Digital Longing

The other day as I was lamenting the lack of a decent Region 1 DVD version of Grave of the Vampire, I got to thinking about other pieces from my collection that remain trapped in the analog dimension. Here are a two great horror films for which I feel the need for DVD.

Nosferatu in Venice (1988)
A gorgeous and haunting film which ironically stars the hideous and haunting Klaus Kinski. This is a kind of, sort of, but not really sequel to Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre. Christopher Plummer—in a role that anticipates his far less notable performance as Van Helsing in Dracula 2000—plays Professor Paris Catalano, a man who has devoted his life to ridding the world of vampires. He is summoned to a home in Venice where he takes part in a séance that awakens a powerful vampire known as The Nosferatu (Kinski). Donald Pleasance also stars as an ineffectual clergyman. This film has some original notions, suggesting that the condition of vampirism can be brought on simply by committing evil acts, rather than being spread like a virus. The backdrop of decaying Venetian buildings sets a somber tone, bolstered by a top notch score and a great cast which also includes the beautiful Barbara De Rossi.

The copy I own was purchased at a convention in the mid 1990's, and is a gray market dupe of a Japanese laser disc, though it appears to be a few generations removed from the source. The film is letterboxed, with a well-dubbed English soundtrack and Japanese subtitles. The tape has had tracking issues from day one, and while the image quality is passable, this movie deserves to be shown in pristine condition. I've seen some Region 0 copies available on Ebay, but I'm not sure if these are dupes or imports.

Island of Terror (1966)
Two words, horror fans: Peter Cushing. The man automatically elevated the status of any film just by showing up for work. Two more words: Terence Fisher. This is the same director who gave us Horror of Dracula, Curse of Frankenstein, and far too many other Hammer flicks to mention here.

A small island off the coast of Ireland is beset by bizarre silicon-based creatures that are the accidental result of an attempt to cure cancer. The creatures, dubbed silicates, consume bone from any animal or person that crosses their path. Two doctors, played by Cushing and Edward Judd, star of the also excellent Day the Earth Caught Fire, come to investigate but find themselves trapped along with the country folk native to the island. Carole Gray is likable, if sometimes gratingly in need of rescue as Judd's romantic interest. Niall MacGinnis, one of the stars of Curse of the Demon, plays one of the islanders. The interesting script, tight pacing, and cast make up for the Dr. Who level special effects.

Island of Terror was released on VHS in fullscreen format by MCA/Universal in the mid 1990's and is currently out of print. There has been an official DVD release in Europe, but not here in the States. I've seen fullscreen Region 0 DVD's available on Ebay, and I suspect these are dubs of the MCA/Universal tape.

Just When I Thought I Was Over the Whole Zombie Thing...

Between Return of the Living Dead 4 and Zombie Honeymoon I really thought I was tapped out on this whole zombie thing. Both films left me with a feeling that the sub-genre had run its course. How many zombie films have we seen since 2004's Dawn of the Dead proved that flesh eating fiends could make for big box office? Time to move on, I thought.

Now I've come across the latest promotional footage for Worst Case Scenario. This has been online for several months, but I'm just seeing it now, so presumably it will be new to some of you as well. I saw the original trailer back in 2004 and, while it looked very cool, the film had not been shot yet. Unfortunately that is still the case, but this new footage will grab the darkside of your imagination just the same. Yeah, these are zombies, but it looks like a whole new take on the walking dead. It reminds me a bit of Shockwaves, but there's more to it than that. Check out the production's website for the latest news and the original trailer.

Source Book for Grave of the Vampire

This has been covered in the comments section of my Grave of the Vampire review, but I'm hoping it will get more attention as its own post.

JimTex said...
Considering that this was based on a novel by David Chase, creator of "The Sopranos"(!), who also co-wrote the screenplay, wouldn't a remake be in order? I hate the spate of remakes nowadays, but this film is one of those that just seems ripe for it.

My response...
Since writing that review I've searched the internet for any reference to the David Chase novel The Still Life. Other than a mention at the IMDB, and a few other reviews that I suspect have gotten that info from the IMDB, I can find neither hyde nor hair of this book. I checked with Curt over at Groovy Age of Horror and he's found nothing on it either. Combined with the fact that no reference is made to this book in the film's credits, I'm starting to wonder if this book ever existed, or if it's just a factual error at IMDB that has given birth to a minor urban legend.

How about it? Anybody out there have information on David Chase's The Still Life? Anybody know how I can check the with the Library of Congress on this?

We Have a Winner!

The winner of the Masters of Horror DVD giveaway has been selected and will soon be receiving John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns. Congratulations to our winner and many thanks to all those who entered. I hope to be announcing another contest soon.

A Tagline With Which I Must Take Issue

OK, this one's been stuck in my head for thirty years, and now that I have a forum for it I'm going to vent. The 1976 remake of King Kong, directed by John Guillermin and produced by Dino De Laurentiis carried the tagline "The Most Exciting Original Motion Picture Event of All Time!"

Now, the film had many problems, not least of which being that it was an embarrassment to giant monsters worldwide. Godzilla weathered it well, but I understand lesser known Kaiju like Yongary and Hedorah didn't work for years as a result. Mothra ended up getting hooked on inhalants and had a number of close calls with a can of Raid, and Rodan fell into Giant Monster Porn (man, you REALLY have to see it) just to make ends meet.

With that in mind, it's easy to see how the tagline issue could be overlooked, but I ask you how can a REMAKE be described in any way as "an ORIGINAL motion picture event?" It's not hyperbole. It's not overstatement. It's flat out incorrect. This has stuck in my craw for more than a quarter century, despite the fact that I don't know where my craw is or even what its function might be. I need to cleanse my craw, and I'm hoping this posting will help.

Wow. I feel better already. Gotta run now. I've got some friends coming over and we've just rented Large Lizards in Lust.

Thanks for listening.

Grave of the Vampire (1972)

"I crawled the floors of hell to face you!"

Grave of the Vampire (a.k.a. Seed of Terror) is a low budget gem from a time when cinematic vampires were migrating from the storm-shrouded castles of Europe into contemporary society. The gothic Hammer style vampire had fallen out of favor, giving way to the likes of Count Yorga, Barnabas Collins, and Blacula. Even Hammer itself brought their trademark monster Count Dracula into modern times with Dracula A.D. 1972 and The Satanic Rites of Dracula. While largely a forgotten film, Grave of the Vampire has been a personal favorite for years and deserves to be better known.

Two young lovers, Leslie Hollander and her boyfriend Paul leave a fraternity party for some quiet time together. Since their destination is a fog shrouded cemetery in the middle of the night, it's easy to predict that things will not end well for the pair. While Leslie and Paul make love in the back seat of Paul's car, we see the lid of a nearby crypt creak open, and Caleb Croft crawls out into the open air for the first time in three years. We later learn that Croft was a serial rapist and murderer who died while being pursued by police, but Croft is just one of the names used over the centuries by a vampire originally known as Charles Croydon. Croft rips the car door from its hinges and, bearing his fangs, drains the blood from Paul. Croft then drags the hysterical Leslie into a nearby open grave and rapes her.

Leslie survives the attack and soon learns she is pregnant. She is overjoyed at the thought of having Paul's child, but when she learns that the newborn infant will only drink blood and not milk, the identity of the father becomes apparent. The child, named James, grows to adulthood with a fierce desire to destroy the creature that assaulted his mother and ultimately brought about her early death. James tracks the creature to an American University where he is teaching a class on the occult under the name of Adrian Lockwood. To confirm that Lockwood and Croft are one and the same, James enrolls in Lockwood's class. Two of James's classmates, Anita and Anne, have eyes for James, but Anita also suspects Lockwood's true nature and seeks a relationship with the Professor to assure her own immortality.

Few would argue that Grave of the Vampire is a masterpiece. Much of the dialogue is overwrought. Anne's discussion with James of their blossoming relationship, for example, is so flowery as to induce hay fever. Most of the actors are at least competent with the notable exception of William Smith as James who comes off as a complete stump, except during the film's climax in which he over emotes to the point of embarrassment. The role called for a degree of subtlety that Smith lacked.

One of the film's greatest strengths is the performance of Michael Pataki as Caleb Croft/Charles Croydon. His dialogue is just as over the top as everyone else's, but he makes it work, coming off as an immortal fiend with a God complex. Kitty Vallacher also gives a strong performance as Leslie, showing equal strength as both a shrieking victim and a strong-willed and protective mother. The opening scene in the graveyard sets a creepy ambiance that holds throughout the picture. Grave of the Vampire may not be a masterpiece, but as a drive-in era horror flick it's one of the best of its kind.

The vampire as serial rapist scenario is, to the best of my knowledge, unique to this film. The sexuality of vampires is a subject that has been beaten to death, but since the relationship between vampire and victim involves close physical contact, penetration, and an exchange of fluids, one need not be a student of Freud to see the obvious. Rape/revenge films were not uncommon in the 1970's, so the mixing of this theme with the vampire genre is not so hard to imagine. Still, Croft/Croydon's status as a rapist serves its purpose by making a time worn movie monster all the more horrific for a modern audience, and the scene in which Leslie is assaulted, though not graphic, is very disturbing.

While I'm grateful that Alpha Video has made this obscure title widely available, the condition of the print is abominable. The movie is presented in fullscreen, and suffers from gatefloat during the first few reels, causing the picture to bounce up and down. The color is badly washed out. A scene in which Anne finds a raw half-eaten steak, showing the viewer that James still retains at least part of his vampiric nature, is rendered meaningless because the degraded print makes the meat appear cooked. Several jump cuts seem to indicate that Alpha's Video's version of the film is culled from an edited TV print. Both Video Search of Miami and Sinister Cinema carry the film, but I haven't seen either of those versions and can not comment on their quality or completeness.

In any case, Grave of the Vampire is past due for restoration and a high quality DVD release. Are you listening Anchor Bay, or perhaps Dark Sky Films?

Grave of the Vampire's entry at the Internet Movie Database

Free Comic Book Day, May 6, 2006

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not the comic book fanatic I once was, but sequential art still holds a special place in my heart. Some great stories have been told in this form. Tomorrow, Saturday May 6, 2006 is Free Comic Book Day, and "Free Comic Book Day" has got to be one of the coolest four word phrases that has ever been strung together. I grant you, "you don't have syphilis," and "that gun's not loaded" can be even cooler depending on the context. But free comics? That's tough to beat.

Comic book stores everywhere will be taking part in this joint promotional effort involving publishers, distributors, and retailers. Click on the graphic above to access the event's official website, then on May 6 get down to a comic store and wade your way through the geeks (of which I proudly count myself) and get a sampling of what the comics medium has to offer.

Trailer Trash

I find trailers fascinating. A trailer gives you a stronger feel for the period in which it was made than the film itself. You can usually nail down a trailer's vintage within a few years just from the narrator's voice.

So here's some moldy oldie trailers from www.youtube.com. Cool site. Look around while you're there.

Deathdream - Although for this trailer the film is known by its original title Dead of Night.

Mario Bava's excellent Black Sabbath.

Rats, directed by Vincent Dawn (a.k.a. Bruno Mattei). This is the film that dares tell the truth: after the apocalypse we will all be badly dubbed.

And finally that classic example of family values in the 1970's Dr. Butcher M.D.

Look! Up in the sky...

Although I don't read nearly as many comics as I once did, I've still got enough geek in me to think this trailer is seriously cool. That classic John Williams score, Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, and of course some kick ass flying effects. Richard Donner's Superman remains one of my favorite films of all time, and Christopher Reeve's bright red boots make for big shoes to fill, but I WANT to believe a man can fly.

Oh Crap! He's Calling Collect!

This trailer for Andrew Leman's feature length adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu is spellbinding. Produced in the style of a silent film, and set in the period in which the story was written, Leman's film appears to display a dreamlike quality that would be perfect for Lovecraft's work. I have to see this.

The Call of Cthulhu at The Internet Movie Database.