So I got this pack of 4 movies called "Horror Rises From the Grave." I really love these budget packs - you never really know what you are going to get. Is the box telling the truth? Is that really what this movie is about? Will the sub-VHS quality even be watchable? You may get some super obscure titles that may otherwise get lost, movies that are just there for filler, and a varying amount of Enjoyable Bad Stuff. (Now, there is a lot of just Bad Bad Stuff too, but at $.50 a movie, who can complain?) But one thing that has always interested me is when a movie just gets renamed - you know, where the producers obviously just freeze a frame from the credits and superimpose their own title on it. I always wonder - is this legal? If yes, why the name change? I like to think there is an exciting story and intrigue behind these changes. To wit - what the movie as listed on the set, and then it's real name.
Horror Rises from the Tomb - actually the real title. Released on video as Mark of the Devil IV.
Zombie Flesh Eaters - aka Horror of the Zombies (aka The Ghost Galleon, a sequel in the Tombs of the Blind Dead series) - incidentally Zombie Flesh Eaters is also an alias for Fulci's Zombie, which has a rich tradition of confusing alternate titles.
Zombie Hell House - Fulci's The House by the Cemetery
Night of the Ghoul - officially The Ghoul, aka The Thing in the Attic
So, at any rate I was all set to watch Zombie Hell House - there is a pretty brutal killing right away that didn't jog my memory. But once we cut to the kid named Bob (and I love that there is a kid just named "Bob") my spider sense started tingling... and off to imdb I went. I had watched House by the Cemetery last year, so flipped the disc over and watched (Night of) The Ghoul instead.
And it was pretty decent. I haven't seen enough Hammer pictures to really know what people mean by Hammer-esque, but I'd imagine it would be similar to this. Atmosphere gets the focus over actual scares. A mystery lurking in an old castle. An older, well-known leading man classing things up (Peter Cushing, in this case).
Basically the story starts off at a party of rich folks - they are playing some weird murder mystery game. It starts the film off with a decent scare, but really makes very little sense in the grand scheme of things. To liven things up, party guest Daphne challenges host Billy to a 100 mile automobile race. Seems like it would be lame for the other hundred or so guests at the party, but they all seem really excited about it. (I'd guess we're in the early 1910s - as the cars need to be cranked to start up.) Daphne convinces her unwilling boyfriend Jeffrey to partner up with fellow guest Alice and drive his car, while she pairs up with Billy and hops into his fancy expensive car - first one to the ocean wins!
Anyways, the race doesn't go as planned - after an "exciting" start, Jeffrey/Alice need to pull over because of motion sickness. Daphne/Billy end up veering off the road and end up in some foggy marsh, and run out of petrol. Billy leaves to go find more, leaving Daphne behind. Daphne waits awhile and then wanders off, encountering a creepy abductor/drifter type and eventually ending up in Dr. Lawrence's (Peter Cushing) castle. Dr. Lawrence is a former priest with a traumatic back-story - he spent a great deal of time in India but lost his wife and son there. He plays a charming host at first, but he is hesitant to let Daphne leave. Before long she bears witness to the true horrors that exist in his house!
What I liked
The mood of the movie is what really sells it. The exteriors are fog covered most of the time - giving it a good, eerie vibe. Once we get inside the castle, it's pretty moody too - there is an east vs. west religious theme going on. Dr. Lawrence is a former priest, so he's got his Christian thing happening (big prayer room with red curtains and an ornate cross), but he spent a great deal of time in India. His housekeeper/assistant is Indian as well, so there are things around the house that also reflect the eastern religion (Hinduism? I think). Being the not entirely PC 70's, the eastern religion is basically to blame for all of the bad things that happen, but still. Just having it around make The Ghoul unique.
I haven't seen enough of these English horror movies with the big stars of the time (Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee) - I really need to fix that, because Cushing is really good here. Even though it seems like damsel in distress Daphne will be the main point of focus, Cushing really ends up being the main attraction here. I don't know if it was his age or his physical condition (he seems troublingly thin here), but there is a heaviness in his performance that makes this play as much like a tragic drama as a horror film.
After watching the movie and looking up some stuff on the internet, I learned that Cushing's wife had recently died when this was being shot. (Just like Dr. Lawrence in the film.) Apparently, Cushing used real pictures of his wife for the film, and would go off on long tangents on how much he missed her, often bringing the whole crew to tears. I feel like his sadness really came through here.
And John Hurt has a memorable role as Dr. Lawrence's gardener/Igor-type type. He plays Tom as a sniveling, kind of sleazy, mentally unbalanced type. It's a pretty memorable for what could have been a very one-note role in the hands of a less talented performer.
Also, I always like when quicksand is an issue.
What I didn't like
I don't want to spoil anything, but it's pretty obvious as to what is happening in the house as soon as Dr. Lawrence tells his tale. They sort of play it up like a mystery, but there really isn't one there. So there isn't much suspense story-wise, although there was some surprising deaths to keep things moving along.
And there isn't much of an explanation as to why the bad things are happening. "Religion in India is weird and sometimes creates killer zombies" is probably as close as you'll get. It wouldn't fly nowadays, but I guess in the mid-70's India was still exotic enough to give it a pass.
Finally, when there are reports of a missing person, the cops just decide not to help at all. They're just all like "Sorry - the probably died out there and we'll never find them!" Not helpful, English cops.
Ultimately
If you like the 70's style, you could do a lot worse than this. Good performance from Cushing (and really sad once you know the backstory) and moves along at a decent pace. May be considered "boring" by todays standards, but held up reasonably well.
I would probably recommend this film.
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