Cry of the Banshee / Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971)

CRY OF THE BANSHEE MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

Price And Price-less...

I must admit, I love these double features! This time out we get CRY OF THE BANSHEE / MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. In BANSHEE, Vincent Price plays an eeeevil, pompous, self-righteous magistrate, out to rid the English countryside of all "witches". Of course, the ancient times were famous for rampant superstition and ignorance, meaning that just about anyone could be found guilty of practicing witchcraft! Just being different or someone the magistrate didn't particularly like could get you executed with a quickness! So, when the pagan, spell-casting Oona (Elisabeth Bergner) and her half-naked clan are found galavanting in the woods, the magistrate and his men swoop in and murder them in good godly fashion. Oona is allowed to live in order for her suffering to be made a punishment worse than death. Dumb idea! Oona is the genuine article in the witch dept., and curses the magistrate, his wife, sons, and his entire house. This ushers in the title creature, a shape-shifing demonoid w/ only grisly vengeance on it's mind! Price is especially devilish in his role. His son and his cohorts reminded me of Alex and company from A CLOCKWORK ORANGE! They're constantly ripping off the blouses of any desirable females (yup, lotsa toplessness), raping them, and doling out the old ultra-violence, etc. Not even mum is safe! Yikes! RUE MORGUE has Jason Robards (?!) in a role that Price should have played. To be fair, Robards is ok, he's just NOT Vincent! The story centers around a stage version of Poe's MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE, w/ a crazed killer bumping off the actors one-by-one via acid. MITRM does plod along at times, but has a decent little twist at the end. Herbert Lom is in top form as the stalking, phantom-esque madman (this is no spoiler, as we are shown this in the first five minutes). Together, these movies make for another lazy Saturday afternoon popcorn fiesta... May 26, 2008

Deliciously wicked fun! Cry of the Banshee

Just a short review of the film, "Cry of the Banshee". this film displays Vincent Price in all his wicked splendor. Quite violent for the time, Cry of the Banshee" has sex, violence and lots of spooky goings on! Enjoy! October 19, 2007

A not too shabby MGM release

Of the two movies on this double feature, my favorite is easily "Cry of the Banshee". Although both movies on this DVD are directed by Gordon Hessler, Banshee comes off as the stronger of the two, because the surrealism and stream-of-consciousness scenes were kept more grounded and didn't interfere with the story development. As for the story itself, you're not going to find any Dickens-quality exposition of plot here. It's a basic story of come-uppance and revenge, with the great Vincent Price gamily stepping up to play the patriarch, Witcomb, who gets what he has coming to him. In fact, once you get past the pedestrian plot, there is plenty to enjoy about the film: great countryside location, great costumes, a pretty decent dungeon, a rabid dog whose bark has to be heard to be believed, and of course the bully-boy. Indeed, if you get anything out of this movie, it just might be the idea that the bully-boy profession is the one to keep one's eye on for future career decisions. Doubters of this claim will kindly fast-forward to the final scene of the movie where Price is being driven off to his fate in his own carriage, and what's he bellowing about?---that's right, the bully-boy. The "Murders in the Rue Morgue", however, is not as fun to watch. The story isn't about retelling the Poe story so much as it is a story about the Poe story. Although there are some great hallucinogenic dream sequences, they don't really add up to what is happening in the story until you get right to the end, if you have the patience for it. Jason Robards, although no Price, is effective as the lead, but having his character be married to someone barely a third of his age adds an element of creepiness that may have been unintended by director Hessler. There is a lot of talent in this film, and much of it is being underused, as in the case of the wonderfully creepy Herbert Lom who pretty much spends a majority of on-screen time grimacing behind a half-mask--but especially with Michael Dunn (Dr. Lovelace from the Wild Wild West television series, and one-time General Belisarius from the film, "The Last Roman") who tragically gets reduced to (no pun intended) the part of cackling dwarf figure. To give Hessler some credit, however, in the case of both films he had to work with what he had, which all too often involved severe budgetary constraints. Giving these circumstances, both films are above average quality. The violence is tasteful/believable, but not over-the top like what we've come to expect today, with the exception of a certain decapitation scene that could have been executed (yikes!) with a bit more finesse. September 29, 2006

BANSHEE: Witchfinder vs. the Werewolf!

I was really surprised when I watched this again after 23 years. I thought it was better than it was... In a seeming redo of his role of Matthew Hopkins, Vincent Price plays a corrupt, power-mad magistrate who flaunts his authority by persecuting "witches", even though he doesn't believe in them. So when he attacks a GENUINE coven, real trouble begins.

CRY OF THE BANSHEE has a look and feel about halfway between WITCHFINDER GENERAL and MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH-- but with none of the style of either. The story is relatively simple and straightforward, with more nudity than violence (though the former got completely CUT when run on TV). The script, unfortunately, gives Price little to do except display multiple levels of NASTY, and for once, it seems to me nearly every actor in the film turned in a terrible performance. The one exception, I'd say, was character actor Hugh Griffith, as a drunken grave-digger who makes extra money on the side as a grave-ROBBER.

The one potentially redeeming scene in the film comes when the lead witch, Oona, is confronted by Price's son, and arrogantly declares no one can stop her. Except-- he DOES! Dying, she suddenly realizes that revenge and violence only breeds MORE revenge and violence, and she bids her cover disperse to the hills and do what they can to find their former peaceful, love-filled lives. This really does feel like a tip-of-the-hat to the hippie/love generation movement. Tragically, as any viewer of DARK SHADOWS can tell you, once set in motion a magic curse is almost impossible to stop. The film works its way to what, in the late-60s/early-70's became all too common an occurance-- a "surprise bad ending".

The classiest part of the film turns out to be the opening credits-- and the music by returning composer LES BAXTER! One of these days someone should assemble a collection of just movie credit sequences. Nobody seems to do really good ones anymore! August 16, 2006

A new definiton of horror

Two wretched `horror' movies from director Gordon Hessler. Unfortunately, Hessler appears in a pair of short intro-interviews preceding each movie, and he seems like a nice elderly gentleman with a sincere love of movies. Mentions Ninotchka and Casablanca in glowing terms. It's not fun to come down hard on a nice person, but these are really a pair of not-so-great movies.

CRY OF THE BANSHEE just manages an "It's alright" three stars. The always reliable Vincent Price stars as a nasty 18th century lord of a ribald court who spends his time branding witches - comely witches, if truth be told - with an H for heretic. Naturally, the comely suspected witches have to have their blouses ripped down the front for the branding. That is unless they're to be flogged. Then their blouses are ripped down the back. Lord Vincent, decked out like Henry VIII, is distantly opposed by Witch Oona, a mature nature child with a coven of comely witches and a basketful of dolls to stick pins into. The dolls look suspiciously like members of Lord Vincent's family, who begin to fall victim to this werewolf-like thing when the Man - Lord Vincent - starts making life tough for the hippies... er, witches. Price is restrained but, as usual, seems to be enjoying himself in the carpet-chewing scenes. The thrills, chills, and scares are undermined by a limp plot and a tightly focused, pastel hued look that subverts any attempt at eerie mystery. This silly, simple and harmless movie probably should have let Price cut loose, and added someone like a Marty Feldman for him to play off of.

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE. I felt as embarrassed watching this thing as Jason Robards looks in the lead role of a theater director intimately linked to sudden spat of acid-in-the-face murders occurring in late-18th century Paris. Loud and bright (after this one I'm convinced you can't make a good horror movie using bright primary colors, and tone down the Sousa bands) MURDERS barely merits one stars. The `twist' in this is the premonitory visions experienced by Robards actress wife, played by German actress Christine Kaufmann. Herbert Lom plays the mask-wearing meanie causing all the problems. What a waste of talent! Kaufmann's premonition gimmick work alright, but so what? They don't push the plot ahead an inch, and they slowly reveal mysteries we've already figured out. Absolutely zero chills experienced at the end, although confusion abounds. Worse, and what caused me to rate this so low, was that this is an awful movie wasting the considerable talents of three major talents. Five, if you're a fan of Michael Dunn and Lilli Palmer. Robards was a strong actor who could deliver up to and above the level of the material. It's nice to note, after his career bottomed out to this depth in 1971, that Robards would later win two Academy award, for Julia and All the President's Men. Of course, that doesn't help this movie much; the suspense level is nil-minus-one, the plot is relatively confusing, and the look is too loud and too bright. Only recommended for those who are curious to seen their favs in an off-beat (for them) movie. Other than that no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
December 28, 2005

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