EL COLECCIONISTA DE CADAVERES - 1967

Not thought of as a "Spanish horror movie," EL COLECCIONISTA DE CADAVERES, otherwise known as BLINDMAN'S BLUFF and CAULDRON OF BLOOD, is certainly one, with a Spanish director, Santos Alcocer (using Edward Mann as a signature for the export prints) and a Spanish production behind it. American money was also pumped into the film, via Robert D. Weinbach Productions.

Of course, under its generally known English titles EL COLECCIONISTA DE CADAVERES (literal translation: THE COLLECTOR OF CADAVERS) is chiefly recognized as being one of the last films to star Boris Karloff and suffers in reputation as a movie not much better than the ill-regarded quartet of Mexican horror films that Karloff made toward the end of his life. This is unfortunate, as the film has a superb textural performance by the Swedish actress Viveca Lindfors (playing the dominatrix wife of the crippled and blind Karloff character, Franz Badulescu) and moments of truly grotesque and disturbing horror.

The plot idea of using recent dead cadavers for a work of art is nothing new in film, but the central axis of EL COLECCIONISTA is Tania Badulescu (Lindfors), who is compelled by her dysfunctionalism to further the career of her sculptor husband and add to the money pot she is collecting for herself. This is Lindfors' film, and she puts on a dramatic acting show throughout, with Karloff merely around for splendid window dressing. (Claude Rains was originally considered for the Karloff role, but was too sick to take it on.)

There are several delicious moments. Every scene inside the basement cave that contains "the cauldron of blood" (actually an acidic vat meant to fizz away meat from its bone) is sharp with creepy atmosphere and suspense, and the entire sequence involving Elga (played by Polish sex kitten Dianik Zurakowska) inside the Badulescu house is handled with a successful manipulation of suspense and subtle kinkiness.

Not that the film is without problems. Director Santos Alcocer manages to make the first thirty minutes rather difficult to sit through, as he changes the film's mood every two minutes or so before settling in to tell his story. There is also very temporary and unusual change of framing and quality, as if a VHS was used momentarily, but it could be merely budget needs at that point. The very 1960s-style musical score by Ray Ellis is inconsiderate and even harmful, except in a few romantic passages, where it becomes pleasingly haunting. I'm not sure if this score was actually a replacement used for the English-language version, as another composer, Jose Luis Navarro, is listed on Spanish production notes.

Below are two ad mats from the U.S. The film was not released stand-alone here but usually with another Karloff film, CRUCIBLE OF HORROR and, maybe, another film as well.
 

The film has now a Blu-Ray release from Olive Films, released October 14, 2014, which is the best way to see the film.

Below: Lindfors in KING OF KINGS, also shot in Spain. 

UNA BRUJA SIN ESCOBA - 1967

A blonde witch from the 15th Century travels to the 20th Century and falls in love with an American professor teaching at the University of Madrid. Not proficient in the art of sorcery, she chaotically bounces herself and the professor about time, making unannounced and embarrassing entries into times Medieval, Roman and pre-historic. By mistake she sends the professor for a solo outing into the future (1999), by which point humanity has destroyed itself, leaving behind just seven women who are most eager to find a man for procreative purposes. The dismayed witch seeks the aid of her father, Wurlitz the Wizard (!), to help her out of her mess and stop the professor's appetizing mission to save humanity.

At times amusing, but mostly innocently silly, UNA BRUJA SIN ESCOBA is chiefly of interest for its cast. Maria Perschy has never looked more adorable (blonde hair color elicits an extra sweetness to her face), and the various attires she models, including a bikini get-up in animal skin similar (though not as revealing) to Raquel Welch's fantasy-inducer in Hammer's ONE MILLION B.C., decorate her figure deliciously.  If you're a Perschy fan, get this film.

By the time UNA BRUJA was made, American actor Jeffrey Hunter was already familiar with shooting in Spain.  Seven years earlier he achieved his greatest international fame for his performance as Jesus Christ in the Samuel Bronston production of KING OF KINGS, helmed in various Spanish locales. (Incidentally, Hunter met the future Paul Naschy, Jacinto Molina, on the set of the film, and the two became friends during its production.)  For UNA BRUJA, Hunter was engaged by producer Sidney Pink, who, following Samuel Bronston's lead, had established co-productions in Spain since 1962 with THE CASTILIAN.

It's the Spanish cast that is of interest here for folks who visit this site. Perla Cristal (THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF, FURY OF THE WOLFMAN) is her usual enticing and spicy self as the sexually voracious Octavia.  Lord, how I love this woman!  Producer Pink must have loved her too, as he would employ her in a couple of other productions, including A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, a 1968 movie in which a pre-Naschy Jacinto Molina appeared. (The man got around.)

Other Spanish familiars make welcome appearances: Frank Brana (GRAVEYARD OF HORROR, RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD), actor and future director Julio Perez Tabernero (CANNIBAL TERROR), Angel Menendez (LA MARCA DEL HOMBRE LOBO, THE LEGEND OF BLOOD CASTLE).... A non-Spaniard, the fearsomely ugly Al Mulock (TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE; THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY), is still distinguishable under a long beard as the Wurlitz the Wizard, a role he must have been thankful for since it gave him relief from playing venomous, crazed characters.  (Not enough relief, however, as a year later, Mulock would commit suicide during the production of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.)

There's a brief exterior shot of a castle that may be the one that turns up in Carlos Aured's CURSE OF THE DEVIL as Waldemar Daninsky's residence, but otherwise the 1967 film comes up nil as a showcase of Spain's film locations, though it remains a moderate delight for those having a fun time spotting the Spanish thespians of the day.

EL CONDE DRACULA - 1969

EL CONDE DRACULA started as a high concept--relatively so, as we are speaking of a horror film made at the tail end of the 1960s when major studios did not pay much attention to the genre. The idea was to make a film that would be true to the Stoker novel and employ some of the best talents in horror to make this a reality. Christopher Lee, the Dracula of the time, was solicited, and guided by his dream of making a definite Dracula film, true to the Stoker novel, he accepted the role. Horror magazines reported the possibility of Vincent Price appearing as Dracula's nemesis, Van Helsing. This tantalizing casting never happened, unfortunately, and the role was taken by Herbert Lom, a good actor but whose range was no match for flashiness and wicked undercurrent that Price could have brought to the role.

The choice of Franco as director, however, was a signal even then that something was amiss.  Though he had secured a decent reputation beginning with THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF in 1961, by 1969 many horror fans were already familiar with the evolving sloppy journeyman aspect to Franco (and his growing need for using zoom shots), an aspect set in motion by such Harry Alan Towers productions as the final Fu Manchu pictures (THE BLOOD OF FU MANCHU and THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU), which are perhaps Franco's worst films from the 1960s. That Franco was one of the chief forces behind this film did not bode well for it, though a hopeful candle was burning.  After all, assurances were made that the film would be true to the Stoker novel (not necessarily a good thing) and that Lee was going to be playing the title role with fidelity to the character Stoker had created, adorning his generally clean-shaven face with a droopy mustache and dying his hair white for a gradual transformation to black.

Once the film was seen, however, that candle was extinguished, to be used for a better day and a better film. Critics and fans were not kind, and thirty-plus years later certain deficiencies remain evident, despite the potent upgrading of the print element in recent times. Even one of the film's most lauded sequences, the coach ride to Castle Dracula, is marred by hasty decisions and mistakes. Jets of fake fog gush their streams unnaturally and obtrusively from the ground, the worst use of a fog machine (if that's what was responsible for those jets) I have so far seen in film. Furthermore, German Shepherds do not threatening wolves make. Adding to these distractions is the reflection of camera lights off the coach.  More mistakes are to come, the worst being the on-screen shadow of a camera that follows Klaus Kinski in the tight space of his padded cell as he tries to memorialize a performance of the Renfield character.  There are some outré theories of cinema that can dismiss these gaffes and turn them into pluses, but back in 1969 (or rather a couple of years later when the film received theatrical exhibition in the States) these very obvious errors elicited groans, and now they still remain disheartening, even on a small TV monitor.

The slipshod nature of the production becomes more evident when one begins to realize that several of the major actors probably never saw each other on the set, as they never share frames in the footage. Forget seeing Kinski interact with Lee: Kinski just rants, raves, gazes wistfully out his padded cell, and eats captured vermin. He's there, does his bit, then he jumps out of a window and dies, never meeting the undead lord who commands him from afar.  Herbert Lom shot his scenes separately from Lee, and although a false attempt is made to merge the two in one scene, the battling duo of Van Helsing and Dracula do not appear together in a single frame.  Worse, the pivotal Van Helsing character is kept out of the action for the finale of the film, no doubt due to the budget deficiency of employing Lom for only a limited amount of time.

Many familiar faces highlight the landscape of this film, a who's who cast of Euro and Spanish horror, in fact: Soledad Miranda, Teresa Gimpera, Emma Cohen, Paul Muller, Jack Taylor, Fred Williams, Maria Rohm. Regrettably, Franco makes himself a part of his acting ensemble.  As the coach-driver/servant, he is awful here: self-aware, perhaps appearing as an in-joke; his Spanish sensual face and body, already fleshing out with dissipation, can be perfect for a film like EXORCISM, but in EL CONDE DRACULA they are at odds with the crisp Victorian nature of the original source material.  Perhaps Michael Ripper (or Victor Israel) was unavailable.

As for Lee's performance as Dracula, it is subdued and carries none of the melodrama that was invested in his Hammer outings as the Prince of Darkness. His interpretation here can be a commendable, if not brave, yet a part of me wishes, because of the overall lack of gusto of the film, that Lee had let himself loose and gone for, pardon, the jugular. He seems to be inhabiting another picture, one better suited toward his temperament and artistic goals. The Franco film, with its financially-induced sloppiness and lack of clarity and creative concentration, simply does not support his performance.

Which is not to say that the film is worthless outside of its performances. As with almost every disappointing film that Franco has made, there is something to be found within that exposes the natural talent of the man, some say his genius. This "something" is not the aforementioned coach sequence, but the few minutes in which Lucy (Soledad Miranda) is seduced by Dracula's coaxing voice to leave her room and meet him under dark archways of nearby building, while her concerned friend, Mina (Maria Rohm), follows her in secret. These minutes offer a superb, thrilling evocation of mood, sensuality, mystery, release and awe. Everything merges into brilliance here--Franco's atmospheric, instinctual direction, Manuel Merino's luminescent cinematography, Bruno Nicolai's insistent and hypnotic music. This sequence is so perfect that one nearly forgives the misguided rest and returns to these precious moments to imbibe in them as one would divine nectar and a sampling of a dream never meant to be.

Had this level of inspiration and skill been attained throughout, EL CONDE DRACULA would have been a masterpiece, and while the film is sprinkled with bursts of energy and inspiration, it lacks the creative filament and monetary resources that would have made the entirety memorable or, using a different operational basis, it lacks the freedom that Franco needed to let his personal obsessions take over.  Indeed, Franco is not satisfied with the film precisely because he had to follow the source material, and rightly evaluates his subsequent foray into the Dracula myth, DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN (1971), as a much better and more personal work and, in an interesting bit of opine, Howard Vernon as a better Dracula. 

Much better, too, is VAMPIR, the documentary shot by Pedro Portabella while EL CONDE DRACULA was being made. In stark black-and-white, the film is a non-judgmental cinematic journal and meditation on the Franco film and the dark Gothic world it attempted to inhabit.  Most cherished are the behind-the-scenes views of Christopher Lee (we actually see him clown around and smile broadly a few times--he really seemed to be enjoying himself) and an end-bit of Lee reading a concluding passage from the Stoker novel in his dressing room.  It is telling and sad that Lee's reading provides more thrills and artistic grace than much of the film that Franco was trying to craft from the meager resources at his disposal.

LOS MONSTRUOS DEL TERROR - 1969

Called in Spain, LOS MONSTRUOS DEL TERROR (English translation: THE MONSTERS OF TERROR) and in Germany DRACULA JAGT FRANKENSTEIN, this film marked the second official return of Waldemar Daninsky, the cursed werewolf created by Paul Naschy for his first wolfman film, LA MARCA DEL HOMRE LOBO.

For this film, Paul Naschy was contacted by Ramon Planas, the assistant of Jamie Prades. Prades had been associated with the legendary Samuel Bronston, for whom Naschy, as an extra, had made a couple of films early in his career. Prades wanted Naschy to write a monster film that would outdo Naschy’s previous monster effort. Naschy locked himself in his office and wrote a script about an alien from the planet Ummo who comes down to earth and assembles all the classic monsters with the notion of ruling mankind with these monsters and their duplicates. At this point, the film was going to be called, THE MAN WHO CAME FROM UMMO.  Julio Coll (PYRO) was going to direct, but he presented absurd suggestions that went against Naschy’s idea, and so director Hugo Fregonese was chosen instead.

Fregonese was ideal as he spent not only time in Spain, but helmed various American actors, including Lex Barker and Robert Taylor.  Taylor, in fact, was interested in playing the role of the alien, and even had a meeting with Naschy, but Prades had already secured Michael Rennie. As one of the stars of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, Rennie would bring a special gravitas to the role and play an alien again. Yes, Rennie had health issues, like Taylor, but despite his asthma, he could work and complete the picture.

Things were looking very positive. But then the troubles began.  Naschy’s big-name actress, Maria Perschy, had  to exit the film before it started. Current boyfriend troubles, the rumors go.  She was replaced by Karin Dor, but the other actress in the film, Helga Geissler,  got jealous and verbally attacked Dor, claiming that she, Geissler, was going to be a big star while Dor was already a has-been.

Then there was the bane of many films: money.  The delay over funding and searching for more funds to complete the film lasted six months.

The flying saucers that were built in the courtyard of the Conde Duque barracks were maliciously destroyed by their workers when payment was not forthcoming. Unfortunately, no photos were taken of the space ships.

While Michael Rennie was waiting and waiting to get all the monies he was promised, the film’s director, Fregonese could wait no more and headed out of the country with his new love, leaving about 30% of the film still undone. At which point, director Tulio Demichelli completed the film. Like Fregonese, Demicheli had been born in Argentina, and had a long list of credits to his name, so the change was not unwelcome. The Spanish director Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi (THAT MAN IN ISTANBUL) was called in to assemble the final cut, which was finally called LOS MONSTROS DEL TERROR.

 Because Molina the screenwriter did not want to upset any copyright laws, the name of Dracula is not used in the film but rather Count Janos de Mialhoff, a character who had previously appeared in LA MARCA DEL HOBRE LOBO. This time he was not played by Julian Ugarte, but by Manuel de Blas, the husband of actress Patty Shepard, whom he had met on an earlier film.

 Born in South Carolina, Patty Shepard went to Spain with her military father and became rapidly sought by the Spanish film industry while pursuing a modeling career. Obviously, she spoke English, and her presence added extra American element to any film she appeared in.  A couple of years later, she played  Wandesa Darvula de Nadasdy, to become a Spanish horror legend thereafter. The film was WEREWOLF SHADOW and its major star was Paul Naschy.

For Naschy, the money problems of LOS MONSTRUOS DEL TERROR influenced other areas.  As he wrote in his memoirs, translated into English by Mike Hodges: “I had many things in the script that we were not able to do for lack of money, for example, the appearance of the Golem. I also had the bad luck of having to count on the worst make-up man of my entire career, Rafael Ferrer, who defrauded us all. The only good make-ups were those done by the assistants.”

 Despite this, Gene Reyes’ make-up as the mummy is superlative and the battle between his mummy and Naschy’s wolfman is one of the highlights of the film. But certainly the film’s worst makeup goes to the Italian actor, Ferdinando Murolo, playing the Frankenstein Monster, called in some versions, Farancksalan.  And truthfully, Naschy himself looks diminutive and lost around all these monsters. His name as an actor is even left out of the Spanish credits. One would hope that this absence is just a mistake and nothing more.

Aside from Michael Rennie and the main German female leads, mention must be made of Craig Hill, who played Inspector Tobermann. His rugged, lean looks and amused expression were well suited for whatever B-film or TV show he appeared in. He was married to Spanish actress Teresa Gimpera and settled in Spain, dying in Barcelona in 2014.

Astute viewers may recognize an uncredited Barbara Capell,  who would have a major role in WEREWOLF SHADOW. In this film, however, she had a small scene as a prostitute who gets killed by Daninsky when he is the wolfman. But wait...  Capell is not mentioned by name but the mysterious Barbara Muller is.

“She confessed that she belonged to a sect of Devil worshipers who met in a secret place to make diabolical invocations,” Naschy wrote in his autobiography. The actress’ German apartment, hashish and marijuana, and one would assume some physical intimacy, presaged a meeting of the worshippers at a secret location, complete with a sacrifice and blood. The disturbing incident compelled Naschy to seek a priest to expiate his sins.

LOS MONSTRUOS DEL TERROR is certainly wacky, but charming.  Its multiple monsters, its international actors, its Spanish and West German locales (including the San Martin castle where the first Daninsky film was partly helmed), make it uniquely interesting. The current Blu-Ray, certainly in the best quality that we have seen, assures us that, while not the epic envisioned in Naschy’s mind, the film is a heartfelt homage to the monsters we know and love. And about that “night of Satan” in West Germany with Barbara “Muller,” perhaps the less said, the better....

(The two Blu-Ray captures of ASSIGNMENT TERROR are courtesy of Don Cunningham. The new awesome Blu-Ray is available from RoninFlix)