October 11
Combining the stately atmosphere and professionalism of your typical Hammer classic with a bit more explicit violence and certainly a far more involved and carefully considered story than, well, pretty much every late period Hammer film, Hands of the Ripper is principally concerned with the psychological condition of poor little Anna (Angharad Rees, rather sympathetic and believably disturbed) as her cruel parentage begins to manifest in horrible ways. The film makes its first good play by having Anna as the most "pure" character after a fashion, as the characters interested in her all have to deal with their own noble intentions paving a bloody road to hell, most notably with Dr. Pritchard (Eric Porter, equally sympathetic but adept at navigating the far trickier morality his character deals with) trying to explain her condition and believing he can cure her, despite his own prejudices and perhaps being more eager about using the newfound psychoanalytic technique that he may be out of his depth on. While it's not the most action packed Hammer film out there, and certainly one of the smaller body counts, the more involved story more than picks up the slack, as it invests heavily in grayer morality and mounting tragedy, leaving a rather strong impression by the time it reaches its hauntingly beautiful conclusion. The short runtime rarely feels padded by too much incident, as there's little that doesn't help serve the story by the time it concludes, and even though there aren't many additional actors that match the performances of our leads, I must say that it was nice to see such a positive portrayal of a blind person in a period piece. While bloody, there's a nice air of tastefulness about it that never wallows in the violence, and even the expected nudity doesn't feel particularly gratuitous, as it's never the focus of the scene. All in all, it's nice little treasure that feels like it doesn't get its due as a result of the lack of Cushing and/or Lee, and offers such a well-rounded and satisfying tale that one wonders what would have happened if they focused more on one-offs like this film and not try to wring out more blood from a clearly dry stone from their established formulas. A nice diamond in the rough.
Film for October 12: But can any marathon of 70s horror films be complete without diving into the non-Hammer output of its most treasured stars? We look next into another team-up between Cushing and Lee in Horror Express, with Telly Savalas in tow, that promises something a little bit different from what you might expect from its setup.
Combining the stately atmosphere and professionalism of your typical Hammer classic with a bit more explicit violence and certainly a far more involved and carefully considered story than, well, pretty much every late period Hammer film, Hands of the Ripper is principally concerned with the psychological condition of poor little Anna (Angharad Rees, rather sympathetic and believably disturbed) as her cruel parentage begins to manifest in horrible ways. The film makes its first good play by having Anna as the most "pure" character after a fashion, as the characters interested in her all have to deal with their own noble intentions paving a bloody road to hell, most notably with Dr. Pritchard (Eric Porter, equally sympathetic but adept at navigating the far trickier morality his character deals with) trying to explain her condition and believing he can cure her, despite his own prejudices and perhaps being more eager about using the newfound psychoanalytic technique that he may be out of his depth on. While it's not the most action packed Hammer film out there, and certainly one of the smaller body counts, the more involved story more than picks up the slack, as it invests heavily in grayer morality and mounting tragedy, leaving a rather strong impression by the time it reaches its hauntingly beautiful conclusion. The short runtime rarely feels padded by too much incident, as there's little that doesn't help serve the story by the time it concludes, and even though there aren't many additional actors that match the performances of our leads, I must say that it was nice to see such a positive portrayal of a blind person in a period piece. While bloody, there's a nice air of tastefulness about it that never wallows in the violence, and even the expected nudity doesn't feel particularly gratuitous, as it's never the focus of the scene. All in all, it's nice little treasure that feels like it doesn't get its due as a result of the lack of Cushing and/or Lee, and offers such a well-rounded and satisfying tale that one wonders what would have happened if they focused more on one-offs like this film and not try to wring out more blood from a clearly dry stone from their established formulas. A nice diamond in the rough.
Film for October 12: But can any marathon of 70s horror films be complete without diving into the non-Hammer output of its most treasured stars? We look next into another team-up between Cushing and Lee in Horror Express, with Telly Savalas in tow, that promises something a little bit different from what you might expect from its setup.
