Tower of Evil

This week's entry is:

Tower of Evil (1972).

Also known as Horror on Snape Island and Beyond the Fog, this delightful horror movie is directed by Jim O'Connolly and stars Bryant Haliday, Jill Haworth. Mark Edwards, Jack Watson, Anna Polk and Derek Fowlds amongst others. The name that stuck out the most is Derek Fowlds who is most known for playing Bernard Woolley in Yes Minister/ Prime Minister.

First off, an epilepsy warning. There are a few scenes with strong flashing lights and you may need to be careful if you are sensitive.

The story is this; a group of young Americans are found murdered on Snape Island, a grim and lonely place that even the seagulls avoid. The only survivor is obviously the main suspect but she is completely catatonic from whatever horror befell them. One of the victims was killed with an ancient Phoenician spear made from gold. Such a find on a British island causes quite a stir and an expedition is put together to see if they can discover more. Of course, this being a horror movie you can probably guess that a lot of horrible stuff follows, and you'd be right.

Tower of Evil is a surprisingly slick little horror movie. Apart from one scene it is completely shot in a studio and although it shows, it didn't detract from the experience. The entire island and its decrepit lighthouse is already such an unbelievable place that it didn't bother me to see how clearly it is a set piece.

The actors are good, most of them veterans of British TV and film, although many weren't veterans yet. The music is also fine and the movie itself is pretty stylishly shot. Beyond a couple of plot holes, I have no complaints about this movie. There was a scene or two that I thought were screw-ups at first but they made sense upon further reflection. For my money though, it's the beginning that really sold me on this movie. It is really one of the best openers in horror movie history in my book. Not the best, no, but up there. Sadly I can't go into more detail, but I won't spoil this film.

There are several scenes with grisly gore and quite a bit of nudity, so adjust your watching companions accordingly.

So, do I recommend this movie? If you couldn't tell, then yes, absolutely. Overall it is a product of the 70's. It's not really all that scary, not by today's standard and the fashion and the haircuts are something else, but for a low budget horror movie it does a good job. Any fan of older horror movies do need to see Tower of Evil, but do keep your expectations in check and you'll have a good time. They didn't try to reinvent the wheel and as a result they got a solid piece of work and sometimes that is all you need. 

 

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

 

The Whip and the Body

I jumped into vintage horror and watched:

The Whip and the Body (1963)

Directed by Mario Bava and starring Christopher Lee, Daliah Lavi, Tony Kendall, Evelyn Stewart and a couple of others. I do mean only a few others as the cast is very small, not that it is in any way a complaint.

Before watching this movie I was given a warning and I'm paying it forward; Christopher Lee is dubbed. Let me explain. Back in the day, all Italian movies were recorded without dialogue, as they were all dubbed later on in a sound studio. Lee may have been unaware of this, as he had returned home to Switzerland by the time the movie wrapped. He regretted that he couldn't do his own voice as he considered The Whip and the Body to be one of his better movies of that period. Since I was prepared, I could enjoy the movie, so be warned. The voice they used, that of Dan Sturkie, is good, but Lee had a great voice and it is a shame that you can't enjoy it here.

On to the plot. IMDB tells us this:

The ghost of a sadistic nobleman attempts to rekindle his romance with his terrorized, masochistic former lover, who is unwillingly engaged to his brother.

Now this is a minor spoiler and somewhat erroneous as the former lover is in fact married to the brother, and there is some rough rekindling before anyone even becomes a ghost. In essence The Whip and the Body and is a mix of a whodunit and a ghost story. Lee plays Kurt Menliff the oldest son of Count Menliff. One evening he returns to his ancestral home and receives a cold welcome. He wastes no time showing everyone why he had to leave home to begin with, and in the process, people are murdered, ghosts roam the night with muddy boots and unhappy hearts vie with dark lusts. That is all I can tell without going into deep spoiler territory.

Seeing as this is a Mario Bava film, I wasn't surprised that is wonderfully well shot. From beginning to end it is a Gothic love letter. The locations, the clothes, the sounds... everything is on point for a 60's horror movie. If I hadn't known it was directed by Bava, I would have sworn it was made by Roger Corman. He made most of his movies in the same color palette as The Whip and the Body, and he knew his Gothic horror extremely well.

The actors are good, particularly Christopher Lee (of course), and I have no technical complaints. The story is a slight cut above the usual fare, and even though I guessed the ending, it was a good ride from the beginning to the end. The Whip and the Body is tricky to talk about since I don't want to spoil anything, but the name is a clue and anyone with a sensitivity to people being whipped, should probably be careful

So, do I recommend this? Yes, without a doubt. If you hate old movies, sure go ahead and skip it, but any fan of old cinema and Gothic horror in particular, will likely love it. I did.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great and safe week!

 

Climbing the Greasy Pole

This weeks movie is an Italian crime drama called:

The Climber (1975).

Originally titled L'ambizioso and directed by Pasquale Squitieri, who also co-wrote it with Carlo Rivolta. It stars Joe Dallesandro as Aldo, the climber and Stefania Casini who also starred in The Bloodstained Shadow and Suspiria.

Minor Spoilers ahead.

The movie opens with Aldo, a low level American thug, living in Naples selling smuggled cigarettes on behalf of a gangster crew. They are however tired of Aldo's loud and reckless ways and so they beat him and throw him out of town. Brusied and broke, he begs a ride from Luciana (Casini) who drives him to Rome and lets him stay with her. They start a relationship as Aldo starts to climb the ranks. He forms a crew, moves back to Naples and gets down to business.

The Climber is a bit of a mixed bag for me. The cinematography is fine, the actors are better than usual for a movie like this, and the music is mostly off-brand 70's rock and thus fairly good. So far so good, but it is the story and how it is told that leaves me scratching my head.

The story of a young ambitious criminal rising through the underworld only to discover that the top isn't what he thought it would be, is not new. There are in fact many who claim that The Climber was an inspiration for De Palma's Scarface (1983) but I can't find any official sources for that. I did come to the same conclusion myself though, as the two movies have a lot in common. But where Scarface is over the top, The Climber is much more muted, probably due to budget differences. I don't know how big The Climber's budget was, but it wasn't $25 million, I can tell you that.

The beginning of Aldo's rise is actually pretty damn good. He has nothing but brains and balls, but he makes a go of it with a couple of friends and Luciana at his side. The problem is that Aldo's ultimate takeover is pretty underwhelming. He gathers his crew and just sort of wins. I guess it is either the budget again, or then the director didn't know how to show the takeover, so it kind of just flops over and is there. I wouldn't call it bad, not by a long shot, but with a little extra care and effort, The Climber could have been stellar.

So, do I recommend The Climber? It is a solid middle of the road affair. Too good to be bad, and too weak to be really good. Like so often, I can recommend it to fans but perhaps not to most viewers. I did like it, but if I sat you down and explained it, I doubt most of you would care to look it up.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!

The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave

Although my brain is still melting out of through my ears, I wanted to give you people a real post, so I sat down and watched:

The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971).

Directed by Emilio Miraglia and starring Anthony Steffen and Marina Malfati amongst many others, this is the weirdest Giallo I have ever seen. There will be spoilers ahead, but I won't spoil the ending.

The movie starts with a man trying and failing to escape from a psychiatric clinic. Cut to the same man, Lord Alan Cumming sitting in a sports car with a beautiful red haired prostitute. He pretends to stop in order to check the tires, but in reality he removes some false number plates before driving them to his half ruined castle. There he rebuffs her attempts to get it on and leads her to a torture chamber. Before he can brutalize her, he has a mental episode and believes that the prostitute is his dead wife, Evelyn. In a rage he kills her with a knife.

It turns out that he thinks his dead wife betrayed him and had an affair. After her death, his mind unraveled and was committed. Now he seeks (I think) closure by victimizing red haired prostitutes since his wife also had red hair.

We are also introduced to his former brother-in-law, Albert who works as Alan's groundskeeper and blackmails him. We meet Alan's young and sinister Aunt Agatha and his libertine cousin George. Alan's friend and physician Dr. Richard insists that he won't be cured until he remarries and at one of George's decadent parties, Alan meets and falls in love with the beautiful and blonde Gladys. The couple is soon married and they move into Alan's newly renovated castle.

It doesn't take long before Evelyn starts haunting Alan whose mind deteriorates quickly. People get murdered and we finish with a surprisingly good ending.

The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave is really odd in two major ways. First off is the fact the the movie pretends to be in England, and the way that it's shot gives it a late era Hammer Horror vibe, but with Giallo sensibilities. There is a ton of nudity but very little blood. The first murder takes place off camera and the subsequent murders are all pretty bloodless or take place in the dark. Some Hammer films were a lot bloodier although they didn't have all the skin on parade. I don't mind this approach but it almost gives the movie an identity crisis.

The second way this movie is so weird is the fact that Alan is a murderer. The fact that he had the false plates on his car proves that it was premeditated murder and she isn't his only victim either. Yet as the movie goes on, we are asked to sympathize with him. He takes the role of the Victim/Hero and if that wasn't the intent, there is no other character that fits that bill. I could find no reason why they filmmakers thought this would work. If he had hired the prostitute to soothe his grief and then had an episode and killed her in a fit of rage, then maybe, but this is not the case. As I said, weird.

So, do I recommend this movie? No, not really. Completionists and Giallo super fans might enjoy it but it falls short for me. It is competently shot but most of the actors are wooden and the overall quality is sub par. If you want to see a good movie where a man is haunted by his dead wife, watch The Tomb of Ligeia instead, it is superior in every way.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great and safe week!