Minor Minotaur

 

 

 (imdb)

MINOTAUR-2006-This mythological drama begins with a prologue about a queen who mated with the god Minotaur and had the baby cut out of her stomach. A guy named Theo (Tom Hardy; VENOM (2018)) lives in a village ruled by his father (Rutger Hauer) where human sacrifices are made. Theo still mourns for his lost, sacrificed love. An oracle with leprosy (Ingrid Pitt) tells him his beloved Fion is not dead but held prisoner in a labyrinth and he must kill “the beast” to free her. An evil prince (Tony Todd) wants to sacrifice Theo and his friends but the princess Raphaella (Michelle Van Der Water) has other ideas. 

The Minotaur is a pretty bad effect. Not a man-bull but a snarling 4-legged kind. Todd gets props for his performance, but his scenes almost seem like part of another story. Film in Wales and Luxembourg by Jonathan English (IRONCLAD (2011)).

Thanks for reading!

Fingers

 

 (imdb)

GREEN FINGERS-2000-This short horror tale begins with Mrs. Bowen (Ingrid Pitt; THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, COUNTESS DRACULA) killing a cat. She buries it and it seems to come back to life. It scares her and she cuts off her finger."I can grow anything with my green fingers" she says. She's put to bed by her gardener friend (Robin Parkinson) and a nurse (Janina Faye; HORROR OF DRACULA) but at night she buries the finger. Next day she's surprised to see a hand growing. At night her new grown self rises from it's grave and kills her with an axe. The next day she kills her nurse. The End. 

Filmed in England by Pat Cotgrove who also did the adaptation from a short story by RC Cook. (It was also done as an episode of TV's “Night Gallery” in 1972).

Thanks for reading!

AAA: Another Amicus Anthology

 

 

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD-An obnoxious police detective (John Bennett) investigates the disappearance of film star Paul Henderson. A real estate agent (John Bryans) tells him strange things go on in the house where a woman has also vanished. He gives the detective the reports on the last few tenants for him to read. They comprise the stories.

In the first “A Method For Murder”, a horror writer (Denholm Elliot) creates a sinister character called Dominic (Tom Adams). It seems the character comes to life and the writer wonders if he's going insane. The twist ending makes no sense.

In the second “Waxworks”, Peter Cushing plays Phillip, a loner who listens to classical music and mourns the death of his lover. He and his friend Neville (Joss Ackland) become obsessed with a wax figure that resembles the dead woman. The museum's mad owner figures into the climax.

 

In the third “Sweets To The Sweet” (related by the real estate agent), Christopher Lee plays a stuck up businessman who treats his seemingly cute and innocent daughter in an overly strict manner. It turns out she's not exactly what she appears to be. Nyree Dawn Porter plays a teacher who tries to help.

In the final story “The Cloak”, Jon Pertwee plays pompous horror star Paul Henderson. When speaking of a film with Dracula in it he says “The one with Bela Lugosi. Not that new fella”. (This was an Amicus production) Henderson buys a mysterious cloak for his latest vampire role and it seems to turn him into a blood sucker. His co-star/lover Korla (Ingrid Pitt) turns out to be the real thing!

In the ridiculous finale Henderson and Korla attack the detective when he goes to investigate.

This is an ok anthology from Hammer Studios' chief English competition at the time and the script by writer Robert Bloch is clever in spots but I thought the stories could have been better. I wasn't really satisfied with the conclusion to most of them and the direction by Peter Duffell seems rushed in parts but it's always good to see a nice old fashioned anthology like this especially with a great cast.

Around this time Bloch was a busy writer doing more stuff for Amicus like ASYLUM and THE TORTURE GARDEN plus TV movies like THE CAT CREATURE and TV show episodes. It's also said that Vincent Price was first offered the role of Paul Henderson but his contract with AIP prevented him from accepting it.

 

Thanks for reading!