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Francis Lederer and Norma Eberhardt in Return of Dracula (1958).

#dracula #return of Dracula #francis lederer #norma eberhardt

French poster for Hammer’s Twins of Evil.

French poster for House of Dark Shadows, Dan Curtis’s big-screen adaptation of his daytime soap Dark Shadows.

This frightened the life out of me when I was a kid. I saw an episode at lunchtime, and it spooked me to the point where I had to leave the house.

#ghost hunters #bbc

German and French posters for Kiss of the Vampire (1963).

#kiss of the vampire #hammer horror

This entry in Boris Karloff’s Columbia mad scientist series starts out with him gaining youth and strength thanks to his super-serum, like Captain America, before things take a Hands of Orlac turn. Oh doc, why’d you use that murderer’s blood?

#boris karloff

In this one, Boris Karloff likes to cryogenically freeze people and wake them years later. He’d have made an ideal GP for Captain America.

#boris karloff #the man with nine lives

The Deadly Bees is a daft but enjoyable Amicus horror that feels like one of their portmanteau episodes expanded to feature length. It has a nice Hammer feel, though, with appearances by Black Park and, yes, Michael Ripper behind the pub bar.

For no discernible reason, it opens in a pop music setting, and one of the band (“The Birds” - sorry, lads, I think it’s taken) members is Ronnie Wood.

#amicus #the deadly bees

The first of Boris Karloff’s Columbia Mad Scientist run starts like an early 30s Warner Bros horror (complete with dogged reporter), and takes a detour to pinch its second half from Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. I wonder if Luis Buñuel had this story of dinner guests unable to leave when he made The Exterminating Angel?

#boris karloff #the man they could not hang

In the minus column: it’s beyond daft, and has an insufferable reporter protagonist; but the pluses are Lionel Atwill and gorgeous deco styling. “Synthetic flesh!”

#doctor x #lionel atwill

Circus of Horrors (1960)

Hysteria dial set to 10, Circus of Horrors draws on both the Merton Park Edgar Wallace mysteries and Hammer Horror in cast and mood. There’s lashings of gore and cheesecake, and plenty of verité footage of Billy Smart’s circus. There’s also rather too much of the pop tune “Look for a Star” (I think they were after a hit), and the bloke in a gorilla suit is singularly unconvincing. The Douglas Slocombe cinematography is luscious.

#circus of horrors

Columbia’s entry in the 30s horror vogue, The Black Room, has the expected Bride of Frankenstein trappings, but there’s also a flavour of Josef Von Sternberg’s The Scarlet Empress. Roy William Neill has a great eye, and Boris Karloff gives two superb performances.

#boris karloff #the black room

#boris karloff #the mummy #universal horror

The Last Warning (Paul Leni, 1928) is a little heavier on the comedy than I expected, but it looks a treat - cobwebs, shadows and clutching hands galore.

#the last warning #paul leni #laura la plante

ronaldcmerchant

the SKULL (1965)

Unusually for a comedy horror, it’s actually both funny and horrific, and manages to be moving, too.

#theatre of blood #vincent price #diana rigg

Vincent Price underplays beautifully here. He’s also sans moustache. Is there a connection?

#house of usher #vincent price #roger corman #edgar allan poe

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