Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, or maybe the fact that my viewing companion fell asleep colored my opinion. By all rights, this ponderously self-important "B" picture should be a side-splitter. The semi-creepy plot about primitive superstition and the power of suggestion is lame and stale and the stuff of chuckle-material. The staging, blocking, and shooting of the film are all clumsy tired techniques even for the day. Throw in the single-take look of each shot, with the actors reading their lines like they're in a hurry to get to lunch, and it should be a real howl! Maybe the problem was that I felt bad for Lon Chaney Jr, one of my favorite monster-movie greats, playing an absolutely straight part with no direction and looking a bit lost.
Review of Weird Woman
