Monday, April 16, 2018

The Monkey's Paw (1948)

The Monkey's Paw is a rather slow horror film involving a cursed monkey's paw that grants it's owners three wishes before extracting a heavy price. The paw is reluctantly sold by a dealer who fears the bad luck it could befall it's owner (not including himself though strangely).

The story is good though the production is rather low budget. It is still an enjoyable film once things get going (the problem is it takes a long time getting going). The paw ends up owned by a shop keeper (Milton Rosmer) with crippling gambling debts. He decides to use the wishes granted by the paw to solve his problems but finds the true cost very high.

Some parts of the film don't really make sense though, the Irish poacher Kelly (Michael Martin Harvey) recoils in horror from the paw one minute then pinches it not long after. Don't expect dramatic horror thrills (though do expect some ridiculously low budget speedway scenes). Do expect a fair bit of creepiness... once things finally get going.