The Raven (1963)

When your movie begins with an actor with such a classic and iconic voice reciting Edgar Allen Poe’s the Raven, you know it is going to be good. Price is portraying Dr. Craven, a magician who is waxing poetic about his dead wife Lenore. He is interrupted by a raven tapping at his window. Turns out the bird is another magician, Dr. Bedlo (played by Peter Lorre!) who has been transmuted by yet another magician named Dr. Scarabus (played by yet another legend Boris Karloff!). Craven helps to restore Bedlo who insists on going back for round two with Scarabus. Craven wants nothing to do with this until Bedlo recognizes a portrait of his dead wife as the spitting image of a woman who was at Scarabus’ castle. 

You following me so far? Before the pair can leave some mind control shenanigans happen that convince Craven his daughter won’t be safe at home, so she needs to come with them. Also, Bedlo’s son shows up to haul him back home. The boy, Rexford, is played by a young Jack Nicholson. This movie has a hell of a cast! The four of them head to Scarabus’ castle to sort things out. Without spoiling the fun I’ll just say it leads to more magic, a spellcaster’s duel, and a fun reveal about the foibles of marriage to a less than honest lady. 

This is a great movie. I had forgotten that this was played less for horror and more for laughs. I know that Lorre was excellent at playing the drunken weasel as I’ve seen him do it many times before. But Price and Karloff have great comedic timing, especially when sharing the screen together. They are genuinely funny at times while playing straight man to Lorre’s shenanigans when that need arises. I found myself giggling and enjoying myself for the duration. Again, this isn’t my first watch, but it has been years. Still the comedy holds up and is still funny on repeated viewings. While inspired loosely by Poe’s writings the script was penned by the great Richard Matheson so the quality of the writing shouldn’t be a surprise. 

I’ve already talked about the cast a bit. Seeing Price, Lorre, and Karloff interact on screen is like watching an all star game of horror icons. There are a few movies that combine such iconic talent but none do it better than The Raven. Nicholson doesn’t have much to do other than act as a love interest, but he is good. Leo Gordon has a small supporting role, but it’s a memorable one. We even get one of the queens of early British horror, Hazel Court, as Lenore. Top all of this off with expert direction from genre legend Roger Corman and it should come as no surprise that this turned out so well. 

What else can I say? The sets are amazing and are about what I’d expect from these larger Corman produced and directed Poe “adaptations”. I use the quotations because they are only loosely based on his work most of the time. Also, the in camera tricks used to pull off the various spells might look a bit silly to a modern audience, but I loved them and for the time they were about as good as it got. 

If you haven’t seen The Raven before or if like me, it had been a while you really need to spend some time watching it. Between cast, writer, and director it simply doesn’t get better. You have a lot of talent working at the top of their collective game. 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

Haunts of the Very Rich (1972)

This is another made for television movie that I’ve never seen before. It is a remake of a movie from the thirties called Outward bound that I was also unaware of. Filled with a cast of familiar faces I was excited to check it out.

The movie opens on an airplane as we see passengers milling about talking to each other. This is one of those seventies’ airplanes with a lounge, drinking, and smoking so you get the idea. They are all making small talk until an annoyed businessman named Hunsicker wakes up and demands to know where they are headed. It is then that we find out none of them are sure how they got on the plane, but they do know they are all headed to a resort called Eden’s Portal. Okay movie at least try and keep some sort of mystery to the goings on! They land and are greeted by Seacrist, who sets them up in rooms and goes about making them comfortable.

The first night there a huge storm blows in and knocks out the power and phones. Isolated they start to realize that something is terribly wrong. Each of them has had a brush with death recently and after the staff disappears and one of them tries to commit suicide it becomes apparent that they are all dead. Or at least that is what some of them think. But then a plane shows up telling them that help will be on the way. But it is a false hope because it was piloted by a singer who had recently died. What happens to them? Is this Heaven or is it Hell? Perhaps they are in purgatory? Here is where I normally tell you all will be revealed before the end credits, but Haunts of the Very Rich isn’t that kind of movie.

Since I’m a positive guy I’ll start off with what I liked about the movie. First of all the cast is very good. You have Ed Asner as the cranky businessman Hunsicker who just needs to get to Texas to finalize a deal. Robert Reed of Brady Bunch fame is the Reverend John Fellows, who is dealing with a crisis of faith. There are two lonely folks, Dave and Ellen, who find love with each other in these terrible circumstances. They are played by the legendary Lloyd Bridges and Cloris Leachman. They have chemistry and make it seem feasible and likely that they could have fallen for each other so quickly. Donna Mills has a very small part but makes most of it. We also get Moses Gunn as the hotel manager Seacrist. He is criminally underrated and is always great when he shows up in a movie. Finally, we have Anne Francis appear as the housewife Annette who has the best character arc when she realizes how and why she died and ended up at Eden’s Portal.  

The cast makes Haunts of the Very Rich possibly worth a watch for fans of seventies television despite the predictable and at times plodding pace of the story. For a movie like this to work you need to have some mystery as to what the heck is going on. Sure, they try and tempt you with hope, but the fact that it is false hope for the characters is telegraphed badly and doesn’t work. For example, the singer showing up to fool the audience into thinking that it must all be okay. They have already made a point in establishing that he had died by having characters talking about it, so you know he is going to show up. As soon as the plane landed, I was like… “there he is”. When Seacrist shows back up in yet another airplane after going for help I didn’t think for one second that they were saved. The movie needed to keep me guessing to hold my interest and it fails.

They double down on the disappointment with a vague ending that did nothing for me. They should have at least established that the characters were in some sort of purgatory. Sure that isn’t a happy ending but at least there is some sort of resolution. How do I know it is purgatory? The name of the resort is Eden’s Portal. You know just outside their eternal reward and all that. Instead, they end it on a freeze frame of Dave and Ellen trying to escape. I wish I could recommend this one but some of these old made for T.V. movies are forgotten and obscure for a reason.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

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My short story Meth Gator: The Dealer is included in this wonderful anthology from Red Cape Publishing. All the proceeds go to FAST UK – the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics. This is a charity worthy of our support. You can check out their mission at their website. If you don't want to read my crappy story I'm sure that one of the other writers will be more to your liking and if not then maybe consider just donating to them. 

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Deadstream (2022)

I think that I may be internet hip now! I mean I’ve already covered a movie about influencers getting knocked up by an alien while worrying about posting their lives online and I sort of liked it. The movie was The Seed in case you are wondering. As an old crusty guy that was reluctant to use Facebook and Twitter this is a huge surprise for me. Now I’m covering Deadstream which is all about a disgraced YouTuber trying to get his viewers back by pulling a stunt involving a haunted house. Is this my new normal? Am I going to want to watch stuff like this now? Stay tuned to find out.

We meet Shawn as he is apologizing to his audience for doing something bad. He was suspended, lost his sponsors, and many of his viewers. But he is back and trying to be better, or so he says. His gimmick is that he does stuff he is genuinely terrified of doing and then records and comments on it to the delight of his viewers. His big comeback plan is to spend a night alone livestreaming from a haunted house. We watch him arrive and set up cameras all while talking to the viewers with a message system. If you have ever seen a livestream, you know what I’m referring to. It doesn’t take long for things to get spooky.

Now that is a cool looking ghost!

The rest of the movie is him being terrified of the ghostly figures moving around the house that he can see on his screen but not always with his eyes. This is a neat gag that they use to great effect. There is also a super fan named Chrissy that shows up but it quickly becomes obvious she isn’t who we think she is. With the help of the folks watching him online he figures out that he has accidentally given the evil of the house his soul and sorts out how to get it back. Though the ending makes it obvious it might not be that simple.

Let me be clear about this. The entire internet influencer/livestreaming thing still annoys me in real life. But a story like this in the hands of a quality filmmaker is a good time. Deadstream gets us right to the good stuff and never lets up. I like how they started the story off with us watching Shawn walk around the house setting up his cameras while he showed videos and pictures of earlier events to set the mood. It gets around the plot hole that bugs me in a lot of these movies where any reasonable person would bail at the first sight of hauntings. We get to see the old stuff but by the time it becomes real for Shawn, he has already locked himself in. I also want to mention that making the character know he is a big coward and showing the audience that he tosses his spark plugs away in the woods and the key to the padlock he used on the front door down a heating vent makes it easier to by then the sudden “er Mer Gerd the car won’t start!” nonsense we normally get in a movie like this. Both show that some thought and effort went into the script and story. I can’t help but to appreciate that.

Bravely running away...

I was also very pleased by how great the jump scares are. The movie doesn’t overdo it but we do have a lot of tension built up and then released with some fun scares. It can be as simple as a coat hanging on a rack, to footsteps and a door opening. I won’t spoil the really good scares as that defeats the purpose of this review, spoilers I’m going to recommend Deadstream. The ghosts in their various forms are done with latex appliances with what I think is a tiny CGI assist. The fact that I can’t tell for sure should be an indication of how well it was done.

I also debated about mentioning this next bit but I feel I have to. This movie is funny at times, especially in the way that it beats the hell out of our main character Shawn. The fact that he is also scared out of his mind and constantly trying to psych himself up had a real Evil Dead vibe to it. Now in no way am I saying this is on par with what I consider an all-time classic, but I’m also not unwilling to make that comparison. There is something fun about this movie that I think is going to stick with me.

As of the writing of this review the movie is streaming on Shudder. Not only do I love that service and recommend signing up for it as it is worth every penny, but Deadstream alone is worth a month’s subscription fee. This is a perfect addition to anyone’s Halloween tradition.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

House II: The Second Story (1987)

Time to take a look at the second movie in the House franchise. This one has a much different tone and is more family friendly then the first. Instead of scares and horror we get cute puppets and a kindly zombie great grandfather. Shall we take a look?

Anyone expecting a direct connection to the first House movie don’t. This one has nothing to do with the first, other than there is a house involved. Here we see a couple in the past giving their baby away and being killed by a mysterious figure almost immediately afterwards. Twenty-five years later that baby, now grown up, comes back to claim his inheritance. Jesse, the grown-up child, and his girlfriend are just settling in when Charlie shows up. He is Jesse’s drunken friend and has a young lady in tow. There is a subplot involving Charlie and Jesse’s girlfriends and a devious music producer played by Bill Maher that is forgettable. The good stuff involves the boys and Jesse’s dead great great grandfather.

Reading thru some old papers Jesse realizes that there was a very valuable crystal skull that has gone missing. It is worth a lot of money and he decides it must be buried with his great grandfather. Of course, the most reasonable thing is to go dig him up to see if he has it. Um okay I guess… Well Gramps isn’t dead, more undead, and after finding out that Charlie is his great great grandson he takes a liking to him. The Skull has been keeping him alive but he warns them that it will also attract evil. When a prehistoric caveman, some Aztec Indians, and Gramps’ old west outlaw partner eventually shows up no one is surprised. Let the mayhem begin!

This is a decent movie. The story is entertaining and uses the location of the house in an interesting way. See as the evil beings are attracted to the skull they open portals in the house. When Jesse and Charlie go after the skull they step into a bedroom and end up in the past dealing with dinosaurs or temples full of Aztec warriors.  This reminds me a lot of My Science Project and how the high school had connections to different time periods and mixed up the inhabitants of those places with each other. Same thing here as Jesse ends up with not only zombie Gramps, but a prehistoric bird, and a dog/caterpillar hybrid as well. The previous pair being brought to screen with cutesy puppets that the kids will enjoy. Hell, he even gets a new Aztec girlfriend when he saves her from being sacrificed!

There isn’t any gore and honestly it wouldn’t fit in House II. Even the characters that are dead aren’t played for scares. The makeup is pretty tame compared to Big Ben from the first movie. House II is a much sillier take on the idea. While I enjoy the one of the first House much more I will give this installment credit. It has that quintessential ‘80s Horror for kids feel to it that movies like Monster Squad or the previously mentioned My Science Project had. It is an intelligent and well written flick for a younger audience. Don’t see many of those anymore.

I recommend House II: The Second Story with the caveat that it is a much different movie than the original. Still I enjoyed it and thing that it is a solid follow up. But if you dive into it thinking you are getting more of what you had the first time around you may be disappointed.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

This is another one of those movies that I had thought I’d covered for the site ages ago. I’ve been watching The Last Man on Earth since I was a young’un in the seventies. Spoilers I really like this flick, though I do have one critique that I’ll mention later.

The world has been devastated by a plague that kills most, but some come back as vampires. Or at least that is what they seem to be. They don’t like their reflection (mirrors), are repelled by garlic, and can’t stand the sun. Also, there are crosses on our lone survivor, Dr. Robert Morgan, but they aren’t talked about. Seems like vampires to me. The movie kicks off with Morgan waking up and going about the daily exercise of being the last man alive in a city of monsters. He drops off some bodies in a burn pit, goes to the grocery store, picks up some fresh garlic, gets gas, and then hunts down some sleeping vampires so he can stake and then burn them. He is on a one man mission to clear the city of them.

After a close call when he falls asleep while visiting his dead wife’s coffin, we get a flashback to a pre-plague world. He was a respected researcher who was trying to figure out a cure. Clearly, he has failed! But it gives us a chance to see him lose all his friends, his daughter, and finally his wife. Then it bounces back to today, three years after everyone died, and he sees a dog. I won’t tell you how that ends because it is sad. But because of this encounter he also sees a girl… in the daylight. Maybe he isn’t alone after all. Some more things are revealed before we get to the ending that shocked some but not anyone who had ever read the book this is based on.

This story may seem familiar as it follows the standard survivor under siege formula that we are all used to. The key here is that The Last Man on Earth as well as the book I am Legend are the genesis of this type of plot device. Even George Romero came out and said that this movie was a big inspiration for Night of the Living Dead. If that isn’t enough to make you want to watch this, then I don’t know what else to say. Oh, wait I do.

Watching our character wander around the abandoned city going about his business of day to day errands is very disturbing. Especially when the nonchalant behavior continues to the killings of the sleeping vampires. They never spend any time explaining why he is do dead set on wiping them out when that seems futile as he is only one man in a large city full of them. This is especially so when we see that every night when the sun goes down, they lay siege to his home and are unable to get to him. So why is he so bloodthirsty? Is he just bored? Not explaining to the audience is a cool choice and over the years I’ve gone back and forth in my mind about Morgan’s motivations. When a movie engages me and makes me think that is a good thing.

For most of the movie we are just watching Morgan, which means you need a good actor to pull it off. They cast the legendary Vincent Price in the role which alone makes the movie worth it. Price is the sort of actor that can make anything he is in better merely by being there. His screen presence is equal to anyone before or since and he can make any line or situation believable. Well maybe not any. My only real complaint is that as much as I love Price, he isn’t an action star so when he is running around doing battle, which is quite a bit, I wasn’t totally buying into it. Then again, the quiet moments work so well that I can forgive The Last Man on Earth for this. He also sells the ending which I’m not going to spoil here.

You can keep The Omega Man and I am Legend, which are both versions of the same source material. This is the one that feels closest to the book which I’ve always loved. This is in the public domain and available everywhere. Take some time to check it out. I think you are going to dig what you see.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer

The Possessed (1977)

I’ve said it here on the site before and I will continue to shout it from the rooftops. There was no decade quite like the seventies when it came to made for television movies. The networks had their own cottage industry making tame versions of the most popular pop culture subjects for the airwaves. With the popularity of movies like The Exorcist and The Omen the whole Satan and demonic possession thing was ripe for the picking. That is how we ended up with The Possessed.

Things kick off with a minister named Leahy. He is dipping into the communion wine which leads to a terrible car accident and a near death experience. It seems that he had lost his faith, was an alcoholic, and an adulterer. God sends him back to Earth for redemption by seeking out and fighting evil. So, Leahy isn’t a preacher anymore but is now an exorcist who goes looking for the devil. Got that?

The movie then continues with some strange occurrences at a girl’s school run by headmistress Louise and her teacher sister Ellen. Ellen’s daughter Weezie is also a student at the school. After some foolish shenanigans from the girls, we see fires start to pop up on campus. One of them horrifically burns the legs of the valedictorian causing Ellen to go looking for help. When she is ignored by the police and her theories dismissed as foolish someone puts her in touch with Leahy. He shows up and starts to do some digging but can make her no guarantees that he will be able to stop it. Later we find out that person who was going to tell him about what was going on is still trying to locate Leahy, so how did he know to come to campus? This is the first of many mysteries that must be solved as it is unclear who has brought the evil to their school and what it wants. Not to worry eventually all is explained… sort of.

Turtle necks and sport coats!

I enjoyed the heck out of this one. Due to limitations of what they could show or even insinuate the filmmakers had to be creative. This leads to the movie playing more like a who done it as they lean heavily into the mystery of who is possessed rather than the horrific elements of the deaths and fires. They double down by making the Leahy character sort of appear and disappear at will. I mean not literally, but figuratively as he seems to show up ask pointed questions and then fixes things. It begs the question as to whether he is alive or some supernatural force for good. Having thought about the opening they don’t explicitly say he survived. Just a fun thought. Clocking in at an hour and sixteen minutes these questions kept me engaged and interested from start to finish. This is the case even after it is revealed who the culprit is. That ending is killer with I think Leahy taking the evil with him off campus as he disappears and the person who was possessed seemingly back to normal. The fact that they don’t explain why she was or how he helped her only adds to the mystery and the fun.

As much as I dug the story, I will admit that this movie is more well known for the actors that are in it than the quality of the plot. You have James Farentino as Leahy, Ann Dusenberry as the daughter Weezie, Eugene Roche as the police sergeant Taplinger, and Joan Hackett as the school mistress Louise. While these names might not jump off the page at you, I promise if you watched any genre or television from the seventies and eighties you will recognize these folks. These are working actors that appeared all over the place. But there are a pair of supporting roles that grab everyone’s attention.

He had no idea what was coming!

First up is Harrison Ford as the slightly creepy Biology teacher Paul Winjam. The Possessed aired a couple of months before a little science fiction flick you may have heard of called Star Wars hit the big screens. This was the last thing he did before his career took off and for some reason, he is featured prominently in most of the DVD covers and ads for this movie, despite having a small supporting role. The other is P.J. Soles as one of the schoolgirls. She has an even smaller role but is totally great in this. See what I did there? In another fun connection to Carpenter’s Halloween Ann Dusenberry was up for the role of Lori Strode before Jamie Lee Curtis got the part. I do love a good “What if” don’t you?

As of the writing of this review you can find The Possessed on YouTube for free. It is well worth you time to check it out. Not only for the fun before they were famous appearances but because it is a good time. I highly recommend it.

 

© Copyright 2022 John Shatzer