Tod Browning's last great film is about as respected Parisian banker (Lionel Barrymore), who is framed for robbery and murder and sent to Devil's Island. Years later he escapes in the company of a scientist who has discovered a way to shrink living things to one-sixth their original size. Barrymore finds a new use for the scientist's discovery as a means of revenge on those who had framed him.
"The Evil of Frankenstein" allowed Hammer to adapt Jack Pierce's classic monster make up for this film when Universal agreed to finance it. Cushing plays the doctor once again. It's one of the lesser Frankenstein films and the only one featuring Cushing not directed by Terry Fisher. While it isn't the best of the Frankenstein films, Freddie Francis (cinematography on one of my favorite classic horror films "The Innocents" and other films such as "The Elephant Man".
Mysterious puzzle of who or what is behind a young girl, having just returned from a boarding school in the English countryside, becoming increasingly paranoid and psychotic. The girl witnessed her mother killing her father years ago and has nightmares of the event. She believes that she has the same mania and starts seeing her mother, other apparitions, and various things connected with the event that happened on her birthday so long ago. She is heir to the house, but her uncle manages her estate.
"Kiss of the Vampire" may appear familair to fans of Roman Polanski's "The Fearless Vampire Killers". The basic plot involving a vampire cult and their attempt to initiate an unsuspecting young woman at a "vampire ball" was the basis for Polanski's satire. Well directed by Don Sharp, the main weakness of the film are the unconvincing bats that attack in one sequence. Otherwise, this is a top notch film. The transfer for "Kiss of the Vampire" looks quite good with rich colors.
"Paranoic" features Oliver Reed in a clever thriller with as many plot twists as "Psycho". Featuring a script by Jimmy Sangster and sharp direction by Freddie Francis, it's a memorable thriller but derivative thriller. It doesn't measure up to Hitchcock's classic but has a number of marvelous sequences in it and a great performance by Oliver Reed. A very nice transfer with rich blacks, "Paranoic" and "Nightmare" (another Jimmy Sangster "Psycho" knock off of sorts) both look positively beautiful in this presentation.
"Phantom of the Opera" is director Terence Fisher's remake of the classic French novel. In this version the Phantom is played by Herbert Lom. The make up isn't as memorable as Lon Chaney's and the changes in the plot along with the smaller scale of the production makes this one that gets overlooked. Although it wasn't the huge financial hit that Universal had hoped at the time and the action lags a bit at the beginning, "Phantom" still remains a terrific bit of entertainment and has a number of marvelous set pieces directed by Fisher.
Night Creatures is a Peter Cushing period piece that was retitled for the US market from "Captain Clegg". Cushing plays the vicar in a town full of smugglers. Clegg was a pirate in the region who was ultimately caught, executed and buried in the town. Using "marsh phantoms" to scare away those who might be interested in their smuggling activities, the town is investigated when a man who had betrayed Clegg is found by the King's Navy.
"Curse of the Werewolf" features Oliver Reed in the title role. Set in Spain, Reed plays Leon a young man adopted when his mother a mute servant girl dies giving birth. We know very little about the father except that the girl was raped. As a youth Leon exhibits the traits of the werewolf while hunting and the curse continues to haunt him as he grows older.
Vampire hunter Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) returns to Transylvania to destroy handsome bloodsucker Baron Meinster, who has designs on beautiful young schoolteacher Marianne. One of the last Hammer films shot by the marvelous Jack Asher.
Psycho II is the terrifying sequel to one of the most suspenseful films of all time, Alfred Hitchock's Psycho. Anthony Perkins makes a horrific homecoming in his roleias the infamous Norman Bates, who, after years of treatment at a mental institution for the criminally insane, still can't quite elude the demands of "Mother." Vera Miles also returns as the inquisitive woman who is haunted by her sister's brutal murder and the ominous motel where it all occurred. Meg Tilly and Dennis Franz co-star in this fiendish chiller.
