The House of Secrets, Lunatics, A Dame in Peril, and a Schmuck

Okay...it is really corny.  Stupid, if you must. Still, our feature today is a lot of fun.  When it came out in 1936, movie audiences probably were enthralled by this horror/mystery that was more of a madcap drama.  The Berlin Olympics were taking place. The Fuhrer would see Jesse Owens win the Gold.  A mad regime would cement its hold on the most important country in Europe and begin conquering its smaller neighbors.  There was means to escape. The movies, especially this one. Our feature today is "The House of Secrets," directed by Roland D. Reed.

Our beset protagonist is Barry (Leslie Fenton), a good bloke. He meets a sultry dame, Julie (Muriel Evans) on a ship over to England. He saves her from a brute but she decides to remain a mystery. Too bad...she's really hot. Barry pines that he has no means to find the love of his life. Uh oh...he will be played the sucker. The naive and lovelorn Barry will be notified by a lawyer that he has inherited an English manor 15 miles outside of London. Also, he will inherit great monetary wealth and a treasure hidden somewhere on its grounds.  Barry is happy and goes to this mansion, supposedly vacant for a hundred years. Surprise!  Julie is there.  She's terrified and implores Barry to depart and not return. Before meeting Julie there, hounds are released on him and Julie's dad, Dr. Kenmore (Morgan Wallace) orders him off the property at gunpoint.

Barry, valuing his life, leaves but keeps sneaking back onto his estate.  The sounds of lunatics emanate out of basement laboratories and murderous thugs keep showing up, too. The thugs threaten Julie and promise Barry they will shoot him.  Dr. Kenmore keeps showing up with a gun and keeps ordering Barry to leave.  The lunatics keep howling and it is apparent Dr. Kenmore is experimenting on them in the cellar. Uh oh, the Home Secretary (Holmes Herbert) and the police commissioner are in on the plot to keep Barry away from the grounds he just inherited.  Barry, who has met a gal completely out of his league, cannot stay away.  He wants to marry Julie.  Uh oh...to do that, he will have to stay alive and also keep Julie alive.

Just who does Barry have to protect Julie from?  What is being done to the lunatics in the basement? What do the highest reaches of the British government have at stake that they would want to keep Barry away?  Atmospheric and fun.  Ms. Evans is sultry and her relationship with Barry gives all us schmucks hope that even we can land sultry dames. See "The House of Secrets," and forget about war in Europe. 

The Book of the Witch, Mortality, Witches, and Zombies

Our own mortality.  We all will die one day. Scary?  Of course.  There is good news, maybe. Is our own mortality the key to making us vulnerable and needy?  In other words, could we form relationships, love, share, or embrace without it?  What kind of fiends would we be if our lives lasted forever and ever? Our film today explores these questions with a sensitivity and depth that will deliver a horrifying story.  The horror is not that we die...rather, the horror exists if we won't.  Today we look at 2024's "The Book of the Witch," directed by Joshua Sowden.  This film was completed in six days with a crew of two.  Yep, no caterers, drivers, or daycare professionals.  Just people who wanted to make a great horror film.

As our film begins we meet the titular witch (Ali Williams). She's grotesque.  The hag kills, drags the corpse to a pentagram, opens a book with Latin incantations (to Satan, no doubt), and steals the lifeforce from the victim.  This now gives her the food she needs to live forever.  That is, if she keeps doing it. Enter a very likable babe, Victoria (Krishna Smitha). She and August (Danny Parker-Lopes) work second shift as a security detail in an unoccupied behemoth building.  The two are both lonely and have never come close to winning life's lottery.  The two lonely souls understand one another, and care for one another.  Both have suffered incredible loss and only know that they are supposed to carry on. Wait! Victoria has a different gameplan.  We see her backstory and it is sad and scary.  She does not want to die...ever.

Internet research, always a good thing, gives her a solution. Healthy eating?  She tried, but no go. The pretty young mortal finds out there is a witch in the desert who dates back to the 17th century.  Victoria learns of the book and its powers to keep one immortal. Victoria wants the book.  To do this, she will have to venture into the desert and take it. Easy?  Nope.  August pleads with her to give up this quest, he is such a good soul also dealing with loss associated with death. His approach to coping is completely different, but Victoria's memories of her mom's death are just too powerful.  What happens next is horrific, but even in horror, perhaps Victoria has an opportunity to make it all okay...maybe.

Mr. Sowden has crafted a fine story, masterfully. Miss Smitha and Mr. Parker-Lopes were amazing and we loved their portrayals of characters that many of us can vividly relate to.  Oh yes, the witch!  Miss Williams was amazing, and this point is driven home during one of the last scenes  in the film. For a shocking horror film that will cause you to do some heavy thinking, and maybe draw a tear or two, see "The Book of the Witch."    

A Face in the Fog, A Contemporary Telling of Phantom

Can anything released in 1936 be considered "contemporary." In the eyes of history of the world, 1936 was hardly a tick of the clock ago.  In our modern worldview, 1936 is as ancient as the pyramids.  Even more ancient than 1936 is...1925! In 1925, Lon Chaney turned in a magnifecent performance in the title role of "The Phantom of the Opera." Ironically, this silent film dropped the same year as Hollywood's first talkie, "The Jazz Singer." So in 1936, with silents now belonging to a bygone era, Hollywood makes a "Phantom" themed thriller...set in L.A. Our film today is 1936's "A Face in the Fog," directed by Robert F. Hill.

The Paris Opera House? Nonsense. Our feature is set in L.A., in and around a local theater.  A local theater troupe, putting on a Peter Fortune (Lawrence Gray) play is decreasing in size. Many actors have mysteriously been murdered...but by who?  The show is about to close but fake-news reporterette, the sultry Jean (June Collyer) has an idea.  She erroneously reports that she saw the killer and can identify him, figuring this lie will draw him into the open. Bad move...the killer reads this. Now there is a dark-clothed hunchback pursuing Jean.  He will try to kill her with a weird gun, but instead misses and murders bystanders. Her lover, reporter Frank (Lloyd Hughes) is determined to protect his love and to try to identify and capture the mysterious hunchback. This won't go well.  Every plot he tries, the killer is not caught and someone else has died mysteriously. 

The killer? Apparently it is a dark hunchbacked figure. He has a gun that shoots a special type of bullet.  The bullet does not leave a mark or a wound but instead spreads a poison on his victim.  Now he is trying to murder Frank and Jean...and anyone else who has a relationship to the theater troupe performing the Peter Fortune play. Stepping up to help is the star of the show, Reardon (Jack Mulhall).  He has some ideas and claims he knows a guy who would have the know how to commit murders in this manner.  Too helpful?  Maybe, but this is just too easy.  As the theater is on the verge of closing down and ending the Peter Fortune drama, Frank comes up with his own theories.

Why is our hunchbacked killer so intent to destroy the theater and this drama?  Where did Jean learn to lie and pas sit off as journalism?  Probably the Columbia University School of Journalism...just like today.  Will our killer improve his aim and finally be able to take out the fake news?  This is a good atmospheric one and a nice tribute to "The Phantom of the Opera."  See "A Face in the Fog," and get back in tuned with ancient times from before the Berlin Olympics.