THE DEVIL WITHIN HER

Cute li'l fella

THE DEVIL WITHIN HER (aka Sharon's Baby/I Don't Want to Be Born/1975). Director: Peter Sasdy.

Lucy Carlesi (Joan Collins) does an act with a dwarf, Hercules (George Claydon), who tries to take liberties with her in her dressing room. When she doesn't comply, he puts a curse on her. The result is that Lucy becomes suspicious of, and terrified by, her adorable baby boy, Nicholas, who is apparently possessed by the still-living Hercules and runs about committing fiendish murders, such as beheading Lucy's doctor (Donald Pleasence) with a shovel! The Devil Within Her is utterly absurd but entertaining, greatly abetted by the very good performances of Collins, Pleasence, John Steiner as a sleazy club owner, Tommy; Ralph Bates [Horror of Frankenstein] as Lucy's husband, Gino; Caroline Munro [The Spy Who Loved Me] as her sister, Mandy; and especially Eileen Atkins [Madame Bovary] as her sister-in-law, Sister Albana. It's Alive, which was made the year before and also featured a killer baby, at least gave its monster fangs and claws and a hideous appearance, but aside from a couple of illusions of the infant resembling the dwarf, this baby is just an adorable little tyke, making the whole project even weirder (the child is so angelic-looking that his gruesome acts seem rather comical). Peter Sasdy also directed Hands of the Ripper and many others. The original title of the film was Sharon's Baby even though the mother is named Lucy. While this film is by no means intellectual, one could claim that it cleverly exploits parents' fears about children and the life/financial changes the little dears bring about. Ray Bradbury once contributed just such a story to an EC horror comic in the fifties.

Verdict: Ridiculous but has a good cast and even some suspense. **1/2.

TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA

Dracula (Christopher Lee) surveys the scene

TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1970). Director: Peter Sasdy.

Three gentlemen who are respectable British citizens by day go to the fleshpots at night and crave ever-more excitement. This they certainly get when a dissolute Lord Courtley (Ralph Bates of Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde) tells them where they can find the remains of the one and only Dracula (Christopher Lee). For this ultimate thrill the three men pay the price -- literally and figuratively -- when they sort of reconstitute the vampire with fresh blood inside an old church and all Hell breaks loose ... Although Dracula's first appearance is perhaps not given the dramatic thrust it requires, Taste the Blood of Dracula is an attention-holder and features a lot of fine British actors giving it their all. Bates is especially good, along with Geoffrey Keene as Hargood, whose daughter, Alice (Linda Hayden) is in love with Paul (Anthony Corlan/Higgins), son of fellow "adventurer," Paxton (Peter Sallis); Higgins and Sallis also give noteworthy performances. Gwen Watford is fine as Hargood's wife, Martha. Roy Kinnear and Michael Ripper are also in the cast, and Lee plays with his customary authority. Sasdy also directed the memorable Hands of the Ripper for Hammer.

Verdict: Satisfying Hammer horror. ***.

DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE

Martine Beswick & Ralph Bates

DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (1971). Director: Roy Ward Baker.

"I take it all back about Dr. Jekyll being impervious to women -- and he is busy tonight!"

This interesting movie starts with Robert Louis Stevenson's story, adds a sex twist, and throws in murderers and grave robbers Burke and Hare, and even the Jack the Ripper killings -- and pretty much muffs it. Dr. Jekyll (Ralph Bates) hopes to discover the secret of immortality, and he thinks he's found it in the glands of females, but when he can't get enough of the ladies' corpses he improvises. In other words, the movie hardly examines the differences between good and evil when Henry Jekyll is pretty much a rotter even before he turns into "Sister" Hyde. Jekyll's formula has him growing breasts and turning into a woman (Martine Beswick) who masquerades as Jekyll's sister. "My brother isn't quite himself of late," she says. A brother and sister (Lewis Fiander; Susan Brodrick) who live downstairs are each intrigued by the siblings on the floor above. Bates and Beswick are fine -- the latter doesn't get nearly enough to do, however -- but while the movie is entertaining, it doesn't fulfill its potential at all. Beswick played a good gal in Thunderball while Bates made a splendid Victor Frankenstein in Horror of Frankenstein (1970). Baker directed everything from A Night to Remember about the Titanic to Bette Davis in The Anniversary.

Verdict: An intriguing disappointment with a great idea. **1/2.

HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN

HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN (1970). Director: Jimmy Sangster.

A retelling of the Frankenstein legend has little to do with Mary Shelley's novel and much more to do with Hammer Film's 1957 Curse of Frankenstein, in which Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) was much more evil than his monster. In this black comedy variation, Ralph Bates offers a splendid interpretation of a Victor Frankenstein who has outward grace and charm but is thoroughly rotten inside. Whenever anyone gets in his way – including his best friend – he murders him or has him killed by the monster. He poisons the father of the woman who loves him, and when she loses everything to her late father's creditors invites her to move into his mansion – not as his wife but as his housekeeper! One of the most rousing scenes has Bates dousing the blackmailer who brought him corpses in an acid bath. Kate O'Mara is succulent as the sexy wench who services the elder Frankenstein and then his son, and David Prowse (who stood in for Darth Vader in the Star Wars movies as James Earl Jones mouthed the words) makes a rather handsome monster. Jon Finch (of Hitchcock's Frenzy) is Victor's old friend and current police inspector. Whatever its flaws this is highly entertaining and quite well acted by all. While Sangster was never exactly one of the great horror directors, he keeps things moving at a very swift pace.

Verdict: Great fun. ***