Review for Creeping Horror

Introduction

It isn’t often that review discs have me questioning my own identity, but I have had to take a pause and just have a think. I’ve lost count of the number of times I have written “I’m not a fan of Horror” or words to that effect, but companies keep sending me horror check discs, and I keep watching them and writing reviews. What’s more, I tend to find something to appreciate in most of them. Eureka have sent me the Creeping Horror collection to review, four more vintage horror movies from Universal, and I have to ask if I’m actually a horror movie fan in denial. You’ll find Murders in the Zoo (1933), and Night Monster (1942) on one disc, and Horror Island (1941) and House of Horrors (1946) on the other. The discs present the films with static menus, with each film and its audio options and extras listing taking up half of the screen.


Disc 1

Introduction: Murders in the Zoo

Millionaire Eric Gorman has just returned from the Far East with a veritable menagerie of wild animals that he is eager to donate to the Municipal Zoo. But he is one philanthropist with a dark side. He’s already intimidated his wife with how he dealt with one man who paid too much interest to her, and a zoo full of wild beasts is just what he needs to make sure she knows that she is his property and his alone.

The Transfer: Murders in the Zoo

Murders in the Zoo gets a 1.37:1 pillarboxed 1080p monochrome transfer. This is the oldest film in the collection, and it does tell in the presentation. The image is clear, contrast levels are good, and detail levels are strong. The print is free of damage and dirt, but age is apparent in terms of overall softness and a bit of flicker. The audio is PCM 2.0 Mono English as you would expect, and is clear and strong, with no glitches or dropouts, the dialogue is clear, and the balance is good. There are optional English subtitles if you need them.

Extras: Murders in the Zoo

You get a commentary on the film from Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby.
Stills Gallery with production stills and artwork

Conclusion: Murders in the Zoo

Murders in the Zoo was made before the Hays Code came in and put the limiters on those nascent filmmakers from testing the bounds of what could and what should be done with cinema. Having said all of that, Murders in the Zoo blows its “horror, shock and awe” wad with the first scene, establishing just how cruel and ruthless the film’s antagonist, Eric Gorman really is. When he deals with the would-be lothario preying on his wife, we are left with no doubts that Gorman is more monster than man.


That certainly doesn’t change as the film unfolds, as he continues to intimidate his wife, and targets the men that approach her. But nothing he does to them, no matter how terminal, is as horrific and as scary as his first victim. It becomes more of a crime thriller, with him using the zoo and its animals as a cover for his murderous urges, the incidents threatening the zoo’s existence in the process when they get blamed. One scientist in the zoo, Jack Woodford played by a youthful Randolph Scott looking uncannily like Scott Bakula, makes it his mission to exonerate the zoo, and in the process discovers the truth.


The horror and drama is strangely leavened by a comic relief character, Peter Yates, a PR man who is hired to promote the zoo, yet a man who has a pathological fear of wild animals. Other than the way the film opens, and the way Gorman controls his wife, Murders in the Zoo is really quite tame. From this 21st Century perspective, the real horror is how zoos and filmmakers treated wild animals in the 1930s.

6/10

Introduction: Night Monster

Something odd is going on at Ingston Towers, the kind of thing that would make the maid quit outright, although it turns out that leaving Kurt Ingston’s employment isn’t a simple matter. His sister Margaret desperately wants to speak to a psychiatrist, however much the housekeeper tries to thwart her. Meanwhile, the crippled Kurt Ingston has invited the three doctors whose treatment resulted in his disability to his home, to show them what he has learned from a Hindu mystic. It’s a lot more lethal than a rope trick...

The Transfer: Night Monster

Night Monster gets a 1.37:1 pillarboxed transfer with a PCM 2.0 Mono English audio track, with optional SDH subtitles. Close to a decade separates Night Monster and Murders in the Zoo, and that does tell in the transfer. The image is clear and sharp, with great detail and strong contrast. The print is stable and free of damage and signs of age. The audio is fine, the dialogue clear, and the sound warm and balanced, although there are some clicks and pops in quieter moments.

Extras: Night Monster

You get an audio commentary from Stephen Jones & Kim Newman.
The trailer lasts 1:09.
The Stills Gallery offers a dozen or so slides of production stills and artwork.

Conclusion: Night Monster

Bela Lugosi and Lionel Atwill (the antagonist in Murders in the Zoo) may have top billing in Night Monster, but they most certainly aren’t the stars of the movie. It’s a kind of false advertising that follows through to the film itself for me, as I certainly didn’t find it scary (not that I ever expected it to be), but neither did it shock me or surprise me the way Murders in the Zoo did.


It all feels so generic, although whether all those tired clichés would have been recognised as clichés back in 1942 when the film was made, is another question. But you set up a stately home populated by all manner of creepy people, the controlling and crippled master of the house, his paranoid sister, the housekeeper possessively protective of her master, the creepy butler, and the lustful chauffeur, not to mention the random Hindu mystic, and creepiness is assured, regardless of how the story pans out.


Naturally there a bunch of people who visit the house, including the local sheriff when the maid disappears, and it isn’t long before the bodies start dropping. There are plenty of secrets in the family, as well as secret passages in the mansion, and almost everyone is guilty of something. It’s the innocent protagonists, a friend of the family and the visiting psychiatrist who have to get the bottom of it all, and survive the mayhem. But it isn’t much of an investigation when they practically wind up waiting for everyone else to be killed off, and seeing just who is left standing, with the thought that they will be the guilty party. And quite frankly, Night Monster shows its cards early when it comes to any sense of mystery, and it becomes a matter of waiting for the penny to drop for the characters, rather than any intellectual engagement with the plot. Still the transfer is up to the job with this film, and the commentary is useful.

5/10


Disc 2

Introduction: Horror Island

Bill Martin is an entrepreneur, a college graduate who is always looking to make a quick fortune without having to do any work. He’s an ideas man, and a he gets a new one when a peg-legged sailor appears with a treasure map pointing to a castle on the island that Bill inherited. It’s not something he’d normally take seriously, but his cousin George shows up, suddenly willing to buy the island, and there’s a ‘Phantom’ abroad, and he’s already stolen half of the map. When Bill goes to get the map appraised, he’s disappointed to learn that the map is a forgery, but he’s just had his next get rich quick scheme; Treasure Island tours to the haunted castle on his spooky island! It isn’t long before the first ten tourists show up...

The Transfer: Horror Island

Horror Island gets a 1.37:1 pillarboxed monochrome 1080p transfer with PCM 2.0 Mono English audio and SDH English subtitles. It’s another impressive presentation, with a clear and detailed image, with good contrast, and no signs of age or print damage. The audio too is clear and well balanced, no glitches or dropouts, keeping the dialogue clear throughout.

Extras: Horror Island

Horror Island gets the following extras.

Audio commentary with Kevin Lyons & Jonathan Rigby
Trailer (1:31)
Stills Gallery

Conclusion: Horror Island

Horror Island got lost on the way to the movie boxsets, and somehow wound up in a horror movie collection. For this film is certainly not a horror movie. Even IMDB lists it as a comedy crime film. If there is a horror element to the film, it’s the creepy castle with its plethora of secret passages. If there is one commonality to horror films of this era, it’s the buildings with secret passages, and it’s also a wonder that there are so many European style castles in and around a nation barely two hundred years old. Having said all of that, Horror Island is the film that I have enjoyed the most so far in this collection with just House of Horrors left to go.


Admittedly there is a spooky atmosphere to the story, beginning with a one-legged sailor making his way through a misty seaside town, being watched from the shadows. But as soon as we meet the chancer of a main character in Bill Martin, as well as his stuttering sidekick Stuff Oliver, you know that you’re in comedy territory. Then we get to know that one-legged sailor, Tobias, who turns out to be exuberant and extroverted, and it isn’t long before the three are a team in this get rich quick scheme that Bill comes up with, once the treasure map has been discredited.


Ten customers gather for the first excursion to the ‘haunted island’ including Wendy Creighton, a woman who Bill had a meet-cute with when their respective cars got into a fender bender, and discussing recompense for repairs turned into an invitation to the island. Among the ten, there are also his cousin George, the antiquities expert that discredited the map, a gangster and his moll, and a local commerce group representative that has taken issue with the false advertising of a ‘haunted’ castle. And unbeknownst to them all, the cloaked Phantom has followed them too. Put ten people in a spooky castle, rumours of pirate treasure, none of it helped by the creepy gimmicks Bill and Stuff have rigged to ‘entertain’ the guests, and it isn’t long before the murders start.


It could be dark, and actually tilt towards horror, by emphasising the Phantom, and making it more of a scary slasher movie, but Horror Island keeps it light-hearted and comedic even at its most intense, with quick-witted characters more apt to quip and banter than get seriously affected by the spooky shenanigans on the island. If the characters can’t take it seriously, neither can the audience. As the story and the setting indicates though, these clichés were getting old at this point in cinema, and approaching them with parody and spoofery was the best way to keep it entertaining at this point.

7/10

Introduction: House of Horrors

Critics can be cutthroat at the best of times, but the art critics that sculptor Marcel de Lange has to put up with are downright malicious. When the struggling artist is deprived of his very bread and butter by a particularly insidious columnist, it’s the final straw. He’s about to end it all at the docks, when he finds a man floating in the waves instead. He rescues this man, taken with his primitive visage, and nurses his new muse back to life. But Marcel has fished The Creeper out of the river, a man wanted for a string of brutal murders, and when the Creeper learns of how his saviour is tormented by critics, he decides to show his gratitude the only way he knows how.

The Transfer: House of Horrors

House of Horrors gets a 1.37:1 pillarboxed monochrome 1080p transfer with PCM 2.0 Mono English audio and optional SDH subtitles. Again it’s another impeccable transfer, clear and sharp, and with good contrast. The film print is free of damage or signs of age, and there is a nice consistent level of grain. The story has an atmospheric, noir look to it which is effectively presented here. The dialogue is clear, and the audio is presented with no issues.

Extras: House of Horrors

The film is presented with the following extras.

Audio commentary with Stephen Jones and Kim Newman
Trailer (1:10)
Stills Gallery

Conclusion: House of Horrors

As an eighties kid, I was surprised that House Of Horrors would stand out the most to me of all four films in this collection, even after the pleasantly comedic Horror Island. Although technically, Rocketeer was a nineties film, it very much feels part of the eighties, and one of the most memorable characters in the film was the heavy, Lothar, played by Tiny Ron. He wore a mask for the role that seemed monstrous and far-fetched, a perfectly villainous creation who contrasted well with his debonair employer played by Timothy Dalton. I always thought that Lothar was just a fantastic, fictional creation, but House of Horrors reveals the real person that Lothar was based on, the actor Rondo Hatton, star of many horror movies, and portraying the Creeper here. The actor had acromegaly, the same condition that affected Andre the Giant, and which in Hatton’s case gave him the distinctive visage that has the Creeper described as the perfect Neanderthal in House of Horrors.


It’s an interesting and quite striking film too, although once again, it’s more of a crime thriller with horror leanings, rather than an out an out horror. Sure the Creeper makes for an effective monster, especially with the way his depredations are portrayed in shadow or silhouette. But he is a serial killer, not a supernatural fiend at all. In some ways he is portrayed as a force of nature, compelled to his murderous spree by what he is. The real monster of the piece is the sculptor, De Lange, who at first glance appears to be a kind and gentle man, albeit with the stereotypical tortured soul of an artist.


It’s when he rescues the Creeper that we begin to see just how manipulative and cunning he is. He very quickly recognises the monster that he has rescued, and through suggestion and implication, as well as playing on the Creeper’s sense of gratitude, starts pointing him towards the critics that have plagued him. Naturally there is a police investigation as soon as the body count rises, and things get complicated when a critic sympathetic to De Lange’s work gets into the mix. There is of course the gaping plot hole that De Lange’s next sculpture masterpiece will implicate him in the crimes, but it’s hard to let something like logic matter when the film manages to hold the attention as well as House of Horrors does.

7/10

In Summary

It happened again, I say that I’m not a horror fan, but Eureka send me the Creeping Horror collection of four films, and I find something to appreciate in each of them, and I actually enjoyed two of them, although I’d stretch to calling them traditional horror movies as most people would know horror. The presentation on these discs is excellent, and they all get informative audio commentaries to accompany them. If you are a fan of classic Universal horror, then these films are definitely worth watching.

Creeping Horror can be bought directly from Eureka Entertainment as well as the usual mainstream retailers.