Review of The Plague of the Zombies from June 2009. IMDb user review
Sir James Forbes(André Morell who was Dr. Watson to Cushing's Sherlock
in Hammer's version of "Hound of the Baskervilles")is a renowned
physician with a respected name that travels, decides to take his
daughter Sylvia(Diane Clare), who easily persuades him to break a
planned fishing trip, to see her friend Alice(Jacqueline Pearce), the
wife of a burdened doctor,and Forbes' prized pupil, Peter(Brook
Williams)in a Cornish village overrun by a mysterious plague taking
lives without a proper diagnosis being handed out due to his not being
able to conduct autopsies(..the village is set in their old
traditionalist ways against doctors "cutting up" their family members'
bodies). What Forbes and Sylvia notice is Alice's frail condition and
erratic behavior and Peter's weariness at finding a cure for the deaths
overtaking his town. Peter informs Forbes that Squire Clive
Hamilton(John Carson, playing him as sophisticated and seemingly
hospitable with a hidden dark-side that allows itself shown in hints
during slight moments of outbursts)is judge and jury of the
village..his power weighs a heavy hand over the townsfolk. Forbes is
informed that Squire spent a considerable amount of time away while his
family dies off leaving him with debts that get paid..Sergeant Jack
Swift(Hammer vet Michael Ripper)informs Forbes that he doesn't right
know how Clive gained his wealth. We see what others outside the home
do not..that Hamilton does in fact practice voodoo and uses this gift
he learned in Haiti to raise zombies from their crypts at night when
the remaining townspeople are asleep. Tragically Alice has been chosen
by Hamilton as a sort-of sacrifice that goes awry when a zombie
supposedly kills her with Sylvia seeing it first-hand as she followed
her friend worrying about where she was heading off to at such an
awkward time at night. Soon, Hamilton will select Sylvia as his
sacrifice and it will be up to Forbes and Peter to figure out the
devious, conniving Squire's secrets or else..
Hamilton's motives for raising the dead is having them work as slave
labor in his "mineworks" lifting tin from the rock underground in the
mines. Thanks to the use of the Vicar's(Roy Royston)library, Forbes
learns and understands the acts of voodoo having to accept that
witchcraft indeed is real. Squire collects blood from the victims he
chooses placing the liquid on a doll which provides his methods of
control over them.
Interesting endeavor into voodoo practices provides many suspenseful
sequences with Carson an inspired villain. The zombies are less
exploited by Hammer as this film uses them much more as victims to the
villainy of the Squire. They appear, sadly briefly, although the
make-up can be quite creepy, especially in the film's best
sequence..Peter dreams that zombies rise from the Earth trapping him in
the graveyard. The zombies' eyes are eerily albino..quite unsettling as
they come towards the screen. The climax in Squire's burning manor is a
bit chaotic, and the film is quite talky, but I still recommend it to
fans of Hammer studios. Considered by many to be one of Hammer's finest
films, I'm less inclined to agree, but still good fun for horror fans.
Review of The Reptile from June 2008. IMDb user review.
Married couple, The Spaldings, find that the Cornish village they've
come to live has suffered a plague of mysterious deaths(..frightened
citizens call it the "Black Plague"), where the victims' faces are
black, their hearts stopped, with excessive foam from the mouth.
Further research reveal that the deaths, thanks to pub owner's digging
up a body, were caused by a snake bite on the back of the victim's
neck. In a vast estate across the moor lives an oddly behaving Dr.
Franklyn whose sheltered daughter seems weary of something as both have
a guest with them, a mysterious Indian with a sinister gaze, often seen
hiding in the shadows surveying everything from a distance, as if
harboring an evil, suspicious intent.
Harry Spalding(Ray Barrett), with wife Valerie(Jennifer Daniel)in tow,
receive the cottage of his late brother Charles(David Baron, who we
witness being bitten by a shadowy figure right after the warnings of
Dr. Franklyn(Noel Willman)to get away, with his body later dumped in
the moor by Marne Maitland's Indian)finding a village of worried folk
hesitant about outsiders/newcomers. Harry finds the cottage ransacked,
with frustration and anger already setting in. Soon Harry would pursue
the reasons behind his brother's mysterious death leading directly to
Dr. Franklyn, who is rather wary of anyone drawing near his daughter
Anna(Jacqueline Pearce). Franklyn can often be a bit rude, shrugging
anyone away who associates with his daughter, as if protecting her(..or
them)from possible danger. Soon, we learn just why Franklyn wishes for
Anna to stay away from others, who the Indian is(..and his association
with Franklyn), why so many villagers have died by the plague(..and
where the plague comes from), and how Valerie and Harry's snooping will
lead to possible harm.
Interesting change-of-pace for Hammer studios offering an innocent
inflicted with the "Snake People" curse and how the village is shaken
with quivering fear because of it. Michael Ripper, a Hammer vet known
for an extensive list of various supporting roles, gets perhaps the
most fleshed out character of his career, as a pub owner who
reluctantly joins Harry in his pursuit of the cause of the plague which
is killing the citizenry. Noel Willman has the strongest role as a
doctor whose travels lead to a tribe yielding a horrifying fate to his
daughter. Willman plays him as enigmatic and vague, warning Harry about
leaving but not necessarily specifying the danger he(..and Valerie)
might face if he doesn't. Willman is stern with Anna, even off-putting
in how he orders around. I believe he successfully conveys a tortured
man slowly but surely succumbing to the agony of watching the horrors
beset upon his lovely daughter. Barrett and Daniel are adequate as the
couple who come to realize just what Franklyn was warning about.
I was a bit miffed at how Harry is able to survive the snake bite while
others dies rather quickly. And, Daniel's Valerie makes some stupid
decisions, like walking home alone with a plague killing villagers and
actually intruding on Franklyn's estate and manor after her husband is
snake-bitten. The make-up work for Anna is decent, but nothing
mind-blowing..although the snake-creature face does have a creepy
quality to it with how those fangs protrude and the eyeballs bulge out
so. I think it was a good idea to keep the creature hidden for most of
the film. The lava pit underneath the house, made for Anna so that she
could remain warm, was a bit hard to swallow, I must admit. And, how
she drops merely being above ground minutes after leaving the lava pit,
from the cold, also was a bit hard for me to accept. And, how the film
puts Valerie in peril, thanks to Franklyn's unhinged behavior at the
end, rather left me shaking my head as to why she'd be dumb enough to
even go there in the first place.
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