In this movie, a young woman named Janet Stewart is anticipating the arrival of her husband and attempts to check into a hotel. They are meeting after years apart and have planned to meet at the hotel. During his military service he was presumed dead, but was a prisoner of war. Unfortunately, her cable requesting the reservation never arrived. The staff, after hearing her story, agree to provide a room for the night. Restless, she isn't sleeping. She hears a loud argument and goes to the balcony window where she witnesses a man striking his wife with a candlestick. The woman is killed.The next morning, her husband arrives and attempts to surprise Janet. Instead, he discovers her sitting on the couch, staring into space. She has gone into a state of shock as a result of seeing the murder. The hotel doctor is called, but he suggests she see a specialist...Original release date:January 10, 1946
Shock is a 1946 American film noir directed by Alfred L. Werker and starring Vincent Price, Lynn Bari and Frank Latimore. Following its release, some film reviewers took particular offense to the film's treatment of psychiatry. Coming in the wake of World War II, in which so many people had suffered shock and could benefit from treatment of their anxieties, Crowther asked the 'critical observer to protest in no uncertain tones' the movie's 'social disservice' in its fostering 'apprehension against the treatment of nervous disorders', deploring the lack of consideration for those in need of treatment evidenced by producer Aubrey Schenck and distributor Twentieth Century-Fox.Directed by Alfred L. WerkerProduced by Aubrey SchenckStory by Albert DeMondCast:Vincent Price as Dr. Richard CrossLynn Bari as Elaine JordanFrank Latimore as Lt. Paul StewartAnabel Shaw as Janet StewartStephen Dunne as Dr. StevensReed Hadley as O'NeillRenee Carson as Mrs. HatfieldRuth Clifford As Mrs. Margaret CrossCharles Trowbridge as Dr. Franklin Harvey
The Screaming Skull is a 1958 independently made American black-and-white horror film, produced by John Kneubuhl and directed by Alex Nicol. The film's storyline concerns a neurotic newlywed woman who believes she is being haunted by the ghost of her new husband's previous wife. Original release date: August 1958.
Over a scene of an opening coffin, a narrator explains that the film's climax is so terrifying that it may kill the viewer, while reassuring the audience that should they die of fright they will receive a free burial service. Inside the coffin is a card that reads 'Reserved for You.'[5]
Newlyweds Jenni (Peggy Webber) and Eric (John Hudson) move into Eric's palatial country home. Jenni is Eric's second wife; his first wife Marion died when she accidentally slipped and hit her head on the edge of a decorative pond on the estate. At the home they meet Eric's friends, the Reverend Snow (Russ Conway) and his wife (Tony Johnson), as well as Mickey (Alex Nicol), the mentally disabled gardener. Eric privately mentions to the Snows that Jenni spent time in an asylum following the sudden death of both her parents, and Mrs. Snow reveals that Jenni is very wealthy.
Jenni is disturbed both by Mickey's belief that Marion's ghost wanders the estate and by Marion's self-portrait inside the house, which Jenni believes resembles her mother. When she begins to hear unexplained screaming noises and see skulls around her house, she believes that Marion is haunting her. Though Eric speculates to Jenni that Mickey, who was a childhood friend of Marion and thus dislikes Jenni, may be behind the trickery, Jenni worries that she is going insane. Eric suggests to remove Marion's self-portrait from the home. Eric and Jenni take the painting outside and burn it, later uncovering a skull from the ashes. Jenni panics at the sight of the skull, but Eric denies that the skull is there. As Jenni faints, Eric withdraws the skull and hides it, revealing that he has been gaslighting her all along.
Believing she has finally lost her sanity, Jenni resolves to be committed. She tells Eric that the entire property will be meticulously searched for the skull as a last resort. Mickey secretly steals the skull and brings it to Snow before Eric can retrieve it. That night, Eric prepares to murder Jenni and stage it as a suicide. Jenni sees Marion's ghost in Mickey's greenhouse and flees back to the house, where Eric begins throttling her. The ghost appears and chases Eric outside, corners, and attacks him, drowning him in the decorative pond.
After Jenni regains consciousness, the Snows arrive. Mrs. Snow comforts a hysterical Jenni and the Reverend discovers Eric's body in the pond. Some undisclosed time later, Jenni and the Snows depart from the house. Reverend Snow declares whether or not Marion's death was an accident will remain a mystery.
The film ends with Mickey drinking from the pond and saying, 'They've left. Rest in peace.' A vision of a woman's face appears in the pond.
While out rowing in the middle of a lake after dark, John Haloran and his young wife Louise argue about his rich mother's will. Louise is upset that everything is currently designated to go to charity in the name of a mysterious 'Kathleen.' The argument, combined with the exertion of rowing the boat, causes John to have a heart attack. He informs Louise that, should he die before his mother, Louise will receive none of the inheritance, after which he promptly dies. Thinking quickly, the scheming Louise dumps his fresh corpse over the boat's side, where it sinks to the bottom of the lake. Her plan is to pretend that he is still alive so that she can ingratiate her way into the will. She types up a letter to her mother-in-law, Lady Haloran, inviting herself to the family's castle in Ireland while her husband is 'away on business.' Original release date: September 25, 1963.
Dementia 13 (known in the United Kingdom as The Haunted and the Hunted) is a 1963 independently made black-and-white horror-thriller film, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Roger Corman. It was Francis Coppola's feature film directorial debut.The film stars William Campbell, Patrick Magee, and Luana Anders. It was released in the United States by American International Pictures during the fall of 1963 as the bottom half of a double feature with Corman's X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes.
Although Coppola had been involved in at least two sexploitation films previously, Dementia 13 served as his first mainstream 'legitimate' directorial effort. Corman offered Coppola the chance to direct a low-budget horror film in Ireland using funds left over from Corman's recently completed The Young Racers, on which Coppola had worked as a sound technician. The producer wanted a cheap Psycho copy, complete with gothic atmosphere and brutal killings, and Coppola quickly wrote a screenplay with Corman's requirements. Although he was given total directorial freedom during production, Coppola found himself at odds with Corman after the film was completed. The producer declared it un-releasable and demanded several changes be made. Corman eventually brought in another director, Jack Hill, to film additional sequences.
The film's title appears on a theater marquee in the Coppola-produced film American Graffiti (1973), even though the film was set in 1962, before the theatrical release of Dementia 13.
A remake by director Richard LeMay was released on October 6, 2017.
DIRECTED BY
Francis Coppola
PRODUCED BY
Roger Corman
CAST
William Campbell as Richard Haloran
Luana Anders as Louise Haloran
Patrick Magee as Dr. Justin Caleb
Bart Patton as Billy Haloran
Mary Mitchel as Kane
Eithne Dunne as Lady Haloran
Peter Read as John Haloran
Karl Schnazer as Simon, the poacher
Ron Perry as Arthur
Derry O'Donovan as Lillian, the maid
Barbara Dowling as Kathleen Haloran
The Amazing Mr. X (1948) - The Spiritualist
▸▸The Amazing Mr. X, also known as The Spiritualist, is a 1948 American horror thriller film noir directed by Bernard Vorhaus with cinematography by John Alton. The film tells the story of a phony spiritualist racket. The film is prominently featured in Alton’s book on cinematography Painting with Light (1949).
The film stars Turhan Bey, Lynn Bari, Cathy O’Donnell, and Richard Carlson. Eagle-Lion Films signed a contract with Carole Landis for the part played by Bari, but Landis committed suicide a few days before filming began.
PLOT
Christine Faber (Lynn Bari) awakes one night to the sound of her late husband’s voice calling out. She walks outside her beachfront home to investigate. There, she encounters a stranger named Alexis (Turhan Bey), a mysterious spiritualist who seems to know all about her. She hears her late husband’s favorite musical composition, Frédéric Chopin’s Fourth Prelude from Opus. 28 in E minor, and is unnerved by it. After more nights of eerie vocal manifestations, Christine and her younger sister Janet (Cathy O’Donnell) decide to consult with Alexis. Over time, they become enmeshed in Alexis’s strange life. One evening, he stages a surprisingly convincing séance for the two women. After they leave, however, he is surprised by the appearance of Christine’s dead husband, Paul Faber, alive and well. It turns out that Paul (Donald Curtis) had faked his own death two years earlier. Having now returned, he schemes for ways to dispatch Christine in order to get his hands on her wealth. He begins by blackmailing the crooked Alexis into continuing his con of the two sisters.
One evening, while Alexis romances young Janet just outside the beach house, Christine hears Paul’s mysterious voice again. Just as before, she exits her bedroom to search outside but falls partway down a cliff and is ultimately saved by Alexis. Her fiancé, Martin (Richard Carlson), urges Christine to leave her house for safety and stay in a hospital. Christine refuses, helplessly entranced by the recurring voice of Paul. Later, Janet suspects something fishy in Paul’s “visitations.” And sure enough, when Paul’s voice is heard again, Janet searches the beach house and discovers both Alexis and Paul concealed in a small room with microphones, wire recordings, and other tricks of the spiritualist con game. Paul threatens Janet with a pistol, but Alexis tries to protect her from harm. While doing so, he is fatally shot by Paul. The police arrive. Paul shoots at them; but the cops return fire. This time, Paul dies.
CREATORS
Directed by Bernard Vorhaus
Written by Crane Wilbur, Muriel Roy Bolton, Ian McLellan Hunter
Produced by Benjamin Stoloff
Restored and upscaled by moonflix, LLC
CAST
Turhan Bey as Alexis
Lynn Bari as Christine Faber
Cathy O’Donnell as Janet Burke
Richard Carlson as Martin Abbott
Donald Curtis as Paul Faber
Virginia Gregg as Emily
Harry Mendoza as Detective Hoffman
Original release date:
July 29, 1948
Genres: New Arrivals, 1940's, Movies, Crime & Mystery Films, Thriller Films, Thriller, Crime and Mystery, American Classics, Film Noir, ALL Movies