Welcome To Our Nightmare III: Terror, Wooley... and TAKOMA!

Curse of the Werewolf, 1961

In rural Spain a starving beggar (Richard Wordsworth) makes the mistake of begging at the wedding of a cruel Marques. Thrown into the dungeon for years and years, he loses his humanity. When a mute servant girl (Yvonne Romain) is thrown into the dungeon for refusing the Marques’ advances, she is raped by the beggar and becomes pregnant. She finds refuge with Don Alfredo (Clifford Evans) and his housekeeper Teresa (Hira Talfrey), who kindly take her in and ultimately adopt her baby. But the young Leon (played as a child by Justin Walters and an adult by Oliver Reed) has a curse on him, and soon it begins to impact those he loves.

Taking its time to develop characters and relationships, this is an impressive and memorable tale of horror.

In terms of werewolf films, this would probably be a top 5 for me. Just incredibly solid and a masterful example of managing a sprawling cast of characters.



Really liked this one. Currently on Criterion and highly recommended.

FULL REVIEW

That's really good.

The Entity, 1982

Carla (Barbara Hershey) is a single mother raising three children in a house in Los Angeles. One night, out of the blue, Carla is physically and sexually assaulted in her bedroom by an unseen assailant. Initially perplexed---and understandably traumatized---by the unexplainable incident, Carla soon suffers another attack and then another. Desperate for help, Carla goes to Dr. Sneiderman (Ron Silver), who is convinced that the attacks are really just bouts of hysteria. Will Carla find someone who believes her before it’s too late?

A nightmarish scenario and a solid lead performance make for an impactful, if not entirely well-executed, horror movie.

I joked while halfway through the film that it could have been called “A Woman Trying to Get Medical Help: The Movie”, and honestly I think that this stays true for almost all of the runtime. A few days after watching the film, a woman told me a story about how her kneecap spontaneously dislocated and she fell down the stairs, and the doctor in the ER told her, “Well, as a woman that’s going to happen sometimes.” I could write paragraphs and paragraphs about experiences my female friends, relatives, and I myself have had trying to get help with a medical problem, only to be told it’s just a “woman thing” or that it’s “all in your head.”

Someone raised the very valid point that all of the “based on a true story” framing adds a slightly icky sheen, because in reality, yes, someone who thinks that they are being attacked by ghosts is probably mentally ill and needs psychological help, not an exorcist. But in the context of the film, the events and interactions frequently capture the absolute frustration of needing help with a real, painful, visceral thing, only to be told you’re imagining it. (The peak of this, for me, is when a senior doctor refers to Carla as a “little girl” who is “masturbating”).

The film is notable for its special effects, and they certainly make an impact. Using a prosthetic body, we see the invisible entity groping and restraining Carla as she is assaulted. It’s disturbing to witness as an audience, and obviously disturbing for Carla to witness as the victim of the assault. These sequences are interesting in terms of the effects, but do veer a bit toward the exploitative because in wanting to show off the neat effects, we’re also constantly being shown Carla’s exposed body.

I really liked Hershey in the lead role. She manages to portray fear and vulnerability, and the experience of someone who knows her experiences are real, but keeps coming up against people who say it’s all in her head. A standout sequence for her is when she talks to the doctor following the entity sexually abusing her while she was asleep. Unaware of what was happening, Carla experiences an orgasm and then must grapple with the deep, deep shame of that moment. I also enjoyed Margaret Blye as Carla’s friend Cindy, one of her strongest allies. There is a recurring theme of people wanting to explain away what Carla is experiencing, and a wonderful moment of allyship happens when Carla is being attacked and Cindy and her husband walk in on the attack. Cindy’s husband wants to hand-wave it all away, but Cindy stands firm, and just the act of her bearing witness has a restorative effect on Carla.

One of the strongest themes in the film, along with the maddening experience of not being believed, is the soothing nature of being seen. Most of the people who acknowledge what Carla is experiencing can’t actually do anything to help her. This entity is not going to be deterred by waving around some sage or saying a few prayers. But just the fact of knowing that she is believed does wonders for Carla.

Where the movie does sag quite a bit is in the internal logic of everything. The entity is not at all subtle. In fact, it is willing to attack Carla or otherwise manifest in the presence of other people. While at first this includes only more “subjective” characters like Carla’s son, it’s later shown that the entity will put on a show for just about anyone. It makes it harder and harder to get that tension of the doctors not believing her. If one of them spent even 20 minutes in her home, they’d be likely to see compelling evidence of Carl’s experiences. I would have found the story much more believable from a character/plot standpoint if the entity confined itself to tormenting Carla only when she was alone.

There’s also the really weird relationship between Carla and her children. To begin with, her relationship with her teenage son is just . . . hmm. Worrying? The way they talk to each other at first I couldn’t tell if they were meant to be married or parent and child. I also thought it was incredibly bizarre that Carla never seems to worry at all about her daughters. As far as she knows, her home has been invaded by a sadistic sexual predator. And she never even talks about being worried that they will be assaulted, nor does anyone ask the children if they have experienced any unwanted touching, voices, etc. I can’t imagine knowing there’s a sexual predator on the loose in my home and not having a single conversation about getting the kids out of the house. The movie makes some gestures at Carla not having the financial means to move them to a new place, but come on!

The premise itself is solid, and there’s enough to recommend it, but it does have several elements that detract from it feeling fully coherent.