"The Oblong Box" [1969] Movie Review

 

"The Oblong Box" is a Gothic Horror film released in 1969, based off of an Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name. From what I understand, the movie is loosely based off of ideas to the story, while also incorporating elements that had nothing to do with Poe's story. One of these is the Voodoo "witch doctor". 

The idea to the movie is that Vincent Price, who played Julian, went to Africa with his brother Edward, but the latter was mutilated by a tribe in some sort of ritual. Because of this, Edward was never to leave his room in the top of their house, after returning to England. The film starts off in a creepy sense, but it goes on to become cheesy. 

Edward was buried alive, and Julian used a different dead guy who was commissioned to be killed, so that that body could be presented as his brother for the funeral. Of course, because of Edward's wrongful burial, he seeks revenge on the ones who did him wrong. Ironically, Edward was dug up by grave robbers, who were commissioned by Christopher Lee's character, a doctor that does strange experiments on the dead. 

Edward kills a few people, but in the end, he is shot by Julian and actually dies. But right before, he bites his brother on the hand, and it seems that the curse is passed on to his brother.

The movie wasn't terrible, but it wasn't really creepy to me either. I feel like it started out very interesting, it captured my attention, but then it dropped the ball. The movie was advertised with having Christopher Lee and Vincent Price, but the two only share one very small scene together, where Price holds up Lee's dying body. It was disappointing in a way, I think many horror fans would have loved to see an actual movie with the two interacting with each other more. 

  The movie becomes a cheesy, silly, mini slasher film, when Edward starts killing people. The scenes where he starts to stab his victims are very silly. The knives just touch the victims and blood magically appears. Granted, I think that this may have been due to the rules that the UK had against violence (this was made in the United Kingdom), so they probably couldn't show much more. One review I came across actually stated that the deaths were gorey, which I guess was just a sign of the times. 

 I could only find one actual review about the film when it came out, and the author didn't seem too impressed. Understandably, they stated that the movie was a poor use of Christopher Lee and Vincent Price's talent, which I completely agree. The movie didn't utilize the skill that both actors had, which I think was mostly due to the limitations of the script. I often felt like the writers didn't want to be too scary. If this were the case, then they shouldn't have case Vincent Price or Christopher Lee! By the end of the movie, it doesn't feel like a Gothic Horror film, it was more of a comedy. I like a good laugh, but I feel like the direction of the movie went a completely different way from how it started. 

 What I also found interesting, was the difference in filming this movie, from many of Price's older ones. This was the time where film started being more "in your face", than watching from afar. If you watch older movies from the 50's and 60's, they are more like watching a play. The scenes are like on a stage. This movie was much more up close. You could really see how tall Vincent Price was! He looked very handsome in this movie too lol.

 

 Overall, I gave this a 2/5. But it's 2/5 slimes. The movie just ends up being so silly and cheesy to me. I really wish that there were more moments with Price and Lee, but if you had this on in the background at a Halloween party, I don't think anyone would mind. 

 

 

  

WITCHCRAFT ‘70 [1969] Review

 WITCHCRAFT ‘70 [1969]

 

“Witchcraft ‘70” is a documentary film which came out in 1969. An Italian film, it’s Italian title is “Angeli bianchi… angeli neri”. I had heard about the film in the past, while reading books about The Church of Satan. All I really knew is that Anton Lavey was somewhere in the film. 

I rented the movie on Amazon for 99 cents, and even that felt like having spent too much money. I found the film boring and forgettable. Much of the information was surface level, and seemed to focus, especially in the beginning, on things that were obviously not true, or faked for the video. 

There were scenes from all over the world, that was meant to show the different beliefs that people have across the globe. Many of these depictions were dubbed over in Italian. I found it interesting how people from the Pagan cults had rituals similar to what you see in footage about The Church of Satan. 

I don’t have any real thoughts about the various belief systems that the people had. I’m the type of person that believes that people should be free to believe in whatever. What I didn’t like about the film, is that for a documentary, much of the information was presented in a way to almost mock the people it observed. I felt this was especially so with the depictions of the Afro centric religions. Ironically, there wasn’t any commentary about how the Pagan rituals depicted, were obviously using the women for sex. 

For me, I’d rather not have any opinions in a documentary. I’d rather the information be presented, facts only. 

One thing that surprised me was how there was the actual depiction of a goat being killed on film. I was surprised that they actually included the footage of the blood being squirted everywhere. It made me wonder if scenes like these, were what was twisted during the Satanic Panic. I can imagine that some people in the past might have watched that scene, and thought that everyone in the film performed animal sacrifices. 

Much of the film was boring, and I ended up scrolling through  letterboxd for what to watch next. I found myself constantly checking the timer to see how much of the film was left. It didn’t start getting interesting until near the end, with Anton’s part of the film. 
Though his segment wasn’t that long, it’s clear that the directors really wanted his part to be one of the highlights. It almost seemed like they “saved the best for last”. What was interesting, is that they showed Anton doing a Satanic wedding in the movie, stating that Anton did them quite regularly. I don’t know how true that is, but it would make sense, if Anton did officiate a few weddings during the early times of the church. I know that in 1967, he actually did officiate a wedding, as was seen in news articles from that time.

The movie also showed shots of Anton’s home, in what seems to be one of the few films to do so. I thought it was clever, the way Anton decorated his home, with a painting of the devil around the pipe to his water heater. I’m unsure how many surviving photos there are of the black house. 

What’s interesting about Anton’s scene, is that his part is one of the few moments that isn’t dubbed over in Italian. Granted, some of the language used during the ritual scene is in Latin anyway but it appeared to me that the makers of the film must have really wanted Anton in this film, in some capacity. It appears to me, like they were really showing him some respect. We see some other familiar faces in this film, Diane, Karla, and at least one other person that I’m sure was in the movie “Satanis”. Not talked about or featured is the baptism that Anton performed on Zeena. I suppose that it probably didn’t fit in with the film, or was relevant? 

After Anton, there is a hippie cult from San Francisco talked about, but it’s not Charles Manson! Interestingly, this group also rode around in a school bus, that while it remained yellow, was painted over with spots and flowers and things. Their leader was in prison on marijuana charges, and the group was trying to raise $25,000 to bail him out. This part of the movie goes back to dubbing over in Italian. I really wish that they kept the native audio in, because it would have helped frame this film as more of a documentary. I’m unsure of what ever happened to that guy, or his group, but considering that this was filmed in 1969, I imagine that they probably disbanded by the end of that year. 

After the hippies, we are taken to Sweden, where we see a group of religious people who reject medicine and rely on prayer only. A story of a 13 year old boy dying because his mother threw out his insulin is described. It was very sad to me, that a person could do that to their child. I do give props to the film for showing that such nutjobs exist. 

The film ends over in Los Angeles, where cryogenics are discussed. The idea of freezing a body to hopefully be reanimated later, and fix what caused that person’s death, is so silly to me. I found the company to be predatory, making money off of peoples’ fears of their life actually ending some day. The hypocrisy seemed to be hinted at, where the body being frozen would have to have paid for the service. Though not discussed, it conjures up the question, “What happens to these dead bodies when the money runs out?”. An even better question is, “What happens if the company goes under?”.

I don’t recommend the film, it’s a waste of time. If you come across it, I’d say to just skip forward to the Anton part, watch the scene, then move on. It’s a pretty misleading film, where the idea of Black magic, witches, and exorcisms, isn’t even in the film. The movie isn’t scary, it’s simply boring. 

1/5

 

My video: https://youtu.be/QOaLWwVInJ4