| Curse Of The Living Corpse/School That Couldn't Scream |
| Curse of the Living Corpse (1964) Del Tenney brought us that abysmal dreck Horror Of Party Beach.Curse Of The Living Corpse is the other part of the double feature.Surprisingly it is an above average thriller worth checking out. Rufus Sinclair suffered from catalepsy.He also suffered from impacted rhoids cause he was a mean old cuss.He abused his entire family.Everyone lived in fear or hatred of the old man.Anyway old Rufus has seemingly kicked the bucket(died that is).However in his will he had certain stipulations that had to be carried out just in case he was suffering from a catatonic fit.If these conditions weren't met he would return from the grave and kill his family in the ways they feared the most. Of course the conditions weren't met.A member of the household staff winds up being beheaded and her head is served on a breakfast tray.The eldest Sinclair is dragged to death behind a horse,one is roasted alive in her bed, one is stabbed and another is drowned.Has old Rufus come back from the grave or is it somebody else?You'll be guessing until the end. There is a lot to like about this film.It is never boring and is well directed (surprise) and the acting for the most part is top notch.I would have liked to seen the comedy relief dragged behind a horse to their deaths.The outdoor scenes are magnificent and the moody black and white photography is top notch.As a bonus there is also an amazing amount of skin in one scene(for 1963). Roy Scheider is in his first starring role and Candace Hilligoss is fresh from Carnival Of Souls(see review this month).Catch this one if you can. |
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| SCHOOL THAT COULDN'T SCREAM (aka WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO SOLANGE?) This is a very strange film.The connection to Edgar Wallace is shaky at best.Allegedly the film is based on the novel The Clue Of The Silver Pin.But you can bet your bottom dollar that Wallace never wrote anything as sleazy as this.The EW name may have been tossed out there because of the West German financing and also to help sell the picture there.This is an Italian giallo all the way. A teacher at a girl's college is having an extramarital affair in the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky method if ya know what I mean.While out boating with his young lady (Elizabeth) the girl sees a vicious stabbing.Rossini (the teacher) thinks the girl made it up to avoid having sex. The murder victim also attended the same college.She was stabbed/sexually violated with a rather large butcher knife.(Feel free to wince and turn green at this point.I did.)Rossini goes back to the murder site once he hears about it and drops his pen there. Rossini is confronted by Barth played comfortably by Fuchsberger (star of dozens of Edgar Wallace krimis).Rossini denies his involvement but this just cements his wife's suspicions of an affair. Another girl from the school is killed in the same manner.Elizabeth is drowned in Rossini's apartment.Things aren't looking good for Rossini.He and his wife set out to prove his innocence. Barth gives him enough rope to either lead him to the killer or hang himself. It all ties into a rather gruesomely displayed botched abortion. It seems the young girls at the college participated in a lot of sexual adventures.A young high schooler Solange became pregnant and the girls and a maid attempted a clumsy home abortion.As a result Solange regressed mentally to an infantile state and someone was out to avenge her. This movie has a lot of nudity and the subject matter is sleazy (and that is being kind).I liked the cast, the directing, the photography and the musical score.Just didn't care for the plot.I wanted to see it due to the slim Edgar Wallace connection which is almost non existant. |
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