Review: Kiss of the Vampire (1962)

Originally intended as Hammer Films' third Dracula movie, Kiss of the Vampire emerged instead as one of the studio's most obscure, yet wonderfully stylish vampire movies.  The script by producer Anthony Hinds (written under his usual pseudonym: John Elder) is a dry-run for all those Dracula scenarios he drafted throughout the sixties.

While on a motoring holiday in the Carpathian mountains, Gerald (Edward De Souza) and Marianne (Jennifer Daniel) find themselves stranded at a local inn.  Lovely Marianne attracts the attention of Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman), leader of a cult of pleasure-seeking vampires.  Ravna's children: Carl (Barry Warren) and Sabina (Jacquie Wallis) lure the newlyweds to an extravagent masked ball, where Marianne is abducted and initiated into the cult, while Gerald is cast out and told his wife never existed.  Elsewhere, drunken vampire-killer Professor Zimmer (Clifford Evans) stalks Tania (Isobel Black), a beautiful teenage bloodsucker prowling the village.  Zimmer comes to Gerald's aid and they set out to rescue Marianne. 

Hinds offers some interesting twists.  Here, the vampire-hunter is cold, brutal and menacing; tortured by the death of a loved one.  Although Ravna is an effete sadist, his vampire kin are warm and welcoming to Marianne.  As with many Hammer horrors, sex is brought to the fore.  From Isobel Black's seductive vampire minx (the actress returned for Hammer's Twins of Dracula (1971), but was a regular face on children's TV - from Ace of Wands to Jackanory!), to the teasing out of Marianne's repressed sexuality.

DVD Review: The Lost Continent (1968)

Hammer in name, but this isn't your typical 1960s Hammer production - The Lost Continent is a slightly odd adventure flick.

Based on a Dennis Wheatley's Uncharted Seas (you can see one of the cast reading it in the opening minutes), The Lost Continent focuses on an old steam boat, one on its way to South America with a crew of rogues, passengers who aren't much better (that's why they're on a dodgy boat) and a cargo of highly explosive (and illegal) material that will explode if it gets wet. Not the best cargo to send by sea, but hey, the captain needs the cash.

Coming to DVD: Mad Monster Party (1967)

Ever heard of Mad Monster Party? Probably not - but you really should.

We did a feature on it on this very site some time back, but if you missed that, let's just say it's a Rankin Bass production, starring Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller, with a plot revolving around a retirement bash organised by Dr Frankenstein.

Oh yes - the house band is a group of skeletons inspired by the Beatles and pretty much a shoe-in for a Nuggets compilation. Hugely influential (Tim Burton is obviously a fan) and really hard to find, it's finally making it to DVD next month. In fact, you can pre-order now at Amazon for around £10 Check out the trailer below and see over the page for an image of that skeleton band.

Find out more at the Amazon website

DVD Review: Society (1989)

It is appropriate that Brian Yuzna’s barmy, marvellous debut feature took three years after completion to be released in the US, while enjoying critical and popular success in Europe and elsewhere. Into the decade that mythologised hidebound family values, plugged its ears to social injustice and made heroes out of beancounters, the plunging of this splendidly over-the-top nightmarish satire of America’s social elite must have felt like the herald of the Apocalypse. Albeit a deeply silly, psychedelic Apocalypse. With rivers of prosthetic latex instead of blood.

To all outward appearances, Bill Whitney (Baywatch’s Billy Warlock) is living the (American) dream. Son of Beverley Hills WASP socialites, he drives a Jeep, dates a cheerleader, is a star basketball player and frontrunner for Class President. But all is not as it seems. Bill has paranoid fantasies that he is adopted, that his surrogate parents and platinum-blonde sister secretly hate him.

Cult Clip: The Haunted Palace (1963)

During the sixties Roger Corman directed and produced a lot of terrific horror films based on the work of author Edgar Allen Poe, but one of his best films borrows its story from the work of H. P. Lovecraft. During its initial release The Haunted Palace was advertised as being a "Poe" film in order to attract the same audiences that had enjoyed Corman's earlier movies, but The Haunted Palace is actually based on Lovecraft's story The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

In The Haunted Palace Vincent Price plays Charles Dexter Ward and he delivers one of his most complex and chilling performances in the film. The Haunted Palace is often overlooked in favor of Corman's Poe films,  but that's a shame since it's one of the directors most interesting and creepy efforts. The original DVD is currently out-of-print and used copies fetch a high-price on Amazon. Hopefully a new DVD of the film will be made available soon. In the meantime you can enjoy the original trailer for the film posted below.

- Kimberly Lindbergs