Superstition

 Superstition

1982

Director- James W. Roberson

Cast- Jim Houghton, Albert Salmi, Lynn Carlin, Larry Pennell, Jacquelyn Hyde, Robert Symonds, Heidi Bohay, Maylo McCaslin, Carole Goldman, Stacy Keach Sr., Kim Marie, Joshua Cadman

            

     An old, dilapidating house sits on a rural grounds owned by the local church. An old woman, Elvira, and her seemingly idiot son are the caretakers, the latest in a long family line of caretakers. Teenagers use the grounds as a place to get into shenanigans.  The film starts with two of these kids meeting their grisly ends in the house. One is decapitated and gets his head microwaved. The other gets bisected!

           

      Revered Thompson is a minister recently assigned to the church. The local police want him to do something about the property, pronto. They suspect Elvira’s idiot son, Arlen, is the killer. A detective is assigned to tail Arlen and follows him down to a brackish pond on the property. While nosing around, a monstrous hand comes out of the water and drags the detective under. The body can’t be found and Reverend Thompson decides that he’ll have the pond drained, which drives Arlen crazy and he runs off.

            

     The Reverend speaks with Elvira but she only gives a vague warning that she has lost her son and that he is in the service of some mysterious woman and she makes reference to losing her husband to the same mysterious woman. Elvira tells Reverend Thomas that the property has a history of violence going all the way back to 1692.

            

      A new Reverend, Lahey, is moving in with his family. As the house is getting fixed up, people are killed in accidents. The drowned detectives body is finally found, or at least part of it. While swimming, one of Lahey’s daughters feels something grab her leg. When she emerges from the pond, the detectives severed hand is grasped around her ankle.

            

      The cops tell Reverend Thompson that (no surprise) in addition to everything else that has happened, another family tried to live in the home and each member was killed gruesomely. 

            

      Reverend Lahey’s son “disappears” (though we know that he has met his end). While looking for the boy, Reverend Thomas just happens to find a copy of the Malleus Maleficarum, the Inquisition’s manual for how to persecute witches (because people just leave things like that lying around). At this point, you may want to check your brain at the door. Despite the book being written in 15^th century Europe, it just happens to recount a tale from 17^th century America. Well, I guess we’ll consider it a new edition. Anyway, Reverend Thomas learns that 300 years earlier, a Reverend Pike had overseen the trial, and death by drowning, of a witch. She wasn’t one of those falsely accused witches either. She was definitively in league with Satan and she cursed everyone before she died.

           

     As we discover, that witch has returned, and is responsible for all of the gruesome murders, with assistance from the missing Arlen. Now the two Reverends have to stop her as she goes on a murderous rampage.

           

    The movie isn’t great but it has some entertainment value. It seems to have a hard time figuring out what it wants be; either a slasher or an occult thriller. Some of the plot elements either go nowhere or are left dangling. Though it was a theatrical release, the production values are about on par with the television movies of that day. It’s not scary but does have some horrific elements with the murders. In fact, the creative gore is probably its standout quality. In addition to the microwaved head and bisection at the beginning of the film, we get one man perforated with a saw blade, a girl gets a spike hammered through her forehead and more.

            

     Not for those looking for a thoughtful supernatural thriller, but if you want some creative, video store era horror, it can offer an evening’s entertainment.

Les Démoniaques (The Demoniacs)

  

Les Démoniaques (The Demoniacs)

1974

Director- Jean Rollin

From France

Cast- Lieva Lone, Patricia Hermenier, Joëlle Cœur, John Rico, Willy Braque, Mireille Dargent, Miletic Zivomir, Paul Bisciglia, Ben Zimet

           

      If you are familiar with the work of Jean Rollin you may be surprised at how relatively straight forward this film is. His films are often dreamlike, filled with symbolism. This film has a pretty simple narrative and goes from A to B in a pretty straight line. That’s not to say, however, that the film follows our preconceived notions of how the story should unfold. In a Rollin’s film, many things happen that the viewer just needs to accept at face value without wondering why it happened a certain way or why it didn’t happen in a more conventional way.

            

      A group of criminals, called “the wreckers”, make a living by luring ships into the shore and crashing them on the rocks. They then murder the survivors and loot the salvage. The wreckers are The Captain (Rico), his two henchmen and his moll, Tina (Cœur). They come upon two hapless girls (Lieva Lone and Patricia Hermenier) that are survivors of one of their engineered wrecks. The crew of outlaws then brutally rape the girls, beat them and leave them for dead. However, the next day the Captain starts having visions that the girls are still alive and becomes obsessed with finding them again and finishing the job.

           

     

   The girls, meanwhile, have survived and sought refuge in an old ruin near the coast. The girls, who never talk and are never named, are the typical waifs of Rollin’s films; their desperation seems to heighten their sex appeal.

           

     Trapped in this ruin is the Devil (Zivomir). No horns and pitchfork here, however. Imagine a really intense David Copperfield dressed like a 1970s superhero (again, don’t ask questions). The Devil strikes a bargain with the girls. In exchange for freeing him, he will grant them the power to exact their revenge on their attackers. The girls agree and he makes love to them one after the other, granting them his power.

            

     The movie then builds to a confrontation between the girls and the outlaws, but don’t expect it to go the way you think. This is not some supernatural version of I Spit on Your Grave. More sex, violence, and madness are in store for us before the story reaches its conclusion.

           

     As the two protagonists don’t talk, a lot was depending on the villains to progress the story.  John Rico is good as the cruel Captain driven to madness over the memory and guilt of his countless crimes. Stealing the show however (and the person that really makes this film) is Joëlle Coeur as Tina. She is so wild and violent. Her sexuality is uncontrollable and she seems to take a real sensual pleasure in cruelty. I could watch the move again just to see her crazed nymphomaniac.

            

     Though Rollin’s preferred subject was vampirism, this journey into supernatural revenge, sex and violence, makes for an entertaining, arousing, and disturbing story.

   

Taste the Blood of Dracula

  

Taste the Blood of Dracula

1970

Director- Peter Sasdy

Cast- Christopher Lee, Linda Hayden, Ralph Bates, Anthony Higgins, Isla Blair, Geoffrey Keen, Gwen Watford, Peter Sallis, John Carson, Martin Jarvis, Roy Kinnear, Michael Ripper

            

     This film was an improvement over its predecessor, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave. Taste the Blood of Dracula upped the sexiness of the franchise to include actual nudity along with the usual copious cleavage (those scenes were edited in the original theatrical versions but are restored in the DVD versions.). It also was the first in the franchise to draw a more obvious comparison between Dracula and Satan, to include a kind of Satanic ritual in a desecrated church.

  

     

    At the end of Dracula has Risen from the Grave, the Count is impaled on a giant metal cross. Taste the Blood of Dracula begins with that death scene. A traveling businessman, hearing Dracula’s screams, runs to the sound and sees Dracula in his death throes. He watches as the Count dies and then melts, his blood congealing and then turning into crimson dust. The businessman, I guess sensing an opportunity, gathers up Dracula’s effects and the dried blood.

       

    Fast forward a bit. Three wealthy gentleman have formed a circle for indulging their jaded lusts (including Geoffrey Keen who you’ll recognize from six different James Bond films and John Carson who also starred in the excellent Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter). They are at a brothel indulging their appetites when a young rapscallion bursts in and steals one of their girls (Madeline Smith, who was sadly underutilized, though Hammer would make up for that later that same year with The Vampire Lovers).

            

    The gentlemen inquire as to the identity of the youth and find out that he is Lord Courtley, an aristocrat who has been disowned by his family and kicked out of polite society thanks to rumors that he has been participating in Black Masses. The gentlemen, bored with the pleasures of the flesh, ask Courtley if he can recommend any new kicks.

            

    Courltey asks if they’d be willing to sell their souls and they pretty easily agree. He takes them to a shop where we meet the businessman from the beginning of the film. They drop a pretty penny for Dracula’s dried blood and personal effects. Courtley says that he’ll need these for an occult ritual.

           

    Courtley and the trio meet in a desecrated church. Courtley conducts a theatrical ritual where he mixes his blood in a goblet with the dried blood of the Count. The concoction seems to come alive, growing to fill the goblet. But when it comes time, the men chicken out and refuse to drink. Courtley berates them for their cowardice and drinks it himself. Very quickly he doubles over, screaming in pain. Perhaps out of fear or anger, the trio of men respond by beating Courtley to death and running.

           

    Hargood, the leader of the trio returns to his home where he emotionally abuses his wife and daughter, Alice (played by Linda Hayden who was excellent in The Blood on Satan’s Claw). Alice is in love with Paul (no not the same Paul from Dracula Has Risen from the Grave). Hargood forbids them to have a relationship but won’t explain why (in truth, Paul is the son of Paxton, one of the trio). Hargood, in addition to being abusive, seems to have an unwholesome interest in his daughter’s sexual maturity, so perhaps he is jealous of competition. Paul’s sister, Lucy (not the Lucy from Horror of Dracula) is dating the son of the third member of the trio.

            

    Meanwhile, in the desecrated church, Courtley’s deceased body goes through a kind of metamorphosis.  Dracula’s blood changes Coourtley’s body into Dracula’s body. Now, risen from the dead again, Dracula declares revenge on the trio of men for the murder of his servant. That seems like spurious reasoning to me as Dracula would have killed Courtley anyway as he took over his body. But oh well. The Count’s been dead for a while, so one can forgive him for being a bit blood thirsty.

            

    

      

     Dracula sets out for his revenge by targeting the children of the gentlemen. First he gets Alice. Rather than bite her, he mesmerizes her, and has her slay her father (she probably didn’t need much pushing). He then has Alice lure Lucy to the church where Dracula turns her into a vampire. Lucy’s father discovers that his daughter is a vampire. He reluctantly decides to stake her but she turns the tables on him in what is one of the best scenes in any vampire movie. Lucy and Alice pin down the would be vampire killer and ram a stake through his heart! Priceless.

           

    Dracula engineers the death of Lucy’s father (thus completing his revenge) but not before the man can leave a note for Paul explaining what has happened.

            

    Paul (Anthony Corlan who also starred in the wonderful Vampire Circus) sets out to stop the Count and save Alice. There is a brief but well done scene where Alice is laying on top of Dracula’s sarcophagus like a beloved pet waiting for their master to return. The ending is a little vague as to how things go down but my interpretation is that Paul reconsecrates the church and after a fight the power of God smites Dracula, killing him. Why the smiting didn’t occur immediately I don’t know.

           

    

     

   It had a strong cast. Linda Hayden is an excellent villainess. After she becomes Dracula’s servant she seems to take a joyful glee in doing evil. Watch her in The Blood on Satan’s Claw and you’ll see what I mean. Michael Ripper, who had small roles in some of the other films, gets a better role in this one as a clueless police inspector. Over all, an entertaining film.

Fun fact- The film was originally written without Dracula. Lee was getting tired of the part and the intention was that Lord Courtley would become the new villain. However, Hammer’s American distributor refused to carry the film without Dracula so Hammer talked Lee into coming back for another one.

Fun fact #2- Anthony Coral (who would later change his stage name to Anthony Higgins) had a supporting role in Raiders of the Lost Ark as a German officer. Ilsa Blair, who plays his sister Lucy, had a part in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

  

 

Gretel and Hansel

  

 

Gretel and Hansel

2020

Director- Oz Perkins

Cast- Sophia Lillis, Sam Leakey, Alice Krige, Jessica De Gouw, Charles Babalola

            

    In this retelling of the Brothers Grimm story, Gretel (Sophia Lillis from It) is a teenager on the verge of womanhood who must take care of her much younger brother, Hansel, after their mother, suffering from madness, throws them out.

            

     She is leading them through the woods in hopes of finding foresters that they can live with. After several days they are starving and come upon a house in the woods. A peek inside reveals a sumptuous feast but also a very menacing woman (Alice Krige, the Borg Queen herself). Gretel figures out pretty quickly that the woman is a witch. Gretel  plans to take her and her brother far away as soon as she can. However, the witch helps Gretel discover her own hidden abilities and with a taste of power, Gretel decides to stay.

            

    Gretel has the natural gift of extrasensory sight and she has disturbing visions of what has happened to the other children that have stayed at the witch’s house. If she is to realize her full potential under the witch’s tutelage, she may have to do something horrible.

            

     The film was directed by Oz Perkins (son of Anthony Perkins). You may be familiar with his other horror films; I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House and TheBlackcoat’s Daughter. If you are, then you know that his films can be very grim. It has very dark, sometimes disturbing, visuals. It treats the subject of witchcraft somberly and without any sensationalism.

    

    I only have two complaints about the film. The first is that it was too short (under 90 minutes). It feels like some important things were left on the editing room floor. The film makes a point, several times, to comment on Gretel’s impending womanhood (it reminded me of The Company of Wolves in that regard). But despite making a point to make us ware of that, that theme doesn’t seem to go anywhere. Also, despite being a very dark movie, the ending seemed incongruously upbeat.

           

     Still, it’s a great looking movie with a nice musical score. It’s a minimalist film with a very small cast and basically one set (the film was made for “only” $5 million which is nothing in Hollywood terms).  Sophia Lillis, as the main star, does a good job. I really hope she decides to stick with horror as a career.

          

      Watch it if you like folk horror or dark fantasy.