MASTER OF THE WORLD

Vincent Price

MASTER OF THE WORLD (1961). Director: William Witney.  

In 1868 a man called Robur (Vincent Price) takes off in a heavier-than-air craft, the Albatross, with an international crew and several prisoners, including agent John Strock (Charles Bronson of Crime Wave), munitions manufacturer Prudent (Henry Hull of Werewolf of London), his daughter, Dorothy (Mary Webster), and her fiance Phillip (David Frankham of The Return of the Fly). Robur has decided the only way to create a lasting peace is to bomb war ships and fighting armies. Strock and the others do their best to ground his ship and put him out of action.

Frankham, Webster, Hull, Bronson

Master of the World is loosely based on two late Jules Verne novels. Screenwriter Richard Matheson has turned Robur into a variation of 20,000 Leagues' Captain Nemo. Although Robur may have been a bit crazy in the books, he did not have the same mission as Nemo. Arguably the best thing about this movie is the performance of Vincent Price, who invests the project with a dignity it probably doesn't deserve. Frankham is also good, Bronson is solid, Mary Webster is more decorative than anything else, and Henry Hull is, in a word, awful. Attempting a comic portrayal from the beginning, he is merely annoying. The movie starts out as a light comedy and its transformation into a thriller isn't always convincing. 

the Albatross in flight

William Witney, the great serial director, is at the helm and there are a couple of exciting sequences, most notably when Frankham and Bronson are lowered on ropes from the Albatross and nearly careen into trees and mountain tops. The philosophy of the film is a bit muddled -- no one ever points out the sheer illogic and hypocrisy of Robur's actions. Trying to stop war is an admirable goal but doing it by killing peacetime sailors and blowing up armies is hardly the way to go about it, yet Master tries to turn this idiot into some kind of tragic anti-hero. 

Verdict: Half-baked, modestly entertaining sci fi film actually has little to do with Verne. **1/2. 

VINCENT PRICE: THE ART OF FEAR

VINCENT PRICE: THE ART OF FEAR. Denis Meikle. Foreword by Richard Matheson. Afterword by Roger Corman. Reynolds and Hearn; 2003.

This is a very thorough, well illustrated look at the highly interesting career of Vincent Price, focusing primarily on the horror and suspense pictures that made him famous. There are looks at both versions of Tower of London, earlier films such as The Invisible Man Returns and Dragonwyck, his career-altering stardom in House of Wax, his collaboration with Roger Corman in several Poe adaptations such as Pit and the Pendulum, and the mixed bag of terror films that he made in his later years, including the near-classic Theater of Blood and the Dr. Phibes movies. Author Meikle takes a critical look at both the films and the performances -- he's not in love with every movie nor every performance by Price -- and there's much background information about the pictures as well. Meikle is on less firm ground when he writes somewhat awkwardly about Price's sexuality, but the book is attractively packaged, well-written, and noteworthy.

Verdict: You may not agree with every assessment, but this is a real treat for Price enthusiasts. ***1/2.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE: SIZE IS RELATIVE

"Stopover in a Quiet Town"

"The Fear" with Mark Richman

Agnes Moorehead in "The Invaders"

"The Little People"

The classic "To Serve Man"

THE TWILIGHT ZONE: Size is Relative.

During its several years on the air, The Twilight Zone broadcast several stories that had to do with the size of human beings or other things. Some were memorable, and others were not.

The Invaders. Season 2, episode 15. Written by Richard Matheson and directed by Douglas Heyes. Agnes Moorehead plays a farm woman who comes across a tiny spaceship filled with equally small astronauts. At the end we learn that this ship is actually a "U.S. Air Force Space Probe" that the old lady has smashed. This is mostly a silly burlesque. C+

The Fear. Season 5, episode 35. Written by Rod Serling and directed by Ted Post. Police officer Mark Richman and resident Hazel Court encounter what appears to be a humongous space man in an isolated area. This has some suspense, even if it could be dismissed as silly "comic book" stuff. B-/C+.

The Little People. Season 3, episode 28. Written by Rod Serling and directed by William Claxton. Two astronauts come across microscopic people on a planet and one of them plays God, until he realizes to his horror that he's not the only one who's out of proportion. This is a bit hokey, like an old comic, but it boasts fine performances by Claude Akins and particularly Joe Maross. B-.

Stopover in a Quiet Town. Season 5, episode 30. Written by Earl Hamner Jr. and directed by Ron Winston. A couple who partied a bit too much wake up in a strange house and find themselves in a deserted town, then board a train that goes absolutely nowhere. A little girl's giggling voice can be heard everywhere. Although the episode is treated a bit lightly at the end (often the case with Serling's black comedy narration), it's actually quite horrifying, with this couple, whatever their flaws (including drunk driving), suffering a supremely and grotesquely horrifying fate. Possibly the influence for the show Land of the Giants. Barry Nelson and Nancy Malone give excellent performances. A.

To Serve Man. Season 3, episode 24. Written by Rod Serling (from a story by Damon Knight) and directed by Richard L. Bare. This episode qualifies if for no other reason than the alien who visits earth is 9 feet tall and weighs 350 lbs. This alien claims that he wants to help mankind and even gives scientists a book entitled "To Serve Man." Unfortunately one scientist has the book translated too late to save all of the people who are traveling to the giant's planet for supposed edification. Another supremely horrifying episode whose tension is almost dissipated by Serling's jokey narration. Lloyd Bochner, Susan Cummings, and Richard Kiel give good performances. I've always thought a great movie sequel could be made showing the earth people in the ship, slowly realizing what's about to happen to them, and fighting back. Probably one of the most fondly-remembered episodes of the series. A-.

WORLD WAR Z

Brad Pitt in one of the film's few quiet moments

WORLD WAR Z (2013). Director: Marc Foster.

"You can't make a dead person sick."

Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family suddenly find themselves in the midst of chaos when a plague breaks out in their city -- indeed, around the world --  driving people crazy and making them violently attack others. These people turn out to be zombies, reanimated after death by a virus. UN representative Thierry Umutoni (Fana Mokoena) gets Lane out, but he learns that his family can not stay in their safe refuge unless he agrees to accompany a biologist, hoping to create a vaccine, to the spot where the virus originated to look for clues. Lane later winds up in Israel, were the undead pile atop one another in a grotesque exhibition so they can launch themselves over a wall to get at the living people on the other side. [Unlike the dead in Night of the Living Dead, these zombies movie very quickly]. Lane saves the life of a young female Israeli soldier named Segen (Daniella Kertesz), and both wind up on a plane when the passengers become infected. They wind up at a research center in England where Lane thinks he's come up with a novel way of protecting people against the zombies. Despite some arresting passages -- such as the wall sequence in Israel and the outbreak on the plane -- World War Z can't quite overcome the fact that it's just another apocalyptic zombie movie [like 28 Days Later] with over-familiar ideas. Based on a novel, it still owes a lot to Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. However, it is generally fast-paced, creepy, well-acted, and often quite exciting. [Gore geeks must have been quite disappointed that despite the gruesome tone the movie does not indulge in much graphic bloodiness.] Humanism is in short supply -- there's little talk of compassion for the dead victims nor scenes where a living person sees a dead one that they loved -- and the ending is kind of flat. Foster also directed one of the worst James Bond movies, Quantum of Solace.

Verdict: More zombies that you can shake a stick at. **1/2.

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT

Chris Lee and cohorts seek safety inside circle

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (1968). Director: Terence Fisher. Screenplay by Richard Matheson, from a novel by Dennis Wheatley.

"I'd rather see you dead than meddling in black magic."

When Duc De Richleau (Christopher Lee) discovers that his young friend Simon (Patrick Mower) and a woman named Tanith (Nike Arrighi) are going to be baptized into a cult that worships the Devil, he takes action. Along with his friend Rex Van Ryn (Leon Greene), Richleau spirits the young couple away where he attempts to keep them out of the grasp and influence of Mocata (Charles Gray), the leader of the Satanic cult. But Mocata has no intention of losing these two souls, and Richleau and his group have to contend with sinister materializations of everything from a little girl to a giant spider, not to mention a devil with the head of a goat. One of the best sequences has Richleau gathering everyone together into a circle of protection in the vast room of a manor house. Lee, Gray, Arrighi, as well as Paul Eddington as Eaton, give very good performances, but while the movie is entertaining, it's not completely satisfying either as thriller or horror. From Hammer studios.

Verdict: Lee is always interesting. **1/2.

GREAT OLD EPISODE: DEATH SHIP Twilight Zone

The astronauts confront the unfathomable

DEATH SHIP. The Twilight Zone. 1963. Directed by Don Medford.

When I first saw this disturbing episode of The Twilight Zone -- the sixth episode of the fourth season -- it stayed in my mind for literally decades until I saw it again and found that it had the exact same effect on me as it did when I was a boy. (Suffice it to say that the story takes place in 1997 -- it was long before that that this episode was aired, and long after that that I finally saw it again.)  Based on an excellent short story of the same title by Richard Matheson (he also wrote the script and expanded the tale a bit), Death Ship deals with three astronauts who land on an alien planet and see a crashed spaceship outside a porthole. Does this mean they've finally encountered intelligent extraterrestrial life, or could the crashed ship have possibly come from Earth? They go outside to investigate and discover something that nearly drives them insane on the spot. Are they witnessing illusions created by malevolent alien forces? Are they sharing the same nightmare? Could they have gone through a time warp and past their own deaths? Is there any way to get out of this grotesque and hellish predicament? The astronauts are played by Jack Klugman (as the captain), Ross Martin (of The Wild, Wild West fame); and Fred Beir, all of whom give fine performances; Martin is especially outstanding in a very moving and sensitive turn. Sad, creepy and horrifying in equal measure, Death Ship is probably the best of the hour-long episodes of the show. Don Medford was a very busy television director who did everything from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  to Dynasty. NOTE: Richard Matheson recently passed away at 87, leaving behind a legacy of influential and entertaining stories, novels and screenplays.

Verdict: A classic. ***1/2.

TRILOGY OF TERROR 2

Watch out for those "Graveyard Rats!"

TRILOGY OF TERROR 2 (1996 made-for-cable film). Director: Dan Curtis.

Another anthology of horror stories from Curtis to follow his 1975 telefilm Trilogy of Terror. "He-Who-Kills" is a sequel to "Amelia" in the first film, and has the fetish doll on the rampage again. Like the original segment, it's lively but pretty silly, too. "Bobby" is a remake of a story that originally appeared in another Curtis anthology, Dead of Night, about a mother who summons her dead son from his grave, but with less effective actors. "The Graveyard Rats," which is loosely based on Henry Kuttner's famous short story, is the best segment, presenting a couple of lovers who murder the woman's husband and then have to open his grave. The nasty rats they encounter are nearly worth the price of admission. Ultimately, this is a fairly minor horror film, however. Screenplays by Curtis, William F. Nolan, and Richard Matheson.

Verdict: Killer rats are always "fun." **1/2.

DEAD OF NIGHT (1977)

DEAD OF NIGHT (1977 telefilm). Director: Dan Curtis.

Curtis followed up his ratings-successful telefilm Trilogy of Terror with this second anthology of horror stories, which was also the pilot for a projected series. In "Second Chance," scripted by Richard Matheson from a Jack Finney story, a man (Ed Begley Jr. of Eating Raoul) restores a car in which a couple was killed years ago, and discovers that it can drive him all the way to the past to prevent their deaths. Ann Doran from It, The Terror from Beyond Space has a supporting role.  "No Such Thing as a Vampire," which Matheson scripted from his own short story, features a fake vampire murder plot, and boasts some very good performances from Patrick Macnee and Horst Buchholz. "Bobby," written by Matheson, also has fine performances from Joan Hackett and Lee H. Montgomery in a story about a grieving mother who thinks she's called her drowned son back from the grave. The story has a good ending, but it is neither frightening nor moving, which you can pretty much say about the movie in general. Curtis remade "Bobby" even less effectively in Trilogy of Terror II. Robert Cobert's score is mediocre and does nothing to help the telefilm.

Verdict: Reasonably entertaining if very minor horror anthology. **1/2.

TRILOGY OF TERROR

Karen Black and He-Who-Kills

TRILOGY OF TERROR (1975 telefilm). Director: Dan Curtis.

This made-for-TV horror anthology features Karen Black in three stories and several different roles. In "Julie," scripted by William F. Nolan from a Richard Matheson story, a student turns a teacher into a sex slave via blackmail, but which of them is really evil? "Millicent and Therese," (also Nolan from Matheson) deals with prim Millicent and her sexy sister; one woman with a dual personality. "Amelia," which Matheson scripted from his story "Prey," presents a woman with both boyfriend and mother troubles whose life gets worse when she gets a fetish doll that comes to life and attacks her. While this is the best -- and best remembered -- of the episodes, it almost plays like a parody, and the noises made by the doll are rather comical. In other words: lively but silly. Karen Black is quite good in all of the segments. Trilogy of Terror II was made for cable 21 years later.

Verdict: Okay, but where's the terror? **1/2.

RICHARD MATHESON ON SCREEN

RICHARD MATHESON ON SCREEN: A History of the Filmed Works. Matthew R. Bradley. Foreword by Richard Matheson. McFarland; 2010.

While perhaps not a household name like Stephen King [whom he influenced], Matheson has secured a reputation among genre fans for his works "The Shrinking Man" [filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man], "I Am Legend" [three disappointing film versions so far], "Hell House" [filmed as The Legend of Hell House], among others, including numerous short stories, and his screenplays for The Night Stalker, Roger Corman's Poe adaptations such as Pit and the Pendulum, and other horror-fantasy works. Matheson's non-genre contributions include The Morning After telefilm, with Dick Van Dyke as an alcoholic, and De Sade starring Keir Dullea. Like King, Matheson's first prominent novel became a highly popular film, and there has been a synergistic relationship between his film and literary work ever since. Bradly looks not only at the films whose screenplays were written by Matheson, but also at the film adaptations of his work that were written by himself and others. His book is bolstered by interviews with and comments from Matheson himself and others who worked on the films. In addition to being an excellent reference source, Richard Matheson on Film creates an interest in many of Matheson's print and film works, and also serves to illustrate the often maddening twists and turns that occur during the knotty path from book to movie, as well as the disasters that often result when one person's vision doesn't jell with another's. Ironically, one Matheson movie [which he scripted from his novel "Bid Time Return."] that has become a cult item is Somewhere in Time, probably because of John Barry's evocative score, as Jeannot Szwarc's direction is mediocre at best. Even if you're not as enthusiastic about Matheson's work as Bradley is -- and he doesn't rave about everything -- you''ll find this book a good, entertaining and noteworthy film study. Illustrated.

Verdict: Exhaustive and informative. ***1/2. 

THE NIGHT STRANGLER

Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland

THE NIGHT STRANGLER (1973). Producer/director: Dan Curtis. Written by Richard Matheson.

Reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) from The Night Stalker is back, this time working with old boss and nemesis Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) on a paper in Seattle. More women are being murdered, and Kolchak discovers these type of killings have been occurring every twenty years since the 19th century. There's a hideous, sinister figure who lives in the ruins of Old Seattle underneath the city proper. The best scenes take place in this very eerie under-earth atmosphere. McGavin and Oakland are perfect, and they get fine support from the likes of Jo Ann Pflug (one of the worst names in show business) as a dancer; Wally Cox as a researcher; Margaret Hamilton as a professor of the arcane; Scott Brady as a cop; Al Lewis as a derelict in the underground; and John Carradine as a publisher. Nina Wayne is fun as a dopey stripper whose lover is a butch lesbian stereotype apparently added for dumb comic relief. Richard Anderson is also good in an unusual and pivotal role. This is basically a variation of The Man in Half Moon Street and The Man Who Could Cheat Death. Superior to The Night Stalker, this telefilm was successful enough to get Kolchak his own series.

Verdict: Love that Old Seattle! ***.

THE NIGHT STALKER

Darren McGavin as Kolchak

THE NIGHT STALKER (1972 telefilm). Drector: John Llewellyn Moxey. Written by Richard Matheson.

Reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin), hoping to get back to the big time of New York from Las Vegas, latches onto a story about women being found dead drained of every drop of blood, and runs with it, discovering that an actual vampire (Barry Atwater) is on the loose, leading to a tense climax in the bloodsucker's lair. This high-rated telefilm [a "Movie of the Week"] introduced Kolchak, who returned in a second telefilm, The Night Strangler, before getting his own series, which lasted one season. McGavin is fine, bolstered by performances from Carol Lynley as his girlfriend, Claude Akins as a cop, Kent Smith as the D.A., and Simon Oakland as Kolchak's belligerent boss, Vincenzo. Elisha Cook Jr. and Charles McGraw are also in the cast and are notable. An unlikely aspect of the plot is that Vincenzo wants to suppress the story, which makes no sense as he's in the business of selling newspapers, and a story of vampire killings would certainly garner a hell of a lot of attention!

Verdict: Entertaining time passer with a nifty premise. ***.

THE BOX

THE BOX (2009). Writer/director: Richard Kelly.

Loosely based on Richard Matheson's short story "Button, Button," this film at least has an intriguing premise: a man (Frank Langella) shows up at the home of a young couple (Cameron Diaz; James Marsden) and gives them a small box. If they push the button in the box, he tells them, they will receive one million dollars, but someone -- they don't know who -- will die. The moral dilemma, uncertainty and sheer strangeness of the situation carry the movie ... for a time. But despite some striking images and not bad acting, the picture is more like a bad dream than anything else -- it's impossible to tell if it's supposed to be taken seriously or not. Ultimately it's a waste of a great idea.

Verdict: Not much point in opening this box. **.

I AM LEGEND

I AM LEGEND (2007). Director: Francis Lawrence.

This is the third film version of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I am Legend [after The Last Man on Earth and The Omega Man] but it really seems more like a remake of The Omega Man than a faithful adaptation of Matheson's novel. [Indeed, the new screenplay is not only supposedly based on the novel but on the screenplay for Omega. I'm willing to bet that the screenwriters for this film never even bothered to read the source novel.] As in Omega, the lead character lives in a multi-million dollar town house [in Manhattan's Washington Square no less] and as in both earlier versions he's been turned into a scientist. The quasi-religious overtones of Omega have been slightly carried over into this remake as well, but are thankfully not as overt.

Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith) seems to be the sole survivor of a virus that has turned most of humanity into mutated ghouls. [These computer-generated creatures, referred to as "darkseekers" in the dialogue and "hemocytes" in the closed captions -- I watched this with a hearing-impaired friend -- relish blood but seem more like cannibals than vampires. This discarding or muting of the essential vampire element of the novel also reminds one of Omega Man.] The revamped measles virus was actually supposed to cure cancer, but instead it had a much more negative effect. As in Omega, Neville eventually meets up with another immune woman who believes there is a colony of survivors out in the country. Neville's wife and daughter have been killed in a copter accident while fleeing Manhattan, so there's no scene of his dead wife coming back from her grave as referred to in the novel and depicted in Last Man on Earth.

Smith gives a solid performance, avoiding the swaggering of Charlton Heston in Omega and never quite playing the role like the flippant "action-hero" that fills so many movies nowadays. Sam, the German Shepherd, is an appealing pet [played by two canine actors]. Alice Braga is okay in the thankless role of Anna, the other survivor [along with her son]. There's a tense scene with Neville hunting for his dog in the dark confines of a building infested with ghouls, a few suspenseful sequences, and the climax with the creatures rushing Neville's townhouse at night is exciting and well-handled.

But there are slack and illogical moments, and a scene with Shrek playing in the background goes on way too long. By default, this may be the best or at least most cinematic version of the novel [Last Man on Earth remains the most faithful], but it seems more influenced by all those Living Dead movies than by Matheson's book. The new storyline strips the title of its meaning, although the screenwriters try their best to live up to it with the closing monologue.

Verdict: The great film version of Matheson's novel has yet to be made, but this certainly has its moments. ***.

THE OMEGA MAN

THE OMEGA MAN (1971). Director: Boris Sagal. 

This is the second of three films to be based on Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend [following The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price]. However The Omega Man doesn't have much to do with Matheson's novel, in which a plague kills off most of the world's population and brings them back as vampires. In this version people who survive [aside from those with immunity, such as the protagonist] germ warfare turn into pasty-faced, white-eyed ghouls who want to tear down all remainders of human society, which is represented by Robert Neville (Charlton Heston, pictured), but they don't drink blood. Instead of vampires we're given a kind of cult of deranged people who call themselves the Family and are led by a former newscaster named Matthias (Anthony Zerbe). As in The Last Man on Earth Neville is again turned into a scientist, although he now lives in an elaborate townhouse with all of the modern conveniences and then some [being a scientist must pay pretty well!] Rosalind Cash, who appeared in a number of "blaxploitation" pictures during this period, is cast as Heston's love interest, and the two aren't quite as unlikely a couple as you might imagine. Heston swaggers his way through the film with his customary charisma [although a friend of mine who saw the film and hated it said all he got out of it was that it was "a big ego trip for Heston"] but the attempts to make him a kind of Christ-figure are ludicrous. Eric Laneuville is memorable as young Richie, who is undone by his own misplaced compassion. The film boasts the excellent cinematography of Russell Metty and an attractive score by Ron Grainer [whose music is often in counterpoint to the action] that is on occasion rather inappropriate, however. [In general it underlines the fact that The Omega Man is more of an action-drama than a horror film.] After awhile, The Omega Man -- despite good moments and acting -- sinks under the weight of its own ambitions and pretensions. 

Verdict: Taken on its own terms, it has some value, but I am Legend it is not. **1/2.

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964). Director: Sidney Salkan [Ubaldo Ragona]. 

This Italian production is the first film adaptation of Richard Matheson's excellent novel I Am Legend. Vincent Price stars as Robert Morgan, who seems to be the last human left alive in a world over-run with blood-drinking vampires. The movie is fairly faithful to the novel, and at least takes place in the United States. [Of course in the book the man's last name was Neville, and he wasn't a scientist; the movie also simplifies the business with "living" vampires vs. dead vampires.]. Franca Bettoia gives a vivid portrait of a woman, Ruth, that Morgan encounters late in the picture. Perhaps the best scene has Morgan's wife coming back from her grave. The Last Man on Earth is moody and atmospheric, Price isn't at all bad, but the picture isn't very well directed and isn't nearly intense enough to be fully effective. Comes close, though. 

Verdict: Just misses. **1/2.

I AM LEGEND RICHARD MATHESON

I AM LEGEND. Richard Matheson. 1954.

Richard Matheson's famous fifties horror novel I Am Legend has been made into a movie three times: The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price; The Omega Man with Charlton Heston; and I Am Legend with Will Smith. 56 years after its publication the novel still has power and fascination in its story of a man, Robert Neville, who seems to be the last human alive on Earth after a plague of vampirism has turned everyone else into blood-drinkers. Some of these creatures, who gather outside Neville's house/stronghold at night, are still human, but infected, while others have crossed all the way over. Matheson offers a scientific explanation for vampirism instead of a supernatural one, and explains how garlic and crosses affect vampires [the latter due to their own superstitions/religiosity]. While things do get a bit confusing as to the differences between infected humans and true vampires, I Am Legend is extremely well-written and you do get caught up in Neville's struggle against loneliness and for survival. He can't really search for other humans because he always has to return to his stronghold at night. There are many exciting and chilling scenes, as well as ironic developments. In addition to the three movies made from the novel, it also influenced many other films, books, and comics, and certainly had a hand in inspiring Night of the Living Dead, not to mention the much more recent Daybreakers.

Verdict: Excellent classic horror tale. ***1/2

DIE, DIE, MY DARLING

DIE, DIE MY DARLING (aka Fanatic/1965). Director: Silvio Narizzano.

Patricia Carroll (Stefanie Powers, the Girl from Uncle) is in England with her new fiance, Alan (Maurice Kaufmann) when she decides to pay a courtesy call on the mother, Mrs. Trefoile (Tallulah Bankhead), of her former fiance, Steven, who died in an accident. Unfortunately, the initially welcoming Mrs. Trefoile isn't right in the head, and is such a religious fanatic that she considers Pat to be Steven's wife. When she discovers that Pat is planning to marry someone else, Mrs. Trefoile keeps Pat a prisoner with the aid of a married couple, Harry and Anna (Peter Vaughn, Yootha Joyce), who work for her. This is Bankhead's entry in the "aging actress" horror film sweepstakes and she gives it her all, although it is unfortunate that she sounds like Daffy Duck most of the time. Powers is a bit affected, but she's more than competent as the harried young woman, and Vaughn and Joyce are as professional as ever. Donald Sutherland plays another servant who is mentally deficient, the kinds of roles he specialized in before he was somehow reinvented as an unlikely romantic lead. Die, Die, My Darling holds the attention, and has some very effective moments, but in general the direction is uninspired and the whole production has a kind of cheapjack feel to it. It's ironic that Bankhead, who was certainly a free spirit in real life, plays a woman who is repulsed by sensuality. A Hammer film released by Columbia. Screenplay by Richard Matheson from the novel "Nightmare" by Anne Blaisdell.

Verdict: Tallulah at her naughtiest. ***.

THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE

THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973). Director: John Hough. 

A group of parapsychologists come to investigate the haunted Belasco house, known as "The Mount Everest of haunted houses" as part of a paid experiment to see if there really is life after death. The last investigating team were all killed except for one man, Ben Fischer (Roddy McDowall), who is going along on this trip as well. Also in the party are scientist Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill), his wife Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt), and the psychic Florence Tanner (Pamela Franklin), who is convinced that the strong presence of the dead old owner Emeric Belasco is permeating and corrupting the spooky mansion. The film has a choppy continuity, but it's also suspenseful, absorbing, and quite creepy at times. McDowell and Franklin give particularly good performances, and Michael Gough has a notable guest appearance. Based on a novel by Richard Matheson, who also did the screenplay. 

Verdict: Watch after midnight with a friend. ***.