Classic Horror Movies , on Turner Classic Movies Halloween Movies Vincent Price, Mad Scientists )ctober 31 2009 Review

The marathon of Horror movies for Halloween  on TCM continues throughout the day and evening. 10 31 2009.

Airing at 3:00 a.m. on the West Coast is a superb ghost story from 1948, The Woman in White.    It has been filmed several times but this was the first and best sound version of the novel by Wilkie Collins.  You get some murder, hypnotism, crazy stuff with a cast of eccentric, odd and perhaps downright evil characters.  Walter (Gig Young) sees a ghost that warns him not to go to the Limmeridge House.  He's being paid to teach drawing and art there.  He meets Laura (Eleanor Parker) who looks like the beautiful ghost he saw.  Parker gets to play identical first cousins in the film and then there is the evil Count Falco played at his scene chomping best by Sydney Greenstreet.   You'll also find Agnes Moorehead, Alexis Smith and John Emery along for the ride.  Wonderful film, DVR or TIVO it.

This is followed by one of the most successful omnibus movies ever made 1945's Dead of Night.  It's a collection of atmospheric ghost and fairly mild horror tales  until we get to the chilling Ventriloquist's Dummy sequence directed by Alberto Cavalcanti and starring Michael Redgrave.   Superbly directed, well written and acted these 6 short films are a treat to watch anytime  and I'm not trying to trick you about how good this movie is.  It airs on the West coast at 5 a.m.  (if you miss it, it will be on TCM again on December 8th at 1:00 A.m. in the morning on the West Coast).  Enjoy this classic.

Then at 7 a.m. TCM airs one of the very best Haunted House movies ever made; 1963's  The Haunting.  It's based on the Shirley Jackson novel, The Haunting of Hill House, directed by Robert Wise and stars Russ Tamblyn, Julie Harris, and Claire Bloom.   If you liked:  Legend of Hell House, or Ghost Story, or The Others, or House on Haunted Hill or Poltergeist or the remake... this movie is better than all of them.  A 60s horror masterpiece.      It's about a team of professionals who decide to investigate an infamous old mansion to discover if they can scientifically prove there are strange things happening in this house.    There are not a lot of special effects, but there are some incredibly effective shots, some moments you won't soon forget adding up to a masterpiece of the macabre.

If you ever wanted a definition of what a good Campy Horror Movie was, then experience the strange 1971 movie known as The Abominable Dr. Phibes.    It's utterly absurd of course, but if you are willing to go along for the ride, you'll quickly become a huge fan.   Vincent Price is the star and he is obviously having a wonderful time hamming it up as only he could get away with.  Price plays Dr. Anton Phibes a mysterious Phantom sort of figure who is getting revenge on the doctors who he feels botched their opportunity to save his wife).   

The movie is directed by Robert Fuest ( a veteran of The Avengers television show) in a fast paced black comedy sort of style full of bright colorful and very theatrical scenes.     The gimmick is that Phibes is trying to kill his victims in a very creative gruesome ways, by gruesomely evoking the ten biblical curses in disposing his victims.  The cast includes Joseph Cotton and a brief amusing appearance by Terry-Thomas.  It's a lot of fun whether you have seen it once or 10 times.   It airs at 9 a.m. on the West Coast.

Another entertaining Vincent Price horror film Diary of a Madman  directed by Reginald Le Borg follows

After killing a man in self defense, Price seems to be possessed by the spirit of the Horla, turning him into a clever psychopathic killer.  It's a low budget minor Price movie but he delivers another fine horrific performance.   The 1963 movie airs at 10:45 a.m. in the West Coast.

It's followed by the excellent documentary on the Val Lewton horror suspense movies called Martin Scorsese Presents Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows.  It airs at 12:30 p.m.   TCM  then airs two wonderful Val Lewton productions:   1942's Cat People; a masterpiece of subtle, understated horror directed by Jacques Tourneur and its sequel in name and star Simone Simon only 1944's  The Curse of the Cat People.  They air on the West Coast at 2 p.m. and 3:30 respectively.

Prime Time TCM is devoted to Mad Scientists and we start with the 1941  Spencer Tracy version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.   It's not my favorite version of the tale but it's a lush black and white movie starring Tracy and Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner and Donald Crisp directed by Victor Fleming.  It airs at 5 p.m.

The creepy 1933  Murders in the Zoo is a disturbing little gem of a movie in which a mad scientist zoologist uses zoo animals to kill anyone who goes near his wife.  It's got a couple of very shocking scenes (particularly for 1933).  It stars Charlie Ruggles, Lionel Atwill and an early role for Randolph Scott. 

It airs at 7 p.m.  (PST).

Robert Wise (who  also directed the classic  The Haunting in 1963)  directed one of the best version of the Burke and Hare story, 1945's  The Body Snatcher.   It's about a doctor who needs corpses to continue his medical experiments so he purchases them illegally from a grave robber.  It stars Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi and is a 78 minute masterpiece of mood and suspense.  It airs at 8:15 p.m.  Don't miss it.

We then get a clever horrific treat with 1960's Circus of Horrors which tells us a story about an insane plastic surgeon who travels somewhat undercover with a circus troupe.  The insane plastic surgeon becomes a little too obsessed with his patients however.... It airs at 9:45 p.m.

My favorite version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the 1932 version starring Frederic March and Miriam Hopkins, directed by Rouben Mamoulian.  The movie is racier than then the latter version because it was made before the Hays code went into effect.  It's still an effective and quite entertaining movie.   It airs at 10:30 p.m.

The Son of Dr. Jekyll is perhaps surprisingly a very entertaining B movie from 1951.  It stars  Louis Hayward a good looking 'hot' actor  who plays the son of the original Jekyll and wants to avenge his father's death and clear the family name.    It's far better than Jekyll and Hyde knockoffs like  1953's The Neanderthal Man or Monster on Campus 1958,  not to mention Frankenstein's Daughter, and Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953).  It airs at 1:15 in the morning and may bring back some chiller theater memories.  

Happy Halloween.   Turn your clocks back an hour trick or treaters.