Movie review - "Hannie Caulder" (1971) **

Tigon British Film Productions' attempt to move into the big time, with Hollywood talent behind and in front of the camera, and making a Hollywood genre i.e. Western. It didn't really work - Westerns were going out of fashion in the US and I'm not sure audiences really liked Raquel Welch when she was the actual star of a film; they seemed to prefer her as a supporting character or female lead to a male star.

There's a perfectly serviceable plot - she plays a woman of the West who is widowed and raped by a particularly nasty group of bandits and goes looking for revenge. She is tutored by an experienced bounty hunter on how to hold a gun and shoot people, and who is killed towards the end, leaving the girl alone to finished her task. This sort of plot was used by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill and Django Unchained (and to a lesser extent Inglorious Basterds) - but in those films you felt the hot blood lust of revenge; you don't here.

Baddies in Westerns from this time were usually loathsome, and to be honest not a lot of fun to be around - they are also hard to tell apart, as played by Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam and Strother Martin. Robert Culp is good as the bounty hunter; I also enjoyed seeing Christopher Lee as a gunsmith, Diana Dors (very good casting) as a madame, and Stephen Boyd as a mysterious preacher.

 Welch isn't bad - she's very pretty but its' not much of a character: there's no mystery, or past, or complexity.  I kept wondering why they didn't make her something interesting to start off with - like a school teacher, or retired prostitute, or former church woman... something to show a journey. As it is when we first see her she gets raped, then angry, then shoots people. She doesn't even have much of a relationship with Culp. She's very good looking (some stills were taken of her on set which have become semi famous) but the whole rape thing ruined her sexiness for me.

There were lots of story problems too - a random, unmotivated shoot out with some convenient westerns, the three baddies all played the same character, no real surprises or reversals apart from Culp's death, no sheriff on their trail or family of Welch or variation in deaths.

Maybe Burt Kennedy, who specialised in Westerns that were comic and/or about tortured Randolph Scott, was the wrong person to direct this.  Or behind the scenes fighting hurt it. I wish Michael Reeves, who had long wanted to make a Western, and whose The Sorcerers  had been produced by Welch's husband (who produced this), had gotten his hands on this - he might have given it the full blooded treatment it needed.

Movie review - "The Creeping Flesh" (1973) **1/2

I think if this had been made in the 1960s it would have been a minor classic: the story isn't bad - a skeleton from New Guinea results in serum that drives people insane - and it's got Peter Cushing and Chris Lee (the former as a mad scientist, the latter running a lunatic asylum), plus stylish direction from Freddie Francis (who I've grown to admire more and more as a director).

But it never quite takes fire. I blame the early 70s washed out colour look and production design and resulting lack of atmosphere, but also the lack of action, sexiness and horror. It's all set up for the creature to go berserk, and for Lee and Cushing to cut loose, but it's all too restrained. It's never well motivated for Cushing to inject his daughter with serum, too much of the last act is set in darkness.

This is frustrating because these sort of movies helped wipe out the period horror movie genre which provided so much work for the British industry in the 70s. And it needn't have because there's a decent amount of imagination and talent on display - for whatever reason though it wasn't harnessed into something strong.

Movie review - "The Haunted House of Horror" (1970) * (warning: spoiilers)

The writer-director of this, Michael Armstrong, complained about the casting imposed and rewrites done at the behest of AIP, in particular its European head of production Deke Heyward... but would this really have ever been any good? A bunch of teenagers spending the night at a haunted house and one of them turns killer.... that's a long way from Psycho.

I admit Armstrong's original choice of Ian Ogilvy would have been much better than Frankie Avalon who is laughably miscast - not only is he too old, his appearance is far too comic and broad for what is basically a serious film: those clothes, that square helmet hair, that indignation... it all worked yelling on the beach with Annette, but not here. Maybe that's why his part was so cut down. (Apparently AIP offered Armstrong the choice between Avalon and Fabian... I actually think Fabian would have been preferable, he was far less cartoon-y.)

It's also a shame Armstrong couldn't get his wish to cast David Bowie in a support role. Still, the cast isn't bad: future sitcom names Robert O'Sullivan and Robin Stewart, failed star Jill Haworth, former Gainsborough name Dennis Price ... It's just the film isn't very good. There are all sorts of subplots, none of them particularly interesting - various couples are matched up and break up, there is some statement (I think) about youth of the time, a remarkable absence of shock or atmosphere.

It doesn't make any real sense that the group of kids decide not to report the murder, nor does it make sense when they return to the house later. The one genuine shock was when the killer knifes and kills Avalon at the end - just above the groin, which felt painful to watch. 

There's one or two interesting camera angles and it will have some interest to Frankie Avalon completists.

Movie review - "Blood on Satan's Claw" (1970) ***

One of the better British "historical horrors" from this period, financed by Tigon who had money in The Witchfinder General and were no doubt hoping for similar success. The evil here is supernatural though rather than lying in the souls of men - it's literally dug up by farmer Barry Andrews, who was in a Hammer horror film... as was British teen sexpot Linda Hayden, who is very saucy as a kittenish village girl who gets possessed and tries to seduce the local vicar.

Hayden then sets about whipping up the local kids into a frenzy Charles Manson style. There's some hilarious long hair from the reverend and a nobleman, a particularly unsettling rape sequences (not that I've seen too many enjoyable rape sequences but this one is disturbing), Patrick Wymark is a fire and brimstone judge not too far from Matthew Hopkins/Vincent Price in Witchfinder General only here more of a hero than in that movie and Michele Dotrice is excellent as a member of the cult.

This originally began as a three part movie which was converted into a singular narrative; it feels like more of an ensemble piece, and thus has a richer "world" than usual with these sort of movies - although one wished it had a bit more cohesion, especially at the end.

Still, it's interesting, with a real sense of creepiness (the horror and Satanic nature of the cult is underplayed), there's a lot of intelligence going on, I loved the cinematography and music, Linda Hayden's performance has become deservedly iconic.

Movie review - "The Mind of Mr Soames" (1970) **

In the late 60s Amicus made a bunch of non horror movies in an attempt to broaden their range but none of them particularly took - this was one of them, and its ironic since the material had the basis for a good horror flick: Terence Stamp is a 30 year old man who has lived in a coma his whole life and is revived.

This sort of material worked a charm in Charly and would later be effective in Awakenings - in both those cases they would have a love story subplot and the doctor was a major character. Here there is no love story (confusing since handsome Stamp is the lead) and the sympathetic doctor character (played by Robert Vaughan) doesn't have much of a character to play.

The basic story also works as horror in Frankenstein - for it's basically the Frankenstein story. They don't go down that route either, though they hint at it. Stamp gets out of his institution, gets in a fight, charms a woman, then winds up in a barn. The filmmakers can't even go in for ironic tragedy at the end - it's all built up for Soames to cop a bullet or someone else to die, but it doesn't happen. 

An opportunity missed.

Movie review - "Go Johnny Go" (1959) **1/2

More 50s rock jukebox musical fun with as usual the acts providing the novelty: this one has Chuck Berry (title track, and "Memphis Tennessee"), Jackie Wilson, Eddie Cochran, and Ritchie Valens (looking very short and chunky singing a funky tune).

The lead role is played by a real singer, Jimmy Clanton, who has a nice singing voice and laid back Southern charm. Unfortunately he's got a dud role, playing a selfish brat - an orphan with a chip on his shoulder who wants to be a singing star. Sandy Stewart is his fellow orphan who he romances. The mostly silly plot involves Clanton cutting a record and Alan Freed (everyone's favourite 50s deejay cameo) discovering it and wondering who the singer is. Will they track him down before Clanton robs a jewelry store? What do you think?

Some of the numbers are terrific especially Berry's, and I liked Valens too. And its eerie watching Valens and Cochran knowing both would soon be dead.

Movie review - "The Monster Club" (1980) *1/2

Not an Amicus film but very much in their spirit and produced by Milton Subotsky who was one of the two creative powerhouses at Amicus. It's an anthology piece, only three items this time, plus a linking story - and padded out with some ridiculous rock/pop numbers. Seriously they have whole numbers there.

Any idea I had that Roy Ward Baker was a good director went out the window with this movie - he makes a complete hash of three excellent stories from Chetwynd-Hayes, who was understandably upset at the final result. There's no atmosphere, or scares - just lots of dumb jokes and bad make up. All the stories had potential to be scary, thrilling, surprising, all that - they were all ruined.

An excellent cast is wasted: Vincent Price as a vampire, John Carradine as Chetwynd Hayes, James Laurenson as a Shamrock (awful, laughable make up), Simon Ward as a conman trying to get Barbara Kellerman to swindle Laurenson,  Stuart Whitman as a film director looking for a location who runs into ghouls, Richard Johnson as a vampire married to Britt Ekland, Donald Pleasance as a vampire hunter, Anthony Steel (looking as handsome and stiff as every) as a film producer.

A real darn shame - they should film more of Chetwynd Hayes' stuff. Just not ruin it.