The Mark of Naschy!

Paul Naschy was Spain's first horror star. A former wrestler and weight lifter, he started out as an extra in American movies made in Spain (like KING OF KINGS). He's also in an episode of TV's I SPY ("The Plains of Spain") in which Boris Karloff guest stars. He made many bloody and atmospheric horror films (most which he wrote under his real name) and played several different monsters. His most famous was the tortured werewolf character Vladamir Daninsky. Most of these films made it to the US in one form or another. Yet, he was almost totally unrecognized in his native country! He told of his ups and downs in the film industry in his autobiography "Memoirs of a Wolfman".

DRACULA’S GREAT LOVE-1972-This is Spanish horror king Paul Naschy’s only vampire film (original title: El Gran Amor Del Conde Dracula). As usual he wrote the rather sadistic story (under his real name Jacinto Molina) and tried for a new slant on the old legend. It’s a period piece but exactly in what period it takes place is undetermined. Four women and one lucky guy (Victor Acalzar/Vic Winner; also in HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB; see below) are traveling in the mountains near the castle of the original Dracula. When their wagon breaks a wheel and their coachman is conked on the head by a horse the group are forced to seek shelter from Dr. Marlowe (a suave and friendly Naschy). Turns out of course that Marlowe is actually the infamous count who needs the blood of a virgin to resurrect his daughter, the countess. Unfortunately, for the first time in his long career (?) he falls in love with his intended victim!

DGL features much bloodletting, nudity and a bloody three-way vampire lesbian scene. Also usual for Naschy’s films at the time a woman is whipped and tortured for no apparent reason (although a convoluted explanation is given). Naschy may seem an odd chance to play the king of vampires but he pulls it off fairly well (some might contend he’s a little wimpy) but the women are fantastic. Rosana Yanni (in her second Naschy film) is an unsung scream queen if there ever was one! Earlier she appeared in the laughable WHITE COMANCHE (1968) with William Shatner and Joseph Cotton.

Director Javier Acquirre (who co-wrote the screenplay with Naschy and Alberto S. Insua) provides tons of atmosphere and eroticism. He would direct Naschy, Yanni and Winner again in THE HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE (which Insua co-wrote) the next year. A dubbed but uncut version is available from The Incredibly Strange Filmworks, Inc.



HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB-1972- Made soon after the above opus HORROR is a wild ride in the Naschy tradition that borrows from several other features, most notably THE THING THAT WOULDN’T DIE and features a beheading and topless nudity even before the credits roll!

Naschy plays Ulric Du Marnac, an evil blood drinking, flesh eating, devil-worshiping sorcerer with an equally bloodthirsty companion, Mabille (Helga Line). His severed head is buried apart from his body. Just before the topless Mabille is hoisted upside down and burned she throws curses on everyone. In the present we meet his modern ancestor Hugo (also Naschy). After he and his friends have a séance and the old medium talks in Ulric’s voice Hugo decides to search for the head. His painter friend (Victor Alcazar) comes under Ulric’s evil power. With the help of some now possessed female friends, Ulric’s body is reunited with his head. He brings Mabille back to life too and they roam around ripping out hearts and eating them for nourishment. They also bring back some dead victims who terrorize Hugo and his girlfriend (Emma Cohen).

Director Carlos Aured packs this film with decadent atmosphere, ample gore and nice nudity to make it one of Naschy’s best. As usual he wrote the screenplay under his real name Jacinto Molina.

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The Fur Flies

WHO KILLED DOC ROBBIN?-(1948)-This is a Technicolor haunted house mystery produced by Hal Roach and starring a bunch of "Little Rascals" wannabes. There's a freckled face coward, a smart guy, the tough leader, 2 girls and two younger black kids "affectionally" called Dis & Dat which takes ethnic stereotyping to new heights (or depths). "The Gang" spends a lot of time in the haunted home of a dead scientist, where they are terrorized by an ape (guy in a costume ), trap doors and other nonsense. In a flashback we learn "Doc" is a suspicious doctor (George Zucco) who wants the invention of an old man who is a friend of the brats'. Although it is dated 1948 some "war time" references to Japan seem to say it might have been made earlier.

If you want to see low budget color mysteries watch SCARED TO DEATH instead. Not only does it have Zucco but it's Bela Lugosi's only color film...and it's narrated by a dead woman!!!!

CATMAN OF PARIS-(1946)-Republic Studios was best known for their low budget westerns and serials but occasionally ventured into adventure, action or like this entry, horror.

Carl Esmond (a US actor born in Austria who had a short Hollywood career) plays author Charles Rene who may turn into a catman due to a bout with Tropical fever. Douglas Dumbrille plays his friend. Lenore Aubert (later in ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN) is his fiance'. He has bouts of amnesia and can't remember where he was when a murder occurs (so you know right away he ain't the killer!).

He has a wild fight in a cafe with four guys (including Anthony Caruso and John Dehner). It turns out that the cat like creature appears every once in the while when the planets are aligned a certain way. Massacre of Christians, Middle East wars and the victims of Ivan The Terrible are all blamed on him! The wild police team of Gerald Mohr and Fritz Feld try to figure it all out.

A creature does show up at the end ("It really is a catman" declares Mohr) with furry face, fangs and pointy finger nails. Everyone has terrible French accents. Director Lesley Selander was an assistant director from 1925 to 1936 before he directed his first film. He made over 130 movies until his retirement in 1968. Star Esmond was later in low budget stuff like FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON and AGENT OF H.A.R.M. Douglas Dumbrille usually played villains or corrupt officials several times against The Marx Bros. and Abbott & Costello. Gerald Mohr was an actor and narrator who voiced "Reed Richards" in the first FANTASTIC FOUR cartoon show in the '60's.

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I'd like to spit on the director....

Sometimes owning a video camera should be considered assault with a deadly weapon.

Evidence: I'LL BURY YOU...I'LL KILL YOU...I'LL SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE TOO (2000). The title alone says a lot.

Mainly this has nothing to do with the original I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE. The makers of this crap were trying to be cute. We just called it that because we think we are so clever (and we want your money...). It's starts off with a b & w flashback to a chainsaw murder. The gore here looks like it was left over from the final added scenes in SNUFF! It's bad! 25 years later a group of "researchers" go back to the place where it happened and are eventually killed off by a army fatigue wearing killer. A redneck sheriff gives the group a hard time and all the acting is awful. The cast is so small that one actress does all the topless scenes and a minor character from the beginning is brought back to help the two survivors in the climax.

And for some reason when the identity of the killer is revealed he seems to be nearly invincible! This may have been just a stab at humor though parodying such killers as Jason and Micheal Myers. Do I dare give the makers of this junk that much credit??

The last name of the director of this is Koba. That was Stalin's nickname....

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My First one Here

Ok this is my first post here. I have another movie blog at another site but I decided to switch over here. I'll see how it goes. Anyway this is mostly about the movies I watch. I like all sorts but I particularly lean toward low budget films of the '50's but I watch all kinds. Here's my first movie post. It's kind of long...









THREE BY A WILDER AND CRAZY GUY!


PHANTOM FROM SPACE-U.A.-1953-It’s hard to believe that director W. Lee Wilder was the less talented older brother of Hollywood’s famous Billy Wilder and while Brother Bill was helming STALAG 17 (for which star William Holden won an Oscar) W made this cheap, minimalistic talkfest.



Two cops (Ted Cooper and Harry Landers) investigate the sudden appearance of a mysterious, headless “phantom” in a diver’s suit. The two cops interview witnesses and consult a doctor (Rudolph Anders from SHE DEMONS and FRANKENSTEIN 1970). Eventually Giger counters track down the space suited creature who escapes by shedding his seemingly indestructible suit, because....Ta Da ......he’s invisible! More talking and cigarette smoking ensues as the phantom hitches a ride on the doc’s car. While the doctor, his assistant (Noreen Nash) and an army major (James Sealy, later in the TV series THE SWAMP FOX) test the suit, the invisible alien (Dick Sands) roams the lab opening and closing doors, moving furniture and being terrorized by the doc’s dog. He (?) kidnaps the assistant and communicates by tapping. In the end he turns into a visible, bald headed humanoid who falls to his death and evaporates. The doctor sums it up: “So he came here from where ever from and right before our eyes his body went though the final phrases of life.”. Yup, that’s it!



An odd duo penned PHANTOM. William Raynor later wrote TARGET: EARTH and became a TV writer. Co-scripter Myles Wilder (Lee's son) wrote W’s next effort (and later episodes of GET SMART). Nominal leading man Landers was a TV pitchman in the ‘60’s and appears in the STAR TREK episode “Turnabout Intruder”. The eerie music is by William Lava (who later did the “F-Troop” theme). Not so SFX were by Alex Weldon who after doing his magic on INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN (1957) graduated to better movies like THE LONGEST DAY, KING OF KINGS, CRACK IN THE WORLD and PATTON. Wilder had been a handbag manufacturer before going to Hollywood in 1945 and producing Anthony Mann’s THE GREAT FLAMARION with Erich von Strohiem!









THE SNOW CREATURE-U.A.-1954 -This is it! The very first movie about The Abominable Snowman and of course it was produced and directed by Wilder (Brother Billy was making SABRINA the same year). It’s very crazy.



A botanist (Paul Langton) and photographer (Leslie Denison) in The Himalayas are forced to accompany their Sherpa guide (Teru Shimada, a Japanese actor who had a small role in WAR OF THE WORLDS and was later on US TV shows ) to Yeti country when the guide’s wife is Yeti-napped. After following some footprints the group come upon an abominable lair inhabited by the snowman and his family. Strangely, the minute he (?) sees the group he brings the cave ceiling down on himself killing his family. Not very bright daddy Snowman is merely stunned and somehow the botanist gains control and forces the Sherpas to take them all back to civilization. For a botanist this guy has alot of pull because he manages to have his institute send a special refrigeration unit to keep Snowy in. It looks like a telephone booth! He has trouble with immigration. They’re not sure if he’s man or beast and won’t let him/it into the country! The creature is very tall and kind of funky looking with fur glued on various parts of it’s body suit. You hardly ever see it’s face. Sometimes it looks like he’s wearing a hat! A famous medical examiner (Rudolph Anders in his second Wilder film) is brought in but Snowy escapes and hilarity follows when it (fast motion) clubs a guard. Emerging out of the darkness it kills a woman. When the creature retreats it’s the same scene of him attacking but shown backwards! Another funny scene takes place in a meat packing plant. It all ends in the storm drains under the city.



According to IMDB Lock Martin (Gort The Robot in DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL) portrayed the title monster but I’ve also heard that it may have been someone else. Star Langton was a busy TV actor (he’s in The Twilight Zone premiere episode “Where Is Everybody?”) but was later in THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (’57), IT! THE TRRROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (’58) , INVISIBLE INVADERS and COSMIC MAN (both ’59)! What a resume! The Director Of Photography was Floyd Crosby. Also with William Phipps, Robert Bice and Robert Kino.

KILLERS FROM SPACE-U.A.-1954-Wilder also made this, his most famous grade Z thriller the same year as SNOW CREATURE and it seems to be the first alien abduction movie!

Peter Graves stars as Douglas Martin a pilot/doctor working with nuclear scientists who appears unharmed after his plane crashes and burns. Army brass believe he’s a traitor passing A-bomb secrets to the enemy. After he cracks up, he tells the real story while under the influence of a truth drug. Here we meet a group of the most memorable aliens in bad movie history!

Yes, it’s those guys in the skin tight jump suits & zebra belts sporting bushy eye brows and golf ball eyes.! The leader (John Merrick who talks like Paul Burich) fills Dr. Martin in on the fact that he died and was resurrected by the aliens so he can be their spy. They want to eliminate the human race and take over the Earth for their own kind. The future Mr. Phelps tires to escape their underground cave but is stopped by some stock footage lizards and enlarged shots of cockroaches. He eventually blows up the alien base (while dressed in pajamas, robe and slippers; he’s a casual hero) by cutting off their electric power.

The story for KILLERS is credited to the mysterious Myles Wilder and the script is by William Raynor (see above entry). James Sealy plays nearly the same army major he did in SNOW CREATURE. Square jawed Frank Gerstle (who would later be in movies by Ed Cahn, Corman and Sam Fuller) plays a fellow scientist.

Some of the funniest non-alien scenes involve out of place close-ups of an investigating agent played by Steve Pendleton. Wilder just keeps showing shadowy close-ups of these guy’s mug while other characters are talking! The bulge eyed aliens were created by Ed Wood vet Harry Thomas!

Interestingly, Director Of Photography William H. Clothier (who also shot PHANTOM FROM SPACE) went on to shoot many John Wayne westerns including THE ALAMO (1960). W. Lee Wilder would go on to make a few more movies like the boring MANFISH (1956) with Victor Jory and Lon Chaney, the wacky MAN WITHOUT A BODY (1957) and the weird THE OMEGANS (his last in 1968) with Ingrid Pitt but he’d never top this “trilogy of terror”.

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