The Haunted Castle (1921)

Despite the title this German silent movie is not really a horror or ghost story, instead it is more a detective story. A hunting party has assembled at the castle and waiting for the arrival of the Baroness (Olga Tschechowa), but there is an extra surprise guest. Count Oetsch (Lothar Mehnurt) who is suspected of killing the Baroness' first husband.

Needless to say the arrival of the Count is rather unwelcome. The Count protests his innocence. The film then establishes the truth through a series of flashbacks and dream sequences and a lot of talking (though via frequent intertitles). It is a rather static film though the story is interesting, it just takes an age to get going. One of F.W. Murnau's earlier works, and maybe he was still learning his trade. The likes of Nosferatu and Faust were to come.

The Copper Beeches (1912)

The only survivor of a series of short Sherlock Holmes films made in the 1910s which were supervised by Arthur Conan Doyle himself! The film stars Georges Treville as Holmes though there is no Dr Watson.

Holmes is bought in by a suspicious governess to investigate why the daughter of her employer has gone missing (she has been locked up in a shed) and why he wants her to look just like his daughter. A plot to deceive and kill the daughter's fiance is revealed.

The film is charming as a period piece though has some serious shortcomings. It is not really a movie but a pantomime performed in front of a camera. Scenes consist of a single shot with no apparent editing. The actors frequently speak (though we can't hear them of course as it is a silent movie) to the camera. Intertitles are also fairly rare and just punctuate major plot points. The film is a real curiosity, worth watching for itself though not a very good Sherlock Holmes film.

Britannia Hospital (1982)

A dark comedy and satirical look at Britain, especially the National Health Service which is seen at being in thrall to money (so still quite topical then!)

Strange things are going on in Britannia Hospital and Malcolm McDowell is investigating them. The hospital is in trouble, an African dictator is a patient (sparking protests outside) and half the staff are on strike due to the extravagant demands of private patients, while elderly NHS patients are left to die. The mad Professor (Graham Crowden) seems only interested in his bizarre medical experiments including putting a brain in a blender and tricking people to drink it!

It all starts getting a bit weird and the medical experiments become quite frankly grotesque. We end up with a cyborg, which then starts to break down.

As a dark comedy it works, as a satire I'm not so sure. It is maybe a bit too much. The cast is great though, including appearances by Mark Hamill and Leonard Rossiter.

Terror in the Crypt (1964)

An atmospheric Gothic horror film about a cursed family. The film, an Italian/Spanish co-production is also known as La Cripta e I'incubo.

Christopher Lee is a count whose daughter Laura (Adriana Ambesi) is having visions of strange deaths in the family. An investigator in the historical occult is bought in to research a legend. We learn that in the distant past the count's ancestor had a witch put to death and a curse was laid on the family... which now seems to be coming true.

So it has all the ingredients of a fine horror film: a creepy castle, men in pointy hoods, black magic et cetera. While it is an enjoyable film there are issues. The acting is often a bit indifferent (though the dubbing doesn't really help), the story is also rather unoriginal and sometimes a bit confusing.

Well never mind that, the atmosphere in this film is wonderful. It is also has it's fair share of Euro beauties with heaving bosoms.

Battle Beyond The Stars (1980)

Naturally the success of Star Wars invigorated the space-opera genre in the late 1970s and a number of similar type films were released, Battle Beyond The Stars was among the better of these.

Very heavy based on the Magnificent Seven plot: a planet is threatened by a crazed space warlord (John Saxon). Young Shad (Richard Thomas) then sets out to recruit warriors to help defend his otherwise defenseless world.

The warriors are a crazy bunch ranging from the scarred old veteran (Robert Vaughn), happy-go-lucky space trucker (George Peppard) to a number of strange aliens. The film is quite different in some ways to Star Wars, rather more campy and exotic and adult though at the end of the day its space ships firing laser beams at each other.

The story is basic, the budget was fairly low but a decent cast and plenty of cheese helps win the day, and indeed save the galaxy from evil!