Doc Rotten's Halls of Horror: Remembering Ingrid Pitt (1937 - 2010)

In the span of a few years, Ingrid Pitt burst upon the horror scene and left an indelible mark on the halls of horror. With her stunning, voluptuous beauty and top-notch talent, she solidified her position as a leading scream queen in the history of horror. For Hammer Films, she launched the Karnstein trilogy with Vampire Lovers (1970) proving a female vampire lead is just as viable as a male counterpart and starred in a vehicle based on the legends of Countess Bathory with Countess Dracula (1971). For Amicus she donned fangs once again for a short in one of their many anthology films, The House that Dripped Blood (1971). And she also costarred in the British horror classic opus The Wicker Man (1973) starring the great Christopher Lee. In the years following, she continued to star in sparse TV and feature films, and wrote a series of popular books including a 1999 autobiography titled Life’s A Scream: The Autobiography of Ingrid Pitt. On November 23, 2010, the horror community lost a gracious gem, two days after her 73rd birthday. Below are four of her most noteworthy horror outings.


VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970)

After making her debut in movies such as Dr. Zhivago (1965), The Omegans (1968) and, more famously, Where Eagles Dare (1968) as Heidi with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood, Ingrid Pitt signed on with Hammer Films to star in Vampire Lovers. The film is the first in the Karnstein trilogy adapted from the J. Sheridan Le Fanu novella Carmilla and Ingrid stars as Mircalla Karnstein. In the story, Mircalla finds herself in the care of General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing) and befriends his daughter Laura (Pippa Steele) who is suffering from nightmares and subsequently dies of poor heath. Mircalla subsequently disappears and resurfaces in the home of Dr. Roger Morten. After Mircalla seduces his daughter, Emma (Madeline Smith), and her governess Madame Perradon (Kate O'Mara), the General hunts down the vampire femme fatale.

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Doc Rotten's Halls of Horror: Giant Monster Mayhem

Giant monsters, the halls of horror are full of them. The most famous of these monsters are King Kong (1933) and Godzilla (1954), each spawning countless imitations. King Kong came first in the Thirties directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, with classic special effects by Willis O’Brian. A sequel follows later the same year with The Son of Kong (1933) and two remakes have been made - King Kong (1976) directed by John Guillermin and King Kong (2005) directed by Peter Jackson. Kong would even meet Godzilla in Toho’s King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) and star in a sequel for Toho called King Kong Escapes (1967). Their meeting occurs nearly a decade after the premiere of Godzilla (1954), which produced a long running series of giant monster movies with a U.S. version rumored for the near future. These films introduce creatures such as Mothra, Varan, Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla. The closest to these two might be Gamera, a giant space turtle. Throughout the Sixties and Seventies, a wide variety of challengers to the throne would invade Saturday matinees and Drive-In theaters across the world. Here are a few of the more unusual giant monsters to make it to the big screen.

KONGA 1961
In John Lemont’s science fiction film, Konga, British Botanist Charles (Michael Gough) Decker subjects a young chimpanzee to a serum that transforms it into a giant murderous gorilla. After King Kong (1933), Son of Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949), most movie gorillas remained an actor in a suit rather that the stop motion effects that made these classic so great. Konga also employs the man-in-suit ideals, but this time the gorilla grows to be larger than a two-story house and picks up Dr. Decker much like King Kong carries around Ann Darrow. Years later, Dino De Laurentiis’ version of King Kong (1976), directed by John Guillermin, again employs the man-in-suit monster with costume effects created by the legendary Rick Baker. Even with superior effects and improved set design, it’s still visibly a man-in-suit and works no better than the lower budget feature Konga 15 years prior.

GORGO 1961
The same year, Gorgo, another British entry into the giant monster movie genre, was released. Directed by Eugene Lourie, the film tells the story of a large reptilian monster – 65 feet tall – discovered off the coast of Ireland. The creature is brought to London to be studied. When scientists examine the creature, named Gorgo, they determine that he is still a child and that an adult version would be 200 feet tall. Soon they discover that Gorgo’s mother is following a destructive path to her son. Arriving in London, the monster destroys Tower Bridge and Big Ben and faces off with tanks, infantry and the Royal Air Force. Gorgo ends up being a cross between The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and Godzilla (1954).

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Doc Rotten's Halls of Horror: Michael Ripper, an introduction

Michael Ripper, an introduction

This Halloween season, I’ve been sitting down each weekend with my nine year old daughter to watch the Hammer horror festival on Turner Classic Movies. Horror of Dracula, The Mummy, Curse of Frankenstein, Plague of the Zombies, they’re all here. As we began our third week of flicks to enjoy, my daughter made an enlightening observation; she began to recognize a recurring actor in many of the films we were enjoying. Was it Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing? No, she already knew who they were. The gentleman in question is the fabulous character actor employed in many of Hammer’s movies, Michael Ripper.

As Old Soak in Curse of the Werewolf (1961)

If you don’t recognize the name but have seen many a classic horror flick you probably recognize his face or distinctive voice – he’s the barkeep, the coach driver or perhaps the constable. Michael Ripper made over two dozen films for Hammer, most of which were produced by Anthony Hinds. He wasn’t limited to Hammer Film productions, he also had roles in other horror films of the Sixties and Seventies such as The Deadly Bees (1967), Torture Garden (1967), The Creeping Flesh (1973) and Legend of the Werewolf (1975). When you’re catching your next Hammer horror flick this season (or the next), keep an eye out for Michael Ripper and be delightfully surprised at the variety of roles he portrayed and how much he adds to the picture itself. The actor, born in Portsmouth England in 1913, passed away on June 28, 2000. Here are a few roles to watch out for.

Night Creatures

Night Creatures (1962) as Jeremiah Mipps (coffinmaker)
Michael Ripper appears as Jeremiah Mipps, the coffinmaker, in Peter Graham Scott’s Night Creatures. Calm, cool and collected, Mr. Mipps is the right-hand man to Reverend Dr. (Peter Cushing) Blyss. When cornered by Captain (Patrick Allen) Collier of the Royal Crown (who is investigating suspicions of smuggling), he shares the legend of the marsh phantoms and suggests they were responsible for the sudden death of the Captain’s informant. In an amusing scene, Mipps startles Mr. Rash (Martin Benson) when he pops up from his resting place, one of his own coffins. Loyal to the end, Mr. Mipps rescues Rev. Blyss from Collier’s band of sailors and is rewarded by having Blyss return the favor when the pirate Mulatto attacks by pushing Mipps out of the way and taking the deadly strike in his stead. In a significant role, alongside a large cast, Michael Ripper is afforded some of the more poignant and touching scenes and shows more range than the others except for maybe the lead, Peter Cushing.

The Reptile

The Reptile (1966) as Tom Bailey (Innkeeper)
When Dr. Harry Spalding (Ray Barret) and his wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel) arrive in Clagmoor Heath, they are greeted warmly by only one of the locals, the innkeeper, Tom Bailey (Michael Ripper). Bailey also becomes their closest ally as well as they begin to suspect Dr. Franklyn in the murders that have been plaguing the small village. Spaulding and Bailey work together to uncover the secrets of Anna Franklyn and Tom saves the couple on two occasions: after Harry is bitten by the snake creature and when Valerie is held captive within the Franklyn mansion. In one of the first of a number of films directed by John Gilling and featuring Michael Ripper (they also made The Pirates of Blood River together in 1963), Ripper is given a more substantial role and brings a much needed friendly face and ally to the proceedings.

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Doc Rotten's Halls of Horror: Female Monsters

The most famous of Universal Monsters are the Frankenstein Monster, Count Dracula, the Wolfman, the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Horror icons of classic thriller cinema are Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr., Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price. Modern horror monsters are Freddy Kruger, Michael Myers, Leatherface, Jason Voorhees and Pinhead. It is easy to see that the horror genre is a male dominated field of cinema.  Most of the female actresses are given the damsel in distress role or the final girl role: Fay Wray, Julie Adams, Janet Leigh, Barbara Shelly, Hazel Court and Jamie Lee Curtis. From time to time however, audiences were awarded a monster from the fairer sex. With perhaps the exception of the vampire bride, female monsters are a rare breed. Here are a few to consider for you next Halloween feature viewing.

The 30’s and 40’s
While horror is being dominated by Universal Monsters, The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) is the arguably the most famous of all female monsters. Portrayed by Elsa Lanchester wearing brilliant make-up by the legendary Jack P. Pierce, the Bride was introduced in the sequel to Frankenstein, again directed by James Whale. In the story, Doctor (Ernest Thesiger) Pretorius forces Henry (Colin Clive) Frankenstein to create a mate for the Frankenstein (Boris Karloff) Monster. Universal tried to repeat the success with Dracula’s Daughter (1936), starring Gloria Holden as Countess Marya Zaleska. Holden together with Carroll Borland as Luna Mora in Tod Browning’s Mark of the Vampire (1935) lay the foundation of the lead female vampire character for years to come. Universal also gives us female versions of the Invisible Man in The Invisible Woman (1940) with Virginia Bruce in the title role and the werewolf in The She-wolf of London (1946) with June Lockhart in the title role.

The 50’s
In the Fifties, gothic horror gets trumped by terror from Sci-Fi origins and audiences are rewarded with Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958).  In this B-movie classic, Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes) encounters an alien space-craft and grows to be a 50 foot monster. Toward the end of the decade, horror would rise again in popularity (due in part to the success of Hammer Films) and smaller studios, looking to put a spin on classic tales, would provide another turn at a female Frankenstein and vampire. In Frankenstein’s Daughter (1958), the monster is played by Sandra Knight who starts out as a monster-werewolf hybrid before being changed completely into a man-made monster. In a twist to the drive-in features such as I was a Teenage Werewolf and I was a Teenage Frankenstein, Blood of Dracula (1957) has a headmistress at an all-girls school hypnotizing one the young students into believing she is a vampire. She not only begins to behave like a vampire but take on the appearance of the creature of the night as well. Ed Wood hires TV horror host Vampira to appear in his z-grade absurd classic Plan Nine from Outer Space (1958).

The 60’s
Hammer Films began making horror films in the late fifties and are a huge influence on the horror genre throughout the decade. Along with a multitude of vampire brides, the company also created some of the more interesting and unique female horror creatures to grace the screen. Among their entries are The Gorgon (1964) where Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee encounter Megaera, one of the three mythological sisters with snakes in their hair who can turn men into to stone with but a glance. Barbara Shelly is cast as the human counter-part , but Prudance Hyman steps in to play the hideous monster. The Reptile (1966) introduces a young lady, Anna (Jacqueline Pearce) Franklyn, suffering from a Malaysian curse that causes her to transform into a snake-woman. Peter Cushing would attempt to create a Bride of Frankenstein of sorts in Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), when he transplants the soul of a wronged killer into the dead body of a scarred but beautiful young woman, Christina, played by Susan Denberg. Alongside Hammer’s output, in Italy, Mario Bava cast Barbara Steele as the witch Princess Asa Vajda in Black Sunday (1960) in a variation of the classic Russian horror story, Nikolai Gogol’s Viy (1865).

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Doc Rotten's Halls of Horror: Anthologies Part 1

In 1964, American producers Milton Subotsky and Max J. Rosenberg team up to create Amicus Productions, a small independent film company based in Shepperton Studios, England. Among the first films they release is Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, a portmanteau horror film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. They quickly become closely associated and compared to Hammer Films to which their films share many similarities: directors such as Freddie Francis, stars such as Lee and Cushing, and stories that cover gothic, horrific content (even though Hammer Films at that time were mostly based in Victorian England and Amicus films were mostly based in the present). For most of the next two decades, Amicus would specialize in anthologies, producing some of the best, most entertaining films of that type. What follows is a general overview of seven such gems from Amicus Productions. 

Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965)
Director Freddie Francis is hired to helm Amicus first and signature anthology film, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors. Producer Milton Subotsky handles the writing chores. Unlike many of the anthologies that preceded it, would utilize a framing sequence to bind the five short stories together; a technique Amicus would employ in all the anthologies that follow. The framing story for Dr. Terror is staged within a train’s cabin confining five strangers and a fortune teller going by the name Dr. W. F.  Schreck (Doctor of Metaphysics) on a trip from London to Bradley. One by one, the good doctor tells each passenger’s fortune revealing the horror of their future. A bearded Peter Cushing, sporting bushy eyebrows, strikes an impressive visage as Dr. Schreck in a reserved, yet campy, performance.

The first of the five stories is Werewolf in which an architect is hired to remodel an old family home; however, he soon uncovers the family secret and unleashes a feral nightmare buried in the cellar. The second tale is Creeping Vine where a vacationing family returns home to find their home invaded by a vicious plant with a mind of its own. Next up is Voodoo where a jazz musician traveling in the Caribbean where he unwisely steals the music played at a voodoo ceremony, music the voodoo spirits are not willing to share. In the most memorable tale, Disembodied Hand, a famous art critic runs over a painter who has repeatedly humiliated him, only to find the artist’s disembodied hand returns from the grave to seek revenge. The final story, Vampire, tells the tale of a doctor who discovers his new wife is one of the undead.

Along with Peter Cushing as Dr. Schreck, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors has a large cast of horror icons and Hollywood and UK film stars. Christopher Lee stars opposite Michael Gough in the Disembodied Hand. A very young Donald Sutherland stars in Vampire with Jennifer Jayne and Max Adrian. Musician Roy Castle headlines Voodoo. Werewolf stars Neil McCallum, Ursula Howells and Katy Wild. Alan Freedman, Ann Bell and Bernard Lee star in Creeping Vine. 

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Doc Rotten’s Halls of Horror: Seventies Frankenstein Monster

One of the most recognizable movie monsters in horror cinema is the Frankenstein Monster. Beginning with Frankenstein (1910) and, more famously, Frankenstein (1931) from Universal, Mary Shelley’s man-made monster has taken many forms. In 1957, Hammer Films jettisoned the creature into the Technicolor age with Curse of Frankenstein. Throughout the Sixties, Hammer Films would produce a variety of Monsters created by the same Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) and Japan unleashes their own version with Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965). As horror in the Seventies struggles to find its way, the Frankenstein Monster makes its way to the screen in no less than thirteen different forms from Hammer’s Horror of Frankenstein in 1970 to Mel Brook’s Young Frankenstein in 1974.

Horror of Frankenstein (1970) played by David Prowse.
In the UK, Hammer decides to reboot their Frankenstein franchise in 1970, replacing Peter Cushing’s Baron with Ralph Bates and Christopher Lee’s creature with David Prowse in Horror of Frankenstein. While Lee’s makeup was original and frightening in 1957, Prowse’s makeup is sparse, reminiscent of the monster in Jesse James meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (1966). Director Jimmy Sangster relies too heavily on Prowse’s physical presence to elicit fear. While the production values are strong, the script is weak and the monster forgettable.

Assignment Terror (1970) played by Fernando Murolo.
In Spain, Paul Naschy’s Waldermar Daninsky returns in Assignment Terror, a monster mash writen by Naschy and directed by Tulio Demicheli. Michael Rennie, as Dr. Odo Warnoff, is at the center of the fright fest featuring Dracula, the Monster, the Wolfman and the Mummy. Playing like a sci-fi laden spin on the old Universal creature features from the Forties, Assignment Terror’s monster appears very similar to the creature originated by Boris Karloff and makeup man Jack Pierce; however, he has the bushiest eye-brows this side of Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks (1979). At least Naschy’s werewolf realizes what a snooze he is and trounces him during the finale.

Santo y Blue Demon contra los Monstruos (1970) played by Manuel Leal.
In Mexico, the world famous wrestlers, Santo and the Blue Demon, are around to save the day and, in 1970, they do battle with a variety of movie monsters in Santo y Blue Demon contra los Monstruos. Again the monster mash features Dracula, the Monster, the Wolfman and the Mummy; this time played for laughs and light-hearted fun. The monster resembles the classic Universal look once again except this time he has a splendid, comical goatee. Never too threatening, this silly entry is easily bashed by Santo and the Blue Demon.

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