Witches Going to Their Sabbath is a 1878 painting by Spanish painter Luis Ricardo Falero (1851 – December 7, 1896). Falero specialised in female nudes and mythological, oriental and fantasy settings. His most common medium was oil on canvas.

Falero was born in Granada and originally pursued a career in the Spanish Navy, but gave it up to his parents’ disappointment. He walked all the way to Paris, where he studied art, chemistry and mechanical engineering. The experiments that he conducted in the latter two were apparently so dangerous, however, that he decided to focus on painting alone. After Paris, he studied in London, where he eventually settled.

In 1896, the year of his death, Maud Harvey sued Falero for paternity. The suit alleged that Falero seduced Harvey when she was 17 first serving as his housemaid, and then model. When he discovered she was pregnant, he dismissed her. She won the case and was awarded five shillings per week in support of their child.

Falero died at University College Hospital, London, at the age of 45.

The Mummy can, in many respects, hold claim to being the most unloved of the classic movie monsters – if not, then surely the most inconsistently served. The oft-quoted line from Kim Newman, that the issue lies with “no foundation text” upon which to base the creature, certainly carries some weight, though Mummies had certainly been written about in the 19th Century – notable works include Poe’s short story, Some Words With a Mummy (1850), Conan Doyle’s Lot No. 249 (1892), the latter establishing the Mummy as a malevolent predator seeking revenge, as well as touching upon elements also explored in later films, such as the methods of resurrection and the supernatural control of a ‘master’.

Poe’s tale is rather more barbed, the bandaged cadaver reanimated by electricity and quizzed upon its ancient knowledge (or lack of), a side-swipe at both modernist self-aggrandising and the Egyptomania which had swept through both America and Europe since Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign of 1798-1801. The fascination of the general public in all levels of society lasted throughout the Victorian era, peaking again when Howard Carter uncovered Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922. This obsession didn’t stop with the collection of Egyptian artworks and an influence on fashion and architecture – it was not uncommon in both America and Europe (though England especially) for the upper classes to purchase sarcophagi containing mummified remains at public auctions and then charging interested parties to a literal unveiling at what became known as ‘mummy unwrapping parties’. Though many of these were under the slightly dubious guise of scientific and historical investigations, the evidence of publicity material listing admission prices for children rather suggests a more obvious parallel of the fascination with freak shows, as well as the ever-popular grave robbing and body snatching.

It is such unbalanced factors which contributed to the Mummy onscreen as such a difficult to pin-down character. Bram Stoker’s 1909 novel, The Jewel of Seven Stars, concentrated on the attempts to resurrect a mummified Egyptian Queen but is full of the author’s own clear obsession with the subject, detailing minute features of objects and environment. Even looking at these three texts, very different perspectives are offered:

1. The curse
2. The resurrection (either via electricity, potion or supernatural means)
3. Love across the ages
4. The exotic nature and history of Egypt

Mummy films are somewhat doomed to pick one or more elements of this and then factor in the very nature of a Mummy – a zombie with bandages with a grudge. Most films dealt with this threat as a singular foe, one with pre-determined victims in a relatively limited environment (either in his native Africa/South America or relocated to a museum elsewhere). Fundamentally, it’s not easy the share the fear of the pursued – the regularly featured greedy archaeologist or treasure hunter clearly would not have many rooting for them, the similarly omnipresent character of the innocent damsel being mistaken by old clothy for his bride from B.C. is often equally wretched.

The first documented films concerning Mummies are 1899’s Georges Melies‘ Cleopatra (French: Cléopâtre), also known as Robbing Cleopatra’s Tomb, which, at only two minutes in length, is pretty much the synopsis, action and epilogue all in one. Despite a false alarm in 2005, no copy of the film now exists, a fate shared by another French film, 1909’s The Mummy of the King Rameses (French: La Momie Du Roi). Though literature was raided for ideas in some of these early efforts, in particular 1912’s The Beetle, based on the Rich Marsh 1897 novel of the same name, the general tone was of mystery, over-egged comedy and slushy drama, the long-lost tombs of nobility and monarchy gripping audiences without the need for too much in the way of ravenous corpses.

1932’s Chandu the Magician just pipped Universal to the post as an Egyptian villain stalked America’s screens with a recognisable actor in the role of the baddy, Bela Lugosi kidnapping all and sundry in a bid to possess a death ray (he later appeared as the hero in the follow-up, 1934’s Return of Chandu). As with so many of Universal’s introductions of classic monsters, many elements of 1932’s The Mummy leeched into films right up to the present day. For first-time viewers, the biggest surprise is the incredibly short screen time of the bandaged one, though the slowly-opening eyes of the revived Mummy is one of the great moments in horror film.

It is as the reawakened Ardath Bey that Boris Karloff spends most of the film; Jack Pierce’s excellent make-up giving ‘life’ to a cadaverous-featured, be-fezzed Casanova seeking his love whom he believes has been reincarnated. The Egypt of the film is populated by aloof and cultured Westerners working in a land of subservient and befuddled locals, including Horrorpedia favourite, Noble Johnson as ‘The Nubian’ and can be seen as a view of a colonial viewpoint of ‘foreigners and their strange ways’, sometimes quasi-religious, at others playing on the public awareness of the so-called Curse of King Tut’s Tomb, an event only a decade prior. Egypt is still as remote, uncouth and dangerous as the forests of Romania and the invented village of Vasaria – the notion that this place actually exists and that tombs were still being uncovered lending an extra, illicit thrill, modern science at war with religious belief and customs. Bey/Imhotep stalks his beloved in a more stealthy manner than that of Dracula, the quick nip on the neck replaced by a rather more sinister, unspoken threat of capture, death and sex, the latter two being interchangeable. This, of course, remains unspoken but presumably an inevitability, Universal instead charging the film with shots of unbridled romance, both in set-design and, importantly, a specifically-composed score by James Dietrich and Heinz Roemheld, the first for a Universal Horror. This was underpinned by passages from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, another nod to Transylvania.

Though a success at the box office, it was a full eight years before Universal unleashed a Mummy again, the 1940 film The Mummy’s Hand not being a sequel but rather a reintroduction of the monster. Universal flex their creative muscle here, rather like 1941’s The Wolf Man, their invented lore (the poem of how a man is doomed to turn to beast) it is a given ‘fact’ that a Mummy can be brought back to life and indeed sustained by a potion of ‘tana leaves’. Evidently aware of the lack of an actual Mummy in its 1932 effort, the studio pushed the bandaged monster to the fore, plot and backstory being secondary to getting him on screen and tormenting people. It was a simple enough conceit that it was this Mummy, Kharis who would appear in the film’s sequels, The Mummy’s Tomb, The Mummy’s Ghost and The Mummy’s Curse, all of which would feature Lon Chaney Jr as the monster, the quality always sinking ever lower but still with Pierce’s sterling work on the costume and make-up, much to Chaney’s chagrin.

If the lack of genuine horror in the films wasn’t enough, the ever-present comedy or cartoon featuring Mummies again gave the character a persona that was not to be taken seriously. No matter how hard you tried, if you put bandages on a violent, ever-living zombie, there was a danger of farce.

This can be evidenced with attempts such as the RKO-distributed Wheeler & Woolsey film, Mummy’s Boys (1936), The Three Stooges’ We Want Our Mummy (1939) and Mummy’s Dummies (1948) and on to Abbott and Costello’s encounters in Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955), a threadbare affair in both costume and entertainment – comedy often leaned on the fact Mummy is an un-threatening sounding word with two meanings as well as the opportunity to sing and dance in a manner audiences might expect from Egyptians (or not). Bandage unravelling was a given.

It would be two other countries which would rescue the Mummy from the filmic doldrums, at least in sparking an audience’s interest. 1957 saw the release of two Mexican films – The Aztec Mummy (Spanish title: La Momia Azteca) and The Curse of the Aztec Mummy (Spanish: La maldición de la momia azteca), neither likely to win awards for outright quality but giving Mummies in new life in a new environment, the ancient Aztec culture and wacky wrestling superhero (in this case El Ángel) marrying easily with the tropes already laid down by the earlier American films. The films offered enough promise for Jerry Warren to recut, dub and add additional scenes for an American audience. The films were a success in both markets and led to two further sequels, The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy (1958) and Wrestling Women vs.The Aztec Mummy (1964).

Britain’s bandaged offering, inevitably from Hammer, was 1959’s The Mummy. Here, Hammer borrowed heavily from Universal (again, overlooking the studious 1932 film and cutting straight to the monster-driven sequels) but brought out the big guns; Terence Fisher directing and the double-whammy of Lee and Cushing. For all the film’s faults, and there are several, the film finally gives the monster the strength and terror that his complex evolution and background demands.

Here, Lee towers over the other characters both literally and metaphorically, emerging from a swamp in a scene which should be considered as iconic as any in Hammer’s canon. No longer a shuffling bag of bones, the Mummy here is athletic and merciless, with the strength and stature of Frankenstein’s Monster with the eternal threat of Dracula.

Two of the sequels misfired quite badly, 1964’s Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb and 1971’s Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb yet both have the odd moment of inspiration (the latter’s scenes involving voluptuous Valerie Leon in particular!) but running out of things for the Mummy to do. On the other hand, Hammer’s The Mummy’s Shroud (1967) is instantly forgettable.

Interestingly, Egypt’s own attempt at filming its own national monster feasted liberally on Abbott and Costello romping, the result being 1953’s Harem Alek (literally ‘shame on you’, retitled as Ismail Yassin Meets Frankenstein). Shrieking and gurning abound in a very close relation to the American comedians in their meeting of Frankenstein, the mummy in question being much nearer to the bolted creature.

One of the oddest appearances for a mummy was a narrator – voiced distinctively by Valentine Dyall – for Antony Balch’s 1969 British low budget anthology film Secrets of Sex aka Tales of the Bizarre. A healthy dose of dark humour, plus copious nudity from both sexes, has ensured that there is still a cult following for this eccentric entry.

Grabbing the monster by the scruff of the neck was Spain’s Paul Naschy, never one to tip-toe around a subject. 1973’s Vengeance of the Mummy (Spanish: La vengance de la momia) is gory, lurid and enormous fun, the hacking and head-crushing monster being completely self-governing and with the added bonus of an alluring assistant, played by Helga Liné, though sadly her rumoured nude scenes have yet to surface. Naschy played the Mummy once more, in the all-star monster fest of 1988’s Howl of the Devil.

The Mummy often appeared as part of an ensemble of monsters, giving the film-maker an answer as to what to do with it – from singing puppet mayhem of Mad Monster Party? and 1972’s animated semi-prequel Mad Mad Mad Monsters to encounters with Scooby Doo and rock band KISS, the monster remained an also-ran and supporting character. Though managing to get on screen in Fred Dekker’s The Monster Squad (1987), missing out on the action in comedy horror anthology The Monster Club (1981) suggests his standing in the pantheon of monsters was less than stellar.

The Awakening (1980) was a latter-day attempt at filming Stoker’s novel – though managing to visually capture a sense of antiquity and some pleasing shots of Egypt, it lacks fire and threat and once again a classic monster is reduced to dreary, slow-paced banality. On the other side of the coin was Frank Agrama’s 1981 brutal guts and gusto Dawn of the Mummy, which sees the restless ones reanimated by the hot lights of a fashion shoot. This at least forgives lots of manic running around and a conflict between the modern day and the ancient, gloves off and with little regards to sense or history. The title alone should lead the audience to expect a more zombie-based event and though frequently silly and frayed, largely due to the low budget, it does at least give the sub-genre a shot in the arm.

Later films perhaps tried too hard – 1982’s Time Walker pitched the Mummy as actually being an alien in stasis; 1983’s baffling and boring Scarab throwing Gods, Nazis and scientists into the mix but only ending up with a mess; Fred Olen Ray’s breast-led 1986 effort, The Tomb. None came very close to succeeding in any sense.

The 1990’s was possibly the most desperate time for Mummies worldwide – whether it was the schlock of Charles Band (The Creeps, 1997), the critically-mauled 1998 film Bram Stoker’s Legend of the Mummy or Russell Mulcahy’s flying Mummy of Talos the Mummy (1998), the monster suffered more than most at the hands of those trying to use new technology at the expense of plot and character to succeed. Only in 2002 with Don Coscarelli’s film Bubba Ho-Tep did The Mummy make a meaningful return, pleasing both fans of Bruce Campbell and too-cool-for-school scouts for cults as they happen, as well as horror fans desperate to see their bandaged hero as a tangible threat.

When Hollywood finally decided to throw some money at a reborn franchise, there was to be disappointment – the Indiana Jones-type action of 1999’s The Mummy, as well as its sequels and spin-offs were an exercise in CGI and tame thrills. Speakers were blown, images were rendered but whatever fun audiences had, omitted the scare factor.

2014’s R-rated The Pyramid promises Rec-style horrors and a return, successful or not, to the concept of a straight-forward monster released from its tomb. Further field, Universal have promised/threatened to relaunch their entire world of monsters, beginning with The Mummy from 2016.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

Mummy Filmography: 

1899 – Cleopatra

1909 – The Mummy of the King Rameses (aka. La momie du roi)

1911 – The Mummy

1912 – The Mummy

1912 – The Vengence of Egypt

1912 – The Mummy and the Cowpuncher

1913 – The Egyptian Mummy – comedy short

1914 – Naidra, The Dream Worker

1914 – The Necklace of Rameses

1914 – Through the Centuries – short comedy

1914 – The Egyptian Princess

1914 – The Mummy

1915 – The Dust of Egypt

1915 – When the Mummy Cried for Help

1915 – Too Much Elixir of Life

1916 – Elixir of Life – comedy short

1916 – The Missing Mummy – comedy short

1917 – The Undying Flame

1917 – The Eyes of the Mummy

1918 – Mercy, the Mummy Mumbled – comedy short

1921 – The Lure of Egypt

1923 – The Mummy

1923 – King Tut-Ankh-Amen’s Eighth Wife

1926 – Mummy Love

1926 – Made For Love

1932 – Chandu the Magician

1932 – The Mummy

1933 – The Ghoul

1934 – The Return of Chandu

1936 – Mummy Boy

1938 – We Want Our Mummy

1940 – The Mummy’s Hand

1942 – Superman ‘The Mummy’s Tomb’ (animated short)

1943 – The Mummy Strikes

1944 – The Mummy’s Ghost

1944 – A Night of Magic

1945 – The Mummy’s Curse

1953 – The Mummy’s Revenge (Spain)

1953 – Harem Alek (Egypt)

1954 – Sherlock Holmes ‘The Laughing Mummy’ (UK TV episode)

1955 – Abbot and Costello Meet the Mummy

1957 – Curse of the Aztec Mummy (Mexico/USA)

1957 – Castle of the Monsters

1957 – Curse of the Pharaohs

1957 – Pharoah’s Curse

1957 – Robot versus the Aztec Mummy (aka “La momia azteca contra el robot humano, Mexico)

1958 – El Castillo de los Monstruos

1958 – Dos Fantasmas y una Muehacha (Mexico)

1958 – House of Terror (aka “Face of the Screaming Werewolf,”  Mexico/USA)

1958 – The Man and the Monster (Mexico)

1959 – The Mummy

1960 – Rock n Roll Wrestling Woman vs the Aztec Mummy

1962 – I Was a Teenage Mummy

1963 – Attack of the Mayan Mummy aka The Mummy Strikes

1964 – Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb

1965 – Mummy’s Dummies

1965 – Orgy of the Dead

1966 – Death Curse of Tarta

1966 – Carry On Screaming!

1966 – Mad Monster Party?

1966 – The Mummy’s Ghost (short)

1967 – Get Smart ‘The Mummy’ (TV episode)

1967 – The Mummy’s Shroud

1967 – Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea “The Mummy” (TV episode)

1968 – El Santo and Blue Demon vs. the Monster (Mexico)

1969 – The Mummy and the Curse of the Jackals

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? “Scooby-Doo and A Mummy, Too” (TV episode)

1969 – Secrets of Sex aka Tales of the Bizarre

1970 – Santo in the Vengeance of the Mummy (aka Santo En La Venganza de la Momia, Mexico)

1970 – Dracula vs. Frankenstein” (aka ‘Assignment Terror, Italy/Spain/Germany)

1970 – The Mummies of Guanajuato (Mexico)

1971 – Blood From the Mummy’s Tomb

1971 – Santo and the Vengeance of the Mummy (Mexico)

1972 – El Castillo de las Momias de Gaunajuato (Mexico)

1972 – Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters

1972 – The New Scooby-Doo Movies “Sandy Duncan’s Jekyll and Hyde” (features The Mummy)

1972 – Dr Phibes Rises Again

1972 – El Robo de las Momias de Guanajuato

1973 – Love Brides of the Blood Mummy

Las Momias de San Angel aka Terror en San Angel (Mexico)

1973 – Vengeance of the Mummy (La vengance de la momia, Spain)

1973 – The Cat Creature

1973  – Chabelo y Pepito vs. los Monstruos (Mexico)

1973 – Son of Dracula

1974 – Voodoo Black Exorcist

1975 – Demon and the Mummy (US TV Movie). A compilation of two episodes from the TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker: Demon in Lace and Legacy of Terror

1975 – Doctor Who ‘Pyramids of Mars’ (TV episodes)

 La Mansion de las 7 Momias (Mexico)

1978 - KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park

1980 – Fade to Black

1980 – The Awakening

1980 – Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo “Mummy’s the Word” (TV episode)

1981 - Dawn of the Mummy

1981 – The National Mummy (La Momia Nacional, Spain)

1981 – Sphinx

1982 – Secret of the Mummy (Brazil)

1982 – Time Walker

1982 – Scarab

1983 – The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show “Where’s Scooby Doo?’

1984 – The New Scooby Doo Mysteries “Scooby’s Peep-Hole Pandemonium” (Maid Mummy)

1985 – The Tomb

1985 – Dear Mummy (Hong Kong)

1985 – Transylvania 6-5000 (US/Yugoslavia)

Amazing Stories ‘Mummy, Daddy’ (TV episode)

1987 – Night of the Living Duck (US animated short)

1987 – The Monster Squad

1988 – Howl of the Devil

1988 – Saturday the 14th Strikes Back

1988 – Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

1988 – Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf

1988 – Waxwork

1989 – Encounters of the Spooky Kind 2 (Hong Kong)

1990 – I’m Dangerous Tonight (US TVM)

1990 – Tales from the Darkside: The Movie “Lot 249″

1990 – I’m Dangerous Tonight

1992 – I was a Teenage Mummy

1992 – Nightmare Asylum

1992 Franky and his Pals

1992 – Bloodstone: Subspecies II

1992 – I Was a Teenage Mummy

1993 – Bloodlust: Subspecies III (US/Romania)

1993 – The Mummy Lives

1993 – The Mummy A.D. 1993

1993 – The Mummy’s Dungeon

1993 – The Nightmare Before Christmas

1994 – Stargate

1995 – Goosebumps ‘Return of the Mummy’ + ‘TV Mummy’ (TV episodes)

1995 – Monster Mash

1996 – Bone Chillers ‘Mummy Dearest’ (TV episode)

1996 – Bordello of Blood

1996 – Le Siege del l’Ame (France)

1996 – The Mummy (Pakistan)

1996 – Birth of a Wizard (Japan)

1996 – La Momie Mi-mots” (aka “Mummy Mommy, France)

1996 – The Seat of the Soul” (aka “Le siege del Time, Canada)

1997 – The Creeps

1997 – Bram Stoker’s The Mummy aka Bram Stoker’s Legend of the Mummy

1997 – Mummy’s Alive

1997 – Under Wraps (TV Movie)

1997 – 1998 – Mummies Alive! (animated series)

1998 – Legend of the Mummy

1998 – Mummies Alive! The Legend Begins (animated feature)

1998 – Trance

1998 – Talos the Mummy aka Tale of the Mummy

1999 – Ancient Evil: Scream of the Mummy

1999 – Ancient Desires

1999 – The Mummy

1999 – The Mummy (documentary narrated by Christopher Lee)

Mummy Dearest: A Horror Tradition Unearthed (documentary)

1999 – The All-New Adventures of Laurel & Hardy ‘For the Love of Mummy’

2000 – Curse of the Mummy

2000 – Lust in the Mummy’s Tomb

2000 – The Mummy Theme Park (Italy)

2001 – Mummy Raiders

2001 – The Mummy Returns

2001 – The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai (animated series)

2002 – Bubba Ho-Tep

2002 – Lust in the Mummy’s Tomb

2002 – Mummy Raider

2002 – The Scorpion King

2003 – Mummie (Italian short)

2003 – The Mummy’s Kiss

2003 – Scooby-Doo! Where’s My Mummy? “Mummy Scares Best”

2003 – What’s New, Scooby-Dooo?

2004 – Attack of the Virgin Mummies

2004 – The Tomb (Italy)

2005 – Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (TV episode)

2005 – The Kung Fu Mummy

2005 – Legion of the Dead

2005 – The Fallen Ones

2006 – Monster Night

2006 – Seven Mummies

2006 – The Mummy’s Kiss 2: Second Dynasty

2006 – The University of Illinois vs. a Mummy

2007 – Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy

2007 – Mummy Maniac

2008 – Day of the Mummy (short)

2008 – Mummies…

2008  – The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

2008 – My Mummy aka My Mummy: The Tomb Is a Drag Without Her

2008 – Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior

2009 – Cry of the Mummy (comedy short)

2010 – Creature Feature (adult video features a mummy)

2010 – The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec

2010 – Pink Panther and Pals ‘And Not a Drop to Pink’ (TV episode)

2012 – Hotel Transylvania

2012 – Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption

Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H (animated series features N’Kantu the Living Mummy)

2013 – Isis Rising: Curse of the Lady Mummy

2014 – American Mummy

2014 – Day of the Mummy

2014 – Doctor Who “Mummy on the Orient Express” (TV episode)

2014 – Dummie the Mummy

2014 – Frankenstein vs. the Mummy

2014 – Mummy, I’m a Zombie

2014 – The Mummy Resurrected

2014- Scorpion King 4 – Quest for Power

2014 – The Pyramid

Sweet Home is a 2015 Spanish slasher film directed by Rafa Martinez from a screenplay he co-wrote with Teresa Rosendo and Ángel Agudo. It stars Ingrid García Jonsson, Bruno Sevilla. The Julio Fernandez produced film is being distributed by Filmax Entertainment (the [REC] franchise, Summer Camp).

Plot teaser:

A couple decide to spend a romantic evening on a floor of a semi-abandoned building. During the evening they discover that a hooded murderer is the only tenant left in the building and they have become the killer’s next target….

Un vampiro para dos (“A Vampire for Two”) – also known as La mansión de los vampiros – is a 1965 Spanish comedy horror film directed by Pedro Lazaga from a screenplay by José María Palacio for Belmar Producciones Cinematográficas.

The film stars Gracita Morales, José Luis López Vázquez, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Trini Alonso, Goyo Lebrero, José Orjas, Adriano Domínguez.

Plot teaser:

Paul and Luisita, a young couple who work in the Madrid are frustrated their their schedules do not allow them to be together much. So they travel to Germany to seek other employment. The only jobs they can find is as servants at the Baron of Rossenthal, better known as the Vampire of Düsseldorf.

After a few days, the Baron’s sister, Nosferata, decides that the time has come to suck the Spaniards’ blood. However, the vampires did not realise their employees love of garlic will protect them…

Reviews:

Even without the benefit of English dubbing it is obvious that this is an unsophisticated attempt to elicit potential humour from the culture clash of Spaniards working in Germany. It doesn’t help that it takes over thirty minutes of screen time for the hapless married couple to arrive at the vampire Count’s castle or that Gracita Morales’s voice is pitched painfully high throughout. A drunken singalong accompanied by organ music has to be the film’s low point.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

” … could have yielded an interesting comedy but in this film script and direction opt for a broad farce rather than corrosive satire.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

Watch the whole film in Spanish on veoh.com

IMDb | Plot translated from filmaffinity.com

Night of the Seagulls (original title: La Noche de las gaviotas) is a 1975 Spanish horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio. It stars Maria Kosti, Victor Petit, Sandra Mozarosky, Julie James and Julia Saly.

The film is the fourth and final in Ossorio’s Blind Dead series and has also been released as Don’t Go Out at Night; Night of the Blood Cult; Night of the Death Cult; Terror Beach and The Blind Dead 4.

This film inspired a song by the New York City Oi band The Templars, and a song by UK doom metal band Cathedral.

Plot teaser:

The film starts in medieval times, when a young couple is attacked by templar knights. The man is instantly killed, the woman is carried away to the templar’s castle where she is ritually sacrificed.

In the 20th century, a doctor and his wife move to a very primitive coast town, where they are met with distrust and hatred from the locals. It does not take long before the couple discover the town harbours an ancient evil: Every seven years undead templars will ride from the sea for seven consecutive nights to demand the sacrifice of a young maiden. The doctor and his wife then try to save one of the maidens, Lucy from her horrible fate, aided by the local village idiot…

Reviews:

“Familiar stock footage from the first film is once again introduced and once more there is copious amounts of creepy smoke and haze. There is a bit more blood in this one than in The Ghost Galleon, but much less than Return of the Evil Dead and for the first and only time coming from the Templars themselves. The movie does pick up at the end and gives the viewer a good climax and some great imagery, but the trek there is a slightly tedious one.” Brett H., Oh, the Horror!

“The film’s strong point is its assortment of arresting visuals: the sight of the white-robed knights stealthily emerging from the darkness in the opening flashback, the various shots of the women’s bodies as they lay in a deserted cove surrounded by crabs and the creepy image of the deformed prowler’s face at the window as Joan unpacks her luggage are a few select highlights. The dark processions of black-robed villagers along the beach are staggeringly ominous, and of course, the sight of the skeletal and hooded knights riding in slow motion along the eerily deserted beach proves unflinchingly commanding. A weird dreamlike atmosphere presides over everything and Ossorio yet again reuses footage of the skeletal knights emerging from their tombs to ominous effect.” James Gracey, Behind the Couch

“Though slow at times with less than convincing dubbing and a very old fashioned feel, Night of the Seagulls manages to be interesting. The mysterious sleepy village has an authentic feel of sorrow and pain, and its isolation has resulted in something unnatural and horrible to take place that has remained unnoticed by the rest of the world. This almost feels a bit like something out of a Lovecraft tale, in fact Night of the Seagulls is considered to be the Lovecraftian of the Blind Dead tetralogy, which makes sense if one considers the ghoulish sea god statue as well as the presence of flying seagulls at night being the damned spirits of the sacrificed girls…” At the Mansion of Madness

Wikipedia | IMDb

Saturn Devouring His Son is the name given to a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746 – 1828). According to the traditional interpretation, it depicts the Greek myth of the Titan, Cronus (in the title Romanised to Saturn), who, fearing that he would be overthrown by one of his children, ate each one upon their birth. The work is one of the 14 Black Paintings that Goya painted directly onto the walls of his house, never intended for public view, sometime between 1819 and 1823. It was transferred to canvas after Goya’s death and as such is technically untitled. and has since been held in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

Already completely deaf in his left ear due to an illness in 1792, Goya suffered further medical issues in his early 70’s, an experience which led him to seriously question his own mortality and to retreat to his Madrid home, away from the public gaze he had earlier craved. It was here that the artist painted a series of 14 works, known as ‘the black paintings’ (Spanish: Pinturas negras), directly onto the plaster walls of his home, presumably as an act of cathartic therapy, certainly not for public viewing. The series is made up of the following pictures:

Atropos (The Fates) (Átropos/Las Parcas), Two Old Men (Dos viejos/Un viejo y un fraile), Two Old Men Eating Soup (Dos viejos comiendo sopa), Fight with Cudgels (Duelo a garrotazos/La riña), Witches’ Sabbath (Aquelarre/El Gran Cabrón), Men Reading (Hombres leyendo), Judith and Holofernes (Judith y Holofernes), A Pilgrimage to San Isidro (La romería de San Isidro), Women Laughing (Mujeres riendo), Procession of the Holy Office (Peregrinación a la fuente de San Isidro/Procesión del Santo Oficio), The Dog (Perro semihundido/El perro), Saturn Devouring His Son (Saturno devorando a un hijo), La Leocadia (Una manola: doña Leocadia Zorrilla), and Fantastic Vision (Visión fantástica/Asmodea).

These titles have been assigned by artistic scholars, there is no evidence that Goya himself named them. To this end, Saturn Devouring His Son also goes by the name of Saturn, Saturn Devouring One of His Sons, Saturn Devouring his Children and Devoration. The painting is based on the Roman take of the originally Greek myth of the titan Saturn consuming one of his children. The myth foretold that one of the sons of Saturn would overthrow him, just as he had overthrown his father, Caelus. To prevent this, Saturn ate his children moments after each was born. His wife Ops eventually hid his sixth son, Jupiter, on the island of Crete, deceiving Saturn by offering a stone wrapped in swaddling in his place. Jupiter eventually supplanted his father just as the prophecy had predicted. The painting is said to reflect Goya’s ever-sinking mood, fuelled not only by illness but the civil unrest around Spain at the time. Goya may have also have been inspired by Peter Paul Rubens’ 1636 picture of the same name, though this earlier work is less brutal and frenzied than Goya’s take.

The painting, using mixed techniques, including oils, depicts Saturn feasting upon one of his sons. His child’s head and part of the left arm has already been consumed. The right arm has probably been eaten too, though it could be folded in front of the body and held in place by Saturn’s thumbs. The titan is on the point of taking another bite from the left arm; as he looms from the darkness, his mouth gapes and his eyes are wide, suggesting madness and blind frenzy. The only other brightness in the picture comes from the white flesh, the red blood of the corpse, the white knuckles of Saturn as he digs his fingers into the back of the body. There is evidence that the picture may have originally portrayed the titan with a partially erect penis, but, if ever present, this addition was lost due to the deterioration of the mural over time or during the transfer to canvas; in the picture today the area around his groin is indistinct. It may even have been over-painted deliberately before the picture was put on public display.

It was many years after the artist’s death that the wall paintings were carefully transferred from the plaster walls to canvas to both preserve them and allow them to finally displayed for a public audience. Inevitably, this process caused damage of varying extents to the 14 paintings, extensive ‘touching-up’ being required by other artists, though Saturn appears to have fared better than most of the others. Since 1889, the work has been on display at Madrid’s Prado Museum.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

‘Sex, party, alcohol & death’

Hooked Up is a 2013 Spanish horror film directed by Pablo Larcuen from a story he co-wrote with Eduard Sola. It stars Jonah Ehrenreich, Júlia Molins, Stephen Ohl, Natascha Wiese. The Ombra film was executive produced by Jaume Collet-Serra, the director of House of Wax; Orphan and Non-Stop and shot entirely with an iPhone.

The film will be released in the US on VOD via Uncork’d Entertainment on April 7,2015 and June 9 on DVD.

Plot teaser:

Looking for a good time, two friends from New York on a trip to Barcelona befriend a couple of girls but it’s not fun they find, instead they get trapped in a house haunted by a devilish ghost bent on tearing apart anyone that enters her dwelling…

IMDb

The Corpse of Anna Fritz is a 2015 Spanish thriller film directed by Hèctor Hernández Vicens from a screenplay he co-wrote with Isaac P. Creus. The film will premiere at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival in Austin, Texas on March 2015.

Plot teaser:

Anna Fritz is a very famous and beautiful actress, considered one of the most desired women in the world. Suddenly, she dies.

Pau works as an orderly at the hospital where Anna Fritz was taken to. Pau is a shy and introverted youth. Often, when the body of a young woman is brought to the morgue, he can’t resist watching her. When he enters the morgue with the corpse of Anna Fritz, he takes a picture of her naked body and sends it to his friend Ivan.

Ivan and Javi are Pau’s only friends, and go visit him at the hospital. They are a little drunk and Ivan wants to see the naked body of Anna Fritz. She is there. They can’t lose this opportunity…

Wikipedia | IMDb | Source: Twitch Film

‘Vampire leopard women prowl the jungle”

Night of the Sorcerers – original title: La Noche de los Brujos translation: “Night of the Warlocks” – is a 1973 Spanish horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio (Tombs of the Blind Dead, Night of the Seagulls, Demon Witch Child).

Cast:

Maria Kosti, Lorena Tovar, Barbara King, Kali Hansa, Jack Taylor, Simon Andreu and Joseph Thelman.

Plot teaser:

1910, Bumbasa, West Africa: A white missionary (Barbara King) is kidnapped by native Bokor (sorcerers) to be sacrificed under a full moon. The Bokor tie her between two posts, whip her, then decapitate her. However, the voodoo ceremony is interrupted by British soldiers who shoot all the participants. Unnoticed in the melee, a shedim (demon) takes possession of the woman.

Years later, Professor Jonathan Grant (Jack Taylor) commands a safari investigating the disappearance of elephants. The safari team stumbled across the clearing where the natives had performed their rituals, before being wiped out in colonial times.

Unfortunately, they decide to camp nearby…

Buy via Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

” … it’s hard to find a better-paced, more enjoyable exercise in sensationalism of its kind. It can’t decide what kind of horror movie it wants to be, so vampirism, voodoo, possession and the walking dead are all tossed in like a big salad, and a very tasty one at that. The film is also not afraid to spill blood or allow for some kinky sadism, notably in repeated rituals where pretty women have their blouses literally whipped off… George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

” … a mean-spirited, poorly made exploitation picture that relies on nudity, brutality, and gore rather than story, acting, and characterization. And what’s worse, it’s not even competent on this level, for it breaks the first rule of exploitation filmmaking: Shock, sicken, and titillate, but never, never bore your audience.” Bryan Senn, Drums of Terror: Voodoo in the Cinema

Buy via Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

“The film’s general shoddiness is everywhere. In the daytime, the vampire women take the form of animals, played by stuffed leopards whose heads peer out through some bushes. Fernando Garcia Morcillo’s roller-rink organ-driven score is like something out of an Emmanuelle knock-off. The tired jungle cliches uneasily mix with the ’70s sexploitation elements, which in turn don’t blend well with the intended horrors.” Stuart Galbraith IV, DVD Talk

“The plot is paper thin, the acting amateurish and some scenes were too dark due to the shooting process. Although, that said, when the shots weren’t too dark there was some great lighting and atmospherics. It hasn’t a shred of pc awareness and, you know what, it is great fun. It is leopard skin bikini vampiric fun from a master of exploitation horror.” Taliesen Meets the Vampires

“Graphic violence and plentiful soft-core sex cannot relieve the tedium…” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror

” … endearingly kitsch jungle exploitation flick … De Ossorio brings his familiar spooky touch to scenes where zombies crawl out of their graves and cannibals cavort around piles of skulls. By the far the most enjoyable aspect are the leopardskin bikini-clad vampire women, as Barbara Rey and Loli Tovar prance around the jungle with demonic glee.”Andrew Pragasam, The Spinning Image

“Racist, risible and completely redundant, it’s a forgettable effort.” Jamie Russell, Book of the Dead

Filming Locations:

Aldea del Fresno, Madrid, Spain

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Chilling Scenes of Dreadful Villainy | VHS Collector

Beaks: The Movie – Spanish: El ataque de los pájaros – is a 1987 Mexican-Spanish horror movie written, produced and directed by René Cardona Jr. (Night of a 1000 Cats; Tintorera; Guyana: Crime of the Century). It is also known as Beaks: The Birds 2; Birds of Prey and Evil Birds. The synthesizer score is by Stelvio Cipriani.

Cast:

Michelle Johnson (Werewolf  TV series; Waxwork; Dr. Giggles), Christopher Atkins (Mortuary Academy; Dracula Rising; Stageghost), Sonia Infante (Doctor of Doom; Museum of Horror), Salvador Pineda, Gabriele Tinti (Lisa and the Devil; Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals; Creepers), Aldo Sambrell (Monstroid; Killer Barbys vs. Dracula; Flesh for the Beast), Nené Morales, Manuel Pereyro, Cintia Lodetti, Carole James, May Heatherly.

Plot teaser:

Vanessa, a television reporter covering a story about a farmer attacked by his chickens, discovers that this is not an isolated incident. Travelling to Spain with her henchman, (also cameraman and boyfriend) Peter, the two discover the survivors of a town wiped out by the birds thirty years ago.

Meanwhile, attacks continue as a child’s birthday party ends in tragedy and doves devour a poultry farmer and his wife. Vanessa soon comes to the conclusion that the birds are organizing themselves against the ecological ravages of man but time is running out as thousands of birds of all types launch attack for revenge against a train Vanessa is travelling on…

Reviews:

“Making its contemporary in revenge of nature misfires Slugs seem sensible in comparison, you get lines like Atkins’ exclamation “These birds really know what they’re doing!”, constant distractions from the two leads to concentrate on Neilson’s granddaughter’s birthday party and a bickering family at the beach, and all the fake blood and slow motion you could want from an impoverished production punching considerably above its weight. So yes, it was garbage, but at least you could get a few cheap laughs from its ineptitude.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image

“Birds of Prey is a z-grade rip-off where pigeons rip people’s eyes out and doves menacingly organise themselves to destroy man. Clearly the blame lies squarely at the feet of the director: Hitchcock turned birds into a terrifying force of destruction that we’d never really considered a threat before. Here, Cardona Jr (who also brought us the equally-as-dire Jaws rip-off Tintorera) just makes them look dim-witted and laughable.” Popcorn Pictures

Some of the attack sequences are well done but writer-director-producer Rene Cardona Jr. lines his cage at every opportunity, relying on clichés.” John Stanley, Creature Features

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Fear will always find its victim’

Regression is a 2015 American-Spanish psychological thriller film directed, produced and written by Alejandro Amenábar (Thesis; Open Your Eyes; The Others). It stars Ethan Hawke (Taking Lives; Daybreakers; Sinister), Emma Watson, David Dencik and David Thewlis (The Island of Dr. Moreau; Basic Instinct 2; The Omen).

Release:

The film was originally scheduled for an August 28, 2015 release in the US, but was pushed to December 31, 2015. The film will be released in Spain on October 2, 2015 and UK on October 9, 2015.

Plot teaser:

Minnesota, 1990. Detective Bruce Kenner (Ethan Hawke) investigates the case of 17 year-old Angela (Emma Watson), who accuses her father, John Gray (David Dencik), of sexually abusing her. When John unexpectedly and without recollection admits guilt, renowned psychologist Dr. Raines (David Thewlis) is brought in to help him relive his memories and what they discover unmasks a horrifying nationwide mystery involving satanism…

Cast and Characters:

Ethan Hawke as Detective Bruce Kenner
Emma Watson as Angela Gray
David Dencik as John Gray
David Thewlis as Professor Kenneth Raines
Devon Bostick as Roy Gray
Dale Dickey as Rose Gray
Aaron Ashmore as George Nesbitt
Lothaire Bluteau as Reverend Murray
Adam Butcher as Brody
Kristian Bruun as Andrew
Aaron Abrams as Farrell
Peter MacNeill as Cleveland

Wikipedia | IMDb

Buy original poster from Amazon.com

‘He needed her body and her blood to live!’

Love Brides of the Blood Mummy – original title: El secreto de la momia egipcia – is a 1973 Spanish/French horror film directed by Alejandro Martí from a screenplay by Vincent Didier and Julio Salvador (Hannah, Queen of the Vampires). In the UK, it was released as Lips of Blood (not to be confused with Jean Rollin’s film of the same name).

Cast:

George Rigaud, Michael Flynn, Catherine Franck, Frank Braña, Patricia Lee, Sandra Reeves, Julie Presscott, Jacques Bernard, Martin Trévières, Teresa Gimpera.

Plot:

James Barton (Frank Braña), an Egyptologist, travels to Dartmoor Castle because there is a rumour that the Count (Jorge George Rigaud) has a collection of mummies. There are also rumours that a number of young women have gone missing in the area. When he comes across the Count he is shocked to find him whipping a mummified hand he has nailed to the wall…

Reviews:

” … this Spanish/ French adventure is not without its own quirky charms. There is some fondling and the occasional flash of flesh. There are a lot of scenes involving the butler chasing women around. The mummy stares at people a lot. And there is some odd use made of irising in and out of scenes.” Dan Budnik, Bleeding Skull!

“Aside from any nudity found in the uncut version, the only other thing this has going for it is the shooting locations. It was filmed during the Autumn and the outdoor scenery is lovely. There are lots of colorful trees, fields of tall wheat blowing in the wind and some nice shots along the ocean. The director, who seems obsessed with both shooting reflections of people in water and horse riding, has a nice eye for landscapes. Too bad the rest of this sucks.” The Bloody Pit of Horror

“Unfortunately this is one of the dullest pieces of Euro-Horror I have sat through in recent memory. Most of the film is a boring series of repetitive scenes of a kind of hypnotized servant going out to drag female victims back to the castle dungeon for the ‘mummy’ to molest and drain of blood.” Rod Barnett, Pit of Rod

“Unfortunately it is pretty darn boring as well, the pacing is plodding and we don’t really get any characterisation to draw us in.” Taliesen Meets the Vampires

“For an exploitation picture, it feels eerily serious with its strong and creative score, moody with piano and percussion. Pacing is slow, yet something is always happening on screen. I loved the chase through the tall grass … it’s a good weird atmospheric exploitation picture that fans should seek out…” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Also released as:

Le sang des autres (France)
Les chemins de la violence (France)
Perversions sexuelles (France)

IMDb | Image thanks: The Bloody Pit of Horror | Mark Williams | Taliesen Meets the Vampires | Wrong Side of the Art!

‘When the undead can evolve, no-one is safe’

Extinction – formerly known as Welcome to Harmony – is a 2015 Spanish-French-American-Hungarian science-fiction horror film directed by Miguel Ángel Vivas from a screenplay co-written with Alberto Marini. It should not be confused with the found footage dinosaur film with the same title.

Cast:

Matthew Fox, Jeffrey Donovan, Quinn McColgan, Valeria Vereau, Alex Hafner and Clara Lago.

Release:

The film was released on July 31, 2015 in the United States.

Plot:

After a virus turns people into zombies, a small group of survivors seek refuge in a snow-covered town, believing the virus and all of its monstrous creations had died out. But they only discover the infected had adapted to the environment change, for the worse…

Reviews:

“Director Miguel Ángel Vivas tries to add a family-drama twist to an otherwise standard survival story, but the characters aren’t complex enough (and the secrets aren’t explosive enough) to elevate this beyond a basic zombie flick.” Devan Coggan, Entertainment Weekly

“More filmmakers should treat the zombie subgenre as allegorical, the way George A. Romero intended. But Extinction and Maggie both arrive at the same conclusion about fatherhood, thereby confirming it as a cliché rather than a coincidence.” Martin Tsai, Los Angeles Times

“Extinction stumbles in its efforts to evolve beyond a simple, bloody tale of the zombie apocalypse. Its narrative leans toward the untenable side of melodrama and pushes viewers away when it should be pulling them in for a suspenseful finale.” Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects

“Director Miguel Angel Vivas (Kidnapped) fails to bring any visual flair to the sluggishly paced proceedings, and the CGI effects prove less than convincing. Fox and Donovan, who did far better work on their respective TV shows Lost and Burn Notice, are unable to breathe much life into their stock characters, with the former seeming particularly uncomfortable in his largely non-action role. Far better is child actress McColgan, delivering a well-rounded, naturalistic performance.” Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter

” …at its best moments competent, at its worst risible and downright silly. It very much feels like it’s trying too hard to be a grand and serious work while at the same time using some of the most hoary and overripe tropes of the genre to make its points. Maybe these cinematic elements can never die as they keep coming back again and again. Maybe that is the central ironic conceit of Extinction.” Jason Gorber, Twitch

Wikipedia | IMDb

”They exist on the flesh of the young and beautiful’

The Ghost Galleon – original title: El Buque maldito – is a 1974 Spanish supernatural horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio (Tombs of the Blind Dead, Night of the Seagulls, Demon Witch Child).

In the US, the film was released by Sam Sherman’s Independent-International as Horror of the Zombies. It stars Jack Taylor (Night of the Sorcerers), Maria Perschy and Bárbara Rey.

Plot:

A pair of swimsuit models are out in a boat to stage a publicity stunt by appearing to be stranded. They discover a mysterious galleon shrouded in mist and board it. When contact is lost, the wealthy and unscrupulous businessman who sent them out decides to mount his own rescue mission and abducts one of the models’ friends. The abducted girl makes an unsuccessful escape attempt. The businessman and his secretary recruit an eccentric scholar to assist them in their search for the missing models and their boat.

Unfortunately, the phantom galleon carries the coffins of the Knights Templar, eyeless living dead beings who hunt humans by sound…

Reviews:

“The entire first half plays out as a wonderfully suspenseful set piece in which the Blind Dead gradually make themselves known, whilst he even manages a nice little twist at the film’s closing even as he fluffs the ending. Indeed, The Ghost Galleon may not be the best example of a Blind Dead movie, but it’s by no means a major disappointment. ” Anthony Nield, The Digital Fix

“although the essential ingredients of de Ossorio’s tried recipe are present, … here they aren’t as well exploited as the first two movies.” Peter Dendle, Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide

“The Ghost Galleon is a very nicely shot film, and the sequences on the ship are a nice fit with Amando de Ossorio’s taste for the eerie and atmospheric. The Templars themselves look great, although the miniature effects are ridiculous, looking almost as if the ship had been yanked out of a box of Fruity Pebbles and dropped in a bathtub.” Adam Tyner, DVD Talk

“The first hour is somewhat slow, with the running time including posing sessions with the models and a rather incongruous scene in which the megalomaniacal magnate holds the model’s roommate hostage in a dungeon-like chamber … The atmospheric scenes aboard the decrepit galleon (long shots of which obviously are of a model ship, unfortunately) are genuinely creepy and may have been borrowed by John Carpenter for The Fog (1980).” TV Guide

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Cast and Characters:

• Maria Perschy as Lillian
• Jack Taylor as Howard Tucker
• Bárbara Rey as Noemi
• Carlos Lemos as Professor Grüber
• Manuel de Blas as Sergio
• Blanca Estrada as Kathy
• Margarita Merino as Lorena Kay

Choice dialogue:

Female photographer: “C’mon Greta, lean back and stick them out.”

Lillian (Maria Perschy): “I think he’s seen too many horror films.”

Trailer (as The Ghost Galleon):

Trailer (as Horror of the Zombies):

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘Some women would kill for a baby’

Inside is a 2016 Spanish horror film directed by Miguel Ángel Vivas (Kidnapped) from a screenplay by Jaume Balagueró and Manu Diez ([•REC]). It is being produced by Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls of Nostromo Pictures (Buried).

The film is a remake of the 2007 French film Inside (aka À l’intérieur) directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (Livid; Among the Living; Leatherface).

Embankment Films are selling the project at the American Film Market (AFM) next week and casting is currently underway for a February 2016 shoot. Embankment’s Tim Haslam commented:

“Jaume had this great idea for the remake and, with Manu, they’ve reimagined the original film as a very classy and tense thriller. With two great female characters fighting to be a mother, Miguel Ángel brings his distinct vision, setting up the film as a tense, sustained set piece that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats, for sure.”

Source: Broke Horror Fan

She Killed in Ecstasy is a 1970 West German-Spanish erotic horror thriller film directed by Jesús Franco. The production staff included many cast members and nearly the same crew as his previous film Vampyros Lesbos. The German title is Sie tötete in Ekstase.

Cast:

Soledad Miranda, Fred Williams, Ewa Strömberg, Paul Muller, Howard Vernon, Horst Tappert, Jess Franco.

She Killed in Ecstasy is currently available as a definitive uncut Severin Films Blu-ray in the US and UK. Extras include interviews with Jess Franco, Soledad Miranda historian Amy Brown, Stephen Thrower (author of Murderous Passion: The Delirious Cinema of Jess Franco); actor Paul Muller and the German trailer.

Plot:

Dr. Johnson (Fred Williams) lives in bliss with his beautiful wife (Soledad Miranda) until his unorthodox experiments with human embryos causes a medical committee to reject his findings and orders him to discontinue his work. The unstable doctor slashes his wrists in the bathroom. Devastated, his wife vows to seduce and kill the woman and three men “responsible” for the suicide…

Reviews:

Jess Franco’s direction here focuses almost solely on the undoubted screen presence of Soledad Miranda is all the better for it. The revenge and necrophilia-themed lost soulmate storyline, which borrows elements from the director’s previous films The Diabolical Dr. Z  and Venus in Furs, was clearly cobbled together solely to use her obvious acting talents.

Yet, despite little dialogue, Miranda conveys vengeance and female fury with merely her eyes. Elsewhere, the director’s own masochistic demise, at the hands of his lead actress is, as Stephen Thrower suggests in an interview extra, perhaps the sole reason for the film’s existence!

Thankfully, its only right at the end of the slim Sadean plot that Franco overreaches himself with a montage of seemingly endless images of Miranda that slightly smacks of overkill.

Elsewhere, the lack of a dynamic narrative is compensated for by some delightfully kitsch architecture, interior decoration and fashions such as an ornate metal bra, and fetishistic imagery such as when Ewa Strömberg’s naked character is smothered to death with a plastic see-thru pillow after a lesbian romp with Miranda.

Hubler and Schwab’s upbeat sitar-tinged easy listening score is sometimes out of kilter with what’s happening on screen, e.g. Fred Williams character Dr. Johnson committing suicide, so was presumably used as it was available rather than being composed for this film and Vampyros Lesbos. But that’s a minor quibble as it’s excellent in itself and provides a memorable musical juxtaposition that fits the odd ambiance.

If you’re already a fan of Jess Franco’s delirious late 60s/early 70s oeuvre, the uncut and gorgeous looking Severin Blu-ray restoration is a must-have purchase.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

“Actress Soledad Miranda’s physical presence alone brings an atmosphere of mysterious eroticism and melancholy to the film that is seldom to be seen in Franco’s other work… a straight “star vehicle” built around Miranda.” Peter Blumenstock, Obsession: The Films of Jess Franco

“For a film filled with nudity, strange decor and kitschy muzak Sie tötete in Ekstase is a downbeat, depressing affair. Even the presence of the lovely Soledad Miranda fails to revive the tortured, repetitive plot. The film overflows with death and thwarted desire… Sie tötete in Ekstase is deadly serious. Too serious to be entertaining.” Pete Tombs, Cathal Tohill, Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies, 1956-1984

“Manuel Merino’s photography focuses solely and seductively upon Miranda, as she seduces the film’s characters. Franco’s compositions are a little too clean for my tastes and too formal, as if he doesn’t want to taint the beauty of Miranda. Numerous close-ups of her face and hypnotic eyes fill She Killed in Ecstasy, as Miranda is often able to portray her descent into madness and despair through only the windows into her soul.” Hans A., Quiet Cool

Cast and characters:

• Soledad Miranda as Mrs. Johnson
• Fred Williams as Dr. Johnson
• Ewa Strömberg as Dr. Crawford
• Paul Muller as Dr. Franklin Houston
• Howard Vernon as Prof. Jonathan Walker
• Horst Tappert as Polizeiinspektor
• Jesús Franco as Dr. Donen
• Rudolph Hertzog Jr. as Kongressteilnehmer
• Karl-Heinz Mannchen as Kongressteilnehmer

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Devil’s Possessed aka Devil’s Possessed – is a 1974 Spanish-Argentinian action adventure horror film directed by León Klimovsky from a screenplay by Jacinto Molina Alvarez [Paul Naschy]. The film is loosely based on the life of the infamous child serial killer Gilles de Rais (1404-1440).

The film’s Spanish title is El Mariscal del Infierno “The Marshall of Hell” whilst the Argentinian title is Los poseídos de Satán “Satan Possessed”.

The musical soundtrack seems to be a mix of library cues and electronic synth interludes by Carlos Viziello (Supernatural).

Plot:

Baron Gilles de Lancre (Naschy) is an evil ruler who uses alchemy, witchcraft and necromancy to keep his subjects in line, but his reign of terror eventually prompts the people to revolt…

Reviews:

“The emphasis on Naschy, not to mention on sacrifice and torture, marks El Mariscal as a horror film rather than a swashbuckler in the final analysis; it’s closest analogue might well be Rowland V. Lee’s Tower of London in its volatile genre mix. In any event, this film is admirable for its ambition, even if that ambition isn’t fully achieved.” Mondo 70: A Wild World of Cinema

” … probably the worst movie Paul Naschy and León Klimovsky created together. A horrendously slow medieval adventure-melodrama that looks like some 40s or 50s swashbuckler film and has nearly nothing to do with the horror genre.” Maynard’s Horror Movie Diary

“Naschy is wonderfully evil once he turns it loose and goes for broke with the Gilles character, and it’s fun to watch him in the aforementioned soliloquy and in his last stand at the climax. His right-hand man Sillé, played with Vincent Price/Basil Rathbone smarminess by Mariano Vidal Molina, is an effective performance…” Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies

Cast and characters:

Paul Naschy – Baron Gilles de Lancre
Standard Sebre – Georgelle
Guillermo Bredeston – Gaston de Malebranche
Mariano Vidal Molina – Sillé
Nilson Graciela Graciela
Eduardo Calvo – Simon Braqueville
Fernando Rubio – Estebano
Luis Induni – Paul
Jose Luis Chinchilla – Daniel
Francisco Nieto
Carmen Carro – Bastiana
Germán Kraus
Javier de Rivera
Cesar Barona
Toni Mosul
Emilio Mellado
Luis Gonzalez Paramo
Simon Arriaga
Sandra Mozarowsky – sacrificed girl
Juan Madrigal
Fernando Villena
Ana Farra
Adela Vazquez
Joaquín Solis
Antonio Orengo
Maria de los Angeles Muñoz
Jeannette Aristensen
Jaime Moreno
Maria Giani

Choice dialogue:

Baron Gilles de Lancre [Paul Naschy]: “We still do not have the philosopher stone!”

Trailer:

IMDb

El Espectro del Terror – translation: “The Spectre of Terror” – is a 1972 Spanish psycho thriller film written and directed by José María Elorrieta [as J.M. Ekorietta] (Feast of Satan; Diabolical Shudder; The Curse of the Vampire). It was released in Spain in June 1973.

Main cast:

Maria Perschy (The Ghost Galleon), Sancho Gracia, Aramis Ney (The Curse of the Vampire), Betsabé Ruiz, Víctor Alcázar, María Dolores Tovar, Ernesto Vañes, Ramón Lillo, Titania Clement, Maritza Olivares [as May Oliver]. 

Plot:

Madrid: Charley Reed (Aramis Ney) is an American Vietnam war veteran and befuddled serial killer who sloppily disposes of his victims in an acid bath.

Mainly preying on beautiful women, the psychopath also murders a drunken ex-buddy who publicly mocks him in a bar and a doctor who offers to help him.

Reed’s killing spree ends when he attacks Maria Preston, a feisty airline stewardess with a determination to live…

Review:

It is easy to understand why this pedestrian Spanish psycho thriller by José María Elorrieta has remained utterly obscure for so many years and why it didn’t receive an international release. The simplistic plot merely lurches from one incident to the next, whilst Aramis Ney plays the killer as he becomes more and more deranged.

There is no style in the presentation of the murderous yet seemingly mundane events that unfold and no reason for empathy with either the victims or the troubled maniac – clearly suffering from post-‘Nam traumatic stress disorder of a very intense nature. Aside from the sound of occasional intense war flashback gunfire on the soundtrack, Javier Elorietta’s discordant piano accompaniment, presumably intended to denote a descent into madness, merely grates on the nerves.

Beyond the apathetic delivery, the most unsettling thing about the film, for this reviewer at least, is the killer’s penchant for messily drinking milk straight from the bottle.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

Choice dialogue:

Charly: “Don’t make me kill you!”

Charly: “I am sick. I don’t want to hurt you.”

IMDb

‘ You’ll eat your heart out!’

The Loreley’s Grasp is a 1974 Spanish horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio (Tombs of the Blind Dead; Demon Witch Child; The Ghost Galleon). The film’s original title is Las Garras de Lorelei and it was released in the US as When the Screaming Stops.

Main cast:

Tony Kendall – Return of the Blind Dead
Helga Liné  – The Dracula Saga, Horror Rises from the Tomb, The Vampire’s Night Orgy
Silvia Tortosa – Horror Express
Josefina Jartin
Loreta Tovar – Curse of the Vampire
José Thelman – Tombs of the Blind Dead
Luis Induni – The Horrible Sexy Vampire; Dr. Jekyll vs. the Werewolf; The Werewolf and the Yeti
Javier de Rivera – The Awful Dr. Orloff; Night of the Seagulls; A Dragonfly for Each Corpse)
Antonio Orengo (Frankenstein’s Bloody Terror, Tombs of the Blind Dead
Betsabe Ruiz – Werewolf Shadow, Horror Rises from the Tomb, Autopsy

Plot:

The legendary shape-shifting Loreley has been living for centuries in a grotto beneath the river Rhein in Germany. Every night when the moon is full, she turns into a reptile-like creature that rips the hearts from its victims. After young women from a local boarding school are sacrificed, and then a blind violinist, a hunter named Sirgurd (Tony Kendall) is engaged to kill the beast…

Release:

As was the practice, certain scenes were filmed a clothed and unclothed for different export markets.

In the US, the film was initially released in 1976 as When the Screaming Stops, with the addition of red warning flashes preceding each gory murder.

This US-edit was subsequently released to movie theaters in the early 1980s with artwork that implied it was a slasher film, rather than a monster movie, and then on VHS by Lightning Video. Patrons were issued with vomit bags.

In November 2007, BCI released a remastered, uncut, 1.85:1 aspect ratio version on DVD in the USA.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

The film is available uncut, with a 16:9 – 1.77:1 aspect ratio, on a Unbekannt Blu-ray with English, German, and Spanish audio options, an image gallery and trailers.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Shot primarily in shaky POV, the Loreley’s killings are erratic and unexpected, as if to mimic the attack of a wild animal. Initially only the creatures encroaching hand is shown, but as more of the legend of Loreley is revealed, so is her lunar form, that of a green scaled reptilian, shrouded in a black cape.” Jason McElreath, DVD Drive-In

“There are some really nice de Ossorio touches in the film – particularly, a scientist who is testing a moonlight machine and a radioactive knife to use against Lorelei (and the subsequent trashing of his his laboratory is awesome, too), and Lorelei’s underwater castle, complete with skull-adorned bikini servants.” The Brooklyn Cult of Mystic Horrors

“What an extraordinary film. It’s not bad actually if you like 1970s Euro-horror: the acting’s passable (though the dubbing is risible) and the direction … is competent. The storyline is enjoyably daft and at least it’s original, rather than being yet another damn vampire / werewolf / mummy / horde of zombies. The monster is monstrous, the deaths are violent and bloody, and the pseudo-scientific explanation is complete hogwash of the highest order. Top stuff.” MJ Simpson

” … this is a lost fucking classic that is severely underrated and I think any horror fan worth his (or her) salt will find it an enjoyable ride. It’s fun, it’s bloody, it’s ridiculously easy on the eyes.” Jocelyn, The Church of Splatter-Day Saints

“As with the Blind Dead films, Loreley offers a series of moody interludes between the gore scenes and exposition scenes. We see the seductive redhead  striding across marshlands on cloudy afternoons, siren song playing softy in the background. These scenes – heightened by earnest acting, creative direction, and tight editing – help make the picture very good for its kind.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

“The amphibious green slime monster with big teeth is more comical than frightening, and an eye-filling parade of curvaceous cuties in bikinis and other skimpy costumes will please males. But these facts don’t necessarily make a good movie…” John Stanley, Creature Features

Trailer:

IMDb