Category Archives: Peter Vaughan

1965 Films, British, Donald Sutherland, Hammer Horror, Horror, Maurice Kaufmann, Peter Vaughan, Silvio Narizzano, Stefanie Powers, Tallulah Bankhead, Yootha Joyce

Die! Die! My Darling!-1965

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Die! Die! My Darling! -1965

Director Silvio Narizzano

Starring Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughn

Scott’s Review #1,437

Reviewed September 2, 2024

Grade: B

Die! Die! My Darling! (1965) is a British horror film released under this name in the United States but originally titled Fanatic in the United Kingdom. This was frequently done for marketing purposes.

The film follows a young woman played by Stefanie Powers who wanders into the clutches of an old wacko played by legendary actress, Tallulah Bankhead. The once-sultry actress is unrecognizable as an elderly, hobbling old crone who is a religious freak.

She blends well into the 1960s trend of a once sexy and acclaimed actress going the horror route sans glamour or makeup. Bette Davis did the same thing most notably in 1962’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? who Bankhead’s character is similar to.

One could argue that Davis led the pack with heavyweights like Joan Crawford, Joan Fontaine, and Veronica Lake.

Patricia Carroll (Powers) plays an American woman who travels to London to marry her boyfriend, Alan (Maurice Kaufmann). While there, Patricia decides to visit Mrs. Trefoile (Bankhead), the mother of her deceased ex-fiancé, to pay her respects and chat with the woman before marrying Alan.

Upon arriving, however, Patricia discovers that Mrs. Trefoile’s grief over her son’s has transformed her into a lunatic and the woman plans to ‘save’ Patricia by holding her prisoner and helping her see God’s light.

Along for the ride are Mrs. Trefoile’s staff: housekeeper, Anna (Yootha Joyce), groundsman, Harry (Peter Vaughn), and mentally challenged, Joseph (Donald Sutherland).

The film is a perfect late-night watch and not to be taken too seriously. Once Patricia is locked in the upstairs bedroom of the quaint English cottage it’s no surprise that she will eventually escape.

The fun is watching her many attempts at freedom and the inevitable conclusion.

Director, Silvio Narizzano, provides some genuine thrills and peril that would make Hitchcock proud. When Patricia crafts a makeshift rope by tying bed linens together to climb down the side of the house I held my breath hoping she would make it as she carefully scales past two characters chatting near a window.

The comical element is how she cannot physically overpower the old woman or Anna. She is younger and stronger than either and has the will to survive.

But, Die! Die! My Darling! also isn’t meant to be analyzed but merely enjoyed. Narizzano fulfills that request with a nice set design of the cottage interiors, superior acting by Bankhead and Powers mainly, and real moments of peril the audience can enjoy.

As the viewer, I felt emotionally invested in the characters and couldn’t wait for Patricia to escape and Mrs. Trefoile to get her just desserts.

I mostly enjoyed Patricia’s determination and going toe-to-toe with the wicked old woman. Some characters might have cow towed to her demands but Patricia remains strong in what undoubtedly was an effort to provide 1960s feminism.

This counterbalances nicely with Mrs. Trefoile’s old-fashioned religious fanatism. It’s the old versus the new especially when Patricia admits she’s not into religion.

Bankhead is the highlight and I could only imagine Davis playing the role instead. Bankhead plays the part magnificently and real glamour shots of Bankhead appear to have been used to show a younger Mrs. Trefoile who used to be an actress.

The film is a cat-and-mouse affair and begins with a quick graphic of a cat chasing a mouse and fans familiar with Hammer Horror Productions can rest assured that the cheap but effective sets are on full display.

A creak here and there and battered couches and walls only enhance the experience.

Die! Die! My Darling! (1965) is recommended for horror fans or fans of Bankhead seeking a glimpse of her stripped down and only three years before she died at age sixty-six.

1973 Films, Anna Massey, British, British Horror, Horror, Horror Anthologies, Peter Vaughan

Vault of Horror-1973

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Vault of Horror-1973

Director Roy Ward Baker

Starring Curd Jurgens, Daniel Massey

Scott’s Review #1,038

Reviewed June 26, 2020

Grade: A-

Horror anthologies are usually a vast treat and a reminiscent memory of childhood afternoons watching Twilight Zone re-runs on television.

This is hardly much of a stretch since Vault of Horror (1973) is a British anthology based on Tales from the Crypt (1972), which in turn was based on stories EC Comics series.

Each chapter is superior storytelling providing bloodthirsty horror viewers with suspense, adventure, and surprise endings.

Below is a summary, review, and rating of each vignette.

Framing Story- A

Events get off to an intriguing start as one-by-one five businessmen enter an elevator in a corporate office in downtown London. They are taken to the basement level though none of them has pressed that floor and emerge to find a gentlemen’s club.

With no way to get back onto the elevator, they begin to drink, each discussing a reoccurring nightmare.

This segment immediately grasps the viewer as we ponder questions. Is someone holding the men there for a reason, who is behind it, and why? Are the men’s nightmares only nightmares or are they revealing deeper secrets?

Midnight Mess- A

Harold Rodgers (Daniel Massey) is a suave, well-dressed man who tracks down his missing sister Donna (real-life sister, Anna Massey!) in a peculiar village. He fiendishly kills her to acquire her share of their father’s inheritance.

Working up an appetite he dines at a local restaurant that serves blood soup and blood clots as the main course. The village is inhabited by sophisticated vampires and his sister is one of them!

This vignette is my favorite as the restaurant decor is warm and toasty, the village provides a stylish ambiance, and clever writing exists throughout. The bloody feast the eatery serves is a devilish delight in macabre humor.

And the fangs are great.

The Neat Job- A

Arthur Critchit (Terry-Thomas) is an elegant man suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. He is married to Eleanor (Glynis Johns), a trophy wife, who despite wanting to please her husband, is a lousy housekeeper.

Constantly criticized for being incompetent, Eleanor loses it and kills Arthur with a hammer. She proudly cuts him to bits and stores his remains in glass jars, all neatly labeled.

This story is simply delicious, offering elegant British furniture to salivate over and macabre, witty comedy as the viewer eagerly anticipates what Eleanor will do when she finally snaps, and we just know she will snap.

Bravo!

The Trick’ll Kill You- A-

Sebastian (Curd Jurgens) is a magician on holiday in India, where he and his wife Inez (Dawn Addams) are searching for new tricks for their act.

Frustrated, they encounter a girl charming a rope out of a basket with a flute. The couple persuades her to come to their hotel room where they murder her and steal the enchanted rope. They gleefully plot how to incorporate the rope into their act assuring them of riches.

Inez experiments with climbing the rope only to disappear with a scream. An ominous patch of blood appears on the ceiling, and the rope coils around Sebastian’s neck and hangs him. Their smirking victim reappears alive in the bazaar.

This vignette provides a good glimpse of the Far East and is culturally outstanding. The story is compelling though a letdown from the earlier entries.

Bargain in Death- B+

Maitland (Michael Craig) is buried alive as part of an insurance scam concocted with his friend Alex (Edward Judd). They each plan to double-cross and kill the other to get the money.

Two trainee doctors bribe a gravedigger to dig up a corpse to help with their studies. When Maitland’s coffin is opened, he jumps up gasping for air, and the gravedigger kills him. At the same time, Alex’s car crashes into a tree and he dies.

In humorous comedy, when trying to close the sale of the corpse the gravedigger apologizes to the doctors for the damage to the head.

This segment is more comical than the others and a nice aside is that the trainee doctors are named Tom and Jerry. The plot is a bit convoluted and doesn’t succeed as much as the other stories.

Drawn and Quartered- A

Moore (Tom Baker) is a struggling painter living in Haiti. When he learns that his paintings have been sold for high prices by art dealers after being praised by a critic, he goes to a voodoo priest for help exacting revenge.

He is instructed that whatever he paints or draws can be harmed by damaging its image.

Returning to London, Moore paints portraits of the three men who cheated him and mutilates the paintings to exact his revenge. After the displays, his portrait, each one, including Moore, suffers an agonizing experience.

This story is top-notch, and the loss of the eyes and the hands are the highlights of fun.

As the film wraps, we learn the mysterious puzzle involving the five men in a satisfying form.

Vault of Horror (1973) is a horror anthology that hardly disappoints. I am eager to watch this one again which is a major achievement for a cinematic offering to have on a viewer.

1960 Films, Barbara Shelley, British, British Horror, George Sanders, Horror, Peter Vaughan, Science Fiction, Wolf Rilla

Village of the Damned-1960

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Village of the Damned-1960

Director Wolf Rilla

Starring George Sanders, Barbara Shelley

Scott’s Review #701

Reviewed November 30, 2017

Grade: B

Village of the Damned is a 1960 black and white horror film, released during a spectacular year for the film genre- and specifically for the horror genre.

With legendary films such as Hitchcock’s Psycho and Michael Powell’s British Peeping Tom making their debuts at the same time, what a coincidence that Village of the Damned (also British) shares the same year.

The film is a satisfying treat- certainly not on par with the aforementioned duo of masterpieces, but on its terms a fine film with just enough suspense and intrigue to make it a memorable affair.

Anything in movie horror involving children is downright creepy, so German director Wolf Rilla is wise to adopt a film based on a 1957 novel entitled The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham.

The title is one that I adore and wish Rilla had kept for the film. Alas, he did not, but the story is well written and almost like a long episode of The Twilight Zone or a similar television chapter from the 1960s.- it just seems like more of an episodic experience.

No disrespect, of course, but the film does not contain the bombast expected from a feature film, but rather a compartmentalized, small tale.

In the sleepy little town of Midwich, England, a polarizing force suddenly, and without warning, overtakes the town, causing all the inhabitants to fall unconscious and into a state of inactivity.

Attempts by the military to enter the town fail, even as an airplane crashes to the ground after attempting to cross into Midwich.

As quickly as these events occur, the townspeople “wake up” and resume normalcy. Two months later all women of childbearing years suddenly become pregnant, and gossip and intrigue ensue. As the years go by the children look similar, with platinum blonde hair, piercing eyes, and rapid growth spurts.

Furthermore, they all are telepathic and communicate with each other in this manner.

The central characters include a prominent professor, Gordon Zellaby (George Sanders), and his wife Anthea (Barbara Shelley). They are the parents of one of the children, named David, who appears to be the leader of the other children.

As the children become increasingly menacing and intelligent as they grow older, sometimes hurting or killing other townspeople by somehow “possessing” their thoughts, Gordon must race to find a way to trap and stop the children from more dastardly deeds.

The use of black and white cinematography and the small-town setting successfully give Village of the Damned an eerie and mysterious vibe, is little or no bloodshed nor the traditional horror-themed elements- hence the above Twilight Zone reference.

The film does not need these to succeed as the psychological mystique is effective enough. We wonder, “What is wrong with these kids?” and “Why do they act so strangely?” “Are they possessed?” and  “Is this some weird experiment?”

The answers are never really explained in detail.

Slight negatives to the film are the only limited character development among any of the prominent characters such as Gordon or Anthea, and these roles are one-dimensional- the children are the stars.

Sanders and Shelley are adequately cast, but I can think of numerous other actors who could have played these parts well.

The conclusion to Village of the Damned is unspectacular and I was left with an unsatisfied feeling, especially as related to other more satisfying aspects of the film as a whole.

I felt like a bit of potential was not reached.

Gordon merely orchestrates a big event, sacrificing himself to destroy the children, and the film ends.

Village of the Damned was followed by a 1963 sequel entitled, Children of the Damned, which was not deemed a critical nor a commercial success.

Years later, in 1995, the film was remade and directed by John Carpenter and was also met with poor reviews.