19.9.09

bond of fear (1956)

John Sewell (Dermot Walsh) is a businessman off on his holidays, taking the family and a caravan to the South of France. Unfortunately for them Dewar (John Colicos), an escaped killer stowes away, taking one of the children hostage and forcing them to take him with them. Can John get Dewar through the police checkpoints and protect his family from the killer?
A decent enough little thriller, that betrays its meagre budget, but nonetheless manages to transcend its b movie status.

the cabinet of dr caligari (1920)

Two men sit in a park and one relates a story about his best friend Alan. One day the two men visit a travelling fair and enter Dr. Caligari's exhibit. Dr Caligari has a somnambulist, Cesare, who he claims can predict the future. To test him Alan asks Cesare how long he has to live. Cesare replys that Alan has until dawn. When Alan is subsequently murdered, Cesare is the obvious suspect, but what of the mysterious Dr Caligari. Who is he and what part does he play in the murder?
An expressionistic masterpiece, an imfluence on film noir and possibly the first horror with a true twist in the tale.

vampyr (1932)

aka Vampyr, ou l'étrange aventure de David Gray. Castle of Doom. Not Against the Flesh. The Strange Adventure of David Gray. The Vampire.
David Grey (Julian West), is a young traveller who arrives at a remote village. A village that seems to be entirely populated by strange characters. whilst there Grey starts seeing weird and inexplicable sights, such as a man whose shadow leads an independent life when he sleeps. Then whilst out walking he comes to the aid of the local Lord of the manor who gives Grey a book on Vampires. Could this have anything to do with the Lord's daughter who seems to be ill due to anaemia, or could it be something more sinister?

A tour de force in early horror and surrealistic cinema. The film uses all the tricks available to build the tension, with a poetic set of images creating a disorienting atmosphere.

the double man (1967)

Following the death of his son in a skiing accident in Austria. Dan Slater (Yul Bryner), a cold-hearted and high ranking CIA officer arrives for the funeral. Having collected his sons effects he realises that the death was no accident and decides to investigate. He enlists the help of a fellow operatives Frank (Clive Revill) and Gina (Britt Ekland) to help, but too late does he realise that the Russian secret service has manipulated events to replace him with a double.
A nicely paced and played out cold war spy thriller with the ever reliable support of Clive Revill and Anton Diffring.

17.9.09

salon kitty (1976)

aka Madam Kitty.
1930's Germany and Kitty (Ingrid Thulin) runs a brothel for the elite soldiers and officials of the third reich. But little do they know that the rooms have been bugged by an SS official Helmut Wallenberg (Helmut Berger). He plans to use the information he gains to blackmail the officials and gain political power. One of the girls, Margherita (Teresa Ann Savoy), discovers the plot and with Kitty they try to expose the conspiracy.
A film full of naziploitation, that dwells on the kinks and sexual tortures inflicted on the women. This is very loosely based on a real life story, but is really just an excuse to show as much fetishistic activity as possible.

the naughty stewardesses (1975)

aka Fresh Air.
We all know what to expect here, a soft-core sexploitation that follows various air hostesses. In this instance Debbie (Regina Carrol), as she works, rests and plays in and around Las Vegas and Palm Springs. Bizarrely this features Bob Livingstone, a has been western star, way past his prime as the male lead, who we are led to believe can charm the most beautiful of women, dispite being almost 70! If you want lots of incidental scenes that last forever, go nowhere and feature some very stilted dialogue, then this is for you. Then just when you think its a light weight piece of fluff they throw in a heavy kidnap plot.

15.9.09

driller killer (1979)

The artist Reno Miller (Abel Ferrara) shares a loft with his girlfriend Carol (Carolyn Marz), and Pamela (Baybi Day). He spends his days battling to finish what he believes to be his masterpiece. The pressure of this and the continuous rehearsals of the punk band downstairs cause Reno to loose sleep, sending him into psychosis. This madness compels him to take to the streets, taking his frustrations out on the homeless, with a portable drill!
Despite its tarring as a video nasty, this is actually a well thought out, though rough looking film, mirroring the New York in which the protagonist lives.

frankenstein (1931)

Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) is a man with a mission to defeat death. To do so he creates a person from body parts he has scavenged from corpses. He creates and animates the monster (Boris Karloff), a creature that struggles to come to terms with its life after death.
Though not much of Mary Shelley's novel makes it into this script, this set the benchmark for all that followed, from the stormy laboratory, the hunchback assistant, and the malformed creature. A true classic.