving ahead a decade or so, we head across the Atlantic to the famed Hammer Films studio. While the studio had been in business almost as long as Universal by 1957, they were best known for their comedies and mysteries. Moving into horror, specifically Gothic horror, was a decision that would shape the studio’s direction for the next twenty years.

 

Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) sits in a prison cell. He pleads with a priest (Alex Gallier) to believe his story. The priest promises nothing but from there we go into a flashback. When Victor was a teenager, his mother died. Left with the Frankenstein title and fortune, Victor hires tutor Paul Kemp (Robert Urquhart) to teach him science. Victor proves to be an apt pupil and soon Victor and Paul are more equals rather than teacher and student. Their objective: Restoring life to dead tissue. Despite their success with bringing a dead puppy back to life, Victor wants more. He wants to create life fresh rather than mess around with something already born.

Paul, despite his increasing misgivings, goes along with Victor. Things get complicated with Victor’s cousin and betrothed Elizabeth (Hazel Court) arrives. Victor apparently forgot about her, as well as forgetting to mention his engagement to his maid Justine (Valerie Gaunt). Paul grows increasing worried at Victor’s progress with his creature and his treatment of the two women. By this point all Victor lacks is a brain.

When a visiting scientist spends the night, Victor arranges an accident and has the man interred in the family crypt. When Paul finally screws up enough courage to confront Victor, the brain is damaged. Undeterred, Victor goes ahead with his experiment. The Creature (Christopher Lee), however, is not the perfect specimen that Victor had hope for; indeed its barely controlled rage ends up racking a good sized body count before Paul swears to stop his former pupil.

Cushing and Lee, usually so dynamic in their other onscreen pairings seems oddly mismatched here. While the film focuses on the man rather than the monster; a novel approach and a good way to distance itself from Universal, here Lee’s Creature hardly does anything aside from kill a few people and grunt. Lee’s face isn’t as covered up, yet he might as well be wearing a stocking over his face. Cushing steals the show though, as his Frankenstein is both daring and an utter bastard to boot.

 

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 12

Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), dir. Robert Florey, Universal Pictures

Edgar Allan Poe was easily one of the most influential American authors, both in horror, mystery, and even science fiction. Adaptations of his work, however, have lacked that certain something that made his works of fiction so spellbinding. Murders in the Rue Morgue was not only the first mystery story ever written, but here it was the first film version of a Poe story for Universal.

This version begins with Camille L’Espanaye (Sidney Fox), her med school boyfriend Dupin (Leon Waycoff), comic relief Paul (Bert Roach), and Paul’s date Mignette (Edna Marrion) visiting a circus. They venture off the midway and find the tent of Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi). Mirakle showcases his ape Eric (played both a real chimpanzee in long shots and a fake looking costume for close ups).

What does Mirakle promise for the price of admission? To hear an ape talk! Yes, it seems that Mirakle found Eric within the deepest part of Africa and learned the language of the apes. From there Mirakle lectures the crowd and how he feels that apes and man share a kinship and Mirakle plans to prove it. The crowd is less than believing, but Camille is fascinated by the man and his monkey. Mirakle is interested too, and nearly gets her address when Dupin puts a stop to it.

Undaunted, Mirakle finds a prostitute later that night and ties her to a table in his lab. He injects her with Eric’s blood. The end result is one dead woman and one irate researcher. Mirakle blames the failure on the woman, swearing he must have pure blood in order to succeed. He orders his assistant Janos (Noble Johnson) to dump the body like the others.

Janos fails to properly dispose of the corpse, as it is fished from the waters not long after he leaves. The police are baffled, but Dupin is interested. Aside from being a med student he also dabbles in crime solving. Taking a blood sample from the dead woman, he deduces that a foreign agent in her blood was the cause of death.

Mirakle succeeds in finding Camille’s address and tries to lure her back to the circus, but Dupin goes instead, driving the mad doctor to send Eric to Camille’s address instead. From there the film plays rather faithful to the story, albeit ending with a scene straight out of King Kong. 

Lugosi is in fine form, even when his dialogue is hammy enough to be declared non-kosher. The subsequent Poe films, however, would make little to no effort to even try to be as faithful to the works. From here we leave the black and white world Universal and head back the Old Country, filled with gothic castles, misty moors, and glorious color. Hammer Studios will strike next.  

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 11

The Invisible Man (1933), dir. James Whale, Universal Pictures

Based on H.G. Well’s 1897 classic novel, the Invisible Man was a special effect masterpiece when it opened. Whale again directed the Universal cast, this time holding back on the comedy for a few small parts. We open on a cold winter evening as a man, dressed in not only a heavy coat but face concealing bandages and dark glasses, stumbles through the snow to a small inn in the English countryside.

The man roughly orders a room and demands that he be left alone. The man, Jack Griffin (Claude Rains), has a reason for wishing solitude: he’s invisible. A fact the townspeople soon discover after trying to evict Griffin from his room after a time. Word of an invisible man spreads and soon the countryside is in a panic.

This isn’t unnoticed by Griffin’s friends. His sweetheart Flora (Gloria Stuart), her father Dr. Cranley (Henry Travers), and Griffin’s coworker Dr. Kemp (William Harrigan) hear the news and start worrying. Kemp and Cranley find reason to worry, as they discover in Griffin’s notes a reference to a substance called monocaine, a bleaching agent that not only removes all color from whatever it comes in contact with, but also produces madness. Kemp is also trying to worm his way into Flora’s heart at the same time.

Things go south quickly, as Kemp later discovers Griffin in his study. An invisible maniac is not someone you want cross with you. Griffin states his goal was at first to see if he could make something invisible, but now? He wants to rule the Earth. Kemp manages to contact the Cranley’s and the police, a fact that Griffin won’t forget later. From there Griffin unleashes his fury against the world with murder, theft, and wholesale destruction.

Rains as Griffin sells the film better than anything. Another actor might have played it campy or flat, but Rains injects a sense of menace in Griffin that makes his acts very believable. Whale still insists on casting some of his regulars, but he at least has the decency to rein them in, Una O’Connor especially. 

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 10

The Mummy (1932), dir. Karl Freund, Universal Pictures

Ten years before the Mummy hit theaters, America was in a pop culture obsession with Ancient Egypt. The tomb of King Tut has been discovered, and the boy king’s remains quickly sparked off an almost cottage industry dealing with mummies. Curses, especially, became a focal part.

We open in 1922 with a dig in the Egyptian desert. Dr. Joseph Whemple (Arthur Bryan) and his partner Dr. Muller (Edward Van Sloan) have unearthed the tomb of the infamous Imhotep. What makes Imhotep so infamous? Neither man is certain, but the fact that Imhotep’s coffin was desecrated before the tomb was sealed, as well as the traditional hieroglyphics used to usher safe passage to the other side were removed does not say much about Imhotep’s popularity when he was alive. The tomb also contains the Scroll of Thoth, a legendary artifact as well as a curse, promising death and madness to whoever opens the tomb.

Whemple’s assistant translates the scroll and goes mad as Imhotep’s body disappears. Ten years later, Whemple’s son Frank (David Manners) is attempting to follow in his father’s footsteps. To date, he has had no luck, but a chance encounter with an ancient looking fellow named Ardeth Bay (Boris Karloff) seems to be a sign that his luck is changing. Bay shows Frank a relic from the tomb of the Princess Ankh-es-en-Amon, a tomb that has never been discovered and promises to be filled with treasure. Frank follows the old man’s advice and soon enough he’s the talk of Cairo.

While the artifacts are at the museum, Bay waits until closing to begin a strange ceremony. Interrupted, he flees, but not before killing a guard. At the same time, Dr. Muller’s niece Helen (Zita Johnson) goes into a trance and tries to force her way into the museum. She passes out into Frank’s arms as Bay flees. Taking her back to his home, the two doctors and Frank try to determine what is going on when Bay shows up.

Bay makes his intentions known. One confrontation later, and the elder Whemple is laid low with a stroke induced by Bay. We also learn what was suggested by the poster: Bay is in fact Imhotep, cursed. From there Frank, Helen, and Muller try to stop Bay’s plan.

Honestly, this might be the first film to have the ‘character is the reincarnated soul of the monster’s past love’ plot that now seems inexorably tied with the Dracula franchise. The title is a bit misleading, as Bay spends most of the film in clothes rather than bandages. Helen’s role is surprising, as she does a great deal of work to save herself rather than waiting for Frank to save her.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 9

Werewolf of London (1935), dir. Stuart Walker, Universal Pictures

Here is a real historical treat. Not only the first Universal Picture to deal with a werewolf, but also the first sound one to boot. Much of popular werewolf mythology hadn’t been established by this point, so there are some elements that stick out.

We open in a remote area of Tibet. Botanist Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) is searching for a rare flower that only grows in moonlight. Problems arise however, as the natives refuse to enter the valley where the flower grows, claiming it is a place of evil demons and spirits. A local missionary tries to warn Glendon away, but the Englishman is insistent. Even when his assistant becomes stuck to a wall for no explained reason, Glendon pushes forward. He manages to find the flower, but a strange hairy creature attacks him, clawing his arm.

Despite the injury, Glendon takes the planet back to England where his neglected wife Lisa (Valerie Hobson) hosts a party in his honor. Among the guests are Captain Paul Ames (Lester Matthews) a childhood friend of Lisa who still harbors feelings for her and Glendon’s Aunt Ettie (Spring Byrington), who seems to be trying to set Lisa up with Paul.

Uninvited yet attending is a strange man named Dr. Yogami (Werner Oskland) who claims to have run into Glendon in Tibet, yet Glendon claims no memory of the encounter. Yogami is also looking for the same flower Glendon was, yet his samples died. The man is desperate to see Glendon’s samples, claiming the flower is the only known cure for lycanthropy (called lycanthrophobia here, which makes some degree of sense, but still…). Glendon orders the man out, but later while working a lamp that duplicates the effects of the full moon, Glendon reacts with horror as his exposed hand suddenly turns into a claw. Quickly poking himself with a bud from the flower reverses the effect, but he notes with horror that the real full moon is tomorrow night.

Things grow worse when someone breaks into his greenhouse later and steals all the viable buds. The moon brings out a change in Glendon and London is about meet some hairy handed gents.

A funny aside, makeup artist Jack Pierce’s original werewolf FX was rejected as being too cumbersome. Pierce kept the ideas and later used them in the later film the Wolf Man. Like many films from the period, the film undercuts the scares with comic relief, usually in the form of Aunt Ettie. Depending on your preference these interruptions either help things along or drag the story to a standstill, but the story is still compelling. Hull’s Glendon is also interesting as Hull plays him as a prickly and smug ass with contempt for seemingly everyone who dares get in his line of vision. If you ignore the rules set down by other films, one could enjoy the film on its own merits.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 8

Frankenstein (1931), dir. James Whale, Universal Pictures

 

With Dracula earning record profits, Universal opted to cash in on the horror craze with another adaptation of a classic novel, this time going with Mary Shelly’s magnum opus. We open with Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) and his hunchbacked assistant Fritz (Dwight Frye) watching a funeral. Digging the corpse up, Frankenstein explains why he needs body as they try to steal another corpse hanging from a nearby gallows. It seems Frankenstein wants to create life and he needs raw material, most specifically a brain.

Fritz sneaks into the lab of Dr. Walderman (Edward Van Sloan) to steal the brain of a genius. Thanks to a mysterious gong ringing, however, Fritz is now one brain less, so he steals the one marked ‘abnormal’, a fact he fails to mention to Frankenstein.

Of course none of this exists in a vacuum. Henry’s fiancé Elizabeth (Mae Clarke) and his best friend Victor (John Boles) haven’t seen Henry in weeks. Henry’s father, the Baron Frankenstein (Fredrick Kerr) is convinced Henry is making time with a mistress in the ancient watchtower he’s residing in, but when the three confront Dr. Walderman and are shocked to learn that Henry dropped out of school some time before. The now foursome heads off to the watchtower to see what Henry is really up to and why he needs to be working in the middle of a terrific thunderstorm…

 

What happens next has been referenced and parodied so much a review is almost pointless. The Monster (Boris Karloff) rises and makes use of the criminal brain given him, coupled with abandonment by Henry and the torture by Fritz, a showdown between man and maker in an old windmill again leaves us with an iconic image.

 

Frankenstein as a film still has some issues. The cast either overacts or underreacts, sometimes within the same scene, plus the script is dependent on many character acting like total boobs (holding the idiot ball, to use some modern slang). The scene where the Monster breaks into Frankenstein’s house during the wedding is a prime example. Whale does a better job than Browning, borrowing heavily from German expressionists in use of set and visual design. The Monster’s iconic image and Karloff’s portrayal help raise the film’s weaker aspects.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 7

Dracula (1931), dir. Tod Browning, Universal Pictures

 

Considered by some to be the first ‘proper’ Universal Horror film, or at least the first to establish some popular elements of the genre, the film was a landmark when it opened in 1931. The first vampire film with sound set the tone for many other bloodsuckers to follow.

 

We open with real estate agent Renfield (Dwight Frye) bouncing along in a horse driven coach in the Carpathian Mountains. When the coach stops at a local inn, Renfield horrifies the innkeeper when he mentions his final destination. The utterance of the words “Castle Dracula” sends the innkeeper and the guests into a panic, which Renfield dismisses as superstition.

Meanwhile, at Castle Dracula, Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), his brides, along with the rare Transylvanian armadillo and bumblebee wake from their coffins. Dracula silently moves up the stairs and into the outside. While at the Borgo Pass, Renfield is thrown from his coach along with his bags. Before he can protest, another coach arrives from the castle. The driver, however, is totally silent and bares more than a passing resemblance to the Count. The driver disappears when the coach arrives at the castle, but before Renfield can question this, Count Dracula himself makes an appearance.

Things go downhill from there. Renfield ends up utterly insane, the ship Vesta ends up crashed and the crew dead, and Dracula moves into Carfax Abby, which happens to be next door to the Seward Sanitarium, run by Dr. Seward (Herbert Bunston). Things go amiss and soon Mina Seward (Helen Chandler)’s best friend Lucy (Frances Dade) has died of a strange disease. Even Seward’s old friend Dr. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) seems puzzled by the deaths of Lucy and the crew of the Vestra, until he meets with the Count, and then a picture begins to form…

From a 1930’s standpoint, this film must have been amazing. Before, most movie monsters had to be unmasked as madmen or imposters by the final reel. Here, make no bones about it, Dracula is a real vampire. How does the film hold up from a 21^st Century perspective? Not that a great; Frye’s Renfield has two moods: Englishman who scoffs at everything or rubber faced lunatic. Lugosi’s Dracula, on the other hand, was a career defining role for good and bad. Lugosi never managed to shake Dracula (or Frye Renfield for that matter), but here he is charming and urbane with only hints of a darkness underneath the surface. He never overacts, unlike the rest of the cast. According to rumors, Browning was fired halfway through filming and replaced with Karl Freund, which might account for the spooky atmosphere being sucked out and replaced with drawing room melodrama with Cockney accented orderlies.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 6

The Cat and the Canary (1927), dir. Paul Leni, Universal Pictures

With this we move into another genre of horror. We’ve seen madmen, vampires, Frankenstein, but now we see a little used aspect of horror: Old Dark House movies. Not the first film to use this setting; that honor would go to 1926’s the Bat, but this is first Universal film to use the aspect and the first Universal Horror film to be remade, a total of five time as of this writing.

We open on a darkened house. The owner, Cyrus West, has finally died after fighting tooth and claw clinging to life. Cyrus, however, hated his family more than he hated dying. Twenty years ago he wrote the particulars in his will to be opened twenty years to the day of his death. The old manor has thus been empty, save for the housekeeper Mammy Pleasant (Martha Mattox) and, according to her, Cyrus’s ghost.

Roger Crosby (Tully Marshall), Cyrus’s lawyer, arrives to go through the paperwork, but while doing so he makes a disturbing discovery. It seems the safe, which the sealed envelopes were kept, has clearly been opened before he arrived.

Before he can delve further into the mystery, Cyrus’s relatives arrive. After seeing them on screen for more than a minute, one can understand why Cyrus wanted to disown them. The last to arrive is Annabelle West (Laura La Plante),a flapper who happens to be Cyrus’s niece. She is also the sole inheritor of his entire fortune and estates, provided she is judged to be of sound mind. Of course, if she is proven to be of unsound mind…then the fortune would go to the next in line…

Not a bad story and the house is almost a more compelling character than some of the characters. The habit of having a comedic relief character show up after anything vaguely scary wears thin fast and this trope will unfortunately be played to near death in the upcoming reviews.

Horro Film countdown 2013, part 5

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912), dir. Lucius Henderson, Thanhouser Company.

While not the first film adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famed story, this is the oldest surviving copy. Like other films from the time period, its short running time doesn’t leave much to be discussed. We open with Dr. Jekyll (James Cruze) experimenting in his lab.

The experiment works in a stunning use of special effects, turning the white haired Jekyll into the younger yet monstrous Mr. Hyde (also Cruze, but played in a few scenes by Henry Benham). Jekyll later reverts back to his normal self and continues to woo the local minister’s daughter. From there Jekyll finds himself turning into his hideous alter ego at random, culminating in the murder of his future father-in-law.

Not an awful version, but the Hyde make-up comes across as more goofy than gruesome. Also, and while I can’t talk about the earlier version, this film continues the adaptation habit of giving Dr. Jekyll a love interest, who ends up doing very little in the overall story, but this was a trend that started with the stage productions so it is understandable here. Worth a viewing from a historical perspective, but that’s about all.

Horror Film countdown 2013, part 4

Frankenstein (1910), dir. James Searle Dawley, Edison Manufacturing Company

 

 

 

The first adaptation of Mary Shelly’s famed novel sets the bar. Not very high, mind you, as the film is barely twelve minutes, but it does adhere closer to the story than some of the better known versions. Ignoring Edison’s utter bastardy behavior for the next few minutes, how does the film hold up?

 

Frankenstein (Augustus Phillips), leaves for college and within two years has discovered the secrets behind life and death. He writes to his fiancée Elizabeth (Mary Fuller) boasting that he intends to create the perfect man. What he gets is the misshapen and downright hideous Creature (Charles Ogle). Frankenstein freaks out and the Creature escapes. The Creature, as angered at his appearance as his maker, swears vengeance on his maker.

 

As I said, the film is very short. The special effects are decent for the time period, and the monster looks gruesome even today. The Monster’s motivation plays out a little different as well, focusing on his jealously at his maker. It is worth a viewing at the very least from a historical perspective.