Amicus Strikes Back

 

(imdb)

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS-1973-Catherine (Stephanie Beacham) & Charles (Ian Ogilvy) come to live in the ancestral Fengriffen. No sooner are they there when Catherine becomes mesmerized by a portrait of Charles’ grandfather Sir Henry and a bloody hand tries to grab her. After their wedding, a severed hand is seen crawling across the floor. Later, she sees a ghoulish, eyeless corpse, missing one hand. Then she's scared by Silas (Geoffrey Whitehead), a sinister looking woodsman with a red birth mark, who lives on the estate. After their lawyer (Guy Rolfe) is murdered, Catherine sees more apparitions and the family doctor, Whittle (Patrick Magee) informs the couple Catherine is pregnant. Then Charles and Dr. Whittle discuss telling Catherine some secret about the family. 

When the maid decides to help Catherine, she's killed. The severed hand seems to be controlling things. When her aunt Edith (Gillan Lind) decides Catherine should leave Fengriffen, she dies. When it seems like Catherine is really cracking up, Whittle calls in Dr. Pope (Peter Cushing). In a flashback, Charles reveals his granddad Sir Henry (Herbert Lom) turned Fengriffin into “a house of debauchery” and “filled it with the scum of the earth”. Then on Silas’ father's wedding night, Henry rapes his bride, while his goons hold down Silas. Henry chops off his hand and Silas puts a curse on him. Later, Catherine gives birth to a baby with no right hand and a reddish birth mark. 

Good cast and story but not a great ending. This Amicus production was directed by Roy Ward Baker who also made THE VAULT OF HORROR for the same company in'73. It's based a on a novel by American novelist David Case.

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Magically Murderous

 

 (themoviedatabase.org)

RED CLOVER-2012-Karen (Courtney Halverson) is attacked by something while hunting with her grandfather (William Devane). It seems Karen thinks she's under the curse of red clover and the Keening Leprechaun is responsible for some random deaths. The leprechaun was kidnapped by some Irish immigrants who used his pot of gold to be successful. Karen's father is an asshole policeman (Billy Zane) who looks like a total ditz wearing an Ed Norton-like hat and doesn't get along with granddad. The lep-rechaun causes pandemonium during a St. Patrick's Day parade and it kills nearly all of the main cast (most of them are jerks anyway). Nothing new. Directed by Drew Daywalt.

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Baron Bava

 

 (imdb)

BARON BLOOD-1972-Peter comes from America to Austria to discover his roots and learn about this ancestor Baron Von Kleist (dubbed Baron Blood by the locals). At dinner with Uncle Karl and his family, Peter meets Eva (Elke Sommer) and they discuss a witch named Elizabeth Holly who put a curse on the Baron. For some reason, Peter wants to recite an incantation that could bring the Baron back to life. Eva takes him to the room where the Baron died and he invokes it. The Baron comes back as a deformed killer. When the castle is put up for auction a guy in a wheelchair named Becker (Joseph Cotton) buys it. Later they suspect he is the Baron who's restoring the castle complete with impaled victims and a torture chamber with recorded screams. The Baron reveals himself and in his torture chamber. He tortures Peter first. However, an ancient medallion causes the Baron's recent victims to rise and torture him to death. 

Stylish direction from the great Mario Bava, who made this between A BAY OF BLOOD and LISA AND THE DEVIL. It was a big hit in the US.

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Low Budget Trilogy

 

 (imdb)

ENCOUNTER WITH THE UNKNOWN-1973-Very low budget trilogy of tales involving the supernatural much of it narrated by the great Rod Serling. In the first, 3 smart ass college kids set up Johnny, a naive guy with a phony date. When he's accidentally shot and killed, his spooky mom (Fran Franklin) puts a curse on the 3. One of guys tells the story to a priest who gets upset when the curse seems to come true. In the second story, after a kid loses his dog, he and his father discover a mysterious giant hole in the ground. The father is lowered into the hole. When they bring him up, he's gone crazy. What he saw is never revealed. Annabelle Weenick (DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT) is his wife and (Larry Buchanan regular) Billy Thurman is a hillbilly. The third is based on “the legend of the girl on the bridge”. After a car drives off a bridge, a dude picks up a mysterious young woman (Rosie Holotik) who says she wants to go home. In a flashback we find out that the girl Susan had a fight with her father (Gene Ross) over a guy she wanted to marry. Of course, it turns out Susan is dead and her ghost is trying to get home. Holotik and Ross had also been in DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT the same year. 

 (imdb)

Another narrator sums up everything at the end with a kind of condensed version of the movie shown again. Filmed in Little Rock, Arkansas by Harry Thomason who filmed another movie SO SAD ABOUT GLORIA simultaneously with this extremely low budget anthology. Thomason (still alive at the time of this writing) was a close friend of Bill & Hilary Clinton and later worked on the TV show “Designing Woman”.

                                  Rosie Holotik on the cover of Playboy magazine in 1972!

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Bad...

 

 (moviesandmania.com)

ANNA-2017-Two obnoxious imbeciles steal a cursed doll from a private museum. The dialogue is ridiculous and most of it is so dark you can't see anything. Don't waste your time. The director Michael Crum also made LAKE FEAR (2014) and ANNA 2 (2019).

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The Rubber Tongue

 

 (imdb)

THE BRAINIAC-1962-In 1661, during the Spanish Inquisition in Mexico, the evil baron Vitelius (Abel Salazar; the film's producer) is burned for heresy among other things. Before he dies, he curses the judges who condemned him and says he'll be back in 300 years to get his revenge. Cut to 1961. Renaldo and Victoria, two astronomy students cut their dancing short to visit Professor Milan and check out some heavenly bodies. Milan tells them that a strange comet should be making an appearance for the first time in 300 years. Coincidentally, the same comet passed by when the Baron was burned. 

The comet drops the Baron off and he's now a long-haired monster with claws and a rubbery tongue who sucks out victims' brains. He seeks revenge on the ancestors of the judges and kills several women too. Actually, he collects the brains in bowls and whenever he's feeling down, he has a tablespoon. He plans on making Renaldo & Victoria his next victims but Renaldo discovers the brain stash and two investigating cops show up with flamethrowers and burn the Baron a second time. 

This is another weird Mexico produced outing with a strange creature and outrageous plot. Frank Zappa references this movie in the song "Debra Kadabra" (sung by Capt. Beefheart) on The Mothers album "Bongo Fury".  Director Chano Urueta later made several movies with luchador Blue Demon.

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She's A Witch! Burn Her!

 

 (imdb)

MARK OF THE WITCH-1970-A woman condemned as a witch curses her accusers. Then she's hanged. 

In the present, a college professor Mac (Robert Elston), has a group of students who study witchcraft, mainly as a lark. Jill (Anitra Walsh), a student who works at a bookstore, finds an ancient book and the group decides to summon a witch. It doesn't seem to work but Jill seems affected. The witch has possessed her and wants revenge. 

The psychedelic finale with abrupt twist ending is the best part of this talky supernatural low budget junk with bad acting. Director Tom Moore later directed RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK for Charles Pierce and was producer on several other projects for Pierce.

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Early Monogram Horror

 

HOUSE OF MYSTERY-1934-Asia 1913-An unscrupulous archaeologist John Prendergast (Clay Clement) kills a monkey at a sacred temple. The head honcho puts a curse on him but he mocks them and uses a whip on the head guy, who summons a gorilla to kill Prendegast. However with the help of a "Hidi" dancing girl Chandra (Laya Joy aka Joyzelle Joyner; also in JUST IMAGINE) he escapes and flees with some treasures and the girl. 

20 years later The Potters, an absent minded professor (Harry C. Bradley) and shrewish wife (Mary Foy) who backed the expedition Prendegast headed, hire Jack Armstrong (Ed Lowry in his only feature film) to get the treasure back when they suspect Prendegast is living in a mansion in the suburbs. Prendergast agrees to meet the backers at his house to discuss a settlement. He's now a dying cripple because of the curse but agrees to give everyone their share if they agree to live with him for one week in his house. After they hold a seance people start dying at the hands of a gorilla prowling around the house. Prendegast says it's all because of the curse. A cloddish police chief (Irving Bacon) thinks otherwise. This old haunted house horror comedy/mystery (with unintentional humor) is unexciting but I liked the twist with the character of the dumb plumber. George “Gabby” Hayes is also in it. 

Director William Nigh had been an actor in silent films and producer who directed over a 100 films but is most remembered today for making the 5 “Mr. Wong” Monogram series of films with Boris Karloff. He also directed Karloff in a 5^th Monogram movie THE APE which along with HOUSE OF MYSTERY are credited as being based on the same play, “The Ape” by Adam Shirk. Nigh also made BLACK DRAGONS with Bela Lugosi in 1942.

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Blood Bath AKA

 

BLOOD BATH-1966-After it seems like a vampire killed a woman, some beatniks (including Sid Haig & Jonathan Haze) check out Max (Karl Schanzer) the artist's new painting. Then waitress Daisy (Marissa Mathes) has a discussion with ballet dancing Dorean (Linda/Lori Saunders) about a secret meeting she has with a man. 

While looking at some paintings Daisy meets artist Antonio Sordi (William Campbell), who's artist ancestor was burned at the sake after being betrayed by his mistress Melizza. While having a flashback/hallucination, he turns into the vampire and kills Daisy with a meat cleaver. Sordi is also the person Dorean was meeting on the beach. Later at a party, he attacks a woman who falls into a pool. Daisy's sister Donna (Sandra Knight) goes looking for her (Max recognizes her from Sordi's latest painting) but Sordi denies knowing her. She learns about Sordi's ancestor who came back as a vengeful vampire after being burned, eventually being staked. 

Donna sees a connection between the missing women and Sordi. She decides to shadow him but he kills her on a merry go round (while others do nothing). His vampire self terrorizes Dorean but she escapes. Max has a fight with the vampire who seems to fall to his death but his body disappears. Poor Dorean seeks shelter at Sordi's bell tower residence where she discovers a dead corpse (Patrick Magee). Sordi isn't dead and thinks Doreann is Melizza come back to him. Fortunately some of his victims come back to life and throw him in bubbling wax. 

This movie has a crazy history. It started out life as a US-Yugoslavian production called “Operation Titan” for which Roger Corman provided American actors William Campbell and Sid Haig as he planned to distribute it in the US. Corman was unhappy with the resulting film and finally asked Jack Hill to write a new script and shoot new scenes while incorporating some of the original. Hill turned it into a horror film called “Portrait in Terror”. Corman was still unhappy with this new version and hired Stephanie Rothman to shoot more scenes. Unfortunately star William Campbell refused to do anymore re-shoots and an unidentified actor portrays the vampire monster which is why the Sordi character transforms into a totally different monster! Sid Haig's character also grows a beard for his later scenes! New scenes were also shot for a TV version called “Track of The Vampire”. 

There's always a story with Roger Corman!

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Even A Man Who Is Pure In Heart....

THE WOLFMAN-1941-In England Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns home to Castle Talbot after spending 18 years in America, upon the death of his older brother. His dad Sir John (Claude Rains) wants him to become one of the family again. Cheerful Larry no sooner gets settled when he's fooling around with a telescope and spies Gwen (Evelyn Ankers) in her antique shop. When he visits she tells him about werewolves and the sign of the pentagram.

Larry wants his fortune told so he, Gwen and her friend Jenny (Fay Helm) visit a gypsy camp. There Bela (Bela Lugosi) reads Jenny's fortune and it's not good. He sees a pentagram on her palm. While Larry romances Gwen Bela turns into a werewolf and kills Jenny. Larry kills the werewolf with his silver cane but is bitten in the process. He's helped home by Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) . Later the chief of police (Ralph Bellamy) and Doctor Lloyd (Warren William) find Jenny and Bela (not a wolf anymore). The next day Larry recovers and his wolf bite has disappeared. Larry overhears Maleva talking to the dead Bela and finds out he was her son. Later Gwen introduces Larry to her fiance Frank Andrews (Patrick Knowles), game keeper for the estate. Maleva gives Larry the low down on his curse and the gypsies pack up and leave as Larry turns into the title character. His first victim is a gravedigger. Next time he goes out prowling he gets his foot caught in a trap planted by the constable. He passes out but doesn't get caught because Maleva finds him and somehow gets him to change back to human. Larry goes to Gwen for help but when he sees the sign of the pentagram on her palm he freaks out. He confesses his fears to his dad but Sir John doesn't believe it. He straps his son to chair in a locked room while everyone is out hunting the wolf. He transforms and escapes. Gwen winds up in the foggy woods being pursued by hairy Larry. He attacks her but Sir John confronts him and in an ironic twist beats him to death with Larry's cane. Larry turns human and Maleva declares “Your suffering is over”.

 THE WOLF MAN kind of ushered in the second era of Universal horror films. Director George Waggner also did MAN MADE MONSTER with Chaney the same year. He later made THE CLIMAX with Karloff. This has a great cast and the foggy scenes where the wolf man prowls are excellent despite being all done in the studio. Screenwriter Curt Siodmak went on to write several more in the series. Waggner later went into TV. His last work was on the BATMAN TV in the '60's.

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Hannah

CRYPT OF THE LIVING DEAD-1973-A man spends a lot of time walking around in the dark. He finds a tomb and upon examining it is strangled from behind. It's then made to look like an accident. His son Chris Bolton (Andrew Prine) arrives to find out more about Dad’s death. He meets Peter (Mark Damon) a writer/blacksmith (looking suspiciously like the killer) and his sister Mary (Paty Shepard) who tell him the legend of Hannah, the young bride of Louis 17, who became a vampire and was buried alive in the very tomb that crushed Chris' father. None of the weird locals pay him any mind. Chris decides he wants to give his dad a decent burial. (“Do you think my father started to believe in this garbage?”) While trying to hoist the marble tomb off of dead dad the lid comes off revealing the perfectly preserved corpse of Hannah! Now awake she turns into a wolf and kills a blind man’s dog. Chris and Mary fall in love and it turns out Peter is a nut who worships Hannah. There's also a one eyed crazy guy who seems to be her henchman. After terrorizing the town, Chris sets her on fire. She becomes an ugly monster. The men surround her and Chris puts a stake in her heart. He and Mary leave but someone is left to carry on for Hannah. This Spain produced shot in Turkey horror is too dark in spots and very drawn out. American Ray Danton shot additional scenes for a US release. Aka: HANNAH, QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES. Prine also starred in SIMON, KING OF WITCHES. 

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Bava

KILL BABY... KILL-1966-Dr. Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart; in WAR OF THE PLANETS the same year) goes to a small village to perform an autopsy after being called in by Karl, the burgomaster (Max Lawrence). The place seems to be under a curse after a young girl died. Her ghost comes back periodically and anyone who sees her dies by bleeding to death. Eswai and a local woman (Erika Blanc) investigate. 

Wonderfully crazy Gothic horror from the master Mario Bava, who made DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS the same year. Great sets, lighting and suspense. Lead actress Erika Blanc was later in the horror films THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF HER GRAVE and THE DEVIL'S NIGHTMARE. 

Nice movie... terrible title…

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Hammer Werewolf

THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF-1961-In Spain in the 1700's a beggar (Richard Wordsworth) is mocked and imprisoned by the local marquis (Anthony Dawson). He languishes for years in a dungeon with his only human contact being the jailer's mute daughter (Yvonne Romaine) who grows up before his eyes. When she rejects the now decrepit zombie look marquis he has her thrown in the same dungeon as the old beggar. He rapes her and later she kills the marquis (quite viciously). She runs away and is taken in my a kindly aristocrat Alfredo (Clifford Evans) and his maid. The girl gives birth to a baby boy but dies. Unfortunately the baby was born on Christmas and according to the maid an unwanted child born on the 25^th is an insult to God. When the boy named Leon is baptized thunder sounds and the holy water swirls. A few years later Leon has nightmares and fangs and seems to kill sheep at night although a wild dog is blamed. He grows into a man (Oliver Reed) and leaves home. He gets a job bottling wine and meets Christina (Catherine Feller). They fall in love but while out partying with a co-worker Leon turns into a scary werewolf (slightly reminiscent of THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON) and kills the co-worker and a hooker. He's arrested and put in jail where his cellmate becomes a future victim. As a wolf he breaks out, kills some more and the townsfolk go after him. He takes refuge in a church where “dad” shoots a silver bullet through his heart. 

 This Technicolor Hammer production released in the US though Universal International was directed by the great Terence Fisher and written by Anthony Hinds who teamed several times for Hammer. It's based on a novel by Guy Endore  

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Down Under Murder

 

CUT-2000-In Australia, a young film crew decides to finish a “cursed” horror film even though everyone who has tried before was killed (including the original director). They hire the original American actress (Molly Ringworm) to star again and after playing a cruel joke on the director they all head off to shoot the rest of the movie. Of course someone dressed as the movie killer shows up to kill cast and crew. Some of the death are very nasty (fire, head crushing, decapitation) and the ending goes on forever. Stupidest part has a teacher get a pole driven through his neck but he pulls it and saves the day! Pop singer Kylie Minogue is one of the cast.

 

This Australian effort is violent and derivative and director Kimble Rendall ( a second unit director on THE MATRIX movies) obviously hasn't learned anything from watching US horror movies!

 

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Curses!

DARK FIELDS-2009-A town called Perseverance has been under a curse fro several generations. It started when the farming community dug up an old hat. Now every generation has to sacrifice several of their children based on a lottery they devised. An Indian shaman and a tall bald guy with fangs also figures into it. It tells three stories at the same time but jumps around and tries to be arty (and causes much viewer confusion). The late David Carradine is seen in the 18th century segments and Dee Wallace is in the 1950's plot. Richard Lynch (who died in 2012) is featured in the modern day story as a mean crazy father who wants his cursed daughter (Sasha Higgins) to drown her own brother. Later it's just the brother and sister running around in the dark looking for a cure and useless scenes of gore and torture (some of it against children). It's kind of like Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" except it's not good.

Too bad the director (who probably needs mental help) Douglas Schulze (THE HELLMASTER) decided to the three way story line and waste the triple threat of Carradine, Stone and Lynch which is the only acting highlights. The rest of the cast is terrible.

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Snakes On Everythig

CULT OF THE COBRA-1955-In this Universal horror story, 6 US G.I.s stationed somewhere in Asia and almost ready to return to the states meet a snake charmer (Leonard Strong) who gets them into a secret ceremony where (he says) a human being will change into a snake. They get drunk, put on hooded robes and go see the ritual. Though they were forbidden to take pictures one stupid guy (James Dobson) takes a flash picture. A riot ensues wherein the GIs beat up the cultists and burn the place but not before one of cultists (un-billed Ed Platt!) curses them with death. ("One by one you will die!") The stupid guy runs away with a basket containing the snake and gets bit. He survives but later is killed. The rest return to the states. Marshall Thompson is Tom Markel, a commercial artist who meets the mysterious Lisa Moya (Faith Domergue) who turns out to be a snake! His other pals include his roommate is Paul Able (Richard Long), ladies man Carl Turner (Jack Kelly), bowling alley owner Rico (David Janssen) and Pete (William Reynolds). While Tom falls in love with her, Lisa does away with his friends by turning into a cobra and killing them. Later Lisa realizes she's in love with Tom. It's the age old question: Can a woman who turns into a snake find happiness with the man she loves after killing all of his friends?

Paul figures out what's going on but no one believes him until he and Tom are the only ones left alive. When cobra-Lisa threatens Paul's fiance' (Kathleen Hughes; IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE) Tom uses a coat rack to subdue the deadly reptile as it transforms back into Lisa after it's dead.

CULT isn't a bad little film. It has a good cast and the cobra attacks are ok but it's drawback is it's predictable story. The minute the dark, enigmatic Lisa character shows up you know where it's all going. Director Francis D. Lyon worked in TV and later made the very low budget films DESTINATION INNER SPACE and CASTLE OF EVIL (both starring Scott Brady).

Almost every male star went on to have his own TV show. Star Faith Domergue had a busy year in '55. Besides playing a cobra woman she was in THE ISLAND EARTH, IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA and THE ATOMIC MAN. COTC also features bits by Olan Soule, Myrna Hansen and Bing Russell. A  hot dog vendor in quick scene looks to me like Ben Frommer (he mostly has his back to the camera) who was in Ed Woods' BRIDE OF THE MONSTER the same year....

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Crazy '70's Stuff!

HOUSE OF SEVEN CORPSES-1974-6 murders are shown in 6 portraits depicting the untimely end of all the members of The Beel family during the credits. A seventh frame is empty. Then a woman practices witchcraft. Something goes wrong and she about to commit suicide when we learn it is only the filming of a horror movie on The Beel estate. John Carradine is the the caretaker Mr. Price who spoils the scene and then relates the history of the Beel family to the film within a film's director Eric Hartman (John Ireland) and his crew members. Every person in the family came to a tragic death. After a lot of talk and the cast and crew filming scenes for the movie (based on the Tibetan of the Dead!) the lead actress Gayle (Faith Domergue from THIS ISLAND EARTH) finds the dead remains of her beloved cat. They all blame Price who is wondering around in the nearby graveyard. After more filming a corpse comes to life and kills Price. Then it kills a couple of technicians. Then while filming a scene Gayle accidentally shoots her leading man to death. The corpse then kills her by hanging. After the seemingly possessed co-director tries to kill Harman another corpse rises from the grave. Hartman cracks up when he discovers the dead bodies and his film stock exposed. ("my film! my film!"). Death by falling camera follows. It seems a curse (used in the film within a film) re-enacted the famous murders and the death of a young actress is the seventh...maybe???

HOUSE OF SEVEN CORPSES was the only feature film directed by Paul Harrison (he also co-wrote the screenplay). He mostly worked in TV writing many episodes of the Saturday morning kids' show HR PUFNSTUF.

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It Played at Cannes!

FROM WITHIN-2008-Weird THE RING/THE GRUDGE inspired nonsense set in a town run by religious fanatics. They once killed a woman thought to be a witch and now a rash of suicides have occurred. A young girl named Lindsey (Elizabeth Rice; later in the TV show MAD MEN) tries to discover the truth with the help of the accused witch's son (Thomas Dekker; TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNORS CHRONICLES TV show)  and his stupid cousin (Kelly Blatz). A curse seems to be killing everyone. The best part of this is the interesting twist ending. The director Phedon Papamichael has done more work as a cinematographer. 

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Rip-Off

THE DEVIL WITHIN HER-1975-Former exotic dancer Lucy Carlesi (Joan Collins) gives birth to a rather large and strong baby (at least that's what the doctor's say; it looks like any normal baby). Weird things happen almost immediately. Baby scratches mommy and later bites their housekeeper. Her Italian husband Geno (Ralph Bates with an accent) hires a nanny but the baby pushes her into a pond and she dies! Lucy reveals a strange story to her girlfriend (Caroline Munro) about the last time she danced and how a dwarf actor "cursed" her ("You will have a baby as big as I am small! A monster!"). She believes her baby is possessed and even sees the dwarf's face in place of her son's. Their doctor (Donald Pleasance) doesn't believe it but when he visits he's decapitated. Dad winds up dead by hanging and his body is stuffed in a drain pipe. Dad's sister, a nun (Elleen Atkins) suspects no good and eventually performs an exorcism but by then everyone is dead! John Steiner is also in it as a Cockney club owner. Much of it doesn't make sense and there's some unintentional humor and it all seems to be inspired by THE EXORCIST, IT'S ALIVE and ROSEMARY'S BABY. 

Director Peter Sasdy did better with previous efforts like TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA, COUNTESS DRACULA and HANDS OF THE RIPPER. For some reason it has recently been re-titled SHARON'S BABY.

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Early American Haunting

AN AMERICAN HAUNTING-2005-A teenage girl has recurring nightmares. Her mom reads a letter written by her ancestor in 1817. It tells the story of John Bell (Donald Sutherland) who is admonished by his church in a land dispute with a woman said to be a witch. Believing she has been treated unfairly she puts a curse on John and his family. Later his daughter Betsey (Rachel Hurd-Wood) is terrorized by an unseen force. She's thrown around, suspended in mid-air and slapped. She gets very mean and aggressive and seems possessed. A disbelieving school teacher (James D'Arcy, also in EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING around the same time) tries to help and soon is a believer.

This was the second feature made by director Courtney Solomon. He later served as producer on movies like the execrable CAPTIVITY and the forgettable UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION. But unlike most horror movies these days, he uses a minimum of gory effects relying more on lighting, mood, fast paced scenes, competent acting and a non-supernatural ending.

Though AN AMERICAN HAUNTING is based on a novel by Brent Monahan, there is also an incident purported to have happened in the 19^th century and chronicled in a book called “An Authentic History of The Bell Witch” published in 1891 by someone named Martin Van Buren Ingram. However historians today believe it is more legend than fact.

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