Howard Vernon Movies
With a narrow face, high forehead, large, piercing eyes, and a rough-edged voice, character actor Howard Vernon was well-suited to playing sinister villains. Over his long career, he worked on stage and screen throughout Europe. Though most frequently in co-starring and supporting roles, he occasionally starred in films, most memorably as Dr. Orloff in The Awful Dr. Orloff (1961) and its many sequels, and as the title protagonist in Fritz Lang's last film The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960). Born to a Swiss father and an American mother in Baden, Germany, Vernon studied drama in Berlin and Paris before taking his first professional stage bow in Un Ami Viendra Ce Soir (1945) -- later, he would reprise his role in the film version. Through the '50s, Vernon appeared in various types of dramas, but after 1960 was primarily relegated to playing villains in horror and science-fiction movies. One of his more notable roles of this period was that of Professor Leonard Nosferatu in Jean-Luc Godard's classic sci-fi drama Alphaville (1965). Occasionally, Vernon would appear in other types of films such as What's New Pussycat?(1965) and Woody Allen's Love and Death (1975). Vernon made his last film appearance in Le Complexe de Toulon (1996). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1999
Having previously laid waste to the Occidental police forces of Hong Kong and mainland China before being dispatched by Cagliostro the Ancient Wizard, malevolent criminal mastermind Dr. James Wong and his cruel daughter Tsai Ming return to usher in a whole new era of crime years after the powerful sorcerer has passed away. They made their living by kidnapping and ransoming the daughters of rich and elite, though it was only a matter of time before Dr. Wong and Tsai Ming met their match in the form of a wise and benevolent wizard. But now Cagliostro is gone, leaving the two criminal fiends clear to concoct yet another diabolical scheme. With the help of their assistant assassin Loba, Dr. Wong and Tsai Ming have now harnessed the power of virtual reality. Their first goal is to abduct the daughter of a wealthy European businessman, though they've underestimated the lengths to which the desperate father will go in order to ensure that no harm comes to his little girl. As super sleuth Nelly Smith and her inept assistant Doc Petry attempt to navigate the Hong Kong underworld and locate Dr. Wong's secret hideout, they discover that the power of the ancient is still alive and well in the modern world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jesús Franco, Lina Romay, (more)
- 1992
Charles Goodis is a thoroughly shady character. Not only is he a professional industrial spy, but he has enough information about phony corporations set up to funnel money in illegal ways to rock any number of boats. In addition, he's done a bit of that sort of thing himself. He has been sleeping with his business partner's wife, but when his own wife starts an affair, it makes him crazy. The worst thing about all this is that it has become routine. He's bored. He wonders what would happen if he were to publicize his nefarious deeds. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
A post-apocalyptic future becomes the setting for pitch black humor in this visually intricate French comedy. The action takes place within a single apartment complex, which is owned by the same man that operates the downstairs butcher shop. It's a particularly popular place to live, thanks to the butcher's uncanny ability to find excellent cuts of meat despite the horrible living conditions outside. The newest building superintendent, a former circus clown, thinks he has found an ideal living situation. All that changes, however, when he discovers the true source of the butcher's meat, and that he may be the next main course. This dark tale is played out in a brilliantly designed, glorious surreal alternate world reminiscent of the works of director Terry Gilliam, who co-presented the film's American release. Like Gilliam, co-directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro hail from an animation background, and have a fondness for extravagant visuals, absurdist plot twists, and a sense of humor that combines sharp satire with broad slapstick and gross-out imagery. This mixture may displease the weak of stomach, but those attuned to the film's sensibility will be delighted by the obvious technical virtuosity and wicked sense of humor. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dominique Pinon, Marie-Laure Dougnac, (more)
The demented Dr. Flamand (Helmut Berger) and his beautiful but deadly assistant Nathalie (Brigitte Lahaie) lure unsuspecting victims in this horror feature. The doctor uses the young skins of his victims to perform plastic surgery on his disfigured sister. Telly Savalas is Hallen, the New York businessman who hires private detective Sam Morgan (Chris Mitchum) to find his missing fashion model daughter Barbara (Caroline Munro). A sadistic Nazi doctor (Anton Diffring) and a chainsaw/power tool psychosexual tormentor are called in by the devious Dr. Flamand to join in the fun. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helmut Berger, Brigitte Lahaie, (more)
- 1987
Noted modernist German filmmakers Daniele Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub are behind this evocative minimalist retelling of the tragic story of Empedocles, a Greek philosopher and statesman who lived in the fourth century BC. To prove himself a god and therefore, immortal, Empedocles hurled himself into the burning caldera of Mount Etna and survived. There are four slightly different versions of the film available. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Andreas von Rauch, Howard Vernon, (more)
- 1986
A hooker tries to overcome her fate by marrying out of her profession in this conventional drama by Jean-Claude Guiguet. Marie (Marie Christine Rousseau) and another prostitute with a young son live in a hotel near the Saint-Martin canal. Marie has fallen in love with Paul (Stephane Jobert), and the two carry on with their plans to marry even though Marie's pimp is brutal and not about to approve of Marie's departure. To make his opinion known, he has her beaten and knocked around. The older woman who runs the hotel has taken Marie and the other hooker under her wing, yet she is certainly no match for the pimp and his henchmen. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patachou, Ingrid Bourgoin, (more)
Part of the Nazi-hunter subgenre that emerged in the wake of 1978's The Boys from Brazil, this lurid thriller comes from Italian director Andrea Bianchi and was co-written by exploitation legend Jesús Franco. The film follows a group of Jewish agents bent on exacting revenge on Nazi officers who escaped capture after WWII. Trekking to South America in search of the infamous Dr. Mengele, the team discovers the sadistic doctor is performing gruesome medical experiments on innocent local women. Commando Mengele is also known as Angel of Death. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- 1984
- R
Jason Connery (son of Sean Connery) stars as Johnny Kirkland in this slightly uneven teen drama about facing down obstacles at college and at home. When Johnny goes off to the university, he is leaving behind an aloof and alcoholic mother (Diane Cilento, Jason Connery's real-life mother) whose recent divorce has further destabilized her emotionally. At school, his frat brothers latch on to the fact that Johnny excelled in his high school at both grades and sports and rather than hope his success will continue, they do everything they can to "bring him down to size." Apparently, their own size is quite small, indeed, barely visible to the naked eye if their loutish behavior is any yardstick. Compounding these problems are Johnny's troubles with his girlfriend Robin (Laura Williams) -- can life get any worse? Most likely not, but how it gets better is the focus in the rest of the film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Produced on behalf of the HBO cable service, The Blood of Others is a rare venture into English-language filmmaking by Claude Chabrol. Set during World War II, the film stars Jodie Foster and Michael Ontkean as a pair of French resistance fighters. If you can swallow that, then you'll accept New Zealand native Sam Neill as a German businessman. Chabrol's wife Stephane Audran costars as Gigi, while other prominent members of the cast include Alexandra Stewart, Jean-Pierre Aumont and Micheline Presle. Oh, yes, the plot: based on a novel by Simone de Beauvoir, The Blood of Others concerns Jodie Foster's confused loyalties: should she continue in her underground activities, or succumb to the charms of the seemingly civilized Neill? This French-Canadian coproduction was originally telecast August 23, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Michael Ontkean, (more)
Spanish exploitation king Jésus "Jess" Franco helmed this gothic horror outing, as a very loose adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The House of Usher." As it opens, Dr. Alan Harker (Antonio Mayans) receives a distressed letter from his former university professor-cum-mentor, Dr. Eric Usher (Howard Vernon), that prompts him to travel to Usher's castle. Once there, Dr. Harker discovers, to his utter horror, that Usher is trapped in the jaws of madness, obsessively attempting to resurrect his comatose daughter Melissa with the blood of abducted young girls. As death looms near, Usher enters a terrifying netherworld that finds him continually tormented by malevolent otherworldly forces including the spirit of his dead wife, that of his wayward housekeeper, and those of the many young women who have fallen prey to his abductions and homicides. As this occurs, Usher's castle itself begins to crumble in response to him, and Harker realizes that he must flee for his life. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- 1981
A bizarre Euro-kink variation on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, this intriguing film from Polish director Walerian Borowczyk takes place almost exclusively in the palatial home of Dr. Henry Jekyll (Udo Kier), where the good doctor is being feted prior to his engagement to the austere Miss Fanny Osborne (Marina Pierro). The guest list -- comprised of various dignitaries, officials and symbols of bourgeois respectability -- could easily have strolled in from a Fellini film, complete with a closetful of perverse habits and barely-repressed sexual urges. At the onset of the festivities, it is learned that a young girl has been murdered on the streets that night -- an event somehow linked to Jekyll's insistence that his estate be willed to the yet-unseen Mr. Hyde. It comes as no surprise that Jekyll's infamous potion transforms him into a crazed sexual predator with desires so aggressive that his victims cannot survive... but the real twist comes when young Fanny joins Jekyll in his bath while he is transforming into Hyde, and the formula's malevolent effects are spread to her as well. Before long, the entire affair devolves into an orgy of sexual sadism and bloody violence as the evil is spread throughout the house. Borowczyk has imbued this quirky exercise with a doomed, nightmarish quality, contrasting the opulence of the festivities with dimly-lit, smoky rooms where the lecherous Hyde stalks his victims. Patrick Magee borrows a bit from his arch performance in Marat/Sade as the swaggering "General" who gets taken down a few notches at the end of a bullwhip. Released in the U.S. as Blood of Dr. Jekyll, then later on video as Bloodlust. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Udo Kier, Marina Pierro, (more)
- 1981
In a fictional African country that looks a lot like Paris where this film was shot, competing factions are after a precious map that gives the location of diamond and uranium deposits and underground petroleum stores. A French government official and some nasty cohorts are after the map, though a nationalist, outlawed group from the country hears that this official really wants to get control of their country as well and is fronting the money needed for such a move. Meanwhile, the president who does run the country is busy trying to eliminate all his opposition, a sure way of extending his term of office. All three factions must contend with each other before the map and the money for a planned coup can be retrieved by the right people. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerard Essomba, Howard Vernon, (more)
Cult filmmaker Jean Rollin hit rock bottom with this soggy horror tale of drowned Nazis rising from their watery graves as hungry zombies. Howard Vernon leads a cast familiar to any fans of the prolific Jesus Franco, who was slated to direct this film before his bosses at Eurocine gave the assignment to Rollin. It mattered not, because Franco was able to take his own crack at the Nazi-zombie subgenre with the equally wretched Oasis of the Zombies. Bad cinema buffs are free to take their pick, while those looking for a better treatment of the same plot should consider Ken Wiederhorn's Shock Waves instead. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Howard Vernon, Pierre Escourrou, (more)
The internationally produced From Hell to Victory is evocative of the works of Erich Maria Remarque. Several close friends of varying nationalities are separated by WW II. German Jurgen Dietrich (Horst Buchholz) is isolated from his old chums by his loyalty to the Fatherland. Still, he and his former comrades hold out hope for a happy reunion at war's end. George Peppard, George Hamilton and Capucine also appear. Despite some well-done battle sequences and a star-studded cast, From Hell to Victory never received an American theatrical release. In some prints, director Umberto Lenzi is billed as "Hank Milestone" (possibly an homage to All Quiet on the Western Front director Lewis Milestone). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Peppard, George Hamilton, (more)
- 1978
Presented as the drug-induced fantasies of a shy chemist, this cartoonish exploitation comedy from cult director Jesus Franco is a minor entry without much to recommend it. The chemist, Robinson Crusoe (Yuda Barkan), is an ineffectual Walter Mitty character who develops a potion allowing his daydreams to come true. Soon he is on a tropical island, where two beautiful women (Anne Libert, Ingeborg Steinbach) make love to him constantly. The group soon includes Crusoe's friend Linda (Andrea Rau), a reticent actress. The fantasy begins to sour a bit when Crusoe gets visits from his employer, mother-in-law, and wife, as well as a native tribe headed by Franco regular Howard Vernon in a grass skirt and warpaint. Crusoe's fantasies also include a pornographic film segment, lifted from Franco's own Jungfrauen-Report. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
The dreams of a sadistic businessman become the nightmares of his weekend visitors in this psychedelic tale of terror that was originally banned in France! In the light of the sun, Boris Zarloff (Michel Lemoine) appears to be a mild-mannered businessman, but when night falls and Zarloff sleeps, he silently savors hideous visions of torture and domination -- much like his notorious father. When a pair of travelers arrives at Zarloff's secluded castle for a weekend getaway, the beautiful young girl begins to express a morbid fascination in the history of the estate and asks Zarloff for a guided tour of its infamous torture chamber. With all the elements in place to live out his dark fantasies once and for all, Zarloff soon succumbs to the madness that plagues his family's bloodline. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Woody Allen's Love and Death is purportedly a satire of all things Russian, from Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky novels to Sergei Eisenstein films, but it plays more like a spin on Bob Hope's Monsieur Beaucaire. Allen plays Boris, a 19th century Russian who falls in love with his distant (and married) cousin Sonja (Diane Keaton). Pressed into service with the Russian army during the war against Napoleon, Boris accidentally becomes a hero, then goes on to win a duel against a cuckolded husband (Harold Gould). He returns to Sonja, hoping to settle down on the Steppes somewhere, but Sonja has become fired up with patriotic fervor, insisting that Boris join a plot to kill Napoleon. Intellectual in-jokes abound in Love and Death, and other gags are basic Allen one-liners; for instance, after being congratulated for his lovemaking skills, Boris replies nonchalantly, "I practice a lot when I'm alone." The pseudo-Russian ambience of Love and Death is comically enhanced by the Sergey Prokofiev compositions on the musical track. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, (more)
- 1974
In this erotic horror film from cult director Jesus Franco (using the pseudonym "Clifford Brown"), wealthy businessman Patrick Mariel (Guy Delorme) takes his wife Marianne (Jacqueline Laurent) and daughter Linda (Lina Romay) on a French vacation. Patrick's old friend Lorna (Monique Delaunay, using the name "Pamela Stanford") shows up just in time for Linda's 18th birthday and takes demonic, sexual possession of the girl's body and soul. Franco appears as a doctor and Howard Vernon makes a brief appearance in this plodding supernatural exploitation piece which nevertheless manages to intrigue. Despite dreadful photography by Etienne Rosenfeld and a scene involving cockroaches crawling from a woman's nether region, this perverse, incestuous, and ugly film will have some appeal to genre completists. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lina Romay, Jacqueline Laurent, (more)
Exploitation master Jess Franco directs Devil's Island Lovers, a film set in a South American prison. The story concerns a pair of innocents who are sent to serve time in the horrific prison and are confronted with some of the most barbaric behavior imaginable. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
