Come In Anytime. I'm Always Open

 

 (themoviedatabase)

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE-1973-Excellent horror anthology from Amicus, revolving around an antique shop run by The Proprietor (Peter Cushing). 

 In “The Gate Crasher”, art dealer Edward (David Warner) buys a mirror and says he cheated the proprietor. Then he and his friends hold a séance. Edward finds himself inside the mirror. He's grabbed by a hairy hand but it's only an hallucination. Soon after, he sees a hairy corpse like head in the mirror that says “You must feed me”. He brings a hooker back to his place and kills her. He wakes up with traces of blood in his apartment but no body. Next time the head says “Feed me blooood!”. He picks up another girl and kills her. He breaks the mirror but it fixes itself. He invites his girlfriend over (the head says “You are learning”). David doesn't kill her but instead kills a downstairs neighbor. The head turns up young and in the flesh and kills David. Later when his apartment is redone, the mirror watches different tenants occupy the place until one of them gets the bright idea to hold a séance and it's David who's in the mirror.

In “An Act of Kindness”, an unhappy business clerk, Christopher Lowe (Ian Bannen) with an unpleasant wife Mabel (Diana Dors), who's complaining and insulting and a bratty kid becomes friends with a former vet named Underwood (Donald Pleasance) who sells laces and matches. To impress him, because he was not in the army, Lowe wants to buy a DSO medal but can't without the proper papers, so he steals it. Later, he goes to Underwood's house for dinner and meets his daughter Emily (Pleasance's lookalike daughter Angela), who he takes a shine to. Meanwhile someone is shadowing Mabel, taking pictures of her, stealing a lock of her hair. Emily shows Lowe a doll she's made of his wife. When she sticks a pin in it, Mabel dies. Later, he and Emily get married. On their wedding cake is figures of a bride and groom. When Emily cuts off the head of the groom figure, blood spurts from the Lowe's head and he dies. Apparently, this was his son's wish.

Next is “The Elemental”. At the antique shop, a businessman Reginald Warren (Ian Carmichael) switches snuff boxes, then is told by the eccentric Madame Orloff (Margaret Leighton) that there is an “elemental” on his shoulder. His wife Susan (Nyree Dawn Porter) accuses him of hitting her even though he didn't. She even has a mark. Later she says he tried to choke her in bed. Orloff tries to help him. She seems to banish the spirit (and wreck his house) but the spirit takes over Susan and she kills Warren with a poker.

In “The Door”, William Seaton (Ian Ogilvy) buys an elaborate door which he says leaves him broke. While the dealer's back is turned, he eyes the money he just spent. He leaves and the dealer counts the money. He and his wife Rosemary (Lesley-Anne Warren) mount the door on a closet but later that night, William opens the door and finds a mysterious cobwebbed room. He hears footsteps and runs out. When he looks again, it's just a closet. He finds a book that mentions a guy named Richard Sinclair who created a “ghost room”. When Sinclair (Jack Watson) kidnaps his wife, William destroys the door and the room starts to crumble. Before the decrepit Sinclair can choke William to death, Rosemary whacks him a few times sounding the evil guy's death knell. They get their closet back, the dealer's money is all there and they live.

Finally, a robber who was hanging around outside the whole time, visits the shop. He threatens the dealer with some old guns. When he fires them, they have no effect and the robber winds up in a coffin.

This was directorial debut of Kevin Connor (THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1972); AT THE EARTH'S CORE (1974)), a former film editor. Screenwriters Raymond Christ and Robin Clarke adapted the segments from the stories of R. Chetwynd-Hayes (his stories were also basis for THE MONSTER CLUB, also produced by Amicus' Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg). Cushing was in THE BEAST MUST DIE!, MADHOUSE and FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL the same year. 

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Monster Rule Ok!

 

 (imdb)

THE MONSTER CLUB-1981-Aramis (Vincent Price), a vampire bites R. Chetwynd Hayes (John Carradine), the horror writer. Aramis then takes the writer to “The Monster Club” so he can get some ideas and The Viewers do “Monsters Rule OK”. After Aramis explains the genealogy of vampires and werewolves we get our first story in this anthology. A con artist couple have a scheme to swindle a lonely unusual looking guy Raven (James Laurenson) when the girl Angela (Barbara Kellerman) helps him catalog his collections. He creeps her out but she also feels sorry for him. Her boyfriend George (Simon Ward) wants to make a big score and when the guy proposes George wants her to marry him. Raven says he is a “shadmock” and can never whistle. He throws a costume party with his relatives. Angela is caught robbing his safe and he whistles turning her into a monstrosity much to the surprise of George when she visits him. 

BA Robertson performs. Then, vampire/film producer Limton Busotsky (Anthony Steel) shows a scene from his upcoming movie. This is the second story, a young, bullied boy wonders about the night work his father (Richard Johnson) does. His mother (Britt Ekland) says he was a nobleman in Europe. A priest (Donald Pleasence) urges the boy to discover why dad sleeps all day. The boy discovers dad is a vampire and the priest is a vampire hunter. The vampire turns the tables on his hunters in the comical finale. 

Then the band Night performs “Stripper”. The 3rd story is about a “Humgoo”. A grouchy American director (Stuart Whitman) goes to scout a shooting sight in a remote village. An old man (Patrick Magee) tells him the village is run by The Elders. The decrepit townspeople force him to stay. He meets a young girl Luna (Lesley Dunlop) who informs him that the whole village is made up of ghouls. From a diary he learns how some evil ghouls took over the village. The only place they won't go is a church, so he hides out there with Luna, who is half human. They escape but Luna is killed. He's picked up by some ghoul policemen and taken back for “the great eating”. In the end, Aramis makes a great case for allowing a “hume” in the club. Everyone dances to The Pretty Things doing the title song. 

This was the last film produced by Milton Subotsky, who in the 1970's, along with his partner Max J. Rosenberg produced many horror films under the Amicus banner. This was an independent production, however. 

The stories are based on ones written by real horror & ghost story writer R. Chetwynd Hayes who didn't like the movie or Carradine's portrayal of him (he thought the actor too old). The filmmakers had wanted Sir Christopher Lee but he turned it down. It's also the last film directed by the great Roy Ward Baker. Most folks seem to run this movie down and admittedly it's no classic, it's just a fun combo of horror, comedy and music.

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Aztec Hero

 

 (imdb)

THE PUMAMAN-1980-Jane Dotson (Sydne Rome) discovers that an ancient mask of The Pumaman has alien technology in it. However, two stuck up guys don't want anyone to know so one of them Kobras (Donald Pleasence) hypnotizes her. He then sets his sights on killing The Pumaman, an alien protector with "god like" powers connected to an Aztec legend.

 In England, where several Americans have been killed, an American archaeologist Prof. Tony Farms (Walter George Alton) is a smug wise ass who likes to jog. He's pursued by a big guy Vadinho (Miguel Angel Fuentes; also in FITZCARRALDO (1982)) who throws him out a window. Farms survives and is told he's the Pumaman but doesn't believe it. Later he's invited by Jane to visit her father at the Swedish embassy but it's really a ruse by Kobras to find out if Farms is the P-man. When Farms puts on a gold belt, he becomes The Pumaman, in a superhero costume and cape. He must save the world from Kobras and his conquest scheme and rescue Jane from his clutches. 

This Italian feature directed by Alberto Di Martino (THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER 1963)) has very bad sfx.

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The Caretaker

 

 (wikipedia)

THE CARETAKER-1963-Harold Pinter's play adapted for the screen by the playwright himself and directed by Clive Donner. The three cast production has a soft spoken lonely man Aston (Robert Shaw) with a history of mental illness helping a grubby manipulative old man Jenkins (Donald Pleasence)) by letting him stay in his cuddled run down room at their family house. Also there is Aston's brother Mick (Alan Bates) who torments Jenkins. You might not go for the story that much but the acting is fantastic! Pinter has a brief cameo (the only other role). 

Along with Pinter and Donner, the stars also helped produce it (and received no pay). However, when additional funding couldn't be obtained a group of investors (including Richard Burton and Peter Sellers) was organized. Shaw and Pleasence had both been in the original stage production.

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Plant Man

  (imdb)

THE MUTATIONS-1974-After a lengthy lecture by a German college professor Dr. Nolter (Donald Pleasence with an accent), we learn he's a mad scientist working in genetics with plants and humans. He gets help from an angry deformed man Lynch (Tom Baker) who hangs out at a freak show run by Burns (Michael Dunn). Others in the show include The Alligator girl, the frog man, pincushion man, bearded lady, human skeleton, human pretzel and Popeye (Willie Ingram who could actually make his eyes pop out an inch from their sockets). Students Tony (Scott Anthony), Heidi (Julie Ege; LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES) and Lauren (Jill Haworth; HORROR HOUSE) welcome American scientist Brian (Brad Harris; THE FURY OF HERCULES). Tony discovers Nolter's secret. He's crossing plants with animals and plans to use Tony as his human experiment. Tony is turned into a plant man and terrorizes his girlfriend Lauren. Later, Heidi is kidnapped by Lynch for the Nolter's next victim. When Brian goes to rescue her, he's nearly killed by Lynch but Burns convinces "the freaks" into killing Lynch and feeding his body to guard dogs. Tony, now a full-grown plant man breaks into Nolter's lab and kills his creator. The place is set on fire and Brian saves Heidi but… 

THE MUTATIONS is a low budget sleazy little film with a crazy plant monster that's fairly ludicrous but considering Academy Award winning cinematographer Jack Cardiff directed it, it could have been better. He was no stranger to directing as this was his fiftheeth outing (but also his last). Co-star Tom Baker started his memorable run as TV's Dr. Who the same year. Donald Pleasence was also in the horror anthology FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE in '74. Sadly, this was the last film for Michael Dunn, who died in London shortly after completing his scenes.

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Carradine's Last Movie

  (shutterstock)

BURIED ALIVE-1989-A teenage girl runs away from Ravenscroft Hall, a kind of correctional institute for young women, but is caught by a masked person who beats her then walls her up in an underground cave. After the credits Janet Pendelton (Karen Witter) comes to teach at Ravenscroft. She meets Dr. Gary Julian (Robert Vaughan), head of the place. Later after she imagines a brick wall is breathing, she meets the weird Dr. Schaeffer (Donald Pleasence in a wig with German accent). All the girls are an unruly bunch of bitches and Janet gets a little roughed up by Yvonne (Dee Dee Eybers) who's later electrocuted while curling her hair with a mixer. Julian tells Janet she ran away. Then Janet hallucinates she's being buried alive. Debbie (Ginger Lynn Allen) is the big trouble maker. Janet has some problems especially over the death of her father.

One girl says "You're messing with my head, man". Then she's captured by the masked killer and walled up in the basement while the other girls have a secret party. While doing some investigating Janet finds some unusual equipment in the basement and an old man ghost (John Carradine) seems to come out of the wall asking for help (although he's strangling her too!). It turns out the old man is Julian's father Jacob. When Debbie sneaks out to meet her pusher/boyfriend Tim (Bill Butler) they're both abducted. Julian tells Janet she was transferred. After the local sheriff (Arnold Vosloo) looks into their disappearance, Julian asks Janet to marry him! Of course Julian is a nutty killer who kills the sheriff with a spade. When Janet realizes her boss is a loony he loses it completely and chases her through the catacombs of the place while declaring his love for her. Dr. Schaeffer (who it turns out is a former patient) tries to stop him but has his brain fried. When Julian tries to wall Janet up she sticks a needle in his eye. He goes crazy with an ax and then his dad (who he obviously walled up too) comes crashing through the wall in a wheelchair and there's an explosion. Neither father or son seem to be dead in the final scene. 

This kinda whacked horror film was directed by Gerald Kikoine (from France) who made the equally bizarre EDGE OF SANITY with Anthony Perkins the same year. As of this writing they were his last two films. BURIED ALIVE also marked the final film appearance of the great John Carradine who died in November of 1988. The film is dedicated to his memory. Vaughan and Pleasence were also in RIVER OF NO RETURN the same year.

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Polanski and Pleasence

 

CUL DE SAC-1966-Weirdo allegory art drama about a sleazy annoying gangster Richard (Lionel Stander) and his equally annoying much worse wounded partner (Jack MacGowran) who get lost in North Cumberland after a botched bank robbery. He wanders till he finds a castle occupied by an eccentric wimpy bald man George (Donald Pleasence) and his much younger slutty dominant wife Teresa (Francoise Dorleac). After his partner dies, Richard kind of takes over the place and at one point pretends to be their servant when a bunch of their friends come over. Eventually he's killed by the husband who seems to lose his mind, scaring his wife away and winding up alone and abandoned. 

Incomprehensible nuttiness by Roman Polanski made in between REPULSION and THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS.

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Accept No Substitutes...

ALONE IN THE DARK-1982-Dr. Daniel Potter (Dwight Schultz) comes to work at a clinic for mental cases run by the eccentric pot smoking Dr. Leo Bain (Donald Pleasence). His star patients are Ronald Elster (Erland Van Lidth), a child molester, the paranoid Col. Hawkes (Jack Palance), ex-preacher Byron Sutcliff (Martin Landau), an arsonist and John Skaggs who strangles people when he gets a nose bleed. Hawkes believes Potter killed their former doctor and wants revenge (“There are no crazy people, doctor. We're all on vacation”). 

 At a club The Sic F*cks do “Chop Up Your Mother”. A blackout allows the nutty gang to escape. During a riot of stealing they get weapons. Skaggs leaves them but the rest go looking for Potter, whose sister meets a guy named Tom (Phillips Clark) at a “no nukes” rally and invites him to dinner at her brother's house. Tom helps fight off the loonies when they attack. Bain comes to help but Sutcliff cuts off his ear. (Bain is never seen again but I suppose he's killed) Despite helping the family (and killing Elster) Tom turns out to be “the bleeder” Skaggs but they kill him. 

When Hawkes closes in for the kill the electricity comes back on and a timely news report confirms the previous doctor is still alive. Hawkes evades the police, beats up a bouncer at a club and meets a weird woman while The Sic F*cks play. Hawkes pulls out his gun and points it at the woman. She just laughs. So does Hawkes. 

This was director Jack Sholder's first feature film and it's a great debut but after making NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY'S REVENGE and THE HIDDEN he seemed to drift into TV movies. Both Palance and Landau went on to win Academy Awards.

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London Murder

DR. CRIPPEN-1964-This film is based on the actual murder case of Dr. Hawley Crippen (Donald Pleasence (in a very low key performance) the infamous wife murderer who's trial caused quite a sensation in 1910 London.

Coral Browne (also great) is Belle his shrewish, insulting wife who dreams of a singing career and flirts with other men and says things like "Don't be so damned British!". A policeman describes her as a "healthy looking cow". A young Samantha Eggar is Ethel Le Neve, a young office worker who becomes the doctor's lover. Most of the story is told in flashbacks as Crippen is verbally abused and embarrassed by his (sometimes) drunken spouse who he finds repulsive and is only happy when he is with Ethel. When Belle goes too far with her threats Crippen drugs and murders her, hiding her body in a coal bin.  When he suspects the police are closing in (they aren't) he and Ethel decide to hightail it to America (with Ethel dressed as a boy).  They are caught (in part by Marconi's wireless) and brought to trial. Crippen is found guilty and hung. Ethel was acquitted of being an accessory. In his final moments the doctor's only concerns are for his lover.

This well done, well acted black & white drama was directed by Robert Lynn who also made POSTMAN'S KNOCK with Spike Milligan. Pleasence was in THE GREAT ESCAPE and an episode of TV's THE OUTER LIMITS the same year.

A German production of the story had been made in 1942.

For more about the murder (and it's connection with Marconi) read "Thunderstruck" by Erick Larson.

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Somehow They Finished It

EYE OF THE DEVIL-1966-David Niven plays Philippe de Montfaucon who returns to his family vineyard at Castle Bellenac to help when the crops fail. He leaves his wife Catherine (Deborah Kerr) and children behind but they soon follow and Catherine sees many strange things including a weird ceremony involving the killing of a dove. Later she is menaced by Odile de Caray (Sharon Tate with dubbed voice) and her bow and arrow toting brother Christian (David Hemmings). Donald Pleasance is the "out there" priest who talks mysteriously and watches while Philippe whips Odile after she nearly kills Catherine Flora Robson is Philippe's "I don't want to be involved anymore" sister. Later Catherine is terrorized in the woods by some cloaked figures. After Philippe drugs her and padlocks her in her room, she escapes and discovers a family secret involving witchcraft, pagan rituals and murder although the real culprit seems to be be madness. Edward Mulhare has a small role as a family friend.

EYE is alright for a while but it's drawn out and talky at times. Niven seems to be sleep walking through the whole thing. It seems to have been inspired in part by Henry James and may have had an influence on the later THE WICKER MAN.

Originally Kim Novak was cast as Catherine and most of her scenes were finished however production was shut down when she left the film. One story is she was injured when she fell off a horse. Another says she had a falling out with the producer Martin Ransohoff. Whatever, Deborah Kerr was hired and all of Novak's scenes were re-shot. Michael Anderson (AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS) started the film then was replaced by Sidney Furie and Arthur Hiller. Credited director J. Lee Thompson finished it. Some prints say 13 (the film's original title) at the end.

Kerr and Niven were reunited the next year in CASINO ROYALE.

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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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Raw Meat

RAW MEAT-1972-Underneath the subway stations in London a cannibalistic maniac (Hugh Armstrong) kidnaps riders for food. He’s the last survivor of a group of workers who were trapped down there in an accident, Donald Pleasence is a cynical police inspector investigating the disappearances. Norman Rossington is his assistant and Clive Swift (who was in FRENZY the same year) is another inspector. David (son of Alan) Ladd is an American who becomes a suspect. His girlfriend (Sharon Gurney) is later taken by the dirty old cannibal. Ladd makes some jokes concerning apathetical New Yorkers and Christopher Lee is in one scene as MI-5 that butts heads with Pleasence.

RAW MEAT is a fairly strange little movie made in England by US director Gary Sherman who later made VICE SQUAD, WANTED:DEAD OR ALIVE and POLTERGEIST 3. For it’s time it’s quite gory. Also known as DEATHLINE. Pleasence was in 5 other movies (and an episode of TV’s Hawaii 5-0) in ‘72!

"Mind the doors"! and thanks for reading!