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.

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:

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.

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.

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:

My take: An interesting spin on the classic ghost story. Worth watching, especially if you like Italian horror.

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

I’m starting to see why people like Italian horror movies. After having watched Castle of Blood and The Horrible Dr. Hichcock, a pattern is becoming evident. Those Italians pushed some boundaries. I don’t know how they got past the censors with some of these films. The Horrible Dr. Hichcock and Castle of Blood both had elements of necrophilia. Now, with The Whip and the Body, we are getting a sadomasochistic love story. This isn’t something you see everyday.

The Whip and the Body (La frusta e il corpo in the original Italian) stars Christopher Lee as Kurt, an estranged son returned home. He claims to be back to congratulate his brother on his recent marriage. But he has actually returned to reclaim his title, claim his right to inherit his father’s property, and to steal away his brother’s bride, Nevenka.

Kurt and Nevenka making out on the beach in The Whip and the Body.

He manages to get away with the latter in a graphic beach scene between Kurt and Nevenka that involves some whipping and the implication of some very hot sex.  The next morning, a servant finds Nevenka unconscious on the beach, and Kurt is found dead in his room, stabbed.

Nevenka awakes from her unconscious state but slowly begins to believe she is haunted by the ghost of Kurt. She sees him in the shadows of her room, finds footprints leading from the window, and feels the sting of his whip.

I liked this movie for the same reasons I liked The Horrible Dr. Hichcock. The story was unique and contained subject matter than you rarely see in films from this era. Adding sadomasochism to the plot managed to make a basic ghost story feel fresh and interesting.

I’d recommend this movie to fans of Italian horror, Christopher Lee and haunted castle movies.

I ordered a DVD via Amazon, but you can also find the movie online. I could not find a trailer on YouTube in English, but here is one in the original Italian:

My take: This is a truly terrifying tale of a hypnotist with a ventriloquist doll that is more than it seems.

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

Horror stories have helped to develop in me an innate fear of dolls. Child’s Play, Annabelle, that one Twilight Zone episode are just a few that come to mind. This movie was similarly terrifying and did not help me with my fear.

The story is about a reporter who is investigating a new act in town, the Great Vorelli. Vorelli is a hypnotist and ventriloquist who is able to make his doll do things no other doll can do. The doll can talk while Vorelli eats and drinks. He can also walk to the edge of the stage on his own, without strings.

Poster for Devil Doll from 1964.

The effect is frightening and mesmerizing to the audience, but the reporter wants to know how it works. He ends up unraveling the strange history or Vorelli and the doll’s nefarious origins.

The story was unique but easy to follow, Vorelli was fascinating to watch, and the doll was downright creepy. All of these elements made for a solid scary-doll picture, and one that I plan to add to my line-up of favorite classic horror.

I recommend this one to fans of classic horror and those who enjoy scary movies about dolls.

I got the movie on DVD from Netflix, but you can also find it online. Here’s the trailer:

My take: Can’t go wrong with three Poe-inspired tales that all have Vincent Price in them.

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

Let me just be clear: I love me some Vincent Price. If his name is associated with a horror film, I am pretty much guaranteed to enjoy it on some level. Just the sound of his voice sets the mood for a creepy tale.

I did not read the summary of Tales of Terror before I hit play. As a result, I screamed like a school girl when I heard Vincent Price’s voice narrating the start of the movie. And he stuck around through all three stories in this feature.

In the first story, he plays a hermit widower whose estranged daughter returns home. He always blamed his daughter for the wife’s demise, but he quickly learns that his wife’s death was not as simple as he believed.

In the second story, Vincent plays a celebrated wine taster opposite Peter Lorre (Mad Love and The Maltese Falcon). Peter Lorre’s character is an alcoholic, and Vincent Price’s character takes advantage of his drunkenness by having an affair with his wife. But the alcoholic is more devious than he seems.

Vincent Price playing a famous wine taster and philanderer in The Black Cat, the second tale in Tales of Terror.

In the third story, Vincent plays a man on his death-bed, who uses a hypnotist, played by Basil Rathbone, to alleviate his pain. But the hypnotist takes a cruel pleasure in controlling Vincent’s character’s mind.

Each story on its own would not be enough for a feature-length film. But the short stories work well together. Their short length helps you quickly get over any plot holes or other annoyances. And the all-star cast makes it a fun movie to watch.

I would recommend this movie to fans of Poe, Vincent Price and classic gothic horror.

I got the movie on a disc from Netflix. Here’s the trailer that I found on YouTube: