Recent Releases In Review

TALES OF THE UNCANNY (2021, Severin Films): This direct-to-video documentary - largely assembled from ZOOM interviews and trailer clips, with some more professionally shot interviews along the way - is a rousing and useful overview of the horror anthology in film and television, ranging from the German silent Poe adaptation EERIE TALES (1919) to SOUTHBOUND (2015) and beyond, to the very threshold of its centenary. Sixty-one filmmakers and authorities from around the world trace the primal allure of the horror short story back to our earliest memories of storytelling, as ourselves and as a species, then pick their favorites and comment on others. The result is a chronologically arranged symposium that covers a lot of ground with knowledge and sophistication. There's a nice middle section that offers up a lot of love for Amicus Films; the final third I found slightly less interesting but helpful in terms of narrowing down the profusion of DTV titles to a core of worthwhile work. Included as two bonus features are EERIE TALES (the film that started it all) and also Jean Faurez's 1949 film UNUSUAL TALES (Histories Extraordinaires à faire per ou à faire rire... - which means "Unusual Tales to Make You Scream and Laugh"). At the end, two polls are taken to arrive at the general favorite film and episode. I was frankly outraged by the final results, but at least it's democracy at work. 

DARK INTRUDER (1965, Kino Lorber): A miscast Leslie Nielsen stars in this fascinating mid-sixties oddity, a pre-KOLCHAK television pilot about a debonair 19th century occult specialist who lives in a library of forgotten lore, attended by a dwarf manservant, who is sometimes called upon by the police to solve murders of unusual mystery. It turned out so well that Universal decided to ship it out to theaters as a co-feature (it's no more than roughly an hour long), at just about the time B-pictures disappeared. Without giving too much away, the murders lead to a real freak of nature (one that Stephen R. Bissette ties into the lineage of David Cronenberg's THE BROOD in his recent book on that film) and some nicely eerie set pieces that will have you recalling HOUSE OF WAX and other period horror fare, while the main dramatic scenes feel very much like a citified version of THE WILD WILD WEST. Written by Barré Lyndon (THE MAN IN HALF MOON STREET, John Brahm's THE LODGER, George Pal's THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, and the "Sign of Satan" episode of ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR), this was produced by future NIGHT GALLERY producer Jack Laird (it feels like his work), and photographed by John F. Warren (who shot eight THRILLERs and almost 50 HITCHCOCK episodes), so it has a fine pedigree.  Peter Mark Richman (who recently passed away), Judi Meredith (somewhat too modern an actress to be suitable for 19th century parts), and Werner Klemperer are also in it and, of all people, THE GODFATHER's Al Lettieri briefly turns up as a constable. Had I seen this when I was twelve, I'd probably feel a huge sentimental attachment for this, but I didn't, so I don't. Nevertheless, this is a nice bon-bon. I wish this release contained the original pilot version (a 16mm print of which recently surfaced on eBay) but it does include a fine commentary by FANTASTIC TELEVISION author Gary Gerani that will tell you anything you want to know about this peculiar one-shot. Not quite the outstanding rediscovery that Kino Lorber's 2018 release of Joseph Stefano's THE GHOST OF SIERRA DE COBRE was; it's a little corny and self-conscious in the way most pilots are, but the climactic makeup is good and Gerani's audcom turns a engaging hour into an interesting two.

(c) 2021 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.

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