PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Science Fiction Sunday 845

Quatermass II 1957 Based on the 1955 TV serial Quatermass II by Nigel Kneale, screenplay by Nigel Kneale and Val Guest, directed by Val Guest. I've seen this several times over the years as well as multiple viewings of the TV serial. I posted about it back in 2015 and included a link to the TV serials for both movies on the Internet Archive. The Quatermass series was produced and released by Hammer Productions.

Aliens are invading Britain, Quatermass finds out about it when he stops to help a couple in a car who have had an accident. The aliens are arriving in small stone meteors, then they burst open near a human they take over that human and turn it into an unwilling slave. The aliens have built a giant facility in Winnerden Flats. Quatermass arranges a trip there and finds out things don't add up. The scene the burnt man made an impression on me when I saw it

The nearby townies get riled up when the guards for the project invade the local pub and kill a newspaper reporter who was calling a story into the paper. The reporter was played by one of my favorite actors, Sid James. The locals rise and attack the plant. There's a ferocious battle as the townies take over a control room. Quatermass figures how to sabotage the system. One of the townies fires a rocket at the big dome and it blows up. Giant creatures are revealed and eventually burnt to a crisp. Quatermass's rocket is launched to destroy the alien's secret base in space.

It's my favorite of the Quatermass films, there's a nice mix of science, investigating and action. I upgraded to the Blu-ray to get all the extras. Now to find time to watch all those too. Also mentioned on that post is a Edward Everett Horton film called The Body Disappears. A comedy invisible man movie that can be found on the Internet Archive. Worth a look. I'm downloading a upgrade to the copy I taped off of TCM.

Quatermass And The Pit 1967 Based on the BBC TV serial by Nigel Kneale, screenplay by Nigel Kneale, directed by Roy Ward Baker. A Hammer film that I've seen several times. I blogged about this film and the first two adaptations in 2010. Here's a blog post about the TV versions of Quatermass II and Quatermass And The Pit from 2010.

Quatermass winds up helping determine what the strange object found while rebuilding the underground station at Hobb's End is all about. Turns out to be another alien invasion. The artifact is from 5,000,000 years ago but it's still active. Over the millions of years it's affected the locals and it was the same at Hobb's End, people have been driven mad by the psychic energy.

They open the artifact and find desiccated bug people, dead for 5 million years. The artifact is their ship and it's what's active. Eventually Quatermass destroys the active bit of the ship and the world is saved once again. Yay.

I also bought the Blu-ray of this film for the extras. Time, yada, yada.

Friday Night Movies 1045

X The Unknown 1956 Story and screenplay by Jimmy Sangster, directed by Leslie Norman. A Hammer film with Dean Jagger as the scientist who saves the day. I recently picked up the Blu-ray of the film. We'd watched it on FNM back in April 2016. I'm home sick so I decided to watch it myself so I can pack the BR away. 

Some soldiers are attacked by some radioactive mud. The Army is puzzled and calls in some scientists, Dean Jagger comes from the Atomic Energy Laboratory, Leo McKern joins Dean, Leo's the head of security of the UK Atomic Energy Commission. While the work to figure out what's going on the body count rises, men, women and little boys are all victims to the sludge. Dean figures out how to kill the creature before the end of the movie.

I've seen it several times over the years an still enjoy it. I'll have to get around to the commentary sometime.

Lake Of The Dead 1958 Based on the 1942 novel by  André Bjerke, screenplay by André Bjerke and Kåre Bergstrøm, directed by Kåre Bergstrøm. Both writer and director appear in the film as members of the group visiting the cabin. A Norwegian folk horror film from the All The Haunts Be Ours box set from Severin. It's taking a while for me to get through the set but that's life.

A group of six friends from Oslo travel by train to the Østeral forest to visit the brother of one of the group. When they get to his cabin the brother is missing. They find his dog dead, shot in the head, by the lake. The lake has a legend about a double murder and suicide that happened a number of years before. The story goes that anyone who stays in the cabin will drown themselves in the lake.

A couple of the group do die, then the brother turns up. He's crazy and his brain is filled with thoughts of murder. Not a group one would want to socialize with. Eventually things are sorted out and some of them go home.

It's rather lackluster and dour but it's short, 77 min, length helps getting to the end. It was interesting enough, I hope to rewatch it again someday. I also hope to  get to the extras at some point.

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The Bride From Hades 1956 Based on a Japanese ghost story called Botan Dōrō, screenplay by Enchô San'yûtei and Yoshikata Yoda, directed by Satsuo Yamamoto. The film is known under several names: Bride from Hell, Haunted Lantern, Ghost Beauty, My Bride is a Ghost or Peony Lanterns. There were 7 film adaptations between 1910 and 1937 but all are gone. Other adaptations have followed making it one of the most adapted folk horror stories. 

A young man called Shinzaburo is estranged from his family. His father wants him to marry a woman to strengthen the family's power. He doesn't love the woman and won't cooperate, choosing to live simply among the poor peasants. On the evening of the Obon Festival Shinzaburo meets a couple of women and helps them when their floating lanterns get stuck in the weeds.

They visit his home after the festival. Shinzaburo becomes infatuated with the younger woman who's called Otsuyu until it's revealed to him she's a ghost. The local villagers try to help him fend off the ghost but they are determined. The ghosts get help from the horrible couple that work for Shinzaburo. The couple think they can bribe the ghosts and they can. Shinzaburo is a rather weak man and things have a rather bittersweet ending for him. I did enjoy the nice and gory ending that befell the horrible couple.

I enjoyed the movie and would be interested in watching it again some day. We watched the new Radiance Blu-ray box set, it's packaged with The Ghost Of Yotsuya and The Snow Women. The Bride Of Hades looks fine and the set is one to consider. I'd recommend the movie to those who like a ghost story and a bit of vengeance.

Sumpah Orang Minyak 1956 Based on the Malaysian folk horror story Curse Of The Oily Man, screenplay by Teuku Djaafar and P Ramlee and S Sudarmadji, directed by P Ramlee, produced by Run Run Shaw and distributed by his production company. P Ramlee also plays the main character Si Bongkok.

Si Bangkok is a hunchbacked man in a small village at the turn of the last century. He's picked on by the local bullies for his deformed face and body. They harass him and beat him without much opposition from the other villagers. Si Bongkok is befriended by local batik cloth seller Selamat. His cloth sales have been poor, the ladies don't want his out of date patterns. Turns out Si Bongkok is a great artist and his patterns are quite nice, they become much desired by the local ladies.

After Si Bongkok's latest vicious beating the gods bring him to heaven and grant him a wish because he's got a good heart. He only gets one wish and no more. Si Bongkok chooses beauty from the list of favors. He's made handsome and falls in love with the pretty lady in the picture. She's a princess in heaven. Sadly he can't stay in heaven, she can't leave with him and he can't change his wish. He also has to keep from killing anyone or he'll be punished severely.

Si Bongkok returns to the same village and reveals who he is to Selamat. He gets back to designing cloth patterns and they do well in the market place. Pride gets the best of him and and he brags to the village he's the old hunchback. He tries to steal a man's fiance, one of the men that beat him in the past, they fight, the bully is killed. Si Bongkok is turned into the oily man as punishment. Our disgraced hero becomes a monster with rape and murder on his mind. The locals have a hard time getting him under control, lucky for them they're helped by the gods.

YouTube has copies of the movie, the better looking ones are sadly deformed by logos and TV crawls reminding you about Covid-19. There's a colorized version that has Covid-19 crawls and some different logos. No matter, I still enjoyed the movie and was happy to see it. It would be nice to see a good version of this out. It would be ideal for an inclusion in a Severin folk horror box set.

Back From The Dead 1957

Back From The Dead 1957 Based on the novel The Other One by Catherine Turney, screenplay by Catherine Turney, directed by Charles Marquis Warren. I watched the Kino Lorber Blu-ray. The movie was released in 1957 on a double bill with Warren's The Unknown Terror.

Arthur Franz is Dick, he's vacationing with his pregnant wife Mandy, she's played by Peggy Castle, Mandy's sister Kate, played by Marsha Hunt, is vacationing with them on the California coast. Mandy gets possessed by Dick's evil first wife Felicity, who drowned 6 years before in the same coastal town. Mandy has a miscarriage and starts telling everyone she's Felicity. The doctor tells them to humor her as Mandy's brain works through the trauma of losing her baby.

Felicity's mother is the one responsible for the possession, she wants her daughter to return. Also interested are members of the local black magic cult lead by a man called Renault. He wants Mandy, even in another body, he tosses aside Nancy, the women he's currently fleecing, to get her. Things go bad for Renault as Dick, Kate and their pal John fight back. Eventually good wins out and the ghost is banished.

It's pretty average and kind of low-key. I still got to the ending, in fact I watched it twice more as I listened to the two commentary tracks. One is by Tom Weaver with Gary D Rhodes and Larry Blamire, the other is by David Del Valle and Dana M Reemes. Tom's not much of a fan of the movie and he complains occasionally, the other two seem to have enjoyed the film somewhat more. The movie looks fine but there are no other extras. I'd watch it again but it's going to be a while before I get to it.

Friday Night Movies 983

Watari The Ninja Boy 1966 Based on a manga by Sampei Shirato, screenplay by Masaru Igami and Shunichi Nishimura, directed by Sadao Funatoko. A Japanese live action fantasy film. We watched the Blu-ray from Shout! Factory's collection of 1960s Japanese Tokusatsu films.

A local baddie is stirring up animosity between the Iga and Coga clans. Watari is a young lad who fights with an ax on a rope and some magical ninja techniques. He discovers someone has been kidnapping children and forcing them to become ninja slaves. It all ties in with the plan to make the Iga and Coga clans fight. Watari has to fight various ninjas, they don't do so well, the boy is deadly. He has help from a few of the kids.

There are plenty of fights and many die, including some kids. There's plenty of great looking, massive sets and models. It's entertaining, colorful and amusing. If you're a fan of the manga from that era this might appeal to you. The Blu-ray set seems to be an exclusive from Shout! Factory, I'm ordering one today. Hope the other films are as entertaining. There's a copy on Tubi you can watch, link above.

I Vampire 1957 Story by Piero Regnoli, screenplay by Piero Regnoli and Riccardo Freda, directed by Riccardo Freda, an uncredited Mario Bava was involved with the script and direction.From the IMDb trivia page:

Ricardo Freda made the film on a bet to producers that he could complete in 12 days. After day 10, Freda realized that the film couldn't be finished on-schedule. After his requests for an extension were denied, cinematographer Mario Bava re-wrote the script so that the film could be finished in two days, and directed the remaining scenes himself.

The IMDb says it was the first Italian horror film of the sound era. It was called I Vampiri in Italy, a chopped up version called The Devil's Commandment was released in the US, where it was also released as Lust Of The Vampire.

A mad countess has a pet mad scientist in her castle. His job is to keep her alive. He has a formula and a machine that transfer's the blood from young and healthy women to the countess. The young and healthy aren't able to survive the process. The bloodless bodies are starting to appear and the papers are saying it's the work of a vampire. There isn't any vampire. Just a horrible old lady who's insanely afraid of getting old.

Of course the process doesn't work so well after several treatments. A local reporter finds a couple of clues that help him and the police figure out who the villain is. It ends with plenty of murder.

It was mostly OK. While I wouldn't rush out to buy the Blu-ray I would take a download. You can see it on YouTube with English subtitles. 

Science Fiction Sunday 779

The Brain Eaters 1958 Loosely based on The Puppet Masters by Robert A Heinlein (uncredited), written by Gordon Urquhart, directed by Bruno VeSota. Roger Corman was approached by VeSota, he helped him raise money and distribute the film through AIP. The budget was $26,000 and the film was shot in 6 days. Heinlein had no idea they'd stolen some of his plot until the movie came out. Here's a bit from the Wikipedia.

After its release, science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein sued for plagiarism, asking for damages of $150,000, claiming that The Brain Eaters was based on his 1951 novel The Puppet Masters. Corman insisted that he was unfamiliar with Heinlein's work, both while reading the script and during the film's production. He did, however, see the obvious comparisons once he'd read the novel, so Corman settled out of court for $5,000 and acceded to Heinlein's demand that he receive no screen credit, as the author found the film "wanting". The lawsuit that resulted halted actor John Payne's intention of producing a film based on Heinlein's novel.

A strange cone appears near a small Illinois town. Small creatures take over some humans in order to establish a base for an invasion. Not of creatures from outer space like the local human's first thought but creatures from deep underground. The creature had been there for millions of years. Some locals team up with a Senator and his aid to fight the creatures.

I've seen this a few times over the years but it's been a while. It's only average but despite the low budget and lack of production values the film provides entertainment.

The Brain From Planet Arous 1957 Written by Ray Buffum, directed by Nathan H Juran under the name Nathan Hertz. Nathan was unhappy with the final film and used that pseudonym.

An evil brain shaped creature has come from Arous to take over the Earth. He picks John Agar to host his body. A second brain from Arous shows up and joins with John's fiance, her dog and her father to fight the monster within John.

At another that's barely climbs above average but is still entertaining. It's well referenced in other media and has become a bit of a cult film. It was the inspiration for the Zontar episode of Second City Television.

The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 2

The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 2 There are 6 Blu-ray discs and a soundtrack CD in the set.

Uncle Was A Vampire 1959 Story and screenplay by Edoardo Anton, Marcello Fondato, Sandro Continenza, Dino Verde, Steno and Renato Rascel, directed by Steno. 

Baron Osvaldo Lambertenghi is up to his ears in debt, he has to sell his castle to a hotel chain, they give him some money, he gives it to the government for his taxes and the hotel manager gives him a bellhop job. Osvaldo's uncle Baron Roderico da Frankurten (Christopher Lee) shows up expecting to stay at the castle. Baron Frankurten doesn't show up for a good while and then isn't in much of the movie after that.

Osvaldo gets bitten by his uncle and goes on a biting spree. Instead of killing his victims, all lovely ladies at the hotel, he manages to get 42 women to fall under his spell. The husbands and boyfriends of the ladies start chasing him around with stakes. Lucky for him the curse can be lifted and most everyone gets back to normal.

It's got a big mess for a plot and it's rather lacking in good gags to carry us along to the end. It's like a sex farce with vampires but no nudity. I'd give it a 5 if it had the jokes to go along with the story but I had to take a point off for that. Lee doesn't have much to do when he's on the screen. Hope he got paid well.

The disc has some extras: Interview with European film historian Dr Pasqule Iannone, an alternate cut from an Italian broadcast master, alternate cut commentary with Christopher Lee biographer Jonathan Rigby and Hammer historian Kevin Lyons.

The Secret Of The Red Orchid 1962 Based on an Edgar Wallace novel, screenplay by Egon Eis, directed by Helmut Ashley. Another Rialto film production shot in Hamburg with location shooting in London and Cuxhaven Harbour. 

Gangsters from Chicago bring their typewriters to London and blast their way into society. Their demand is simple, pay up or die. Klaus Kinski and Eric Pohlmann play rival hoods from the Windy City. Their brutal methods don't go unnoticed.

Christopher Lee plays an American FBI agent sent to help Scotland Yard. Christopher spoke German in the German release and his voice was dubbed by someone else in the English release. Go figure. Adrian Hoven plays Scotland Yard Inspector Weston and Eddi Aren't plays a comical butler.

It seems a bit slow at times but there is a fair bit of action and a few laughs. I enjoyed it. The Blu-ray looks pretty good and there are some extras. There are two commentaries, one by Nathaniel Thompson and Troy Howarth and a second one by Kim Newman & Barry Forshaw, both were fairly interesting. The only other extra was a trailer.

Dark Places 1973 Written by Ed Brennan and Joseph Van Wrinkle, directed by Don Sharp.

Edward inherits a house that's said to be haunted. Christopher Lee plays Dr Mandeville, he was the dead man's doctor, he's looking for two suitcases of case hidden in the house, his sister Sarah is helping. Herbert Lom plays the dead guys lawyer Mr Prescott, he's looking for the money too.

Edward starts hearing noises in the house, he also gets visions of the dead man's life. The dead man had a wife and two children, he was planning to leave them for his mistress. The wife got her psychotic children to murder the mistress. The dead guy killed his wife and children and bricked them all up in the house with the cases of cash and the mistress.

Edward goes off the deep end and kills most everyone left. The The police arrive to arrest him, they recover the cash.

It was mostly entertaining but only about average. There's a commentary by Nathaniel Thompson & Troy Howarth, an interview with Jonathan Rigby, a trailer and a TV spot.

Dracula And Son 1976 Based on a 1975 novel by Claude Klotz, screenplay by Alain Godard, Jean-Marie Poiré and Édouard Molinaro, directed by Édouard Molinaro.

Christopher Lee is Dracula and Bernard Menez is his son Ferdinand. In this universe vampires can breed with humans so Dracula can have a son. The mother dies after Ferdinand is born and he's raised in Dracula's castle in Transylvania.

They're in the castle for a number of years and Ferdinand shows little sign of being a blood sucker like daddy. He's a grown man when WW2 breaks out. Father and son escape but their caskets are thrown into the sea. Dracula winds up London and Ferdinand winds up in Paris.

Years pass and it's modern day, Dracula gets hired to play a vampire in a movie, he becomes famous overnight. Ferdinand sees him on the TV and they are reunited. Ferdinand still doesn't want to be a vampire and he's fallen for a lady.

There's a bit of friction when it turns out Dracula knew her and had his eye on her. It'll all work itself out fairly well.There's a happy ending for our boy Ferdinand but hardly one for his dad.

It's fun to look at, plenty of nice locations and sets. The script isn't great, a lot of the jokes are pretty goofy, but I had a few laughs and was glad to have seen it. I might even want to watch it again someday.

There's a separate disc for the US release. The US producers hacked the movie up and poorly dubbed the film before release. It's painful to watch. I can see why people didn't care for the movie in the US. There's a separate disc for the soundtrack.

The extras are fairly numerous: a commentary by Jonathan Rigby & Kevin Lyons, another with Kat Ellinger, interviews with Bernard Menez, Christopher Lee, Édouard Molinaro and Claude Klotz. There's a trailer, a TV spot and German credit sequences.

MURDER STORY 1988 Written and directed by Eddie Arno & Markus Innocenti. A Dutch British production.

Christopher Lee is a mystery writer and Alexis Denisof wants to write a mystery novel. He picks Chris's brain for plot ideas. Somehow they get involved with some bad men covering up some criminal activities. Poor Chris doesn't last too long and they're after Alexis.

It was a bit above average and I enjoyed it enough to want to watch it again someday.

There's a commentary with Eddie and Markus, an interview with producer Tom Reeve and a trailer.

Mask Of Murder 1988 Written by Volodja Semitjov and directed by Arne Mattsson. There's very little Christopher Lee in this Swedish film. It's supposed to be set in Canada but it's Sweden.

Christopher Lee plays the police chief, he gets shot at some point and doesn't appear in most of the film. Rod Taylor is a cop who goes crazy when his wife leaves him. He starts murdering.

It's watchable but it's all pretty below average, it might be a while before I ever watch it again.

Friday Night Movies 949

Renfield 2023 Story by Robert Kirkman, screenplay by Ryan Ridley and directed by Chris McKay.

Nicolas Cage is Dracula and Nicholas Hoult is his familiar Renfield. After a bad time with some Vampire hunters they decide to hide out in New Orleans while Dracula recovers from most of his flesh being burnt off him. Renfield has to get Dracula humans for food and he's getting tired of it after 90 years together. Renfield is in a 12 step group for people in codependent relationships, it gives him confidence to move away to Dracula. He gets his own studio apartment and go out to a nightclub.

Awkwafina is Rebecca, a cop in New Orleans, her father was killed by Teddy Lobo, the son of the local crime boss, his mom Bellafrancesca. Rebecca wants to put him away and an opertunity to arrest Teddy comes up during a traffic stop. Sadly the force is corrupt and under the thumb of Bellafrancesca. Pissed off the Lobo crime family sends their baddies after Renfield and Rebecca. Luckily Renfield can tosses back a bug to activate his vampire powers to keep her alive.

The rest of the movie is a series of battles, Renfield and Rebecca try to survive with the Lobo's, the cops and Dracula all after them. It's not a good day for any of those guys. Body parts are flying everywhere. There's plenty of action, plenty of gore and plenty of gags. I thought it was a hoot and will pick up the Blu-ray at some point.

Uncle Was A Vampire 1959 Story and screenplay by Edoardo Anton, Marcello Fondato, Sandro Continenza, Dino Verde, Steno and Renato Rascel, directed by Steno. Titled Tempi duri per i vampiri in Italy, that translates to Hard Times for Vampires. It was Christopher Lee's first Italian picture, it's on Blu-ray in The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection 2 from Severn.

Baron Osvaldo Lambertenghi is up to his ears in debt, he has to sell his castle to a hotel chain, they give him some money, he gives it to the government for his taxes and the hotel manager gives him a bellhop job. Osvaldo's uncle Baron Roderico da Frankurten (Christopher Lee) shows up expecting to stay at the castle. Baron Frankurten doesn't show up for a good while and then isn't in much of the movie after that.

Osvaldo gets bitten by his uncle and goes on a biting spree. Instead of killing his victims, all lovely ladies at the hotel, he manages to get 42 women to fall under his spell. The husbands and boyfriends of the ladies start chasing him around with stakes. Lucky for him the curse can be lifted and most everyone gets back to normal.

It's got a big mess for a plot and it's rather lacking in good gags to carry us along to the end. It's like a sex farce with vampires but no nudity. I'd give it a 5 if it had the jokes to go along with the story but I had to take a point off for that. Lee doesn't have much to do when he's on the screen. Hope he got paid well. There's a commentary, hope that's interesting.

Friday Night Movies 931

Curucu, Beast Of The Amazon 1956 Written and directed by Curt Siodmak.

John Bromfield is a plantation owner called Rock Dean and he's having trouble with the locals. They are leaving the plantation to go back to live in the jungle. Rock travels up the Amazon to try to get his workers to come back to the plantation. He had a guide in mind but Dr Romar, played by Beverly Garland, hired him first. She wants to go into the jungle to find a drug the natives make.

   

Rock is of the opinion that where they are going is no place for a woman. Rock's partially right as far as I'm concerned. I'd go as far as saying that it's no place for anyone.

 

Rock finds out that a monster is scaring the natives back home. It's some sort of giant bird like creature with sharp claws. Rock's bullets don't seem to have any effect on it. We soon learn that it's the guide, he's been scaring his people back home for his own selfish reasons. He'd also loaded Rock's rifle with blanks. The guide sentences Rock and the Doc to death.

 

Luckily for Rock and the Doctor some nice natives set the guide's village on fire allowing them to escape on a raft. All in all it's a below average B movie. I wouldn't need to see it again. The most interesting thing about it is that the jungle scenes were filmed in Brazil. The IMDb trivia pages says: Director Curt Siodmak said of this film, "I shot it down there [in Brazil], in the jungles. I never recovered, physically".  I always say it's best to stay out of the jungle.

We Are The Night 2010 Story and screenplay by Jan Berger and Dennis Gansel, directed by Dennis Gansel. A German vampire film.

A thief has an encounter with a cop called Tom during robbery. She manages to escape and get home. Later she meets a trio of vampire's at a nightclub. The vampire gals are absolute scum who leave a trail of corpses wherever they go. The leader turns the thief. There's a lot of crying about it, despite one of the side effects of being turned is an improvement of the body. The thief's skin clears up, her wounds disappear, her hair grows out nice and fluffy, she's now much hotter looking. The thief isn't much into the killing and the vampire gals enjoy it way too much.

The vampires hide by day in a big fancy hotel, going out at night to have fun in nightclubs. The police find a living guy at the scene of an encounter with the vampires. Tom connects the thief to the group because he'd seen her in the survivor's stolen car. The cops have no idea they are up against vampires but they raid the hotel and get many get slaughtered. One of the vampire gals gets burnt up by the sun. The other vampire gals manage to escape and hide out with the intention of escaping to Russia the next day. Another of the vampire gals kills herself.

The thief and the cop meet up , are arrested and tossed into jail. The leader of the vampire group comes calling, kills all the cops at the station and rescues the thief. Lena is given a choice, come with the leader or spend a short time with a live man. The thief kills the leader and disappears with Tom. The movie ends.

I'm not much of a fan of vampire melodrama. Too much crying and woe for me. I'll not need to see this one again.

The Thing That Couldn't Die 1958

The Thing That Couldn't Die 1958 Written by David Duncan and directed by Will Cowan. The movie was used for an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is season 8. Some might know David from his SF 1957 novel Occam's Razor. I know I had a copy, I read it in the 70s but can't recall anything about it.

A young woman, Jessica Burns, dowses for water and finds a head in a box. Jessica lives with her aunt, played by Peggy Converse, on a dude ranch. Against Jessica's warning the box is brought to the house. William Reynolds is a guest, he things they should get the box appraised to see if there's any value.

The ranch's foreman, played by James Anderson, thinks there's treasure inside the box and he convinces the somewhat dim handyman, played by Charles Horvath, to break open the box. Inside is the animated head of a man executed for sorcery 400 years ago. The head is played by Robin Hughes, he takes over Mike and a guest played by Andra Martin.

The head gets the handyman to murder the foreman. William returns with the historian to find things have gotten out of hand. The police come after the foreman's body is found. They kill the handyman when he threatens them with a knife. Things get pretty dicey but the good guys find the head's body and use a magical amulet to destroy both.

While not one of the best movies in this collection, it scores a sad 4.1 on the IMDb, there's still some entertainment value here. There's a decent commentary by Tom Weaver with additional comments by C Courtney Joyner. The only other extra is a trailer.