My next viewing was Dracula AD 1972, the last to feature both peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, moving the action to modern London, as Cushing is the grandson of Lawrence Van Helsing and Stephanie Beachum is his granddaughter, Jessica, who is mixed up with a bunch of hippies. Nothing worse than a bunch of damn, dirty hippies...except middle class, damn dirty hippies, except middle class damn, dirty hippies who have black masses in deconsecrated churches and raise vampires from the dead......except maybe middle class damn, dirty hippies who become yuppies. Even vampires have standards!

Seriously, Jessica and her friends are out for a good time, like crashing snooty upper class parties, with bad American rock bands, and dingy coffee houses, named after clubs where the Beatles played. Christopher Neame is Johnny Alucard, servant of the dark lord, but Cushing has to write it down and draw lines before he can work out the connection to Dracula. Johnny cons the rest into messing around in the occult, because it's a wild scene, man! Groovy! Sadly, the first one sacrificed is Caroline Munro and Drac is back.

It's occasionally silly, but a fairly good exercise in modern vampires and Neame is a memorable vampire servant. Stephanie Beachum is in all her youthful glory, aside from a female mullet and heaves a pretty good bosom, in the climax. Cushing is brought into things by the police, then finds out his granddaughter has a connection to a murder victim found at a church scheduled for demolition....which just happened to host a demonic ritual. He fumbles around a bit, advising the police, then prepares to fight vampires, with silver crosses, a silver dagger, some holy water, a bunch of stakes, and a short spade. So, with the sounds of some funky music, he sets a trap for Drac, has a knife fight with Johnny Alucard, and spends a lot longer figuring out that Alucard is Dracula backwards (I figured it out 2 minutes into the film, when his surname is uttered. I mean, it's not like he called himself Cradlau, which would have taken a bit longer to decipher. The only thing that would have been easier if he called himself Dr Acula, MD (Monster Doctor).

This film was treated rather lightly, in the day, but gained a following, over the years, especially by critic and author Kim Newman, who drew inspiration for his own Johnny Alucard, in his Anno Dracula series. Why Hollywood hasn't come knocking to film the books is beyond me, though they'd have to lose a good portion of the easter eggs, for copyright reasons.

Not the greatest Hammer Dracula, but not the worst and a nice change of pace from the usual film. It even has Michael Kitchen, of Foyle's War, as one of Stephanie Beachum's friends....back when he had a full head of hair.

I'd have been happier if Drac had bitten a few more hippies....maybe a Sloane Ranger or two (thousand). I'd say he could go to town on the City stockbrokers and merchant bankers; but, he'd probably avoid them, out of professional courtesy.

Off to a late start, watch 2 very different movies today.

Paprika (2006)
I'm not a huge anime watcher, but I wan to explore more, so I searched best horror anime to see what I might find for Halloween viewing, and one of the movies that came up was Paprika from 2006, which our local library had and I borrowed. It's more sci-fi thriller, but has a lot of body horror, some tentacle horror and lots of creepy clowns and porcelain dolls so it fits in horror as well. The basic premise revolved around a device that lets others look in and enter your dreams, and a lot of the story takes place in the dreamscape. I get why it makes a lot of the best of lists it did, but it didn't hit quite that way with me. I liked it, didn't love it.

Color Out of Space (2019)
This alleged Lovecraft adaptation features Nick Cage as one of the leads. It is an attempt to modernize the Lovecraft story and partakes of the cardinal sin of trying to make Lovecraft stories into action and gore vehicles, so loses all the Lovecraft feel, and in fact, aside from the basic premise (a meteor crashes into a remote farm and messes with everything) , it pretty much abandons the plot and details of the actual Lovecraft story. It's not a bad cosmic horror sci-fi flick, but it is a terrible adaptation of the Lovecraft story.

-M

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (Sergio Martino, 1971)

If Martino can't match Bava or Argento for artistry, he sure makes up for it with plenty of vice. In fact, a line in this film inspires another picture of his named Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key. This is an interesting giallo as it's less about the slasher and more of a suspense thriller with multiple twist endings. I wouldn't call it a horror film. It was more of a crime film, imo, with a strong Les Diaboliques influence. Worth watching, though. 

The House by the Cemetery (Lucio Fulci, 1981)

This was the third film in Fulci's Gates of Hell trilogy. It's more of a traditional haunted house story than a supernatural zombie thriller, and is only loosely connected to the other two films (there is no gate to speak of in the film and the dead don't return to life.) It takes a while to get going, but once it does it's just as gruesome as the other films. I felt bad for the child actor who had to shoot such horrific scenes. I don't want to give away too much about the film, but the "monster" is by far the most terrifying of any film I've watched so far. The film was Fulci's most financially successful film of the 80s but was panned by critics. Clearly, they weren't chilling watching Halloween flicks for an all-month marathon because this was far from boring. 

Your Vice is a Locked Room, and Only I Have the Key - 1972 - Quite a title, eh? As commond has said, the title comes from another movie. It doesn't actually mean much; one of the alternate titles of this film, Eye of the Black Cat, works better. But hey, the title got me to watch the film, so it did its job.

We start with a really unlikable guy and his abused wife. There are some killings, and unlikable guy is the obvious suspect, even forcing his wife to help cover for him. But things get twisty when the killer is revealed and killed halfway through the movie. And the twists don't stop, culminating in a reveal about who's really behind everything that's been going on that I never saw coming.

It's well shot, well acted, and more about the 3 main characters than about the killings. Not a lot of gore, but there is suspense and intensity. And a really creepy use of a black cat. The movie drew me in and kept me involved till the end. Good stuff.

Though the ending itself was a little disappointing; I wanted the one character to get away with it all.

And I may be falling in love with Edwige Fenech. Definitely need to check out more of her films.

The Abbott and Costello Meets movies were my gateway into the classic Universal monsters as a kid.

-M

More Hammer tonight, with The Revenge of Frankenstein. Baron Frankenstein is sentenced to the guillotine and is beheaded.....or was he? Nope. He pulled a switcheroo, with the aid of the executioner and a deformed man, named Carl. He escapes and goes to carlsbruck, where, 3 years later, he has established himself as Dr Stein, a favorite of wealthy hypochondriacs and an aid to the poor, in another clinic. He draws the ire of the Medical Council, who have lost wealthy and influential patients to him and he refuses to join their ranks. One of their members, Dr Hans Kleve, goes to see him and recognizes him as Baron Frankenstein and asks to become his pupil and learn his secrets. Dr Frankenstein has actually been using the clinic as a cover for collecting amputated body parts, to construct a new being. he will transfer Carl's brain into a more handsome version, improving on his last experiment. Hands aids him and they succeed is transporting Carl's brain into the new body, but not in eliminating Carl's nerve memories of his deformities and the bullying of one of Frankenstein's other henchmen.

Terrific film, one of Hammer's best, with Dr Frankenstein shown to be a nuanced evil, as he continues to pursue his experiments, not caring for those who suffer in the name of his perverted science. He kills a grave robber (Lionel Jeffries), though by fright and a bad heart, but also seems to take healthy limbs, for his experiments. Carl's mind is not sound, due to years of abuse and low self esteem. He tries to destroy his old body and is found by a bully, who worked for Frankenstein, who takes pleasure in beating the transformed Carl, until Carl fights back and kills him.

Peter Cushing plays the cool, calculating Baron, who cares not for impediments to his designs and will kill without conscience, though he is show to have some empathy. His work is what is important. Francis Matthews (who voiced Captain Scarlett, turning in his audial resemblance to Cary Grant up to 11), is Hans, who seeks to learn Frankenstein's secrets. Eunice Gayson (Sylvia Trench, in the first 2 Bond films) is Margaret, the privileged niece of an influential countess comes to work at the clinic for the poor and has pity for poor Carl, then aids his new body in escaping, through an abundance of charity, but not good sense.

Wonderfully done film, with fine acting and a good script, with well rounded characters and motivations. The Hammer Frankenstein is a favorite, as the Baron descends further and further into evil with each transgression. He is the ultimate Hammer villain, even more than Count Dracula, as Dracula is driven as much by thirst, as a lust for power. Frankenstein seeks to play god, with little remorse for those he uses. He starts off somewhat sympathetic, in The Curse of Frankenstein; but transforms across that film, as he creates his creature, then the continuing series finds him cheating death and carrying out more horrible experiences, kidnapping and murdering to perpetuate them, or hide his identity. he is amoral cunning, while Dracula is more a force of nature. You could do a really great 19th century adventure horror series, using Dr Frankenstein and Dracula as the central villains, aided by monsters and allies, opposed by heroes like Captain Kronos and Dr Van Helsing, as well as other adventurers, in a battle against their twisted evil. Planetary kind of hinted at that, when we saw the hidden past clues of Elijah Snow, as he seeks out Sherlock Holmes, who is under the control of Dracula, while the monsters of Frankenstein attack Snow, in the lab. Imagine such a group against an earlier League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, such as that of Sir Percy and Lady Blakeney, Lemuel Gulliver, Fannie Hill, Natty Bumpo and Dr Christopher Synn.

Fantastic stuff.