Necromania: A Tale of Weird Love (aka Necromania) is a 1971 American adult movie with a horror theme written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr (Plan 9 from Outer Space, Night of the Ghouls, Orgy of the Dead). The uncredited cast are Maria Arnold, porn actress Rene Bond (Please Don’t Eat My Mother, Invasion of the Bee Girls) and Ric Lutze. The Amazing Criswell‘s coffin is seen in the film, the second of Wood’s films (after Night of the Ghouls) in which it does. Criswell’s family was in the mortician business.

The plot (based on Wood’s novel The Only House in Town) involves a couple, Danny and Shirley, who visit necromancer Madame Heles for a witchcraft solution to Danny’s erectile dysfunction.

Thought lost for years, it resurfaced in edited form on Mike Vraney‘s Something Weird imprint in the late 1980s, then was re-released on DVD by Fleshbot Films in 2005. Opening titles indicate “Produced & directed by Don Miller. Our cast wish to remain anonymous.”

” … the acting is actually kind of funny from all the fringe characters, especially one girl who keeps pronouncing insatiable as “in-sash-able”. The lead girl, 70s porn star Rene Bond (who went on to do some classic b-movies like 1973′s Invasion of the Bee Girls), is cute enough and is clearly having fun making the movie despite the heat. I did enjoy seeing that Ed Woodian mind at work, his hopes and dreams pumped into 8mm film. It’s worth watching for any true fan of his.” Ken Kaba, Mondo Exploito

“Besides Criswell’s coffin, there are other Wood traits. Bond’s name is “Shirley,” which was Wood’s transvestite name. Much of the set is decorated in red, a favorite color of Wood’s. Lutz, early in the film, makes a deliberate reference to former Wood actor Bela Lugosi. According to Grey’s Nightmare of Ecstasy, Wood wanted Vampira to play Madam Heles, but she, understandably, said no. Wood’s pal John Andrews helped around the set.”  Steve Stones, Plan 9 Crunch

“The title suggests sex and horror; the two elements are cacophonic, as the film is neither erotic nor frightening. This is not to say Necromania is absent of any merits, as it is enhanced by its tactless craft.” Rumsey Taylor, Not Coming

Offline reading:

Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. by Rudolph Grey (1992)

Wikipedia | IMDb

Night, After Night, After Night is a low budget, British serial killer film released in 1969 by director Lindsay Shonteff, under the guise of Lewis J. Force. The amount of nudity and a central theme built around attitudes to sex across different elements of society meant the film was considered shocking at the time and though now the images are somewhat tame, it still retains an unremittingly sleazy atmosphere and the swingin’ sixties of London looking anything but glamour-filled.

In relatively respectable Central and East London, women are being murdered in alarmingly similar circumstances and the constabulary’s finest, Inspector Bill Rowan (Gilbert Wynne later seen in Shonteff’s Permissive), deigns to take the odd hour off smoking, drinking and coitus to sort out the mess. A cop who is not so much hard-boiled as gently pickled, fond of grudges and swearing, quickly earmarks local lothario Pete Laver (Donald Sumpter in a magnificently-judged performance, all ‘birds’ and ‘banging’ and most head-spinningly “I thought, I’ll have me some of that”; later to top even this performance as the notorious Donald Neilson in The Black Panther) as the obvious culprit and will use fair means or foul to get his man.

However, it is quite clear that all may not be as it seems. Elsewhere, grizzled, old-school Judge Lomax (Jack May, whose voice resounds in the likes of radio soap The Archers and Count Duckula, and can physically be seen in the likes of Trog and Big Zapper) dispenses justice without any need to heed modern methods, flinging out extended prison sentences for all and sundry. Similarly disgusted by sex and deviance is his assistant, Powell (Peter Forbes-Robertson, also seen in Island of Terror and Scream… and Die!) who claims all the attacked girls are ‘asking for it’, whilst furtively visiting porno stores and collecting pictures of nude models.

The riddle doesn’t last for long, the killer being almost secondary to the film’s aim to shock and intrigue, the key point being when Rowan’s wife, Jenny, is murdered by the slayer, prompting the Inspector to increase his vendetta against a Laver who quickly drops his wide-boy sex machine bravado when he realises his defence against being charged isn’t exactly water-tight.

Meanwhile, another of the suspects is approaching mental meltdown and takes to sporting fashionably ladies clothes, an alarming wig and clawing at the pornographic paraphernalia stuck to the walls of his house, goggle-eyed and utterly unhinged. Has Rowan got his man or after all or is the real killer still at large?

Although, on the rare occasions it gets mentioned at all, Night, After Night, After Night is bundled into the serial killer pigeon-hole (and was later retitled Night Slasher for a US video release), this does a disservice to a film which has an unusual angle on British society of the late 1960′s and does none of the characters any favours in terms of ‘rooting for the good guy’, the whole lot of them being morally bankrupt in some respect or another. Sonteff, hiding behind a pseudonym on one of the few occasions he should have been proud to be involved, had previously helmed the likes of Devil Doll (1964) and Curse of the Voodoo (1965), neither remarkable and neither suggesting anything like the avalanche of sleaze, nudity and high-standard of acting seen in Night.

The killings largely take place off-camera, though the grot of the characters and squelch of the knife would leave the impression of gore and uncontained violence. The film played well in Soho, perhaps ironic given the graphic though entirely non-sensual glimpse at the world of strip joints and dodgy book stores. Both May and Sumpter revel in their roles, delivering brave and committed performances in a film which showed neither of them in a positive light.

The film features a completely unsuitable, cod-lounge score from Douglas Gamley, which grates terribly, though in an odd way, this somehow ramps up the tension. Shonteff didn’t follow-up this effort with any further horror of note, leaving the way for Pete Walker to continue to delve into the ‘other’ Britain of repressed violence and cruelty.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Some images are gratefully reproduced from Mounds and Circles and Attack from Plan B

In Secret is a 2013 American erotic thriller film with macabre undertones directed and written by Charlie Stratton, based on Thérèse Raquin, the 1867 classic novel about murder, lust and revenge written by French author Émile Zola. It was originally titled Thérèse. The film stars Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Felton, Oscar Isaac and Jessica Lange. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and is due to receive a wide release on February 21, 2014.

Kate Winslet was attached for a long time to star in the lead role of Therese Raquin. Jessica Biel then replaced her with Gerard Butler as Laurent. In the fall of 2011, Elizabeth Olsen was announced as a replacement in the lead role. Glenn Close was originally cast as Madame Raquin but dropped out and was replaced by Jessica Lange.

The story is set in the lower echelons of 1860s Paris. Thérèse Raquin (Elizabeth Olsen), a sexually repressed beautiful young woman, is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille (Tom Felton), by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin (Jessica Lange). Thérèse spends her days confined behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominoes with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband’s alluring friend, Laurent LeClaire (Oscar Isaac), she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences.

Wikipedia | IMDb

Gemini is a 2014 Filipino horror film from Blackswan Pictures co-produced and directed by Ato Bautista from a screenplay by Shugo Praico. It stars twins Sheena McBride, Brigitte McBride, plus Lance Raymuno, Alvin Anson, Sarah Gaugler and Mon Confiado. The film is currently in post production but he has posted an extended promo online – click on the HD link and watch it on Vimeo.com.

Julia, a psychiatric patient is tormented by her demons. Stricken by guilt and fear, she seeks the help of Manuel, a mysterious police detective, to save her from Judith, her estranged evil twin sister who wants her dead. As Julia and Manuel track Judith down and solve the crime that the twins committed years back, the film spirals down to a mind boggling ride as the truth of Julia’s nightmarish dark past unravels.

Source: Twitch

Bell from Hell  - original title: La Campana del Infierno and also released as A Bell from Hell, The Bell of Hell and The Bells - is a 1973 Spanish horror film directed by Claudio Guerin Hill and starring Renaud Verley, Viveca Lindfors, and Alfredo Mayo. On the final day of shooting for Bell from Hell, Claudio Guerin fell or jumped to his death from the central bell tower constructed for the film.

A young man is released from an asylum and returns home for revenge on his aunt and her three daughters, who had him declared insane in order to steal his inheritance…

“Though it adheres to the commonly used plot devices of vengeance and family inheritance, the story is still well written and kept interesting thanks to the quirky dynamics of the young, mischievous, and darkly humorous protagonist, John. Whether or not viewers end up liking him, John is still an entertaining, multidimensional character, a man-child that’s part hero and part villain.” At the Mansion of Madness

“The repeated imagery of the village church’s new bell, which is being hauled to town and installed as the lurid events of John’s saga play out, work so well as a metaphorical motif that when it moves from a symbol to an actor in the events, it’s quite a shock. Other shots use extreme close-ups of beautiful objects in the foreground to obscure the sordid stuff going on behind it–such as thelovely, vivid red roses pushed right up to the camera as, behind them, John completes the crime for which he was incarcerated. Fascinating, beautiful stuff, and always with a storytelling purpose. When a movie’s scenery is as much fun to look at as the focal action, you know the director is an artist.” Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies

“Quite accomplished and filled with the kind of ethereal dread that foreign fright flicks often excel in, it’s not hard to see why fans and critics have generally gravitated toward this scurrilous story of insanity and revenge. But this is hardly a flawless film. Indeed, A Bell from Hell suffers from the equally bizarre circumstances under which it was made. In the end, what Guerìn intended, and what is up on the screen never seems to effectively gel. Consequently, what should have been a violent slice of madness-mired vindication is frequently too dreamy and disjointed for its own good.” Bill Gibron, DVD Talk

Watch the film online:

IMDb | We are grateful to At the Mansion of Madness and VHS Collector for a couple of the images above.

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WH

Sphere horror paperbacks were published in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s. They were hugely popular and many – such as Lust for a Vampire, Blind Terror, The Ghoul, Squirm and Dawn of the Dead – were movie tie-ins and novelisations. The initial novels chosen for publication focused on the occult. Sphere published pulp fiction novels by famous authors, such as Richard Matheson, Ray Russell, Colin Wilson, Graham Masterson, Clive Barker and Robert Bloch whilst also providing a vehicle for British career writers such as Guy N. Smith and Peter Tremayne, plus many lesser known writers whose work received a boost by being part of the Sphere publishing machine. Occasionally, they also published compilations of short stories and “non-fiction” titles such as What Witches Do. In the early years, like many other opportunistic publishers, they reprinted the vintage work of writers – such as Sheridan Le Fanu – with lurid cover art.

The listing below provides a celebration of the photography and artwork used to sell horror books by one particular British publishing company. For more information about each book visit the excellent Sordid Spheres web blog.

1970

John Blackburn – Bury Him Darkly

Robert Bloch and Ray Bradbury – Fever Dream

Robert Bloch – The Living Demons

Robert Bloch – Tales in a Jugular Vein

Angus Hall – Madhouse

Sheridan Le Fanu – The Best Horror Stories

Michel Parry - Countess Dracula
Sarban – The Sound of his Horn

Ray Russell – The Case Against Satan
William Seabrook – Witchcraft (non-fiction)
Kurt Singer (ed.) – The Oblong Box

Kurt Singer (ed.) – Plague of the Living Dead

Kurt Singer – (ed.) The House in the Valley
Robert Somerlott – The Inquisitor’s House

1971

Richard Davis (ed.) – The Year’s Best Horror Stories 1
Peter Haining (ed.) – The Wild Night Company
Angus Hall – The Scars of Dracula

Angus Hall – To Play the Devil – Buy on Amazon.co.uk
William Hughes – Blind Terror (Blind Terror film on Horrorpedia)

William Hughes – Lust for a Vampire (Lust for a Vampire film on Horrorpedia)
Ray Russell – Unholy Trinity
E. Spencer Shew – Hands Of The Ripper

Kurt Singer (ed) – The Day of the Dragon

David Sutton (ed.) – New Writings in the Horror and Supernatural 1

Alan Scott – Project Dracula

1972

Richard Davis (ed.) – The Year’s Best Horror Stories 2

Peter Haining (ed.) – The Clans of Darkness

Laurence Moody – What Became Of Jack And Jill?
Ronald Pearsall – The Exorcism

David Sutton (ed.) – New Writings in the Horror and Supernatural 2
Richard Tate – The Dead Travel Fast

Sam Moskowitz (ed.) – A Man Called Poe

1973

Richard Davis (ed.) – The Year’s Best Horror Stories 3
Stewart Farrar – What Witches Do: The Modern Coven Revealed (Non-Fiction)

Brian J. Frost (ed.) – Book of the Werewolf

Melissa Napier – The Haunted Woman
Daniel Farson – Jack The Ripper [non-fiction]
Raymond Rurdoff – The Dracula Archives

1974

Theodore Sturgeon – Caviar

1976

C L Moore – Shambleau
Guy N. Smith – The Ghoul

Robert Black – Legend of the Werewolf

Richard Curtis – Squirm

Ron Goulart – Vampirella 1:Bloodstalk

1977

August Derleth (ed.) – When Evil Wakes
Ron Goulart – Vampirella 2: On Alien Wings

Ron Goulart – Vampirella 3: Deadwalk

Vampirella on Horrorpedia

Ken Johnson – Blue Sunshine

Fritz Leiber - Night’s Black Agents
Robert J Myers – The Slave of Frankenstein

Robert J Myers – The Cross of Frankenstein
Jack Ramsey – The Rage

Ray Russell – Incubus
Andrew Sinclair – Cat

Colin Wilson – Black Room

1978

Ethel Blackledge – The Fire
John Christopher – The Possessors
John Christopher – The Little People
Basil Copper – Here Be Daemons

Basil Copper – The Great White Space
Giles Gordon (ed.) – A Book of Contemporary Nightmares

Peter Haining – Terror! A History Of Horror Illustrations From The Pulp Magazines

Peter Haining (ed) – Weird Tales

Peter Haining (ed) – More Weird Tales
Peter Haining (ed) – Ancient Mysteries Reader 1
Peter Haining (ed) – Ancient Mysteries Reader 2
Richard Matheson – Shock!

Richard Matheson – Shock 2

Richard Matheson – Shock 3

Stephen Marlowe – Translation
Michael Robson – Holocaust 2000
Peter Tremayne – The Ants

Peter Tremayne – The Vengeance Of She

1979

John Clark and Robin Evans – The Experiment
William Hope Hodgson – The Night Land
Robert R. McCammon – Baal

Kirby McCauley – Frights

Kirby McCauley – Frights 2
Jack Finney – Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
Graham Masterton – Charnel House

Graham Masterton – Devils of D-Day
Susan Sparrow – Dawn of the Dead

Gerald Suster – The Devil’s Maze
Peter Tremayne – The Curse of Loch Ness

1980

Les Daniels – The Black Castle
Gerald Suster – The Elect
Jere Cunningham – The Legacy
William Hope Hodgson – The House On The Borderland
Robin Squire – A Portrait Of Barbara

John Cameron – The Astrologer
Robert McCammon – Bethany’s Sin
William H. Hallahan – Keeper Of The Children

Ray Russell – The Devil’s Mirror

Roy Russell – Prince Of Darkness

1981

Basil Copper – Necropolis

M. Jay Livingstone – The Prodigy
Andrew Coburn – The Babysitter
Peter Tremayne – Zombie!

Graham Masterton – The Heirloom
Owen West [Dean R. Koontz] – The Funhouse
William Hope Hodgson – The Ghost Pirates

Graham Masterton - The Wells Of Hell
Graham Masterton – Famine
Marc Alexander – The Devil Hunter [non-fiction]
Guy Lyon Playfair – This House Is Haunted [non-fiction]
Robert R. McCammon – They Thirst

1982

Ronald Patrick – Beyond The Threshold

Peter Tremayne – The Morgow Rises

William Hope Hodgson – The Boats Of The Glen Carrig

Stephen Gallagher – Chimera
Marc Alexander – Haunted Houses You May Visit [non-fiction]
Michelle Smith & Lawrence Pazder – Michelle Remembers [non-fiction]
Dillibe Onyearma – Night Demon
Robert R. McCammon – The Night Boat

Ray Russell – Incubus

1983

James Darke – The Witches 1. The Prisoner

James Darke – The Witches 2. The Trial
James Darke – The Witches 3. The Torture

Basil Copper – Into The Silence
Les Daniels – The Silver Skull

1984

Peter Tremayne – Kiss Of The Cobra

Clive Barker – Books Of Blood 1
Clive Barker - Books Of Blood 2

Clive Barker – Books Of Blood 3
Graham Masterton – Tengu

George R. R. Martin – Fevre Dream
James Darke – Witches 4. The Escape

1985

Peter Tremayne – Swamp!

Peter Tremayne – Angelus!
Stephen Laws – The Ghost Train

Clive Barker – Books Of Blood 4
Clive Barker – Books Of Blood 5
Clive Barker – Books Of Blood 6
Rosalind Ashe – Dark Runner
James Darke – Witches 5. The Meeting
James Darke – Witches 6. The Killing

1986

Christopher Fowler - City Jitters

James Darke – Witches 7. The Feud
James Darke – Witches 8. The Plague

Clive Barker – The Damnation Game
Graham Masterton – Night Warriors
Lisa Tuttle – A Nest Of Nightmares

1987

Peter Tremayne – Nicor!
Peter Tremayne – Trollnight

Lisa Tuttle – Gabriel

1988

Alan Ryan (ed.) – Halloween Horrors

Guy N. Smith – Fiend

Stephen Laws – Spectre
Graham Masterton – Mirror
Eric Sauter – Predators
Robert McCammon – Swan Song

1989

Stephen Laws – Wyrm
Guy N. Smith – The Camp
Guy N. Smith – Mania

Graham Masterton – The Walkers
Graham Masterton – Ritual
Bernard King – Witch Beast

The listing above and many of the cover images are reproduced from the Sordid Spheres web blog. Bar the odd addition and amendment, the list first appeared in Paperback Fanatic 3 (August 2007). For more information about each title, its author and links to reviews, visit Sordid Spheres

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Emanuele Taglietti (born in Ferrara, January 6, 1943) is an Italian designer, illustrator and painter.

Born to an artistic father, Emanuele Taglietti graduated from his local art institute, then moved to Rome where he studied set design at the Experimental Center of Cinematography. He worked on the art direction and set decoration for various films, including Federico Fellini’s Juliet of the Spirits. 

In 1973, he returned to live in his home town and came into contact with Renzo Barbieri of Edifumetto, for whom he worked as a cover artist of erotic, crime, fantasy and horror-themed fumetti (Italian comic books). Having been inspired by artists such as Frank Frazetta and Averardo Ciriello, he created artwork for fumetti such as Zora the vampire, Belzeba, Cimiteria, Sukia, Stregoneria (“Witchcraft”), Gli Spettri (“The Spectres”), Il Sanguinari (“The Blood”), Lo Schelectro (“The Skeleton”), Ulula (“Howls”), Vampirissimo and Wallestein.

Occasionally, Taglietti reworked images and artwork from horror films such as Creature from the Black Lagoon, Night of the Demon (1957) and The Plague of the Zombies, and seems to have had a fixation on actress Ornella Muti (whom he based the image of Sukia on). Featuring the signature nudity of fumetti, his work was sometimes censored when the comic books were publish in other countries, like Spain.

During this busy period, which continued until 1988, Taglietti also restored old paintings and occasionally collaborated as an illustrator for magazine publishers such as Mondadori and Rizzoli. He retired in 2000, broadened the scope of his artistic interests, devoting himself to mural decoration and furniture.

We are very grateful to the Emanuele Taglietti Fan Club blog for the images above.Visit their blog to see lots more of Taglietti’s artwork…

El Retorno del Hombre Lobo (Return of the Wolfman) is a 1981 Spanish horror film that is the ninth in a long series about the werewolf Count Waldemar Daninsky, played by Paul Naschy. It was briefly released theatrically in the US in 1985 by The Film Concept Group as The Craving, and more recently on DVD and Blu-ray as Night of the Werewolf.

In an outdoor trial in the 16th Century, Elizabeth Bathory and a number of witches are being sentenced – Bathory to spend her remaining days entombed, most of her followers beheaded or hanged. The brawn of her operation, Waldemar Daninsky, the celebrated nobleman-lycanthrope, is sentenced to be left in a state of living death, with a silver dagger through his heart and an iron mask (the mask of shame, no less) to keep him from biting. Centuries later, the dagger is removed by grave-robbers and Daninsky returns to activity, fighting against a revived Elizabeth Bathory and her demonic manservant, courtesy of some attractive modern-day witchery.

Outside of Italian gialli, there is little more confusing a purchase than a Naschy film – it is an essential rite of passage as a serious fan of horror films that at some point you may mistakenly end up with two copies of this under differing titles in error. Fortunately, it’s a cracker, not only the crystalisation of everything Naschy had attempted up to this point but also one of the peaks of Spanish horror. Paul Naschy had been successful enough by this stage that he was afforded a budget that matched his ambition – wobbly sets were replaced by actual castle ruins and sumptuous gothic decoration, the scope of the film covering vampires, werewolves and that old Spanish stand-by, the skeletal Knights Templar.

The cast sees Naschy regular Julia Saly (Panic Beats, Night of the Seagulls) as Bathory, pale-faced and clearly relishing the role, without ever attempting to overshadow Naschy. Naschy seems positively weepy, surrounded as he is in fog, thrilling coloured lighting and decked out in ancient finery. The other three main female characters, played by Pilar Alcón, Silvia Aguilar and Azucena Hernández had varied careers in Spanish genre cinema, all of them supplementing their incomes with ‘daring’ magazine photo-shoots – although nudity is scarce in the film, the three of them continually seem on the cusp of disrobing.

The pace is particularly brisk for a Naschy film, perhaps aided by him taking the director’s chair himself, instead of his usual muse, León Klimovsky. That said, the film makes little sense in the chronology of Daninsky werewolf films (this being the ninth of twelve), neither does the lenient sentence given to Bathory at the beginning of the film, nor her loyal servant suddenly being Hell-bent on revenge. No matter, the characters are interesting and straight-faced enough to carry what is lower rank Hammer fodder in theory.

Alas, 1981 was not the right time to suddenly nail your Gothic fetishes – horror cinema had long abandoned candle-lit castles and fangy nymphs and the box office was most unforgiving, leaving Naschy to film several films in Japan to try to rebuild not only his reputation but his finances. Time still doesn’t really seem to have caught up with Naschy, his films still polarising opinion amongst genre fans and almost completely ignored by the mainstream both in terms of interest and influence.

The soundtrack, though perfectly suited, is an outrageous plagiarism of both Ennio Morricone (the wailing harmonica of Once Upon a Time in the West) and Stelvio Cipriani (What Have They Done to Your Daughters? – in fairness, regularly reused by himself on the likes of Tentacles). The stunning cinematography is courtesy of Alejandro Ulloa, who also shot the likes of Horror Express, Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion and The House by the Edge of the Lake. The special effects largely stay away from the time-lapse transformation from human to beast and the film doesn’t suffer in the slightest – Naschy’s writhing at the sight of the moon being entertaining enough. Naschy remained proud of the film up to his death in 2009 and rightly so.

Daz Lawrence

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1931 American Pre-Code horror film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Fredric March. The film is an adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), the Robert Louis Stevenson tale of a man who takes a potion which turns him from a mild-mannered man of science into a homicidal maniac. March’s performance has been much lauded, and earned him his first Academy Award.

In a London of fog and gas lamps, capes and canes, kindly Dr Henry Jekyll (pronounced by the entire cast to rhyme with ‘treacle’, correctly according to Stevenson) attends a lecture to his adoring contemporaries where he announces that he has discovered that Man’s very soul is split between the good, the desire to love and perform good deeds and the bad, where Man succumbs to his baser instincts. Whilst walking home through Soho with his colleague, Dr. John Lanyon (Holmes Herbert, The Invisible Man), Jekyll spots a bar singer, Ivy Pearson (Miriam Hopkins), being attacked by a man outside her boarding house. Jekyll drives the man away and carries Ivy up to her room to attend to her. Ivy begins flirting with Jekyll and feigning injury, but Jekyll fights temptation and leaves with Lanyon.

Unable to convince his beloved Muriel’s (Rose Hobart, later seen in Tower of London) father Brigadier General Sir Danvers Carew (the equally splendidly monickered Halliwell Hobbes) that a quick wedding would be preferable to the year he insists upon, Jekyll continues his experiments in his personal lab, waited upon by his faithful servant, Poole (Edgar Norton from Dracula’s Daughter and Son of Frankenstein), eventually developing a potion which he elects to test on himself. Transforming into a quasi-Neanderthal, dubbed Mr Hyde, he continues to swagger around the upper class haunts of Victorian London but with unabashed bravado and bestial relish, gatecrashing the club Ivy frequents and seducing her in an extremely unsubtle manner.

Imprisoning her in her own room at a boarding house, Hyde torments and abuses Ivy but as the potion’s effects wear off, Jekyll realises hid absence has done his chances of marrying Murial no favours, he leaves Ivy temporarily, vowing to teach her a lesson if she attempts anything silly. Convincing his future father-in-law that his absence is completely out of character, the marriage finally receives his blessing and a large party is organised to make the announcement public. He sends Ivy £50 by way of apology, prompting her to visit the mystery benefactor and falling for him once again. Alas, Jekyll has been taking increasingly large doses of the potion and upon having a momentary ‘dark thought’, he again transforms into his alter-ego, against his will, even more hideous than before.

Returning to Ivy’s lodgings, he reveals he and Jekyll are one and the same and after some more brutality, he goes the whole hog and murders her. With Lanyon now wise to what is going on, Hyde inevitably ends up at Murial’s house, attacking her and the rest of the household, killing her father in the process. With the police on his tale, Hyde and Jekyll struggle to come to terms with who holds the upper hand – is it too late for Jekyll to make amends?

The film was made prior to the full enforcement of the Hay’s Production Code and this should come as no surprise. The film bristles with sexuality, with barely veiled nods to rape and sexual violence and with the two leading ladies revealing plenty of leg and not a little cleavage. When it was re-released in 1936, the Code required 8 minutes to be removed before the film could be distributed to cinemas. This footage was restored for the VHS and DVD releases.

The secret of the transformation scenes was not revealed for decades (Mamoulian himself revealed it in a volume of interviews with Hollywood directors published under the title The Celluloid Muse). Make-up was applied in contrasting colors. A series of coloured filters that matched the make-up was then used which enabled the make-up to be gradually exposed or made invisible. The change in color was not visible on the black-and-white film. The effects are not advanced as those of 1940′s The Wolf Man, nor as ageless as 1932′s The Invisible Man but they are nevertheless remarkable.

A disgracefully uncredited Wally Westmore’s make-up for Hyde — simian and hairy with large canine teeth — influenced greatly the popular image of Hyde in media and comic books. In part this reflected the novella’s implication of Hyde as embodying repressed evil, and hence being semi-evolved or simian in appearance. The make-up came close to permanently disfiguring March’s own face. Westmore later helped create the similarly beast-like inhabitants of Island of Lost Souls.  The characters of Muriel Carew and Ivy Pearson do not appear in Stevenson’s original story but do appear in the 1887 stage version by playwright Thomas Russell Sullivan.

John Barrymore was originally asked by Paramount to play the lead role, in an attempt to recreate his role from the 1920 version of Jekyll and Hyde, but he was already under a new contract withMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Paramount then gave the part to March, who was under contract and who strongly resembled Barrymore. March had played a John Barrymore-like character in the Paramount film The Royal Family of Broadway (1930), a story about an acting family like the Barrymores. March would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance of the role.

When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer remade the film ten years later with Spencer Tracy in the lead, the studio bought the rights to the 1931 Mamoulian version. They then recalled every print of the film that they could locate and for decades most of the film was believed lost. Ironically, the Tracy version was much less well received and March jokingly sent Tracy a telegram thanking him for the greatest boost to his reputation of his entire career.

The film also makes better use of music than most other horror films of the 1930′s, including the celebrated studio of Universal. Beginning with the portent of Bach’s Fugue in D Minor, it shows Jekyll as an accomplished organist, the soundtrack making use of this diegetic tool. Miriam too plays the piano, whilst Ivy, of course, sings, the musical world of the good in contrast with the guttural grunts and hissing of Hyde. There is also a rare use of song in an early horror film, Ivy’s ‘theme tune’ “Champagne Ivy”, actually being an adaptation of the 19th Century music hall song “Champagne Charley”.

It was to be March’s only role in a horror film, though it was enough for him to claim the Oscar for best actor (tying with Wallace Beerey in The Champ). Though his slightly simpering Jekyll make grate somewhat, his Hyde is a miraculous performance, energetic, twitching and frothing at the mouth with lust and vigour. His almost gymnastic feats in the film’s finale are a thing of wonder. As Hyde once taunts Ivy: ” I’ll show you what horror means!”

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Blood Rage (aka Nightmare at Shadow Woods) is a 1983 slasher film written by Bruce Rubin and directed by John Grissmer (Scalpel/False Face, 1976). It stars Louise Lasser (Frankenhooker), Mark Soper (Graveyard Shift II), Marianne Kanter (who also produced this and Dark August  in 1976), Julie Gordon and sfx makeup artist Ed French (Amityville II: The Possession, Sleepaway Camp, The Stuff). It is not to be confused with the 1979 film Bloodrage (aka Never Pick Up a Stranger).

Although the film was shot in 1983, it was given only a limited release theatrically in the United States by the Film Concept Group under the title Nightmare at Shadow Woods in 1987. It was released on VHS by Prism Entertainment the same year under the title Blood Rage and this is the title it is now best known by. The Nightmare at Shadow Woods version is missing an early scene where Maddy visits Todd at the mental hospital, but includes a swimming pool scene not found in the Blood Rage version. The Nightmare at Shadow Woods version had a budget US DVD release in 2004 by Legacy Entertainment, but as of September 2011 is out of print.

Plot:

Todd and Terry are twins. They are blonde, cute, bright and identical in every respect, with one exception. One of them is a murderer. This starts one night at a drive-in theater when a teenager was slaughtered in the back seat of his car while his girlfriend watched. Todd is found guilty for the heinous crime and is locked away in an asylum.

Years passed and Terry lives happily with his mother (Louise Lasser), who smothers him with enough love for two sons. All is fine until one Thanksgiving when they receive news that Todd escaped. Terry goes on a killing spree to ensure that Todd goes back to the asylum. His first kill is his mother’s fiancée, when he chops off his arm with a machete, before stabbing him to death. Meanwhile, Dr. Berman and her assistant, Jackie, go out in search for Todd. Jackie meets a sticky end, when he is stabbed by Terry. Dr. Berman also suffers the same fate. Whilst in the woods looking for Todd, she comes across Terry, who cuts her in half with the machete, leaving her to die…

Reviews:

“This fantastic slasher film impresses with some very ballsy gore; everything from bloody severed heads and split open brains to women chopped in half and guys stabbed in the neck with barbecue prongs. While the film doesn’t offer much but killing and running, and I really would have liked some more meat with my potatoes, it still manages to be enthralling and an honest to God stand up and cheer blood bath. This is really all you need in a good slasher movie.” Jose Prendes, Strictly Splatter

“It’s all rather amusing yet somehow cruel at the same time, and it’s this element of mean-spiritedness that runs consistently throughout the film and hurts it to a degree … never quite knowing how to react in certain scenes had me a little alienated and made some of the funny stuff seem almost tacky or inappropriate. And the last scene, while ultimately fitting and not entirely downbeat, still resonates an eerie and disturbing message about parents who show favoritism toward their children, and will leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.” Hysteria Lives!

“While the body count isn’t jaw-dropping, there are still nine impressive kills by Terry that are, shall I say, “gore-ifying.” The acting was all quite good, and they only terrible acting I can really pinpoint is by Marianne Kanter as Dr. Berman, Todd’s doctor. Just look at her acting in her death scene to see what I mean. The rest are all quite good, even if the “mom” character was pretty over the top.” HorrorBid.com

Wikipedia | IMDb

Thanks to Critical Condition for some images above.

Necromania: A Tale of Weird Love (aka Necromania) is a 1971 American adult movie with a horror theme written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr (Plan 9 from Outer Space, Night of the Ghouls, Orgy of the Dead). The uncredited cast are Maria Arnold, porn actress Rene Bond (Please Don’t Eat My Mother, Invasion of the Bee Girls) and Ric Lutze. The Amazing Criswell‘s coffin is seen in the film, the second of Wood’s films (after Night of the Ghouls) in which it does. Criswell’s family was in the mortician business.

The plot (based on Wood’s novel The Only House in Town) involves a couple, Danny and Shirley, who visit necromancer Madame Heles for a witchcraft solution to Danny’s erectile dysfunction.

Thought lost for years, it resurfaced in edited form on Mike Vraney‘s Something Weird imprint in the late 1980s, then was re-released on DVD by Fleshbot Films in 2005. Opening titles indicate “Produced & directed by Don Miller. Our cast wish to remain anonymous.”

” … the acting is actually kind of funny from all the fringe characters, especially one girl who keeps pronouncing insatiable as “in-sash-able”. The lead girl, 70s porn star Rene Bond (who went on to do some classic b-movies like 1973′s Invasion of the Bee Girls), is cute enough and is clearly having fun making the movie despite the heat. I did enjoy seeing that Ed Woodian mind at work, his hopes and dreams pumped into 8mm film. It’s worth watching for any true fan of his.” Ken Kaba, Mondo Exploito

“Besides Criswell’s coffin, there are other Wood traits. Bond’s name is “Shirley,” which was Wood’s transvestite name. Much of the set is decorated in red, a favorite color of Wood’s. Lutz, early in the film, makes a deliberate reference to former Wood actor Bela Lugosi. According to Grey’s Nightmare of Ecstasy, Wood wanted Vampira to play Madam Heles, but she, understandably, said no. Wood’s pal John Andrews helped around the set.”  Steve Stones, Plan 9 Crunch

“The title suggests sex and horror; the two elements are cacophonic, as the film is neither erotic nor frightening. This is not to say Necromania is absent of any merits, as it is enhanced by its tactless craft.” Rumsey Taylor, Not Coming

Offline reading:

Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr. by Rudolph Grey (1992)

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Mad Genius (1931) is an all-talking pre-code horror drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by Michael Curtiz. The film stars John Barrymore, Marian Marsh, Donald Cook, Charles Butterworth, and in small roles, Boris Karloff and Frankie Darro. The film is based on the play The Idol (1929) by Martin Brown, which opened in Great Neck, New York but never opened on Broadway.

In the exotic, rainy Eastern Europe of the early 20th century, two puppeteers perform to exactly no-one and are distracted by the surprisingly wicked beating of a young boy by a brutal father (a blink slowly and you’ll miss him Boris Karloff). Observing the young lad vault over fences away from his persecutor, club-footed Vladimar Tsarakov (John Barrymore, 1920′s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and one of early cinema’s biggest stars) sees a dazzling career for him, vicariously living the life of dance, women and debauchery always denied him. The young chap is duly hidden from his father and spirited away.

Dashing forward in time, the young boy, Feodor (Donald Cook from 1933′s similarly rum Babyface) is now embedded in the world of dance and theatre. Tsarakov is also present, literally draped on his casting couch, lining up nubile, starry-eyed young girls to visit him in his office later with the finer details of how they can become famous. Whilst he is happy relieving the young ladies of their innocence, he is dismayed to see his young apprentice falling in love with one of the dancers, Nana (Marian Marsh, also seen with Barrymore in what is in many ways this film’s companion piece, Svenglai). 

We watch as Tsarakov acts as puppeteer to those around him; the young girls, Feodor, his secretary and dogsbody, Karimsky (Charles Butterworth, seemingly channelling Stan Laurel) and the manager of the dance troupe, Sergei (Luis Alberni in a brilliantly wide-eyed performance) whom he is feeding a steady diet of class A drugs to keep in check.

In a twisted sequence of events, Nana is fired but elopes with her beloved to a series on European theatres with the dastardly Tsarakov in pursuit. With the young lovers determined to live their lives in blissful happiness, a strung-out Sergei frothing at the mouth for his next fix and Karimsky desperate to tell his boss of his brilliantly silly idea for a ballet, it’s a typically 1930′s Smokey and the Bandit race to the finish line.

If you thought ‘pre-code’ was simply a statement or a general term for the misty period of early cinema, then you could do a lot worse to take in this occasionally eye-popping film. From the early scene of Karloff whacking the living Hell out of his son to the seedy and rather disturbing drug dealing (and taking) to the extremely sexual portrayal of the young dancers and their elderly deflowerer, there would be uproar if a film so gloomy and comparatively realistic were released by a major studio today.

Though there is barely anything between the release dates, Karloff was essentially an unknown at the time of release, Frankenstein still yet to sweep all before it (hardly his first role, however). Ironically, Tsarakov lectures his young student early in the film of ‘The Golem’ (interesting that audiences would be expected to have seen this or be aware), ‘a homunculus or creation of Frankenstein’. The film may not yet have hit the big time but clearly the novel upon which it is based was very much part of popular culture and not an obscure reference. 

Barrymore, best known for his romantic and light-dramatic leads, is sensational as Tsarakov, perhaps not a traditional horror villain but one who develops from an innocent-looking benefactor to cruel deviant in barely perceptible speed. Director Michael Curtiz slummed it somewhat after this picture, directing White Christmas, The Adventures of Robin Hood and Casablanca. As you may expect, the sets are drenched with art deco, the ballet-themed setting being a perfect excuse for costume designers to run riot – not riotous enough to prevent significant leg and cleavage to be aired.

Warner Bros. was so pleased by the box office returns for Svengali (1931) and their first talking feature The Terror (1928), also starring Barrymore and Marsh, that they rushed The Mad Genius into production, and released it on 7 November 1931. 

Open Windows is an upcoming Spanish horror thriller directed and written by Nacho Vigalondo.The film stars Elijah Wood, Sasha Grey and Neil Maskell. The film is set for an April 2014 release.

Elijah Wood stars as a fanboy of actress Jill Goddard (Sasha Grey), and as the winner of an online contest he gets the rare chance to have a dinner date with her. However, when dinner plans are cancelled someone named Chord says he can make up for it. Chord gives Nick (Elijah Wood) the tools to spy on Jill from his computer, in a way that no fan could ever dream of. After each demand Chord gives Nick, it becomes apparent that Chord set the whole thing up and Nick is a part of a much bigger, more sinister plan…

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio is a 1971 horror film directed by Eric Jeffrey Haims from a screenplay by Donn Greer (assistant director of Satan’s Cheerleaders), based on a story by Bonnie Jean, very loosely adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It stars Sebastian Brook (Rosemary’s Baby), Mady Maguire (A Scream in the Streets), Donn Greer, Gray Daniels (Gallery of Horror, Gremlins 2, The Rain Killer), John Terry, Rene Bond (Necromania, Please Don’t Eat My Mother, Invasion of the Bee Girls), Casey Larrain (The Toy Box), Terri Bond, Hump Hardy, Nora Wieternik, Cathie Demille, Ric Lutze, Melissa Ruiz, Duane Paulsen and Jane Tsentas.

In the US, the film was issued an ‘X’ rating by the MPAA but by 1973 it received limited theatrical showings in North America. It was not released domestically on VHS. In late 1982, British video label Intervision announced plans to issue it on Beta and VHS. However, with the ‘video nasty’ controversy raging and their sleazy box cover (see above) already publicised, Intervision cancelled the release, making it mail order outside of the UK. It seems to have had a very limited Australian release, however. In early 2014, Vinegar Syndrome announced a limited edition Blu-ray Disc release of just 1000 copies on a double-bill with A Clock Work Blue.

Plot:

The Florence Nightingale Institute has a reputation for training highly respected nurses. Unfortunately, director Dr. Dorian Cabala (Sebastian Brook) has peculiar and perverted rules. To make matters worse, a killer begins preying on the students, leaving their abdomens with three star-shaped punctures. As the trainee nurses prepare to stage their own version of ‘Dr. jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ two cops (Donn Greer and Gray Daniels) keep an eye on Dr. Cabala and his charges…

Reviews:

“Eric J. Haims’s film is weird and gory and worth the time a viewer spends with it. Pants optional. I’m going out of my way to not give too much away. Because it’s the kind of film I love discovering from a decade that is chock full of wonder and odd: the 70s. A completely idosyncratic, individual oddball of a film seen by almost no one.” Bleeding Skull

“If you happened to miss the opening credits of this 1971 effort, you could be forgiven for thinking that you were watching an Andy Milligan movie. It’s all here: penny-pinching period sex/horror with elaborate but oddly shabby costumes, grainy 16mm blow-up cinematography, crudely recorded and mixed sound, elderly library music cues, a mix of affordable practical locations and flimsy sets, and amateur thesping that is all over the map, sprinkled with some vintage horror iconography.” By John Charles

“Filled with headache-inducing Milliganesque bad camerawork, bad editing, bad lighting, bad acting, bad plot, bad effects, bad sex scenes. And no, none of this is in the ‘so bad it’s good category’” Chelle’s Inferno

IMDb | Thanks to By John Charles for some of the info for this posting.

In Secret is a 2013 American erotic thriller film with macabre undertones directed and written by Charlie Stratton, based on Thérèse Raquin, the 1867 classic novel about murder, lust and revenge written by French author Émile Zola. It was originally titled Thérèse. The film stars Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Felton, Oscar Isaac and Jessica Lange. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and is due to receive a wide release on February 21, 2014.

Kate Winslet was attached for a long time to star in the lead role of Therese Raquin. Jessica Biel then replaced her with Gerard Butler as Laurent. In the fall of 2011, Elizabeth Olsen was announced as a replacement in the lead role. Glenn Close was originally cast as Madame Raquin but dropped out and was replaced by Jessica Lange.

The story is set in the lower echelons of 1860s Paris. Thérèse Raquin (Elizabeth Olsen), a sexually repressed beautiful young woman, is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille (Tom Felton), by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin (Jessica Lange). Thérèse spends her days confined behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominoes with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband’s alluring friend, Laurent LeClaire (Oscar Isaac), she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences.

Wikipedia | IMDb

Blood Rage (aka Nightmare at Shadow Woods) is a 1983 slasher film written by Bruce Rubin and directed by John Grissmer (Scalpel/False Face, 1976). It stars Louise Lasser (Frankenhooker), Mark Soper (Graveyard Shift II), Marianne Kanter (who also produced this and Dark August  in 1976), Julie Gordon and sfx makeup artist Ed French (Amityville II: The Possession, Sleepaway Camp, The Stuff). It is not to be confused with the 1979 film Bloodrage (aka Never Pick Up a Stranger).

Although the film was shot in 1983, it was given only a limited release theatrically in the United States by the Film Concept Group under the title Nightmare at Shadow Woods in 1987. It was released on VHS by Prism Entertainment the same year under the title Blood Rage and this is the title it is now best known by. The Nightmare at Shadow Woods version is missing an early scene where Maddy visits Todd at the mental hospital, but includes a swimming pool scene not found in the Blood Rage version. The Nightmare at Shadow Woods version had a budget US DVD release in 2004 by Legacy Entertainment, but as of September 2011 is out of print.

Plot:

Todd and Terry are twins. They are blonde, cute, bright and identical in every respect, with one exception. One of them is a murderer. This starts one night at a drive-in theater when a teenager was slaughtered in the back seat of his car while his girlfriend watched. Todd is found guilty for the heinous crime and is locked away in an asylum.

Years passed and Terry lives happily with his mother (Louise Lasser), who smothers him with enough love for two sons. All is fine until one Thanksgiving when they receive news that Todd escaped. Terry goes on a killing spree to ensure that Todd goes back to the asylum. His first kill is his mother’s fiancée, when he chops off his arm with a machete, before stabbing him to death. Meanwhile, Dr. Berman and her assistant, Jackie, go out in search for Todd. Jackie meets a sticky end, when he is stabbed by Terry. Dr. Berman also suffers the same fate. Whilst in the woods looking for Todd, she comes across Terry, who cuts her in half with the machete, leaving her to die…

Reviews:

“This fantastic slasher film impresses with some very ballsy gore; everything from bloody severed heads and split open brains to women chopped in half and guys stabbed in the neck with barbecue prongs. While the film doesn’t offer much but killing and running, and I really would have liked some more meat with my potatoes, it still manages to be enthralling and an honest to God stand up and cheer blood bath. This is really all you need in a good slasher movie.” Jose Prendes, Strictly Splatter

“It’s all rather amusing yet somehow cruel at the same time, and it’s this element of mean-spiritedness that runs consistently throughout the film and hurts it to a degree … never quite knowing how to react in certain scenes had me a little alienated and made some of the funny stuff seem almost tacky or inappropriate. And the last scene, while ultimately fitting and not entirely downbeat, still resonates an eerie and disturbing message about parents who show favoritism toward their children, and will leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.” Hysteria Lives!

“While the body count isn’t jaw-dropping, there are still nine impressive kills by Terry that are, shall I say, “gore-ifying.” The acting was all quite good, and they only terrible acting I can really pinpoint is by Marianne Kanter as Dr. Berman, Todd’s doctor. Just look at her acting in her death scene to see what I mean. The rest are all quite good, even if the “mom” character was pretty over the top.” HorrorBid.com

Wikipedia | IMDb

Thanks to Critical Condition for some images above.

Vampyros Lesbos (Spanish title: Las Vampiras) is a 1971 West German-Spanish horror film directed and co-written by Jesús Franco.It is, arguably, Franco’s best known film today, having reached a certain cult audience through the success of the mid 1990s soundtrack release, which became a favourite of the easy listening club scene of the time.

It stars Franco’s early 70s muse Soledad Miranda as Countess Nadine Oskudar, a beautiful female vampire who seduces her victims by performing a sensual and erotic nightclub act (a recurring theme in Franco’s films). She takes a fancy to American Linda Westinghouse (Ewa Strömberg) and makes her both a lover and a victim, appearing to her in a series of sexual dreams. When Linda travels to a remote island to claim an inheritance, she meets the Countess in the flesh and is soon under her spell. Dr Seward (Dennis Price, in a character reference to Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula) investigates her case, and on discovering the truth, attempts to use her to become a vampire himself.

Shot between June and July 1970 in Turkey, the film was one of Franco’s more successful films, both financially and artistically. Coming to the film straight from his most mainstream era (working with the likes of Harry Alan Towers on films like Count Dracula, Venus in Furs, The Bloody Judge and the Fu Manchu series), Franco at this stage seemed to reveling in a new sense of freedom. international censorship allowed him to explore erotic themes more openly, and his movies of the era – others include A Virgin Among the Living Dead and The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein – increasingly eschewed conventional narrative structure in favour of hallucinogenic and psychedelic imagery and music. This is cinema at its most free, and often feels closer to experimental arthouse production than conventional horror.

Buy Soledad Miranda Vampyros Lesbos poster (image above) from Amazon.co.uk

The lesbian theme as suggested by the title was something that had, only a few years earlier, been taboo in cinema, and Franco certainly exploits it in this film. However, it would be unfair to suggest that the film is soft porn, as has often been claimed. Rather, this is erotic horror, both elements complimenting each other.

The film would slip from public view by the 1980s, remembered only by Euro horror cultists. But it would have an unexpected revival in 1995, when the soundtrack album was released. In the mid 1990s, easy listening – or ‘loungecore’ – was the big thing amongst London hipsters, and soon spread across the UK and beyond.

Buy soundtrack CD from Amazon.co.uk

The film’s score – Manfred Hübler, Siegfried Schwab and Jesús Franco (working under the alias of David Khune) was perfect for these clubs, suffused with sitar and offering a mix of the exotic and the kitsch. The album – originally released as 3 Films By Jess Franco and aimed squarely at soundtrack collectors – was repackaged as Vampyros Lesbos – Sexadelic Dance Party , and was a compilation of the albums Sexadelic and Psychedelic Dance Party, and featured music from three Franco  Vampyros Lesbos, She Killed in Ecstasy and The Devil Came from Akasava.

It was released by German cult soundtrack specialists Crippled Dick Hot Wax on CD and vinyl. In 2006, an extended version was issued as a double LP. In the UK, Redemption Films issued the film using the artwork featuring Soledad Miranda instead of their usual distinctive black and white covers, to capitalise on the popularity of the film.

CAST:

Ewa Strömberg as Linda Westinghouse
Soledad Miranda as Countess Nadine Carody
Andrés Monales as Omar
Dennis Price as Dr. Alwin Seward
Paul Müller as Dr. Steiner
Heidrun Kussin as Agra
Michael Berling as Dr. Seward’s assistant
Beni Cardoso as Dead woman (uncredited)
Jesús Franco as Memmet (uncredited)
José Martínez Blanco as Morpho (uncredited)

DF

Poor Albert and Little Annie is a 1972 psychological horror film directed by Paul Leder (A*P*E, Sketches of a Strangler, The Baby Doll Murders, Vultures) from a screenplay by William W. Norton (Day of the Animals). The plot concerns a violent sex criminal with a psychotic fixation on his mother. The film’s often inappropriate score was culled from the back catalogue of prolific TV composer Herschel Burke Gilbert (It Came from Beneath the Sea).

As far as promotion of this film is concerned, notice the early use of the “Don’t” tagline that would later become used many times in publicity and movie titles (and re-titles), plus the tweaks to the original threatening killer-behind-the-door artwork on subsequent releases.

During its 1974 US theatrical re-release by Europix as I Dismember Mama (a pun on the play I Remember Mama), moviegoers were given free promotional paper “Up-Chuck Cups”. An overlong and somewhat irritating trailer advertising ‘A Frenzy of Blood!’ double feature paired with 1972′s The Blood Spattered Bride was created in the style of a news report covering the “story” of an audience member who had allegedly gone insane while watching the two films. The mocked-up movie theatre apparently showing the co-feature has a marquee with Blood Splattered, as opposed to Spatted Bride. So much for the $16,000 allegedly spent on the trailer.

International titles for the film include Crazed; El Psicopata; Tras La Puerta del Miedo and La tentazione impure…

Plot:

Albert (Zooey Hall) has tried to kill his rich snobbish mother once, for which he was institutionalized. The low security hospital she has sent him to, however, isn’t prepared to deal with the extent of his problems. Obsessed with his own hatred for his mother, Albert is dangerously violent toward all women and attacks a nurse, after which his doctor decides to send him to a high-security state institution. Albert easily escapes by murdering an orderly, and the police put his mother in hiding after he phones her and threatens her. Unfortunately, when Albert returns to his mother’s home, he finds her housekeeper Alice (Marlene Tracy), whom he tortures and murders.

When Alice’s 9-year-old daughter Annie (Geri Reischl) returns home from school, Albert immediately takes a liking to her and he tells her that her mother has gone to the hospital and left him to take care of Annie while she’s away. Albert seems to revert to a childlike persona and they immediately form a friendship…

Reviews:

” … this attempt at pathos amidst bloodletting is feeble, misguided sentimentally.” John Stanley, Creature Features

” … the film’s centerpiece is Zooey Hall. His performance as Albert is as terrifying as David Hess from “Last House on the Left”, but Hall endows the character with a likable side too, which really makes it upsetting when he lapses into his deranged behavior. The scene where he threatens Alice and makes her strip is really scary because he is so calm and collected during the whole thing, but his explosive violence in the other murders is just as scary.” Groovy Doom

Wikipedia | IMDb

La momia nacional (which translates as “The National Mummy”) is a 1981 Spanish horror sex comedy directed by José Ramón Larraz (Vampyres, Scream – and Die!, Rest in Pieces, Edge of the Axe) from a screenplay by Juan José Alonso Millán. It stars Francisco Algora, Quique Camoiras, Azucena Hernández, Carlos Lucena, José Jaime Espinosa, Lili Muráti, Trini Alonso, Paloma Hurtado, Mabel Escaño, Pilar Alcón. 

This film was a domestic release that does not seem to have been sold outside of Spain except perhaps in some Latin American countries.

The IMDb‘s plot keywords include: werewolf, female nudity, brothel, prostitute, vampire, governess, erotica, political comedy, mummy, severed arm, sex and insane asylum, which all sounds like good/bad fun to us… although the song that plays over the opening credits is appalling, so perhaps this is one comedy horror that deserves to remain in Spain?

IMDb | We are most grateful to No, hija, no for some of the images above.

Bell from Hell  - original title: La Campana del Infierno and also released as A Bell from Hell, The Bell of Hell and The Bells - is a 1973 Spanish horror film directed by Claudio Guerin Hill and starring Renaud Verley, Viveca Lindfors, and Alfredo Mayo. On the final day of shooting for Bell from Hell, Claudio Guerin fell or jumped to his death from the central bell tower constructed for the film.

A young man is released from an asylum and returns home for revenge on his aunt and her three daughters, who had him declared insane in order to steal his inheritance…

“Though it adheres to the commonly used plot devices of vengeance and family inheritance, the story is still well written and kept interesting thanks to the quirky dynamics of the young, mischievous, and darkly humorous protagonist, John. Whether or not viewers end up liking him, John is still an entertaining, multidimensional character, a man-child that’s part hero and part villain.” At the Mansion of Madness

“The repeated imagery of the village church’s new bell, which is being hauled to town and installed as the lurid events of John’s saga play out, work so well as a metaphorical motif that when it moves from a symbol to an actor in the events, it’s quite a shock. Other shots use extreme close-ups of beautiful objects in the foreground to obscure the sordid stuff going on behind it–such as thelovely, vivid red roses pushed right up to the camera as, behind them, John completes the crime for which he was incarcerated. Fascinating, beautiful stuff, and always with a storytelling purpose. When a movie’s scenery is as much fun to look at as the focal action, you know the director is an artist.” Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies

“Quite accomplished and filled with the kind of ethereal dread that foreign fright flicks often excel in, it’s not hard to see why fans and critics have generally gravitated toward this scurrilous story of insanity and revenge. But this is hardly a flawless film. Indeed, A Bell from Hell suffers from the equally bizarre circumstances under which it was made. In the end, what Guerìn intended, and what is up on the screen never seems to effectively gel. Consequently, what should have been a violent slice of madness-mired vindication is frequently too dreamy and disjointed for its own good.” Bill Gibron, DVD Talk

Watch the film online:

IMDb | We are grateful to At the Mansion of Madness and VHS Collector for a couple of the images above.

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