Statistically, this movie was a hit. Made for $200k, it grossed over $2 mill in the US alone. This was the secret of success for American International Pictures. Keep the budgets low, and the base of horror fans will show up and you'll make a profit. 1972 was the year for horror. A large number of films catered to the horror fan, many were cheaply made. But they all made a profit. Frogs is an example of a movie poster created before the movie was filmed. Frogs don't kill anyone in the film, but they made a cool poster. So they were thrown into the mix of alligators, lizards, snapping turtles, snakes, spiders, etc. Since many of these creatures make people queazy, it must have seemed like a slam dunk to film- fearmakers. However, the animal performers are less than convincing. Especially the alligator, where producers sped up the film to make him look like he's moving quickly. The acting is as good as can be expected for this type of film. Joan Van Ark and Sam Elliot debut here (Van Ark had done a soap). Milland is good as the cranky old rich stereotype. If you're looking for a "tame" horror picture to keep the kids interested, this might be it. For adults, it's value is mainly nostalgic.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Sssssss
(1973)
Clever Title, but it hurt Box Office
16 June 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Originally this was titled SSSSNAKE, but someone in Universal's publicity department thought SSSSSSS was clever. So the name was changed, and the movie did poorly in the theaters. In 1976, NBC acquired the rights to this film, and it became a sort of cult movie, growing stronger as VHS in 1997 and DVD in 2004 added fuel to the fire.
This is basically your standard mad-doctor film. Strother Martin plays Dr Stoner, who believes man is doomed as a species. He wants to speed up man's evolution, and since the King Cobra is the deadliest creature on the planet, he wants man to evolve into the King. So he finds a college student to act as his assistant, and injects him with cobra venom (the student thinks the serum is an inoculation against snake bites).
SPOILER ALERT ***** SPOILER ALERT **** SPOLIER ALERT ****
For those of you you have seen the film, you know that the film ends on a freeze frame of Heather Menzies screaming as the David/Snake is killed by the mongoose. I've always thought this was a weak ending! If this movie is ever remade (as everything is these days), I hope the producers would consider this ending:
Heather grabs the policeman's gun and shoots the mongoose. She saves David/Snake. Now that her father's dead, she runs the show on Sundays. She begins the show by saying: "The King Cobra is the deadliest creature on the planet. But I have a very special Cobra here" David slithers out. Heather pets David/Snake on the head. The crowd gasps in surprise. "He is a very special friend of mine".
This is basically your standard mad-doctor film. Strother Martin plays Dr Stoner, who believes man is doomed as a species. He wants to speed up man's evolution, and since the King Cobra is the deadliest creature on the planet, he wants man to evolve into the King. So he finds a college student to act as his assistant, and injects him with cobra venom (the student thinks the serum is an inoculation against snake bites).
SPOILER ALERT ***** SPOILER ALERT **** SPOLIER ALERT ****
For those of you you have seen the film, you know that the film ends on a freeze frame of Heather Menzies screaming as the David/Snake is killed by the mongoose. I've always thought this was a weak ending! If this movie is ever remade (as everything is these days), I hope the producers would consider this ending:
Heather grabs the policeman's gun and shoots the mongoose. She saves David/Snake. Now that her father's dead, she runs the show on Sundays. She begins the show by saying: "The King Cobra is the deadliest creature on the planet. But I have a very special Cobra here" David slithers out. Heather pets David/Snake on the head. The crowd gasps in surprise. "He is a very special friend of mine".
Arnold
(1973)
Dr Phibes copy offers some new twists
16 June 2004
The Abominable Dr Phibes was quite successful. One of the first films to feature "creative deaths", it was soon followed by a sequel and imitations (Theater of Blood, also with Vincent Price).
Arnold follows the pattern of someone who may or may not be dead getting revenge on those who have wronged him. Here we have a corpse (is it really millionaire Arnold Dewellyn?) who lays in his coffin for the entire movie while tapes of his voice are played at various intervals. Arnold knows his greedy relatives are after his money, but he has a surprise for each of them. Who will survive???
This movie is basically a comedy, with some semi-gruesome murders (tame by today's standards) thrown in. If you like black-comedies (Murder By Death for example) you should enjoy this PG rated Bing Crosby Production (BCP). The cast is great: Stella Stevens, Roddy McDowell, Elsa Lanchester, Victor Buono, Charles Fox.
The movie did hardly any business in 1973. BCP sold the movie to be tacked on to double bills. In 1976 it was paired with Grizzly! In the mid 80's it finally came to television on the Late Show, and then a year later to video.
It is out of print now, and very hard to see (cable TV has NOT embraced it). It is a cult movie waiting to be discovered. It is certainly weird enough!
Arnold follows the pattern of someone who may or may not be dead getting revenge on those who have wronged him. Here we have a corpse (is it really millionaire Arnold Dewellyn?) who lays in his coffin for the entire movie while tapes of his voice are played at various intervals. Arnold knows his greedy relatives are after his money, but he has a surprise for each of them. Who will survive???
This movie is basically a comedy, with some semi-gruesome murders (tame by today's standards) thrown in. If you like black-comedies (Murder By Death for example) you should enjoy this PG rated Bing Crosby Production (BCP). The cast is great: Stella Stevens, Roddy McDowell, Elsa Lanchester, Victor Buono, Charles Fox.
The movie did hardly any business in 1973. BCP sold the movie to be tacked on to double bills. In 1976 it was paired with Grizzly! In the mid 80's it finally came to television on the Late Show, and then a year later to video.
It is out of print now, and very hard to see (cable TV has NOT embraced it). It is a cult movie waiting to be discovered. It is certainly weird enough!
The Old Dark House
(1963)
Castle Should Stick to Horror
10 June 2004
William Castle, the master of the gimmick films, knew his core audience consisted mostly of young people. He tried catering to them exclusively with this and the other lightweight "fantasy-comedy" ZOTZ, and both bombed. Both films were too weird, actually too unbelievable. Tom Poston plays an innocent bystander trapped in a house of loonies. The strange occupants are not allowed out of the house after a certain time to avoid losing an inheritance. There's the obligatory storm (one of the crazies builds an ark!), strange voices, dead bodies, etc. As strange as this movie is, it seems normal up against Castle's SHANKS (1974). Terry Castle, William's daughter, is producing a batch of remakes of her fathers famous films. This will not be one of them.
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