Saturday Night Horror: The Monster Walks (1932)

Director:  Frank R. Strayer
Cast:  Rex Lease, Vera Reynolds, Sheldon Lewis, Mischa Auer

PLOT:  The film opens with Ruth Earlton's (Vera Reynolds) father's death.  We hear the screeches of an ape from below and we can already tell this is going to be some sort of horribly done KING KONG remake.

Ruth arrives at the home with her fiancé, Dr. Ted Clayton (Rex Lease).  The handmaid, Mrs. Krug (Martha Mattox) and the servant, her son, Hanns (Mischa Auer) are not pleased with the amount of money Ruth's father left to her.

When it's time for everyone to go to bed, Hanns tees off on Ruth's uncle, Robert (Sheldon Lewis), calling him a hypocrite and questioning why he didn't tell Ruth he hated her and calling the family liars.  

When the clock strikes midnight, Ruth spies a hairy hand next to her on her pillow and lets out probably the most horrible scream I've ever heard in the history of the horror genre.

After a few scenes of Ted interrogating potential suspects, the hairy hand returns and beings to choke Mrs. Krug, who makes one of the best choking faces I've ever seen.  The hand strangles her to death and Ruth faints.  

Ted speaks to Robert and informs Mr. Wilkes (Sidney Bracey) that when Ruth entered the room, his heartbeat stopped for five seconds.  Hanns confronts Robert about his betrayal and strangles him.  While Ted and Wilkes are investigating what happened to Robert, Hanns brings Ruth's body to the cellar to feed her to Yogi.  Robert confesses that Hanns is the one doing his bidding, and Ted and Wilkes rush down to the cellar.  But Yogi is one smart critter, strangling Hanns, which allows Ted and Wilkes to rescue Ruth and save the day.   


REVIEW:  I did like this film's clever use of background movement (in the scene where Ted is talking to Ruth in her room, look carefully at the painting).  Other than that, the film was rather slow, not too much action, and ample amounts of racism, though I suppose that's expected, considering the time period this was filmed in.  2.5/10 stars.

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Saturday Night Horror: The Raven (1935)

Director:  Lew Landers
Cast:  Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Irene Ware, Lester Matthews, Inez Courtney

This week's SNH is a Lugosi-Karloff hit.  Yay!

PLOT:  Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware) has been injured in a car accident and her father, Judge Thatcher (Samuel S. Hinds), in a desperate attempt to save her, calls a retired surgeon, Dr. Richard Vollin (Bela Lugosi).  Vollin refuses to help but is eventually forced to give in. 

Judge Thatcher approaches Dr. Vollin with the claim that Jean has fallen in love with him.  He requests that Vollin stop seeing her, but Vollin is obsessed with her and won't obey his request.  A murderer on the run, Edmond Bateman (Boris Karloff, hard to believe under all that hair), serves as a scapegoat for Vollin.  He agrees to change Bateman's face if Bateman will murder the Thatchers.  After various refusals by Bateman, Vollin agrees to simply perform the surgery.  In what could be considered the first instance of epic trolling in the history of time, Vollin transforms the left (to us) side of Bateman's face into a disfigured mess; his eye is crooked and his mouth is pudgy (Vollin even laughs when he discovers that Bateman shoots the mirrors after he discovers he's disfigured [because that will change his appearance], so you know he knows he's a master troll).  Bateman demands that Vollin fix his mouth, and Vollin says that he will IF Bateman agrees to carry out the murders.  Bateman eventually says yes.

Vollin invites the Thatchers and Jean's fiance, Jerry (Lester Matthews) to his mansion for the weekend.  During the party, Jean is scared by Bateman and lets out a (rather lackluster) scream.  This prompts Dr. Vollin reveals why he is so obsessed with Poe's poem, The Raven.  He loves anything to do with torture and death.   

Jerry decides to humor Judge Thatcher and move Jean into another room.  At 11, Bateman captures Judge Thatcher first.  Jerry runs after him, and, as is usually the case when a lover goes after a fiend, he makes no attempt to stop Bateman other than simply running towards him, and is knocked out. 

Jean is awoken by her entire room descending.  Her and Jerry are thrown into a room in which the walls will close around them and they will be crushed to death.  Bateman, however, saves the day and throws Vollin into the room instead.  I like this because I was rooting for Bateman all along, lol.  At the end of the day, Bateman dies due to Vollin's gunshot and everyone gets away safely.
 
REVIEW:  Considering the fact that almost nothing in this film had to do with The Raven (besides Vollin's torture devices and "Poe has been avenged!"), I enjoyed this film.  I loved the mad scientist combined with evil host motif (similar to HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL with Vincent Price).  Great music and Bateman was lovable.  4 out of 5 stars.

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Saturday Night Horror: The Mole People (1956)

Director:  Virgil W. Vogel
Starring:  John Agar, Hugh Beaumont, Cynthia Patrick

Been a few weeks, but welcome back!  This week, we're watching a film that sounds lame but might turn out to be a good one.

PLOT:  Drs. Roger Bentley (John Aar) and Jud Bellamin (Hugh Beaumont) are archaeologists in Asia.  They happen upon a tablet in Sumerian and the Sumerian version of Noah's ark.  They climb a mountain to where they were found and find the ruins of a Sumerian temple. 

At the end of a cave, they discover an underground city.  While they're asleep, creatures throw bags on their heads and drag them even further underground.  Once there, they discover skeletons with large hands and skulls.  They are escorted to a temple where a ruler holds up the Eye of Ishtar.  After escaping the people by flashing light at them, the men find their way to another underground chamber where humanoid mole men are being used as slaves by this civilization.

Suspicions on the part of the civilization rise when the men help the mole men and save them from being beaten.  The men eat drugged mushrooms and are captured.  In the end, the men escape with the girl (Cynthia Patrick), who dies.  Bittersweet ending. 

REVIEW:  From the start, this film was an interesting bit of history.  The title seems lame, but the concept was intriguing and interesting.  7.5/10 stars.  

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Saturday Night Horror: Dementia 13 (1963)

 

Director:  Francis Ford Coppola

Cast:  William Campbell, Luana Anders, Patrick Magee

Happy Belated New Years and Happy Belated Holidays to all!  Sorry I haven't been here in a while; school has been catching up on me.  Time to get back to Saturday Night Horror, and what better way to do that than viewing one of the films from the beginning stage of Francis Ford Coppola's career?

PLOT:  In the pre-title sequence, John Haloran (Peter Read) and his wife Louise (Luana Anders) go on a row-boating trip and argue about John's mother trying to exploit him. Louise says she is, John says she just doesn't know her.  John then suffers a heart attack and dies, forcing Louise to dump him overboard.  

Louise sends a letter to John's mother (Eithne Dunne) posing as John, saying that she has received an urgent wire from New York and that she must go and miss John's sister Kathleen's (Barbara Dowling) memorial service.  She then goes to Ireland, to Haloran Castle, where she meets John's brothers, Billy (Bart Patton) and Richard (William Campbell).  Billy tells her that Kathleen drowned and that Haloran Castle is haunted by her spirit.  

At the funeral (the seventh funeral in a row), the boys' mother collapses and Louise uses the opportunity to steal some things from Kathleen's room.  She dives underwater and leaves the toys at the bottom of the pond, but screams when she sees Kathleen's body.  She swims to the surface only to be killed by an unknown criminal.

One night, Simon (Karl Schnazer), a poacher, happens upon Kathleen's body (which, by the way, appears to be fresh) and also falls victim to the unknown murderer.  Also on that night, Lady Haloran ventures outside to place Kathleen's tiara on the girl's head, and nearly falls victim to the axe murderer.  She collapses again.

Billy tells Richard's fiancee, Kane (Mary Mitchell) about nightmares he has.  In them, he's a little boy and an insane man is climbing into his window.  He screams for his mother and she comes in.  The man says that he will nod his head, and the other insane person will nod their head.  He nods, and Lady Haloran nods and picks him up and throws him into the pond.  Kane says something about Richard throwing them both into the pond, and Billy realizes that the man in his dreams was Richard.  I knew it.  Well, I knew he was the murderer.  I didn't know that.  Oops, spoilers!

The next day, Dr. Caleb (Patrick Magee) discovers a tombstone reading "Forgive me, Kathleen" and accuses Richard of placing it there.  Richard says he has no idea and Dr. Caleb asks Billy to come with him to look for Louise.  

It all ends on Kane and Richard's wedding night.  Caleb places Kathleen on the fountain.  Suddenly, Billy appears with an axe and we find out that he was the murderer all along.  Looks like I was wrong!

REVIEW:  Everything about the film seemed like a rip-off of THE TWILIGHT ZONE.  Not saying that this was a bad film and that I wouldn't watch it again, but almost everything seemed to come from THE TWILIGHT ZONE:  the music, the plot, everything.  But overall, this is a decent thriller/murder mystery and I'd recommend it.  7/10 stars.

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The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

Director:  Charles B. Pierce
Cast:  Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells

PLOT:  Our story takes place shortly after WWII.  On Sunday, March 3, 1946, in Texarkana, Arkansas, a young couple goes on a date only to be attacked by a man in a white mask.  He leaves the girl bloodied and close to death on the side of the road, begging for help.  Luckily, she is taken to a hospital.

On Saturday, March 24, 1946, Deputy Norman Ramsey (Andrew Prine), takes car down to Lover's Lane when he hears gunshots.  He happens upon a parked car with no one in it.  He hears more gunshots.  He encounters a dead man and a girl that has been tied to a tree, who is dead also.  

After that, the town becomes fully equipped with resources to protect themselves against the killer.  The police organize a search for the killer.

PROM NIGHT!!!!  Sunday, April 14th.  Wow, they pray at this prom!  As Catholic as I am, that's kinda weird.  We didn't pray at my prom, junior or senior year.  We didn't dance to Amazing Grace, either.  Then again, it IS the South...

The phantom killer is waiting again.  This time, he preys on two prom-goers.  The boy ends up getting into a fight with the man, while the girl runs for her life.  She can't stay away for very long, though; the killer catches up to her and carries her away.  Meanwhile, the young man gets up.  I have to say, this girl does a horrible job of resisting.  Seeing the young man rise, the killer pulls out a gun and shoots the kid, who falls dead.  The killer then proceeds to use the totally unorthodox technique of hitting the girl by blowing a trombone into her back.  Apparently that's painful.  I was in band in high school, but I didn't play trombone, so I wouldn't know.

The police begin an investigation and, with the help of a black man, find the killer, who agrees to confess to the killings.  However, he is let go after the police are convinced he's not the killer.

In May, a man is shot in his own home.  The killer bangs open the door and shoots the man's lover.  She escapes through a back door, but the killer pursues her.  She finds her way to an elderly couple's house but does not die.

The day after, everyone boards up their windows and delivery boys wait till daylight to make their deliveries.  By this time, reporters have found their way to Texarkana, having found out about the stories.

During the day, the police plan a stakeout.  The killer is strangely out and, when fired at, runs away.  He jumps in front of an oncoming train with the police after him.  He reaches the other side, yet gets nailed by a great shot from Captain J.D. Morales (Ben Johnson).  He gets away, and no one know where he is now.      

REVIEW:  Finally, TCM shows a legitimately scary horror movie!  This was a great 70s thriller that had me on edge and wondering when the killer was going to strike next.  Some of the concepts were a little...unorthodox, but other than that, it was a great thriller.  4 out of 5 stars.

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The African Queen (1951)

Director:  John Huston
Cast:  Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley

Watched this in film criticism today!

PLOT:  Canadian boat captain Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) is a steamboat mail carrier in charge of his boat, The African Queen, during World War I in August/September 1914.  He delivers mail and supplies to brother and sister British missionaries in the village of Kungdu in German East Africa, Samuel and Rose Sayer (Robert Morley, Katharine Hepburn).  They are attacked by German soldiers who burn the village.  Samuel dies after being beaten by a soldier.  Charlie returns and asks Rose to come with him on The African Queen so they can talk about what to do next.  He also helps her bury Samuel.

During the journey, Charlie grows annoyed by Rose's constant questions.  She asks him if he can make a torpedo and insists that they take the river route past a German fort and dangerous rapids.  After tackling the rapids, Charlie is shocked when Rose insists that they continue on the same route.

Down river, Charlie and Rose get ambushed by Germans.  As is expected, after overcoming the disaster, they fall in love.      

Charlie is covered in leeches and retained to bed.  He tells Rose that there is no way they can rescue The African Queen from the mud where it has been stuck ever since they lost the channel.  However, the rain frees the boat and Charlie and Rose head on their way again.  They build torpedoes and they are ready to take on the Louisa!  Rose wants to take it on all by herself, but Charlie convinces her to let him take it on by himself.

Charlie is captured and taken aboard the Louisa.  He spies Rose on a boat and the Germans capture her too.  Rose and Charlie get married aboard the ship, which then starts to sink due to an explosion.  In the end, Rose and Charlie go off happily in love.    

REVIEW:  This was one of the first films to be filmed on location in Africa.  This is a fun adventure movie and it was fun to see Humphrey Bogart not as a classy socialite like he portrayed in CASABLANCA, but rather as a rough-and-tumble boatsman with a crass vocabulary and a filthy lifestyle. 3 out of 5 stars.  

Trailer:

The Wasp Woman (1959)

Directors:  Roger Corman, Jack Hill
Cast:  Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Michael Mark, Barboura Morris

Second of two horror movies on TCM tonight, the first being 1970's EQUINOX.

PLOT:  During a board meeting, Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot) learns that cosmetics sales have fallen dramatically, and the executives think that she is to blame.  Janice wants to use enzyme extracts from the royal jelly of the queen wasp to reverse the aging process.  Luckily, a scientist, Eric Zinthrop (Michael Mark), has found a way to do that.  Janice agrees to take a look at the process, but only if she can serve as his human subject.

Three weeks after she's injected, nothing has happened.  Janice becomes impatient, and, sneaking into the doctor's lab, injects herself with extra doses of the formula.  The next morning, Zinthrop notices that some test subjects are becoming violent.

One night, Arthur Cooper (William Roenick) enters the laboratory, only to be attacked by a humanoid wasp.  He rants about Janice being in danger and how she isn't human anymore, how she killed a girl and ate her remains.  Meanwhile, Janice's secretary, Mary Dennison (Barboura Morris) experiences Janice's transformation and is attacked.  Bill Lane (Anthony Eisley) and Cooper run to confront the wasp.  Bill and the wasp get it an epic fight.  Cooper, however, is the one who finally throws the bottle of acid at Wasp Janice, killing her.      

REVIEW:  This film has a Spider-Man-esque feel to it, which I thought was very ahead of its time.  The concept of a humanoid wasp running around amused the hell out of me, and this movie had some good attack scenes.  3 out of 5 stars.  

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