schlock Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Although I didn't plan it this way, these last three episodes of Elvira's Movie Macabre from Shout Factory DVD (see part 1 for the first three) represent early 70s exploitation versions of the three biggest Universal movie monsters: Dracula, Frankenstein and the werewolf. Also, interestingly enough, two of these flicks feature the late Michael Dunn, a dwarf actor, probably most memorable for his performance as Alexander in the "Plato's' Stepchildren" episode of the original Star Trek, and as a recurring villain on TV's Wild Wild West.

Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974)
The Elvira sequences on this disk are of poorer video quality than the rest of the series, with a vertical line pattern present throughout the episode. The film itself is quite sharp, except for minor speckling that gets pretty bad at reel changes. The movie is full to the brim with "WTF" moments, which make this a fascinating and fun train wreck of a film. Shot in Italy, but set in a nameless 19th century European country, the film introduces us to Count Frankenstein who, as Elvira points out, has been a Baron in nearly every other Frankenstein film, so why is he now a Count? For no good reason that I can discern, there are several Neanderthal men living in the countryside surrounding Castle Frankenstein. One of these cavemen is beaten to death by angry villagers (and it's just not a Frankenstein movie without angry villagers, God bless 'em), making him a prime candidate for Frankenstein-ian shenanigans.

Roger Corman is well-known for being a director and producer of over 300 low-budget films, many of them in the horror category. He is probably most famous for his adaptations of nine different Edgar Allen Poe stories. Between 1960 and 1964, Corman directed House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum, The Premature Burial, Tales of Terror, The Raven, The Terror, The Haunted Palace, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Tomb of Ligeia. Seven of these films also starred the late, great Vincent Price, and established both Corman and Price in the genre.

Even more impressive is the fact that he churned out five other films during those four years. He's a movie-making machine, folks. Even today Corman continues to produce tons of "schlock" films, and is king of that genre even though he has only directed two films since 1971. He was an enormous influence on directors like Quentin Tarantino, who thrived on the many "Roger Corman presents" films that came out while he was growing up. Tarantino even has his own line of "Quentin Tarantino presents" films, and the upcoming Grind House owes part of its lineage to Corman's own Death Race 2000.

The Drkrm Gallery in Los Angeles hosts a special exhibition celebrating Corman's Edgar Allen Poe films, and will be open October 21st through November 18th. As a fan of bad puns, I had to use the tagline from Drkrm's page about the event: "We pay tribute to them, the legendary Roger Corman and the late Vincent Price with this exhibition of their greatest work together, the likes of which we will see ... NEVERMORE!"

[Thanks John]


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