settima

horror

The Damned [These Are the Damned] (Joseph Losey, 1962)

Mar

19

National Automatic Door Day

The Damned (1962)

An 11-year old boy, Henry (Kit Williams), opens a featureless door in a rock surface for a drenched King (Oliver Reed). DP: Arthur Grant.

An American tourist visiting Dorset is tricked by a prostitute, then falls victim to a youth gang controlled by volatile con King – a still very green Oliver Reed at his meanest. The trickster is King's sister, who confides in the American hoping to escape her brother's incestuous advances.

“I'm strange, all right! I'll show you just how strange I am!”

– King

The couple elopes to a nearby island, closely followed by King and his gang, where they find a group of #children, all contently living in an underground lab, with #AutomaticDoors only they can control.

 

They are the damned.

Carnival of Souls [Corridors of Evil] (Herk Harvey, 1962)

Mar

13

National Open An Umbrella Indoors Day

Carnival of Souls (1962)

Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss) looking around in wonder. DP: Maurice Prather.

A slice of teenage bravura is just enough for a couple of kids to #dare each other to a drag race. Hours after the car of one of them had plunged from a bridge into the murky waters below, Mary Henry resurfaces.

“It's funny… the world is so different in the daylight. In the dark, your fantasies get so out of hand. But in the daylight everything falls back into place again.”

– Mary Henry

Carnival of Souls was Herk Harvey's sole feature length film. He's much better known – albeit mostly uncredited – for his short PSAs including Halloween Safety, ruining your kids' favourite holiday since 1977, and Shake Hands With Danger (1980).

 

You don't have to tell Three Finger Joe about taking no risks.

The Queen of Spades (Thorold Dickinson, 1949)

Feb

22

Play More Cards Day

The Queen of Spades (1949)

The young Countess (Pauline Tennant) surrounded by nobility, playing cards in domino. DP: Otto Heller.

Someone's playing cards.

“Why, you might end up by gaining a fortune… or losing your precious soul.”

– bookseller