Showing posts with label Terence Fisher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Terence Fisher. Show all posts
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| Dangerous tentacle of silicate |
When the body of a man is discovered with all of his insides somehow sucked out on an isolated island, Dr. Brian Stanley (Peter Cushing) and Dr. David West (Edward Judd of First Men in the Moon) are called in for consultation by the local constable, John Harris (Sam Kydd). There the two men discover more dessicated corpses, and learn that researchers attempting to create living matter to counteract cancer cells only succeeded in creating silicon-based tentacled creatures ["silicates"] that feed on humans and animals by leeching away bone via osmosis. While the monsters themselves aren't the most frightening things in the world, Island of Terror is still quite creepy, has good performances from the leads, Kydd, and Carole Gray [Curse of the Fly] as West's plucky date, and offers some fairly unusual beasties in the bargain. There are a couple of illogical moments, such as when one character takes an axe to another's arm instead of chopping at the tentacle that ensnared it, and the idea of herding everyone on the island into one place so the monsters can congregate and feed on them is also a boner, especially when they've already herded some animals together for that purpose. Cushing is as marvelous as ever.
Verdict: Fun monster movie despite some dumb moments. ***.
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| Oliver Reed |
In a prologue, we meet a miserable landowner, the Marques Siniestro (Anthony Dawson), who wrongly imprisons a mute servant girl (Yvonne Romain), simply because she won't respond to his repulsive advances. In her cell the poor woman is raped by another prisoner (Richard Wadsworth), and then dies in child birth. Her son, Leon (Oliver Reed), is raised by the gentlemanly and compassionate Alfredo (Clifford Evans). Leon goes off to work for a wine merchant, and falls for the man's daughter, Christina (Catherine Feller). Christina's father objects to their romance, but Leon has a more serious problem -- when the moon is full the cursed man turns into a werewolf, running home to commit flesh-tearing murders. Director Fisher has done some excellent Hammer horror pictures, but somehow this misses, a victim of awkward continuity and Reed's overwrought performance, although the other cast members are good, especially Feller, and Hira Talfrey as the servant Teresa. Benjamin Frankel's musical score is a decided plus. This was based on Guy Endore's "Werewolf of Paris."
Verdict: A lesser Hammer despite the talent involved. **.
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| Chris Lee and cohorts seek safety inside circle |
"I'd rather see you dead than meddling in black magic."
When Duc De Richleau discovers that his young friend Simon (Patrick Mower) and a woman named Tanith (Nike Arrighi) are going to be baptized into a cult that worships the Devil, he takes action. Along with his friend Rex Van Ryn (Leon Greene), Richleau spirits the young couple away where he attempts to keep them out of the grasp and influence of Mocata (Charles Gray), the leader of the Satanic cult. But Mocata has no intention of losing these two souls, and Richleau and his group have to contend with sinister materializations of everything from a little girl to a giant spider, not to mention a devil with the head of a goat. One of the best sequences has Richleau gathering everyone together into a circle of protection in the vast room of a manor house. Lee, Gray, Arrighi, as well as Paul Eddington as Eaton, give very good performances, but while the movie is entertaining, it's not completely satisfying either as thriller or horror. From Hammer studios.
Verdict: Lee is always interesting. **1/2.
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| Heather Sears and Herbert Lom |
The second color remake of the silent classic stars Herbert Lom [Mark of the Devil] as a presumed dead music professor and composer whose work was stolen by a loathsome publisher named d'Arcy (Michael Gough of Black Zoo), and who haunts the Paris opera, kidnapping new singer Christine (Heather Sears of Room at the Top) so he can coach her in her role. The appropriated opera is based on the life of Joan of Arc, but it sounds more like a 20th century work than something from a previous century. An early scene when a corpse suddenly flies across the stage from a rope during a performance makes you think this might be the old story reworked as a nifty Hammer horror film, but aside from some rats and stabs to the eyeball, this version is not much more horrific than the 1943 Phantom of the Opera, and has a less effective chandelier sequence as well. Lom is not as interesting as the disfigured composer as you might expect, Sears is competent but forgettable, and Gough steals the picture with his utterly vicious and slimy portrayal of d'Arcy. Some of the developments of the script give one pause: a producer (Edward de Souza) learns the truth about who actually composed the opera, but does nothing about it, despite d'Arcy's wretched character and his need for comeuppance. In another scene a landlady somehow knows that Lom is still alive even when the police don't. The movie is entertaining, but somehow disjointed.
Verdict: Disappointing thriller with some good moments. **1/2.
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| Guy Rolfe [foreground] and David Spenser [behind him] |
Captain Harry Lewis (Guy Rolfe) of the East India Co. has been amassing details about the great many disappearances of people and caravans in Bombay. After heated complaints from merchants about the situation, Colonel Henderson (Andrew Cruickshank), decides a man must be appointed to head an investigation. Although he considers Lewis an expert, he nevertheless assigns the arrogant, insufferable. newly-arrived Captain Connaught-Smith (Allan Cuthbertson) to the job. Meanwhile the stranglers of the cult of Kali continue robbing and murdering with impunity. The severed hand of Lewis' houseman, Ram Das (Tutte Lemkow), who went to get his younger brother, Gopali (David Spenser), away from the cult, winds up on his dining room table to horrify his wife, Mary (Jan Holden). Will Lewis survive to strike down the cult, or are his days numbered? The Stranglers of Bombay is a zesty, absorbing Hammer production with an excellent cast, especially Rolfe [Mr. Sardonicus]; George Pastell as the High Priest of Kali; Cuthbertson as the snooty, hateful Connaught-Smith; Paul Stassino as Lt. Silver, a colleague of Lewis' who secretly belongs to the cult; and Marne Maitland [The Terror of the Tongs] as Patel Shari, who may or may not be an ally. One of the most interesting scenes is a battle between a mongoose and a snake that is on its way to strike at Lewis. Terence Fisher directed a great many films for Hammer studios and others.
Verdict: Hammer hits another home run. ***.