Horrors Of The Black Museum (1959) aka The Crime In The Museum Of Horrors

4 / 5 Sept '10
Tagline: It Actually Puts YOU In The Picture - Can You Stand It?
Directed by: Arthur Crabtree
Written by: Herman Cohen, Aben Kandel
Actors include: Michael Gough, June Cunningham, Graham Curnow
Genre: Horror
Length: 95 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This definitely has it's high points and it's low points unfortunately, I didn't like it as much as Arthur Crabtree's Fiend Without a Face but it's darned close. This is a film about a murderer who is using rather odd antiques rigged to kill which is absolutely the best part. The beginning sequence with the binoculars was brilliant and one of the best I'd seen in a while. In fact the deaths in general were rather bloody (especially for the time) and shocking which I loved. It also did have a rather amusing sense of humor in several ways, when this movie was on point it was really on. What was the downfall here is too much chatty cop drama, boring as humanly possible and it seems like they try to cram as many words into a sentence as they can. The fact that the cops are nearly speaking in monotone doesn't help matters anyway. I'm impressed they went as far as they did and the absurdity of it was really wonderful, I wish there were more films from this time with this sort of violence. The gimmick used for the release of this film was "Hypnovision", not sure what that means as it wasn't a part of the dvd version I watched. Overall it's well worthwhile for horror fans, this has a little something extra even though parts are admittedly boring.

Availability:  On DVD

The Tingler (1959)

3 / 5  Mar '10

Tagline: In Screamarama
Directed by: William Castle
Written by: Rob White
Actors include: Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Darryl Hickman
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Length: 82 minutes
Banned: Finland

Review:
I do tend to like William Castle's films, but this one surprised me in that I wasn't impressed with it. I think the gimmick really hinders watching this from home, it was filmed in percepto vision (which means joy buzzers in some seats of the theatre originally) which is supposed to make random audience members scream. The plot is that Vincent Price is a pathologist who discovers that we all have "tinglers" in our spines that will sever them and kill us if we don't scream to release our fear. Obviously the science in this is as bunk as you can get, and it's actually laughable but really if anything I did laugh quite a few times during this, it's more of a cheesy comedy I suppose. One neat thing is that a part of the film features colored blood (it's filmed in black and white) and the actual tingler (that looks like a giant plastic centipede) is not what I expected. It's campy and it does have that element of fun but it's far from something I can imagine being scared by no matter what year it was. I think this might be way more fun to go to during a midnight showing with actual percepto vision. Sadly this one was a disappointment, but I wouldn't say avoid either because I'm in the minority with my opinion I think.

Availability:  On DVD

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

4 / 5 Nov '09
Tagline: See it with someone with warm hands!
Directed by: William Castle
Written by: Robb White
Actors include: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Richard Long
Genre: Horror
Length: 75 minutes
Banned: Finland

 

Review:

Vincent Price starts us off as saying he's rented a haunted house for his wife's party of 5 strangers, whomever survives the night will earn 10,000 dollars each! They will be locked in at midnight and the caretakers will abandon them so they can't leave...spooooky! Nobody seems to know who the fellow throwing the party is, and nobody seems to know one another making for an interesting experience of course. The house is the main character, it has ghostly moving chandeliers, bleeding ceilings, acid vat, doors that close themselves and many other little quirks. The caretaker is even somewhat creepy (for the time mind you). It's gimmicky (it's a William Castle picture, of course it is!) but it's clear and concise, darkly funny and easy to watch. If you like Vincent Price then you will like this movie, I can almost guarantee it!

Availability:  On DVD or watch it for free online here:  http://www.hulu.com/house-on-haunted-hill