29.-32. Blood on Satan's Claw, Revenge of Frankenstein, The Omen, Shadow of the Vampire
29.The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), dir. Piers Haggard, broadcast 22 July 2022
Original tweet-along thread
Individual tweets:
Well, it's been a few Fridays since I checked in to the #CellarClub. In an unexpected turn of events, I succumbed to the attentions of a gentleman caller, and Friday night has been a date night for the past month or so. #TheFilmCrowd
Obviously, any gentleman caller worthy of my attentions has to be as keen on vintage horror as I am, and this one hits the mark. We watched Fall of the House of Usher together last week. But it would've felt a bit rude to tweet along while he was there. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
This week, though, he's off on tour with his band, so I'm back in my usual #CellarClub chair, ready for Blood on Satan's Claw! It's the weakest of the Unholy Trinity of Folk Horror, but for precisely that reason I've seen it the least often, so am up for a rewatch. #TheFilmCrowd
I do like that close-up of the blinking raven (crow?) in the opening credits. And the autumnal ferns and branches against blue skies, actually. Nice way of foregrounding the creepy, decaying qualities in nature. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Less impressive qualities in this film - the utterly terrible wigs. Barry Andrews and Simon Williams are particularly badly served. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
To be fair, bad wigs aside, this film is better visually than I'd remembered. There are some genuinely good shots of misty, autumnal countryside, and if the cameras are a bit TOO mobile in the interior scenes, at least they're trying to create interest. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Good shot of the horse's hooves being attended to from under the cart there, too. Then indeed of the attack on Wendy Padbury from disorientating angles. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Ooh, this is coming over very Dionysian now, too! Wild, unfettered young folks on a hill-side bearing branches laden with flowers. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Another rather good type of shot I've noticed a couple of time - a static shot of a primarily natural setting (e.g. a wooded hillside) with human characters at first insignificantly tiny in the far distance, and then approaching closer to the camera. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Excellent way to convey the fleeting impermanence and small insignificance of human endeavours in the face of nature. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
This whole scene with Wendy Padbury, though. Very much one of the blots on this film for me. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Wow, though, those shears Linda Hayden used looked very Roman! E.g. http://exhibits.hsl.virginia.edu/hist-images/romansurgical/scissors_e.jpg Most interesting... #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Would love to know how they even got that shot of the crow / raven on the branch in the foreground with Barry Andrews in the background. Presumably they had a tame / trained one available. Very effective, anyway. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
IT'S A PITCHFORK MOB! I love a pitchfork mob. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Using Latin in the pagan ceremonies there, because of course they are. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Possibly the only language in existence which can sound both incredibly pagan and incredibly Christian, depending on context and framing. #Latin #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Ooh, love these shots of the interrupted pagan revellers silently screaming and in slow motion! #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
Well, apart from what happens to Wendy Padbury's character, that was pretty good actually. Certainly very good in the cinematography department. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
If my parents had named me Richard Bush, I would go by the full version of my name, or maybe Rick or Ricky. Not Dick. But, the man knew what he was about. All credit to him. #CellarClub #TheFilmCrowd
30. The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), dir. Terence Fisher
Watched by myself from a Sky Box recording, this is Hammer's rapidly-produced effort at capitalising on the run-away success of The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), with the story picking up directly after the ending of the previous film. I've seen it before, but I think never written about it, and will freely confess that one of its most interesting features to me is its use of lightly-modified sets from Dracula - e.g. the graveyard set early on in the film where the Baron is supposed to have been buried is Dracula's crypt redressed, as is Frankenstein's room in the poor hospital; the staircase used in almost every major interior set of Dracula's castle also leads down to that room; the Medical Council meet in Dracula's library, complete with his books still on the shelves; and Miss Conrad hides from a murderous Carl in a stable which was formerly the undertaker's set from Dracula. Actually, the reuse of Dracula's crypt set creates a nice little intertext between the films themselves, in that when the Baron appears, clad all in black and declaring "Good evening, I am Baron Frankenstein", there is a distinct touch of Dracula about him, right down to his apparently-supernatural resurrection from the dead. It's a very competently-produced film all round, with some nice editorial and visual touches, like a cut to red wine pouring right after we have seen the guillotine blade come down, apparently onto Frankenstein's neck.
Peter Cushing is of course all you would hope for. There is lots of great Props Peter action as he shows his prospective new assistant Hans Kleve (Francis Matthews) around the hospital, and of course all the obsessive intensity with his work which the character demands. He also wears a baby-pink waistcoat, and somehow manages to make it look devastatingly stylish. Frankenstein is of course convinced that if Professor Bernstein's brain had not been damaged in the previous film, the whole experiment would have been a success. The main plot of this film is that they transplant the brain of a willing subject with physical disabilities, Carl, into a new body, but the disabilities gradually remanifest themselves, causing him to become all vengeful and murdery.
This time Francis Matthew's character, Hans, knows Frankenstein's secrets before the film begins, and comes to him actively wanting to be his assistant, so there is a somewhat different dynamic to their relationship from that of Frankenstein's with Paul Krempe in the previous film. There is a detectably queer vibe between them again, though. Fairly early on, the Baron jovially comments to Hans that "It'd be a pity to lose you, so soon" when he stumbles on the stairs - at face value simply an ironic comment on the rate at which he gets through assistants, but it could have romantic connotations too. Certainly, Hans is and remains devoted to the Baron and his cause throughout. When things begin to go wrong and Carl bursts into a party calling Frankenstein by his full name (and thus revealing his true fugitive identity), Hans immediately advises him to get away so that they can start again. Then, after the hospital patients have turned on him, Hans lovingly nurses an injured and topless Baron, before operating to transplant his brain into a new and identical body which the Baron had already made. The film closes with the two of them together in Harley Street, London, and Hans putting the Baron's coat on him, for all the world like a wife.
It's not quite on the same level as Curse overall. There is a definite feel of rehashing the same basic story elements as efficiently as possible, yet without ever achieving quite the same punch. But it has plenty to offer all the same.
31.The Omen (1976), dir. Richard Donner, watched 25 July 2022
This was a Film Crowd watch-along, but not based on a Cellar Club broadcast. Instead it took place on Monday 25 July as a tribute to David Warner, whose death had been announced that day, based on a YouTube upload.
Original tweet-along thread
Individual tweets:
Evening, #TheFilmCrowd! Just settling down ready for this. I don't normally join you on a Monday night, but with the sad loss of David Warner, it felt like time to make an exception. Don't think I've seen this film for a good 20+ years, either, so glad of a re-watch!
It's nice being able to see these opening scenes retrospectively in the light of the Good Omens TV adaptation, actually. The latter clearly aimed to capture something of the setting from this film for their own baby-swap plotline. #TheFilmCrowd
Very first visual image after the words 'Great Britain' is a red London routemaster bus, swiftly followed by Big Ben. #TheFilmCrowd
Bit of a Don't Look Nowish feel here, as they panic over Damien's disappearance next to a body of water. #TheFilmCrowd
Love the moment of absolute shocked silence there after the crash of the glass and the initial screams. Very effective. #TheFilmCrowd
I'd forgotten Troughton had evidently been ordered to attempt an Irish accent in this. A mistake, I think. #TheFilmCrowd
Oh, love the shot of Mrs Baylock politely disagreeing with Damien's mother from the top of the stairs! Very nicely underlines the way she's seeking to take command within the family. #TheFilmCrowd
See, should've let Mrs Baylock take him to the park! #TheFilmCrowd
They're getting nice creepy value here out of what was presumably just a lot of time spent filming safari park animals until they did what the plot and the reaction scenes required. #TheFilmCrowd
Patrick Troughton about to deliver some valuable lessons on what not to do during a thunderstorm, supernatural or otherwise. #TheFilmCrowd
Can't help but think these scenes of Damien riding around on his tricycle in the house fed into the scenes of Danny riding around the Overlook Hotel in the Shining. #TheFilmCrowd
Oh, FFS! Your wife's just been seriously injured and miscarried, but don't worry, she's still alive, and can still whelp you more bairns! #TheFilmCrowd
I mean, to be fair, I think that doctor was supposed to be an unsympathetic character, given dialogue like that to add extra horror to Gregory Peck's experience of the whole incident. But still! #TheFilmCrowd
Ah, of course it's a mirror that would help to foretell poor David Warner's fate in this film, being made of sheet glass! #TheFilmCrowd
Is that actually Santa Maria in Trastevere across the piazza? I know a lot of churches in Rome have similar facades. Not the building they went into, but behind them during the discussion with the taxi driver. #TheFilmCrowd
Oh dear, an early example of Euroscepticism, there! The Common Market blamed for the rise of the devil! #TheFilmCrowd
Just realised the red lining of David Warner's hood rather presages his character's fate as well. A sharp, bold line of bloody red across his neckline. #TheFilmCrowd
Ooh, I definitely hadn't remembered this film included a trip to Cerveteri! Certainly a setting rich with potential, looking forward to rediscovering what they do with it. #TheFilmCrowd
They seem... to be just treating it like any old cemetery? Not leaning into the Etruscan character of the site at all? #TheFilmCrowd
Massive waste of potential there. I'd love to know if the equivalent scene in the novel does anything more with Cerveteri as an Etruscan site. #TheFilmCrowd
On the plus side, another great death scene, there! #TheFilmCrowd
Very effective shot there of Gregory Peck in the bed - silent, shocked, staring, David Warner small and indistinct in comparison to his grief. #TheFilmCrowd
And here, by stark contrast with Cerveteri, they are really foregrounding the ancientness of the site at Megiddo! Only goes to highlight the missed opportunity to do that at Cerveteri too. #TheFilmCrowd
Forgot there was Leo McKern too! #TheFilmCrowd
And there's the pay-off for David Warner's character! Certainly one of the most memorable scenes in this film. #TheFilmCrowd
I feel like Gregory Peck should be just a bit more traumatised by this stage. He's really lost a lot of people in horrendous ways and had to come to terms with some horrific cosmic truths. #TheFilmCrowd
I'm pretty sure I'd struggle to keep a typical six-year-old under control with one hand while also driving, let alone the son of Satan! #TheFilmCrowd
Well, there we go. I must say the overall story of this film is extremely unsubtle. But there are a lot of cool details along the way, and certainly more memorable death scenes than most films have offer. #TheFilmCrowd
Anyway, great to have the opportunity to celebrate David Warner appropriately this evening. Thanks to TheFilmCrowd for suggesting it, and to everyone for tweeting along. #TheFilmCrowd
32. Shadow of the Vampire (2000), dir. E. Elias Merhige
Watched with Joel, who is a massive fan of it, in view of the fact that I would be going to Slovakia to mark the centenary of Nosferatu's release by visiting Orava and Starhrad Castles a few weeks later (which I have since done). I saw it when it came out in the cinema, but haven't rewatched it since, so it was pretty much back to a first-time viewing experience for me. The calibre of the cast has definitely become more obvious in the intervening period, though, in the sense that although their performances have obviously remained the same, the star profiles of many of them have grown enormously since it was made, so that you now watch it thinking, "Wow, I can't believe this film has got X and Y and Z in it, all together!" It very much did not include any Slovakian location footage, though.
It strikes the balance between comedy, darkness and appreciation of its source material very effectively, with lots of great quotable lines, but also some meaningful things to say about film and the film industry. Murnau's obsessive drive as a director is very apparent, and the essential vampirism of the film industry is well conveyed through his bargain with Orlok (that he can have Greta Schroeder as payment for his role in the film) and the widespread drug use amongst the cast and crew, including as a means to sedate Greta so that she cannot put up a fight against Orlok. The ending is also very effective, setting up what appears to be the 'wrong' scenario by comparison with the film we know, in which Greta will stake Orlok, but then showing how the famous sunlight disintegration ending emerges out of the characters' decisions in the moment, and serves to defeat Orlok for real. A nice little meta-commentary on how films take shape and a good way of temporarily upsetting the viewer's expectations and forcing them to pay attention to what the story is actually doing.
My only complaint is that it doesn't lean into Murnau's queerness. I'm reading a book at the moment called Nosferatu in Love which was published two years before this film came out and really shows that decision up by contrast, putting the queer absolutely front and centre. According to Joel, there is one line about how Murnau is out with a woman - or perhaps a man. But that's about it.