Films Around the World

display any definite attitude toward such goings-on. In this last instance, at least. it disappror,,e

The first feature by England's Michael Reeves (then 21) stars Barbara Steele as a tourist in Transylvania possessed by a vengeful ugly witch. Ian Ogilvy is her husband. Lots of odd gags about Communists in modern Eastern Europe make this a unique thriller. With John Karlson and Mel Welles (as the innkeeper). **, Corel All Movie Guide

During the 1870s, two survivors of a capsized boat make their way to a remote island, desolate save for a decaying castle belonging to a demented count and leprous wife, who is also mad. The couple are imprisoned and tortured, but all are eventually doomed by the wife's dread disease. (The American Film Institute Catalog) Taken at face value, this film may be one of the worst movies ever made. It has almost no redeeming features, in the ordinary sense. The acting, photography, music, story,...

"This time around Tod Slaughter plays Mr. Stephen Hawke, a limping, kind-hearted bespectacled money lender by day with a beautiful, faithful daughter and the friendship of a local shipping agent and son, and by night he is the "spine-breaker," cruelest of all killers as he kills the rich for their money and treasure in a serial-like fashion. As with any Slaughter film, Slaughter is the main focal point of the film. The film is barely over an hour in length, but it has much to offer in plot. We...

A bone-chiller that still manages to inject humor, this movie was based on an actual event and even spawned Stephen Sondheim's hit play Sweeney Todd" in 1978. Slaughter portrays a mad barber who has a deal with a baker to provide fillings for his meat pies. Unfortunately for the barber's customers, their visit to his basement makes them an integral part of that treat." Corel All Movie Guide 2

Sexton Blake, a British pulp-novel ripoff of Sherlock Holmes, was the principal character in several fast-paced programmers of the 1930s. George Curzon stars as Blake in SEXTON BLAKE AND THE HOODED TERROR, but the histrionic honors go to chop-licking Tod Slaughter as The Snake," the elusive head of a group of masked criminals. The scriptwriters contrive to allow the perfidious Slaughter to escape scot-free at the climax, paving the way for a sequel (that, worse luck, was never filmed). Greta...

Based on Wilkie Collins' gothic suspense story, "The Woman in White," this chiller stars Tod Slaughter as an evil type who kills a man in another country, assumes his identity, returns to England and then keeps on killing to hide his secret. Pure melodrama with lines such as "After 20 years in the wilds, I feel the need of a wife's comfort and companionship."

One of the recent sinners to arrive in Hell is Satanya, a beautiful young suicide. The Devil orders her to act as a messenger for him to recruit possible new candidates from earth. In return for her work, she is promised clemency. Her first target is a New York photographer, to whom she brings a new camera; subsequently, he kills one of his models. His death and consequent descent into Hell are caused by the repeated appearance of the dead model's face in his photographs. Satanya's next...

One of the best pictures to come out of the PRC production mill, 'Bluebeard' is a horror film that should be able to bring good returns as the top film on neighborhood duals. Locale is Paris in the 19th century. John Carradine gives an excellent portrayal of an artist with an uncontrollable desire to strangle his models after he has painted their portraits. Jean Parker, as one of the models, gives one of her better performances in bringing the killer to justice. Others who help make this...

Well done chiller starring George Zucco and Lionel Atwill. "Story revolves around a man once rich who had served a prison term for embezzlement, and his efforts to avenge not only his conviction but also the murder of his wife. On his foggy island estate for a weekend are gathered the group of men and women he suspects of having been responsible for his downfall. Other characters are there, including a former cellmate of the ex-convict, an escaped lifer who somehow turns up as the butler, the...

Edgar G. Ulmer-directed "B" masterpiece "based on a novel story idea.... Uniformly good performances and some equally good direction and dialog keep the meller moving..." "Theme is the buffeting that man gets from the fates." New York pianist hitchhikes west to join aspiring actress girlfriend, gets ride with gambler who dies naturally en route. Pianist panics, takes his car, identity and money and drives on, only to pick up woman hitchhiker who turns out to have previously hitchhiked with the...

An old man sells his soul to the devil, and turns into a young man. He then uses witchcraft and black magic to win a woman from his rival.