Veronica Carlson

This very low-budget horror anthology stars Gunnar Hansen (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's original "Leatherface") as the grizzled proprietor of a cut-rate carnival sideshow who treats the teenage patrons to a quartet of gruesome tales. The vignettes -- involving a den of werewolves, a resurrected mummy, a mutant baby, and a deformed hermit -- are used as backstory by the "Freakmaker," who explains the nefarious means by which the assorted hideous attractions came to his carnival domain. These stories, like countless horror anthologies of the sort, point the way toward the inevitable fate of the narrator's captive audience. The static, poorly acted segments are less interesting than the fairly spooky framing story, but fans of classier omnibus films, such as Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, will see the punch line coming from a mile away. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

England's Tigon studios produced fairly sophisticated period horror films in the 1970s, including this drawing-room horror-mystery directed by Hammer stalwart Freddie Francis. Peter Cushing stars as a former priest who harbors a dark and horrible secret in his attic. The locked room serves as a prison cell for his crazed, cannibalistic adult son, who acquired his savage tastes in India during his father's missionary work there. Cushing fears that his son will escape to prey upon the effete guests at his rural English estate during a cross-country auto race... though there may be more to fear from one of his guests than from his monstrous son. Far too stuffy to generate any real suspense until the violent, blood-soaked climax, this is definitely one of Tigon's lesser efforts, benefiting mainly from the presence of Cushing and John Hurt as an unbalanced young gardener. Not to be confused with the 1933 horror classic of the same name. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Victor Frankenstein (Ralph Bates) is the son of the Count who plans his father's demise. He inherits the castle and the comely housekeeper (Kate O'Mara) who doubles as his mistress. Soon Victor is busy murdering people to build his monster (David Prowse). His victims include his neighbor, his housekeeper, a gravedigger, a professor and his best friend. He patches the various body parts together to make his horrible creation in this horror story with a good dose of comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The key image of this film occurs early on, as a hideous monster removes its face, only to reveal itself as Baron Frankenstein in a mask. Hammer's fifth installment in the series sees the transformation of doctor into monster complete. Peter Cushing's portrayal of the Baron here is all insanity and hatred, rather than the misunderstood (if unethical) genius of previous entries. Frankenstein transplants the brain of an insane doctor into Freddie Jones' body, creating a pathetic, misshapen beast, while using blackmail and rape to control the people around him. This was director Terence Fisher's favorite film, and his pacing and composition have rarely been better. Jones (the nasty showman in The Elephant Man) is great at communicating the disorientation and helpless agony of his condition, and while Cushing's character is more one-dimensional than usual, he does his normal excellent job as the Baron. Hammer's next installment was the silly Horror of Frankenstein before Fisher returned to end the series with Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

When a young girl is found hanging in the local church with fang marks in her neck, the townsfolk immediately suspect Dracula (Christopher Lee) is behind the evil deed. Although he has supposedly been dead for quite some time, the vile vampire is the prime suspect. The Monsignor (Rupert Davies) is called in to exorcise the local castle where Dracula once lived. The diabolical Dracula forces the holy man's assistant to help him in his thirst for blood. His next victim is the Monsignor's niece, who works at the local pub. The prince of darkness meets his demise when he is impaled on a crucifix -- at least until he can find another script that he and his agent can agree on. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

Smashing Time attempts to turn British actresses Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave into a female Laurel and Hardy. The film's second mistake is to prolong the joke for 96 minutes. Tushingham and Redgrave play a couple of dimwitted North Country girls who head to London, in hopes of breaking into the mad, mod world of fashion modeling. Instead they spend most of their screen time getting in each other's way and wreaking havoc on innocent pedestrians. The comic "highlight" of Smashing Time is supposed to be a mammoth pie fight; but outside of one cute throwaway gag involving a street minister, the sequence makes one wish, in the words of Laurel and Hardy buff Leonard Maltin, that Smashing Time "had been handled by someone other than [director] Desmond Davis." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide