One of the strangest chapters in the history of drive-in movie distributor Crown International Pictures was when they distributed Liar’s Moon, a serious drama unlike most of their other releases.
Archive for category New Reviews
So… if your country’s film industry has just retooled itself for sound, and you find yourself wanting to make a brand new horror movie, what better subject than a local legend about a ghost that wails? I’m sure it sounded like a good idea at the time. But La Llorona (1933), the first Mexican horror film, gets in its own way a few too many times to really succeed. An uneasy combination of local folklore and Hollywood cliché, it’s certainly noteworthy for its place in history… but judged on its own merits, it’s entertaining but undistinguished.
Only a year later, though, Mexico put out its second horror film (previously reviewed by me here), which was far, far better; and the writer of that film, Juan Bustillo Oro, went on to make what could be considered the third Mexican horror film, and one of the very finest: Dos Monjes (1934). Unusual for its time, its country, and its director, Dos Monjes may or may not fit everyone’s definition of a “horror movie”. But it’s certainly a forgotten classic, without which an understanding of the development of Mexican horror cinema is incomplete.
(I’m currently at work on a couple more entries on early Mexican horror for this Roundtable. Unfortunately, I seem to have run out of February! Keep watching this space…)
Will Laughlin is the Braineater.
Another personalised banner! – I feel so spoilt.
…in which an executed serial killer has some unfinished business.
In her only horror movie, Carole Lombard gives an impressive performance as a society girl possessed by the spirit of an insane killer. While the film itself is finally less than the sum of its parts, each of those individual parts is very interesting.
I have also copied over and slightly revised Dracula’s Daughter.
Liz Kingsley is the insane genius behind And You Call Yourself a Scientist!
You probably never thought that a ninja movie would come out of the Swedish film industry, but The Ninja Mission proves that anything is possible.
When the horror film genre started to be defined and established in the silent film era, West Of Zanzibar came out, a lurid tale that still has some potent rawness ninety years later.
An unusual update on the western formula, being both modern day and British, Taffin is offbeat enough to probably be worth a look.
Not having learned my lesson six months ago by watching They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way, I watched another Tim Conway movie, The Billion Dollar Hobo.
The medical drama Threshold is one of the best efforts to come out of the Canadian tax shelter era.
The filmmakers who made Sweet Revenge had some promising ideas, but were unable to exploit them properly.
La Grande Trouille/Tendre Dracula (1974)
A great horror star has given up his career in order to devote his life to the cause of Romance. His producer sends two inept screenwriters after him, to drag him back to his commitments. But the fugitive star is much more than he seems to be; and the two idiots soon find that nothing in the real world could prepare them for entering the realm of either horror or romance.
It’s often said that Peter Cushing didn’t make any truly bad movies, because his presence alone was generally enough to save even the worst of them. Trust me to find the exception. La Grande Trouille is so awful that I find myself digressing even further than usual to avoid talking about it. This French would-be comedy wastes not only a good premise, but also the talents of some other fine actors in addition to Cushing: Alida Valli and Miou-Miou.
Will Laughlin is the Braineater.