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ginbelt
Reviews
The Cobweb (1955)
definitely a 50's melodrama -- and what's wrong with that??
Just wanted to clear up a rather glaring error put forth by Mr. Michael E. Barrett, in the second review posted on here (of 6 November 2001), who claimed that Ken Kesey's landmark novel and similarly-themed "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" predated "The Cobwebs" by five years. Not quite, "Cuckoo's Nest" was published in 1962, seven years AFTER "The Cobweb".
I was surprised at the low rating of this film and overall lukewarm-to-bad reviews. It is indeed one of those "50's melodramas" -- but, does that automatically make it BAD? I suspect a lot of reviewers on here simply don't like 50's melodramas. I liked the movie. It certainly wasn't a masterpiece, but it reminded me in editing and mood, of other films of the era such as "Some Came Running", "Picnic", "Rebel without a Cause", "Peyton Place". People who like this genre will probably like the movie; those who obviously do not (like the majority of the reviewers who have thus far bothered to review this!) will not.
Terrified (1962)
Extreme creepiness on a very low budget
I first saw this film, like others have, on TV late at night years ago -- I think I was maybe 13 or 14 and had been sick in bed all day, watching TV. The film made such a strong impression on me that I thought of it many times over the years and all through the following decade, I would scan the TV listings in vain hoping for a rerun. I never did see it on TV ever again, but was able, back in the early 90's, to buy up a VHS copy from somebody who'd similarly taped it off a TV station.
I gave Terrified a "10" not because I think it is on a par technically with, say, "Citizen Kane", or "Vertigo", but because it is, I feel, about as an effective film I can imagine being done on the nickels and dimes budget this film must have had. When I say "effective" I mean, this is a horror film (albeit a b&W, early 60's low budget horror film), and the film is ~scary~. Scary in a creepy, eerie vibe kind of way. I think evilskip's review of 6/15/2001 really says it best, correctly describing the sense of isolation in the film and the weird sounds (I like the use of piano too here). This film proves that "low-budget" doesn't have to mean "low quality". I'm glad I have it on tape and do play it now and again. I've played it for friends too and they agree with me that it has a genuinely creepy aura about it. Fans of William Castle films from the same era would like this.