SPOOK SISTERS MARATHON

 A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN HORROR MOVIE FAMILY CONNECTION RANDOMLY MADE ITSELF KNOWN TO ME RECENTLY. 

The unfathomably beautiful Debra Paget has two sisters who were also actors and who also appeared in some classic horror films!  450 years of watching horror movies and I never ever knew dat.  Today I consider a good day to screen a "Spook Sister" marathon of horror movies with featuring Teala Loring, Lisa Gaye and Debra Paget.

                        Teala                                                 Lisa                                      Debra

We'll start off with Teala Loring who, besides having a bit part in the classic film noir DOUBLE INDEMNITY also appeared in the John Carradine starrer BLUEBEARD and the horror-adjacent Charlie Chan flick DARK ALIBI.  Today's first movie-watch will be RETURN OF THE APE MAN starring Bela Lugosi and John Carradine in which our friendly neighbourhood mad scientist Bela unfreezes a "prehistoric man" (played by veteran character actor Frank Moran . . . and ALSO apparently George Zucco confusingly) from a block of ice. 

Unlike THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD an electric blanket is eschewed in favour of Bela's blowtorch which thaws out the "caveman".  Dissatisfied with the "ape man's" homicidal tendencies, Bela decides to add a chunk of modern-day man-brain to the  prehistoric man's brain in order to molify him and give him the power of speech.  This is where our heroine Teala Loring comes in as her character's fiancee is Bela's target.  This pisses off John Carradine who stops Bela's fun and vows never to have anything more to do with him.  Naturally, Bela doesn't take kindly to such interference and promptly attacks Carradine and sews a chunk of HIS brain into the "ape man".  Of course, in these poverty row horrors (or any OTHER horror films), this doesn't really stop the murderous rampage.  This is a rather minor poverty row potboiler which derives most of it's fun and viewer interest care of Bela Lugosi who, as always, gives huge acting value to the paltry buck he was probably making.  John Carradine is also a huge plus.  Teala Loring gives a really nice performance as our young heroine who is given more to do than simply cower and faint; she has screen presence and real acting chops (looks like it runs in the family).  RETURN OF THE APE MAN is a harmless, adequate little horror film to start out the day's movie marathon.

Movie Number Two we focus on Lisa Gay who would appear in CASTLE OF EVIL as well as today's horror movie watch:  FACE OF TERROR.  Here Lisa Gay plays the lead as a woman named Norma who has half her face scarred and is places in an insane asylum.  Fernando Rey plays the (mad?) scientist Dr. Taylor who thinks he has a revolutionary new technique for plastic surgery which can remove scarring in a day. 

Norma is conveniently watering flowers outside the window where Rey is telling this all to a medical board who promptly pooh poohs his ethical standing and tells him to hit the bricks.  Norma promptly escapes from the asylum and shows up at Dr. Taylor's laboratory and begs him to fix her face.  Not knowing she is an escaped mental patient, Dr. Taylor uses his new process to totally fix her scarring.  The now beautiful Norma shortly starts causing some trouble.  This slightly overlong rehash of Franju's EYES WITHOUT A FACE features a little too much face and not enough terror.  Lisa Gay is superb in the role of Norma and her acting is again top notch (like her sisters) but the script simply doesn't give her a lot to do.  About 75% of the time, the script gives no hint that she has any mental aberration at all; only in the final 10 minutes does Gay get to really let loose.  Oddly, the film was made in Spain but everyone is speaking their lines in English.  All in all, the movie is rather too bland for its own good.

Our third film in the "Spook Sisters" marathon is AIP's THE HAUNTED PALACE featuring Debra Paget along with Vincent Price and Lon Chaney Jr.  The old-favourite H.P. Lovecraft adaptation (masquerading as a Poe film) features Paget as the put-upon wife of split personality Vinnie in this loose adaptation of "THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD".  Joseph Curwen was a warlock burned at the stake who comes back to possess the body of his grandson Ward (both played by Price) to get revenge on the descendants of the village torch-lighters.  The film includes a rape scene which displeased both Price and Paget (in the same way a rape scene crowbarred into FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED  later displeased Peter Cushing and Veronica Carlson).  Whether because of that or other reasons, Paget would retire from acting after this film.  THE HAUNTED PALACE is another of those deliciously atmosphere Corman AIP "Poe" films which you can watch again and again and of which you never tire.  A superb Halloweeny way to end this marathon of the three "Spook Sisters".