Back when Hammer Films were all the rage and knocking horror fans dead at the box office, “Dracula: Prince of Darkness” marked the return of Christopher Lee to the title roll of the infamous undead vampire king. He had gone away from the role after his turn as the blood sucker in the remarkable “Horror of Dracula” (1958), one of Hammer Films’ first stabs at rebooting the Universal monster cycle from films decades before. Lee appeared in Hammer Films such as “The Gorgon” (1964) and “She” (1965). He just wasn’t interested in playing Dracula. But through whatever form of alchemy and monetary incentive, Lee menaced again in “Dracula: Prince of Darkness”. It had to be money that got him back because this is not the juiciest script that Lee could have gotten. He has no lines of dialogue but sneers and hisses a lot and manhandles his intended victims. This is a fun view, though. Dracula has a life long human servant who makes sure that two couples spend the night in Dracula’s old castle. You see, Dracula is now no more than collected dust from the last time he was destroyed in “The Brides of Dracula” (1960). Lee didn’t appear in that entry. But, anyway, the servant dispatches one of the guests in the bloodiest way possible in order to bathe Dracula’s ashes in the life giving, red stuff. Before long, the King of Vampires is back terrorizing the countryside in his endless quest for fresh blood. Plenty of atmosphere, moody music and heroics from Peter Cushing as Van Helsing and Hammer veteran Andrew Kier.
All posts by Andrew Swartz
BLACULA – 1972- VAMPIRES RUN AMOK!
African prince is “converted” to blood thirsty, undead vampire by Dracula. The Prince becomes a vampire and progresses through the centuries turning others in to vampires in his passing. Very entertaining vampire flick from the 1970’s that follows Blacula’s modern day wake of death and destruction as he feeds his hunger for blood. Naturally, a lot of the film takes place at night which lends a creepy air and some of the surprise vampire attacks are startling. Some of the action is clumsy and dumb but William Marshall as Blacula lends a sinister, menacing presence. Fantasy movie veteran Elisha Cook Jr. turns up as a hospital attendant. (See “The Night Stalker”, “House on Haunted Hill”). As I have said many times before, they don’t make them like this anymore. This movie has a look that is ALL 1970’s.
Keith Moon Departs – 40 Years On
Wunderkind drummer for The Who, Keith Moon, left this mortal coil 40 years ago. What a loss. The legendary madman lead an alcohol and drug fueled existence that bolstered his outgoing personality and flashy, unorthodox, drum style. Alas, this very fast lifestyle also accelerated an early end to his explosive drumming style and life. As the years wore on and the intoxicants flowed, so to did his strength and lifeforce get tapped. Moon died at the age of 32 on September 7, 1978. Please examine YouTube videos of his earlier days when he was in his prime. You will be amazed.
Vincent Price’s Dracula (1982) – Good Halloween Fare
A documentary detailing the history of the vampire character Dracula, assembled using various movie clips and the narration of horror icon, Vincent Price. You’ll see clips from the silent “Nosferatu” and other cinematic appearances featuring the ancient blood sucker such as Lugosi in “Mark of the Vampire”, and the 1950’s alternative vampire film, “The Vampire” . “VPD” is a good flick to curl up by the fire to watch as we come upon the Autumn season and move closer to Halloween. Heavy on the garlic fries. Hehe.
THE THAW – 2009 – CREEPY CLIMATE CHANGE CRAWLIES – UPDATED REVIEW
The premise of this queasy little tale is that climate change, aka global warming, has caused the partial thawing of a wooly mammoth up in Northern climes that is infested with an ancient parasite that emerges ready and willing to infest a New Age. The roughly cockroach sized bugs burrow under your skin and lay eggs that basically feed on their host and then emerge ready to find a new home. This movie is definitely not for the squeamish! Yes. I felt my skin crawl on more than one occasion. There are numerous grotesque set pieces throughout this flick.
All in all, an engaging horror film with a cameo from Val Kilmer as the scientist who finds the insects and reiterates the potential horrors lurking unseen that will be unleashed by climate change. Whether that is true or not is of course speculation or inevitability depending on your point of view.
GRAVEYARD SHIFT (1990) – CALL SEVERAL EXTERMINATORS!
A mildly amusing Saturday afternoon diversion, “Graveyard Shift” was based on a Stephen King short story. Here it is fleshed out into movie length and a large part of that filling is loaded with oozing, despicable caricatures. A bunch of people you could care less about are tasked with cleaning up the lower level area of a mill located somewhere on the east coast. Maybe the extraction of all the crap which has accumulated down there over the years will alleviate some of the rat problem that infests the place. What is not known is that the mother of all rodents resides in the shadowy depths and it is ALWAYS hungry for human flesh. Not the worst way to waste 90 minutes but stay tuned for some heavy gore scenes between the warring factions of vermin, human and rat. The King story is quite different in that it involves one man trapped in a collapsing underground labyrinth with a gigantic rodent in hot pursuit. Yuck!
Check out this link below which recounts graveyard shift workers’ sometimes scary working conditions. A few good chills will be had:
https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-night-shift-stories/rosa-pasquarella
THEM – (1954) – Regular Ants Are Bad Enough!
A real creepy premise in this flick: giant, mutated ants are on the loose and stalking victims in isolated areas of the God forsaken desert!
I bring you this cinematic, sci-fi gem because of a recent summer time invasion of the small variety of ants in our house in pursuit of the cat’s food. These little beasts are annoying enough in their present miniature state as they scamper in all directions as you try to eradicate their presence inside your home. In addition to the trouble of getting them picked up and removed, you get the sinister feeling that the insects are crawling all over you! Imagine how you’d feel if the ants in question were 10 or more feet in length?
This is a classic science fiction film from the 1950’s that postulates that exposure to radiation could mutate a small ant into a formidable, potentially man destroying monster. And what if there were a nest of these giants?
You get the idea. Arm your self with a flame thrower and an automatic weapon and you may stand a chance of survival against these denizens from some unnamed Hell! Give it a look and drink up the lovely desert studio set ups! Some definitely scary set pieces crop up in this engaging science fiction thriller.
HARLAN ELLISON – R.I.P.
Legendary science fiction and fantasy writer Harlan Ellison has passed away. Call him an iconoclast, outspoken, a larger than life character who didn’t suffer fools, especially those he felt tampered with the integrity of his work. He reached a settlement with CBS 40 years after his script for “Star Trek”-TOS, “City on the Edge of Forever” had been delivered to reclaim his share of the profits generated from his work. He had more impressions on the television industry collected in his series “The Glass Teat”. Acidic observations to say the least.
I count Ellison as an early influence in my life. He was outrageous, profane, and definitely embodied a punk sensibility. He didn’t take shit from anybody and let the world know it. When I was maybe a teen or 12 years old, the years recede rapidly, I found out that Ellison would be in town at a book store reading from his latest work. I got my dad to bring me down there and crowded in to the small store to be in the Man’s presence. He read from his book and the profanity flowed. It felt a little awkward with my dad there but he understood the content much better than I could hope to! A good memory.
I highly recommend the novella “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream”. I reread it recently and it retains its nightmarish hold. The idea has been a source of inspiration through the years. Call it “Skynet” before it was known as such. You’ll see what I mean.
Harlan Ellison was a great and influential writer. Go find his stuff and enjoy!
Movie Cliches: Last Gasp Weapons Firing
Have you ever noticed the greatly relied on device used in the movies where a character will emotionally discharge a big gun of some type? I guess the reaction is supposed to characterize a last gasp burst of attack against a nearly undefeatable opponent (Independence Day: Resurgence). Terminator Salvation has multiple examples of actors unloading weapons’ magazine after magazine in an attempt to stop a non human juggernaut.
To get an idea of what I am referring to, please go to the clip. You can probably get away with this type of behavior at the target range.
Theodore Roosevelt’s book “The Wilderness Hunter” Contains Scary Bigfoot Story – 1880’s
I have come across this story a couple of times and see it as a truly chilling account of hunters turning into prey. Hunters off in a very remote wilderness “trespass” across an unknown creature’s domain. Things go very downhill from there. This story is given an air of credibility when it is discovered that this tale was relayed to Theodore Roosevelt by an old Mountain Man and included in Roosevelt’s book, “The Wilderness Hunter”.
After reading it several times over the years, it has yet to loose its fearsome, chilling effect. Probably my favorite old time Bigfoot report. Of course, come to find out that there are so many more stories of a related nature waiting to be told both modern and antique. A little frightening when you think about it.
Well, pull up a blanket and prepare to have your flesh crawl as you listen to this vocal recital of Bauman’s story as presented by You Tuber Bob Gymlan. My hat’s off to you, Sir. A nice choice of material and a well done reading.
Art Bell – R.I.P.
Art Bell just passed away. Bell was a very interesting fellow who started the Coast To Coast AM radio program. Bell was a pretty good interviewer and would let his guests discuss their topics at length. Bell followed his interests and featured a lot of paranormal topics and brought on guests who discussed UFO’s, Bigfoot, ghosts, and other strange phenomena. I spent many a night listening to his program and getting scared out of my wits and avoiding sleep. I have great memories of Bell, his beliefs and his sense of humor.
The clip I linked to is an example of the creepy subject matter so often featured on his show. A true original who will be missed.
“A Dream Come True” – (1963)
Twisted Russian fantasy film depicting a manned trip to Mars. Propagandistic in tone in that Russian technology is capable of any space voyage/adventure in these films (see “Planeta Burg”) but the reality is that there was a long record of Russian space mission failures. It seems that the plot formula in a lot of these films is that the homeland’s advanced technology delivers men to the Moon, Mars, and The Stars, but once there, things become unraveled and life or death situations materialize. A drama is thus born. There are no shortage of beautiful and eerie landscapes rendered in shockingly vivid color of the mysterious planet’s surface and a collection of weird, atmospheric synthesizer soundscapes of chirps and bleeps to accompany the strange sights.
The visuals, at times, remind me of Mario Bava’s “Planet of the Vampires”. Not too shabby, in my book!
Break out the vodka and make it the main feature at your next movie night!
WORLD WAR 3 – (1982)
Although this TV movie was released in 1982, it seems like history rolls around again and the Cold War is a timely topic again. War and aggression in the World. Some things never change.
A strategic United States “listening post” located near the Bering Strait becomes compromised by Russian agents masquerading as U.S. soldiers and suddenly a gateway opens up to an invading force to get onto American soil. Hostilities have been brewing between both countries as a result of a grain embargo that would have otherwise fed starving Russian masses and then some KGB machinations take place which result in assassination and, Voila! A standoff occurs between the two countries’ forces at an oil pipeline station. Only the fate of both nations and maybe the rest of the world hangs in the balance.
Nice turn by David Soul who is best known for his beefcake turn as one of the cops in “Starsky and Hutch”. He is tasked with the impossible role of being the commander of a tattered force of soldiers who are outnumbered by an invading horde. There are the echoes of the American Revolution where guerilla warfare must be resorted to in order to cripple a superior force trying to kill you. Not to be forgotten for his thespian skills is The Rock. Hudson, that is, as the guilt ridden POTUS, appalled at the thought of World War 3 and the ensuing exchange of nuclear arsenals that is inevitable. As you can well imagine, things don’t end well.
THE MIST (2007) – PHANTASMAGORICAL BUMMER
Watching “The Mist” again recently got me to thinking about the original source material, Stephen King’s novella, and the faint memories I had of reading it. I watched the movie and then reread the story. The movie is very faithful to the story. But then there is that ending of the movie….
Once of the single most downer conclusions in popular culture storytelling, I would have to say. Granted, the scenario is imagined in the story but not actually executed. That grim prospect is dutifully carried out in the movie. Oh, it is an awful choice to go down that path. I suppose there is some solace for the rest of the town’s or country’s inhabitants by concluding it this way but there is also a great devastation for a few characters.
Anyway, the story concerns an unexplainable fog or mist descending on a Maine town and the unseen, monstrous “things” which hide in the white cover and attack the unwary. A definite sense of dread hangs over this story and the hard choices which have to be made in order to survive the shadowy beasts and the crumbling humanity which results from the dire circumstances the characters find themselves in. There truly is no easy way out of the situation. Or answers.
I advise you to take the time to read King’s story and to also watch the movie. Decide for yourself if one is preferable over the other. I choose King’s written work. Because the movie just kicks me in the balls.