VHS HALLOWEEN - DAY EIGHTEEN: THE MUMMY'S SHROUD (ANCHOR BAY - 1971)/FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (ANCHOR BAY - 1967)

Today's entry wipes out an entire nest with one stone. With both "The Mummy's Shroud" and "Frankenstein Created Woman" I get my Hammer flick out of the way, but I also get a mummy flick AND a Frankenstein flick in there, too.

"Frankenstein Created Woman" is one of the better sequels within the Hammer Frankenstein franchise. The doctor is once again up to his strange experimentation, and this time he's playing around with soul transference. I might be off on my recollection of the plot, but I remember Frankenstein's lab assistant being framed for a murder and then being executed. The disfigured daughter of the murder victim is also in love with the lab assistant, and winds up drowning herself out of grief. Frankenstein manages to bring her back to life, but additionally he fixes her face and puts her lover's soul in her body. So, once revived, not only if she fine as hell, but she has the raging soul of her boyfriend in her ribcage, and he's craving vengeance against the upper crust dickheads who got him beheaded.

Interestingly, I had read numerous times that Playboy Playmate Susan Denberg, the woman who plays this film's "monster," had committed suicide. Apparently this is only a myth. I don't mean to sound like a morbid prick, but the knowledge that Denberg would go on to kill herself after playing a character that took her own life always gave this film a much darker feel. From her IMDb page:

After becoming immersed in the 60s high life of drugs and sex, Denberg left show business and returned to Austria. News interviews at the time show a depressed Denberg in the company of her mother, at home in Klagenfurt. These news items, repeated in fan periodicals for years, gave the impression Denberg was suicidal or had already died. Actually, she is still alive.

Either way, bitch was fine in this movie. Most probably best remember her as one of Mudd's girls on the original Star Trek. As for "The Mummy's Shroud,"I've always been intrigued by the mummy concept, and I'm a little surprise no one's done an update outside of that recent awful Universal franchise. Now a days, zombies sprint like they got breaded in angel dust. Can't we get a pissed off Pharaoh with a spring in his step? The idea of a running mummy kind of scares the shit out of me. I don't have much else to say other than I always thought that the mummy design in this particular movie was awesome looking. Otherwise, it's pretty standard fair, but nevertheless done well.

NEW ARRIVAL: THE CREEPING FLESH (1973)

If you're strictly familiar with the Hammer Studios brand of horror, there’s enough common connective tissue between your average Hammer flick and this Tigon Pictures production to make you feel at home. "The Creeping Flesh" contains a familiar atmosphere, courtesy of Director Freddie Francis; that seemingly rich period decoration, which makes a Hammer film so warm, is stronger than ever; and certainly the presence of both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee really bridge the gap. More Victorian Sci-Fi with a primordial twist here, Cushing plays a paleontologist in possession of a monstrous skeleton that has potential relevance to the foundation of man… and evil! The thing gets wet and the flesh comes back and a lot of cool, bad shit happens. Great vibey Sci-Fi horror that’s beautifully shot by Francis, who is without a doubt one of the greatest DPs to ever set foot behind a camera. Francis would later go on to work for the likes of David Lynch on films like “The Elephant Man.” What makes films like these remarkable are that they were produced fairly quickly and with smaller budgets, and yet they look rather lavish. The modern film industry would benefit tremendously if they'd examine exactly how many of these studios functioned.

Here's a scene from the film. Had a trailer up for a while, but I'm pretty sure a litigious prick put the fear of good into some poor soul on YouTube for promoting their product. That'll show him.

NEW ARRIVALS

A heavy Peter Cushing flow this week, as I received all six Hammer Frankenstein films, featuring everyone’s favorite grave-robbing, wife-raping, soul-swapping Victorian anti-hero, Doctor Frankenstein. Films include, in chronological order, “The Curse of Frankenstein,” “The Revenge of Frankenstein,” “The Evil of Frankenstein,” “Frankenstein Created Woman,” “Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed,” and “Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell.” Sorry, I don't count that Ralph Bates shit.

Hammer Studios burnt the hand of glory at both ends from the fifties and on through the seventies, churning out color-saturated Gothic horror, featuring fine thespians and gravity defying cleavage, at a ridiculous volume. These are certainly B-films, shot on the cheap and back-to-back, but Hammer always managed to bring an element of classic charm to their productions with their talented stable of set designers, photographers, and fantastic players. No studio on earth ever did better than Hammer when it came to stretching their dollar and giving audiences the illusion that they were seeing something really big.

“Hammer’s House of Horror” six volume miniseries from the 80s also arrived earlier this week. I’ve actually never seen this but looking forward to a mid-Summer review of this thing.

Hammer Studios has changed hands several times since the eighties, and the current incarnation has several productions slated for release in the next year or so. Disappointingly, they're currently working on a remake of “Let The Right One In,” under the insipid title, “Let Me In.” Fuck that.

Also in this week: “Santa Clause Conquers the Martians” starring Pia Zadora, and Full Moon’s “Retro Puppet Master,” directed by David DeCoteau. One of my favorite current directors, the prolific DeCoteau slings homoerotic SciFi channel fodder like a fucking champ. Kind of like a gay Larry Cohen. I’ll be slapping up a “Leeches!” review pretty soon in DeCoteau's honor. This guy is one of my heroes.