150 Movies You Should Die Before You See - Miller Steve [15]
Director Steve White was a producer on three of the previous Amityville Horror sequels, Amityville: The Evil Escapes (1989), Amityville 1992 (1992), and Amityville: A New Generation (1993).
Trivia Quiz
In another of the sequels to The Amityville Horror, what ordinary object was cursed?
A: A lamp
B: A door
C: A couch
D: A water heater
Answer: A. A lamp. No, really. In Amityville: The Evil Escapes, nasty spirits hitch a ride in a lamp that is moved from the original Amityville house to a home on the West Coast. Spooky things ensue.
THE CORPSE VANISHES
(AKA “THE CASE OF THE MISSING BRIDES”)
Banner Productions/Monogram Pictures, 1942
PRODUCERS Jack Dietz and Sam Katzman
WRITERS Harvey Gates (script), Sam Robins and Gerald Schnitzer (story)
DIRECTOR Wallace Fox
STARS Luana Walters (Patricia Hunter), Bela Lugosi (Prof. Lorenz), Angelo Rossitto (Toby), and Elizabeth Russell (Countess Lorenz)
Certifiable madman and scientific genius Professor Lorenz (Lugosi) places beautiful, virgin brides into deathlike states at the altar and drains fluids from them to keep his wife (Russell) looking youthful. But when society columnist and wanna-be hardnosed reporter Patricia Hunter (Walters) pays him a visit at his isolated home, the professor's fountain of youth is threatened….
Why It Sucks
Talk about your crazy houses. The Corpse Vanishes might be just a standard mad-scientist-versus-plucky-girl-reporter light-weight horror movie … except for the bizarre group of characters that make up Lorenz's household. From Lorenz's wife (who sleeps in a coffin for no apparent reason) to the housekeeper (a doom-saying withered old hag), her bestial son (who likes fondling the comatose brides Lorenz brings home), to her midget son (who serves as valet, butler, and Lorenz's chief henchman), to Lorenz himself, this is the weirdest group this side of those freakish hillbillies from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Thumbs Down Rating:
The Crappies
The Worst Actress Award goes to … Luana Walters for playing Patricia Hunter, Plucky Girl Reporter, with near complete blandness. And the Worst Director Award goes to … Wallace Fox for creating a bizarre tone to the film and then failing to keep it up.
They Really Said It!
Patricia Hunter: Oh, professor, do you also make a habit of collecting coffins?
Professor Lorenz: Why, yes, in a manner of speaking. I find a coffin much more comfortable than a bed.
Betcha Didn't Know
Angelo Rossitto, the actor who portrayed Dr. Lorenz's freaky midget assistant, had a successful career that spanned sixty years. Along the way, he costarred with Bela Lugosi in three horror films and one comedy.
Whenever Bela Lugosi appeared as a married man in a film, he, his wife, or both were invariably insane or murderous.
Trivia Quiz
According to legend, what historical figure retained her youth by bathing in the blood of virgins?
A: Countess Elizabeth Báthory
B: Countess Carmilla Karnstein
C: Queen Elizabeth I of England
D: Queen Cleopatra of Egypt
Answer: A. Elizabeth Báthory was found guilty of killing eighty young girls and was bricked into a room in her castle in 1611 ce. There is no evidence that she actually bathed in blood in an attempt to maintain her youth.
THE HOUSE ON SKULL MOUNTAIN
Chocolate Chip & Pinto, 1974
PRODUCERS Joe R. Hartsfield (executive producer), Tom Boutross and Ray Storey (producers)
WRITER Mildred Pares
DIRECTOR Ron Honthaner
STARS Victor French (Dr. Andrew Cunningham), Janee Michelle (Lorena Christophe), Jean Duran (Thomas Pettione), Mike Evans (Phillipe Wilette), Ella Woods (Louette), and Xernona Clayton (Harriet Johnson)
Four distant relatives of a recently deceased voodoo queen (Clayton, Evans, French, and Michelle) are summoned to her house. They then start dying under mysterious circumstances.
Why It Sucks
The House on Skull Mountain is such a failure at an African American — oriented horror film that Blacula wouldn't be caught dead in it. It may star African Americans, but it doesn't have any horror, a decent story, or a reason to watch it. The filmmakers tried