Category Archives: retrospective

Retrospective: Psycho II (1983)

03 Saturday Jun 2023

Posted by in retrospective

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Where unrest lies around remakes and sequels, there also comes the age-old response of untouched gold concerning “classic’ features that come into effect. Among them is undoubtedly Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, based on Robert Bloch’s novel.  The feature is so embedded in masterly terrain that the very notion of going near such material would be scorned upon, even Gus Van Sant’s controversial shot-for-shot remake was lambasted for daring to go into the material. So, when Bloch himself ventured with a novelised sequel back in 1982, that lambasted slasher films, Hollywood decided to strike back and carve out their own Norman Bates return some 22 years after its predecessor was released. 

Psycho II would even struggle at first to entice its star Anthony Perkins to reprise the infamous role, but upon reading the script by Tom Holland, he agreed to do so. Holland himself had only been tied to screenwriting duties and would cameo as Deputy Norris here. It would only be another 3 years before Holland would capture horror enthusiasts further with his directorial role for Fright Night. 

Helming the directorial duties for Psycho II would be Hitchcock student and heavily influenced by the auteur, Richard Franklin, who had already made Patrick and Roadgames using similar styles and techniques that the Master of Suspense came synonymous for. It would seem then that Franklin was the perfect choice to steer the ship and blend this continuation for the Norman Bates storyline.

Part of the appeal for this narrative would be the magnificent Vera Miles also returning for her role of Lila Loomis, although the treatment of her character arc is brought to contention which sees her on a malicious vendetta to put Bates behind bars again. Whilst you can understand her views, it is her gruesome demise that gets fans fuming a little. Personally, I like this journey and the subject of nature vs nurture that is brought to the helm. Can a man really change or is he doomed to repeat himself when constantly subjected to forced opinions and spectacle?

Throw in the mix, some great supporting roles in Meg Tilly as Mary Loomis (slightly biased opinion on my count as I adored her when I was younger… and still do), Robert Loggia as Dr. Bill Raymond to cast the psychological scrutiny, and Dennis Franz as the drunk motel caretaker.

Eagle-eyed viewers will also note Perkins’ son, Oz (now a notable film director – The Blackcoat’s Daughter, I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, Gretel and Hansel) as a young Norman Bates too.

The question remains though, is Psycho II a worthy sequel?

Well let’s look at Surgeons of Horror’s own six step criteria to place the feature under the microscope.

1, Identify the ideas, themes & executional elements that make the first film great.  Or at least good.  Or at least worthy of being sequelised.

The original movie was the epitome of suspense, filled with certain twists and turns in storytelling technique. It also posed an intriguing antagonist in serial killer Norman Bates and his alter ego “Mother”, that would lead some to ponder what happened to him and did he remain in the confines of a psychiatric ward?

2. Pay homage and do not violate/ignore said ideas and themes and elements.

It helps to have a visionary such as Franklin at the helm to carry out the look and feel of the original Bringing back Perkins and Miles to resurrect their character also lends weight to carry the torch, but with the worthy depth to character also forces the direction into a different stance in order to establish the narrative. There is also a lot of set design and props taken from the original that features here to recapture the look and feel.

3. Introduce new/expanded themes, ideas and elements that will NATURALLY ALIGN to your first ideas, themes & elements.  (Ie: Don’t use your second movie to discredit & contradict your first).

Set 20 years later lays the grounds for further expansion by placing Bates in the position of rehabilitation. The subject matter of can a person be truly reformed when they were fundamentally unhinged is ripe to explore and Perkins does a magnificent job of placing Bates with the usual “innocent’ wonder combined with a slow descent into madness. Introducing a second generation of Loomis also explores shared trauma but under a new, more sympathetic outlook that contrasts her mother’s. Both Mary and Norman have a similarity in dominant mother’s and try to shirk their control to their own detriment. By placing the psyche under scrutiny, and twisting the perspectives of all throughout, the audience is kept guessing as to which way the knife will turn. In this respect it more than ticks the fourth rule.

4. To underline point 3 – DO NOT rehash the first film and just give people “more of the same”.

5. DO NOT-NOT rehash the first film by giving more of the same…. BUT “BIGGER”.

To support this choice of direction, the slow unravel of psychosis on our central characters and in doing so, grounding the narrative, the larger than life component that some sequels suffer under, is thankfully absent here.

And finally…

6. Be a good enough stand-alone film by itself.

Can this film truly stand alone without the impact of the first? In short, no, not without the same kind of delivery. The film does carry a narrative that is strong enough, and with the flashback placed in the prologue, enough is provided for an audience member to come in cold and still value the film by its own worth,

While it’s clear that one can’t merely replicate the quality and vision of a classic, the team behind Psycho II give a damn good crack at pushing into new terrain without scarring the original vision too greatly. For me, the film is a decent attempt at exploring Bates’ character and I am grateful that Perkins was given a fairly tight storyline and subject matter to expand and explore this character in more detail. Some forty years have passed now since its release, and looking back it’s well worth a revisit.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective – The Birds (1963)

28 Tuesday Mar 2023

Posted by in retrospective

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Before Steven Spielberg instilled our fear of the ocean and created the first Summer Blockbuster in Jaws, Alfred Hitchcok attempted to do something similar but instead of sharks, the attack on humanity came from the skies for his feature adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s The Birds.

Not for the first time would Hitch go to Du Maurier’s bibliography for inspiration having done so some twenty years earlier in arguably his first success in Hollywood, Rebecca. That film would go on to receive Best Picture Academy Award, but notably had Producer David O. Selznick’s fingerprints all over the production’s end result. By 1963 however, Hitch had firmly established himself as a prominent actor in the Golden Hills with a style remarkably his own and riding on the crest of the success of Psycho.

The Birds, a short story, would be given a face lift from the small Cornish town from which it was initially set, being transported to north of San Francisco and the idyllic Bodega Bay (a place and region that Hitch fell in love with).

Looking back at this film at the time of writing to celebrate its 60th Anniversary, there are obvious flaws that come to light when contrasted with Jaws. Namely, depth of character, which has often been criticised towards the screenwriter, Evan Hunter, but to do so would be to neglect the Hitchcock style and direct precision choices made by the auteur. The Birds is the epitome of style over substance. 

We initially follow Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), the depiction of Hitchcock Blonde captured on screen, the perfect mould for him to carve out his vision of the “statuesque blonde with a cool, sophisticated manner”. The scene is set in San Francisco as we witness her enter a pet store and encounter the brash, machismo Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) and a cool-yet-flirtatious dialogue sparks between them. Enough to encourage Daniels to buy lovebirds and drive off to his hometown of Bodega Bay to give his younger sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright – yes, that Veronica Cartright) as a birthday present. As you do. All this foolish foreplay is a facade and symbolic of the complacency that is created in humanity. It serves as the true horror lurking in the clouds and the menace that hangs in the air – The Birds. After all, as Hitch put it, The Birds are the stars. Hitch was the king of suspense, and this is what he plays with, delicately enticing the fear to come to the audience in strong steady beats, starting with the one swooping gull attack Melanie Daniels head, then the attack on the farm, which leads Mitch’s mother, Lydia (the magnificent Jessica Tandy to play the overbearing matriarch) to discover the bloodied remains of a local farmer. This scene is also the only real gory sequence shot, the rest, by design, leads the audience to fill in the gaps. 

The film would be iconised by two particular sequences, the school attack as birds descend on the children trying to escape. And the moment that Melanie gets trapped inside the attic with the feathered frenzy in an isolated environment. That’s not to forget the carnage that escalates outside the town eatery, when a further attack ensues, following a weighty dialogue sequence where local townsfolk try to unpack the cause of the bird attacks. The real moment of despair would be in the picture’s final sequence as a traumatised Daniels has been reduced to her core, escorted away in her car with Mitch and his family surrounded by a sea of birds, never knowing when the next strike will come, if it all. This ambiguous ending, one that is echoed from the source novel, left a lot of moviegoers bewildered, but for me, it’s the killer stroke deliberately left hanging in the air that hits strong and true. 

By flipping the perspective of caged birds to caged humans, hiding in fear of predators, seeking protecting behind fimble walls, and also leading to an unknown conclusion and embracing the exterior, the audience are also thrust into the wilderness with a faint sign of hope to lead the way.

  • Saul Muerte

 1 Counts, K. B. (1980). The Making of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Cinemafantastique, 10, 15-35.

Retrospective – The Crazies (1973)

16 Thursday Mar 2023

Posted by in retrospective

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

A young brother and sister teasingly play together one evening when all of a sudden their father begins smashing up their living room with a crowbar and dousing it all in gasoline. The young girl rushes to her Mother, only to find her lying dead in bed. The house goes up in the flames and the opening credits begin. It has been fifty years since George A Romero’s The Crazies hit screens. Now sitting down to watch this film in a post-pandemic world there is certainly a strange element of familiarity here at times though certainly this is a much darker and bleaker imagining.

The pace of the first 20 minutes is rapid, from the opening scene that hooks you right in we’re introduced to our main characters, ex-green beret and volunteer fire-fighter, David and his wife, Judy, a local nurse. Both awoken in the night from calls for both of their professional assistance, David to the house fire and Judy to two children who have barely survived the arson of their home. Already the military has boots in the ground and quickly take control of the situation, we’re informed via an exposition dump montage as the various levels of military confer on the situation across locations; a military plane crash landed in the hills near this town, an experimental vaccine (we later learn bio-weapon) has leaked and found its way into the water supply. The goal is to maintain a quarantine of the town so that the virus does not spread further. The way that Romero injects so much energy into this set up is a little disorientating, it feels stylised yet authentic and immediately hooks us.

The Crazies was Romero’s third film post-Night of the Living Dead, (after There’s Always Vanilla & Hungry Wives) and truly feels like the spiritual successor to Night.  The film follows a group of townsfolk, bound together by happenstance, trying to survive a plethora of dangers: a virus that has leaked into their water supply, the infected Crazies violently causing destruction, the hazmat-suited soldiers trying to contain the outbreak and the uninfected townsfolk fighting against this forceful quarantine. The main theme of the film is a distrust of the government and the bureaucracy in charge of keeping us safe that will ultimately lead to more bloodshed. The shadow of the Vietnam War looms large here, we even have two of the main characters being vets, with one of them experiencing bursts of paranoid violence evoking wartime flashbacks thanks to the virus. The soldiers rush into peoples homes, dragging them out of bed, displacing them. A character even remarks that “this will feel like an invasion”. Romero has always passionately struck at the structures of power and control with his social commentary. It’s messily done here but the ambition and obvious talent gives this film a level of depth and interest that is utterly lacking in so many other grindhouse movies of the time.

The film truly feels like the stepping stone from Night to Dawn, the scale is sized up from a farmhouse to a whole town. The imagery of the hazmat suits is iconic and a deeply unsettling force that is often undercut by the ADR lines inserted for them, often comedic or mundane. The soldiers are mostly unaware of what they’re doing here and so there is some empathy built towards them. It’s the lines of communications, the unnecessary red-tape that ends up being the main villain of this film.

The Virus code-name Trixie, is initially reported to be an experimental vaccine that has been let loose, the truth is that it is a man-made bio-weapon, when infected the victim often becomes violent and acts straight-up coo-coo. This element is a lot of fun, giving us an old woman knitting happily while her husband is having an active shootout one room away, a priest setting himself on fire, and a father and adult daughter almost- Ok maybe FUN isn’t the right word. It gives us absurd and unsettling variety though, like the image of a bunch of infected townsfolk rushing violently towards the soldiers, accompanied by a woman that is just sweeping with a broom, unperturbed. It all lacks the clean and simple effect that we get from the Night of the Living Dead’s ghouls but when a character starts giggling at danger or acting a little goofy you start getting nervous. It’s interesting to think that if this film was more successful at the time Romero could’ve made Dawn of the Crazies, robbing us of the modern zombie genre but giving us something that would have been far wilder and weirder.

I had a lot of fun watching this but it does feel a little strung together. The initial impact wanes in the middle chunk with a few great impactful moments scattered towards the end, particularly with the main scientist desperately working towards a cure. It’s a fascinating piece of horror history and an important DNA strand for the zombie genre as we know it. The fans of Romero will find a lot to enjoy here, but it ultimately lacks the finesse and character depth that would elevate Dawn and Day of the Dead into crossover appeal. It’s an inventive grindhouse flick with the makings of greatness, and that is definitely something worth witnessing.

  • Oscar Jack

Further links:

Podcast: George A Romero’s The Crazies

Podcast: George A Romero’s Night of the Living Dead

Podcast: George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead

Podcast: George A Romero’s Day of the Dead

Podcast: Lori Cardille interview

Retrospective – The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)

11 Saturday Mar 2023

Posted by in retrospective

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

To conclude the decade, following a string of successful hits in the horror genre, Hammer Films would produce an oft neglected feature when placed alongside their showpieces, The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy, possibly as a result of poor distribution in the States. It’s a shame as it bears all the hallmarks of Director Terence Fisher’s classic traits that made such an impression on moviegoing audiences, and stars Christopher Lee as our potential hero and romantic love interest.

The stage is set in Paris at the turn of the century where we meet a doctor named Georges Bonnet (Anton Diffring, who for years I thought was the same guy who played Decker from the A-Team (Lance LeGault) Where Eagles Dare). Bonnet harbours a disturbing secret however, the secret to eternal youth, using a procedure that belies his 104 years of age. The only way that he can maintain this is through a surgical operation on the glands, and needs the assistance of long time accomplice Dr. Ludwig Weiss (Arnold Marle) and the use of human fluid. Not exactly something that is available on tap, and so Bonnet resorts to murder, all in the name of immortality.

When Ludwig’s age becomes a hindrance though, Bonnet must seek alternative means, perhaps in Pierre (Lee) a fellow surgeon with a high degree of promise. Bonnet is also slipping up however when a model Margo (Delphi Lawrence) goes missing in mysterious circumstances, and Janine (Hazel Court – The Curse of Frankenstein) continues to pursue his love interests. How long can Bonnet hide his secret? And will Pierre (who also has an adoration towards Janine in this macabre love triangle) find out the truth and put an end to Bonnet’s evil doings?

Initially based on a play by Barry Lyndon called The Man in Half Moon Street and starred both Diffring and Marle in their respective roles in an anthology tv series, in which an adaptation was scripted by Jimmy Sangster. Hammer would garner the rights to a movie adaptation peppered with their current look and feel through Fisher’s more than capable hands. Initially if Producer Anthony Carreras had his way, another Lee, Cushing vehicle would have been produced but Cushing would have to step aside due to illness, a move that infamously had Carreras fuming and seeking legal action against the high profile actor.

Some may feel that there is more style than substance on show here, which I can see their position but despite this and the dialogue heavy sequences, both Diffring’s performance and the effects when the ageing process starts to take effect, make this a worthy watch.

  • Saul Muerte. 

Retrospective – The Mummy (1959)

24 Friday Feb 2023

Posted by in retrospective

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Within the last three years of the 1950s, Hammer Films had reshaped the Universal Classic monsters canon with The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Revenge of Frankenstein, bringing into full glorious and gory colour for a then, modern audience, With it, Hammer would also unite one of celluloid history’s greatest co-stars in the horror genre in Peter Cushing and Sir Christopher Lee. Before the turn of the decade, the British production house would turn their attention to yet another Universal offering, The Mummy, and keep that winning formula of Cushing, Lee and film director Terence Fisher. Cushing played the dashing hero, and Lee subjected to the ‘monster’ character and hidden behind full make up for the last time with Hammer. It was a tortuous and gruelling affair for its two leads, and would lead Cushing to the hospital following a scene gone awry. Cushing would also become more bold in his acting choices and in cementing his character traits on screen and guiding his director in some of teh action sequences.

The familiar tale of the mummified High Priest Kharis (Lee) resurrected under the power of Mehemet Bey (George Pastell) to seek revenge for disturbing Princess Ananka’s tomb, is given the Hammer treatment. Here Cushing plays the part of John Banning, one of the doomed expedition crew. His father, Stephen (Felix Aylmer) has been driven mad and escorted to the asylum with his prophecies of the forthcoming mummy. Initially scoffed at and ridiculed, the subject takes a dark and sour turn when Stephen is killed by Kharis’ bandaged hands.

Kharis would also be moved by his lost love, Ananka, whose appearance is uncannily similar to John Banning’s wife, (Yvonne Furneaux) and thus brings about our damsel in distress theme.

Jimmy Sangster would once again herald the screenplay writing duties, fusing Universal’s The Mummy; The Mummy’s Tomb; and The Mummy’s Ghost to puff out his take on the story for Hammer. 

Upon its cinematic release, the name Hammer was starting to cause quite a stir among moviegoers, and The Mummy became a big success for the company. It even surpassed its successors in the box office and in some ways is a more solid feature in its narrative, and effects. Despite the climatic ending where Kharis played by go to stuntman Eddie Powell sinking into the depths of the quagmire, the British Film company was rising to new heights. And it was all in the name of horror.

  • Saul Muerte. 

Retrospective – The Hound of the Baskervilles (1958)

24 Friday Feb 2023

Posted by in retrospective

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Before Benedict Cumberbatch donned the deerstalker hat for Moffat and Gatiss’ modern interpretation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s infamous detective, another British icon had made an impressionable mark for Hammer Film Productions’ The Hound of the Baskervilles. Having already portrayed literature icons Baron Frankenstein and Van Helsing, it was time to turn his head towards Sherlock Holmes for one of his greatest adventures. 

His Doctor Watson would be ably performed by Andre Morell (The Plague of Zombies) who himself would become a Hammer staple, but it would be the casting of Sir Chrisopher Lee as Sir Henry Baskervilles (once again unite Hammer’s most memorable duo on screen) in the first representation of the tale in colour surrounding the dreaded curse and the beast the walks the moors.

Hammer would look to sensationalise or create drama that was absent from the initial storyline, including the tarantula scene. Probably the hardest trick was to produce a larger than life hound for the film’s climax; a tough act considering Lee’s stature, but Hammer found their answer with a Great Dane called Colonel. 

It was initially conceived to be the gateway to many more Sherlock Holmes’ adaptations, but would be the only occurrence, much to the company and cinephiles’ dismay. It would have been interesting to see Cushing take on the role in numerous other stories. 

The great Terence Fisher who had stamped his signature vision; and one that became synonymous with the Hammer style with The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula, would wield his take of the action from the Director’s chair. With the talent in front of the screen from which to mould the narrative, Fisher had created a feature that stands alongside these Gothic treatments that made Hammer Horror’s name, so it’s a shame that there weren’t more chances to delve within Conan Doyle’s world.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective – Curse of the Undead (1959)

16 Thursday Feb 2023

Posted by in retrospective

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Those who know me, know of my aversion to the Western genre in cinema. As a cinephile I indulged in the classics especially the Ford era of which we are supposed to marvel at the sweeping landscapes, but send me into a state of lull. That’s not to say there aren’t exceptions that have lit a fuse in my love of the celluloid art, and there is intrigue to be found in blending this genre with a vampire sub genre twist. 

With some of the townsfolk falling prey to a mysterious illness, and the reveal of two punctures in the neck of the latest victim we pave the scene of a nosferatu in the mix. 

The Western influence throws mistrust and turmoil among a neighbouring family, where all must find a way to unite in order to rid the town of the foul fate that lay before them.

There’s the obvious love scenario two between the mysterious Drake Robey (Michael Pate) and Dolores (Kathleen Crowley), plus the hope and steadfast clergyman in Preacher Dan (Eric Fleming). All the ingredients are there to provide a somewhat entertaining tale.

All too often though I found myself drifting off and disconnecting from the content, with a lack of depth in the characters and both genres telling a tale too often told to stimulate the mind.

It was a bold approach from writer, director Edward Dein to try and merge what should be successful film categories but there’s no style or substance for that matter, so for that Curse of the Undead slips all too easily into forgettable terrain.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective – Ringu (1998): 25th Anniversary

30 Monday Jan 2023

Posted by in retrospective

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

By the time Ringu had hit UK cinemas, a full two years had passed since Hideo Nakata’s vision based on the novel by Koji Suzuki was realised in front of a Japanese audience, becoming the highest grossing horror film for the country.

When I finally sat down to watch the film to shelter from a wet summer in London, at one of my regular haunts, The Curzon Soho, I was unaware of the significant impact it would have on my own journey through the realms of horror cinephilia. It would mark the rise of J-Horror alongside Pulse (Kairo) and The Grudge and in its wake, would revolutionise the genre, and push numerous Western remakes and similarly styled movies for the best part of a decade.

Part of its appeal would be generated through the grainy film effect, with a slowly drawn out, tension building threat to generate a new style of scare. It came at a peak time during the transition of old and new technology, thrusting the fears of ancient beliefs and rituals with a growing anxiety over the future of mankind. By infusing these two elements, it confronted its audience, daring them to awaken their agitation and curse them, fueling this further and forcing the characters we follow to an early grave.

For me though Suzuki and Nakata’s brilliance comes through bringing the onryō, otherwise known as a vengeful spirit, before a modern audience. With the character of Sadako, the creatives found a host to enact her wrath and fury upon any who encountered her spirit. With all this pent up aggression tied in with her supernatural abilities; a visually striking and haunting look, namely the long black hair cast over the female face, hiding the true horror from the unwitting recipient, whilst clothed in a full white dress; a symbol itself a juxtaposition of innocence and purity, would thrust her front and centre into cinematic history.

It’s now been 25 years since its official release and yet its resonance is still felt. When watching it again, I am instantly transported back to my first viewing in a darkened auditorium, and the thrills and scares that were evoked. It’s why Ringu always makes its way towards the top of my all time favourite horror film list. It’s iconic and translates across time and culture.

  • Saul Muerte

Check out more thoughts from the Surgeons team in our podcast episode about the Ring franchise.

The Ring Franchise (1998 -)

Movie review: Rings (2017)

Retrospective: The Thing That Couldn’t Die (1958)

14 Saturday Jan 2023

Posted by in retrospective

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Admittedly my only entry into this feature for my retrospective journey into Universal Horror movies of the 1950s, would be through the comedy review series, Mystery Science Theater 3000. The fact that the object of said show is to ridicule the subject under scrutiny didn’t bode well for my viewing experience, but I tried to do so with an open mind.

The Thing That Couldn’t Die would be helmed by Will Cowan for what would be his last feature film as a director. Based on an original screenplay by David Duncan (The Monster on the Campus) entitled The Water Witch, where a young psychic woman, Jessica (Carolyn Kearney) discovers a mysterious box from the 16th century. The contents of which contain the head of Gideon Drew (Robin Hughes), a man executed for sorcery 400 years ago and begins to use telepathy in order to control people. This far-fetched tale is hard to connect with, much like Drew’s plan to reunite his head with his body. Even if you are willing to bow to the whims with a suspension of disbelief, there is little substance beneath the melodramatic telling on show.

 It is inevitable that an achilles heel be placed to set up Drew’s downfall, and this comes in the guise of an amulet that Jessica is in possession of. The mold may have been set but it’s a struggle to find any glowing elements to give it praise for. It doesn’t help that upon its release, TTTCD was billed alongside Hammer’s The Horror of Dracula, a film marking significant changes on the celluloid screen. The years have not been kind and with little availability out there, most cinephiles have to resort to the comical observations that MST3000 as its only source to survey with.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: Monster on the Campus (1958)

14 Saturday Jan 2023

Posted by in retrospective

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

As we close in on the end of the 50s and my introspective look back at Universal Pictures shift away from the horror genre in contrast to the rise of Britain’s Hammer Film Production, I cast my gaze upon the 1958 feature, Monster On The Campus. The focus of the American film distribution was to scrutinize the subject of evolution and devolution from the perspective of University Professor, Dr. Donald Blake (Athur Franz). Written by novelist David Duncan, MOTC would be directed by alumni Jack Arnold (Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man) who would go on record to state that this wasn’t his finest work; an opinion which I’m inclined to agree with.

The story would find Blake becoming infected with a partially-thawed coelacanth. This produces a transformation in his cells into an ape-like creature that causes havoc through the campus, drawing inspiration from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It takes the player involved some time to work out the cause of this mayhem however, allowing for anarchy to reign until the inevitable dramatic conclusion and the reveal of the cause to the effect. The tragedy however is a little bereft of any real impact and the viewer never really grips or raises the tension out of the scenes as it unfolds.

The film itself would be somewhat dwarfed by the more colourful British feature, Blood of the Vampire, which it shared billing with on the cinema circuit. It does boast solid supporting roles in the mix, with Joanna Moore cast as the women in peril figure Madeline; Judson Pratt as Lt. Mike Stevens; and Troy Donahue in one of his earlier performances, here playing local boy Jimmy Flanders.
From a modern perspective it is hard to shift away from the make up effects that are a little less than desired, especially compared with today’s standards, but stuntman Eddie Parker does a convincing job of portraying the ape creature when in its fits of rage. Some scholars have also used this feature as a subject on conformity, and the need to fit into society when one feels constantly on the periphery. For this, it is a bold story and deserves your attention. It does fall foul to the more impressive and grand features that were rising up at the time in contrast and suffers as a result across the ages.

  • Saul Muerte