Let's face it. Tinsletown rarely opened its big coffers for horror films. Most were made with spare change and had to scramble for decent actors, technicians, directors, etc. So why do so many of these largely penny-ante efforts continue to entertain us? Because the filmmakers went beyond budget constraints to bring the necessary chills to the screen-- with a combination of effective direction, well- staged shocks, clever editing...in other words, they used creativity and artfulness to scare audiences. One excellent, albeit obscure, example of this is the film we dissect below, one that ably proved the proposition that...
(Once again, we have the ghoulish pleasure of introducing a new writer to HORROR-WOOD--Raymond L. Blakey. Raymond tell us, "To me classic horror is just what the title implies, a classic. These are the films that have all the iconic imagery that have inspired generations of movie fans and will inspire many more to come. Dos anyone not immediately think of Bela Lugosi when the word Dracula is mentioned? From the Immortal "He's Alive!" of Colin Clive's Dr. Frankenstein to Audrey the Plant's "Feed Me!" from Little Shop Of Horrors, the icons of horror and dark fantasy can only ever truly be found in the classics.") Greetings HORROR-WOOD readers, I would like to introduce you to a sub genre of films that most of you have been watching all your lives and never really had a name for. The term is Creepy Cheapies and in essence it means a film that is made on the most shoe string of budgets, yet still they deliver the impact and entertainment value of big budget films. The thing that most separates a Creepy Cheapie from just an ordinary B-movie or bad film is the quality of story telling and character growth, as well as a strong creativity from the film makers to make a lot out of a little. There are many fine examples of these films out there; many I hope to be discussing with you in the coming months, and a great many of them come from the horror genre.
Perhaps one of the finest and most famous examples of a Creepy Cheapie would be George Romero’s seminal classic Night Of The Living Dead. Shot in one location with a very small cast and almost no budget. This film still stands today as one of the most chilling horror movies ever produced. However, Night is also an easy film to point to in this subgenre. Plus it has been discussed endlessly by film historians and will continue to be talked about into the future. People who see them often remember most Creepy Cheapies very fondly. But, very often these films escape discussion by movie aficionados. My theory is that people tend to hold on to these films as their own private little treasures. You might feel very personal towards one of these films, because you discovered it some night on television or in some video collection and though it is a very good film, you never really hear much about it.
Or it could be the stigma that many low budget films of quality get by being associated with many other films that are low budget and very bad. Hollywood and many film critiques have a very unfortunate habit of looking at almost all low budget films as being poorly made and downright bad movies. The very first Creepy Cheapie that I feel needs to be brought to your attention is a film called Sound Of Horror, or its original Spanish title: Sonido prehistórico, El, maybe in 1964 and directed by José Antonio Nieves Conde.
It is the story of three European men who found half a treasure map during World War II. The men make it their life’s work to find the other half of the treasure map and the treasure itself, which is buried in a cave somewhere in Athens, Greece. Twenty years later they all come together with their families and partners, as well as Pete, their driver, and Calliope, their housekeeper, to end their quest once and for all. The film takes place in the present and uses only three locations: The cave, the house near the cave where they are all staying, and the out door area between the house and the cave. The backstory of the map and their quest for the treasure is all told in exposition and it is told in parts so that it does not make the viewer feel they are being given a long-winded history lesson.
All three of the older men are aided by four younger characters in their quest. Andre, whom we are first introduced to, is aided by his niece Maria and a young man named Stravos who is said to be an archeologist. They are later joined by Mr. Dorman and Asilov who bring along a young woman named Sophia. Sophia is played by a Pre-Hammer Films Ingrid Pitt and is explained as being the person who finally got the other half of the treasure map. They say she is very persuasive, and we genre fans knew this already, of course. Calliope, the aged Greek housekeeper, plays the part of the old native woman warning of dangers and superstitions throughout the film. She immediately begins warning of doom for the expedition when they uncover an ancient, Greek, Neanderthal, mummy (yes you read that correctly) early in the film.
Pete is the most likeable character in a cast of very likeable people. Arturo Fernandez plays the young driver with a very carefree and fun loving attitude. Pete only wants to see the expedition succeed so he can make enough money to get another car and start a thriving tourism business in Athens. He is a romantic that names his car in the film Diana based on the goddess of the moon. He is the kind of character that instantly makes you root for the people in these kinds of films when they are set upon by unnatural horror. The horror in question is not the mummy, as the earliest part of the film seems to be trying to lead you to believe. The horror comes from two stone eggs, only one of which is found by Andre and brought to the house. The other has hatched ahead of time and once the life form inside crawls into view it promptly vanishes. It then proceeds to grow very quickly out of site of the viewer, reminiscent of the film Alien.
Stravos becomes the first victim of the creature when he stays behind in the cave to study the mummy. The creature is never seen; only it’s terrible shrieking sound can movements can be heard, thus the title of the film. Suddenly Stravos seems to be slashed to death by an invisible force. The effects are marvelous. The scene utilizes edits and fast movement to give a very realistic, and brutal murder scene credit. The make-up effects for the wounds are also very gory and realistic for the time.
It doesn’t take the rest of the characters long to realize and understand the threat and lock themselves indoors to escape the invisible hunter outside. The film proceeds from this point mostly taking place in the house. Characters find themselves in different forms of dangers as attempts are made to escape from or destroy the creature. Calliope is made a very brutal victim of the creature; the other egg is destroyed upon its hatching, and Andre gives his life in what the characters and audience are made to believe is the final blow against the creature.
However, the creature is actually finally destroyed along with Diana by Mr. Dorman in a sacrifice at the end of the film. It is only in its fiery death that we see the creature for the first time in silhouette and realize it has been a bipedal dinosaur all along. The brilliance of the film comes from making the creature invisible, which once again proves a very effective way of creating fear in the audience. It is our imaginations that are made to scare us far more than what we can see. In truth, judging by the creature’s silhouette at the end of the film, the costume was actually probably not very good. I imagine it would not nearly have been able to elicit the chill factor to make this film in any way believable.
Also, the effect of the invisible monster creates a threat that can be coming from anywhere at any time. There is a sense that characters are constantly in danger, because you can never tell where the monster might be. With excellent dubbing, a cast that clearly felt very comfortable with each other and the director, and a no frills but plenty of chills kind of feeling, Sound Of Horror excels as an excellent example of what a Creepy Cheapie should be. If you should happen across this film, give it a watch. You will not be disappointed. Thanks, Raymond. True, Sound Of Horror with its limited budget, scarcity of sets, and "invisible" monster, is the essence of the Creepy Cheapie. But, as you point out so well, that's not so important as what is made of these meager resources. The producer and director of this penny-pinching picture manage to make an effectively chilling film out of virtually nothing, and even the limited staging manages to create a feeling of isolation that adds to the goose pimples. That's why Sound Of Horror is truly a largely unknown horror flick that deserves a look. Besides, it does have the lovely Ingrid Pitt as a eye candy consolation prize. Article copyright © Raymond L. Blakey |
