Doctor X (1932)
Don't Look Now (1973)
Atypical, unusual, dream-like, bizarre…all apt descriptions of Nicolas Roeg’s masterpiece of impending dread. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play grief-stricken parents whose daughter recently drowned to death. In an effort to get away from their depression, Sutherland takes a gig in Venice, Italy…and that’s when things get weird.
Psychics, an elusive serial killer and visions of the dead daughter wandering the Venetian canals all serve to build to a stunning climax that comes right out of the blue. As much a meditation on the destructive nature of guilt and grief as it is a horror film, this one is not for everybody. And to the mix a sex scene between Sutherland and Christie that stunned audiences at the time of release, had to be extensively trimmed in the US to receive an R rating and has long been rumored to have been “non-simulated” intercourse. All parties involved deny the rumor that they actually had sex on screen, but the rumor persists…and like they said in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence “when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” -
Roderick Usher
Zombi Holocaust (aka Doctor Butcher, M.D.) (1980)
Dungeon of Harrow (1962)
“How many times have I stood before this symbol of my family's greatness? And now this crest and I are dying together. In another time and another place, I might have brought honor and glory to the Fallon family, but instead I shall leave a legacy of decay and unspeakable horror.”
Just try and tell me that that isn’t one heck of an awesome way to start a horror movie. A little overdramatic perhaps, but in a film like Dungeon of Harrow you should never expect anything less.
At first the plot is really nothing new or exciting, but it soon progresses into incredibly bizarre and original territory. The lone survivors of a shipwreck, the son of a wealthy Englishman and the captain of his ship find themselves on the Isle de Sade, home to a more-than-slightly off his rocker Count. They are found and welcomed into his castle, but soon discover that not everything is as it seems. To reveal more would be to spoil the plot, but suffice to say I bet you can’t guess where it’s going to go from here.
The actors are all deliciously over the top, especially William McNulty in the role of the Count. His hallucination scene near the first really sets the tone for the rest of the film: Strange, whacked out and a whole heaping load of fun. Take one spoonful of one of Roger Corman’s Poe movies, remove most of the budget and a lot of the talent involved, add a generous pinch of LSD for good measure and voila! Dungeon of Harrow, ready to serve. Best consumed with an open mind. -
The Return
El dia de la bestia (aka The Day of the Beast) (1995)
