Had a real find a couple nights ago. I've mentioned that it's getting more difficult each time for me to uncover any horror movies I haven't seen. I'm talking mostly about black and white ones made before 1963. After that, you start entering the "psyched-out" period of low budget horror and it looks dated and exploitative. And don't even get me started on Italian or Spanish horror from the mid-60s. "Blood and Boobs" is an apt description, Big Hair too. But the films are terrible. Anyhow, as far as finding watchable horror movies, meaning more or less black and white flicks from 1930-62, lately I've had to search and search on Youtube, trying all kinds of keyword combinations, and I'm dealing with the law of diminishing returns. I was able to find Peter Lorre's "The Lost One" that way, and a couple others, but the point is that the searching process is getting lengthy. Tonight I searched for almost an hour. But boy was I rewarded when I found a flick from PRC. You know those guys : Producers Releasing Corporation, the quintessential Poverty Row studio.
The movie I found was called "Strangler of the Swamp". With a title like that, you'd be a fool not to click "play" (after checking it's IMDB rating of course. "Trust but verify" to quote Ronald Reagan). I saw it was PRC, so I wasn't expecting Universal production values. I just hoped they wouldn't be bottom of the barrel with a static camera and rote dialogue. The inclusion of "Swamp" in the title was a hopeful sign. Usually a swamp indicates atmosphere. And when you throw in a "Strangler" (and boy we've had a lot of those lately), it sounds like you may have yourself a major spooker.
Rosemary LaPlanche stars as "Maria", a young woman who takes over as the ferryman (ferrywoman?) of a Southern swamp after the previous ferryman is found dead. The locals warn her not to take the job. There's said to be a strangler on the loose. Murders have occurred, but the townsfolk chalk them up to a ghost. Maria is from the big city and doesn't believe in such nonsense. What they don't tell her is that the strangler is her deceased grandfather. Years earlier he was hanged for a murder he didn't commit. Some folks still think he was guilty. The previous ferryman strung a hangman's noose on the pier at the end of his run. It's still in place now, and serves as a talisman to warn away the grandfather's strangly spirit. But the thing is, he really was wrongly accused. That doesn't mean he isn't pissed about getting strung up, however.
A new guy arrives in town. He's "Chris Sanders" (the one and only Blake Edwards, young and handsome). Chris is the son of the man who orchestrated the hanging. The ghostly Grandpa Strangler knows who he is, and decides to strangle him, since Chris's pa is not available (he's already dead). But the thing is, Maria falls in love with Chris. Now she's in a conundrum. She doesn't wanna be disloyal to her Ghostly Gramps, whose history she's by now aware of, but she doesn't want him to throttle Chris, either. What is Maria to do?
I was caught up in this movie from the first frame, and surprised because it exudes atmosphere, something you don't expect from PRC. They went all-out to build a great swamp set, replete with a barge-like wooden ferry that runs on a track between ropes. The ropes are pulled by the ferrywoman to make the crossing. They must have spent a small fortune on fog machines because the swamp is thick with the stuff.
Have you ever heard of Rosemary LaPlanche? I had not. She was Miss America 1941, and Miss California twice before that. You might not expect a beauty queen to be a good actress, but she is very good and carries the picture. Two small things to note : the pace is a tad slow (just a tad), and the theme is as much romance as it is horror. But it's well acted and the story is unusual. Two Big Thumbs Up for "Strangler of the Swamp", a well-done job by PRC. The picture is on the soft side, not razor sharp but not mush either. Absolutely don't miss this one! Highly recommended. ////
Last night on Halloween, I looked for more films with Rosemary LaPlanche, and I found another one from PRC, the intriguingly titled "Devil Bat's Daughter". According to Wiki, it's a sequel to the PRC/Lugosi vehicle, "The Devil Bat"(1940). This time, Rosemary stars as "Nina", the daughter of a Mad Scientist named Dr. McCarron. As the movie opens, she's in the hospital with amnesia. The cops are puzzled because she appeared in town out of nowhere, took a cab to the old McCarron place and passed out when she got there. Now she remembers nothing of her visit. A psychiatrist, "Dr. Elliot" (Nolan Leary), works to restore Nina's memory. But Dr. Elliot is a gaslighter. He's got an ulterior motive for telling her nothing happened at the house. Now he's drugging her to make her appear crazy. Nina sees bats fly through the windows of her room. Her head is spinning and her vision's blurred. Then her mother is killed. Dr. Elliot convinces her she did it. He tells her she killed her boyfriend's dog, too.
If that sounds like some weird stuff, it is. The movie is not the Halloween Horror Flick I thought it would be, however. It's more of a whodunit in a psychologically disturbing context. Like "Man in the Attic" two nights ago, the villain is unfortunately telegraphed. Dr. Elliot has a reason for wanting his wife dead. He tells Nina she has a genetic "compulsion to kill" inherited from her father, a murderer who was dubbed "The Devil Bat" by the press, because of his tendency to drink the blood of his victims, like a vampire. "It's not your fault you killed her", the evil Doctor says, absolving Nina of her guilt (yeah right) while pinning the blame in her impressionable mind. "I'll stand up for you in court if it comes to that". Gee, thanks Doc. Nina is convinced she killed his wife, and her boyfriend's dog too, but her boyfriend (John James) believes no such thing. "There isn't a genetic predisposition to murder", he says. Doc Elliot is good at hiding his motivation, but James eventually uncovers info, and a stash of hypnotic drugs, that leads him to suspect the deceptive Doctor.
"Devil Bat's Daughter" features some schpooky schpecial effectchs, like when the camera goes out of focus and the room spins and the bats come. This indicates Nina is going crazy. Rosemary LaPlanche gives another strong performance as the trusting, vulnerable patsy of Doctor Elliot's murder scheme, but the direction isn't as taut as it is in "Strangler of the Swamp". The story is clever and involving but it really isn't a horror movie, which was a little disappointing on Halloween night. It's still a good thriller though, and you'll be an instant LaPlanche fan after watching "Strangler". That means you'll certainly wanna see her again, so give "Devil Bat's Daughter" a view. I give it Two Solid Thumbs Up. Though the rating is one lower than "Strangler", it's just as highly recommended. They just don't make movies like these old PRC classics, so you've gotta see them both. Watch 'em as a Double Feechum or on consecutive nights. ////
And there you have it. We're lucky to still be unearthing such gems after mining the horror vein for so long. I hope you had a great Halloween. Mine was pretty good. This was the first time I didn't hand out candy since 2008, but I had a nice walk to see the decorated houses, and I watched The Great Pumpkin and Ichabod Crane in addition to the aforementioned movie. That's all I know for now. Have a nice night and a great day tomorrow. I send you Tons of Love as always! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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