Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Scott LeBrun Horror superstars Sir Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing play half brothers in this Victorian era shocker. Cushing is an eminent scientist, Emmanuel Hildern, who has put forth the idea that insanity is a disease that *can* possibly be cured. His discovery of a most unusual pile of bones in Papua New Guinea would seem to lend credence to his theories of evolution. Lorna Heilbron is Emmanuels' troubled daughter Penelope, who's distraught over not knowing very much about her late mother. And Lee is James Hildern, operator of a lunatic asylum who also has a daffy idea that he aims to prove.All the ingredients are here for what turns out to be a pretty solid, if imperfect, feature. Cushing and Lee are simply wonderful, especially in their scenes together. And they're directed by renowned cinematographer / filmmaker Freddie Francis, who also guided the two of them in "The Skull" from 1965. The amusing, interesting screenplay is by Peter Spenceley and Jonathan Rumbold, who create a few subplots and mix them together with decent results. One of the through lines is Emmanuels' accidental discovery that his newly acquired skeleton can be restored to life!A company named Tigon made this one, and it's good enough to compare favorably with a lot of the period horrors cranked out by the more famous Hammer Studios and Amicus productions. The period detail is respectable, the lighting by Norman Warwick is just right, and the music by Paul Ferris is excellent. Makeup artist Roy Ashton does typically fine work. The film is also somewhat gory, but it won't be too hard to take for more squeamish viewers.Gorgeous Heilbron delivers a transfixing performance as the daughter. The exemplary supporting cast also includes George Benson, Kenneth J. Warren, Duncan Lamont, Harry Locke, Michael Ripper (whose role is much too brief), Catherine Finn, and Jenny Runacre.It's all worth it just for the delicious twist ending, which does help to smooth over any holes there might be in the story.Seven out of 10.

Nigel P Tigon films never made a secret of being inspired by the larger Hammer horror company: this film is perhaps most indebted to their rival. It stars Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and briefly Michael Ripper, and the story's Victorian setting is familiar to Hammer fans. I don't know how successful this was upon release. It was actually Tigon's final horror outing, the company having all but ceased by the time of the film's release, having been rebranded as the very different The Laurie Marsh Group. I have a feeling it would have been more lucrative had it been released ten years earlier, when such a style of story-telling was in its prime.Cushing plays Professor Emmanuel Hildern, first seen (minus toupee) alongside elegant actor David Bailie in an almost psychedelic, featureless laboratory set relaying the story we are about to see. Lee is typically and masterfully cold and officious as brother James, whose ambition far outweighs any loyalty to his sibling. The charming Lorna Hailbron is Emmanuel's daughter Penelope, stoically attempting to keep the family home alive despite debilitating finances brought about by her father's experimentation into the dawn of creation. Emmanuel is fiercely over-protective of his daughter following his wife's descent into madness; he fears the condition may be hereditary. As it is, his deception is the instigator of Penelope's rapid decline. Too rapid, in my view – for years she has been the most sensible family member; suddenly she is certifiable.Such experiments regurgitate the skeleton of a previously unknown, outsized monolithic humanoid creature. The interesting thing is, unlikely as it may seem, any contact with water puts flesh back on the bones and brings the old boy to life! Energised by this revelation, Emmanuel removes one of the creature's fingers in order to investigate further (some suggest a certain phallic similarity with the outsized digit, which in the hands of lesser an actor than Cushing, could result in chortles from the audience during his examination of the prop). We are treated to many close-ups of the dormant monster, as if he is observing throughout.This is lovingly, sedately directed by Freddie Francis and seems to be well budgeted. James' asylum setting is impressive, as is the lively plight of escaped inmate Lennie (Kenneth J Warren), although this entertaining side-step has little to do with the plot.A word for Cushing's performance. It's a given really, that he always puts in a fine performance, but this fragile, broken soul is amongst his best. The ending, and the lead-up to it, is true classic horror with the creature finally animated and seen in restrained long-shots. Cushing sobbing and defeated after the creature has come to claim its revenge, is heart-breaking.

classicsoncall How can you go wrong with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in the same film? They appeared in movies together twenty two times; I don't know if that's a record or not, but it sounds pretty prolific to me. They're cast as half brothers in this flick, both on a course of determining the true nature of evil from slightly different angles, with Emmanuel (Cushing) seeking a cure for evil as a disease. This sounded to me a little like putting terrorists on trial as lawbreakers, with a lot of the same drawbacks.Hey, how about that escaped lunatic Lenny from the Hildern Institute for Mental Disorders. The actor, Kenneth J. Warren looked like he could have portrayed Russian dictator Nikita Khrushchev given the chance, or if you prefer, a reasonably whacky George 'The Animal' Steele. He just had the perfect look for those kinds of roles, and he fit right in here.Told in a flashback from the perspective of Professor Emmanuel Hildern, we don't know it when the movie opens that he's already become a patient of his brother James (Lee) three years earlier when the events of the story took place. If he had to do it again, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have injected daughter Penelope (Lorna Heilbron) with that anti-evil serum he concocted from the giant skeleton discovered in New Guinea. What was he thinking? And by the way, anyone else think that the head on that skeleton resembled the Predator that came along about a decade later? First thing I thought of.Well, with Penelope taking on her own mother's persona and the skeleton coming to life after the Sky God weeped, it was just a matter of time before the good doctor's plans for wiping out evil in the world came to an abrupt end. Produced by Tigon Pictures, this English film bears the hallmarks of it's competitor Hammer Films, right down to the principals and the Gothic feel of the sets and characters. One element the story could have done a better job of though, was explaining how the resurrected skeleton came by his Riding Hood gear.

udar55 This has Peter Cushing as scientist Emmanuel Hildern, who returns from New Guinea with a huge humanoid skeleton. This skeleton forms skin when water is dropped on it and somehow Hildern is able to deduce from the blood in the skin that evil is a sickness that one can get like a cold. By combining good and bad blood, his theory is he can make someone immune to evil. He promptly injects it into his daughter Penelope (Lorna Heilbron), hoping she will not become mentally ill like his wife who recently died in a sanitarium run by his brother James (Christophe Lee). She, naturally, goes nuts and hits the town hitting on men in bars before running into an escaped lunatic. Are you still with me? The script for this is really out there and seems like three good ideas rolled into one. It is a credit to Cushing and Lee that they make it work. Of course, you should also praise director Freddie Francis for making it look good. You won't get too many surprises here, other than the fact that the monster comes back to life and feels the need to knock on the front door to announce its arrival. The opening minutes set up an ending you can see coming from a mile away, but it still has a nice sinister stamp on it.