DOCTOR MABUSE

Jerry Lacy as Doctor Mabuse

DOCTOR MABUSE (2013). Written, directed and produced by Ansel Faraj.

Doctor Mabuse (Jerry Lacy) has returned and is determined that the world will once more know his name. Opposing him is young Inspector Lohemann (Nathan Wilson). Lohemann reports to Inspector Von Wenk (Linden Chiles). and goes to two sisters, Madame Carrozza (Lara Parker) and Madame Von Harbau (Kathryn Leigh Scott), the former of whom is a medium, for information. Then nothing much of interest happens. The Death Ray Mirror of Dr. Mabuse may not have been any great shakes, but it wasn't as much of an effort to sit through as this embarrassing and pretentious mess. Ansel Faraj's approach may seem creative, but he's no Orson Welles, and the movie plods along with limited entertainment value. You might think it's fun to see some of the cast members of the original Dark Shadows TV show appearing in this movie, but the movie is too bad to do much of anything for them. Of Lacy, Parker, and Scott, the last-named gives the best performance, with Parker being typically overwrought and Lacy not having a clue as to how to play the diabolical doctor, and who can blame him? The movie at least seems colorful, although there's way too much use of blue screens in lieu of sets, and Bill Wendel's score works overtime to try to drum up some suspense and excitement, of which their isn't any. Like the film itself, the younger cast members are amateurish, but I would like to see Wilson, who is not unappealing, and Bahia Garrigan, who plays the sexy Christina, in something else. Hopefully something much, much better. There was actually a sequel to this, which I have no intention if sitting through. Like in the earlier films, Mabuse takes over another character at the end of this flick.

Verdict: Oy vey! Enough to make Mabuse come out of his grave. *1/2.

DAYS OF DARK SHADOWS

Jonathan Frid and Grayson Hakk

DAYS OF DARK SHADOWS.

This week we look at that venerable old Gothic,/horror soap opera, Dark Shadows (1966 - 1971), which kept many kids glued to their TV screens each weekday afternoon to watch the adventures of vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid), the witch Angelique (Lara Parker), the weird Dr. Hoffman (Grayson Hall), those good gals Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott) and Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke), the nice guys Joe Haskell (Joel Crothers) and Jeff Clark(Roger Davis), the ever-emotional Willie Loomis (John  Karlen), Professor Stokes (Thayer David), the Frankenstein-like Adam (Robert Rodan), werewolf Quentin (David Selby), and a host of others.

Dark Shadows, to be charitable, was pretty low-brow, and even schlocky at times. The series borrowed from everything from Jane Eyre to Wuthering Heights to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to all the old Universal horror films starring Franky, Dracula, and the Wolfman. Not that there's anything wrong with that, for Dark Shadows often came up with intriguing variations on a theme, such as having a handsome Frankenstein monster instead of an ugly one. The 1790 storyline which told how Barnabas became a vampire certainly had fascinating elements, and there were other gripping adventures during the series' run.

And then there's the acting. With little rehearsal time, and difficultly memorizing lines, some actors relied too much on the TelePrompTer, with the result that all they could do was "indicate" a performance -- when you're too involved in just getting the right lines out, it's difficult to create convincing emotion in a character. Only when the cast really knew their lines was the acting more than adequate. Grayson Hall had her good moments, but she was more often awful on the show, splitting up her sentences ["there must -- be something -- we can do"] in ways that made little sense, or suggesting that she either was stalling to remember her lines or had breathing issues. Frid was quite effective when he clearly knew what the scene was about and what he was saying.

Joel Crothers

Humbert Allen Astredo, who played Nicholas and other characters, was one of the best and most professional actors on the show. Robert Rodan scored as Adam. And there were many others equally memorable. Kathryn Leigh Scott was always professional, as was Louis Edmonds. Alexandra Moltke did have the innocent quality that producer Dan Curtis was looking for, even if she wasn't necessarily a great actress. Handsome Don Briscoe was quite good in the roles of twin brothers, and was especially effective as the bad boy who turns into a werewolf. John Karlen handled everything the writers and Barnabas Collins threw at Willie and he always rose to the occasion. Joel Crothers was solid as stalwart Joe Haskell, who was Maggie's boyfriend until Angelique got her hooks -- and fangs -- into him.

This week we look at one of the most interesting story arcs on the show, "The Creation of Adam and Eve;" as well as the 1990 revival of the show; the film Night of Dark Shadows; a book on the series; and some special extras, Last, but not least, we look at season two of the Showtime series Penny Dreadful, because if it wasn't at least partially influenced by Dark Shadows, I'll eat my hat.

You can also click here to read about House of Dark Shadows and Tim Burton's dreadful big-screen adaptation of Dark Shadows.

KOLCHAK, THE NIGHT STALKER

KOLCHAK, THE NIGHT STALKER (1974 television series).

After the high ratings of the two movies featuring Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, intrepid reporter who uncovers the unusual in The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler, Kolchak was given his own series, which lasted one season, and took place in Chicago where he worked for International News Service (INS). Clad always in his rumpled white suit and straw hat, Kolchak would probably not be very likable were he not played by the always-likable McGavin, who is excellent in the show, along with Simon Oakland [Psycho] as his testy, rotund boss, Jack Grinnage as snooty Ron Updyke and the delightful Ruth McDevitt [The Birds] as senior reporter "Miss Emily" [these last two also worked at the paper and were semi-regulars]. The publisher's daughter Monique (Carol Ann Susi, who's now on The Big Bang Theory) also appeared in a couple of episodes before being called back to New York. Often closer to black comedy than out and out horror,  Kolchak could be pretty cheesy and silly, and was only modestly entertaining. Most of the episodes were not memorable, although at least four were better than average: "Chopper" guest stars spirited Sharon Farrell in the tale of a ghostly biker who comes back and beheads the old buddies who were responsible for his accidental death; "Firefall" deals with cases of spontaneous combustion; "The Trevi Collection" (with Nina Foch of The Return of the Vampire, an excellent Lara Parker from Dark Shadows, and Henry Brandon of The Land Unknown) deals with a woman who uses witchcraft to take control of a fashion house; and "The Devil's Platform" features Tom Skerritt of Alien as a politician whose campaign trail is dogged by "accidental" deaths and murders -- this is probably the best episode of the series.

Verdict: Fun, minor, easy to take, if hardly all that it could have been. **1/2.