Gothic horror is really where Paul Naschy shines. This werewolf/vampire movie is quite fun despite the fact that a lot of the plot doesn’t make any sense and it is, for some reason, set in modern times yet is full of 19th century villagers and horse drawn carriages. You can almost skip the first quarter of the movie but it really picks up in the second half with a trio of ghostly, female vampires that plots against Naschy as the werewolf. The simple makeup effects are very effective.
I love the colorful look of these Edgar Wallace Krimi films from Germany. They really seem like live-action Scooby Doo episodes. The plotting and mystery of Hunchback of Soho isn’t really all that great. The setting of using a girl’s school as a front for an inheritance plot doesn’t make any sense but it sure lends itself to goofiness.
Giallo done Naschy style. Unfortunately that means you have to watch a pig being killed to no good reason. This has none of the visual style of an Italian giallo, but at least offers a decent story about an ex-con who ends up being a handyman for three variously disabled sisters. Of course all the women can’t resists a short barrel-chested Spaniard in Cuban heels. This is all the backdrop to a series of sadistic murders that have Naschy pegged as the prime suspect. I really liked the disjointed version of Frère Jacques that accompanied all the killings, but I think Naschy’s Gothic horrors are a much better fit for him.
Mid-century sci-fi novel about a planetary colony that goes dark. When the rescue mission arrives they find the colonists running around naked without any technology. There is a plot to arrest the colonists and the super smart “E” assigned to rescue them for indecency, of all things. The big reveal at the end is unimpressive and not worth the effort. It’s mostly just a speculation on how there could be an intelligent existence that operates outside the world of science and things.
The second movie in the Paul Naschy Collection sounds good on paper, but is ultimately a bit of a bore. An Indian mystic (played by Naschy) is at the center of a series of mysterious murders committed by a rubber-masked voodoo phantom. A the body count increases, various women are zombified to do his will. There are plenty of eye catching scenes especially a satanic dream sequence but the story didn’t grab me. There is also an unnecessary scene in which a chicken is killed. Disturbing real animal violence seems to be thing in these Naschy films.
I really enjoyed this giallo despite its lack of the more traditional motifs of black gloved killers and stylized mayhem. The Designated Victim leans heavily into character drama. Our hero wants out of his loveless marriage and gradually becomes involved with a rich thrill seeker who will gladly kill his wife in order to experience that last kick. One thing leads to another and the story quickly becomes one of a man falsely accused who is being goaded by the killer into doing their bidding. The tension and stakes are high to the very end and there is a nice philosophical undertone to whole thing.
I recently impulse bought the 5-disc Paul Naschy blu-ray collection having only seen a couple of his films (Panic Beats really impressed me). I’ll admit that the pacing and visuals don’t quite rise to Italian standards but there’s something about Naschy’s commitment to these silly roles that give his movies a certain charm. In this first movie from the collection a pair of medieval sorcerers are condemned to death but eventually return to modern day (well, 1970s modern) France to enthrall half-clothed women, eat bloody hearts, and raise the dead. This is Gothic horror almost on par with Bava.
A serviceable zombie movie whose hook is its communist Cuban setting. The characters refer to the undead as dissidents and Yankee imperialists all while trying to make a buck as zombie killers. The plot meanders from one encounter to the next and doesn’t really amount to much more than that. There is a little bit of character stuff near the end, but much of the film is a lost opportunity to comment on life in Cuba, good or bad.
I am hesitant to call this a giallo even though it often appears on lists of the genre’s films. There is a minor mystery here, but this is mostly three bikini clad characters milling about on a rocky shore, swimming back and forth to their boat, and hooking up with a hunky fugitive. There is some stylish costuming, but about the most this has going for it. The story is beyond boring. Nothing makes sense until the last five minutes and even the twist is dumb and pointless.
Two hippies prance across Italy spreading peace and love while selling naked photos to finance their debauchery. After getting in trouble with the law, they go on the run and end up pulling into a country mansion looking for money. The woman of the house is initially antagonistic, but she soon joins into the swinging 60s fun. That is, until things get all murdery. Despite the title, there is no horror here and, aside from the hedonism, no thrills. The movie is colorful and groovy but the plot feels like an afterthought in which the characters could do any of a thousand things to get themselves out of the predicament they are in but always do the dumbest thing possible. Stupid hippies.
