3 random great monsters in 3 mediocre movies
3 random great monsters in 3 mediocre movies
Watching mediocre movies often feels like a disappointment and a waste of time but not always though!Sometimes there is still something present in those movies that make it worthwhile, such as a great scene, a good and effective scare moment, or as in this case; some very memorable monsters/killers.
Here are 3 random examples of this and stay tuned for more articles like this, coming soon!
Dr. Freudstein
From the 1981 Lucio Fulci movie The House by the Cemetery (original Italian title Quella villa accanto al cimitero)A great creepy look and a great name but terribly underused in the movie as the main killer/evil monster. The movie is a bit of an odd and ineffective blend of different horror ingredients from sub-genres, such as Giallo, classic haunted house and straightforward slasher movies.
It's not a very well written or balanced movie and Fulci's directing lacks a clear direction. The movie feels messy and visually it also isn't the most impressive or appealing movie to watch, despite a large amount of (very over-the-top) gore in it.
Dr. Freudstein (played by Giovanni De Nava) definitely deserved to be in a better and more memorable movie, since that way he, no doubt, would be considered to be a great and classic movie monster, even till this very day.
The blind templar knights
The blind templar knights are some terribly creepy looking, zombie like creatures, who appeared in 4 different movies, as well as in a terrible 1985 'remake' by Spanish schlock director Jesús Franco.
They first made their appearance in the other Spanish language movie Tombs of the Blind Dead (original Spanish title La noche del terror ciego), from 1972 (or 1971, according to some other sources).
The premise of the movies sound absolutely awesome; 'In the 13th century there existed a legion of evil knights known as the Templars, who quested for eternal life by drinking human blood and committing sacrifices. Executed for their unholy deeds, the Templars bodies were left out for the crows to peck out their eyes. Now, in modern day Portugal, a group of people stumble on the Templars abandoned monastery, reviving their rotting corpses to terrorize the land.' source.
Yet all of the movies are absolutely uneventful ones and it often takes the longest time for anything good to happen. Granted that some of the movies from the series feature some great and creepy horror moments in them, such as when the knights 'aweken' the movies in general are mostly disappointing ones, without any good characters or even much of a story in them.
The blind templar knights can't see you but they can definitely hear and smell you. Sounds a bit familiar? The blind templar knights definitly resemble the Nazgûl from the The Lord of Rings movies, not just in the way they look but also in the way how they behave, move around and ride their horses chasing their victims through an open field. I wouldn't at all be suprised if Peter Jackson saw one or more of the 'blind dead' movies, not in the least because some of the scenes show more than a few similarities in the way how they are set up an shot.
The 3 other movies in the series are titled Return of the Evil Dead (El ataque de los muertos sin ojos), The Ghost Galleon (El buque maldito) and Night of the Seagulls (La noche de las gaviotas)
The Gorgon
Out of all of the Hammer Studios movies that I have seen, espcially the ones starring both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in them, The Gorgon from 1964, directed by Terence Fisher, is possibly the most boring, most rushed and cheapest one of them, yet at the same time it still features some of the best and biggest scare moments out of any Hammer movie in it.The way how the Gorgon (played by Prudence Hyman) lurks around in the background and creeps up upon her victims is absolutely classic and creepy, especially knowing how lethal and hard to beat she is. The look and makeup on her besides is all great looking, which adds to creepiness of the character. Her looks literally kill and she doesn't need to run around with a knife or axe to scare her victims and kill them with. All she has to do is stare at them, which is scary on its own.
The character isn't a classic Hammer one such as the Dracula, Frankenstein or the Mummy character but she definitly in my opinion still remains the scariest one out of all of them.
