'The Mad Monster' isn't mad enough to bother with

The Mad Monster (1942)
Starring: George Zucco, Johnny Downs, Glenn Strange, and Anne Nagel
Director: Sam Newfield
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

After being mocked by his collegues and pilloried in the press for his outlandish theories, Dr. Lorenzo Cameron (Zucco) retreats to an isolated estate to continue his experiments. Unfortunately, Cameron's theories--that if he injects a serum created from wolf's blood into a human, that human will turn into a violent wolfman--were workable, and he he uses them to turn his simple-minded gardener (Strange) into a tool of revenge against those who destroyed his career.


"The Mad Monster" has one of the strongest openings of the many old-time mad scientist movies that I've seen. The complete and utter madness of Cameron is established effectively as he discusses his scientific discoveries in an increasingly heated fashion with four men who appear and dissapear from chairs around the table he is at. It's a scene that's well-written, well-staged, and well-acted.

Unfortunately, everything that follows is badly written, poorly staged (with the exception of where the wolfman kidnaps and kills a little girl (!)), and over-acted--even George Zucco who often hammed it up in films like, this is so far over the top that one can't help but groan at the performance. (Only Anne Nagel, who plays Cameron's daughter, doesn't embarrass herself... but that might be due to the fact that she her role really doesn't require much in the way of acting from her.)

The final blow to this movie is the wolfman make-up, as the creature looks more like a beatnik or a hippie than a menacing monster. Rediculous is too mild a term to describe what it looks like.

While "The Mad Monster" is worth seeing by fans of the "mad scientist on a rampage" horror subgenre for its opening scene, there really isn't enough here to make it worth seeking out on its own. However, it's included in a number of those low-cost DVD multi-packs, and if there are other movies in a set that interest you, then this makes for a nice bonus.

'Sabotage' is a fine adaptation of Conrad novel

Sabotage (1936)
Starring: Oskar Homolka, Sylvia Sidney, John Loder, and Desmond Tester
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars

Verloc (Homolka) is a secret agent of a foriegn power who plans devestating acts of terrorism and sabotage In London from behind a facade as a harmless operator of a small movie theater. Verloc is devoted to his cause, but how firm will his wife (Sidney) stand?


"Sabotage" is one of Hitchcock's early films, and it is one of his best. The sequence where Verloc sends his wife's young brother, Stevie (Tester), to deliever a package that, unbeknownst to the brother, contains a time bomb, remains one of the tensest sequences ever put on film: Stevie, a mere child, takes every detour, is distracted by every interesting scene and event, and is slowed down in a hundred different ways during his trek across London... all while the bomb is ticking toward its detonation. Will the boy survive, or will Hitchcock violate what has been a standard from the earliest days of cinema... the cute young child is NEVER killed! (If you've read the Joseph Conrad novel "The Secret Agent", you know the fate of Stevie even before Verloc decides to use him as a courier, but the sequence is so fabulously put together that you will be on the edge of your seat.)

With great pacing, perfect casting (the actors seem as though they've lept from the pages of Conrad's book) and some playful crossovers between the events of the story and the movies showing at Verloc's theater, "Sabotatge" ranks among one of Hitchcock's most thrilling films.

'A Day at the Races' was a crazy time!

A Day at the Races (1937)
Starring: The Marx Brothers, Maureen O'Sullivan, Margaret Dumont, Allan Jones, Douglass Dumbrill and Esther Muir
Director: Sam Wood
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A crooked businessman, J.D. Morgan (Dumbrill), threatens to foreclose on a sanitarium operated by young Judy Standish (O'Sullivan). Her fiance (Jones), friends (Chico Marx and Harpo Marx), and a horse doctor-turned-conman (Groucho Marx) launch a variety of schemes to save her business, ranging from attracting new clients, securing investments from a rich patient (Dumont) to winning a horse race that is being fixed by the greedy Morgan.


"A Day at the Races" is a great film featuring a comedy team that I feel has never gotten quite the degree of recognition they should have. The Marx Brothers were making anti-establishment comedies thirty years before they became all the rage and they were doing it with more wit, grace, and insanity than just about anyone has been able to match. (I think that only Mel Brooks has come close.) What's even more remarkable is that they were making their movies in an environment that was becoming increasingly friendly to fascist and authoritarian ideals, a move that was only halted when Americans woke up to the truth about Hitler and the like. (Too bad current mass-media and politicians seemed to have forgotten that lesson, what with their increasingly obvious love for totalitarian regimes and philosophies that like the color red.)

The story of the film isn't really that spectacular, but then it's just there to serve as a platform for the Marx Brothers to throw spears at authority figures (and whether it's doctors, bankers, lawyers, or business magnates, they all get poked during the course of this film) and as a vehicle to get us from one excellent comedic set-piece or musical number to another.

Highlights of the film include the craziest medical exam ever caught on film a perfectly timed Vaudeville-style routine where Groucho's fast-talking character is conned by Chico's deceptively simple immigrant salesman of ice cream and racing tips; a scene where Chico and Harpo use extreme measures to stop Groucho's hormones from leading him into a trap laid by the bad guys and baited with the sanitarium's and a fun musical routine where Chico and Harpo demolish a piano by simply playing in, transforming it into a harp for Harpo to play; and a great jazz routine that showed African Americans in a way that they weren't often seen in 1930s cinema.

"A Day at the Races" is a true comedy classic that is as funny today as it was seventy years ago. If you enjoy well-made satire, razor-sharp dialogue, and perfectly executed physical comedy, this is a film you need to check out.

'Nightmare' is great psychological thriller from Hammer Films

Nightmare (1964) (aka "Here's the Knife, Dear: Now Use It")
Starring: David Knight, Moria Redmon, and Jennie Linden
Director: Freddie Francis
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When Janet, an emotionally unstable teenaged heiress (Linden) returns from boarding school to live in her ancestral home, she quickly descends into psychosis when the restless ghost of her mother seems to haunt the place.


"Nightmare" is a rarely seen gothic/psychological thriller from Hammer Films, a studio known mostly for its Frankenstein and Dracula films. This film is on par with the best of their monster movies, and is made even stronger by the fact that for the first half, it seems like a typical gothic thriller--with the standard real reason behind why the emotionally frail protagonist in the story is being haunted/going insane --but just where other movies like this would be wrapping up, "Nightmare" takes a sudden, sharp turn into new and unpredictable territory.

If you've seen alot of movies of this type--like I have--it might be tempting to give up on this one after Janet's suicide attempt because it will feel like you've seen it all before and you know exactly where the movie's going... but stick with it. You won't be sorry.

'The Tomb' is a great read with weak art

The Tomb (Oni Press, 2004)
Writers: Nunzino DeFilippis and Christina Weir
Artist: Christopher Mitten
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When disgraced archaeologist Jessica Parrish is asked to lead a team into the long-abandoned mansion of mentally unstable Egyptologist Mathias Fowler, she had expected to encounter portions of the house reconstructed to resemble the ancient tombs of the pharaohs, complete with deadly traps. What she didn't count on was that some of those traps were mystical in nature, and that Fowler was far more than just another turn-of-the-century tomb robber.


"The Tomb" is a solid adventure tale in the tradition of the "Indiana Jones" films, and the earlier pulp fiction adventures that inspired it. It's a well-paced, solidly told tale that fans of high adventure and horror will enjoy in equal measure. It's main characters--Jessica and tabloid reporter Max Kelleher are such an entertaining and likable pair that I finished the book hoping for a sequel.




The one weak point of the great book is the artwork. While Mitten has a great style that is almost cinematic in nature, he doesn't have a good a command of the black-and-white medium. Many of this pages feel empty due to a near-total lack of shadow, and on others heavy blacks pull the eye away from what should be the main focus in individual panels. Mitten seems to be one of those comic book artists who need color (or a talented inker) applied to make his artwork complete, something the very eye-catching cover on the book highlights.

Still, he is a competent artist, and the story keeps moving. Despite my complaints, I think this is a book worth seeking out.

'Bringing Up Baby' is chaotic ride worth taking

Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Starring: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Charles Ruggles, May Robson, Fritz Feld, George Irving and Walter Catlett
Director: Howard Hawks
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When paeleontologist David Huxley (Grant) goes to schmooze a lawyer representing a wealthy widow who is considering making a donation of $1 million to the museum he works at, he instead finds himself drawn into the chaotic life of socialite Susan Vance (Hepburn). Before he knows it, he's hunting leopards in Connecticutt.


I think I saw this movie for the first time when I was 10 or 12. It was was funniest thing I'd ever seen, and I've been touting this film as one of my favorites for the past three decades.

I recently watched it again, and I found myself not amused so much as annoyed by Katharine Hepburn's obnxiously dippy character and the way Cary Grant's Dr. Huxley was incapable of avoiding her, not just because he was a gentleman but because he was milquetoast in the extreme.

"Bringing Up Baby" is still a hilarious movie, even if it didn't quite live up to my memories of it. Cary Grant puts on a great show--even with my being annoyed at his character. It's also interesting to notice that while Hepburn interacts with the leopard (panther?) co-star, Grant never gets closer to the cat than a couple of feet. I wonder what the story is behind that? Was Cary Grant too big a star to run the risk of him getting mauled?

'Woman on the Run' is worth chasing after

Woman on the Run (1950)
Starring: Ann Sheridan, Dennis O'Keefe, Robert Keith and Ross Elliot
Director: Norman Foster
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When artist Frank Johnson (Elliot) witnesses a gangland slaying and is subsequently target by the killer, he panics and goes on the run. When the police detective (Keith) in charge of the case contacts his wife, Eleanor (Sheridan) he finds an imbittered woman who is strangely uninterested in helping to locate him. But, once the police are gone, Elanor sets about tracking down her husband herself, first alone, then with the help of scoop-seeking reporter Danny Leggett. But, as Elanor draws closer to finding Frank, she unknowing leads the killer to him as well... a killer who is desperate to eliminate anyone who might identify him.


"Woman on the Run" is a well-scripted, perfectly paced film-noir style crime drama. The dialogue is particularly well-crafted, as is Elanor's gradual transformation from a surly film-noir dame to a wife who discovers that she and her husband still have a marriage worth saving. The way the film reveals the identity of the killer--who is much closer throughout the film than anyone suspects--and the casual way it demonstrates exactly how murderous and coldblooded he is, are also stellar examples of quality screen-writing and filmmaking.

With fine performances by all actors featured, an excellent script, great photography that takes full advantage of the black-and-white film medium, and a perfect music score to round out the package, "Woman on the Run" is a film that's undeserving of its obscurity... and it's a film that makes the 50-movie DVD collection "Dark Crimes " (which is where I saw it) worth the purchase price almost all by itself--another reason why it's such a shame its going out of print.

A cautionary tale about mixing up your meds....

The Vampire (aka "Mark of the Vampire") (1957)
Starring: John Beal, Kenneth Tobey, Lydia Reed, Coleen Gray, Dabbs Greer, and James Griffith
Director: Paul Landres
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A kindhearted small-town doctor and single father (Beal) accidentally takes an experimental drug in place of his migraine medicine. Each night around 11pm, he now transforms into a hideous manbeast whose bite infects victims with a virus that causes the cells in their bodies to disintegrate. Will he find a way to stop the transformations before he attacks and kills his pretty nurse (Gray) or, worse, his little daughter (Reed)?

"The Vampire" is a somewhat misleading title. There really aren't any vampires in the film, and the story draws more from "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" than from any vampire legends.

That aside, this is a neat little flick where horror meets mad science. John Beal plays a very sympathetic main character who is as much a victim as the people he attacks--and unlike many other movie characters in his stead, he actually tries to take action to stop himself but fate or disbelief on the part of those he asks for help always steps in to keep the movie going until it's inevitable conclusion.

Although there are few moments of horror in the film, it does manage to deliver many tense moments. It is also structured in such a way that I was starting to wonder if the film would take the unusual step for movies from this period of having the precocious young daughter of our hero/monster (played with better-than-average skill for a child actor) be attacked or even maimed. It film doesn't go down that road, but it's an illustration of the how well the script is put together that I even thought it might. (Actually, this is one of those rare movies that could do with a remake. What if Beal had bitten his daughter or the nurse but not killed them? The race to swiftly develop a cure before their bodies start to break down would have made for a great end to the film.)

"The Vampire" is one of those films that can feed the imagination if you're in the right (twisted) frame of mine, and that makes it worth seeking out. Entirely too few movies do that.

'House on Haunted Hill' is home to campy fun

House on Haunted Hill (1959) Starring: Vincent Price, Carol Ohmart, Elisha Cook, Carolyn Craig, David Long, Alan Marshal, and Julie Mitchum 

Director: William Castle 

Rating: Seven of Ten Stars 

 Eccentric millionaire Frederick Loren (Price) and his wife Annabelle (Ohmart) invite five cash-strapped strangers to spend the night with them in "the world's only truly haunted house"; if they stay locked in house from midnight to sunrise, they (or their heirs, should they not survive), will earn $10,000 each. Once the seven people are sealed in the house, the killing starts. Is it the ghosts, or are the visitors to the House on Haunted Hill being stalked by someone of flesh-and-blood?

"House on Haunted Hill" is a movie that scared the bejeezus out of me when I first saw it as a little kid... and as a kid, the twist-ending seemed like the coolest thing ever. When I saw it again as an adult, I didn't find it scary anymore, but I did find it entertaining and fun. This may not be much of a horror movie, but it is great fun to watch, particularly since the film is self-consciously cliched and over-the-top--with the aforementioned twist-ending being the most spectacular example of this. 

 The five principal players in the film all portray stock horror/thriller characters--Price is the suave yet slightly batty millionaire; Ohmart his scheming, two-timing, greedy wife; Long is the heroic, square-jawed man of action; Craig is the damsel who is always screaming in terror and always in distress; and Cook is the doom-saying coward--and they all seem to be having lots of fun with their parts. The ghostly activities in the house don't make a whole lot of sense--nor are any of them even possible in the light of some facts we learn at other times in the film--if you think about them, but there's a sort of wink-and-nod atmosphere throughout that it really doesn't matter.

"House on Haunted Hill" is good, cheesy fun...and that seems to be exactly what the filmmakers were shooting for when they made it. If you like haunted house movies, you may enjoy this one. Just realize that it doesn't take itself all that seriously. (It's a film that young kids may find thrilling and scary--the giant vat of acid in the basement seemed particularly cool to me as a kid--but adults will spend their time viewing it smiling.)

 

A couple of intense moments highlight the otherwise boring 'Dementia 13'

Dementia 13 (1963)
Starring: Luana Anders, William Campbell, and Patrick Magee
Director: Francis Coppola
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

After her husband dies of a heart attack, Louise (Anders) covers up his death and travels to Castle Halloran, his family's ancestral estate in Ireland, where her strange inlaws live. Here, she enacts a scheme to gain the trust of her mentally unstable mother-in-law and get a piece of the family fortune. Her plan is working well...until the crazed axe murderer shows up and starts hacking people to bits. Which member of the creepy family in Castle Halloran has an axe to grind with the rest of them?


Much like "Psycho" starts out seeming to be one kind of crime drama and then veers suddenly in another direction and turns into a completely different sort of crime drama, so does "Dementia 13" transform from a slow-moving, mildly interesting gothic thriller into a precursor for slasher-flicks like the "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" series. (The scene where the axe murderer is after Lady Halloran, and virtually demolishes a shack to get at her, would fit right into just about any slasher flick.)

"Dementia 13" is about average for a Roger Corman-produced low-budget quickie. The acting is pretty bad all around, although Magee is fun as the creepy family doctor, and Anders has an interesting look about her and is good at seeming sinister without trying. (She also has some of the creepiest scenes in the flick. The sequence of her in the pond is very well done; it is actually the film's highpoint.)

The attempts at scares are pretty feeble and universally badly executed, and aside from the aforementioned scenes with the axe murderer hacking his way into a shack, and the one where the scheming daughter-in-law is diving in the castle's pond, virtually no suspense or tension ever really gets going in the flick. To some extent, the bad soundtrack music can be blamed for that, as it is overly loud and dramatic at all wrong times, distracting more than adding to the film. However, the fault lies mostly with the fact that there simply is nothing scary about the scenes.

"Dementia 13" is worth watching if you're out of other things and interested in seeing the building blocks that led to the slasher flicks of the 1980s, or if you're a huge Francis Ford Coppola fan. This was his directorial and scripting debut, and it was before he became so huge a sensation that only three names could properly describe him!