London After Midnight (1927) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) / P: Tod Browning, Irving Thalberg / D: Tod Browning / W: Tod Browning, Waldemar Young, Joseph Farnham / C: Merritt B. Gerstad / E: Harry Reynolds, Errol Taggart / M: Jack Feinberg, Sam Feinberg / S: Lon Chaney, Marceline Day, Henry B. Walthall, Percy Williams, Conrad Nagel
Burn, Witch, Burn (1962) Independent Artists :: American International Pictures / EP: Leslie Parkyn, Julian Wintle / P: Samuel Z. Arkoff, Albert Fennell / D: Sidney Hayers / W: Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, Fritz Leiber Jr. (novel) / C: Reginald H. Wyer / E: Ralph Sheldon / M: William Alwyn / S: Peter Wyngarde, Janet Blair, Margaret Johnston, Anthony Nicholls, Colin Gordon
Pyro… The Thing Without a Face (1964) Sidney W. Pink Productions :: American International Pictures / P: Richard C. Meyer, Sidney W. Pink / D: Julio Coll / W: Sidney W. Pink, Luis de los Arcos / C: Manuel Berenguer / E: Margarita de Ochoa / M: José Solá / S: Barry Sullivan, Martha Hyer, Sherry Moreland, Luis Prendes, Fernando Hilbeck
The Collector (1965) Collector Company :: Columbia Pictures Corporation / P: Jud Kinberg, John Kohn / D: William Wyler / W: John Kohn, Stanley Mann, Terry Southern, John Fowles (novel) / C: Robert Krasker, Robert Surtees / E: David Hawkins, Robert Swink / M: Maurice Jarre / S: Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar, Mona Washbourne, Maurice Dallimore
The Pumpkin Eater (1964) Romulus Films :: Columbia Pictures Corporation / P: James Woolf / AP: James Ware / D: Jack Clayton / W: Harold Pinter, Penelope Mortimer (novel) / C: Oswald Morris / E: Jim Clark / M: Georges Delerue / S: Anne Bancroft, Peter Finch, James Mason, Janine Gray, Cedric Hardwicke, Maggie Smith
Psycho-Biddies, Hagsploitation, or Grande Dame Guignol — call ’em whatever you like, but after the financial success of the rancorous onscreen/off-screen antics of Crawford and Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane a new Hollywood cottage industry was born, where an aging ingenue is tossed to the wolves in some over-cooked and warped psychological thriller — with plenty of available scenery to sink their teeth into. And as far as they go, this one is actually pretty good with a rock-solid performances by de Havilland as our trapped spinster and Caan, making his big screen debut, as the lead psycho, that all culminates in a truly ghoulish ending (that the ads kinda give away.)
Lady in a Cage (1964) AEC :: Luther Davis Productions :: Paramount Pictures / P: Luther Davis / D: Walter Grauman / W: Luther Davis / C: Lee Garmes / E: Leon Barsha / M: Paul Glass / S: Olivia de Havilland, James Caan, Jeff Corey, Ann Sothern, Jennifer Billingsley
Way back in June of 2010, the fine folk behind the magnificent She Blogged by Night held The Shatnerthon!, a tribute to the great William Tiberius Shatner. Scenes from the Morgue heeded the call and participated back then, and now, to celebrate Wild Bill’s birthday this weekend, it was high time we migrated those ads over to the new site plus a few more treats mixed in. Enjoy.
Visiting Hours (1982) Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC) :: Filmplan :: Victor Solnicki Productions :: 20th Century Fox / EP: Pierre David, Victor Solnicki / P: Claude Héroux / D: Jean-Claude Lord / W: Brian Taggert / C: René Verzier / E: Jean-Claude Lord, Lise Thouin / M: Jonathan Goldsmith / S: Lee Grant, Linda Purl, Michael Ironside, William Shatner, Lenore Zann, Harvey Atkin
Back in the 1970s, Joseph Brenner and his Associates had a hand in distributing a lot of exploitation gold with the likes of the Thunderball-Fisted Infra-Man, Argento’s ethereally beautiful Suspiria, and those kooky aqua-nazis in Shock Waves. Here, after the astronomical success of Saturday Night Fever, he bought and repackaged the Ernest Borgnine and William Shatner-fueled The Devil’s Rain, a trippy tale about a coven of the Cloven One’s worshipers, and shamelessly moved Travolta to the top of the bill even though his screen time is about, oh, I don’t know, four or five seconds tops. Beyond that, grab yourself a couple of hot dogs and settle in for a ghoulish quadruple feature that also includes a British import, one of Michael and Roberta Findley’s last co-productions (– as I’m fairly positive that’s supposed to be Shriek of the Mutilated), and topped off with Andy Milligan’s version of Sweeney Todd.
Way back in June of 2010, the fine folk behind the magnificent She Blogged by Night held The Shatnerthon!, a tribute to the great William Tiberius Shatner. Scenes from the Morgue heeded the call and participated back then, and now, to celebrate Wild Bill’s birthday this weekend, it was high time we migrated those ads over to the new site plus a few more treats mixed in. Enjoy.
“No puppet master pulls the string on high,
A twisted nerve, a ganglion gone awry,
Predestinates the sinner or the saint”
And there you have the gist of the nature vs. nurture grist of the Boulting Brother’s psychological thriller, Twisted Nerve. Based on the junk science notion of uneven chromosomes equaling a genetic predisposition to violence, the film concentrates on a young, such-afflicted sociopath who stalks a pretty young waif after she helps him out of a jam, and then ingratiates himself into her family to get even closer to his target infatuation, spinning a web of lies along the way. Unfortunately, his odd behavior soon draws suspicion; and when the sheer weight of all those carefully constructed deceits causes them to inevitably collapse, our boy has to work fast (usually, with something sharp) to maintain his delusions. Yeah, it’s central premise is out of date and, let’s face it, horribly offensive, but if you can get past that you’ve got yourself a nice and twisted little squirmer that is slow to boil but worth the wait when it finally blows. Beyond that, the film’s biggest notation is the post-Disney debut of Hayley Mills, and the sinister-Bernard Herrmann enhanced tune that our villain constantly whistles that will bore into both ears and keep on going until they meet in the middle at your medulla-oblongata and completely shred your brain into iddy-bitty pieces. Have a listen:
Twisted Nerve (1968) Charter Film Productions :: National General Pictures / EP: John Boulting / P: George W. George, Frank Granat / D: Roy Boulting / W: Leo Marks, Roy Boulting / C: Harry Waxman / E: Martin Charles / M: Bernard Herrmann / S: Hayley Mills, Hywel Bennett, Billie Whitelaw, Barry Foster
Wow. Didn’t realize (or, more than likely, had completely forgotten) that the Friday the 13th franchise was already up to Part V before Freddy Kreuger finally showed up in A Nightmare on Elm Street … Often vilified by franchise fans the Vth and Jason-less entry in the Friday the 13th canon has been gaining some traction in a lot of circles, lately, and is being remembered with more fondness as opposed to ‘Well, that sucked.’ Originally intended to star Corey Feldman, who couldn’t since he was shooting The Goonies, and with every intention to let Jason remain dead and replace him with Tommy Jarvis, director Danny Steinmann was charged to deliver a whodunit with a shock or death every 7 to 8 minutes. Once completed, the film was subsequently hammered by the MPAA, who really started to crack down on these Stalk ‘n’ Slashers after the much publicized outcry over the Christmas ruination of Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984). 16 separate scenes had to be watered down, and it took nine submission attempts before Paramount finally got their R-rating. A direct sequel was planned with Tommy taking up the mask but the fans ultimately rejected this notion and Jason Vorhees was destined to return in Part VI.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) Georgetown Productions Inc. :: Terror Inc. :: Paramount Pictures / EP: Frank Mancuso Jr., Timothy Silver / D: Danny Steinmann / W: Martin Kitrosser, David Cohen, Danny Steinmann / C: Stephen L. Posey / E: Bruce Green / M: Harry Manfredini / S: John Shepherd, Melanie Kinnaman, Shavar Ross, Richard Young, Juliette Cummins
Your Tour Guide.
