If one chooses to go by the Law of Diminishing Returns, one finds it can be applied to almost anything, and Film Studios banking on the same themes are no exception. The film studios in question are the four British 'Horror Houses': Hammer, Amicus, Tigon and Tyburn. And at first, the law plays itself out almost perfectly. Hammer was the first and most innovative with it's(for the time)abundant cleavage and(for the time)graphic gore, as well as introducing the world to Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Oliver Reed and Ingrid Pitt, Amicus came second and made plenty of enjoyable, non-pretentious horror films that played out like carnival spook houses and at one point were upping Hammer in overall quality of product, then there was Tigon; which no sane human being could disagree produced mostly crap; yet amazingly managed to squeeze out the AMAZING 'Witchfinder General'(1968) by the talented and tragic Michael Reeves; a film many consider to be one of the 5 or 10 finest horror films ever made and superior to anything it's rivals put out, and I wouldn't entirely disagree. Then we come to Tyburn studios. Logic dictates that this would be the worst studio of the four, but all in all, especially considering it only made 3 films, Meh, it's output wasn't bad or good, just....
Meh.
'Persecution'(1973) was dull, and 'Legend of the Werewolf'(1974) was a fun potboiler, but nothing I'd soberly give more than a 6.9.(Though I should admit that I DID like it more than Hammer's 'Curse of the Werewolf') So in other words, Tyburn was to Anglo-Horror what Skywald was to horror comics; not bad, but nothing worth getting excited about. BUT WAIT!! I left out Tyburn's most famous(?) film; 'The Ghoul'. This sluggishly-paced ODHWWFM(Old Dark House With Warped Family Members)entry may not be a GOOD film, per Se, but it's certainly the most stylish film to come out of Tyburn. It's also notable as one of the most bleakly depressing films I have ever seen. But hey, it'll at least be worth including for my 'Family Un-friendly' series of reviews.
It starts out quite well as a young woman we will later learn is named Daphne(Veronica Carlson) creeps through a mansion with a candle to strange screams and gurgling noises, luxurious architecture and flickering shadows build suspense, establishing a good-looking film at least(Surprise, surprise, the director is our old friend Freddie Francis), she gets closer and the cries grow louder! Louder! She turns to find a hanging young man foaming from his mouth!!!
Sounds like a great beginning, huh? Pity nothing in the film matches up to it, as it all turns out to be a prank that doesn't even faze our heroine. Daphne, an oddly assertive type for the era this film is taking place gets in a race with her friends, determined to win(this takes up a good 15 minutes of screen time, I kid you not)she gets lost in what is absolutely THE FOGGIEST moor I have ever seen. The car breaks down near a cliff, and Daphne searches for help. After being warned, and then almost raped by a creepy handyman(A younger John Hurt) near a mansion, Daphne meets the mysterious owner of the mansion, Dr. Lawrence(Peter Cushing)and his Indian maid, Ayah. After several tedious scenes where we learn Lawrence lost his wife and son in India(including some very racist dialog), well, nothing happens. And then Daphne gets murdered. After some drama between the Handyman and Ayah, Daphne's friends search for her and all get killed off(I do have to mention an absolutely incredible murder scene involving a hatchet to the face that is the high point of the film)before Lawrence kills the killer(The titular 'ghoul')before shooting himself.
Peter Cushing had an almost masochistic tendency after his wife's death to play grieving widowers, and he clearly wasn't in a very good state of mental health, his performance is mostly routine, but eventually Cushing had a breakdown and his fit was recorded. The film's stolen bag of tricks from 'Psycho' and 'The Reptile'doesn't help save long sequences of tedium.
That said, Francis does an excellent job creating an atmosphere of nihilism and despair. The mansion exists almost like a house dropped into hell with the fog seeming to separate it from the world. All attempts at escape fail, all characters are somewhat unlikeable and austere and the film as a whole is just unpleasant. Too bad there's no thematic content for it to serve.
It's also frustrating that we never learn the origins of this 'Ghoul'. He's supposedly Lawrence's son, but how he came to be a ghoul is never explained, only a vague mention of a 'maharajah' is made. And if he is under a curse, why does he visibly change from the handsome man from the pictures into a different looking one who isn't visibly inhuman except for scars? And why the scars? He isn't a zombie type of ghoul. Why not have him just be a normal, but disheveled version of the same actor from the photograph if you're not going to make him look like a monster at all? And why does he wear Hindu garb? Was he garbed by the maharajah? And if so, why does he continue to wear them? Wouldn't Lawrence make SOME effort to cure him, at the very least, change his clothing? Why does he keep Ayah around? She's obviously evil, but doesn't seem to be controlling him. And what does the handyman's RAF background have to do with anything? It all makes no sense and is never explained or resolved.
I have no problems with using my imagination in films where things are left unexplained, in fact, in Francis's other 'Family' film, the wonderful 'Mumsy, Nanny Sonny & Girly', I liked that approach. But in films like that, those unexplained details were TANTALIZING, here they are FRUSTRATING, and that makes a world of difference.
For completists only.~
Meh.
'Persecution'(1973) was dull, and 'Legend of the Werewolf'(1974) was a fun potboiler, but nothing I'd soberly give more than a 6.9.(Though I should admit that I DID like it more than Hammer's 'Curse of the Werewolf') So in other words, Tyburn was to Anglo-Horror what Skywald was to horror comics; not bad, but nothing worth getting excited about. BUT WAIT!! I left out Tyburn's most famous(?) film; 'The Ghoul'. This sluggishly-paced ODHWWFM(Old Dark House With Warped Family Members)entry may not be a GOOD film, per Se, but it's certainly the most stylish film to come out of Tyburn. It's also notable as one of the most bleakly depressing films I have ever seen. But hey, it'll at least be worth including for my 'Family Un-friendly' series of reviews.
It starts out quite well as a young woman we will later learn is named Daphne(Veronica Carlson) creeps through a mansion with a candle to strange screams and gurgling noises, luxurious architecture and flickering shadows build suspense, establishing a good-looking film at least(Surprise, surprise, the director is our old friend Freddie Francis), she gets closer and the cries grow louder! Louder! She turns to find a hanging young man foaming from his mouth!!!
Sounds like a great beginning, huh? Pity nothing in the film matches up to it, as it all turns out to be a prank that doesn't even faze our heroine. Daphne, an oddly assertive type for the era this film is taking place gets in a race with her friends, determined to win(this takes up a good 15 minutes of screen time, I kid you not)she gets lost in what is absolutely THE FOGGIEST moor I have ever seen. The car breaks down near a cliff, and Daphne searches for help. After being warned, and then almost raped by a creepy handyman(A younger John Hurt) near a mansion, Daphne meets the mysterious owner of the mansion, Dr. Lawrence(Peter Cushing)and his Indian maid, Ayah. After several tedious scenes where we learn Lawrence lost his wife and son in India(including some very racist dialog), well, nothing happens. And then Daphne gets murdered. After some drama between the Handyman and Ayah, Daphne's friends search for her and all get killed off(I do have to mention an absolutely incredible murder scene involving a hatchet to the face that is the high point of the film)before Lawrence kills the killer(The titular 'ghoul')before shooting himself.
Peter Cushing had an almost masochistic tendency after his wife's death to play grieving widowers, and he clearly wasn't in a very good state of mental health, his performance is mostly routine, but eventually Cushing had a breakdown and his fit was recorded. The film's stolen bag of tricks from 'Psycho' and 'The Reptile'doesn't help save long sequences of tedium.
That said, Francis does an excellent job creating an atmosphere of nihilism and despair. The mansion exists almost like a house dropped into hell with the fog seeming to separate it from the world. All attempts at escape fail, all characters are somewhat unlikeable and austere and the film as a whole is just unpleasant. Too bad there's no thematic content for it to serve.
It's also frustrating that we never learn the origins of this 'Ghoul'. He's supposedly Lawrence's son, but how he came to be a ghoul is never explained, only a vague mention of a 'maharajah' is made. And if he is under a curse, why does he visibly change from the handsome man from the pictures into a different looking one who isn't visibly inhuman except for scars? And why the scars? He isn't a zombie type of ghoul. Why not have him just be a normal, but disheveled version of the same actor from the photograph if you're not going to make him look like a monster at all? And why does he wear Hindu garb? Was he garbed by the maharajah? And if so, why does he continue to wear them? Wouldn't Lawrence make SOME effort to cure him, at the very least, change his clothing? Why does he keep Ayah around? She's obviously evil, but doesn't seem to be controlling him. And what does the handyman's RAF background have to do with anything? It all makes no sense and is never explained or resolved.
I have no problems with using my imagination in films where things are left unexplained, in fact, in Francis's other 'Family' film, the wonderful 'Mumsy, Nanny Sonny & Girly', I liked that approach. But in films like that, those unexplained details were TANTALIZING, here they are FRUSTRATING, and that makes a world of difference.
For completists only.~