Director: John Gilling
Year: 1966
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Creature Feature
Plot:
Following a relative's death, a man and his wife head off to the remote village to inherit a new house unknowing of the bizarre experiments a neighbor conducted that have unleashed a terrifying monster, forcing them to kill the creature before more are harmed.
Review:
This turned out to be an utterly disappointing effort overall. Among the main problems here is the rather wretched and atrocious pacing featured since the film is just an utter bore, as nothing really happens at all. While this one manages to get a lot out of the straightforward and consistent story, for the most part, it's just basically a repetition of one of three different scenes, and it really drags the film out to a lurching halt, not only with the lack of action but also the general continuation of these same specific scenes and set-ups recurring throughout the film. We either have the villagers giving them the cold shoulder, the local doctor getting upset at them for no reason, or everyone is sitting around talking about the death of the first person, and none of it really comes off in any way enjoyable.
The villagers' hostility towards the new couple arriving in town reeks of nothing more than cliché now and manages to feel totally unwarranted with the continued usage of the tactic being so completely expected as well as feeling so unnecessary to the events that it feels like excess padding when they continually get run out of town. The party scenes with the doctor at his house are quite dull and really don't serve any kind of solid purpose other than to bring about the storyline ruse about their past endeavors traveling the world yet go on for so long that his company seems hardly that interesting in the case where it's presented here, and there's so long into the film before they even decide to investigate the first murder that it seems like an afterthought despite being the main clue that zeros them in on what's going on.
That overwhelming sense of boredom afflicts the film to the point where its monster attacks don't even start until the fifty-five-minute mark, the creature isn't revealed until ten minutes into the finale, and we break up the action to get the full backstory revealed to us before it starts up the action again, which makes all of this really troubling. Along with the somewhat cheesy-looking creature effects that aren't imposing at all, these hold this one back. There's still some rather fun parts here, most of which come from the fact that the Gothic flavors are still in full effect, and it really works those to full effect with the small- town village on the outskirts of town, which manages to generate that famous Hammer atmosphere so often utilized in their films, most notably in a graveyard excavation sequence in the pouring rain.
Coupled with the engrossing storyline, which brings out some rather novel ideas with the concept of the creature's cult origins and overall backstory that's on display here. Also, as expected in this kind of film, it manages to get some good action towards the end, where it gets the prototypical burning-down-the-house finale, which starts off in the basement pit before making its way through the rest of the house, giving this a great finish, but it's just so deathly dull you'll fall asleep before it gets to the good stuff.
Overview: ***/5
Rather troubling and disjointed if slightly enjoyable effort, there's a lot to like here, which gets brought down quite heavily by the flaws on display, leaving this as a somewhat disappointing effort overall. Those with an appreciation for this style or era of the genre, or who aren't that bothered by the issues on display, will have a lot to like with this one, while most others out there should heed caution.
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