A scary thing happened on the way to the Movie Forums - Horrorcrammers

Price is just a man who exudes a degree of camp, even when he’s serious. When he’s deprived of being himself, such as his early noir roles, he’s fairly forgettable. But when placed in a horror film, comedy or not, he brings an exuberance to the film that’s hard to articulate. While not full on “campy,” his work with Corman, in particular The Masque of Red Death, find that perfect balance of derangement and camp.

That said, I think he was the only actor that could’ve done Theatre of Blood in that manner. Just a perfect performance for an actor of his caliber.

I find it interesting as a bridge between the classic era and the modern. It presages the early 70s penchant for bleak endings which puts it in the company of other '68 films like NotLD and Rosemary's Baby, but it's doubly shocking when that ending occurs in what is basically part of the Price/Poe series. Moviegoers who showed up expecting a good time were no doubt disappointed.

And there's also the old-vs-young, down-with-the-establishment subtext going on. Instead of vanquishing the monster with crucifixes and holy water, here the church is the bad guy, getting literally beaten at the end by Youth (symbolism!). It's a pretty modern horror film in disguise as a classic Gothic.



Really sucks that Reeves never made another film.

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He made a few previous to WG and was supposed to make Oblong Box when he died.

Correct, I meant "never again made another film" or "Never made a subsequent film" or whatever is the grammarest way of saying it.

Incidentally, Castle of the Living Dead (which I'm watching tonight) is included on my recently-acquired Chris Lee box set. I'd always heard that he was some sort of second-unit guy on that one but both the director and Lee seem to agree that Reeves was not really involved in that capacity. (Just co-wrote it.)

The Sorcerors is the only Reeves film I don't own, but I just found a decent print on Youtube so I've got that on deck too.

I figured as much. Just wanted to clarify so anyone didn’t think it was his only film.

WG is the only one of his I have seen. For some reason, I always conflate his career and Gordon Hessler’s. Not entirely but I frequently think Reeves directed Scream and Scream Again.

Revenge of the Blood Beast aka The She-Beast is of interest if you're already a WG fan and want to compare, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it to most. It's a rare chance to see Barbara Steele in a role that isn't set 400 years ago, so there's that at least.

Just think- if Reeves had lived maybe he'd have directed Kiss Meets the Phantom instead of Hessler. The mind boggles at the implications!

That's interesting about it representing the old horror/new horror transition. I obviously had a more political reading of the movie if my review's last line is of any indication. Hopkins, especially the moment made me think about Greg Abbott and all of terrible laws he's enacting in Texas lately.

Sorry to offend any Texans out there: Abbott probably wouldn't have the good taste to see this movie anyway, but I bet he'd wonder why Marshall is the hero and Hopkins is the villain.

I remember enjoying Witchfinder General but also thinking it probably needed a bigger budget to really sell its environment of terror.


I also took a peek at my old review (not reposting out of embarrassment) and see that I saw it as a possible allegory for Cold War foreign policy, particularly in how the villain's atrocities are enabled by a regime in the context of a greater, allegedly righteous conflict. This is the kind of take I'd likely roll my eyes at if somebody else wrote it about a movie I hadn't seen. Guys, how far out of my ass was I talking here?

Can you imagine if they made that movie today? They'd just use the Find My Witch app on their phones.
Sorry.

The Themes section of the movie's Wikipedia page mentions McCarthyism and the Vietnam War, so maybe not that far at all.

Google Maps General



Phew.


I remember the battle scenes having a verite, guerilla warfare flavour. Is that accurate or am I misremembering?

There's a certain quality to some of the scenes that I love but that I can't really articulate. I don't know if it's long takes or the fact that it's shot in wide shots as opposed to closeups or what it is, but "verite" kind of describes what I'm thinking of. The hanging scene and the witch dunking scene in particular have a certain "matter of fact" quality to them. They're not shot with a lot of excess flair so they strike me as more realistic than I'm used to in this type of film. I don't really know what I'm talking about which is why I didn't mention it before.

Having said that, there aren't really any battle scenes that I can recall. So "yes and no" is my answer to your question.

EDIT: After further reflection-- I associate true verite with handheld camera and so on, so if that's what you meant then I'd say there's not much of that sort of thing

The She-Beast aka Return of the Blood Beast (Michael Reeves, 1966)
Saw this one for the first time a few years ago and the unexpected amount of humor caught me off guard, but with my expectations tweaked I was more in tune this go 'round, so I added a star to my previous rating. Lots of the humor is at the expense of Mel Welles, who's a funny dude, as the perverted hotel owner. (Welles was Mr Mushnik in Little Shop of Horrors, among other things)

Those of you hoping for another Witchfinder General should probably look elsewhere, but if you're ok with something a little lighter I can recommend this one. An English couple honeymoons in Transylvania (great idea), only to find that the village is cursed by the She-Beast of the title. And what a she-beast she is!

There's more than a few references to the fact that Transylvania was under communist rule at the time, so those of you who picked up on that in WG were maybe not imagining things.

The picture isn't showing up for me, so I don't know which film you're reviewing.

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The whole film is a small ripped piece of paper. And it is terrifying.

Does 21 Minutes Ago survive though? It looks like his friend 20 Minutes Ago was killed several seconds ago.

Are you saying I need to dust off my copy and get to the bottom of this?

Today's Sunday Afternoon Horror Movie Club (aka me and my friend) film was Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the 50s version.

I haven't watched this one in many, many years. It was scarier and more gruesome than I remembered: especially the details of the children and the mother instructing someone to put one of the pods in her baby's playpen. I enjoyed the blocking and movement of the characters, and the use of characters appearing for a moment in the background.

The one element that didn't work that well for me was the central romance. The characters constantly talk about how much they love each other, but it feels more like the film is trying to convince us than actually show us. I get that it's necessary for the whole subplot about the loss of emotions, but it felt like every other sentence in the last act was about love. Maybe it would have worked if the actors had better chemistry.

The Sorcerors (1967)
This is Reeves' second film and I'm recommending this one too.
Scientist Karloff invents a device that allows him (and his wife) to control the thoughts and actions of others remotely, and Ian Ogilvy is his first test subject. After his wife uses Ogilvy to shoplift a stole for her, she starts to enjoy the rush of committing crimes. Eventually she moves beyond shoplifting and commands Ogilvy to commit increasingly dangerous acts, over Karloff's protests. It's a unique premise to have the elderly lady as the crazed addict of a villain, and the actress really sells it. Good stuff.

Also enjoyable as a 60s artifact, with a rock band that performs multiple songs, Karloff's hypnotic device that projects a Grateful Dead light show onto Ogilvy's face, and a teenaged Susan George in a small role.

It does.

I mean, if you feel like you need a break from all the porn, then yeah.