Saturday Night at the Frights: January 17, 2009

The Mad Monster (1942)

This low budget shocker stars George Zucco as a vengeance-minded scientist who transforms simpleton Glenn Strange into a wolf man. He uses Glenn to murder the fellow scientists who scoffed at his idea to create a wolf man army. Zucco cuts it thick as the mad medico, and Strange overplays the idiot shtick. But there are some effective moments, such as when a ball rolls out of a child’s bedroom signaling a murder. One wonders if this would have been more fun with Bela Lugosi or Lionel Atwill in the lead.

The Devil’s Messenger (1961)

Three installments of a Swedish television program called 13 Demon Street were cut together to make this anthology film. Lon Chaney, Jr. was brought in to connect the segments together. He plays the Devil himself! The stories concern a photographer who’s haunted by a murder victim, a woman frozen in ice, and a fortune teller who predicts murder. The stories have neither the style nor wit of an average Twilight Zone or Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode, and the cast is merely OK. Chaney is fun as Beelzebub but is not around that much.

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

The town of Valentine Bluffs is holding its first Valentine’s Day party in nearly twenty years. Apparently a deranged coal miner named Harry Warden murdered the two supervisors he held responsible for a mining accident that claimed the lives of Harry’s fellow miners on Valentine’s Day. Harry warned he’d be back if the town ever celebrated the romantic holiday. When the police discover a heart-shaped box bearing a real human heart, they try to stop the celebration until they can find Harry Warden.

This Canadian slasher film is an above average entry in the subgenre. Director George Mihalka nicely captures the blue collar mining town atmosphere and forgoes stereotypes. The new Lionsgate DVD release reinstates the previously cut gore footage making for a much more gruesome and effective thriller. The formulaic nature of the script, however, prevents My Bloody Valentine from scoring a complete bullseye.