I've often considered Plague of the Zombies to be one of my favourite Hammer productions, with it's eerie location and unsettling make-up effects. This on the other hand is one I often overlook on repeat viewings of horror films from this period, despite it being the second part of the intended double bill. With the same rural village, the same Cornish moors and the same big manor house (which still burns down at the end) it's an odd experience, but cost saving efforts like this are nothing new. I'm reminded of Dracula Prince of Darkness and Rasputin The Mad Monk sharing both cast and castles. And like those two I prefer over the other. But in this case is the second feature really a let down or is it just a less imaginative chiller?
Purely as a monster movie there's a lot of basic ingredients as a series of mysterious deaths are blamed on a local 'black death' phenomenon by superstitious locals. But the connections to a local doctor's estate are made clear in the opening scene as Charles Spalding (David Baron) is poisoned to death by an unseen creature residing within. His brother Harry (Ray Barrett) and sister in law Valerie (Jennifer Daniel) soon arrive to take up residence at the Spalding cottage but find themselves unwelcome at the village inn and discover that their new home has been trashed. This storyline about silent pub regulars is probably the weakest part of the story, and it's never explained what Charles was doing or why they think he's got anything to do with the recent deaths (of which he was the latest victim).
If the stereotypical country folk think there's a plague or a curse causing trouble on the moors they never say why they think Charles or Harry are connected, or what shunning them is supposed to achieve. Luckily the pub landlord Tom (Michael Ripper) is more amicable to the new arrivals and later proves himself to be a reliable aide in their investigation. It's a pretty good cast overall and a few scenery chewing scenes from John Laurie as 'Mad Peter' keep things from becoming too dry. Initially it seems as though he'll be an eccentric exposition dump but his bizarre drunken dialogue is of the highlights in the story. Another Hammer regular George Woodbridge is unfortunately given only one brief scene as a coach driver but it's always nice to have a few familiar faces.
Villainy on the other hand comes in the form of Dr. Franklyn (Noel Willman) and his mysterious daughter Anna (Jacqueline Pearce). Willman of course stands out as being typecast as this sort of stand offish and stiff antagonist but things are not quite as they seem. Later reveals suggest that his Indian servant (Marne Maitland) may have more to with what's being going on than it first appears, and there's more use of exotic religions as a source of threat and mystery. It's not quite as effective as the more well known voodoo plots but I guess it still works within this sort of turn of the century setting. It's not exactly Sign of the Four or anything, but there's still an air of imported foreboding to the story even if the script is a bit wobbly in a few areas.
Things work best when they're at their simplest with Harry and Tom doing a bit of (literal) digging around to find clues. Their combined knowledge of the outside world as men who have seen death on other continents results in a fairly effective bit of detective work, although the motive for the killings is never exactly established. There's a few scenes in which different characters discuss snake cults and religious blasphemy, but it's never really explored in a way that makes the resulting murders come across as some sort of supernatural justice. Ann and her father are at least given time to feel like victims in their own way, but this is a story more concerned with sudden creature attacks than character development.
Fortunately the eponymous monster is mostly a striking inclusion for the most part, even if the giant snake eyes are a bit wonky in certain shots. It's not a particularly great design overall but the scaly skin and the giant fangs are detailed enough to sell the creature's look when it's lit properly. There's in a few nice touches when it comes to the weakness of a human reptile hybrid, even though it doesn't make a lot of sense that the mansion has a boiling sulphur pit underneath. A Cornish tin mine I can understand, but this is here because the story demands it. As you'd expect the less is more approach works the best, and it's eerie to see the sleeping monster hidden under a blanket before things go awry during the last sword fighting confrontation and the fiery finale.
Ultimately it's easy to see why this isn't an iconic entry in the Hammer back catalogue, but really what the film lacks is a proper driving force. The story is just too vague in places that needed more explicit links to either exotic gods or ancient curses. Dr. Franklyn and Anna could have been written as truly sinister or as genuinely sympathetic, but the results are instead just a half measure of spooky chills instead of a full lethal dose of venomous horror magic. It's an entertaining diversion with some oddball scenes and a reasonable level of intrigue and suspense, but it could have been more. Still, as part of the original double feature it's worth seeing rather than being entirely overlooked.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
THE MUMMY (1959)
Going back to the 1950s brings us to an earlier, but similarly overlooked release. Maybe it's because Christopher Lee spends so much time under bandage appliances. Perhaps it's just because Count Dracula is a lot cooler in the lasting public perception. Maybe it's just because this doesn't really do a lot on its own merit, and it's instead just a mixture of different Universal Mummy sequels, with the undead killer Kharis shambling about. Still it's kind of engaging in a way with lots of colourful backdrops and a focus on action. Like Hammer's original Dracula adaptation there's a certain sense of energy in place of the dusty atmosphere found in the earlier versions.
The result is another adventure in which Peter Cushing leaps over the furniture while using household objects to save the day, which I'm all for. The film looks good for the most part, but it shines when they use vibrant lighting in the tomb sequences. Logic be damned, this underground burial chamber looks really cool when drenched in neon green. The production is fairly small scale but they manage to include a few stand out locations including a detailed flashback to Ancient Egypt, and of course that whole spooky swamp showdown is still effective. Less interesting is the same old story about an ancient princess being reborn as a modern day woman, which even the film makers seem to have forgotten about as they throw it in at the last minute.
Just as an unstoppable undead strangling machine Kharis is fairly imposing but the design as always suffers a lack of expression. And Lee is... well he's really tall. What else is there to do? There's of course a chance for him to deliver a few stoic ceremonial lines in the ancient history scenes, but elsewhere there's not much else going for him here. It doesn't help that the second and third act climaxes are pretty much identical as Cushing waits for him to show up before trying out a bunch of useless weapons. Overall it's fine, but with so much to work with you'd have expected them to do something a bit more exciting.
3/5
