Lady Frankenstein

Lady Frankenstein is a 1971 Italian horror film directed by Mel Welles and Aurelliano Luppi. The stars includes Joseph Cotton, Rosalba Neri and Paul Muller. 

Baron Frankenstein has been making deals with grave robbers, to send him fresh corpses of executed criminals. The experiments failed but one successful monster was resurrected from death, only to be horribly mutilated during the surgery and storm. It's only instinct is to kill everyone. Meanwhile, Frankenstein's daughter, Tania, has completed her studies and become a doctor, who feels willing to help her father's gruesome secret work!

An extremely nightmarish story with plenty of atmosphere and tension. There are some hilarious conversations with the grave robbers. It features violence and some nudity, while the gory scenes appeared mostly indoors. The story is loosely based on the original classic Frankenstein's Monster, although this film has included some romance. "Only the monster she made could satisfy her strange desires!" One of the early movie posters features Dr Tania Frankenstein as blonde even though she's really a brunette. 

I rate this gothic monster horror a shocking 8/10.

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A Christmas Carol

 

This is a 1984 supernatural fantasy film made for TV, based on the story by Charles Dickens. Directed by Clive Donner and the stars include George C. Scott, David Warner and Frank Finlay. 

This is a much more grim version of the story and it's true to the book. A hard hearted wealthy businessman has rejected the celebration of Christmas and also abandoned any sense of compassion, love and family. He's visited by spirits that take him on a journey to find his inner humanity again and learn how to enjoy life. 

The spirits in this version are scary, especially the ghost of Marley and the ghost of things yet to come. The large house that Scrooge lives in is spooky and not surprising it's haunted. They used a real gravestone in this film with permission from a nearby church. The actor playing Scrooge wore heavier clothing to suit a freezing winter, as described in the book. It was mostly filmed in the ancient town of Shrewsbury. I rate this a merry 9/10 for sheer entertainment

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The People Across the Lake

This is a 1988 thriller/horror and mystery film, directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman, and the stars include Valerie Harper, Barry Corbin and Gerald McRaney. 

A family leaves the city life to go and move into a nice house in a picturesque country village named Tomahawk. All seems fine until dead bodies turn up in the lake. An angry recluse lives in the woods nearby and a perfectly nice neighbouring family make friends. Meanwhile the mother gradually finds nothing is all as it seems to be in the house itself.  

There are insane characters that spoil the pleasant looking scenery. It has a number of amusing lines such as "I don't want to be a redneck" and "put your seatbelt on over your mouth." The corpses are displayed in a secret room, but someone has a way of entering their new house without them knowing. A wholesome film and a bit funny so it gets 5/10.

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The Other (1972)

This psychological horror was made in 1972 but set during the 1930's. It was directed by Robert Mulligan and the stars include Uta Hagen, Diana Muldaur and Victor French. 

A small village at a farm experience weird goings on. Meanwhile, twin brothers play odd games involving a ring that once belonged to their dead father. They're bullied by their cousin and an elderly neighbour who's scared of rats. The boys' hideout is down a basement of a barn where it's always dark. Members of the boys' large family come up against mysterious accidents while the twins are not what they first seem to be.

This film is based on a novel by Tom Tryon who was involved in producing this. However, Tryon has been disappointed with the end result of the film. The real life twin brothers who play in this film haven't done anymore acting in movies. While it was set in the year 1935, there are some mistakes and slip ups made such as a 1940's news report and a jet aircraft in the distance. The film is supposed to be set in late winter but clearly it was during full summer! 

I give this strange film a punch 6/10.