TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER

TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER (1976). Director: Peter Sykes.

Author John Verney (Richard Widmark), who frequently writes on the occult, is importuned by a frightened man named Beddows (Denholm Elliott) to look after his daughter, Catherine (Nastassja Kinski), after she arrives in London. Catherine is a nun who belongs to the Church of the Children of the Lord, a sect that worships Astaroth. The leader of the church, Father Michael (Christopher Lee), is anxious to get his hands on Catherine because of certain bloody rites that must be performed. Initially sweet and compliant, Sister Catherine eventually becomes a danger to Verney's friends, including his literary agent Anna (Honor Blackman) and her boyfriend David (Anthony Valentine). Catherine makes her way to Father Michael as her own father writhes in terror and Verney learns what he can do to fight against the god -- or devil -- Astaroth's entry into earth via Catherine (or something like that). 

To the Devil a Daughter is a co-release of Hammer Studios but don't expect a Hammer classic with this atrocious movie. Most of the actors give it their all (one suspects Widmark wishes he had stayed in America) but they're fighting a losing battle with a hopelessly erratic script and sequences that are so bad they have to be seen to be believed. The last quarter of the film is hilarious, especially a sequence when a character is embroiled in fire and reduced to ashes so quickly that it is more comical than frightening. A bit of business in which a woman commits suicide by draining all of her blood into those special plastic bags turns hysterical when Chris Lee intones with consummate understatement: "she gave her life's blood." An orgy sequence is equally laughable. It's hard to imagine how anything could have been made out of this awful movie, which even Chris Lee can't save. 

Verdict: One of the worst Hammer movies ever made. *1/2. 

HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR

Peter Cushing

HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR (1980 British television anthology series).

This British anthology series of horror stories lasted for one season and 13 episodes. It is a mixed bag with arguably only one really outstanding episode and a lot of stories with intriguing premises that are ruined by weak scripts and flat wind-ups. Peter Cushing stars in what may be the best episode, "The Silent Scream," in which a former Nazi scientist (Cushing) imprisons an ex-con and his wife in a cage along with several animals. There are some interesting twists and turns to the plot, although the ending is a little implausible. Among the more notable episodes are "Rude Awakening," directed by Peter Sasdy, in which a man (Denholm Elliott) has increasingly sinister dreams involving his wife and his mistress. There's an exciting sequence inside a building that is being demolished. "Children of the Full Moon" has to do with a honeymoon couple who encounter the inhabitants of an old house, a cult of werewolves, with a depressing conclusion. "The Two Faces of Evil" is a disquieting episode, well-directed by Alan Gibson,  in which a paranoid woman is besieged by demonic duplicates of her husband (Gary Raymond of The Millionairess) and son. "The House That Bled to Death" details odd occurrences in a house where grisly murders were committed, and bears a resemblance to The Amityville Horror but has its own shrewd and devilish twist.

Diana Dors in "Children of the Full Moon"

One of the most disappointing episodes is "The 13th Reunion," in which plane crash survivors have turned into a cannibal sect, but this great premise is completely muffed.  "Witching Time" is a mediocre story of a 17th century witch who is on the loose in modern times. "Growing Pains," in its story of weird things that happen after a scientist and his wife adopt a strange little boy, is initially absorbing but then becomes too confusing for its own good. An African fetish statue that causes death is the title object in the unoriginal and hum-drum "Charlie Boy," although it has some suspense. Pierce Brosnan is one of the victims of the "Carpathian Eagle," which butchers a series of men, and "Guardian of the Abyss" concerns a young lady in a cult and a supernatural mirror. "The Mask of Satan" is a stupid episode in which a man is convinced that he's been infected with a very strange virus. Kathryn Leigh -Scott of Dark Shadows fame stars in "Visitor from the Grave," in which a woman kills an intruder who keeps appearing wherever she goes; a poor script sinks this one, unfortunately.

Verdict: Not enough great episodes but most are at least reasonably entertaining. **1/2. 

THE WICKED LADY

 Faye Dunaway having a Horrible Hair Day

THE WICKED LADY (1983). Director: Michael Winner.

In this remake of The Wicked Lady, Caroline (Glynis Barber) is about to marry the wealthy Sir Ralph Skelton (Denholm Elliott), when along comes her cousin Barbara (Faye Dunaway) who steals away Skelton, marries him, and retains poor Caroline as her domestic. When Barbara loses a treasured heirloom in a card game to witchy sister-in-law Lady Kinsclere (Prunella Scales), she decides to disguise herself as a highwayman and steal the jewelry back. Barbara realizes that she finds great excitement as a robber and decides to continue her career, meeting up with the notorious Jerry Jackson (Alan Bates) ... This is not quite a black comedy version of the original, but it does border on the burlesque, especially with the portrayal of Dunaway during one part of her campaign to come off like a drag queen having a Hideous Hair Day. There is no subtlety whatsoever to Dunaway's performance, but then no one comes off that well under Michael Winner's direction, despite some of the noted players. Barber makes little impression as Caroline, and even the great John Gielgud as the pious servant Hogarth can't hold a candle to Felix Aylmer in the original. It's hard to believe that Caroline would prefer Ralph as portrayed by Elliott over Kit Locksby (Oliver Tobias). That being said, The Wicked Lady retains its great story and those who are unfamiliar with the Margaret Lockwood-James Mason version may at least find it entertaining. This is almost a scene-by-scene remake but it adds a kinky, gratuitous cat fight between Barbara and Jackson's girlfriend (Marina Sirtis), with the former taking a whip to the latter's naked breasts at a public hanging. Alan Bates [Georgy Girl] does what he can with the Jackson role, but he hasn't that perfect style of Mason. Dunaway is almost photographed as badly in this as she was in The Eyes of Laura Mars.

Verdict: Unless you like seeing bare breasts being whipped, skip this and stick with the far superior original. **1/2 out of 4.

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD

Jon Pertwee tries out his cloak

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1971). Director: Peter Duffell. Screenplay by Robert Bloch.

"Dracula -- the one with Bela Lugosi, of course, not this new fellow." -- Paul Henderson

A well-known actor in horror films has disappeared from an old house he had rented, and this leads into the telling of four tales centered around this creepy domicile. In "Method for Murderer" a fiction writer's creation, a maniac (Tom Adams of The 2nd Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World), seems to come to life to cause havoc for which the writer (Denholm Elliott) is blamed. In "Waxworks," two men (Peter Cushing; Joss Ackland of Crescendo)  become obsessed with the wax figure of Salome, who reminds each of them of a lost love, whom -- you might say -- they lose their heads over. In "Sweets to the Sweet" the stern John Reid (Christopher Lee of The Horror of Dracula) hires a nanny (Nyree Dawn Porter) for his strange little girl, Jane (Chloe Franks), with terrible results. The fourth tale, "The Cloak," is an amusing black comedy in which actor Paul Henderson (Jon Pertwee) finds a cloak in a shop which turns him into a vampire each time he puts it on; Ingrid Pitt is Anderson's female lead in this and is fine. But the best performances come from Cushing, Lee, Pertwee, and little Franks. The House that Dripped Blood is very entertaining, and is one of the best of the horror anthologies, not lame as some of Bloch's other screenplays.

Verdict: Chills and laughs all served up with relish. ***.