Horror Movie Maven

Lover of all things that slash, gash, bleed, and otherwise terrify.

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Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

My take: Horror meets science fiction in this Hammer horror classic.

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

When science fiction and horror combine, terrifying things can happen. You never know what might happen next when the rules are being broken and boundaries pushed.

For this reason, science fiction horror has always been one of my favorite subgenres. Aliens, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and The Fly are just a few of the frightening tales that come from this combination. The Quatermass Xperiment and Quatermass and the Pit also stand out as an excellent examples of this.

Quatermass and the Pit takes place in London’s present day, present day being 1967. While digging to expand an Underground station, workers discover skulls and bones. The archeologists step in and find something even more interesting, an artifact that the first assume is a bomb. But it turns out to be so much more.

quatermass and the pit

Poster for Quatermass and the Pit.

It’s got aliens, it’s got ancient skulls, and it’s got a theory for the creation of man that is downright scary.

If you like science fiction horror, watch this movie. I would also recommend it to fans of classic science fiction and fans of Hammer horror films.

I watched it online on YouTube. Here’s the trailer:

Watch the Book: 60 Movies Watched

I’m almost halfway through watching all of the movies in the book Studies in Terror. I’ve watched nearly 60 movies. I say nearly because there are still some movies I’ve been unable to find. I’ve still got about 70 movies to go.

So far, I’m really happy I’ve been doing this. I’ve seen some great movies, some mediocre movies and some downright terrible films. But each one I watch makes me feel that much more smug and knowledgeable in the realm of horror. I highly recommend it.

I decided to continue and edit the list I created after I watched 30 films. It’s split into three sections: movies you should see, movies only die-hard fans of the genre need to see, and movies you can skip. Movies I was unable to find are listed at the end. It is in descending order; my favorites are higher on the list.

Here goes:

Movies You Should See

  1. Psycho: If you haven’t seen this movie, go see it. Right now. I’m not kidding.

    psycho house

    The house from Psycho is utterly iconic.

  2. The Curse of Frankenstein: This is the film that skyrocketed Hammer Films to the top of popularity, with good reason.
  3. Island of Lost Souls: Charles Laughton is phenomenal in this movie, and it is a really fascinating take on the H.G. Wells story.
  4. Diabolique: A sinister tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat with suspense.
  5. The Old Dark House: I’ve already rewatched this movie for fun since I first posted about it. It’s a hokey but good creepy house movie.
  6. The Hands of Orlac: Conrad Veidt can somehow act out whole emotions with his hands. It’s excellent to watch a master actor at work. Plus, the story is nice and scary too.
  7. Quatermass Xperiment: This is an early Hammer Horror film, rich with science fiction scares.
  8. La Main du diable: Bargains with the devil make for good stories and this one is a whole lot of fun.
  9. Frankenstein: This is a true classic of the monster movie genre that every fan of horror absolutely must see.
  10. Nosferatu: If you like vampire movies, you have to see this original spin on Stoker’s masterpiece.
  11. Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Solid science fiction story that isn’t ruined even if you have seen later versions.
  12. Dracula (1957 version): Christopher Lee as Dracula and Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. Need I say more?
  13. Devil Doll: I will never own a ventriloquist’s doll. Ever. All due to movies like this one.
  14. Eyes Without a Face: An interesting story about the lengths a father will go to for his daughter and for science.

    eyes without a face

    That mask creeps me out.

  15. The Return of Doctor X: It’s got Humphrey Bogart in it, so I’m pretty much going to include it here due to that fact alone. It’s also a good mad scientist story.
  16. Daughter of Darkness: The leading lady in this film is eerily enticing.
  17. The Unknown: Lon Chaney is an actor who put up with a lot of pain for his art. This movie does a great job showcasing it.
  18. The Wolf Man: Lon Chaney, Jr., is not as great as his father, but he does a good job in this movie all dolled up in full werewolf makeup. It’s also a core Universal monster picture that must be seen.
  19. The Body Snatcher: It’s got Karloff. It’s got Lugosi. And it’s basically about Burke and Hare. How can you go wrong?
  20. The Monster Maker: It’s a ripoff of other films but is still a lot of fun to watch.
  21. White Zombie: This is only low on the list because I did not like it the first time I watched it. However, now that I’ve seen lots of Bela Lugosi, this is definitely one of his better roles.
  22. Werewolf of London: I really liked the werewolf lore in this movie, even though it doesn’t have the great makeup that The Wolf Man has.
  23. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: I’m going to admit that I didn’t like this movie much when I first watched it. Having watched 29 subsequent films, however, it is easy to see what a huge influence it was. Plus, it has Conrad Veidt, who was in The Hands of Orlac and Casablanca.
  24. The Brides of Dracula: This sequel to Hammer Films’ Dracula continues the story with more vampires and more Peter Cushing.

    Peter Cushing in Brides of Dracula

    Peter Cushing is a badass vampire hunter.

  25. Onibaba: Scary Japanese story about two women doing anything to survive set in the days of the samarai.
  26. Tales of Terror: It’s got Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone in three Poe-inspired tales.
  27. The Horrible Dr. Hichcock: I don’t know how this story about a necrophiliac slipped past the censors.
  28. Haxan: This movie is slow to start but has some utterly creepy scenes in a documentary style.
  29. The Cat and the Canary: A really good, Clue-style mystery.
  30. The Plague of the Zombies: Classic zombie film from the days when they were still steeped in Caribbean lore.

Deep Cuts for Hardcore Horror Fans

  1. Cat People: This movie is a very subtle film with psychological scares.
  2. Castle of the Living Dead: Taxidermy, Christopher Lee and some murders make up this hodge-podge movie.
  3. Castle of Blood: This is a classic Barbara Steele vehicle.

    Castle of Blood

    Barbara Steele in Castle of Blood.

  4. The Whip and the Body: Italian horror film with Christopher Lee as a whip-brandishing rapscallion.
  5. Curse of the Demon: An interesting early satanic cult film.
  6. The Dark Eyes of London: If you like Bela Lugosi, this is a good one. Otherwise, it is just a pretty basic thriller.
  7. Mad Love: If you liked The Hands of Orlac, check out this remake.
  8. The Mad Ghoul: It’s a good ghoul/zombie film that is fun to compare to other films in that subgenre.
  9. Mystery of the Wax Museum: Classic wax horror movie with a fast-talking 1930s reporter to boot.
  10. The Black Cat: This was Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff’s first film together.
  11. The Wind: This is not strictly a horror film, which is why I do not include it above. I loved it, but I don’t know if all horror fans would enjoy this strange silent film.
  12. The Most Dangerous Game: This is here as a deep cut only because my husband liked it. I was not much of a fan.
  13. The Skull: What happens when you dig up the skull of the Marquis de Sade? Bad things for Peter Cushing.
  14. The Masque of the Red Death: Watch this one if you like Poe stories and Vincent Price. You’ll get plenty of both here.

Movies You Can Skip

  1. The Brain That Wouldn’t Die: It only makes it to the top of the bad list because it is so terrible, it becomes funny.
  2. Blood and Black Lace: An Italian movie with a bit of gore (but not enough to hold my interest).
  3. Nightmare Castle: If you have seen other Barbara Steele movies, you’ve seen this one.
  4. Macabre: It has an interesting premise, but the gimmicks don’t make it worthwhile.

    macabre

    Macabre: it looks scary, but it really isn’t.

  5. Waxworks: This movie is a bit too hokey for my liking and not particularly scary.
  6. Kill, Baby…Kill!: Only slightly redeeming factor is that the child ghost is creepy. Other than that, not worth it.
  7. Mill of the Stone Women: If you like hot Italian women, then that might be the only redeeming thing about this film for you.
  8. Vampyr: This one is too avant-garde without enough discernible plot.
  9. The Ghoul: I got very bored watching this.
  10. The Awful Dr. Orlof: The title is basically my review. It’s awful.
  11. The Maze: It’s just got a stupid plot and a worse ending.
  12. The Lodger: This Jack the Ripper story has far too much singing in it and not enough killing.

Movies I Was Unable to Find

  1. The Night Has Eyes: I only watched the first half; the rest of the online video was corrupted. It’s unfortunate, because it was a pretty good first half.
  2. El fantasma del convento: I was only able to watch this in the original Spanish, and I know no Spanish.
  3. The Silent HouseI couldn’t find this movie at all. Let me know if you know where to find it by leaving a comment.
  4. Ladron de cadaveres: Don’t let Amazon fool you; the copy they sell does not actually have English subtitles.

 

Kill, Baby…Kill! (1966)

My take: If you keep in mind that this was one of the the first movies with a creepy child ghost, it makes it a whole lot better.

Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars

Kill, Baby…Kill!, originally called Operazione paura, is an Italian horror film directed by the same man who created Blood and Black Lace. That man is Mario Bava. After having seen Blood and Black Lace, I expected a whole slew of gory deaths and hot Italian women. But this film was more in line with a Hammer film than his previous work.

It’s a period piece that follows Dr. Paul Eswai, a doctor in town to investigate a series of strange deaths. The individuals all appear to have committed suicide, but each of them seemed young, healthy and completely sane prior to death.

Along with the inspector and a hot young woman named Monica, the doctor discovers that the town is living under a curse. Ever since the death of a young seven-year-old girl named Melissa, townsfolk have been tormented by her ghost. If you see the face of Melissa, you are doomed to die.

kill, baby...kill!

The ghost of Melissa amongst her creepy dolls.

The film itself has a pretty straightforward story, but what keeps you interested is how innovative this film was at the time. As Jonathan Rigby points out in Studies in Terror that David Lynch wholesale lifted a scene from this movie for his film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.  Additionally, “The image of Melissa herself would be recycles by Frederico Fellini in the “Toby Dammit” episode of Histoires extraordinaires (1967) and by Martin Scorsese in The Last Temptation of Christ (1987). And the whole paraphernalia surrounding her — the bouncing ball, the girlish giggling on the soundtrack — would sink deep into the fabric of the ghost-child subgenre.”

For these reasons, Kill, Baby…Kill! is worth watching. I would recommend this to people who enjoy a good ghost story or classic Italian horror.

I watched it on Netflix’s instant watch. Here’s the trailer on YouTube:

The Plague of the Zombies (1966)

My take: Classic zombie tale from the time when zombies were the result of evil voodoo sorcerers (and before zombies ate brains).

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

This is yet another example of how Hammer Films stands out from their contemporaries. The sets are lush, the colors bright and the characters fully formed. It’s period horror at its finest, and you can see how Hammer became famous for this type of horror.

The Plague of the Zombies is set in Cornwall, where a small village has been beset be a series of mysterious deaths. The local doctor requests the help of his former professor, whose daughter comes along for the trip. They discover that a dozen people have died with strange symptoms: sluggishness, pasty appearance, slow reflexes. There is no known cause as the superstitious townsfolk have been keeping the doctor from performing autopsies.

The professor suggests that they simply go dig a body up. They discover, however, that the graves are empty. Where are the bodies? And what is going on a the old, abandoned tin mine? Spoiler: it’s zombies.

plague of zombies

It’s a zombie!

This is a solid zombie film, that is likely overlooked in its timing. Just a few years from when this film was released, Night of the Living Dead came out. That film would change the face of zombie films, and films like The Plague of the Zombies have been forgotten in the aftermath.

This is a film rich with voodoo myth and legends. It also has the trademark atmosphere of lust and violence that make Hammer films so compelling.

I would recommend this to fans of Hammer horror, classic zombie films, and classic horror in general.

I found the movie on Daily Motion. Here’s the trailer:

The Skull (1965)

My take: It’s a slow movie without much action, but it has an interesting premise, Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee.

Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars

What happens when you dig up the skull of the Marquis de Sade and take it home? Very bad things. That is the basic premise of this film.

Peter Cushing stars in The Skull as Christopher Maitland, a collector and scholar in the area of demonology. A shady dealer in books and antiquities offers to sell Maitland a skull. But it isn’t just any skull. It’s the skull of the Marquis de Sade, and the skull itself is already tied to tales of violent death and murder.

Maitland initially balks at the dealer’s price. His interest is piqued once he learns that the skull was stolen from his fellow collector Sir Matthew Phillips, played by Christopher Lee. Phillips warns his against the skull. He claims that the Marquis de Sade was not actually a mad man. Instead, he was possessed by a demon, and that same demon now possesses the skull.

the skull

Christopher Lee (right) tells Peter Cushing’s character (left) about the evil, possessed skull.

Of course Maitland now wants the skull, and you can imagine how well that goes.

As a result of the cerebral subject matter, the movie is slow-moving and lacking in much action. Additionally, the characters were ill-fitting or too undefined for the likes of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. I wanted more to see and learn more about them and less about the other side characters.

Finally, the film breaks the fourth wall if you happen to know anything about the Marquis de Sade. I won’t say more in case you don’t know about him; it may be that you actually enjoy the movie without knowledge of his life.

With the scholarly nature of the film, I would recommend this to fans of the Ninth Gate. I would also recommend it to fans of Peter Cushing. Otherwise, I think it is a film you can skip.

I watched it online on Daily Motion. Here is the trailer on YouTube:

Nightmare Castle (1965)

My take: Have you seen a Barbara Steele movie before? If so, you’ll feel like your’ve seen this one before.

Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars

At this point in my endeavor to watch all the movies in Studies in Terror, I am starting to get a sense of what a Barbara Steele movie entails. It is usually a period piece. She plays a strong, sexy female who has a propensity for walking into terrifying or macabre situations. There are probably some ghosts or a mad doctor.

nightmare castle poster

Poster for Nightmare Castle with Barbara Steele.

Such is the plot of this film. Here, Barbara Steele plays Muriel, who is married to a mad doctor. He murders her after catching her in flagrante with her gardener/lover.

But she knew what was coming. She changed her will to leave her fortune and castle to her distant relative, Jenny, who happens to look exactly like Muriel. The doctor marries Jenny with the intent of also killing her, but Jenny is not as stupid as she seems and she has the ghost of Muriel on her side.

If you like Barbara Steele movies, then you will enjoy this one too. But it is pretty typical of the gothic Italian horror movies of the 1960s. For this reason, I would only recommend it to fans of that era and type of film.

This is the first film in a while that was able to find on YouTube. Here’s the trailer, replete with castle, mad doctor, and the illustrious Barbara Steele:

Onibaba (1964)

My take: I was riveted because it was a completely unique story in a unique setting.

Rating: 4 out of 4 stars

Atmosphere can make or break a horror movie, and some of the best horror movies can turn inanimate objects into fearful things.

In The Shining, Kubrick managed to embody the Overlook Hotel with horrors. In The Wind, the director made the howling winds carry all the fears and torment of poor Letty.

Likewise, in Onibaba the endless grass field is a character unto itself. The grass makes warriors in feudal Japan lose their way trying to get home. It helps the old woman and young woman, who are the main characters, stalk and kill the warriors who mistakenly wander into the grass field. It hides the deep, old well the women use to dispose of the bodies. It also helps the old woman strike fear into the heart of the young one as she hides amongst the grass dressed as a demon.

onibaba

The demon in the grass in Onibaba.

The story plays out like a fairy tale or parable. The two women kill to survive. When a neighbor returns from war telling them that their son and husband are gone, he sets his eyes on the young girl. The young girl, now newly widowed, reciprocates to the old woman’s dismay. The old woman would not survive without the help of the young woman. So, she hatches a plot to frighten the young woman into believing that her acts of love will land her in hell.

It was a story unlike any I had heard before, and it was utterly refreshing after having watched so many western tales of horror. Additionally, the setting of feudal Japan with samurai and war, kept me guessing at what could possibly happen next.

I would recommend this to anyone who like a bit of history mixed with their horror as well as fans of Japanese horror films.

I got the movie on disc from Netflix. Here is the trailer from the Criterion Collection:

The Castle of the Living Dead (1964)

My take: A lot of elements were utterly cheesy, but it came together somehow to make a movie worth watching.

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

At times while watching The Castle of the Living Dead, I imagined the writers drawing horror tropes and characters out of a hat to see how they could fit them into the story. The movie seemed to have a lot of things all mixed together:

  • The story is about a group of performers who look like a cross between a band of gypsies and a freak show
  • The evil villain is a count played by Christopher Lee
  • He also happens to be a bit of a mad scientist
  • The count has an eerie castle that the band of performers are paid to visit
  • There a creepy, hunch-backed henchman
  • The castle is filled with taxidermied animals
  • There’s a witch who lives in a hut in the woods

I’ve seen all of these elements before. There were gypsies in the Wolf Man. Christopher Lee has played the most evil count of all time in Dracula. Taxidermied animals abound in the Most Dangerous Game.

On paper, I would have called this entire plot derivative and a hodgepodge. However, it somehow all ties together. Maybe it is because there is so much packed into the film. Maybe it is Christopher Lee’s superb ability to play the villain.

There was also a surprising bonus: Donald Sutherland plays a range of strange parts in the film. He’s a police Sargent who investigates when people start dying at the castle.

castle of the living dead

On the left is Donald Sutherland as the Sargent. On the right is Christopher Lee as Count Drago.

 

He also plays the old witch who lives in the woods as well as an old man.

castle of the living dead - witch

Donald Sutherland as the witch in Castle of the Living Dead.

Seeing him pop up occasionally added a lot of fun to the movie.

This is the type of movie I would put in a horror marathon with friends, simply for the hodgepodge of horror themes. I would also recommend it to fans of classic horror and fans of Christopher Lee.

I found the movie on Daily Motion, though it was quite blurry. Here’s the trailer in YouTube:

Blood and Black Lace (1964)

My take: Some gruesome scenes, but not enough of a story to hold my interest.

Rating: 2 out of 4 stars

According to the all-knowing source known as Wikipedia, Blood and Black Lace ( Sei donne per l’assassino in the original Italian) inspired some of my favorite filmmakers, Tarantino and Scorsese included. But I just don’t see it. To me, this movie was an excuse to show some attractive models getting murdered.

Blood and Black Lace is about a bunch of models who are working at a fashion house. When one gets murdered, tensions quickly rise. Another girl finds dead girl’s diary, and everyone wants a piece of that book. It turns out that they all have secrets, but the murderer is willing to kill to keep his or her identity hidden.

blood and black lace

I think it is safe to say that their modeling careers are over. – spoken by Lenny Briscoe if he were at the scene

This movie is full of tropes from the giallo films of the 1960s and 70s. Giallo films were a wave of crime thrillers, and this is one of the earliest of them. While normally I can forgive the tropes in an early film, I could not get past it in this film. Perhaps it was the dubbed voice track. Perhaps it was the overacting.

What the film did have going for it were some good, solid death scenes. For this reason, I would still recommend this movie to people who like crime thrillers, giallo films and Italian horror.

I got a copy of Blood and Black Lace on disc from Netflix. Here’s the trailer, which makes it sound a lot better than it actually is:

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

My take: It’s a bit too theatrical for my liking, but it has Vincent Price in it. So, I watched until the end.

Rating: 2 out of 4 stars

There is not a Vincent Price movie I don’t like, but this is definitely one that I don’t love. The Masque of the Red Death is the movie version of the classic Poe tale.

The story follows a young peasant girl, Francesca, who is kidnapped by Prince Prospero, played by Vincent Price. He takes her after her father and brother defy him and also after he discovers that there is a plague in the town known as the red death. Then he burns her village to the ground. Poor girl.

Of course Prince Prospero turns out to be an even bigger jerk than he first appears. He reveals to Francesca that he is a satanist and a downright cruel ruler. Francesca works to escape, but Prince Prospero is too wily for her. But the Red Death is also wily in its own way.

masque of the red death

The excellent poster for the Masque of the Red Death with Vincent Price.

It’s an okay story for a period piece, but the sets and costumes made the movie feel like a piece of bad community theater. Vincent Price was the only thing worth watching in the movie, but that may be just because I am such a huge fan of his work.

I would still recommend this movie to people who like period movies, Poe-inspired horror and Vincent Price films.

I got the movie on a disc via Netflix, but you can also find it online in some hidden corners of the Internet. Here’s the trailer via YouTube:

You see that dance scene at the beginning of the trailer? That is when I actually rolled my eyes.

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