Cave Girl

More Bob Powell Greatness
From Thunda #5

Horror From the Crypt of Jean-Luc Godard

Weird title, huh? It’s also totally bogus but in a sense it does kinda fit as the description of the film I watched last night, 1971’s “Le Frisson des Vampires” (The Shivers of the Vampires). 

The plot is reasonable straightforward. A French newlywed couple stops at the bride’s cousin’s castle on their way to a honeymoon in Italy. She hasn’t seen them since she was a child but has fond memories of staying there as a little girl. Upon arrival she’s informed that her cousins had died just the day before. The couple still stays there but the bride is too upset to consummate the union on her wedding night. She asks her new husband if she can sleep alone and he acquiesces. That night she is visited by a strange woman whom she is unnaturally drawn to. Then the next day her cousins appear, seemingly alive and well. Before too long the horrible reality becomes apparent, that the castle is inhabited by vampires and that they intend to make the young wife one of the undead. 

Okay, that set up sounds like pretty standard vampire fare but what complicates it is that director shoots it as if he were making a French New Wave film. The characters don’t so much speak as people but instead go off on philosophical tirades about ancient religions and the merits of free roaming vampires versus bourgeois ones. More often than not simple questions are answered with obtuse replies. Despite its intentions, it comes off more like a parody of that style than as a sincere effort.

That failing though it countered by the extraordinary visuals. If nothing else director Jean Rollin knew how to compose and shoot beautiful shots. You could almost take individual frames of the movie and use them in a book of photographs. The use of color is also very striking. Occasionally Rollin seemed to be clever for clever’s sake like a shot that pans 360 degrees for no real dramatic reason. More often though he uses simple tricks that come off very effectively, such as when the husband is attacked by (of all things) a library. Then there’s a sequence of a crypt opening that’s done with a herky-jerky stop motion animation technique, that I believe was a tribute to F. W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu”.

Although it’s one of the more unconventional entries in the Vampire genre, I was glad to have caught this. 

Pat

Space Action

A very cool story from Space Action Comics. Not sure who the artist is but it looks like Dan Barry. Enjoy!

Patty Shepard Filmography

 If you view this blog through Internet Explorer you probably didn't see this filmography due to technical difficulties. So here it is again!

Born in South Carolina, Shepard moved to Madrid at age 18 to study philosophy and never left. She starred in a number of Paul Naschy films, including La Noche de Walpurgis (aka The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman) and Los Monstruos del Terror (aka Assignment Terror). Other horror titles to her credit includes Hannah, Queen of the Vampires; Rest in Pieces; Edge of the Axe; Slugs; 

El Monte de las Brujas; and My Dear Killer.
One of the greats of classic spanish horror cinema. 
Patty just passed away at age 68

Patty Shepard Filmography

Edge Of The Axe (1988)
Slugs (1988)
Rest In Pieces (1987) 
The Last Of Philip Banter (1986)

Los Diablos Del Mar (1982)

Everybody Calls Me ‘The Cat’ (1980)

Curro Jiménez (Tv Series) (1977)

Aquí Durmió Carlos Iii (1977)

The Burned City (1976)

El Quinto Jinete (Tv Series) (1975) 

La Renta Espectral (1975)

Watch Out, We’re Mad (1974) 

Las Violentas (1974)

El Talón De Aquiles (1974)

Creation Of The Damned (1974)

El Kárate, El Colt Y El Impostor (1974)

Ella (1973)

Un Casto Varón Español (1973) 

La Ragazza Di Via Condotti (1973)

The Man Called Noon (1973)

Hannah, Queen Of The Vampires (1973)

La Curiosa (1973)

Samrtno Prolece (1973)

El Asesino Está Entre Los Treces (1973)

The House Without Frontiers (1973)

The Boldest Job In The West (1973)

My Dear Killer (1972)

Timanfaya  (1972)

El Monte De Las Brujas (1972)

Frenchie King (1971)

A Mí Las Mujeres Ni Fu Ni Fa  (1971)

The Werewolf Versus The Vampire Woman (1971) 

Glass Ceiling  (1971)

Escalofrío Diabólico  (1971)

Después De Los Nueve Meses (1971) 

Twenty Paces To Death  (1970)

Un, Dos, Tres, Al Escondite Inglés (1970)  

Assignment Terror  (1970)

Golpe De Mano (1970) 

Las Siete Vidas Del Gato (1970)

Carola De Día, Carola De Noche (1969) 

¿Por Qué Te Engaña Tu Marido? (1969)

Las Panteras Se Comen A Los Ricos (1969)

Cruzada En La Mar (1968)

Tinto Con Amor (1968)

Sharon Vestida De Rojo (1968)

The Cups Of San Sebastian (1967)

Lucky, El Intrépido  (1967)

Cita En Navarra (1967)

La Ciudad No Es Para Mí (1967)

Watch Patty In this trailer for 

The Werewolf Vs The Vampire Woman

Darker Than Amber

One of the things I appreciate the best with this blog is that it’s a satisfying forum to report upon life’s tiny little victories to sympathetic ears. This is a case in point.

Back in 1969 my older sister took me to downtown North Miami for a (to us) quite unusual event. Two blocks had been cordoned off and a professional film crew was shooting a scene to a major motion picture. The public was allowed to stand and gawk on the opposite side of the street, which is where Marylee and I parked ourselves. 

The film was titled “Darker Than Amber” and starred Rod Taylor as John MacDonald’s hero ‘Travis McGee’. The scene I watched was a kind of long shot where Taylor escorts a lovely black woman in a bright raincoat, into a café. I recall being surprised at ‘Hollywood rain’, an effect made by the North Miami Fire Department using a specialized sprinkle system. We must have stayed for over an hour as we watched several takes filmed. I made a note that I simply must catch the movie when it hit the theatres. 

Well that didn’t happen and until last night I’d never viewed it. I have always wondered whether or not ‘my scene’ had survived into the final cut. It had…but in a better way than I could have dared hope. Over the years I’d forgotten an important detail. I had literally positioned myself right behind the camera and the pov of the scene precisely matches my own. Watching it was a weird mix of déjà vu and a sense that someone had tapped into my brain and recorded what I witnessed. Most pleasantly bizarre.

Pat 

Dave Davies

If the Kinks are the Greatest British rock and Roll band of all time (and for me they are) and Ray Davies was the songwriting genius of the band

well Dave Davies (his brother) was the heart and soul. After creating the greatest riff of all time (You Really Got Me) Dave was an excellent songwriter as well. Songs like Death Of A Clown, Mindless Child Of Motherhood, Strangers, Living on A Thin Line and Susannah's Stil Alive will attest to that.

Here's a concert by Dave from the world Trade center in July 2001, right before the world changed. Enjoy and long live the Kinks!

Ghost Rider Vs Frankenstein

Before he was the fiery motorcycle riding superhero/movie star we all now and love 
Ghost Rider was a horror/western hero back in the 50's. Here's Ghost Rider vs. Frankenstein 
with art by the great Dick Ayers!

Doug Wildey

From The Man Who Brought You:
 Johnny Quest,The Herculoids,
 Return To The Planet Of The Apes 
And The Godzilla Cartoons

Here's The Great Doug Wildey
With Some Early Art From Alarming Tales