BLOOD BEACH

BLOOD BEACH (1980). Written and directed by Jeffrey Bloom. 

"Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water you can't get to it."

Harry Caulder (David Huffman), who works for the beach patrol, re-encounters his ex-girlfriend Catherine (Marianna Hill) when her mother, Ruth (Harriet Medin of The Ghost) goes missing. Seems Ruth was just out walking her dog on the beach when she disappeared. Then there are more disappearances, and a young woman covered in sand gets bitten all over her body and goes into shock. There is something under the sand that is pulling people down and devouring them. (One victim is a would-be rapist who gets his penis bitten off!) Captain Pearson (John Saxon) and Sergeant Royko (Burt Young)  lead the investigation, but it is Caulder and Catherine who search for the monster in caverns under the sand. Blood Beach, which may have been influenced by the classic "Invisible Enemy" episode of The Outer Limits, is creepy and suspenseful even if the monster itself is a bit disappointing. The performers are more than adequate, with a dynamic Saxon leading the cast. Four years after this film was released, Huffman, only 39 and with a wife and two children, was murdered by a thief he pursued. Hill [The Baby] has had numerous credits, was off the screen for twenty to thirty years, but has resurfaced in a new movie, Chief Zabu.

Verdict: And you thought sunburn was bad! **1/2.

THE GHOST (1963)

Barbara Steele and Peter Baldwin

THE GHOST (aka Lo spettro/1963). Director: Robert Hampton (Riccardo Freda).

In 1910 Scotland Margaret Hichcock (Barbara Steele) is married to an ailing and wealthy older man, John (Elio Jotta), who has an interest in the occult. Margaret is also having an affair with his very handsome doctor, Charles Livingstone (Peter Baldwin). When John dies, the lovers see signs that the man may still be living, or that his specter is haunting the manor house. Worse, the couple are having problems finding out where John hid his valuable treasures. As suspicions against each other mount, and John seems to appear to them in horrible visions, the two's nerves are stretched to the breaking point. But there's worse to come ... The Ghost is one of the best of the Italian horror films of the period, albeit the plot and its twists aren't exactly original. While a dubbed Steele seems to be sleep-walking through early sections of the movie, she certainly delivers in her dramatic sequences in the latter half. Both Jotta and Baldwin are adept as husband and paramour respectively. Harriet Medin [The Whip and the Body] is also effective as the creepy maid, Catherine, as is Umberto Raho as Canon Owens. Franco Mannino's score helps give the film an almost operatic intensity at times, and Raffaele Masciocchi's cinematography is suitably atmospheric. There's a decent and bloody slashing scene as well. This is only a nominal sequel to The Horrible Dr. Hichcock, which also starred Steele and was directed by Freda. Freda also helmed Caltiki, the Immortal Monster.

Verdict: Lusty and enthusiastic Italian fright flick. ***.

THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK

THE HORRIBLE DR. HICHCOCK (aka L'orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock/1962). Sub-titled Italian version. Director: Riccardo Freda (Robert Hampton).

London, 1885: Cynthia (Barbara Steele) is the new wife of Dr. Bernard Hichcock (Robert Flemying), who has created a new anesthetic. Cynthia doesn't know that Bernard's first wife Margherita (Maria Teresa Vianello) was an accidental  victim of this new drug, and even he doesn't know that Margherita is still alive, insane, being attended to by the housekeeper, Martha (Harriet Medin of The Whip and the Body). Nothing good can come of this situation, and of course it doesn't. This is a Gothic tale with some overtones of Jane Eyre. Steele is dubbed, so we lose the impact of her great voice, but the film has an interesting score by Roman Vlad, as well as some style and atmosphere. This was double-billed with The Awful Dr. Orloff in U.S. markets. Freda also directed Caltiki, the Immortal Monster.

Verdict: Fairly standard Italian horror flick has its moments. **1/2.

THE WHIP AND THE BODY [AKA WHAT]

THE WHIP AND THE BODY [aka What/La frusta e il corpo1963]. Director: Mario Bava [attributed to "John M. Old"].

The Menliff family is disturbed by the reappearance of errant son Kurt (Christopher Lee), who went away after his dalliance with a maid led her to take her own life. Her mother (Harriet Medin), another domestic, keeps the bloody knife her daughter used to kill herself under glass as a morbid memento, and it is used when people in the Menliff castle start getting murdered. Is someone human behind the slayings, or is it a ghost from beyond the grave? The title is apparently explained by more than one sequence in which Kurt whips his sister-in-law Nevenka (Daliah Lavi), who was once affianced to him but then married his brother Christian (Tony Kendall), and who seems to enjoy the sadomasochistic foreplay. Like most of Mario Bava's movies this one has atmosphere, good photography and settings, and is drenched in the usual bizarre and colorful lighting schemes, but it's also a bore, with lots of walking around and brooding that amounts to very little; there's nothing remotely scary about it. However, the film has one of the best dubbing jobs of an Italian import, and the voices are well chosen, especially the actor who dared to dub Christopher Lee.

Verdict: Another bad Mario Bava movie. Watch his superior Blood and Black Lace instead. **.