So if I understand the cycle correctly, before his death Karloff agreed to participate in a series of films produced & co-directed by Jack Hill that are usually associated with Mexican made horror, though according to the scant documentation on the work I've been able to find he actually was so ill at the time that he was unable to travel to Mexico and performed all of his scenes at a soundstage in Malibu near a hospital where he was undergoing treatment for the emphysema that eventually killed him. The films were
HOUSE OF EVIL/MACABRE SERENADE
SNAKE PEOPLE/CULT OF THE DEAD
THE INCREDIBLE INVASION/ALIEN TERROR
THE FEAR CHAMBER/TORTURE ZONE
with the odd film out being CAULDRON OF BLOOD/BLINDMAN'S BLUFF which was actually a Spanish production made in 1967 a year or so earlier, and Karloff actually traveled to Spain for the production. One question I have is where does THE CRIMSON CULT/CULT OF THE CRIMSON ALTER fit in? That seems to have a 1968 date on it -- what he in transit in England on his way to California to meet up with Jack Hill?
Can anyone else offer any insight? I've been able to find at least VHS copies of each or better (I just got Image's FEAR CHAMBER and was fairly impressed even if the film made zero sense on first viewing). I know that most Karloff enthusiasts regard the films with what can at best be described as restrained loathing, but I actually kind of enjoy some of them even though Mr. Karloff was obviously beyond any hope or sensibility while making them. I have read that SNAKE PEOPLE was especially grueling for his advanced state of disease and that not only do they use a double for some of his location shooting but that he was so fried of medication and more or less stayed within arms reach of an oxygen tank that he probably had little or no idea as to what he was actually doing.
It sounds sad but Karloff loved making movies and these were probably the only productions he could make without the insurance policies most film companies require their name-brand talents to be covered by in case they drop dead on the set. I think I like SNAKE PEOPLE the best even though the film fills me with a sense of claustrophobic ill-ease and aside from certain Freudian segments is rather difficult to enjoy. If ever a movie was successful in producing a feeling of ill ease SNAKE PEOPLE seems to be it: The whole thing is bad acid right down to the weird little midget and the fish eye lense psychedelia.
HOUSE OF EVIL is perhaps a bit more dignified -- and actually has a quite interesting climax to it -- but it plays more like a creaky old wh0dunnit complete with the reading of a will that's almost right out of that Scooby-Doo Where Are You? cartoon with Cousin Samples and Sweet Cousin Maldehide. I guess the scene where the guy gets killed with the toy cannons is pretty cool also but most of the film seems to consist of people running in and out of rooms in a dark old house & jabbering excitedly about this that or the other odd going on. And like FEAR CHAMBER there is a recurring theme of voyeurism that comes off as a cheap attempt to spice things up with some ladies strutting around in their knickers.
I haven't seen ALIEN TERROR yet but am awaiting an old video copy -- that seems to be the only one that hasn't found it's way into some sort of DVD or another, unless I missed something somewhere: HOUSE OF EVILL is on Retromedia's "Blood Flood" collection and SNAKE PEOPLE DVDs are a dime a dozen but equally worthless. But then again I also read something about a "Zombie Collection" DVD box set that has a "very watchable" version of CULT OF THE DEAD on it -- something tells me they are referring to a pathetic two disc set by Diamond Entertainment (which also has HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB), but can anyone provide any elaboration?
HOUSE OF EVIL/MACABRE SERENADE
SNAKE PEOPLE/CULT OF THE DEAD
THE INCREDIBLE INVASION/ALIEN TERROR
THE FEAR CHAMBER/TORTURE ZONE
with the odd film out being CAULDRON OF BLOOD/BLINDMAN'S BLUFF which was actually a Spanish production made in 1967 a year or so earlier, and Karloff actually traveled to Spain for the production. One question I have is where does THE CRIMSON CULT/CULT OF THE CRIMSON ALTER fit in? That seems to have a 1968 date on it -- what he in transit in England on his way to California to meet up with Jack Hill?
Can anyone else offer any insight? I've been able to find at least VHS copies of each or better (I just got Image's FEAR CHAMBER and was fairly impressed even if the film made zero sense on first viewing). I know that most Karloff enthusiasts regard the films with what can at best be described as restrained loathing, but I actually kind of enjoy some of them even though Mr. Karloff was obviously beyond any hope or sensibility while making them. I have read that SNAKE PEOPLE was especially grueling for his advanced state of disease and that not only do they use a double for some of his location shooting but that he was so fried of medication and more or less stayed within arms reach of an oxygen tank that he probably had little or no idea as to what he was actually doing.
It sounds sad but Karloff loved making movies and these were probably the only productions he could make without the insurance policies most film companies require their name-brand talents to be covered by in case they drop dead on the set. I think I like SNAKE PEOPLE the best even though the film fills me with a sense of claustrophobic ill-ease and aside from certain Freudian segments is rather difficult to enjoy. If ever a movie was successful in producing a feeling of ill ease SNAKE PEOPLE seems to be it: The whole thing is bad acid right down to the weird little midget and the fish eye lense psychedelia.
HOUSE OF EVIL is perhaps a bit more dignified -- and actually has a quite interesting climax to it -- but it plays more like a creaky old wh0dunnit complete with the reading of a will that's almost right out of that Scooby-Doo Where Are You? cartoon with Cousin Samples and Sweet Cousin Maldehide. I guess the scene where the guy gets killed with the toy cannons is pretty cool also but most of the film seems to consist of people running in and out of rooms in a dark old house & jabbering excitedly about this that or the other odd going on. And like FEAR CHAMBER there is a recurring theme of voyeurism that comes off as a cheap attempt to spice things up with some ladies strutting around in their knickers.
I haven't seen ALIEN TERROR yet but am awaiting an old video copy -- that seems to be the only one that hasn't found it's way into some sort of DVD or another, unless I missed something somewhere: HOUSE OF EVILL is on Retromedia's "Blood Flood" collection and SNAKE PEOPLE DVDs are a dime a dozen but equally worthless. But then again I also read something about a "Zombie Collection" DVD box set that has a "very watchable" version of CULT OF THE DEAD on it -- something tells me they are referring to a pathetic two disc set by Diamond Entertainment (which also has HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB), but can anyone provide any elaboration?
