When I said 'Tomorrow: Brides of Dracula' I actually meant Monday, apparently. Better late than never!
Brides of Dracula
I like Brides of Dracula a lot. In general I actually prefer
this film to its progenitor, as I think it has a better story, pacing, cinematography,
sets and... well, everything but the monster. Christopher Lee apparently had no
interest in filming a sequel to Horror of Dracula and passed on appearing in
the film. Cushing agreed, however, and with the return of almost all the
original crew - Director, Writer, Producer etc. the movie went forward with a
slightly tweaked script.
Marianne (Yvonne Monlaur) is on her way to a girls school in
Transylvannia where she is to teach music and deportment. Abandoned in a small
village by her coach, she accepts an invitation from the Baroness Meinster (a
wonderfully arch Martita Hunt) to spent the night at her castle. There,
Marianne sees the Baroness' son on a balcony below her room. Finding the
handsome noble is a prisoner in his own castle, she conspires with him to find
the key to release him from his chains.
I know I just met you, and this is crazy, but unlock my chains, I'm a vampire, maybe?
Bad idea.
I love the Baroness Meinster and kind of wish she had been
the villain of the piece. (Well, MORE of a villain - she is luring young girls
to the castle to feed to her son.) Martita Hunt plays her alternatingly arrogant,
terrified and ashamed and she's the only one of the cast that comes anywhere
close to matching Cushing on screen. It's too bad she's given so little to do
after the first few scenes.
But I'm going to milk the scenes I've got!
Monlaur does fine with Marianne and, given the time in which
the movie was made, she's pretty self-motivated and indeed sets the main action
in motion with her theft of the key that releases the vampire... oh, I'm sorry,
didn't I say? Yeah, the Baron Meinster (played with pomp and pompadour by David
Peel) is one of the undead. That's why the Baroness had him shackled to the
wall in his private rooms and brings him women to feed on - she couldn't bear to
kill her only son, but he was - literally - a monster.
Into this Gothic fairly tale comes Abraham Van Helsing,
nearly running over the unconscious Marianne in the woods outside the castle.
(Where she's fled in the aftermath of the events at the castle and the really
disturbing laughter of the maidservant, Greta, who may have gone a little mad.)
Van Helsing, it seems, is still hunting down the remnants of 'the Dracula cult'
around Europe. Though he's aware of the Meinsters, Marianne doesn't recognize
words like "vampire" or "undead," se he simply escorts her
to the school where she was originally heading.
Somebody threw away a perfectly good white girl...
Despite all of the initial action by Marianne, this is now
Van Helsing's film. It's too bad, because I like the idea of - somehow -
Marianne being the main protagonist. Past this point, however, she becomes a
standard secondary heroine, existing mostly to be menaced by variousmale figures (the headmaster, the Baron)
while the male hero does all the actual heroics. Normally I can suspend my modern
sensibilities for this, but it annoyed me this time around for some reason. I
would dearly have loved to see a film in which Marianne and the Baroness had to
team up to defeat the Baron and Greta. But ah well. Instead we get the Baron
showing up and mesmerizing her into agreeing to marry him. Look at that hair,
Marianne! A man who spends that much time on his 'do' has no time for you!
Yeah, yeah - large, pointy teeth. I get it. But that hair!
At least the male hero is played by Cushing, projecting his
usual quite competence and kindness. He needs to get a watch or something
though, because he's constantly telling people that he'll be back before dark,
only to arrive well after. Having actually fought Dracula you'd think he'd be
more punctual about that extremely important timeframe!
Interestingly, the abilities of vampires have changed since
the first film. Van Helsing is very adament in Horror of Dracula about how silly it is to think that vampires can change
shape, but the vampire in Brides changes
into a bat - even killing a man in that form. There are intimations that he can
also change into a wolf and make locks fall off of coffins (without unlocking
them). Looks like Van Helsing needs to do a bit more research.
And get a watch. I hate to harp, but like 5 minutes sooner and this could have been avoided.
Van Helsing returns to town, only to find there's a funeral
going on for a village girl who's died from what is obviously a vampire attack.
He waits too long to show up at the cemetery and she rises and escapes, aided
by a vampire bat. From there, Van Helsing investigates Meinster castle, finding
the Baroness turned into one of the undead by her own son. There's a confrontation
with the Baron, who flees with the help of the risen village girl, the first of
his 'brides.' The vampire intends to make Marianne the second, but gets
distracted into turning her roommate instead.
I'm sorry, but at no time is David Peel's vampire a threat
on the same level as Lee's Dracula. He's got a certain smarmy charm, but it's
not put to good use and as a monster he's just too much of a dandy to really
carry much weight. The lack of an actor with the same gravitas as Lee or
Cushing in the role is the film's greatest weakness, letting it become merely a
really good entry in the Hammer vampire film library, rather than a great film.
"I'm not choking, just gagging at the smell of your cologne!"
There are some great moments in Brides, despite this. In
particular the consequences of a battle between the Baron and Van Helsing in
which Van Helsing loses! He's bitten and infected, but manages to cure himself
using a combination of holy water and a branding iron in a sequence so
interesting that the two vampire brides just watch him do it, not interfering
in any way. The final confrontation between Van Helsing, Marianne and the Baron
ends up being a bit anticlimactic after that (even with a giant cross formed by
a windmill shadow).
"And that's how we get rid of pimples in the middle ages!"
"Are you seeing this shit?!"
The Bottom Line
In a lot of ways, Brides
of Dracula is a better film than the original - in production and story in
particular - but it's a cheat - there are no brides and no Dracula, and the
result is a stew with a richer broth, but missing one of the main ingredients
that made it delicious in the first place.
Sometimes I'm in the mood for a particular type of horror movie. Giant
bugs, slasher flicks, found footage, Italian gialos, etc. Whatever it
is, anything else just won't do. I've tried to watch other types of
horror films when I'm in that mood and it's inevitably a bad time. I
don't enjoy myself and whatever film I'm watching gets short shrift as a
result (I'm thinking of Kill Baby, Kill last year in
particular). It's harder when you're working from a set list (I swear
I'll stop complaining about that soon), as the odds of scratching that
particular itch are stacked against you.
Not Megaphython vs Gataroid! Anything but that!
Happily when the urge to watch some Hammer Films Dracula hit me, I saw
there were not just one but TWO films on the recommended list (from
2014).
Hammer Dracula part one: Horror of Dracula
Hammer films weren't as much a feature of my childhood as the classic
Universal monster films were, but I did see them from time to time. Quatermass and the Pit remains a favorite and The Mummy
(with Lee in the title role) was a particular standout, in part because
of my profound disappointment with the Universal title. I know I saw
the Dracula and Frankenstein films, but I'm ashamed to say they often
got mixed up in my head the Poe film cycle of Roger Corman. They had the
same lush colors, set design, and period costuming.
Now that I'm an experienced horror film enthusiast I can totally tell
when I'm when I'm watching a Corman film instead of a Hammer one.
Especially if Vincent Price is in it...
The Medium
Purchased on Amazon. The streaming quality was... serviceable. I really
need to pick up some of the Hammer films on DVD or preferably blu-ray,
but I don't even know if they're currently available!
The Movie
Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
Peter Lee and Christopher Cushing... wait, no, strike that last pair. I
love seeing either of those actors on screen and any movie in which they
both appear is instantly a much better film for it. This is, of course,
their classic pairing - with Christopher Lee playing the Count and
Peter Cushing his constant foe, Abraham Van Helsing.
Was this in the Special Editions? Stop screwing with them, Lucas!
But first, we must contend with Jonathan Harker, played with smirking
smarminess by John Van Eyssen. I know he's supposed to be heroic, but
I've always found this character to be totally deserving of his fate. I
like the twist - instead of an unknowing victim, Harker is a hunter and
has accepted an appointment as Count Dracula's Librarian solely to get
close enough to kill the vampire. Unfortunately he's not that bright and
wastes precious time taking out one of Dracula's brides. When his
mentor Abraham Van Helsing arrives to help, he's far too late.
The thing about Christopher Lee's Dracula that made him so indelible, to
me anyway, was how vicious and almost feral he could appear. He was
gracious and erudite and cultured - until it was time to suck some
blood. And then he was suddenly all fangs, wild hair and bloodshot eyes.
I could totally buy him as a monster vindictive enough to head out and
try to destroy Harker's family.
Will also totally send his steak back if it's not cooked perfectly.
"No, you don't look anything like Bruce Wayne's butler, dear."
There's just something about Peter Cushing that makes you like and trust
him, and his Van Helsing is one of his most likeable and enduring
characters. He's so charming I found myself annoyed at Michael Gough's
Arthur, who has a (completely understandable) dislike of Van Helsing,
being involved as he is in both Harker and - later - Lucy's deaths.
Disfiguring her before staking her DOES seem like a dick move, though.
So much good stuff here. This was Hammer in their heyday, with gorgeous
production and excellent mood, music and, of course, some amazing stars.
It would be decades before the bodices became optional and the blood
more plentiful. I do wish there had been more of an opportunity for the
two main stars to interact with each other - I'm not even sure Van
Helsing and Dracula exhange a single word - but just seeing them on
screen at the same time is a bit of a thrill. The final confrontation is
still quite good, special effects wise, though it's over too quickly.
Though probably not quickly enough for Dracula.
The Bottom Line Horror of Dracula is probably the most recognizable of the Hammer
Classic Monster films. I think there were better installments in the
series, and my heart will always belong to the more esoteric productions
like Quatermass and even Vampire Circus, but sometimes
only the classics will do. Do you have to be in a particular mood to
enjoy them? I don't think so - but it doesn't hurt!
Tomorrow: Van Helsing vs Gilderoy Lockhart... er, Bride of Dracula
When I once again ran out of time for Kwaidan ( sometime this month!) I still found myself in the mood
for an anthology. (It also worked out that I was working last night and could
pause between segments to make updates.) I'd been meaning to re-watch the
Amicus flick, Asylum, for a while, so
I fired up the streaming and got started.
Only to discover I've never seen Asylum. I know! Thinking back on it now I'm fairly sure I mixed up
this and Doctor Terror's House of Horrors
(another Amicus joint), as I was almost certain that the Christopher Lee
segment with the severed hand was in this. (Though I also knew it was in Doctor Terror's... I don't know. My
brain is messed up.)
So, cool - an Amicus anthology film I haven't seen! Written
by Robert Bloch as well. I was actually pretty excited. I'm going to bust it
out by segment with quick thoughts on each.
The Framing Sequence:
I always appreciate when an anthology takes the time to
create a decent framing story. In my mind they should be just as good as the
other segments, and I'm always disappointed when it's just an excuse or a bad
pun. Luckily, this appears to be exactly what the doctor ordered (sorry). The
young Dr. Martin, arrives at the eponymous asylum (for the 'incurably insane')
where he's greeted by the wheelchair-bound Dr. Rutherford. Though their styles
clash, Dr. Rutherford agrees to hire Martin IF he can correctly identify the
patient who used to be the head of the asylum - a Dr. Starr. Dr. Martin agrees
and is buzzed into the secure ward by the orderly, Reynolds. The stories of the
patients form the bulk of the rest of the film.
"Frozen Fear"
This was my favorite, simply for the monster. The patient,
Bonnie, tells Martin about a plot to murder her lover's wife, Ruth. Ruth is an
heiress and a believer in (movie-land) voodoo. She's efficiently killed off and
dismembered, her pieces stored in a freezer in the basement. (This is all
fairly bloodless, fyi.)
Of course things aren't that simple, and Ruth is not quite
finished with her husband - and Bonnie.
The paper-and-twine wrapped parcels are just disturbingly
fun and the effects - though dated now - are tremendously creepy. The paper
going in and out with the severed head's 'breath' is fantastic.
"The Weird Tailor"
A story I feel like I've read before. A tailor, down on his
luck, is tasked by a stranger to create a suit out of strange material. Though
difficult - the instructions require him to work only after midnight and before
dawn - the tailor manages to complete the task. Though things don't go as
planned and the tailor finds out the true purpose of the suit far too late.
Peter Cushing is excellent, as always, but this is my least favorite of the
bunch. I think the affectations of the tailor (Barry Morse) are just a bit too
much to take seriously.
"Lucy Comes to Stay"
Charlotte Rampling and Britt Ekland- there's some Thelma and Louise horror movie
to be made here. The patient, Barbara (Rampling) tells a tale about a murderous
friend (Ekland) who may or may not be real - but who definitely has Barbara's
best interests at heart. She even tries to get her to quite her drug
dependency. Too bad about the stabbings, though.
"Mannikins of Terror"
I love Herbert Lom - what a great body of work he has. His
Dr. Byron makes a very sympathetic patient - working so well with his dolls.
Yeah, his insistence that they can be animated - brought to life, actually - is
a bit weird, but other than that he seems perfectly reasonable.
At this point Martin concludes his interviews and Reynolds
sends him downstairs.
Epilogue:
Martin refuses to engage in Dr. Rutherford's game and
berates him for his methods. During the argument Dr. Byron's killer doll shows
up and does what killer dolls do. Martin destroys the doll, revealing the
viscera that makes the things truly alive on the inside. Running upstairs for
help poor Martin finally discovers the real Dr. Starr, the murderous former
(and future?) director of the Asylum.
Bottom Line
Very fun! I realized who Dr. Starr was early on, but it in
no way diminished my enjoyment. "Frozen Fear" is now one of my
favorite short horror bits in any anthology and the whole flick made me want to
re-watch other Amicus anthology films like Tales From the Crypt and Vault of
Horror.
As I've alluded to before, Horror Express is a comfy
old shoe of a horror film to me. It ran incessantly during October when I
worked at a comic shop (as it was the only VHS horror film we had). It got to
the point where regular customers could whistle the theme song right along with
the baggage man. Eventually it became nothing but a Lee/Cushing/Savalas noise
in the background of my day, something so familiar as to be invisible.
Just because it's familiar doesn't mean I was looking
forward to it, however. I'd seen it a little too much back in the day and
wasn't sure I could really find enjoyment in it anymore. I envisioned my
attention drifting - wandering back to days spent sorting comics, running games
and selling *shudder* packs of whatever card game was then attempting to usurp
Magic's place.
It's been 15 years or so since I last saw it, though, and as
I was already planning to watch a Christopher Lee film I figured, what the hell
And a bonus appearance by Grand Moff Tarkin!
The Medium
I had that VHS tape for a long time after I stopped working
at the shop, but I never did watch it again. Last night I actually went into
the basement and dug into old boxes looking for it, but I think I gave it to my
brother Scott along with a lot of other old VHS horror movies. It's available
for streaming for free on Hulu, but it's a pretty low-quality copy. I ended up
watching it on Amazon instead, and the quality was significantly better, though
still cropped.
The Movie
That theme song really worms its way into your head, doesn't
it? Within seconds I could hum the whole thing again. Hell, even the extended
train whistles during the opening credits had me experiencing flashbacks to new
book days and putting comics in subscriber files. Once the movie started in
earnest - with Christopher Lee providing a voice-over about his 'doomed'
Manchurian expedition - I was able to settle down and just enjoy the film.
"Air holes, AIR HOLES! How many times do I have to tell you?"
And Horror Express is a fun - if low-budget - Hammer-lite
romp of a horror film. With Christopher Lee as the prickly, slightly amoral
scientist, Professor Saxton, and Peter Cushing as his more good-natured rival.
(Though it is Cushing's Doctor Wells who unleashes the true horror on the
train, by dint of a little outsourced science espionage. How'd your curiosity
work out for you, Doctor?) And of course, Telly Savalas as the Cossak officer
Captain Kazan. If there's any real complaint that I have about this movie it's
that there is nowhere near enough of Captain Kazan and his pithy
pronouncements. On honest Cossak indeed.
"Am I, or am I not, the coolest person in this room? No - your expressions is confirmation enough."
What we have is a "monster loose in an enclosed
space" story, like Alien or The Thing, but in this case the enclosed space
is the early 1900's Trans Siberian Express. It seems Professor Saxton has
uncovered a 'missing link' specimen on his expedition to Manchuria and is
transporting it to England. Of course it's not really dead - and soon the
bodies are piling up, all of them with blood pouring from their all-white eyes.
The monster makeup is quite good, and the camera doesn't
linger so we're not forced to examine its flaws too closely. Mostly we see a
hairy arm and claws as well as glowing, red eyes. There's some fun incidents of
grue, like the autopsies wherein we learn that the victims brains are now smooth
as a baby's bottom. (A result, we're told, of their memories being drained.)
"I just wanted to catch the red-eye! No? I'll get my coat..."
Things seem to come to a premature end with the creature
shot down by Inspector Mirov. It's just a cue for things to get more crazy and
interesting, however, as the scientists inspect the remains and discover the
eye fluid contains images of everything the creature has ever seen. Including
dinosaurs. Including the earth - as seen from space! I'm not saying it's
aliens. But it's aliens.
"Let's science the shit out of this!"
This movie is just so much fun, really. It goes to crazy
places. Revived ape-men not enough? How about aliens? No, how about body
jumping aliens? Still not enough? Hold on, we're going full on zombie horde as
the movie careens along. Throw in the good Captain, a lady spy, a Count and his
wife, a Rasputin wannabe and more white eyeballs and train models than you can
shake a stick at. Whatever else, the movie is never boring.
And there are some genuinely interesting and visually poetic
moments. There's a shot of a character, possessed by the alien and staring out
the frosted window of the train into the howling snow and darkness that could
easily have been the cover to a classic horror novel. Another moment after a
whirlwind of death where a character is shot standing over the massed bodies of
his foes could have been right out of The
Matrix.
The Bottom Line
Yeah, Horror Express
is a low budget film with some flat lighting and characters, a theme song that
quickly gets on the nerves, and roles that don't exactly require Cushing and
Lee to work at their highest level. But you know, they're not phoning it in,
either. Everyone seems to be making an effort, and even if it all doesn't quite
make sense at least it's not boring. I certainly enjoyed the hell out of it.
A bold claim, I know. I’ve seen more than a few Nazi zombie
films, but I haven’t seen them all. How can I judge this the best? Well, for
one thing, it is actually pretty creepy at times – I’m a fan of Dead Snow as well, but that’s not a
scary movie. Zombie Lake is
frightening, but mostly because of how crappy it is, not the zombies ("AAAAGGGHHH!
He got green makeup on me!ARRRGGHHH!!").
Oasis of the Zombies? The less said,
the better (though I have an old review of that piece of cinematic excrement
that I should post sometime.) For another, it stars Peter Fucking Cushing.
That’s right – the same year he was Moffing it up in Star Wars, he was putting
on a German accent and fake scar for this little beauty.
I have yet to see Outpost
or Frankenstein's Army, so I’m ready
to change my opinion if either of those ups the ante. There are a few other
films with Nazi zombies in them, but either they’re not the focus or the movie
is terrible. (Like Revenge of the Zombies,
which features another Shock Waves
cast member, John Carradine.)
Shock Waves is one
of those movies that I had heard about, but never gotten a chance to see when I
was younger. None of my local video stores had a copy when it was The Time of
VHS, though I saw trailers for it on some of my horror movie rentals. ("Shock
Waves! The deep end of horror!") The trailer pushes a certain exploitation
feel and I got a weird impression that it was a low-budget gore-fest, something
on the same level as Italian zombie cheapies like Burial Ground.
Because the original negative has mysteriously disappeared
(what DON’T THEY WANT US TO SEE??!!) it took 20 years for a DVD to be made
available (produced from the director’s personal print). I didn’t have huge
expectations – I’d heard Zombie Lake
was awesome, but I’m no longer friends with that guy. So I was pleasantly
surprised. Yeah, it's a low budget ($200,000) film, but it's no gore-fest -
there's surprisingly little in the way of gore. It's also a fairly effective,
atmospheric horror movie with characters that are a little above your usual
cookie-cutter victims - and of course it's got both Carradine and Cushing, and
the movie uses their brief appearances to good effect.
The Medium
The copy I have is the Blue Underground release from 2003. The disk includes
commentary by director Ken Weiderhorn, makeup artist Alan Ormsby (of Children
Shouldn't Play With Dead Things and Dead of Night) and Fred Olen Ray (because
why not), and the commentary is pretty fun and worth a listen. The picture
quality is, to be fair, about as good as you can get given that it's a blown-up
16mm print - and not from the original negative. It's grainy and blurry and
washed out, with plenty of scratches and small defects. Somehow, that adds to
its charm for me.
Looks like there's a Blu-ray release scheduled for late this
fall. I hope they've found a better print to build from, but I'll probably pick
it up anyway, 'cause I'm a sucker like that.
The Movie
The movie starts off with a voice-over talking about special Nazi squads that
were never captured and “fought with their bare hands.” I don’t usually like
voice-overs, but this sort of reminds me of In Search Of and I let it pass.
After that we get a scene where a father and son on a
fishing boat rescue a girl who has been floating in a small dinghy on the open
ocean. She's incoherent and dehydrated and can barely interact with her
rescuers. Another voice over (I know), apparently by the girl, talks about how
she's only just now remembering what happened. I'm guessing it's nothing good.
Then we’re introduced to a group of vacationers on some sort
of Caribbean cruise in a dilapidated boat that’s constantly breaking down. The
captain is John Carradine – doing his ‘crotchety old man’ routine. The young
first mate sporting the awesome 70’s ‘stache is apparently the kid from Flipper,
if that matters. The girl in the bikini is Brooke Adams, who you might have
seen in the 1978 remake of Invasion of
the Body Snatchers.
Is that... a missing plot element?
I have a bit of a crush on Brooke Adams.
Anyway, there’s some kind of confusing event that turns the
sky orange. I say confusing, because later on the captain explains it away as
something to do with cold currents and hot sky combining to bring stuff up from
the depths. I think I missed something. (Actually, it's the movie that's
missing something. According to the commentary, a scene was shot with in which
debris floated up. There was also a corpse, created by Ormsby, but the footage
was unusable.) Unfortunately, it throws you out of the narrative for a moment,
as you try and figure out what they're talking about.
Later that night they run into a wrecked ship, causing them
to have to evacuate everyone to a nearby island. On the island they find an
abandoned hotel and a former Nazi officer (Cushing) who invites them all to
leave - or get shot.
Meanwhile, the earlier event has apparently thrown up a ship
full of… NAZIZOMBIES! The Nazi officer
explains that they’re the results of experiments to create the perfect soldier
– and that these are designed for underwater assaults. They proved unreliable
(really?) and, as the war wound down Cushing brought them out here and sunk the
ship they were in. He’s watched over them ever since. Now they’re out – and in
surprisingly good condition, given how many years have passed while they were
underwater.
The zombie designs are really nicely done, especially for
such a low budget production – pasty, swollen skin, eaten away slightly, with
SS uniforms and smoked-glass goggles. They don’t make a noise as they appear –
usually rising from the water in synchronized formation. Some of the creepiest
moments of the film are of the zombies lying quietly in the water, waiting. The
director uses them sparingly and manages to make it look like there are dozens
of them. They also seem to use tactics, something you don’t find in most zombie
movies. One will rise out of the water near a victim, driving them into the
waiting arms of the rest.
"I knew we should have taken a right turn at Albuquerque."
As I mentioned earlier, there's very little gore for a
zombie move made post-Night of the Living Dead. The zombies seem to prefer to
drown their victims – one even going so far as to use an aquarium. There's a
little bit of rotting going on with the zombies, but it's pale and the only
real blood I can remember involves one of the cast getting his hand jammed in a
door.
The zombies do have one weakness – if you can pull off their
goggles they seem to de-animate after stumbling around a bit. However, this
seems to only work during the day – one zombie who has his goggles removed and
begins to rot a bit shows up later, after night has passed.
Most of the attacks are quick, surprise assault sorts of
things. Lunges from deep or dark water, with plenty of tense buildup. There are
a few longer chase sequences, though, including one where Brooke Adams flees a
zombie who just keeps coming, even through a wooden fence. There's a
particularly tense scene with a character trapped in a half-filled swimming
pool. You know there's one of the zombies hiding in the water - and so does the
character. Other zombies circle the edges, and I was reminded of a deer being
circled by wolves.
The acting is decent, especially given how low-budget the
production is. Having veterans like Cushing and Carradine help give a level of
respectability to the proceedings. They only had the actors for a few days
apiece, but they sprinkle the appearances (Carradine in the first half, Cushing
the second) so that there's always a scene with one of the more famous faces
every 5 minutes or so.
The shirt is filthy, but the kerchief is immaculate.
The movie is surprisingly moody and tense in spots. The
zombies are menacing, especially in shots where they stand in the distance,
then slowly turn as one and disappear beneath the waves. There’s a certain feel
to the film that I tend to associate more with Italian horror films from that
era, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s a sort of rawness that makes
everything creepier than modern, slicker films. The score helps a lot, with
weird, atonal sequences and deep, off-kilter sounds. The first time I saw the
movie I thought the score was a little annoying, but this time around I found
it very effective - it actually reminded me a lot of the score from Forbidden
Planet.
As is zombie movie tradition, it’s the problematic behavior
of individuals that causes everything to fall apart. We’ve got the selfish,
loud asshole who leaves Brooke behind and pays for it. We’ve got the muscle-guy
(who isn’t played as a jerk, which was refreshing) who can’t control his
claustrophobia. Even our nominal heroes – the first mate and Brooke – leave one
of the characters, blinded, to fend for herself while they hide.
In the end, their only option is to try and escape the
island in a small boat - but we already know how that ends, given we see the
sole survivor at the beginning of the movie. At that point it's no longer about
who will survive, but how will they die?
"Time to get up already? 5 more minutes!"
The Bottom Line
It’s a 1970’s horror film made on a budget of about
$200,000. It’s not high art cinema. It IS a surprisingly atmospheric horror
movie, with above average script and acting, some decent makeup effects and a
couple of horror's all-time greatest actors. Yeah, they're slumming it a
little, but they class it up, rather than the movie dragging them down. It's
also got some of the best and spookiest zombie Nazis you'll find on screen.
Well worth checking out if you get the chance.
Brides of Dracula
