Dr_Gor Blog

The Ghoul

Dr_Gor — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:07:25 GMT

Long considered a lost movie, there were no known surviving prints of this film for several years until somebody discovered a 35mm print in the early 70's. The film was in very poor condition with Chechoslavakian subtitles. The film was restored (as best as they could) and copied so that today we are able to enjoy Boris Karloff as The Ghoul . Karloff is Professor Moriant, an Egyptologist who comes into the possession of "The Eternal Light", a rare jewel that was stolen from an Egyptian tomb. Moriant believes that if he is buried with the jewel it will allow him to return to life when the full moon strikes the door of his tomb. On his deathbed, Moriant has his servant Laing (Enest Theisger) wrap a bandage around his hand which clutches the jewel. Just before the tomb door is sealed shut Laing steals the jewel from his dead master's hand. When the full moon hits the door of his tomb Moriant is ressurected from the dead none the less and, when he looks at his empty hand and discovers the missing jewel, returns to his house in a rather foul mood. In zombie make-up, Karloff is at his menacing best as The Ghoul. A fun little movie that is worth checking out despite several skips in the sound and picture and the rather poor quality of the print.

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The Black Cat

Dr_Gor — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:54:14 GMT

I must take a moment here to mention The Black Cat featuring Karloff vs. Lugosi. This is one of the few films that these two horror icons made together because in real life they actually hated each other! I think that their very real dislike of each other plays into their acting in this exceptional film. Young American honeymooners Peter and Joan Allison meet up with Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi) on a train in Hungary. Werdegast is returning to his home town after spending several years as a prisoner of war. When their hotel-bound bus crashes on a mountain road during a storm and Joan is injured the trio, along with Werdegast's menacing servant, are forced to seek shelter in the isolated home of Werdegast's arch-nemesis Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff). Poelzig is a Satan worshiping preist who keeps the bodies of his past 'wives' preserved in glass 'coffins' in the basement of his futuristic art-deco house so he can admire their beauty. It turns out that one of these women was Werdegast's wife and Poelzig's current 'wife' is Werdegasts daughter! When Poelzig decides he would like to add the lovely Joan to his collection he agrees to play a game of chess against Werdegast to decide the young lady's fate. Let the fun begin! This is a great movie that was very risque for it's time and is deffinately worth watching.

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Arachniphobes need not apply...

Dr_Gor — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:49:43 GMT

One of the great giant monster movies of the 50's that nobody ever mentions any more was Tarantula . In the Arizona desert, a scientist (Leo G. Carroll) is working on a special growth formula that he hopes will help to feed the Earth's ever expanding population. When one of the scientist's assistants injects himself with the formula he goes mad and attacks the scientist. In the ensuing struggle one of the test subjects, a three foot long tarantula, escapes it's cage and wanders out into the desert. There is one catch, the version of the serum that the spider has been injected with causes it to keep growing exponentially. Soon it is the size of a car and attacking cattle and people. By the time the local Sherrif and the town doctor (played by the always priceless John Agar) figure out what is going on the spider is bigger than a house and still growing. By now it is not hard to find but it is also virtually unstoppable... machine gun fire and dynamite seem to have no effect. By the time the Airforce scrambles a squadron of fighter jets to battle the giant arachnid it is over 100 feet tall and heading directly towards town. This movie is a lot of fun and definately worth your time if you ever get a chance to watch it. Also, take a good look at the jet squadron leader... barely recognizable in his helmut and oxygen mask... it is none other than Clint Eastwood in an uncredited role!

Clint also appeared briefly, and again uncredited, in Revenge of The Creature , the sequel to Creature From The Black Lagoon , as a young lab technician. I think this may have been his first movie role.

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Fist Of Fear, Touch Of Death

Dr_Gor — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:15:27 GMT

Such notable martial arts names as Aaron Banks, Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson, Ron Van Clief and Ritchie Barathy appear in this entirely bogus 'documentary' about an entirely bogus martial arts 'tournament' to determine Bruce Lee's successor as the 'King of Kung Fu'. This film is rather entertaining all the same. Some rather exciting fight footage surround this silly effort at what is purported to be a serious documentary. Of particular interest are Aaron Banks' and Ron Van Clief's assertion that Bruce Lee was murdered by someone using the 'vibrating palm' or 'death touch' technique... what is known to most martial artists as 'dim mak', although that name is never used here. This film really begins to lose credibility during a lengthy 'half-time show' that is supposed to be a mini biography of Bruce Lee's life. They claim that the young Bruce Lee aspired to be just like his great-grandfather who was "China's greatest Samurai Warrior" ... Never mind that the Samurai were Japanese and not Chinese! Also, they keep replacing the term 'Kung Fu' with 'Karate'! Again, nevermind that karate is Japanese and not Chinese! Still a lot of fun to watch... if you are able to suspend your belief in reality for a little while...

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Doctor Gore

Dr_Gor — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:55:50 GMT

J.G. 'Pat' Patterson was a protege of Herschel Gordon Lewis and provided 'special effects' for several of his films in the 60's. In 1972 Patterson wrote, directed and starred in his own little gore film called Doctor Gore (aka The Body Shop). Patterson alledgedly used over 15 gallons of fake blood in this ultra-low budget gore fest. When famed plastic surgeon Dr. Don Brandon (Patterson) loses his pin-up model wife in a tragic accident, he vows to 'make' a perfect woman to replace her. With the aid of his faithful hunchbacked assistant 'Gregory' (coincidence?) the homely looking doctor uses hypnosis to seduce and lure a succession of beautiful women in order to harvest their most attractive body parts. He eventually succeeds in assembling 'the perfect woman' and brings her to life! When he unwraps the tinfoil and duct tape from his creation, he is rewarded with a really hot looking babe with no memory of anything and no thoughts of her own... (every mans dream!) ... He must teach her everything... How to dress, how to eat, what she likes and doesn't like... There is just one problem, she is also a complete nymphomaniac who can't keep her hands off of any man she sees! (including poor Gregory!) ... Needless to say, this leads to all sorts of problems for the good doctor. Played mostly for laughs, this movie benefits from the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously. A lot of fun and worth a watch for those who like this sort of thing.

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The Child

Dr_Gor — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:19:36 GMT

As for Hell Of The Living Dead being the worst zombie movie ever made I was sure I could top that one... The first one that leapt to mind was one I saw several years ago called The Child ... I found this one in my collection and rewatched it and I quickly realized one thing... this is not a bad movie at all! Working with a bare minimum budget and amateur actors working with terrible dialogue from amateur writers, these guys obviously spent all of their money on the few effective gore effects! Still, the overall effect is a rather creepy and suspensful zombie movie that was obviously heavily inspired by NOTLD with a little bit of The Exorcist and The Bad Seed thrown in for good measure. Rosalie Norton is a very pretty and innocent looking young pre-teen girl who lives with her father and older brother in an isolated farmhouse in the northwestern woods. Their house is next door to an old cemetery where Rosalie likes to hang out at night with her 'friends'. It would appear that Rosalie, who has some very "Carrie-like" telekenesis powers, has summoned a hoard of flesh hungry zombies from the nearby graveyard to do her bidding! A few VERY good gore effects such as shots of people with their faces ripped off and a few zombies getting their skulls crushed in with an ax make this one worth watching! While watching this I couldn't help but get the feeling that with a slightly bigger budget his could have been an A-list, top of the line horror film! Even with what they had to work with, the filmakers managed to pull of some genuinely creepy imagery and a few good, genuine frights! Not bad at all! AND they did it all with a straight face! No 'camp' here at all! A pretty darn good movie and recomended by me....

So Bad It's Good, Pt. 2...

Dr_Gor — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:16:41 GMT

Anybody who thinks that Plan 9 is the worst movie ever made has not seen The Flesh Eaters . Don't get me wrong... I LOVED this movie! What has to be the most ridiculous plot and story line in the history of motion pictures is saved by (for it's time) some of the most inventive and shocking gore effects ever seen and (again, for it's time), a fair amount of beautiful female flesh. When a small plane is forced to land on a seemingly deserted Pacific island do to engine trouble and an approaching storm, it's occupants, an alcoholic and aging Hollywood starlet, her secretary and the rugged pilot, are greeted by a sinister German 'marine biologist' who is studying something in the water... it turns out that this 'something' is a 'microbial bacteria' that is large enough to be seen with the naked eye and picked up with tweezers! These 'microbes' also have the nasty habit of eating any animal (or human) flesh they come in contact with, leaving only clean skeletons remaining... When our castaways discover an intact but stripped-clean-of-any-flesh skeleton on the beach the German scientist says "It must have been sharks..." ... yeah, right... When exposed to electrocution these creatures appear to die... only to come back to life and morph into a giant one-eyed monster! Leading up to the infamous 'Color-Scene' in this otherwise B&W movie, when our hero learns that the only way to kill this creature is to inject it in the eye with human blood! If all of this sounds ridiculous, trust me, it IS! Still, for hard core horror fans like me this movie is a lot of fun! Some of the very earliest gore-effects ever put on film and some rather attractive women exposising as much skin as possible for it's day make this one a fun ride... recomended for those who might like this sort of thing...

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The Sentinel

Dr_Gor — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:53:50 GMT

The next one I would like to talk about is The Sentinel ... This is one of my all time favorite horror films and is one of the scariest and most disturbing I have ever seen. Coming fresh on the heels of The Exorcist, The Omen and Rosemary's Baby, The Sentinal is a lost and forgotten classic of Satanic horror. Based on the best selling novel by Jeffrey Konvitz, who also wrote the screenplay, it is the story of young New York fashion model Allison Parker (played by a scene-stealing Christina Raines), who breaks up with her fiance (Chris Sarandon of Fright Night and The Princess Bride fame) and moves into a beautiful and inexplicably affordable brownstone apartment. The fun begins when she meets her rather eccentric new neighbors beginning with a nosey but likable Burgess Meredith who introduces her to other neighbors that range from mildly amusing to rather disturbing... Oh, and there is a blind priest living upstairs who nobody talks to and who never leaves his apartment... Suddenly, Allison's health begins to fail leading to regular fainting spells and much concern from her friends and estranged boyfriend. When Allison asks her real estate agent (Ava Gardner) about all of her eccentric nieghbors she is in for a bit of a shock to learn that, aside from her and the blind priest upstairs, the building is quite deserted! It turns out that the building is the gateway to Hell and the old blind priest (John Carradine) is the guardian who's job it is to keep the Legions Of Hell from invading the Earth! And Allison, it turns out, has been chosen to be his replacement... Some truely horrifying scenes, especially at the end, and just enough splattery gore to keep most gorehounds satisfied make this a standout picture that never quite got the attention it deserved. Also look for Jeff Goldblum, Crisopher Walken, Beverly D'Angelo and others in "before they were stars" roles. As with many of these old classics, I was a huge fan of the novel before the movie ever came out and I was not dissapointed in the movie in the least... this is a truely terriffying experience that you won't soon forget. It is also interesting to note that director Michael Winner visited hospitals and circus sideshows to hand pick the "freaks" and human "oddities" that were used in the movies finale... when the legions of Hell begin to spill forth...

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To the Devil, a Daughter

Dr_Gor — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:10:06 GMT

I recently read that To the Devil, a Daughter was the last movie to come out of Englands Hammer Studios. And while I would agree with most critics that this movie lacks the style and flair of most Hammer productions, it has something that no other Hammer film has had before... Nastassja Kinski nude. To put it quite simply, that is worth the price of admission right there. But, aside from Nastassja showing off her lovely body, this is quite a good film in other ways as well. Cristopher Lee is priceless (as he is in ALL of his films) as an insane and evil priest who has abandoned God and chosen to worship Satan instead. He is also the 'godfather' of the young nun, Catherine (Kinski), who has been released from the convent to visit her father - who mysteriously refuses to see her. Instead he sends her to his friend, an American novelist played by Richard Widmark, to look after her. When he leaves Catherine with a couple of his friends while he is researching a story he is writing, they are myseriously murdered in a most brutal fashion and soon other supernatural events begin occuring... This all leads to a final confrontation between Widmark and Lee and the forces of evil in a convoluted ending that doesn't do justice to an otherwise very good movie. This one is recomended for some intense murder scenes and (as mentioned above) the always beautiful Nastassja showing off some of her, um, assets...

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Invasion Of The Saucer Men

Dr_Gor — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:01:44 GMT

Nearly 40 years before "Mars Attacks" , the Earth was invaded by evil looking, bulbous headed, bug eyed 'little green men' in this campy classic from 1957. It is Saturday night in small town America and the local 'Lover's Point' is full of local 'kids' (actually 20-something's) who are there to make out and drink beer, when a typical flying saucer lands nearby. In a convenient twist, this 'Lover's Point' is now private property owned by a cranky, shotgun-toting farmer who uses it as grazing land for his cattle and prize bull, causing the 'kids' to drive the treacherous road past the farmer's house without headlights to try (unsuccesfully) to go undetected. Thus it is no surprise when a couple of the kids accidentally run over an alien, pinning it under their car and killing it. The dead alien's dismembered hand then sprouts long 'needles' fom it's fingertips and puctures the kids' tires - causing them to try to make it back on foot - before creating more havoc. In another interesting twist, instead of using 'ray-guns' or other sophistcated weaponry, these aliens' weapon of choice are these needles which extend from their fingertips which they use to inject pure alcohol into their victims - leading to many 'drunk' jokes and causing the local police to have a hard time believing all these reports of litte-green-men and flying saucers they have been getting... In one of the more entertaining scenes, the farmers bull, who has a habit of bumming beers from the kids and getting drunk, charges one of the aliens and scoops it up between his horns, even goring the creature in the eye, while getting stabbed repeatedly with it's alcohol injecting needles... when the farmer finds his prize bull he is alive but too drunk to stand up! Made on a shoestring budget (even for it's time) and obviously intended as nothing more than a campy comedy, this movie actually has some frightening moments and, in fact, it actually scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it on late night TV as a young kid in the early 60's...

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