31 DAYS OF HORROR-DAY 20: THE GORGON (1964)

This is one of the lesser efforts from Hammer that pales in comparison to its Dracula and Frankenstein series, and that's rather a shame because it's a solid little creeper in its own right.

In the early 1900's in the remote village of Vandorf, the details in a series of very bizarre deaths are swept under the rug by the local constabulary and medical/psychiatric authorities. Local legend has it that a hideous spirit roams the land during full moons and over the course of several years it has been responsible for the inexplicable deaths of several locals. The story proper kicks into gear when a young artist is informed by his girlfriend that she's pregnant, so the artist storms off into the night to tell her father that, poor though he may be, he intends to do the right thing and marry the girl. Worried that her father will kill her lover when he finds out what's happened, the girl tears of into the night to stop her boyfriend. Unfortunately for her, she runs into something quite horrible (that the audience does not see) and when she is later found by the authorities, her body has somehow been turned to solid stone. That aspect of the case is kept from public knowledge and the girl's lover is shortly thereafter found hanged by the neck from a tree, a suicide. Using the convenient death of the young artist as a scapegoat, the authorities and the creepy head of the local mental hospital (Peter Cushing) spin the events to make it look like the artist killed the girl and then, "in an act of remorse," offed himself as well. News of this obvious bullshit reaches the artist's understandably irate father, who arrives to challenge the lies and clear his son's good name, much to the annoyance of the locals who seek to drive him out. During the course of his investigation, the father learns of a local legend that claims a nearby abandoned castle is home to Megara, one of the famed Gorgon sisters from Greek mythology (the most famous of whom was Medusa, the one beheaded by the hero Perseus) whose gaze turned the beholder into solid stone, and his findings are met with apparent disbelief by the head of the mental institution, but he clearly knows more than he's letting on.

Lesson learned from this film: a slow death by being turned to solid stone would really, really suck.

While searching the castle, the father has the misfortune of running into Megara and he begins to slowly, agonizingly petrify, but not before making his way back to his lodgings where he manages to write his remaining son a three-page letter outlining his findings and suspicions. (His turned-to-stone death is falsely and ridiculously officially deemed death by heart failure, which his son quite correctly points out as bullshit because no one takes the time to write a detailed three-page letter while suffering a heart attack.) The remaining son receives the letter and arrives in town to discover the particulars of the mysterious deaths of his brother and dad, but is met with resistance from the aforementioned authorities. Meeting with the head of the mental hospital, he realizes the man knows more than he's letting on, and that the fellow is rather possessive of his beautiful assistant, who was once one of his patients (but she got better). The sparks fly between the son and the assistant, which does not sit at all well with the doctor, and things take a turn for the worse when the young man encounters the Gorgon but does not get a direct look at her face; he glimpses her reflection in a pool of water and rather than turn to stone, he is visibly aged by the terrifying experience. As he convalesces in hospital and comes to love the doctor's assistant (a love that is reciprocated), his favorite college professor and friend of his late father (Christopher Lee) arrives to see just what the fuck is going on and, taking one look at the now aged face of his student, decides to take charge of the situation, and believe me, he's badass enough to do it (which does not please the doctor or the authorities).

Megara, revealed in full.

All of this snowballs into a rather predictable reveal regarding the identity of the Gorgon and culminates with her inevitable beheading, but it left me with a number of unanswered questions:

• Exactly what the fuck is an ancient Greek monster doing in a German village in 1910?
• The Gorgons of classical mythology were Medusa, Stheno and Eurayle, so where the hell did this "Megara" come from? Gorgons were not exactly common or in any way numerous.
• We all know the fate of Medusa and now that of "Megara," but what of either of the remaining sisters? Perhaps they remained unexplored in hope of a sequel?
• In a small village, details of bizarre deaths would be virtually impossible to cover up, plus in this case there were several now-granite bodies remaining as evidence, so I don't buy the story not getting out past the borders of the place.
• If the bodies of Megara's victims are fully petrified — as is seen and demonstrated when one of them has a finger accidentally snapped off — how did the undertakers get the bodies into standard coffins for burial? Dealing with a certain amount of rigor mortis is standard, but how does one straighten out the solid stone corpse of a guy who was seated at a desk, hunched over to write a letter? When his son digs up his grave to see the body for himself, we see the rock-pop laying straight as an arrow.
• Since the doctor and the chief constable are aware of exactly what's going on, why didn't they consult the mythology books in the local library and find someone brave enough to pull a Perseus and have done with it rather than let statue after statue be generated?

But perhaps I'm examining this too closely and nitpicking far too much. This is, after all, simply meant to be a fun little chiller and it certainly succeeds at that, so maybe I should just shut my gob. Bottom line: if you enjoy Hammer horror films and the flavor they bring to the horror-scape, you'll probably get a kick out of this. Just don't expect any of the usual gory violence and ample, heaving bosoms that the brand became justly famous for (although we do get to see Megara's detached noggin and it's pretty damned goofy-looking).

For all you DOCTOR WHO fans out there: the chief constable, the guy in the helmet, is Patrick Troughton, who would go on to be the second actor to play the Doctor. His tenure in that role lasted from 1966-1970. He was also the blind seer Phineas in the classic JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963), as well as the alchemist Melanthius in SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (1977).

31 DAYS OF HORROR-DAY 19: MATANGO (1963)

Not exactly what I would call "scary" per se, MATANGO is nonetheless definitely one of the creepiest films I have ever had the squirm-inducing pleasure of sitting through. Originally released in the U.S. under the unfortunate and somewhat-inaccurate title of ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE, this was one of a handful of Toho films I'd read about but somehow missed during my formative years of absorbing and learning to adore that studio's output. (That's likely because it never played on the Tri-State area's #1 TV showcase for Toho movies during the 1970's through the early 1980's, the venerable 4:30 MOVIE.) Thankfully, it's now available uncut and subtitled on DVD and I urge you to check out this quasi-forgotten gem.

MATANGO tells the shudder-filled story, related by a patient in a Tokyo psychiatric ward, of a yachtful of hip young revelers — including Toho regulars Akira Kubo and Kumi Mizuno — whose carefree day on the ocean becomes a fight for survival after an unexpected squall renders them lost at sea with the boat's sail and rudder torn off. After drifting for several days, they end up at a remote, apparently uncharted island. As they search the island for sustenance, the castaways find fresh water but no trace of food except for strange mushrooms that cover the place like fungal barnacles. Erring on the side of caution, the skipper advises against consuming the mushrooms and the group instead attempts to survive on turtle eggs and birds in order to conserve their meager food supplies, a course of action that proves a resounding failure. Ominously, they also find a wrecked deserted ship festooned with the mushrooms and, also unfortunately for the characters, they're in a sci-fi/horror film from Toho Studios' classic period for such flicks, so they slowly realize that the island was apparently affected by atomic testing that may have been conducted from the wrecked ship, and the ubiquitous mushrooms may be the direct result of atomic mutation. It's also noted that the area's sea birds actively avoid the place...

As the group slowly finds itself on edge due to the hopelessness of rescue and the encroaching pangs of hunger as their food runs out, in-fighting begins and some of the group turn to eating the untested mushrooms out of sheer desperation. It soon becomes apparent that the mushrooms are addictive and have a euphoric psychedelic effect, and as that is discovered the fate of the wrecked ship's crew is revealed when our protagonists encounter a hideously misshapen fusion of man and mushroom.

You guessed it: those who consume the mushrooms themselves end up as creepily-giggling, human-sized fungus monsters, eventually losing all traces of their former status as representatives of homo sapiens. For example:

Eventually, one of the castaways is rescued but what baleful effect has the experience had upon him? Let's just say that he likely would have been better off if he'd remained on the island...

Definitely low-key and all about atmosphere rather than straight-up "BOO!" scares — I swear you can practically smell and feel the thick mustiness of the fungus — this is perhaps Toho's most unique effort from that golden period and it deserves more exposure here in the West. Seriously, check it out.

Poster from the original Japanese theatrical release.

31 DAYS OF HORROR-DAY 18: ABBY (1974)

Perhaps the most infamous of the many EXORCIST ripoffs/cash-ins — and that's really saying something — this film only remains in the public consciousness due to it being the blaxpolitation genre's answer to THE EXORCIST and also for the fact that it was such a shameless ripoff that it was taken out of theaters and general distribution when the major studio makers of the film it so blatantly cribbed from threatened easily followed-through and winnable legal action that rendered it unseen in legal screenings or on legitimate home video for around thirty-five years. Well, now ABBY is available on DVD for all to experience and both the wait and the DVD transfer were not worth it. Seriously, both the movie and the print from which it was culled simply suck ass. In fact, I firmly believe that the print is the same gut-bucket, scratched and faded one that I obtained on VHS from Times Square's infamous haven for "gray market" VHS martial arts and blaxploitation flicks, the now long-gone 43rd Chamber, and that print was appalling.

Anyway, as if news of the terrible print used for the DVD were not enough to steer you away from this movie, the fact that the plot is a flagrant ripoff of THE EXORCIST as filtered through a low-budget but over-the top Richard Pryor-esque sensibility (only minus the genuine and intentional laughs) should do the trick. The main difference between this and the original is that this is the all-black version and that its protagonist is an ultra-churchified adult woman rather than an apple-cheeked pubescent, and while allowing the possessed grownup woman to become a literally foaming-at-the-mouth slut is pretty damned funny, the movie itself is as turgid and dead in the water as a floater in your toilet bowl. To tell the truth, the main reason I included ABBY on this list is to warn you not to rent or buy it because ABBY is a world-class ripoff in every sense of the term and you will have missed nothing by not sitting through its non-existent and wholly derivative "shocks." Bottom line: Richard Pryor's famous "The Exorcist II" parody sketch from his classic 1975 SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE show is one-hundred times better than this mess, plus it's genuinely and intentionally hilarious. Watch that instead.

The so-called "black exorcist edition," whatever the hell that may mean (or not). Avoid this shoddy transfer like it was unshielded plutonium.

31 DAYS OF HORROR-DAY 17: NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957)

I'm afraid this is going to be a short one but that's not without good reason. Simply put, NIGHT OF THE DEMON, known in the U.S. as CURSE OF THE DEMON, gets my vote as the best black magic-oriented horror film ever made, and I would be a colossal asshole worthy of a well-aimed ski boot right to the balls if I revealed more than just the briefest outline of its particulars... Ya know, ROSEMARY'S BABY is also right up there and now that I think about, the great narrative strength of both films stems from their fantastic/supernatural events being set firmly within a then-modern 20th century world in which the characters (and by association, the audience) simply cannot believe in the likes of superstition and Satanic cults because they supposedly know better, only to be proven completely and utterly horribly, horribly wrong. Here it is in brief:

Dr. Julian Carswell (Niall MacGinnis) is the head of a devil-worshiping cult who by means of the darkest of "olde magicks" disposes of those who would ridicule his activities as bunk or try to expose him, which we witness during the opening moments of the film. Basically, Carswell is quite capable of summoning a demon straight from Hell itself to tear his enemies limb from limb, and next on his list is American psychiatrist and debunker of mystical shit, Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews), who is in England to follow in his now-dead predecessor's footsteps in exposing Carswell as a presumed bullshit artist during an international convention of assorted learned types. When Holden scoffs at Carswell's ominous cease-and-desist warnings, he finds himself immediately plunged headlong down a path of events that any rational person would deny were happening, and though joined by his dead colleague's niece (Peggy Cummins) who has come to believe in a lot of dark shit after reading her uncle's journal and notes, the guy has to be convinced the hard way that his world has now got enough evil in it to fuel twenty King Diamond albums and that his demise at the talons of a thirty-foot demon is imminent...

Fuck with Julian Carswell and this is what you get.

I assure you that I have not given away any of the whys and wherefores of the story and now I urge you to get your hands on it immediately. I had not seen this film since I was a kid and even though I enjoyed it back then, it's that much more potent when experienced from a grownup's perspective. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

31 DAYS OF HORROR-DAY 16: DEMON SEED (1977)

There are some films that skirt the line between science-fiction and outright horror, and this is one of the more notable examples that group. If you ask me, sci-fi-trappings aside, this flick is straight-up horror to the core.

When it came out I was just shy of turning twelve and I distinctly remember DEMON SEED's rape-and-impregnation-by-computer concept being chilling yet fascinating to a number of my female classmates. But then again, virtually anything that involved unwholesome fictional exploration of the physical possibilities between human females and male entities drew many of those girls like moths to a flame and that is what is at the core of this film's rather twisted appeal, namely the audience finding out exactly how it could be plausible that a super-intelligent A.I. could not only rape a human female but also successfully impregnate her. It's genuinely fucked-up, but I defy you to tell me that you aren't at least a little curious as to the answer to that query...

The plot, in a nutshell, involves the ruthlessly logical, emotion-void efforts of the Proteus IV computer (voiced by Robert Vaughn) in its desire to "study man" and impregnate the estranged wife of its creator (Fritz Weaver). The woman in question is named Susan (Julie Christie), and she's a child psychologist whose daughter who has recently died from leukemia, a disease that Proteus has made great leaps in coming up with a cure for. When the computer's seemingly-emotionless creator decides to separate from his wife and move out of their house, Proteus takes control over every one of the home's automated functions to disturbing, full-control effect, essentially trapping Susan within, and with practically zero chance of anyone getting in to rescue her. Once the house's staff has vacated, Proteus physically restrains Susan with the help of a robot wheelchair equipped with a mechanical arm, strips her naked and puts her through a thorough and intimate physical examination, during which she faints. When Susan awakens the next day, Proteus declares its intent of reproduction and coerces her into complying, first by surgically manipulating her brain (which she resists and eventually overcomes) and later by proving that it could and would lure one of her child patients to the house to kill if Susan does not fully comply. With extreme and understandable reluctance, Susan has no choice but to become the world's first cyber-broodmare. Being an ultra-advanced A.I. with synthetic-yet-somehow-organic components, Proteus is able to create sperm that will be viable for use within Susan and in short order it has done its vile deed with her via a rather uncomfortable-looking telescoping metal phallus. The interesting thing here — other than the obvious — is that Proteus attempts to soften the blow by connecting Susan to its vast consciousness and sharing a perception that encompasses distant and beautiful parts of the cosmos in a scene that may have influenced what Alan Moore wrote for Abby Arcane during her psychedelic tuber-influenced "coupling" with Swamp Thing some years later during his landmark run on that comics series. Anyway, once knocked-up, Susan is told that the foetus' gestation will occur over a total of a mere twenty-eight days, during which time the government and Susan's estranged husband have become aware that something is wrong in regard to the computer, thus creating a gestational race against time before Proteus is shut off for good. What results is a curious blending of the horrific and truly wonderful, and I'm honestly not sure where I stand when it comes to considering the final outcome...

Looking at it now, DEMON SEED has lost a considerable amount of its shock value, especially in the wake of far less intelligent "inhuman rape" fare like HUMANOIDS FROM THE THE DEEP (1980), INSEMINOID (1981) and GALAXY OF TERROR (1985), but its tale of cyber-violation remains very intriguing and handled with a great amount of good taste and I would be curious to see a contemporary remake that took narrative advantage of the scientific/medical/technological advances as witnessed and experienced over the thirty-four years since its release. Just don't let Michael Bay or some other such brain-dead Hollywood asshat anywhere near it, that's all I ask.

Poster for the original theatrical release

31 DAYS OF HORROR-DAY 15: SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED (1974)

Hoo, boy, the weed in the '70's must have really been somethin' to get people to voluntarily pay money to see this turd on the big screen...

When I first heard of this film I was nine years old and in the article I read about in THE MONSTER TIMES, it was alleged to be a followup to the ultra-low-budget and wholly ludicrous INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS, so I'd been quite curious to see it for a very long time. One of my aims in doing this 31 days of horror project is to both refresh my memories of some favorites and share them with you, but I also wanted to see some films I'd never sat through before, this being one of those. Now that I've seen this howler of a train wreck for myself, I fail to see any sort of connection between it and its alleged predecessor.

SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED involves a needlessly convoluted plot in which a bunch of groovy Brady-era college students are lured by their professor on a country field trip in search of a Yeti — a Yeti in rural America? Ooooookaaaay... — that turns out to be a ruse in order to kill them as fodder for a cannibal cult's annual feast, with their murders being committed by a cultist in a pitiful (yet kinda charming) Yeti Halloween costume (see above). It would be simple enough to drag a group of college kids off to some remote area to murder them — this was the Seventies after all and everyone was stoned, so all kind of fucked-up shit happened and went unnoticed — especially if the locals and the cops are in on it, so why go to the trouble of having some goofball run around in a tatty Yeti costume?

(LONG PAUSE)

Why the fuck am I even bothering to question what is plainly and simply a cheapjack horror time-waster that's best (barely) enjoyed with a gut-full of cheap beer? When all is said and done, all that remains is one very stupid time-waster that offers zilch in terms of scares. Great title, though.

Poster for the original theatrical release.

31 DAYS OF HORROR-DAY 14: THE INCUBUS (1981)

This flick does the virtually impossible, namely managing to tastefully depict the rampage of a demonic serial rapist whose enormous member routinely destroys his victims' uteruses and leaves behind inhuman amounts of red-tinted semen. But as a date movie? Not so much...

This one's pretty easy to sum up in a nutshell: A small-town doctor (John Cassavettes, returning to supernatural territory some thirteen years after ROSEMARY'S BABY) investigates an escalating series of brutal, demonic rapes, while his teen daughter notices weird behavior that leads her to realize her boyfriend just may be possessed by the titular entity.

Just one of several victims of the literally from-hell violator.

The film itself is not what I would call actually scary, but the concept of being suddenly set upon and savagely, damagingly being on the receiving end of a demonic rapist's forearm-sized penis is certainly something unpleasant to have stuck in one's imagination, and that's what the filmmakers banked on. Thankfully, rather than actually show us the satanic violations taking place, we instead see the evil beast's victims being dragged off by superhumanly-strong arms as they fight fruitlessly to get free while screaming for all they're worth. There's not even any nudity to titillate those who get off on that sort of thing, so if that's what you were after in a demonic serial rape yarn, you won't find it here.

Oh, and it all culminates with an abrupt ending that was kind of confusing but left things open for a sequel that (quite deservedly) never came (unlike the demon).

A flashback to the bad old days.