Wow. DARK SHADOWS episode 1198. The last episode for so many characters,
including - or so the DS Wiki tells me - Barnabas, Julia, Angelique,
Elizabeth and so many others, though the repertory players will remain
to carry on into a new, dissociated storyline. But, unexpectedly, this
is really where the show ends as we always knew it. A somewhat sloppy
execution, as always, a bit too hurried, but it works - except I wasn't
expecting to say goodbye to so many old friends today. Excuse me, I seem
to have something in my eye.
In an effort to feel more Halloweenish, I decided to watch THE RETURN OF
COUNT YORGA (1971) after dinner. I think I've only seen it once or
twice since its theatrical release, once on television and again as a
bootleg VHS. It's odd how time can change some things; I don't remember
so much of the film being lamely funny - on the contrary, I remember it
being fairly tense and scary, on the first pass anyway. Now I can see
that the film was heavily influenced by NIGHT OF THE LIV
ING
DEAD, DARK SHADOWS (it's an early case of the vampire in love, not at
all credible here) and, strangely enough, KILL, BABY... KILL! with a
ball-carrying, homicidal little boy in the thrall of the undead and a
few shock zooms into the faces of antique dolls. A few effective,
suspenseful scenes, with an especially well-handled first act with lore
concerning the Santa Ana winds, and a bevy of rotten-faced, lumbering
vampire brides who are much closer to the zombies of DAWN OF THE DEAD
than anything traditionally blood-sucking, but then it begins to shoot
itself repeatedly in the foot with too much self-conscious, jokey
dialogue. So I'm afraid it hasn't aged for me as well as I'd hoped. One
strange thing, though, concerning a tongue-in-cheek moment that shows
Yorga (Robert Quarry) absorbed in a late night TV showing of THE VAMPIRE
LOVERS. I remember the televised clip being shown in B&W (I even
seem to remember one critic pointing out this anachronism), but it's in
color in the HD version being shown on Netflix - and looking far sharper
than it should on Yorga's dinky portable 1970s set.
Watched Herzog's NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (1979), which I appreciated more in this viewing
than ever before, though I still find the ending the work of a genre
amateur. Kinski and particularly Adjani are magnificent. Then I finished
off the evening by enjoying my PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES commentary - the
first time I've actually seen the film in 1080p. I can endorse this disc
whole-heartedly.
Enjoyed BEWARE OF MR. BAKER (2013) and think it's probably as fine a
documentary on the subject as it could possibly be, so I'm a trifle
infuriated that the filmmaker Jay Bulger opens by laying his ignorance of Ginger
Baker on the table and 'fessing up to the fact that he misrepresented
himself to his subject initially as a writer for ROLLING STONE - and
then
did sell his interview to ROLLING STONE. I'm a man of peace but I
want to punch the little $#@!#% too.
Today I felt it was time to revisit Vincent Price's swan song at AIP,
MADHOUSE (1974), which is on Netflix. With Jim Nicholson gone, Sam Arkoff
returned to partnership with Amicus to complete Vincent's contract. I
suspect that the recently late Michel Parry, who was then working for
AIP's London office, must have had something to do with nominating Angus
Hall's novel DEVILDAY for filming; Hall was one of Mike's Hammer
novelizing colleagues, having written the paperback SCARS OF DRAC
ULA.
The movie has a stale look about it and it would have benefited from a
tighter edit (get rid of the blackmailing parents of the first victim),
but it is well-written with some believably catty movie biz dialogue and
the film as a whole does serve as a gracious thank-you to Vincent for
his rewarding years of service to AIP. The performances have their ups
and downs, but on the whole, I'm starting to like it. If this film were
better-known, I think Adrienne Corri's Faye, the spider-loving madwoman,
might be a popular Halloween dress-up option today. All this, plus
Peter Cushing and Robert Quarry (who attends a costume party as Count
Yorga!), and Vincent sings! It was obvious that some gore opportunities were trimmed to appease the MPAA - the sword-stabbing of the blackmailers, for
example. Also, I suspect the discovery of the blonde assistant's body
was refilmed, because there's very little blood on her when she's found, then her blouse is drenched in it as Price is carrying her
downstairs! But what I can't understand for the life of me is why - after
actress gave a remarkably steady performance as her own corpse - director Jim Clark would insert shots of a blatantly waxen stand-in
literally melting during the ensuing inferno! It completely destroys the
verisimilitude of the climax!
