The Tomb Of Ligeia (1964)

4 / 5 Oct '10
Tagline: Even on her wedding night she must share the man she loved with the "female thing" that lived in the Tomb of the Cat!
Directed by: Roger Corman
Written by: Edgar Allan Poe
Actors include: Vincent Price, Elizabeth Shepherd, John Westbrook
Genre: Horror
Length: 81 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Another fun Poe/Vincent Price/Roger Corman film and in fact it was the last in this series with Corman & Poe. Verden Fell (Price who seems too old to be in the role but who cares) plays a reclusive man who meets and falls in love with and marries Lady Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd). The only problem is that Verden was married before to a Lady Ligea who tragically died, and he's still obsessed with her. There is also a black cat who lingers about and seems less than welcoming, especially to Lady Rowena. After a while of this environment some strange changes start taking place with Lady Rowena's behavior as well, but what could be going on? It's very stylish and the scenery and ruins are superb to watch, the actors really make this easy to enjoy as well. It's not the best film in their series of collaborations but it's still quite good and worthy of a viewing.

Availability:  On DVD

Tales Of Terror (1962)

4 / 5 May '10
Tagline: A Trilogy of Shock and Horror!
Directed by: Roger Corman
Written by: Edgar Allan Poe, Richard Matheson
Actors Include:  Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone, Peter Lorre
Genre: Horror
Length: 89 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This is a very cute yet slightly uneven trilogy of tales featuring the irresistible Mr. Vincent Price. It's got Roger Corman directing and producing plus it's loosely based around Poe tales...what more could one want? The first story "Morella" is about a daughter returning home to her Father (Price) who just happens to be rather unhappy to see her. He blames her for her Mother's death, and Mommy's corpse is still in his house even! The daughter doesn't have long to live so the father and she try to get along. The thing is, Mommy is still very unhappy... It's rather cheesy and the effects are laughable but yet it's still a decent little tale.
The second story "The Black Cat" is probably the best retelling of that tale that I've seen yet. I love Peter Lorre as the grumpy intoxicated black cat hatin' Montresor. He tales his wife's sewing money for booze because he's such a drunk even though it's their food money, he treats everyone rather cruelly but he knows his wine. He brings home fellow wine taster champion Fortunado (Price hamming it up big time) who just happens to start an affair with Montresor's wife. Let's just say this doesn't go well and if you know the story you can guess what happens next. Definitely the best tale of the trilogy.
Lastly we have "The Case of M. Valdemar" which has a dying Price who is being hypnotized by a cruel jerk who manages to prolong his peace in death by keeping him partially alive and trapped in a hypnotic state. It's kinda neat and not a bad tale but it could have been a little more exciting.
Still it's a fairly charming and memorable little trilogy, very little graphic stuff and blood despite what the back of the case would have you believe. Still great actors and creative story telling takes this a long way.

Availability:  On DVD

The Uncanny (1977)

4 / 5 Mar '10
Tagline: Cats aren't always cute and cuddly!
Directed by: Denis Héroux
Written by: Michel Parry
Actors include: Peter Cushing, Ray Milland, Joan Greenwood
Genre: Horror
Length: 89 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I'd actually heard this wasn't very good so I was rather surprised that I quite liked it. It's a trilogy of tales revolving around cats (why wouldn't I like it?)! Peter Cushing although he receives top billing is only the fellow tying our tales together as he is writing a tale on cats who kill...or something like it. The first story is about a rich Woman who decides to rewrite her will to leave everything to her cats instead of her Nephew. When her Nephew's girlfriend catches wind of this they devise a scheme to get rid of the will only the cats have another thing in store! Although this story starts off a little uninterestingly it picks up to a gruesome treat that I've always hoped to see. The next tale is about a young girl named Lucy who's parents have died in a plane crash. She is sent to live with this rich snooty family (her Aunts) with a bratty daughter who reminds me of Veruca Salt. The family doesn't want her to keep her beloved cat against medical advice and they take the cat off to be killed, well imagine their surprise when the cat returns! This is a very entertaining little story, sort of like a fairy tale gone wrong in the best way. Lastly we have a tale about a pendulum and swapping out a fake blade for a real one in order to create a part for an actress in a play. It's the least interesting of the three and the most star studded! Samantha Eggar has never been so gosh darned irritating before even though it's obviously being put on it's just too much. Overall though I think cat lovers and horror lovers need to see this, I am both and I thought this was quite a load of fun.

Availability:  Not on DVD that I know of except in PAL

Black Cat Mansion (1958) aka Borei kaibyo yashiki aka The Mansion of the Ghost Cat

3.5 / 5 Feb '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Nobuo Nakagawa
Written by: Jiro Fujishima, Yoshihiro Ishikawa
Actors include: Toshio Hosokawa, Midori Chikuma, Yuriko Ejima
Genre: Drama, Horror
Length: 69 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
This is a rather unusual film in many ways, it's half in black & white and half in color (oddly it's the flashback part that's in color?). It starts out with a Doctor and his wife who've moved out in the country for peace and quiet to this eerie home. People start seeing this elderly ghost woman who keeps trying to strangle the ailing wife. Then we flashback to the history of the house and the curse, we meet the evil Lord Shogen who has tons of power and is very violent. He plays a game called Go (which appears like pebble checkers perhaps) and in a violent disagreement he kills his opponent. His ghost comes back to warn his wife that Lord Shogen was to blame for his demise but it doesn't stop there. Shogen abuses the wife and drives her to insanity and death, but not before she makes her cat & it's generations take revenge on family members of Lord Shogen. The black and white segments are actually creepy and very atmospheric, the color segments are more lively but unfortunately the "cat" effects are pretty hilariously cheesy. Considering this was 1958 it's very advanced and even violent picture, it's quite lovely to look at. It's just very short, rather strange and somewhat muddled I suppose, still worth a viewing, especially for fans of early Asian cinema. I'm shocked this seems like a very unknown flick, it's rather amusing and absurd in a good way.

Availability:  On DVD however I'm not sure which region or where to get it