The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)

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A pretty bleak, morbid & loose adaptation of Poe's House of Usher classic. The Gothic atmospheric settings worked wonderfully; inside the house...the interiors of the walls, the mirrors, the curtains and the painting...all conveyed like the inner world of Roderick...dank, gloomy and decaying. With such nightmarish great visuals the eerie & sad background scores also contributed brilliantly in this total surreal masterpiece from silent era French cinema. But you can't compare it with Roger Corman's version...cause in a cinematic point of view both are extraordinary achievement but completely different than each other as the way they treated the Usher story in their own terms & fashion.

>>: A

The Collector (1965). Every so often a film comes along whose originality threatens its placement in a genre proper. The Collector is one such beast. Not really a horror flick, it is more a creepy drama centering on the early years of a mentally unbalanced man.

The story is itself claustrophobic, and how such a simple premise could be magnified into a feature length film defies logic. For the most part this film enjoys a limited set and an even more limited number characters. It is the terrifying story of a forcefully contrived relationship and its repercussions. This awkward situation infuses itself into the meat of the story, allowing for a continual sense of dread even when things appear to be going well onscreen. It almost comes off as an accidental horror flick.

The acting was phenomenal. With only two characters filling the screen for most all of its run time, these two never become tiresome, but instead almost ripen right before our eyes. Terrence Stamp excels as the creep, a man that seems fully transparent but whose character is from such a different planet that we can only sense the dread that is in store for those caught in his net. Samantha Eggar is likewise wonderful, herself trying every trick in her purse to remedy her dismal situation. Toward the film's end her frustration drives her to decisions that really cannot be helped but that will likely perpetuate her desperate plight.

William Wyler's direction was spectacular. The whole production was held just askew enough to leave us perfectly discombobulated without feeling alienated. Awkward camera angles continually pull out the perturbed emotions that drives this story forward. The score was splendid as well. It more than set the mood, but almost applauded the twisted nature of the antagonist and his wiles.

Even the end was a fresh surprise, its denouement leaving plenty of room for fertile imaginations to manifest scenarios even worse than that which was just survived, and all without unnecessary violence or gore.
d

Leech Woman. The movie was a little all all over the place in that they had tried to cream a to long story into a to short movie but all in all I liked it and I think it is a good film. If I am not mistaken this film was made in 1960.

The plot of Leech Woman is that you have a scientist who completely neglects his beautiful, older wife to find a way to reverse aging. One of his patients claim to be over 150 years old, the scientist and his wife go to Africa and learn that a woman's secret is powder from a particular flower mixed with human spinal fluids.

The acting was good, and a costumes and sets where nice to. All in all I really liked this film.

Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy. Been on a Karloff kick lately.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

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oh, that's I think the creepiest makeover for Mr. Hyde ever portrayed in films. Loved it.

>>: A-


The Bloody Vampire (1962)

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This is one hell of a fun vampire flick from Mexico. :)

>>: B+

I saw The Devil's Hand today, it is from 1960 something and was rather fun, a bit slow at times but definitely fun.

Mr. Sardonicus.


One of Castle's best. He plays it straight all the way through and creates a really creepy atmosphere. Oskar Homolka is great as Sardonicus's servant. This could almost be a Hammer film, if it were in color.

I am watching Frankenstein right now hah :)

..Not finished yet but I know how it ends..

Curse of the Demon.

A masterpiece, even in its truncated form.

I just looked that up...It mentions in Wiki that (14 mins in 3 scenes have now been restored on all home video versions). Cut scenes included a visit to the Hobart family farm, a trip to Stonehenge, and snippets of the seance scenes and conversations between Karswell and his mother.

Its been ages since I've seen that film but I don't remember 'a trip to Stonehenge' was this restored in the version you watched.

But you're 100% correct - the film is a master piece. I really must buy it on DVD. It one of the few times where a film is better than the source material (though I love the James story too).

I know Tourneur really didn't want the demon seen but I actually liked it and its design. The still of the demons face has really become a horror icon.