Post by petrolino on Nov 4, 2018 0:37:38 GMT
'The Undying Monster' is about a longstanding family curse that comes back to bite descendants of the Hammond Family. Following a brutal attack on Oliver Hammond (John Howard) and Kate O'Malley (Valerie Traxler), Inspector Craig (Aubrey Mather) sends in forensic scientist Robert Curtis (James Ellison) and his laboratory assistant Cornelia 'Christy' Christopher (Heather Thatcher) to investigate. Suspects gather at the Hammond Estate where Oliver's sister Helga (Heather Angel) has been picking up clues with the aid of neuroscientist Doctor Jeff Colbert (Bramwell Fletcher).
"I could do with a couple of those pork sausages."
The supernatural mystery 'The Undying Monster' offers a dense, wordy, quizzical take on the detective crime subgenre that's executed with technical flair. Director John Brahm fills the picture with expressionistic visuals, using florid camerawork to create a creeping sense of unease. Cinematographer Lucien Ballard scales walls and scans surroundings with the camera, crafting controlled tracking shots in small spaces. One of my favourite visuals is a 93 second static longtake that's taken from inside a fireplace, shimmering flame vapours slightly obscuring Doctor Colbert as he slips Helga a drink that's sure to make her "feel better".
"Hailed by some as a unique stylist and by others as a rank imitator of better directors, John Brahm was the son of German actor Ludwig Brahm and the nephew of European theatrical impresario Otto Brahm. Shuttling between Vienna, Berlin and Paris after World War I, the Hamburg-born Brahm was resident director for such acting troupes as Deutsches Kunstler Theatre and the Lessing Theatre; along the way, he married prominent Teutonic stage and film actress Dolly Haas. The emergence of Hitler compelled Brahm to emigrate to England, where, after working as a movie production supervisor, he was given his first chance to direct a film, the 1936 remake of the old D.W. Griffith chestnut Broken Blossoms, which starred his wife."
- Hal Erickson, Rovi
Heather Angel, Alex The Dog & Halliwell Hobbes
'The Old Master Painter' - Peggy Lee & Mel Torme
There are secret rooms and dark passageways in 'The Undying Monster' which is gothic bliss, as well as misty mounds and rugged peaks. The grounds are explored on foot with the camera tracing movements but Brahm also uses p.o.v. shots and shudder lenses to enable tension. Characters visit steep rockfaces stemming coastal flow and scurry along stony lanes leading towards unstable, reverberating clifftops. This dark, foggy, difficult landscape is ideal for a predatory beast but also for hiding prey.
"Though not as well known as low-budget contemporaries like Edgar G. Ulmer or Joseph H. Lewis, director John Brahm cultivated a macabre noir style that’s ripe for rediscovery. Heavy on subjective camera movements, expressionist effects, and fog, most of Brahm’s major works qualify as oddities of one sort or another. This partly explains why Brahm’s career stalled in the 1950s, leading him to move to television, where he worked on shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone. (He directed a dozen episodes of the latter, including the iconic “Time Enough At Last.”)
While many of the films Brahm directed during his creative peak border on horror, The Undying Monster is the only one of his major works to fit squarely into the genre. A Gothic werewolf story set in the Welsh countryside at the turn of the 20th century, it’s rich with complex visual texture: light passing through stained-glass windows, shadows thrown by decorative ironwork, thick banks of fog rolling in on the moor. The monster, seen only in shadow, registers mostly as a textured shape.
Throughout the film, Brahm comes across as a sort of 1940s cross between Mario Bava and Brian De Palma, executing virtuoso camera moves and oddball compositions while riffing on his favorite filmmakers’ work. One shot, framed from inside of a fireplace, is copped from James Whale’s The Old Dark House. Brahm’s version of the shot is over 90 seconds long, and the smoke is so thick that it nearly obscures the characters’ faces. It’s The Undying Monster in a nutshell: a movie that takes the conventions of its time and genre, and exaggerates them nearly to the point of abstraction."
While many of the films Brahm directed during his creative peak border on horror, The Undying Monster is the only one of his major works to fit squarely into the genre. A Gothic werewolf story set in the Welsh countryside at the turn of the 20th century, it’s rich with complex visual texture: light passing through stained-glass windows, shadows thrown by decorative ironwork, thick banks of fog rolling in on the moor. The monster, seen only in shadow, registers mostly as a textured shape.
Throughout the film, Brahm comes across as a sort of 1940s cross between Mario Bava and Brian De Palma, executing virtuoso camera moves and oddball compositions while riffing on his favorite filmmakers’ work. One shot, framed from inside of a fireplace, is copped from James Whale’s The Old Dark House. Brahm’s version of the shot is over 90 seconds long, and the smoke is so thick that it nearly obscures the characters’ faces. It’s The Undying Monster in a nutshell: a movie that takes the conventions of its time and genre, and exaggerates them nearly to the point of abstraction."
- Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, The A.V. Club
Heather Angel
'Blues In The Night' - Peggy Lee
The set design in 'The Undying Monster' has a lot of thought put into it; I love the canine statue viewed in the crypt. Complimenting the visuals is a sound design that keeps you guessing. The music composed by David Raksin is talkative, melodious and expressive with punchy instrumentation; I really dig those harassed xylophone runs, they're awesome. Heather Angel is superb as Helga who's stern, sensible and a figure of perseverance. Bramwell Fletcher is terrific as brain expert Doctor Colbert, not the kind of man you'd wish to trifle with.
