Macabre Serenade (1972)

One of my all time favorites.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Admirable film.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

One of the four Mexican horrors that Boris Karloff made in the year that he died; all of them are pretty bad but Karloff's presence at least means that they deserve a cursory glance from the horror fan. DANCE OF DEATH is a muddled movie which has, as its basis, one of those clichéd "reading of the will" type plots, set in a typically spooky old mansion, but which also throws in about half a dozen other plot elements as well to try and keep things interesting. However, it doesn't really work.Things kick off with the discovery of an eyeless corpse - ie. an actress with a bit of blood splashed on her face. This is as gory as the film gets, by the way. Via a quick jump-cut we are immediately introduced to Boris Karloff, who soon snuffs it - or so it seems. It's actually quite sad to watch an obviously close to death Karloff in this film, to see how frail and ill-looking he looked at the very end. By this time he was half-dead anyway and apparently one of his lungs had collapsed, but like a trooper he kept on working till the (bitter end). Still, it's pleasing to watch Karloff in a movie again and he's invariably the best actor of the bunch.The rest of the cast are instantly forgettable Mexican faces, forgettable due to their amateurish and wooden acting skills. The only one of any note is a woman called Julissa (just one name), who is at least partially memorable but only for her good looks. She was also in two other Karloff films of this time. Also it's rather obvious that Karloff's scenes were actually filmed in America while the rest were in Mexico due to the difference of film clarity and the sets used.After Karloff's death, his sinister goateed doctor makes everybody wait before they hear the reading of the will. It is at this moment that people begin to die, killed by Karloff's apparently animated toys. One woman is brutally stabbed by the figure of a dancer, another man throttled by a knight, an obese victim shot in the eyes by two miniature cannons. All deaths are executed clumsily so they don't have much impact. While this is going on, the young police inspector hero is lying around somewhere sleeping while his girlfriend is in peril! The influences on this movie are clear. They're obviously trying to emulate some of Corman's Poe films starring Vincent Price, with less impressive effects, it has to be said. This led to the credit "based on a story by Edgar Allen Poe" appearing on the video box I have. At other times we see Karloff playing the organ, scenes which resemble THE BLACK CAT made 33 years earlier. Except there, the music was haunting and mournful, and here, it's screeching and awful! This is a very low budget movie, with the direction on the amateurish side. The camera-work is boring and inept (at one point the cameraman's shadow appears on a table) and the editing particularly confusing; scenes jump from one to another directly after a line of dialogue has just been said; no pauses or dissolves, just a sudden new scene. The same can be said of the abrupt ending. However, there are some atmospheric moments set in cobwebby corridors and a crypt, and one frightening scene sees our hero besieged by killer mechanical soldiers in a museum. The themes of killer toys would further be explored in plus countless cheapie '80s and 90's straight-to-video flicks. DANCE OF DEATH is a poorly-made film, but the sheer quantity of bizarrely-mixed elements make it watchable, if a bit dull.

This film has decent plot--one that is very reminiscent of several other movies and TV shows. However, the budget is quite low, the film is too talky and slow, some of the acting pretty crappy and the overall effects is very sad, as it was one of the last films of Boris Karloff. Why he chose to make several ultra-low budget Mexican films at this late stage of his life is beyond me--did he need the money THAT badly?! Imagine a film that is like a combination of the "Twilight Zone" episode "The Masks" (where a dying old man brings all his awful relatives to his home--as he's dying) as well as the Dr. Phibes films with all the life-sized automatons. Karloff also has a bunch of despicable relatives who only show up to his summons because they want his money after he dies. When he dies soon after their arrival, it looks great for these greedy relatives until one-by-one, they are killed off by Karloff's goofy automatons. If Karloff really dead? Will any of these jerks escape? Does anyone really care since it was all handled so poorly? The only thing more that I'd reveal is that at least it does end on a rather unusual note!The bottom line is that this cheesy film sat on the shelf for years after it was made--a sure sign that the film was a turkey. Not surprisingly, the DVD release has an ugly dark print, no special features and is pretty dull with little to recommend it. I've seen a lot worse, but considering this was one of Karloff's swan songs, it's a darn shame--he deserved better than this.

House of Evil (1968) * 1/2 (out of 4) One of the four Mexican films Boris Karloff made at the end of his career, this one here being the first to get released. In the film Karloff plays an rich, if eccentric man who calls his family together for a will reading. He ends up dying and his fears of a maniac stalking the house taking out eyeballs appears to be coming true as the family members start dropping dead one by one. Okay, there's certainly a bit of sadness seeing Karloff go out with these Mexican films but at the same time you have to respect his wishes to continue working. From what I've read, he didn't need money so apparently these movies were made simply so he could continue to act. I hadn't seen this film, also known as DANCE OF DEATH, since I was very young and I remember it being quite bad but this repeat viewing shows that it is bad but certainly not as horrible as THE FEAR CHAMBER or SNAKE PEOPLE. I think Karloff turns in a pretty good performance here, which also includes him not being forced to use a wheelchair throughout the production. I think he manages to be quite believable as the mean old man who certainly doesn't have any love for his greedy family. The supporting players are all fairly forgettable as they add nothing to the film although sex pot Julissa, who appeared in three of the four Karloff films, comes off mildly entertaining and apparently is still working today. One thing that does benefit this film is that it actually makes sense. The other three films in the series all have plots that make no sense and the scenes with Karloff appear to have been shot without too much thought going into them as they really don't mix too well with the "other" footage. That's not the case here as everything flows pretty smoothly together. The death scenes are all silly looking but that's to be expected I guess. Karloff fans might want to check this notorious films out but others should certainly stay clear.

Boris Karloff is Matthias Morteval, a dying, lonely old nut who lives in Morhenge Mansion with some servants and tells his doctor friend, "Don't try to doctor me, doctor! I'm disgustingly healthy!" He invites his nieces and nephews to his home and warns them they may have inherited a genetic disease that causes madness by "shrinking the brain" (?)***SPOILERS***Morteval/Karloff ends up dying, and murderous "toys" (designed by his dead brother) start killing off the relatives. A mini cannon fires real bullets into a guys face, a life-sized knight in armor attacks with an axe and a dancing Sheik stabs people with a knife. One guy getting strangled makes some hilarious faces. At the end, Julissa and her boyfriend find Karloff is still alive and hiding out in the dungeon where steel gates seal off the room. He plays the recurring organ theme music (sort of a death rattle used for the killings), the brother's spirit starts talking ("The whole house will go with me!") and the mansion goes up in flames.This senseless mess is too dark, boring and the stupid dialogue never matches the lips.