Tag: Juan Ibinez

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HOUSE OF EVIL (1968): FROM KARLOFF’S BIZARRE AND FINAL SIX PACK

Alfred Eaker

HOUSE OF EVILHouse of Evil (1968) lobby card. Boris Karloff

Boris Karloff`s series of Mexican films is anything but routine. Of the entire ill-reputed group, House of Evil (1968) has something that most resembles a traditional plot. It is orthodox only in that it is a retread of the old dark house scenario. However, that genre is filtered through such bizarre ineptness that it would be an incredulous stretch to claim House of Evil is a film bordering on coherency. The movie is available via that valuable distributor, Sinister Cinema. Their brief assessment of House of Evil is telling: “not bad.”

house of evil video

As with Fear Chamber, House was co-directed by Jack Hill and Juan Ibanez and co-stars south of the border sexpot Julissa. A murdered girl has been found by local villagers and, just like another recent victim, her eyes have been torn out. Upon hearing the news, Matthias Morteval (Karloff) is mightily upset. His friend and doctor, Emery (Angel Espinoza), tries to simultaneously caution and calm Matthias. Dr. Emery reminds Matthias of similar murders in Vienna, involving Matthias’ brother Hugo. Before a painting of his late father, Matthias pulls himself together and vows to rid their garden of the evil weed that has sprung up. The camera pans, revealing that the eyes have been cut out of the fatherly figure in the painting. Continue reading “HOUSE OF EVIL (1968): FROM KARLOFF’S BIZARRE AND FINAL SIX PACK”

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ALIEN TERROR (1971): FROM KARLOFF’S BIZARRE AND FINAL SIX PACK

Alfred Eaker

ALIEN TERROR KARLOFF MOVIE AD

Alien Terror (1971) (AKA) Sinister Invasion is one of the oddest of Boris Karloffs final six movies, but it is hardly the most exciting. It begins with typical Sixties screen credit font and pseudo jazz that sounds like it was composed for period porn.

ALIEN TERROR AKA SINISTER INVASION VHS KARLOFFALIEN TERROR 1971. Boris Karloff, Yerye Beirute

Boris is Professor Mayer, and he and his scarred (Ygor-like) assistant Isabel (Maura Monti) are playing around with some power ray thingamajig. It shoots through the roof and hits a spaceship which just happens to be flying by and looks like one of those rocket invader ships from the old Atari arcade games. One half expects a lost Adventures of Superman episode and that at any moment some green Martian is going to show up.  Alas, all that shows up is Laura (Christa Linder), the professor’s niece; she is having a fit because her uncle has just blown another hole in the roof.

ALIEN TERROR KARLOFF LOBBY CARD Continue reading “ALIEN TERROR (1971): FROM KARLOFF’S BIZARRE AND FINAL SIX PACK”

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SNAKE PEOPLE (1971): FROM KARLOFF’S BIZARRE AND FINAL SIX PACK

Alfred Eaker

KARLOFF SNAKE PEOPLE POSTER

Snake People (AKA Isle Of The Snake People) feels like pure Jack Hill; that is, Jack Hill the exploitation guru to whom Quentin Tarantino has built an altar.

Isle Of The Snake People (1971) Yolanda Montes

The opening narration is a duller variant of Criswell’s repetitive but puerile Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) monologue: “During Many centuries in Various parts of the world, Various diabolical rites and ceremonies have been practiced in homage to Various sinister gods who are believed to have Many supernatural powers. These rites are generally known as voodoo!”

BORIS KARLOFF SNAKE PEOPLE POSTER Continue reading “SNAKE PEOPLE (1971): FROM KARLOFF’S BIZARRE AND FINAL SIX PACK”

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FEAR CHAMBER (1968): FROM KARLOFF’S BIZARRE AND FINAL SIX PACK

Alfred Eaker

FEAR CHAMBER BORIS KARLOFF MOVIE AD

A lot of people have expressed the wish that horror icon Boris Karloff could have ended his career with Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets (1968). But Karloff, on his last leg, pushed himself through six more movies, four of which were the Mexican films for producer Jack Hill and director Juan Ibinez. This last six pack of films is, by consensus, godawful. Why did Karloff do it? According to his biographers, the actor said that he wanted to “die with his boots on.” And he nearly did just that.

FEAR CHAMBER LOBBY CARD BORIS KARLOFF

Karloff’s final and bizarre six pack are indisputably awful within the accepted meaning of the word. Several of them, however, are downright bizarre products of their time, which now might be looked at as examples of naive surrealism. The films are: House of Evil (1968), Fear Chamber (1968), Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968), Cauldron of Blood (1970), Isle of the Snake People (1971), and Alien Terror (1971). Continue reading “FEAR CHAMBER (1968): FROM KARLOFF’S BIZARRE AND FINAL SIX PACK”