Howard Vernon — Actor (39)
Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein (1972) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB Eggplant.place
Dracula contra Frankenstein
director: Jesús Franco actor: Howard Vernon / Dennis Price
other title: Die Nacht der offenen Särge / Dracula prisonnier de Frankenstein
Dracula kills another innocent victim and Dr. Seward decides it's time to wipe him off the face of the earth. Armed with a hammer and a wooden stake, he arrives at Castle Dracula and duly dispatches the vampire Count. Next day, however, Dr. Frankenstein arrives with his assistant, Morpho, and a large crate containing the monster. Using the blood of a pub singer who has been abducted by his creation, the doctor brings Dracula back to life and uses him for his own ends. The Count and a female vampire continue to terrorise the town, so Dr Seward once again sets out for Castle Dracula. Unfortunately, he is attacked by the Frankenstein monster and left for dead. Amira, a gypsy, rescues him and summons up a werewolf to do battle with the forces of evil...
Sex Charade (1972) [Movie] TMDB Douban
Sex Charade
director: Jesús Franco actor: Soledad Miranda / Paul Müller
other title: 性猜谜 / A comme apocalypse
The story revolves around Anne who is held hostage by an escaped maniac from an insane asylum. The fugitive forces her to tell stories to prevent her from getting help. Anne then spins a fanciful tale about a girl's escape from her imprisonment by savages and her longing to return to captivity.
Lovers of Devil's Island (1973) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Quartier de femmes
other title: Quartier de femmes / Los amantes de la Isla del Diablo
A lawyer finds out that a young couple convicted of murder was in fact framed for the crime and goes to the prison with the hope of freeing them and learns the events that happened to the two from a fellow prisoner who helped them escape.
The Lake of the Living Dead (1981) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Le Lac des morts vivants
director: jean rollin actor: 霍华德·沃侬 / Antonio Mayans
other title: 魔鬼湖 / Le Lac des morts vivants
Set in an unspecified French village, the locals are shocked when a group of girls skinny dipping in the nearby lake (all very tastefully done I hasten to add) are killed by a group of zombiefied Nazi soldiers, that spring up out of the waters and drag them down to their demise.
A couple of detectives are brought in to try and solve the mysterious murders, only to end up as the zombies next victims. It turns out that during the war, the French resistance ambushed and killed a squad of German soldiers and dumped the bodies into the nearby lake, but failed to take notice of any of the local superstitions (never a wise move). Although, seeing as this film appears to be set in the early 80's, why it's taken so long for them to emerge and start killing people is a bit of a mystery, but there you go.
Not-with-standing, the villagers quickly organise a lynch mob to take down the zombie menace, only to end up being decimated by the undead soldiers, who's 'convincing' zombie make-up basically consists of green paint, which doesn't even cover the whole of the actors faces and keeps washing off in the lake.
There's also a bizarre sub plot about one of the zombies visiting his former daughter, who strangely still looks all of 12 despite the fact she should be in her 40's if she was born near the end of the war, but then since when did logic ever come into these films? Such as why do their uniforms still look almost new despite being underwater for 40 years, or how come the skinny dipping girls are only knee deep in the water when viewed from the lakeside, yet appear to be swimming in 12 feet of it from the underwater shots?
Bad acting, naff zombie make-up (the aforementioned green face paint), painfully obvious underwater shots filmed in a swimming pool, not to mention the plot inconsistencies bigger than the aforementioned lake itself. Low budget doesn't even begin to describe this film, which quite unbelievably was directed by respected Eurohorror director Jean Rollin, albeit under the pseudo name J A Laser.
That's not to say the film isn't without merit. I bust a gut laughing at the thoroughly ridiculous scenes of the zombies attacking the naked young girls, and the equally ridiculous slapstick battle with the angry villagers. Utterly hilarious, grab the six pack and the popcorn and have a blast!
Seven Women for Satan (1976) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Les week-ends maléfiques du Comte Zaroff
other title: 扎洛夫伯爵的邪恶周末 / Les week-ends maléfiques du Comte Zaroff
Boris Zaroff is a modern businessman who is haunted by his past -- his father was the notorious Count Zaroff of The Most Dangerous Game fame. Consequently, Boris is subject to hallucinations and all-too-real social lapses which normally involve sadistic harm to beautiful naked young women. His butler is sworn to indoctrinating him into the evils of the family line, and their castle's torture dungeon proves quite useful in this regard. However, Boris is periodically lured away from his destiny by the romantic apparition of the deceased countess who previously owned the castle.
The Dinosaur and the Baby (1967) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Cinéastes de notre temps : Le Dinosaure et le Bébé, dialogue en huit parties entre Fritz Lang et Jean-Luc Godard
other title: Le dinosaure et le bébe, dialogue en huit parties entre Fritz Lang et Jean-Luc Godard / Cinéastes de notre temps : Le Dinosaure et le Bébé, dialogue en huit parties entre Fritz Lang et Jean-Luc Godard
An hour-long discussion between Fritz Lang and Jean-Luc Godard in which they discuss a variety of art forms, the role of the cinema, their collaboration together, and much more. (Filmed in 1964 but released for TV in 1967.)
The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Gritos en la noche
director: 赫苏斯·佛朗哥 actor: 霍华德·沃侬 / 孔拉多·圣马丁
other title: 可怕的奥勒弗 / Gritos en la noche
Dr. Orlof, a former prison doctor, abducts beautiful women from nightclubs to use their skin to repair his daughter's fire-scarred face. He is assisted by Morpho, a deformed monstrosity who delights in biting his victims. Orlof had better hurry, though -- a young police inspector and his ballerina girlfriend are onto his sadistic practices.
She Killed In Ecstasy (1971) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Sie tötete in Ekstase
director: 赫苏斯·佛朗哥 actor: 索莱达德·米兰达 / 弗莱德.威廉姆斯
other title: 痴迷女杀手 / Sie tötete in Ekstase
A young doctor kills himself after a medical committee terminates his research into human embryos, considering it too inhumane. His wife then seeks revenge on those who drove her husband to his death by luring each member of the committee into compromising situations and then killing them one by one.
Daughter of Dracula (1972) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
La Fille de Dracula
director: 赫苏斯·佛朗哥 actor: Britt Nichols / 安妮·利贝尔
other title: 德古拉的女儿 / La Fille de Dracula
A young woman visits her gravely ill grandmother at the family estate. On her death bed, the old woman reveals to her granddaughter the family curse: they're all vampires. The young woman decides to move into the estate with her uncle and her cousin, and soon finds herself falling victim to the curse.
The Bogeyman and the French Murders (1972) [Movie] Douban
Casa d'appuntamento
director: Ferdinando Merighi actor: Anita Ekberg / Rosalba Neri
other title: 法国性谋杀 / Casa d'appuntamento
Formerly, the usual UK title was THE BOGEY MAN AND THE FRENCH MURDERS. There's also a Greek video with the sleeve title, CALL GIRLS FOR INSPECTOR BOGART. The inspector is not named Bogart, nor does he get any call girls, but who cares? It's a title that sells.
There's a killer in Paris, a suicide from the Eiffel Tower, a brothel as the main setting, insane professors, an eye-ball thief, an inspector who looks like Humphrey Bogart (for no apparent reason), a truly creepy Anita Ekberg, and an impressive line-up of Euro-stars. How Dick Randall assembled this cast is beyond me, but he did it. Besides Anita Ekberg, there's Rosalba Neri (who even sings a song in a nightclub), Barbara Bouchet, Evelyn Kraft, Howard Vernon, and Robert Sacchi as inspector Pontaine or Humphrey Bogart. The title is pretty accurate. The murders take place during, before or after sex in a brothel in Paris. In between, the Bogey-man snoops around trying to track down the killer, but he is not too bright. You'll probably have figured it out long before he does.
The film's producer was American Dick Randall who took residence in Rome in the '60s but basically was wherever the deals where made, which meant Rome in the '60s, Bangkok and Hong Kong in the '70s and London in the '80s. Whilst residing in Italy, he payed close attention and decided to take a shot at the giallo as well, and produced this piece of cinematic soufflé. It's a perfect example of totally round the bend Euro-tosh, with a rather tame execution actually. The direction is not wildly imaginative, a workman's job at best, so don't expect outrageous Italian craftsmanship and style here, but some spicing-up in the editing by Bruno Mattei.
The special effects were done by future Oscar-winner Carlo Rambaldi of ET fame. I guess he learned a lot since this one. Of course, the presence of Robert Sacchi, among some other ingredients (mostly the cast) give this film a certain weird identity of its own. All together, it's pretty much a poor man's interpretation of an Italian Giallo.
The version on Mondo Macabro's DVD never existed in this form. From various copies, they assembled the longest version they could possibly paste together. There's an English audio-track, but a couple of scenes appear in Italian with subtitles.
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The Death of Empedocles (1987) [Movie] WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Der Tod des Empedokles oder: Wenn dann der Erde Grün von neuem Euch erglänzt
director: 达尼埃尔·于伊耶 / 让-马里·斯特劳布 actor: 威廉姆·伯格 / Georg Brintrup
other title: 恩培多克勒之死 / Der Tod des Empedokles oder: Wenn dann der Erde Grün von neuem Euch erglänzt
The subject of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub’s Der Tod des Empedokles (The Death of Empedocles, 1987) is the Greek pre-Socratic philosopher Empedocles (c. 490 BC – 430 BC), who lived in the Greek colony of Agrigentum in Sicily. His theories are mentioned in several of Plato’s dialogues. He maintained that all matter is made up of four irreducible elements: water, earth, air and fire. A mystic and a poet, he is considered to be the founder of classical rhetoric. He is also thought to be the last Greek philosopher to write in verse; two fragments of his works survive: Katharmoi (Purifications) and Peri Phuseôs (On Nature). An advocate of democracy, he came into conflict with his fellow citizens of Agrigentum and, as result, was banished with his young disciple, Pausanius. When he was asked to return, he preferred to commit suicide by throwing himself into the active volcano at Mount Aetna.
The German writer Friedrich Hölderlin wrote two versions of Der Tod des Empedokles in 1798 and 1800, and a final third version in 1820, all three ultimately unfinished. They were conceived as five-act tragedies and all three differ in plot. According to Michael Hamburger, Hölderlin’s English-language translator,
the main reason why Hölderlin finished no version of the play must be that he remained too closely identified with Empedocles, at the very period in his life when his own view of the poet as philosopher, prophet and priest – and as tragic hero – was subject to perpetual crisis and re-examination.
Huillet-Straub’s The Death of Empedocles is based on Hölderlin’s first version (the longest of the three), whereas Black Sin is based on the third version.