Lewton/Karloff

 

 (TCM)

ISLE OF THE DEAD-1945-Another great Lewton/Karloff collaboration directed by Mark Robson. 

Hard-nosed and dedicated to his country Gen. Pherides (Karloff; also in THE BODY SNATCHER th same year)) and US reporter Oliver Davis (Mark Cramer) unintentionally visit the home of Swiss doctor Albercht (Jason Robards) who has a strange superstitious housekeeper (Helene Thimig) and some guests: diplomat St. Aubyn (future TV Batman butler Alan Napier), his wife Mary (Katherine Emery; later in THE MAZE (1953)), salesman Andrew Robbins (uncredited Skelton Knaggs) and the enigmatic Thea (Ellen Drew). Everything is ok until Robbins dies, and a doctor (Ernst Duetsch) says he has the plague. Pherides decides everyone must stay. The doctor says it should pass in a few days but Albrecht says it might be a wolf spirit disguised as a human. He and Pherides) make a wager, Albrecht will pray to Hermes for a cure and Pherides can put his faith in science.

 After St. Aubyn dies, his wife confesses to the doctor that she has a morbid obsession with being buried alive. He says he will do everything to make sure this will never happen. But then he dies. Somehow Davis and Thea fall in love. When Mary seems to die, Pherides blames Thea. They put Mary in a crate like coffin and of course she's not dead. Then the general falls ill. Mary escapes her tomb and now mad goes looking for people to kill. Her first victim is the housekeeper. Pherides thinks the killer is Thea. Mary stabs the general, then falls off a cliff. Pherides dies believing the evil spirit has been destroyed. 

Haunting thriller with Karloff leading a good cast. Ellen Drew later starred with Vincent Price in Sam Fuller's THE BARON OF ARIZONA (1950). Jason Robards was in BEDLAM with Karloff the next year.

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More Corman! More Price! More Poe!

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH-1964-In the village of Kitanya, a red cloaked figure gives an old woman a red carnation and says she should tell her town “your day of deliverance is at hand”. Evil Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) treats the people who harvest his fields like animals. When he is insulted by two men he condemns them to death. A innocent girl Francesca (Jane Asher) begs the prince to spare their lives but he makes her choose which should live or die. One is her father Ludovico (Nigel Greene) and the other her fiance Gino (David Weston). That's forgotten when it's discovered the old woman is carrying the plague. The prince takes the trio to his castle and orders the village burnt. He takes a shine to Francesca despite the protests of Juliana (Hazel Court), one of his guests who brands herself for Satan and has weird (drug induced?) dream-visions. After she thinks he's betrothed to Satan she's clawed to death by a bird. “I beg you do not mourn for Juliana. We should celebrate. She has just married a friend of mine”. 

Prospero invites princes from all over the region to join him at his castle for a decadent “protection from the plague” party. He's a nasty guy who insults his guests and makes them imitate animals and worship Satan. He especially gets the goat of Alfredo (Patrick Magee), a slimy aristocrat who slaps a little ballerina girl (but maybe she is suppose to be a dwarf as she has a dubbed in “adult” voice) during her dance. This leads to a sub-plot based on another Poe story “Hop-Frog” where her dwarf partner (Skip Martin) convinces Alfredo to dress like an ape then burns him alive. 

After Ludovico is killed, Pospero allows Gino to leave but he goes back and tries to rescue his beloved. The same red cloaked figure who spoke to the old woman tells Gino he will bring Francesca to him later. While the guests entertain themselves Prospero, all dressed in black and looking rather Dr. Phibes-ish, finally thinks he meets his master the Devil but in fact it's Death who's come to claim him. 

Director Roger Corman has said although he holds MASQUE has one of his favorite films he wasn't that pleased with the final scene where Pospero's plague infected party goers crowd in on him and thought it could have been better since he felt it was rushed (he did it in one day). His use of colors is awesome and the photography by Nicolas Roeg (in his only work with Corman) is a highlight. The screenplay was written by Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell. This AIP co-production with the English Anglo-Amalgamated was filmed in England in 5 weeks (long for a Corman production!).

Although she had an un-billed cameo in 1981's THE FINAL CONFLICT, MASQUE  was the last film role for Hazel Court (also featured in THE PREMATURE BURIAL and THE RAVEN by Corman) who settled permanently in the US and only made TV appearances. She died in 2008. 

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Exit Action

EXIT HUMANITY-2011-This stupid movie (from writer/director John Geddes) starts off during the Civil War where hillbilly Edward Young (Mark Gibson) learns about zombies and how to kill them. After his wife and child are infected, he cries a lot and has weird dreams and flash-backs. Some scenes are animated. Later he helps rescue Emma (Jordan Hayes)  the sister of a guy named Isaac (Adam Seybold) but they meet up with some asshole "rebels" experi-menting with the living dead. Dee Wallace plays a medicine woman who helps the trio and it's discover the sister may have immunity to the zombie plague. When the bad guys kidnap the sister somehow Young leads all the zombies to their hideout for an attack. 

This drawn out talky WALKING DEAD inspired horror story is based on a novel and wastes Bill Moseley and Stephan McHattie in minor roles. Somehow they got Brian Cox to narrate it.

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Mikels' Angels?

THE DOLL SQUAD-1973-A senator and a government agent named Connelly watch a manned space rocket explode after a mysterious voice intones "perhaps next time you'll listen". A computer ("Big Bertha") suggests bringing in members of "The Doll Squad", a lethal all female group of agents lead by Sabrina Kincade (Francine York from Larry Buchanan's CURSE OF THE SWAMP CREATURE). Unfortunately, her first two picks are killed by assassins. It turns out Sabrina's ex-husband Eamon O'Reilly (Micheal Ansara) is behind the destruction in his mad plan to release the bubonic plague on the world! They try to get Sabrina but she burns one guy with a special cigarette lighter. While skeet shooting the senator (John Carter), Connelly (Anthony Eisley) and Sabrina have a big discussion (she says "sex and security just don't mix") and she shows off her min-arsenal. Sabrina eventually recruits an Olympic swimmer (Leigh Christian), an exotic dancer (Tura Santana) and a carnival ticket seller (Jean London).

This was obviously ripped off by Aaron Spelling to make the TV hit CHARLIE'S ANGELS but DOLL has more violence, blood, bad acting and the leads in more revealing clothes. If the TV show had been like this I would have watched every week!

The presence of Ansara brings the movie up a notch. Both he and Eisley were busy TV actors at the time.

It was co-written, directed and produced by TV Mikels a year after BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE DEVILS. The fights are pretty badly staged but it's far more entertaining than most reviews give it credited for. It also features exploding bad guys, a few gadgets, Rafael Campos and Mikels regulars Herb Robins and William Bagdad. Except for the seldom seen ALEX JOSEPH AND HIS WIVES in 1976, Mikels next low budget exploitation movie would be TEN VIOLENT WOMEN in '83!  Theme song sung by Solomon King.

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