Horror of Dracula

"Horror of Dracula" (1968) starring  Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, John Van Eyssen, Michael Gough is a Hammer Films version of the classic Dracula story.

It is the year 1885 and Jonathan Harker (Van Eyssen) arrives at Count Dracula's (Lee) castle in order to work as the Count's librarian.  After being bitten by one of Dracula's vampire women, he disappears.  Dr. Van Helsing (Cushing) arrives to the castle later in order to find the missing Harker.  He is given Harker's journal from some fearful townsfolk and soon finds himself involved with all the horrible goings on at the castle.

Christopher Lee does a superb job playing the titular role of Dracula.  Hammer Films excelled at these Dracula films and you will find it all here: creepy castle, terrified townspeople, sexy vampire women, scary atmosphere and the dapper but dangerous Dracula.  

    

Black Sabbath

"Black Sabbath" (1963) is a trio of atmospheric horror tales hosted by Boris Karloff and starring: Michèle Mercier, Lidia Alfonsi, Boris Karloff, Mark Damon, Susy Andersen and Jacqueline Pierreux.

There are two versions of this film, the original Italian version and the American Version from American International Pictures (AIP) dubbed into English. The language is not the only difference between the versions, there story order is different and one of the tales is quite different between the two versions. Also, the music is different in both versions and there are some different story intros by Boris Karloff.

The three tales with the story order for the different versions in parentheses:

                           

"Drop of Water" (American 1 / Italian 3): Helen Chester (Jacqueline Pierreux) a nurse, is called in the middle of the night to a client’s mansion by the maid (Milly) who informs her the old lady is dead. Helen arrives at the mansion on the stormy night and is led through the decaying mansion filled with cats to the old lady’s room. There we see the dead old lady with eyes wide open and a grin of terror on her face. Helen’s job is to dress the lady for the caretaker the following morning but on the dead woman’s hand is a ring with a huge jewel that is calling out to her. Helen cannot resist and she takes the ring off her finger. When she gets home and tries on the ring, she is haunted by an increasing level of terror from beyond. This is my favorite story and the scariest and most haunting.

                           

"The Telephone" (American 2 / Italian 1): The young and beautiful Rosy (Michèle Mercier) returns home from a night on the town and someone keeps calling and harassing her. She soon discovers it is her ex-boyfriend Frank and he seems to be able to see her right in her apartment. In the Italian version, Frank is supposed to be in prison and has escaped plus Rosy’s friend Mary (Lidia Alfonsi) isn’t as innocent as she seems. In the American version, Frank is supposed to be dead, the revenge plotline is missing and it is more of a ghost story. Either way, the tension poor Rosy is experiencing is more than palpable and the story is filled with thrills and dread.

                            

“The Wurdalak” (American 3 / Italian 2): Nobleman Vladimire d’Urfe (Mark Damon) is riding his horse in the Italian countryside where by the river he discovers a headless corpse with a knife in its back. He rides further to the nearest house where he finds a family of siblings Pietro (Massimo Righi), Sdenka (Susy Andersen) and Giorgio (Glauco Onorato) and his wife Maria (Rika Dialina) and son. They confirm the dead man is an evil man who their father Gorca (Boris Karloff) had left 5 days earlier to find and kill. But, Gorca warned his family that if he should return any later than 5 days, they must not let him in because he will have been turned into a Wurdalak or Vampire. When he returns just after the fifth day, he is not the same and the family and visitor will soon find out who or what has really returned. Great acting by Karloff and constantly foggy and eerie atmosphere make this another standout in the anthology.

                           

As of this writing, the Italian version with English subtitles is the only version available on DVD but the American (AIP) version is available for streaming on Netflix.

“Black Sabbath” is an excellent example of atmospheric horror and great storytelling no matter which version you watch!

Count Yorga, Vampire

"Count Yorga, Vampire" (1970) brings the story of vampires from the ancient times to the "modern" Los Angeles of the early 70s.

Donna has a party and has invited her deceased mother's lover, Count Yorga from Bulgaria.  He is conducting a seance in an attempt to reach her deceased mother.  When she becomes hysterical, he calms her by hypnotizing her and commands her to do anything he says whenever he says.  Paul and Erica offer to drive the Count home in their VW bus.

Upon arriving at the Count's estate gates, they are met by his manservant, Brudah, who lets them into the estate and up to his eerie mansion.  After dropping him off, the couple gets stuck in the mud on his estate and decide to sleep in the van.  They are attacked in the middle of the night but all they don't remember all the details but Erica is left with a bite mark on her neck.

She goes to see family friend, Dr. Hayes, who says she's lost a lot of blood and prescribes that she eat lots of rare steaks!  Later when Paul brings Michael (Donna's boyfriend) to Erica's house to investigate why they can't reach her, they find her house in disarray and Erica sucking the blood out of her cat!  Dr. Hayes is called in and he breaks the news to the men that they may be facing a modern day vampire.

This is a fun 70s vampire movie.  Count Yorga is dashing and mysterious as the vampire and he has a host of scantily clad female vampires doing his bidding.  For a good retro vampire thriller, check it out.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness

"Dracula: Prince of Darkness" (1966) is a classic Hammer horror film starring Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley & Andrew Keir.

In the late 1800s, two unsuspecting English couples are visiting the Carpathian Mountains on vacation.  They are going to visit the town of Karlsbad but the local priest tries to warn them away.  Since it is already on their "program" they go anyway.  However the carriage driver strands them 2 km from their destination because it is getting dark and he doesn't want to be caught near the castle that he won't admit is there.  A driver-less carriage soon arrives and whisks them to Count Dracula's castle where his manservant greets them and says he welcomes travelers per his dead master's instructions.  Little do the tourists know that they may not be leaving the castle tonight or any night!

This is a great vampire classic filled with plenty of spooky atmosphere!  We have a castle with hidden dungeons filled with a resurrected vampire.  Christopher Lee is brilliant as the evil and ever silent Dracula.   

Hotel Transylvania

"Hotel Transylvania" (2012) is an animated horror/comedy starring the voices of Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Andy Samberg and a host of other stars.

The story is about Dracula as a single parent raising his young daughter, Mavis, who is just becoming an adult (at 118 years old!).  Dracula runs a resort for monsters only in a castle he had especially designed in Transylvania.  The resort is a place where monsters from around the world can visit and get away from those pesky humans that are always out to get them.

Mavis is just growing up and yearns to see the world outside of her sheltered life in the castle.  She wants to see humans for herself but her father is a tad overprotective.  One day, a young backpacker named Jonathan somehow finds his way to the castle.  Dracula is horrified that a human has found their sanctuary and tries to get rid of him unsuccessfully.  Instead he makes him up to be a monster so the other guests don't find out.  Of course Jonathan plus Mavis together is going to make for some "zing".

This is a fun movie, especially for kids.  You get to see all the monsters you can think of all hanging out in a spooky castle and having fun to boot!

Twilight: Breaking Dawn part 2

"Twilight: Breaking Dawn, part 2" is the final episode in the Twilight saga, starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner.

Bella Swan is just awakening from her death and rebirth as a vampire.  She joins the Cullen family including her love Edward.  She and Edward also have a newborn half human half vampire girl named Renesmee who has a rapid growth rate and looks about 8 for the majority of the movie.  Vampire pal Jacob Black is back and he has imprinted to Renesmee and becomes her protector.

A report has been made to the Volturri (the vampire authority) about what is thought to be the Cullens making an immortal child which is a big no no in the vampire world. Alice Cullen sees the future and sees the Volturri coming to kill the child and punish the Cullens.  The Cullens in turn want to convince them that Renesmee is not an immortal child, but also half human and they go around the world to find family friends who will come and witness for them and if necessary stand with them against the Volturri.

I really enjoyed this final chapter in the Twilight series.  I haven't seen such an enjoyable one since the first movie.  The characters stories are all brought to some resolution and Bella finally gets her wish to become a vampire so she can be with Edward forever. 

Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural

"Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural" (1973) starring  Lesley Gilb Taplin, Cheryl Smith, William Whitton is a very bizarre vampire movie.

 

The film takes place in the 1930s in the South.  A young girl, Lila Lee (Smith) is a ward of the church in a small town.  She is also infamous by association to her dad, a gangster, who killed his cheating wife and is now on the run.  Lila receives a mysterious note from a stranger named Lemora saying her dad is near death and wants to see her but she must not tell anybody.  Lila sneaks away and on her way to see her father, she encounters all kinds of creepy people.  

She eventually gets a bus driver to driver her to the backwoods town of Asteroth.  She discovers from the driver that he doesn't like to go to this town because there is some sort of disease there.  On the way, the bus is attacked by a hoard of mutant like creatures that come out of the woods.  Lila gets away but only to be captured by people working for Lemora.  

Lemora lives in a large Victorian house and has a witch like housekeeper and several creepy little children.  She is also the queen of the vampires and we find out that the disease is turning some of the vampires into those nasty mutant creatures who have been rampaging through the area.  

 

Lemora, is quite the figure.  She is tall and severe looking in her Victorian attire.  She is very pale with red cheeks.  She tries to win over Lila but is having a hard time convincing her that she has her best interest at heart.  It also turns out her father has turned into one of the mutants.  

This movie is not your usual vampire movie.  It is such a unique movie.  The characters are quite bizarre and the setting is so eerie.  It mostly takes place at night and the sounds of the night creatures and the animal grunts of the roaming mobs of mutants and vampires really add to the atmosphere.  If you're ready to watch something quite out there, take a chance on this really odd but really good movie.

 

Mrs. Amworth

"Mrs. Amworth" (1975) is a short film starring Glynis Johns, Roger Davidson and Derek Francis  about a vampire terrorizing a small British village.

Mrs. Amworth (Johns) recently moved into a quiet village and her vivacious personality soon wins over the locals including Benson and his visiting nephew David.  On the other hand, Mr. Urcombe grows suspicious about Mrs. Amworth. 

The village is facing an unknown virus that is killing people.  It is localized to the village only and started shortly after Mrs. Amworth arrived.  Mr. Urcombe does some research in the parish records and discovers there was a similar outbreak a century ago and Mrs. Amworth's ancestor was accused of causing it using witchcraft. 

Can sweet Mrs. Amworth be the cause of all the death in the village?  Mr. Urcombe won't stop investigating until he discovers if she is.

House of Dark Shadows

"House of Dark Shadows" (1970) starring Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall and Kathryn Leigh Scott is directed by  Dan Curtis and has finally been released on DVD & Blu-ray!  All the characters from the TV series are here:  the Collins family (Carolyn, Roger, David and the matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard), vampire Barnabas Collins, governess Maggie Evans, Dr. Julia Hoffman, caretaker Willie Loomis and more.  Everyone lives in Collinwood the family mansion and estate.

Barnabas is uncovered by Willie in the Collins family crypt.  He is awakened after nearly 200 years of being imprisoned.  He soon begins killing as vampires must do and making additional vampires.  He also introduces himself to his family saying he's a distant relative from England.  He moves in and fixes up the old family home that's on the estate.  One by one people around Collinwood start dying, including some of the family members.  Dr. Julia Hoffman (the wonderful Grayson Hall) soon figures out Barnabas is behind this and offers to try to cure him of being a vampire.  Barnabas also falls in love with the governess who he believes is the reincarnation of his fiancee Josette who died before they were married.

The storyline and characters will be familiar to those that loved to watch the original series or any of the remakes over the years.  Collinwood Estate is a huge Gothic style mansion with a large estate that has dilapidated buildings that the characters wander through at night to add to the suspense and eeriness.  This is another great Dark Shadows film to add to your video library!

Dark Shadows

Last night was movie night at one of the few remaining drive-in theaters in the area.  We went and saw director  Tim Burton 's Dark Shadows (2012) starring Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Eva Green.

I never watched the original Dark Shadows TV series but I am a fan of the revival series from 1991.  Tim Burton's version has vampire Barnabas Collins awakened after two hundred years imprisoned in a coffin.  The time is 1972 and he rejoins his descendants in their now run down mansion, Collinwood.  Barnabas tries to help his family regain some of the importance they once held in the town that holds their family name.  His awakening also stirs up the family's archenemy, Angelique, the witch who is still alive and trying to get Barnabas to love her or else she will destroy him and his family.

The previews made this out to be an ultra campy, almost purely comedic movie.  While the actual movie  includes the comedy, camp and liberal use of 70's music, it also includes the atmosphere of the Dark Shadows series as well as the Collins family dynamics and all the other supernatural creatures such as vampires, ghosts, witches and werewolves.  The actors did a great job with their characters, including Johnny Depp as Barnabas, Michelle Pfeiffer as the family matriarch Elizabeth and a very delightful and colorful Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Julia Hoffman.  The romance between Barnabas and Victoria Winters seemed almost like an afterthought though.

As a whole,  I liked this version of Dark Shadows.  It's a good addition to the ongoing Dark Shadows saga and I look forward to owning it when it is released on DVD/Blu-ray.

A Kolchak Kind of Day

Yesterday I watched a double feature of Carl Kolchak made for TV movies: Night Stalker & Night Strangler.  Kolchak is a pushy newpaper reporter who keeps getting into trouble in each city he lives and has to leave town.  The Night Stalker takes place in Las Vegas where a vampire is on the loose and no one in the city will believe Kolchak.  Classic 70s telefright film that I have added to my Made for TV list as a favorite.

The Night Strangler is a sequel that takes place in his new city, Seattle.  Here also there is a string of murders, women being strangled and blood being taken, but it's not a vampire who is to blame this time.  Not quite as good as the original but great to see my city from the 70s on the screen.

Both films directed by Dan Curtis who made a lot of these types of movies during the 70s, including my favorite Burnt Offerings.