There are a number of very interesting things about The Castle of the Living Dead (1964), but they don’t add up to a pleasurable experience for me. I sat watching, occasionally smiling or checking IMDb because of something familiar, but I was otherwise uninterested and, quite frankly, a little bored with the overall film. Compared…

Secret of the Red Orchid (1962) is one of the least twisted adaptations of an Edgar Wallace novel that I’ve seen. It’s a straight-forward gangster drama with a light, often humorous, touch. It’s nice to see Christopher Lee smile for once. He plays FBI agent Captain Allerman, who opens the film by apprehending mob boss…

As “racy” as it is for 1965, I can’t help but think Bloody Pit of Horror would have been more effective had it been made a few years later. For example, when two scantily clad women are strapped to a “spinner rack of death,” the blades that the villain are pounding closer and closer to…

With Picture Mommy Dead, Mr. B.I.G. (Bert I. Gordon) takes on a different kind of giant: William Castle. In fact, were in not filmed in color, and were Castle not on the decline with I Saw What You Did (1965) and Let’s Kill Uncle (1996), you might think Picture Mommy Dead was a thriller made…

I survived Hillbillys in a Haunted House and it wasn’t as difficult as I expected it to be. That’s not saying it’s good, but the few minutes of actual story floating among 1960s country music performances are no worse than any other B-movie of the era featuring a man in a gorilla costume. And edit…

Director William Castle emerges from the fog at the beginning of Mr. Sardonicus (1961) to warn us we’re about to see a story of “gallantry, graciousness, and ghouls.” He returns near the end of the film to ask us to vote whether the villain deserves “mercy or no mercy.” This Castle film is not a…

They say that some actors are so good that even if their movies aren’t, their presence can elevate them and make them worth watching. Specifically, this has been said about Vincent Price. Normally, I’d wholeheartedly agree, but Master of the World (1961) puts considerable strain on the theory. It’s been the Middle Ages since I’ve…

Curtis Harrington (1926-2007) I was now reaching the age where the idea of sex began to go beyond the theoretical into the actual, and I must confess that I began to make a few explorations in this direction with some of my male school chums. Of course, I went to parties and school dances with…

Eye of the Devil (1966) fits into that odd and wonderful era of 1960s British genre films that gave us Village of the Damned, Day of the Triffids, and Night of the Eagle (aka Burn, Witch, Burn.) For me, this means they’re made with a perspective or sensibility that’s just slightly unfamiliar when compared to…

David Lowell Rich should be a familiar name to those who join us on Fridays for TV Terror Guide. Beginning his career in the 1950s, he was a prolific director of television shows who made several 1970s TV thrillers. He made the occasional theatrical film and it’s interesting that Eye of the Cat (1969) plays…