Category Archives: Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee – Horror Movie Month

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Christopher Lee is the last living horror legend (acting-wise at least). It is unfortunate that he now disdains the genre that made him famous and especially despises talking about his Dracula years. He has been an incredibly prolific actor and while much of his output is of questionable quality, he still has some great signature roles (Dracula, Saruman, Scaramanga, Rochefort, Fu Manchu).

To the Devil…a Daughter (1976) – Rated R

A heretic priest (Christopher Lee) plots to use a teenage nun (Nastassja Kinski) in a depraved sexual pact with the forces of darkness. But when an American occult novelist (Richard Widmark) uncovers the conspiracy, he must battle an international cabal of evil for the body and soul of the Devil’s child-bride. Can this black magic marriage be stopped before an innocent girl is defiled and becomes the womb of Satan?

This was the last film released by Hammer theatrically. This one is actually pretty good except the ending which is unbelievably anticlimactic. I’d love to discuss that ending but I hate spoilers. It just seems to me that they ran out of funding and felt they had to wrap things up.

If you wondered whatever happened to Honor Blackman after Goldfinger, she has a fairly significant role here as does character actor Denholm Elliott. Nastassja Kinski is quite good in her English language debut as the child bride.

The Resident (2011) – Rated R for violence, language and brief sexuality/nudity

A young doctor moves into a Brooklyn loft and realizes she isn’t alone in her new abode. Now she’s struggling to survive as she attempts to disentangle herself from her landlord, who has a key to her home and a growing obsession for his tenant.

Christopher Lee starring in a brand new Hammer film? with Jeffrey Dean Morgan (John Winchester of Supernatural)? and double Oscar-winner Hilary Swank? Sign me up! Oh wait Christopher Lee has only a small part. And the script is tedious. And the directing is pedestrian.

This movie is a little bit creepy but is filled with giant plotholes and never generates much excitement. If you want to see a new Hammer film, go watch Let Me In

The Bloody Judge (1970) – Rated PG (? seriously? well that’s what Netflix says)

In 1685 England, Alicia Gray (Margaret Lee) is convicted of witchcraft and promptly burned at the stake. Meanwhile, her sister, Mary (Maria Rohm), foolishly falls for Harry Selton (Hans Hass Jr.), who’s critical of the king. When evil Chief Justice Jeffreys (Christopher Lee) learns of the romance, he sends his men to capture Mary, who tries to save her beau from the judge’s wrath by surrendering to his licentious advances. Will her plan work?

Wow! I love Christopher Lee but I actually could not bring myself to like this film. It is directed by Jesus (Jess) Franco, who is an absolutely atrocious director. He directed the last two of Christopher Lee’s Fu Manchu films and I enjoyed those because of Christopher Lee and Tsai Chin and because they are train-wreck fascinating.

The Bloody Judge however is just awful – an incoherent mess of 70s blood and breasts, religion, law, torture, witch hunts, and Christopher Lee the only saving grace in the whole movie. In fact he appears most of the time to be in an entirely different movie.

Peter Cushing – Horror Movie Month

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Peter Cushing is my favorite horror actor. He is the only actor I have seen who properly captures the arrogance of Baron Frankenstein (which is good since he portrays Frankenstein six times for Hammer).

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965)

Ominous prophet Dr. Schreck (Peter Cushing) informs five train passengers — including art critic Franklyn Marsh (Christopher Lee) and physician Bob Carroll (Donald Sutherland) — about the grisly details of their imminent deaths in this anthology of eerie vignettes. Schreck tells Marsh that he will be maimed; that Carroll’s new bride has a supernatural secret life; and that architect Jim Dawson (Neil McCallum) will be attacked by a werewolf.

Of all of Cushing’s films, this is the one I’d most recommend watching. Not because it’s the best but because it has never had a U.S. DVD or Blu-Ray release. While this appears to be sourced from a videotape transfer, the quality isn’t too bad and once it leaves Netflix you won’t be able to catch it anywhere.

Having said this, Dr. Terror is pretty standard fare for a portmanteau film. Cushing and Christopher Lee are wonderful and a very young Donald Sutherland is fun to watch. The movie is enjoyable but nothing special.

 

Frankenstein Must be Destroyed (1969)

After a drunk wanders into and disrupts his secret lab, Dr. Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) decides he must find a new place to set up shop. Conveniently, he finds an innocent young girl (Veronica Carlson) who happens to have a boyfriend (Simon Ward) employed by the local hospital. Seeing his opportunity, Dr. Frankenstein kidnaps the couple and forces them to take part in a dangerous brain-swapping experiment.

Cushing takes center stage here and this iteration of Frankenstein is his most ruthless. Gone are the almost paternal qualities he had in Frankenstein Created Woman and with one notable exception, his icy performance here is marvelous. The exception is that for some odd reason, there is an implied rape subplot shoehorned into the movie. Judging from character reactions after the incident, it appears as though this was added after normal filming.

The Vampire Lovers (1970) – Rated R

Fanged femme fatale Mircalla Karnstein (Ingrid Pitt) slakes her bloodlust for mortals of girlish figures in this Hammer horror story that has the 19th-century noblewoman stalking the Austrian countryside, bewitching young daughters at every turn. Appearing first as Marcilla, then as Carmilla, the insatiable siren steals women’s hearts and leaves ruin in her wake, but in grieving General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing), she may have met her match.

The Vampire Lovers is definitely an acquired taste. Here Hammer films reaches the 1970s and says goodbye to cleavage and hello to nudity! This is where they also play with the “exotic” concept of lesbianism. Peter Cushing is in fine form but is not in much of the film. Ingrid Pitt is the star here and is quite engaging as Mircalla/Marcilla/Carmilla as is Madeline Smith as Emma. The movie is quaint and often comes across as soft porn with the sex scenes removed.

Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) – Rated PG

Devil-worshipping hippies revive Dracula (Christopher Lee) in this groovy 1970s Hammer Studios horror flick set in London. Thinking Dracula’s one cool cat, Johnny (Christopher Neame) and his psychedelic gang resurrect the count. The powerful creature of the night awakens with a mission: to destroy his archnemesis Dr. Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). It’s good vs. evil as Van Helsing faces Dracula in a thrilling final showdown.

Hammer realized after five period Draculas and countless period horror films that audiences wanted modern scares. The idea of bringing Dracula to a modern setting is not a bad one and the opening scene set in 1872 is pretty exciting. Having Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing reprise their roles as Dracula and Van Helsing was a no-brainer so why is this movie not a classic?

The script is hilarious and appears to be written by someone middle-aged who fears what the younger generation is up to. The counterculture is depicted in a mind-boggling fashion and a band is featured in an extended sequence that serves no purpose in the film. Christopher Lee is barely in the film but at least has some dialogue this time out. The fashions are marvelous – too bad the film isn’t.

The Return of the King (Extended version)

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Okay for the last day of Sword and Sorcery week, we have Peter Jackson’s masterpiece The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King extended version. Only this third film in the trilogy is available on Netflix instant play.

The Return of the King

WATCH: The Return of the King (2003) – Rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and frightening images

“Accompanied by the duplicitous Gollum (Andy Serkis), hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) continue their mission to obliterate the One Ring of power in the final chapter of director Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) must confront his destiny and lead the fight that will determine Middle Earth’s future. This fantasy tale for the ages bagged 11 Oscars”

Finishing off Sword and Sorcery week with The Return of the King was a no-brainer. The Fellowship of the Ring captured 4 of the 13 Oscars it was nominated for. The Two Towers got 2 of the 6 Oscars it was nominated for and was royally snubbed. It received no nomination at all for costume design, cinematography,  makeup, or any of the performances. Oscar’s tepid response to the first two films in the trilogy was worrisome. An Oscar should not be a popularity contest (though by definition it is) but a recognition of the pinnacle of excellence by one’s peers. Sadly it has always been very hard for genre material to be taken seriously by the Oscars.

Thankfully the people voting decided to recognize Peter Jackson’s achievement with The Return of the King. On the other hand they may have gone too far because The Return of the King swept the awards winning all 11 Oscars that it was nominated for (though still no acting awards). Still it was nice to see a fantasy movie so feted at the Oscars.

There’s really not much to be said review-wise about this movie. If you have not seen The Fellowship of the Ring or The Two Towers, not only should this not interest you but it would be far too confusing to watch. If you have seen them then this movie concludes the story quite well.

Clocking in at well over 4 hours, this version is quite bloated. In fact the denouement seems to go on forever (and they still leave out the scouring of the shire from the book). If you have seen the regular version and wonder whatever happened to Saruman, that question is answered here. That is my favorite added scene and not just because Christopher Lee, one of my favorite actors, is in it. Many other small scenes flesh out the epic storyline but the ending which was too long in the theatrical version is even longer here.

As might be guessed at from the Oscar awards, all the technical aspects of this film are incredible. The music is inspiring – dire, rousing, or uplifting as needed and cued in perfectly. Cinematography has to have boosted New Zealand’s tourism by an amazing amount. Makeup, costuming, and special effects all make this seem real.

The performances, while ignored by the Oscars, are pitch-perfect for the most part. You can really tell and feel that Sam loves Frodo, that Gollum and Frodo are both tormented, that Aragorn is noble and determined, and that Merry and Pippin are frightened and committed.

In short, this film is still amazing some 6 years down the road. We think our children will always think of this as the trilogy and that it will hold up over time even more so than Star Wars did for my generation.  By the way while Frodo is most often thought of as the hero or protagonist of the story, our family is in agreement that Sam is the actual hero.

People Watch: Look for Fringe’s resident eccentric genius Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble) in excellent form as Denethor