TERROR
CREATURES FROM THE GRAVE (1965)
Directed by Ralph Zucker (Massimo
Pupillo)
Alpha DVD
Reviewed 12.15.04
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
Sometimes, I daydream about perfect
late nights in front of the tube.
I usually stack such visions with
the best of possible options: Friday
night, my wife watching by my side
(or sleeping -- you can’t
expect a non-trash devotee to get
through all of these films), dead
quiet outside, and an out of this
world creepy film. Unfortunately,
late Friday nights almost never
work out so perfectly.
That’s why I’m happy.
Two weeks ago, I had never heard
of Terror Creatures From
The Grave. Tonight, I’m
basking in the warm glow of mid-60s
spook comfort. Never obvious or
petty, this is a straight up sliver
of black and white Italian horror
par excellence; foreboding photography,
smart writing, gothic graveyards,
and surprisingly gory killings.
The lightning strikes at just the
right time, every time, and Barbara
Steele’s Vampira/Morticia
swank has never looked better. Is
that a squealing theremin I hear?
Jerimonius Hauff is dead. So how
in the world did he mail a letter
to his lawyer, signed and stamped
with an official seal? Albert Kovac,
partner of said lawyer, travels
to Hauff’s castle estate to
find out. Once there, he encounters
Hauff’s wife, Cleo (Barbara
Steele), his light-headed daughter,
the beginning of a string of killings,
and a whole lot of mystery. As it
turns out, the estate resides on
a graveyard that was used to dispose
of plague victims in the old days.
Before he died, Jerimonius was dabbling
in the mystic arts, learning to
communicate with the victims and
strengthen his “dark powers.”
Are the odd hauntings, perpetrated
by Hauff's ghost, really taking
place? Or is he really back from
the dead, commanding a small legion
of zombies to enact his bloody revenge
a year after his demise. Wait a
minute. What revenge?! Divulging
anything else would destroy the
experience for you. So that’s
all you’re going to get.
Anyone looking for an explosion
of scares should be warned: Terror
Creatures is both subtle
and over-the-top. There’s
a large amount of dialogue in this
picture, but it’s completely
balanced by the frightening visuals
-- sparse cemeteries in the middle
of the night, a collection of severed,
stuffed hands, and the sometimes-artsy
edits. If you’re patient in
taking in the dialogue, the usual
exploitive elements only prove to
be that much more of a payoff. Although
the film is poorly dubbed (with
some humorous “thought bubble”
moments from Albert), the performances
don’t suffer. We even get
some bizarre electronic sound effects
and a mood enhancing theremin score.
Now that’s a good night’s
watch.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Here’s where we separate the
crowds. While the letterboxed picture
quality is totally fine (VHS quality,
decent contrast), the print suffers
from numerous jump cuts, some minor
split-second focus problems, a couple
of blips, and an odd fluttering,
which affects both the picture and
the letterboxed areas. About halfway
through, things clean up a bit though.
The mono sound was hissy, but vintage
sounding. There were a couple of
weird audio blips (and some noticeable
noise) towards the end, causing
a few voices to sound like satan.
So basically, if you’re a
stickler on print quality, you’ll
probably go crazy. Didn’t
bother me too much though. Please
note: the film actually runs 82
minutes, as opposed to the 61 minutes
listed on the back cover.
EXTRAS
Pleasant surprise, surprise! Alpha
includes a nifty theatrical trailer
for the feature in addition to the
standard DVD cover gallery. Quality
is similar to the film, but a little
more washed out.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Terror Creatures is
most definitely worth owning. Your
tolerance for rough prints will
probably influence the deciding
factor, but until an upgrade comes
along, I’d recommend you cancel
your plans for next Friday night. |
Perfect shot?
Definite creeps
Plague goop
Lens smear = flashback
|
