Video Beaverhausen: One Million BC vs One Million Years BC

My grandmother loved sitting with me, as a child, watching old movies on our tv. She saw many of these at the Paterson, NJ movie houses originally. While not really a fan of the horror or fantasy genres, she loved the 1940 classic One Million B.C.

I think she had a crush on the young Victor Mature. And she was a fan of Carol Landis, his co-star in this film. They certainly were well-groomed cave people. And pretty sexy, too!

The film was produced and directed by Hal Roach (Little Rascals). It featured lizards as dinosaurs (with prosthetic fins and horns) and I'm sure some animal cruelty may have been afoot back in the day.

My grandmother's favorite moment was that in which a woman pushes a child out of the way of hot, molten lava running down the mountainside, only to be trapped under it herself. I must say, the f/x are still pretty impressive in that scene. That self-sacrificing moment, I'm sure, really appealed to my grandma. It was so Mildred Pierce, so Stella Dallas in a prehistoric way.

In 1966, I saw the remake with the grammatically correct title, One Million Years B.C. It had sexy cave people, too, in still scantier outfits. I had the poster on my bedroom wall. The film, probably Hammer films' most ambitious ever, had special f/x by Ray Harryhausen, so that was a major improvement.

The highlight in this film is a pterodactyl carrying Raquel off to feed her to its young.

Factually, both titles are historically inaccurate, and at no moment, of course, did humans, pterodactyls and wooly mammoths live on this planet at the same time. Pipe dreams that must drive Neil Degrasse nuts. Perfect  pictures for science deniers!

Video Beaverhausen: Oliver Reed in Curse of the Werewolf

It doesn't have to be Halloween season for me to kick back and watch a horror film from Hammer. But it helps.

The mythology of the werewolf is all about man's baser nature and the primitive beast that lies within all of us. With his strong build and good looks back in '61 (Owoooo!) -- and with his upper-class accent (he was the nephew of film director Sir Carol Reed) -- Oliver Reed's performance in Curse of the Werewolf, directed assuredly by Terence Fisher, gives the film its growling, grimacing gravitas. This was years before Women in Love and his infamous nude wrestling scene with Alan Bates therein.

Hammer had the rights to all of Universal's classic monster movies. With the wolfman legend, they eschewed the Lyle Talbot storyline and instead based their script on a novel by Guy Endore.

The movie's set in Spain in the 19th Century. Reed's make-up reminded me more of Henry Hull's in the classic Werewolf of London than of Lon Chaney Jr's in Universal's The Wolfman. It is said, however, that make-up artist Roy Ashton based his make-up on the latter film.

Oliver Reed turned into quite a beast himself much later in life. But that's another story.

In Curse of the Werewolf, there is a village up in arms, the damsel in distress and a shocking (for its time) rape sequence that takes place very early in the film. Werewolves are back in vogue nowadays, and this classic deserves to be rediscovered. Watch it. It's a hoot and a holler.

Video Beaverhausen: Hammer Films' The Gorgon

At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, residents of a small village are becoming petrified -- both figuratively and literally! Hammer Films' The Gorgon is indeed an atmospheric horror film (wonder what their smoke machine-and-dry ice budget was), very moody and stylish, and very campy. It will  especially appeal to its gay audience, none of whom would dare style that hair! Why, one would have to cut it blindfolded for one thing (probably chopping off some serpent heads), and I can't imagine what the shampooing/ blow-dry would be like. Back around that time, when my mom gave herself her Toni Home Permanents, the rollers kind of resembled those snakes.

Turning to stone in the 20th Century may be a metaphor this movie wishes to convey. I really believe that high-minded concept may be at work in this film. Stage-trained, Shakespearian actors and Hammer stalwarts Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Barbara Shelley are in The Gorgon, giving it gravitas.

As for the creature itself, named Megeara, she is a real mess in a dress. Miss Thing doesn't look the least bit convincing, unfortunately. But that only brings us back to what makes this film a camp classic. Long after shooting this film, Christopher Lee said, "The only thing wrong with The Gorgon was the gorgon!" He praised the film and called it "beautiful looking" but added that, due to budget constraints, the f/x just weren't convincing. "It could have been terrific," Lee said.

Handsomely directed by Terrence Fisher who helmed many Hammer horror classics, including many of the Dracula, Frankenstein and Mummy films. Damn those full moons!

Hammer Films are back with us. Its newest "monster" is The Woman in Black.

Video Beaverhausen: Oh, Those Bloody Bees!

When someone decides, in a British horror film, to go to a quaint village or a remote little UK island, you immediately know he or she is bound for trouble. Sinister things happen in those places, it would seem, especially when one is trying to recover after a traumatic incident.

In The Deadly Bees (1966), Suzanna Leigh, a very pretty and talented British actress who was quite popular in the US as well as abroad throughout the 1960s and '70s, portrays a very Dusty Springfield-like recording artist who suffers a nervous breakdown. Though this is a daily routine for me, Ms Leigh hopes to chill out on a quaint, isolated island village for a rest cure.

No sooner than you can say, "You in danger, girl!",  our protagonist is plagued by the hives -- the kind with bees in them.

My friends, Tracey and Merv, are beekeepers. They have some rather sprawling property behind their Connecticut home and have become beekeepers. Maybe this film could give them a few ideas. I'll have to put the buzz in their ears.

Add caption

Amicus Productions made this film at Shepperton Studios in London. It was one of many films in the horror genre that they did, including Dr Terror's House of Horrors and Tales from the Crypt ~ the last two based on a compendium format originated in the UK by the classic Dead of Night (1945). They even produced a couple of Dr Who movies with the late, great Peter Cushing in the title role.

Amicus shared a lot of talent with Hammer Films, including Cushing, Christopher Lee and director Jimmy Sangster (who directed this film among many others for the studio). Frank Finlay co-stars in this one.

Robert Bloch (Psycho) wrote the screenplay based on a British novel. Special effects are tacky but fun. As an inside joke, there's a song by The Byrds on the soundtrack. (The Byrds and the bees, get it?)

First time ever on dvd and never on videotape.

Video Beaverhausen: Hammer Films' Method Horror Film, The Scream of Fear

In 1961, UK's Hammer horror films brought us The Scream of Fear that I saw for the first time tonight, on video. It stars a wheel-chair bound Susan Strasberg (one day I'll host a stars-in-a-wheel-chair festival), daughter of Lee Strasberg, who brings Method to the madness.

Christopher Lee is in this as the doctor. Lee is on record saying he thought this was the best film Hammer ever made.

Strasbeg delivers a fairly standard American-as-Brit accent but is impressive as the purported Penny Appleby. Ann Todd is also in this, offering strong support as Ann's stepmom. Susan gets to be carried about by hunky Ronald Lewis (Mr Sardonicus), who even gets to show off in a skimpy bathing suit.

Is Appleby losing her mind... or is something afoot? I think you have a good idea without my saying any more. The Scream of Fear gives us a slow build-up that mounts and pays off by the finale. Every time Strasberg wheels herself near the pool, you'll hold your breath. I have to tell you that the ending actually shocked me. I never saw it coming!

Beautiful black-and-white cinematography by Davis Slocombe, expert script by Jimmy Sangster and assured direction under Seth Holt. Some surprisingly suspenseful turns throughout. John Serret makes a perfect late turn as Inspector LeGrand.

Hitchcockian in the best sense of that term. Expert filmmaking.

Video Beaverhausen: Hammer Horror's The Quiet Ones

From Hammer Films in the UK came The Quiet Ones, now on video.

Hammer's House of Horror had its heyday back in the 1950s and '60s, when the studio resurrected Universal Pictures' famous monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy. The studio folded for a time in the '80s but resurrected itself in the 21st century and now exploits (masterfully, of course) the trend in horror flicks toward the paranormal.

The Quiet Ones' marketing, with its billboard artwork, was one of the most striking in some time. Unfortunately, the movie does not live up to its promotion.

It's Hammer, so it's handsomely mounted and quite sexy and smart. Only in Hammer horror might you hear the shouted out line: "Take your hands out of his trousers now!" Trash with class.

It's British, so many of the characters smoke their ciggies throughout, which might be the most shocking thing in this film. The acting and cinematography are superb. Well directed, the script has a professor, three students (two cute guys and a sexy blonde chick with a Dusty Springfield hairdo) from Oxford going out to a mansion in the country to scientifically study and document a case of  "demonic posession" in a young woman.

There's much success in building suspense, complete with occasional and effective use of faux-cinema verite camerawork inspired by Salem Witch Project (still trending in horror films). Tragically, though, the film fails to deliver the scares it promises. In fact, it was a bit of a yawn. Hammer Studio will have to do better than this to resurrect itself from the dead. For God's sake, Hammer, isn't the current vampire trend more up your alley? Fly with it.