Coming Attractions - Die, Monster, Die! (1965) / Planet of the Vampires (1965)

Press Book Collection - Frogs (1972)

Press Book Collection - Black Sabbath (1963)

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Press Book Collection - Tales of Terror (1962)

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Press Book Collection - The Haunted Palace (1963)

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Press Book Collection - The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

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The Food of the Gods (1976)

Dir: BERT I. GORDON
Country: USA

AKA:
H. G. Wells' Food of the Gods

Writer/director/producer/visual effects designer Bert I Gordon is living proof that one can be a jack of all trades and master of none. Despite Gordon’s obvious shortcomings there is a certain infectious enthusiasm to many of his films - especially his science-fiction efforts of the 1950’s. How can one not enjoy the absurd prospect of giant grasshoppers in the ludicrous Beginning of the End (1957), the odd poignancy of The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) and the expectation of poorly realised mutant spiders in Earth vs. the Spider (1958)? As with many science-fiction films of the 1950’s the best thing about Gordon’s films were the titles. Nevertheless he managed to deliver distraction and entertainment, that is until Village of the Giants (1965) when his brand of gigantism (he also did a little people film - the awful Attack of the Puppet People [1958]) reached an apex of stupidity and boredom. Against the run of technology Gordon persisted with his visual effects, and more importantly persisted with the themes inherent in the subject of mutation. His science-fiction/horror efforts forming an interesting self-contained universe that might respond well to the auteur theory. In the late 1970’s he returned to his favoured landscape with The Food of the Gods (1976) and Empire of the Ants (1977), two films which took advantage of the ‘Revolt of Nature’ impulse that had been re-popularised in the wake of Jaws (1975).

Attack of the Puppet People (1958)

Dir: BERT I. GORDON
Country: USA

AKA:
Six Inches Tall
I Was a Teenage Doll
The Fantastic Puppet People

It was very difficult for me to resist a film with the title Attack of the Puppet People, but I wish I had. This flimsy waste of celluloid was created entirely to cash in on the success of Universal-International’s intelligent and philosophical The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). The perpetrators of this mindless travesty were AIP, an independent production/distribution company I have a love/hate relationship with. At times I think AIP are treated a bit too charitably, and while they did produce some worthy additions to popular American genres, this particular movie is one I could have done without. The paper thin screenplay was concocted by sci-fi stalwarts George Worthing Yates and Bert I. Gordon. Yates had shown some flair and intelligence with the writing of Them! (1954) and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956), unfortunately flair and intelligence are in very short supply with this movie. Perhaps the fault rests more with Wisconsin born director/writer/producer Bert I. Gordon. This was his fifth feature film and the previous four King Dinosaur (1955), Beginning of the End (1957), The Cyclops (1957) and The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) were only distinguishable for their special effects and perhaps their stupidity. Gordon’s films however possess a charm that is highly infectious, which makes Puppet People’s hollowness all the more surprising.

Die, Monster Die! (1965)

Dir: DANIEL HALLER
Country: UK/USA

aka:
Monster of Terror

In honour of the birth of H. P. Lovecraft I thought I’d reacquaint myself with one of the earliest film adaptations of his work. Lovecraft has been very badly served by cinema. With the worthy exceptions of Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986) Lovecraft’s nightmarish vision of cosmic horrors has remained largely unrealised. One of his most evocative and memorable short stories is The Colour Out of Space which Lovecraft wrote in March 1927 and was first printed in the September 1927 edition of Amazing Stories. It has since become one of his most enduring tales. The first thing to say about Jerry Sohl’s screenplay adaptation is that it is very loose. In fact Die, Monster Die! has only a thin resemblance to the story it is based upon. The filmmakers instead are totally intent on recreating the look, feel, and style of the Corman/Poe cycle which was also distributed by American International Pictures. This isn’t much of a surprise when one realises that first time director Daniel Haller had in fact worked on every one of the Poe films as art director. So once again, as was the case with an earlier AIP adaptation of Lovecraft (The Haunted Palace (1963)) Lovecraft is subsumed into filmmaking strategies adopted for the Poe cycle.

The Oblong Box (1969)

Dir: GORDON HESSLER
Country: UNITED KINGDOM

aka:
Edgar Allan Poe's The Oblong Box

This troubled production from American International Pictures initially began life as the next project for young British filmmaker Michael Reeves. He had clearly impressed his backers with the strength of his third film Witchfinder General (1968). The death of Reeves during the pre-production of The Oblong Box was a major blow, not only to the film, but to British filmmaking in general. With the death of Reeves any ambition the film might have had began to dwindle and this was signposted by the arrival of the undistinguished Gordon Hessler as his directorial replacement. Hessler was a capable director, but one who rarely achieved any kind of inspiration - and this derivative and clichéd piece of gothic horror was badly in need of inspiration.

Tales of Terror (1962)

Dir: ROGER CORMAN
Country: USA

aka:
Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Terror

It seems only appropriate after stretching the Edgar Allan Poe short stories The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, and The Premature Burial to feature length that Roger Corman for his fourth trip into Poe’s feverish universe should choose the form of the anthology film. By this point the Poe team under the auspices of Corman and production company American International Pictures was familiar and tight nit. Richard Matheson was on hand to contribute his third screenplay to the series, and Floyd Crosby completed a Poe quartet in the department of cinematography, maintaining a lighting scheme that gave the Poe films a uniformity in their visual style. In front of the camera Vincent Price contributes four performances to the anthology, appearing in each segment, and using his silken tones as the narrator. Like any anthology the results are patchy and uneven, with some segments clearly better than others. But Corman and his collaborators once again achieve a delicate and hallucinatory climate of gothic phantasmagoria and hysterical melodrama.

Madhouse (1974)

Dir: JIM CLARK
Country: UK

aka:
The Madhouse of Dr. Fear
The Revenge of Dr. Death

This joint venture between American International Pictures and Amicus Productions is based upon the novel Devilday by Angus Hall. Despite a promising and intriguing premise this amounts to little more than a tired and jaded trawl through the greatest hits of Vincent Price. There are numerous opportunities for some self-reflexive fun and pastiche, but director Jim Clark and his collaborators don’t quite have the guts to push the film in the direction of the spoof territory where it may have succeeded. Price plays the character of Paul Toombes a faded has-been of a Hollywood star who achieved notoriety and success in the past with a series of horror films in which he played the sinister psychopath Dr. Death. The film opens with a glitzy, vulgar and camp Hollywood party in honour of Toombes’ latest marriage. Sadly the decapitation of his new love sours the mood somewhat (though its the typically tawdry Amicus décor that had me retching in horror) and Toombes suffers a complete breakdown jabbering incoherently that Dr. Death was responsible. Years later Toombes accepts an invite from an English television producer to resurrect Dr. Death for the small screen - only for his insecurities , mental anguish, and past to return to haunt him.

The Haunted Palace (1963)

Dir: ROGER CORMAN
Country: USA

aka:
Edgar Allan Poe's The Haunted Palace

In the 1960’s Roger Corman in conjunction with American International Pictures was creating his own brand of gothic horror. These films which were largely based on the short stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe offered more psychological depth than the rival productions of England’s Hammer. Corman opted for a more delicate and finely balanced visual palette which mirrored the dreamy and hallucinatory nature of his films. Hammer’s merits lay in the externalised opulence of their production design and art direction. An evocative visual landscape which ultimately distanced the viewer from the horror on screen. Corman however was just as interested in interior landscapes and in the interaction between emotional depth and visual style. For this reason Corman’s Poe films seem to have an intellectual dimension which was rarely reached by any of his contemporaries.