CAVE
OF THE LIVING DEAD (1964)Director: Akros V. Ratony
Image Entertainment
CAVE
OF THE LIVING DEAD (1964)In the mid 60s, Richard Gordon imported the German-made CAVE OF THE LIVING DEAD and the Italian-made TOMB OF TORTURE (originally titled "Metempsycho"), dubbed them into English, and unleashed them as a terror-filled double feature package. Image has released both titles on DVD separately, but I decided to review them together for all you drive-in purists who might want to recreate the experience.
Unfolding one of the dullest pre-credit sequences ever committed to celluloid, CAVE OF THE LIVING DEAD commences with a police inspector (Adrian Hoven) getting an assignment to find out why young girls are being murdered in a small village. He goes to the location, and runs into a lot of suspects, as the locals are very strange. Most of the plot is dragged out by talk, and it's very easy to predict who the king vampire responsible for all the hokum is.
Basically an atmospheric bore, CAVE OF THE LIVING DEAD still has several things to recommend it including some nice homages to early German horror films (notably NOSFERATU), as we see immense shadows creeping around and a pair of claw-fingered hands advancing up a window ledge. There's also Karin Field who flashes her curvy figure (from behind) while stripping down to a pair of black panties, then throwing on a see-through negligee that she parades around in for several moments.
Hoven would later collaborate with Jess Franco behind and in front of the camera, and would then go on to produce one of the most notorious drive-in films of all time: MARK OF THE DEVIL. He also directed the film's sequel, MARK OF THE DEVIL PART II.
TOMB OF TORTURE is definitely the more interesting of the two as it relates the legend of a murdered countess who resided in a spooky castle. Anna (Annie Albert) is believed to be the reincarnation of the countess, and she visits the castle with her father who hopes to solve the mysterious circumstances of her death. Anna has macabre nightmares of the dead countess, and is surrounded by murder and macabre mayhem throughout the duration.
TOMB OF TORTURE has a plot that's anything but stirring, but it's got a wicked torture chamber, as well as a very ugly monster (complete with one half of his face completely mutilated and sunken) who likes to tie up young girls and (seemingly) do nasty things to them! Basically, TOMB is the kind of flick that would give you nightmares for days had you caught it on TV as a kid, but it can still induce a chill or two if the moment is right.
Since Richard Gordon provided Image with the best elements possible for the transfers, both black and white films look very good. Both films are letterboxed in their proper aspect ratios. They both suffer from minor scratches and other markings, but the image is still very refreshing to look at. TOMB gets the slight edge over CAVE in terms of visual appearance, but TOMB has a slight scratchiness on the mono sound that's evident throughout the presentation. There are no extras, but TOMB has a nice black and white menu that displays a drop of blood pouring down the center of the screen.
I must complain about the covers for both titles. While extravagant, exploitive artwork was originally created to promote the films, Image opted to utilize very dreary photos for the covers. Since many horror fans may not have heard of these two flicks, Image should have given them better hype, especially since they've never been available on video until now. I would also like to have seen a trailer on both, especially for the double feature bill, but I assume that one could not be unearthed in time for these releases. Still, Image has done an overall fine job with these two rarely seen titles. (George R. Reis)