Although the inanimate objects taking on a ghostly life of their own, creaky noises and swinging chandelier capers are all familiar from other films in the same (no pun intended!) spirit, this is certainly very competently done with unusual camera angles and some tight editing - plus the enjoyably menacing electronic soundtrack. The director Jon Hough is probably best known for the Hammer film Twins of Evil and does a solid job here. The Legend of Hell House is more of a psychological horror where we never really see ghosts or monsters and what we imagine is always much scarier than what we see. I also quite like the external shots of the house (filmed at Wykehurst Park, East Sussex) in the film which are always suitably foggy and atmospheric.
There is a Nigel Kneale quality to The Legend of Hell House with the battle between science and the supernatural and this element is further deployed - and the film duly becomes slightly dafter and more vaguely sci-fi - when Barrett unveils a 'reverser' machine, a big box like something out of a Gerry Anderson television series, which he believes will drain the house of its psychic energy and send the spirit of Belasco's dead son, Daniel, away. The house is a gigantic battery "full of mindless, directionless power" and Dr Barrett believes his machine will suck the energy out and set the house free from the evil that lurks there. It's a bit silly but I rather enjoyed this Ghostbusters meets Space 1999 element thrown into the latter half of the film. You can probably guess what is going to happen but it's good fun anyway.
It's enjoyable to see the controlled Barrett attempt to battle these dark forces - though with dire warnings from Fischer. "Belasco doesn't like it, his people don't like it, and they will fight back and they will kill you. So listen to me. You just leave that damn machine alone and you spend the rest of the week resting, doing nothing. When Sunday comes, you tell old Deutsch anything he wants to hear and bank the money. If you try anything else, you will be a dead man, with a dead wife at your side!" Barrett believes that the mediums are conducting the electrical energy in the house and seems largely unconcerned with all the doom laden warnings. One nice touch in the film is having the two mediums, Fischer and Miss Tanner, disagree on the nature of the haunting and which course of action to take.
Flaws in The Legend of Hell House? Clive Revill is perhaps a tad wooden and unmemorable as Dr Barrett - a more urbane choice of actor might have worked better, like that old smoothie Peter Bowles for instance who turns up as Culver's snobby lawyer early in the film. Pamela Franklin is good though as Miss Tanner, who becomes like a magnet for the energy in the house and is also attacked by a possessed cat! Michael Gough (best known now for being Alfred in the Tim Burton Batman films) also makes a cameo near the end although the resolution of the film is not its biggest card and is fairly ludicrous when you actually think about it. I do find the final part of this film highly amusing but I'm not entirely sure that was the intention. It's probably best to say the ending is really rather flawed and eccentric although not entirely devoid of fun.
You could probably say that if the film lacks anything it's a bit of wit and charm at times. While the ghostly goings on are well handled and the film cultivates an enjoyably spectral atmosphere, it doesn't have the polish and slickness of something like The Haunting and is certainly less scary than that black and white classic. On the whole though, although a tad daft and derivative in places, I quite like The Legend of Hell House despite its evident flaws. A fun film to watch late at night if you are in the right mood and one that probably deserves to be slightly better known than it is now.
THE LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN 7 VAMPIRES (1974)
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is a 1974 Hammer film written by Don Houghton and directed by Roy Ward Baker. This was the last Dracula outing they made and is genuinely one of the most bonkers films in cinematic history. The film is a fusion of vampire horror and kung fu capers designed to take advantage of (then) current trends and was a co-production between Hammer and Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers Studios. The story begins in 1804 with Chinese warlord Kah (Shen Chan) awakening Dracula (John Forbes-Robertson) in his Romanian castle. Transylvania looks suspiciously more like Hong Kong than Romania but anyway.
"Who dares to disturb the sanctity of Dracula?" he is warned after Dracula rises from his long slumber and I know I'm a little grouchy too in the morning if I haven't had at least 200 years. Kah is a "priest" for the 7 Golden Vampires of China and wants Dracula to resurrect them to instill some good old-fashioned fear in the population again. Dracula thanks him for this most interesting suggestion and then promptly kills him and assumes his identity before heading for China.
We then flash forward to 1904. Professor Lawrence Van Helsing (the legendary Peter Cushing) is in China with his foppish son Leyland (Robin Stewart) lecturing on philosophy, parapsychology and, of course, vampires. Legend has it there is one village in particular riddled with the blood sucking scamps according to Van Helsing. After the lecture he is approached by young Hsi Ching (David Chiang) who tells him the legend is real and asks him to lead an expedition to this dreaded village to destroy the vampires.
Chiang's six brothers and one sister are all martial arts experts and he assures Van Helsing they will protect him. Van Helsing is concerned this will all cost a lot of money but - luckily - Scandinavian Bo Derek lookalike and adventuress Vanessa Buren (Julie Ege) just happens to be on hand to supply the funding. So Professor Van Helsing, Leyland, Vanessa and the karate chopping siblings set off on their perilous quest where Dracula - now disguised as a Chinese warlord lest we forget - awaits with the Golden vampires and an army of the undead.
"In Europe the vampire walks in dread of the crucifix," says the professor. "Here it will be the image of the Lord Buddha." The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is absolutely preposterous but does what it says on the tin and may have been a little ahead of its time with its mixture of supernatural vampire elements, action and martial arts. It reminds me a bit of Jackie Chan films like Armour of God in spirit and John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China - which also threw different genres and elements into one single action packed film.
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires general reputation was not helped by some idiot cutting it to pieces and calling it The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula in the United States but this original version is undemanding and enjoyably cheesy seventies blood drenched fun for anyone who has ever wondered what a kung fu vampire film made by Hammer in Hong Kong would turn out like. You get enough impalements, vampire meltdowns, kung fu battles and gratuitous nudity to satisfy most tastes and best of all the great Peter Cushing was roped in to add his customary class and gravitas to this obstreperous nonsense.
Cushing must have been in his sixties by now but still throws himself into the action when required to do so. No one could say lines like "Is the mighty Dracula too frightened to reveal his face to me?" quite like Peter Cushing. Sadly though, Christopher Lee obviously declined this one and was replaced by John Forbes-Robertson which probably explains why Dracula spends most of the film in someone else's body and has about ten minutes of screen time.
Forbes-Robertson's Dracula make-up is awful here and makes him look like a puppet from Captain Scarlet wearing too much lipstick. He's dubbed too by someone with a camp theatrical voice and Dracula's whole presence generally feels like a slight afterthought on the part of the filmmakers as if they'd made a kung fu vampire film and then decided to stick the Dracula name on top to perhaps get a few more bums on seats. Clearly though, you'd rather hear Christopher Lee declare, "I am Dracula! Lord of darkness, master of the vampires, prince of the undead, ruler of the damned!"
No one would argue that The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is a particularly good film but it is quite a fun one if you approach it in the right mood. Dracula/Kah has an undead ghoul army to pit against Van Helsing and the kung fu Ching family and - although the make-up is a bit variable - there are some nice moments of these ghouls rising from the grave in battle armour and plenty of action when they do battle with the Van Helsing expedition. The film is more violent than your average Hammer fare and features vats of blood, jugular veins being punctured by martial arts skills, swords, spears and all manner of mayhem.
The "7 Brothers Clan" (who I presume were real life martial artists) are suitably athletic in the film as they leap into action with David Chiang as Hsi Ching and Shih Szu as the sister of the family Mai Kwei both doing a good job in their respective roles. There appears to be no comedy dubbing with these characters either and everyone seems to be speaking English for themselves. Call me cynical but Norwegian actress Julie Ege - who had a tiny bit in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service - was probably not cast as Vanessa because of her thesping talents!
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires is possibly the most eccentric film Hammer ever made and one that connoisseurs of strange cinema will probably get a kick out of. It has abundant flaws but isn't a film to take too seriously and is likeable for its small scale epic throw the kitchen sink at the screen approach. This is undemanding late night fun and not bad at...
