film lover 293
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Posts posted by film lover 293
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Grand Theft For Dummies
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Once Upon a Time
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"Blood and Black Lace" (1964)--Starring Cameron Mitchell and Eva Bartok, directed by Mario Bava.
One of the first slasher films. A series of models who work in Bartok's fashion salon are killed. The reason has something to do with a models' diary.
Film is beautifully shot, as almost all of Bava's films were. The film's theme with a saxophone? clarinet? is memorable. The film uses an imaginative color scheme, and the film's worth watching for the cinematography alone. The plot sees people tortured and killed in various horrible ways. But the film gives the game away when a shot lingers too long on a killer. Movie grows tiresome after a while; it does help that most of the characters are skunks. The characters go against the rules of logic (they don't scream, try to run when they have the chance, etc.) The end is fitting.
A good film I didn't care for. 2.8/4.
Edit--I just looked at film's webpage. People really hated this one, going by tonights User Reviews.
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"Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing" (1954)--Directed by Bin Kaido (or Kado--have seen two different spellings of the name).
This Japanese horror film is poky and obvious to my Western eyes. A Kabuki Theatre actress is killed by those jealous of her; she comes back to avenge herself on the ones who wronged her/killed her.
Film has several problems. It takes half the film to set the situation, and the villains have all the subtlety of Snidely Whiplash when they're about to commit dastardly acts against the poor, fragile flower of a heroine. The main female villain is amusingly bitchy, and the main male villain is boringly so. People stand around and talk..and talk...and Talk about what they're going to do, and the victim just listens and weeps, instead of doing something constructive, like defending herself, or Leaving. She continues to trust everyone she shouldn't, for some unfathomable reason.
There is atonal singing in the Kabuki scenes, and listening to it made me wince.
The negatives out of the way, the last half hour of the film is fun to watch and see the heroine get Revenge. The special effects are ok, nothing more.
I found the film on archive.org; it's worth searching out, especially if you know about Japanese culture. I'm sure I missed cultural subtleties; others may enjoy the film more than I did. 2.6/4.
Film is subtitled; however, credits are not.
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Pevney, Joseph
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"The Skull" (1965)--Starring Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Jill Bennett. Directed by Freddie Francis. Based on a Robert Bloch story.
Amicus Production filmed in England, film revolves around Professor Christopher Maitland (Cushing) and Sir Matthew Philips (Lee). Maitland is into occult research, and he outbids Philips on an auction item. One of the auction items is an item that was stolen from Philips. It's the title object, which supposedly is the Marquis De Sade's, and is possessed.
Cushing is very good as the man taken over by what he had drastically underestimated, and Lee is fine in a good guy role. Bennett is good as the wife who's Afraid of what her husband's dealing with.
John Wilcox (1959's "The Mouse That Roared") did the expressive photography. Elisabeth Lutyens did the emotional music score.
Found the film on archive.org.
"The Skull" is an underrated psychological horror film, with fine performances from the leads. 3.3/4.
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Lawrence--Novelist is from Scotland.
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Hint--The period film is based on a story by one of the most popular novelists in European history,
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Lawrence--Correct!
Your thread.
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White Christmas?
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"Kiss of the Vampire" (1963)--Starring Clifford Evans and Noel Willman, directed by Dan Sharp; he also directed "The Brides of Fu Manchu" and "Rasputin, the Mad Monk" (both 1966).
Hammer vampire film is good early 60's horror. Film is set in early 1900's Europe. A honeymooning couple's car runs out of petrol; because the wife misread the map, they are lost. They make it to an inn, and the owners of a mysterious castle invite them to dinner. Film goes from there.
The attractive but boring honeymooners aren't the real story. The most interesting parts of the film are the contrasting characters of Professor Zimmer (Evans) and Dr. Ravna (Willman). Zimmer stands in for Van Helsing, Ravna for Dracula. These two have the best scenes in the film.
The special effects are adequate, but not outstanding. Alan Hume's photography is handsome. James Bernard's musical score is effective.
I saw the film on YT. Two things; at the 27:00 minute mark, sound goes for about two minutes, then is back on for the rest of the film; and the film is listed at 1:38 minutes long--it's an hour 27 minutes long, then the film restarts for some reason.
Kiss of the Vampire is a good watch. It's not a favorite, but it's good enough to deserve at least one viewing. 2.8/4.
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Saturday, Oct. 29th. All times E.S.T.
6:30 p.m. "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" (1956)--Ray Harryhausen special effects and literate dialogue make this sci-fi entry more than worth watching--a real sleeper.
8:00 p.m. "Blood and Black Lace" (1964)--Mario Bava horror film is a is notable for being a forerunner of the "slasher" films and for the use of color.
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Friday, Oct. 28th/29th--These two horror gems are buried in the Early Morning. All times E.S.T.
1:30 a.m. "The Black Cat" (1934)--This was the first teaming of Karloff and Lugosi, and marked director Edgar G. Ulmer as someone to watch. The only Edgar Allan Poe is in the title. A Pre-Code classic of the weird (it was released in May 1934; The Code went into effect in July, 1934).
4:30 a.m. "Island of Lost Souls" (1933)--First and best adaptation of H.G.Wells' novel "The Island of Doctor Moreau". Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi star. This is one of the films that hastened the appearance of The Production Code.
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Lawrence--No, but I like the title.
Hint--Trees are affected.
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Lawrence--One star is a Horror legend, the other worked in all genres. The two films they made together, the first was set in the present, the latter was a period film.
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Lawrence--I meant set in another era.
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Hint--Set in the South Seas.
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This historical horror film reteams two acting legends. They made two films together, decades apart; please name both films, the two stars, and two costars from each film.
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"The Tell-Tale Heart" (1941)--Starring Joseph Schildkraut and Roman Bohnen. Directed by Jules Dassin.
Good horror short from MGM.
As in Poe's story, the murderer (Schildkraut) is overcome by guilt and madness. Bohnen is appropriately hateful yet pitiful as the victim. An early musical score by Sol Kaplan ("Niagara" and "Titanic", both 1953) is effective. The spare, atmospheric photography was by Paul Vogel, who later won an Oscar for his filming of "Battleground" (1949).
I wish Dassin had made more horror films. This one is definitely worth the watch. I saw it on YT. 3/4.
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This film combined radioactivity and witch doctors. Name it.
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TCM's Filmography didn't list the answer; Had to go to IMDB for this:
"Psychic Killer" (1975)--With Julie Adams and Aldo Ray.
Directed by Ray Danton
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Ray Danton, "Deathmaster" (1972), Robert Quarry and John Fiedler?
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"Crypt of the Living Dead" (1973), Director was Ray Danton, Stars were Andrew Prine, Mark Damon, and Teresa Gimpera?
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"Sword of the Valiant" (1984), Sean Connery, Co-Stars were Trevor Howard, Peter Cushing, and Lila Kedrova, among others.
Film was based on "Beowulf"?
HORROR MOVIE TRIVIA
in Games and Trivia
Posted
Lawrence--Yes and Yes. Think of Stevenson's short stories.