TALES AFTER THE RAIN (1953) see Ugetsu Monogatari

TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972/Amicus/Metromedia) 92mins. UK.
Credits: Dir: Freddie Francis; Prod: Max J. Rosenberg & Milton Subotsky; Ex.Prod: Charles Fries; Sc: Milton Subotsky; Ph: Norman Warwick; Mu: Roy Ashton; Mus: Douglas Gamely. From the stories in E.C. comics by Albert Feldstein & William Gaines.
Cast: Peter Cushing, Ralph Richardson, Robin Phillips, Joan Collins, Patrick Magee, Oliver MacGreevy, Nigel Patrick, Chl”e Franks, Roy Dotrice, Ian Hendry, Geoffrey Bayldon, Barbara Murray, Richard Greene, Susan Denny, Angie Grant, David Markham, Robert Hutton.
Five people who become lost while on a tour of some catacombs, meet a strange monk, (Richardson), who tells them their futures.
"All Through the House".
On Christmas Eve Joanne Clayton, (Collins), kills her husband with a poker, but on that same night a lunatic, (MacGreevy), escapes from an asylum dressed in a Santa Claus suit. The murderous psychotic happens by Joanne's house and is let in by her unsuspecting daughter, (Franks).
"Reflection of Death".
While planning to leave his wife for his mistress, Maitland, (Hendry), suffers a car accident. After coming to, he begins to walk home, but is shocked when everyone he meets is horrified to see him. Eventually Maitland realises that he died in the car crash two months ago and is now a walking corpse. His friend wakes him up from his nightmare, but then they are involved in a crash.
"Wish You Were Here".
Businessman Jason is on the verge of bankcruptcy when his wife Enid, (Murray), discovers that one of their artifacts can grant them three wishes. When she wishes for money, her husband is killed in a car accident and she recieves a cheque from his life insurance. Horrified, Enid wishes her husband to be restored to her just as he was immediately prior to the accident, but what she doesn't realise is that he actually died of a heart attack before impact. While he lies in his coffin Enid uses her thrid wish to bring him back to life forever, but the embalming acid is burning in his veins and her husband returns as a screaming corpse. Driven to the brink of madness, Enid chops up the body, but because of her wish, each part remains alive for eternity in tortured agony.
"Blind Alleys".
The sadistic new owner, (Patrick), of a home for the blind uses his large alsatian dog to keep order amongst the residents, but when he deprives them of heat and proper nourishment the inmates kidnap him and the dog for a few days. All the desperate man can hear through the door of the store cupboard is his dog barking and the sounds of hammers and saws. When he is released he sees that the blind men have built an alleyway lined with razor blades. Confident that he can manouver past the razors, the owner makes good progress towards freedom, but then the inmate's leader, (Magee), release his starving dog.
"Poetic Justice".
A kindly old man named Grimsdyke, (Cushing), is driven to suicide on St. Valentine's day by a greedy neighbour, (Phillips), who wants to buy his house. One year later the man's corpse comes back to life for revenge.
The crypt keeper consigns each of the visitors to the flames of Hell for their sins.
An exceedingly enjoyable compedium of tales, and one of the best anthology films to be released around this time.

TALES OF MYSTERY (1967) see Histories Extraordinaires

TALES OF MYSTERY AND IMAGINATION (1967) see Histories Extraordinaires

TALES OF TERROR (1962/Alta Vista/AIP.) 90mins. US.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Roger Corman; Ex.Prod: James H. Nicholson & Samuel Z. Arkoff; Sc: Richard Matheson; Ph: Floyd Crosby; Ed: Anthony Carras; Art: Daniel Haller; Sfx: Pat Dinga; Mus: Les Baxter. From stories by Edgar Allan Poe.
Cast: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Maggie Pierce, David Frankham, Debra Paget, Joyce Jameson, Wally Campo, Leona Gage.
A trilogy of horror tales:
"The Case of M. Valdemar".
On his deathbed, Valdemar, (Price), undergoes an hypnotic trance to lessen the pain by the sinister Carmichael, (Rathbone), but the mesmerist has purposely kept Valdemar alive in a cataleptic state to try and force Valdemar's pretty young wife, (Paget), to marry him. Enraged, Valdemar's decomposing corpse rises from the bed and collapses into a pool of goo and maggots onto Carmichael who dies of fright.
"The Black Cat".
An unkempt and drunken wine taster, (Lorre), competes with a gentlemanly taster, (Price), over the number of wines they can drink and identify, but when he discovers that his opponent is having an affair with his wife he walls them up alive in the wine cellar. While coping with the guilt of his crime, the taster begins to hallucinate and the police suspect him of murder when they hear a cat wailing behind the cellar walls.
"Morella".
Driven to alcoholism after the death of his wife, Locke, (Price), stands vigil over her mummified corpse that he has kept when his daughter who he blames for his wife's death, comes home to visit. The spirit of the girl's mother possesses her, which so shocks Locke that he drops a candle and the ensuing flames consume them both while battle with each other.
Considered to be the best Corman adaptation of Poe's stories.
A publicity still of Lorre's decapitated head never appears in the film.

TARGET EARTH! (1954/Abtcon Pictures/Allied Artists) 74mins. BW. US.
Credits: Dir. & Ed: Sherman A. Rose; Prod: Herman Cohen; Sc: William Raynor; Ph: Guy Roe; Art: James Sullivan; Sfx: David Koehler; Mus: Paul Dunlap.
Based on "The Deadly City" by Ivor Jorgenson (Paul W. Falman) that appeared in "If: Worlds of Science Fiction" March 1933.
Cast: Richard Denning, Virginia Grey, Kathleen Crowley, House Peters Jnr., Whit Bissell, Arthur Space, Richard Reeves, Robert Roark, Steve Pendleton, Jim Drake, Mort Marshall.
Only six people survive the terrible devastation in Chicago caused by giant killer robots from Venus sent to wipe out humanity. A scientist discovers that ultra sonic sound waves will crack the orb of the monsters and destroy them, so the military bombard the city with the sound waves just before Frank, (Denning) and Nora, (Crowley), are about to be slain by the creatures.
An average 50's science fiction film let down by the slow paced script.

TARGETS (1968/Saticoy Prod./Paramount) 90mins. US.
Credits: Dir., Prod., Sc. & Ed: Peter Bogdanovich; Ex.Prod: Roger Corman; Ph: Laszlo Kovacs; Des: Polly Platt. From a story by Polly Platt.
Cast: Boris Karloff, Tim O'Kelly, James Brown, Sandy Baron, Jack Nicholson, Nancy Hsueh, Dick Miller, Peter Bogdanovich, Mike Farrell, Randy Quaid, Arthur Peterson, Mary Jackson, Tanya Morgan, Monty Landis.
A young man and ex-Vietnam veteran, (O'Kelly), purchases a rifle and kills his family. He then embarks on several sniper attacks at passing motorists before threatening the patrons of a drive-in theatre screening "The Terror", whose ageing star Byron Orlok, (Karloff), is in the audience. Orlok, who has been musing over the golden age of horror films and making clear his abhorrence for present day violence, approaches the sniper and disarms him.
A suspenseful and well-photographed thriller based loosely on the Charles Whitman killing spree of 1966 and made by another of Roger Corman's prodigies during the short time that Karloff was still on contract to American International Pictures. Karloff died shortly after the film was released, but it remains a lasting testament to the great actor's talents.
Features sequences from The Terror (1963).
After the assassination of Robert Kennedy a prologue was added to the film dealing with the issue of gun control.
Originally titled BEFORE I DIE.

A TASTE OF BLOOD (1967/Ajay Films/Creative Film Enterprises) 120mins.
Aka: THE SECRET OF DR. ALUCARD.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Herschell Gordon Lewis; Ex.Prod: Sidney J. Reich; Sc: Donald Stanford; Ph: Andy Romanoff; Ed: Richard Brinkman; Mus: Larry Wellington. Based on characters created by Bram Stoker.
Cast: Bill Rogers, Otto Schlesinger, Elizabeth Wilkinson, Thomas Wood, Eleanor Valli, Lawrence Tobin, Herschell Gordon Lewis.
"A ghostly tale drenched with gouts of blood spurting from the writhing victims of a madman's lust!"
American businessman John Stone, (Rogers), drinks some British brandy that he doesn't know is tainted with Dracula's blood and becomes a vampire. He travels to Britain to claim his ancestral home from where he proceeds to take revenge on all those who persecuted his descendant. Infamous vampire hunter, Howard Helsing, (Schlesinger), follows the vampire from America to try and destroy him.
A contemporary vampire adaptation that might well be schlock horror maestro, Gordon Lewis' best work. Lewis also appears briefly as a British sailor.

A TASTE OF FEAR (1961/Columbia/Hammer) 86mins. BW. UK.
Aka: SCREAM OF FEAR.
Credits: Dir: Seth Holt; Prod. & Sc: Jimmy Sangster; Ex.Prod: Michael Carreras; Ph: Douglas Slocombe; Ed: James Needs & Eric Boyd Perkins; Art: Tom Goswell; Des: Bernard Robinson; Mus: Clifton Parker.
Cast: Susan Strasberg, Ann Todd, Christopher Lee, Ronald Lewis, Leonard Sachs, Anne Blake, John Serret, Fred Johnson.
Crippled Penny Appleby, (Strasberg), returns home to visit her father in the South of France, but her stepmother tells her that her father has gone away. Later she sees her father's body in the summerhouse, but when she tells the chauffeur the body disappears. Dr. Gerard, (Lee), arrives and confides to Penny's stepmother that her mind must be suffering, especially when Penny claims she saw her father's body again in the swimming pool. The chauffeur and her stepmother are suspected of killing him, but Penny realises that they will try to kill her too.
A superbly made thriller that borrows its plot from Les Diaboliques and maintains suspense to the last when it is revealed that no one is quite who they seem.

TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (1970/Hammer/Warner) 95mins. (91mins. in US.) UK. Sequel to: Dracula Has Risen From the Grave.
Credits: Dir: Peter Sasdy; Prod: Aida Young; Sc: John Elder (Anthony Hinds); Ph: Arthur Grant; Ed: Chris Barnes; Art: Scott MacGregor; Sfx: Brian Johncock; Mu: Gerry Fletcher; Mus: James Bernard.
Cast: Christopher Lee, Ralph Bates, Geoffrey Keen, Gwen Watford, Linda Hayden, Peter Sallis, Michael Ripper, Isla Blair, Martin Jarvis, Russell Hunter, John Carson, Roy Kinnear, Anthony Corlan.
After witnessing Count Dracula's demise on a large bronze cross, a travelling salesman, (Kinnear), sells the Count's cape, ring and dried blood to the depraved Lord Coutney, (Bates). Coutney invites three thrill seeking Victorian aristocrats, (Keen, Sallis & Carson), to partake in a ritual that will be more exciting than anything else they have encountered. When they find they are being forced to drink Dracula's re-hydrated blood they become so filled with repulsion that they beat Lord Courtney to death. Dracula, (Lee), materialises to take revenge on the men who killed his disciple, forcing a member of each man's family to slay them.
The fourth and last of the better Hammer formula Dracula entries with a good comment on the repressed sexual values of Victorian England.
Sequel: Scars of Dracula.

TEENAGE CAVEMAN (1958/AIP.) 65mins. BW. US.
Aka: OUT OF THE DARKNESS; PREHISTORIC WORLD.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Roger Corman; Sc: R. Wright Campbell; Ph: Floyd Crosby; Ed: Irene Morra; Art: Daniel Haller; Mus: Al Glasser.
Cast: Robert Vaughn, Darrah Marshall, Leslie Bradley, Jonathan Haze, Robert Shayne, Frank de Kova, Beach Dickerson.
A curious teenage caveman, (Vaughn), breaks tribal law and leaves his home to search for knowledge. He encounters a monster that can kill with the merest touch and eventually discovers that his prehistoric world is actually a post holocaust society when the "monster" is revealed to be an old man in a protective suit that kills because the suit is radioactive.
The terribly cheap special effects do not detract from an entertaining film.
Dinosaur footage is borrowed from One Million BC. (1940) and Unknown Island (1948).

TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN (1957) see I Was a Teenage Frankenstein

TEENAGE MONSTER (1957/Howco/Marquette Films/Favorite) 65mins. BW.
Aka: METEOR MONSTER.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Jacques Marquette; Sc: Ray Buffum; Ph: Taylor Byars; Ed: Irving Schoenberg; Mu: Jack Pierce; Mus: Walter Green.
Cast: Anne Gwynne, Gloria Castillo, Stuart Wade, Gilbert Perkins, Charles Courtney, Steven Parker, Norman Leavitt, Gaybe Mooradian, Frank Davis.
In the early American West, young Charles Cannon, (Perkins), is transformed into a hirsute creature by the ray from a crashed meteor that also kills his father, forcing his mother Ruth, (Gwynne), to raise Charles safe from the outside world in the cellar. Charles is a teenager when his mother strikes a fortune in gold from her goldmine, and this allows for a waitress named Kathy North, (Castillo), to befriend the boy-creature who she uses to kill her enemies. When Kathy tries to blackmail Charles' mother, Ruth orders Charles to kill Kathy, but the unfortunate boy is shot by the sheriff and falls from a cliff after he kills her.
An ultra cheap slice of B-movie fun.
Originally double-billed with The Brain From Planet Arous.

TEENAGE PSYCHO MEETS BLOODY MARY (1963)
see The Incredibly Strange Creatures That Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies

TEENAGE ZOMBIES (1957/GBM. Prod./Governor) 74mins. BW. Released 1960.
Credits: Dir. & Prod: Jerry Warren; Sc: Jacques Le Cotier; Ph: Allen Chandler; Sets: Jack Hoffman; Mu: Jean Morrison; Mus: Erich Bromberg.
Cast: Gil Perkins, Katherine Victor, Don Sullivan, Paul Repper, Chuck Niles, Steve Conte, Bri Murphy.
A mad scientist on an isolated island uses a nerve gas to turn teenage water skiers into his own zombie slaves.

TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE (1959/Topor Prod./Warner) 86mins. BW.
Aka: THE GARGON TERROR; INVASION OF THE GARGON.
Credits: Dir., Prod., Sc., Ph. & Ed: Tom Graeff.
Cast: David Love (Tom Graeff), Dawn Anderson, Helen Sage, Harvey B. Dunn, Bryant Grant, Tom Lockyear, King Moody, Frederic Welch.
A young alien named Derek, (Love), spearheads an invasion of Earth to use as a grazing ground for their favourite foodstuff named Gargons that feed on humans. Derek allows his Gargon to graze on the local townsfolk until he falls in love with Betty, (Anderson), who convinces Derek to try and destroy his livestock before it threatens the world. Utilising the electricity from a power station, Derek charges his disintegrating ray gun and destroys his creature. When the invasion of the remainder of the aliens is imminent, Derek leads the ships into the side of a mountain, sacrificing himself to save the earth.
The extremely low budget hampers what could have been an effective science fiction tale. As it stands, the only part of the monster actually seen is its shadow.

THE TELEGIAN (1960) see Denso Ningen

THE TELL-TALE HEART (1960/Danziger) 78mins. BW. UK.
Credits: Dir: Ernest Morris; Prod: Brian Taylor; Ex.Prod: Edward Danziger & Harry Lee Danziger; Sc: Brian Clemens & Elden Howard; Ph: Jim Wilson; Ed: Derek Parsons; Art: Norman Arnold; Mus: Tony Crombie & Bill Le Sage. From a story by Edgar Allan Poe.
Cast: Laurence Payne, Adrienne Corri, Dermot Walsh, Selma Vas Diaz, John Scott, John Martin, Annette Carell, Yvonne Buckingham.
A mild mannered librarian, (Payne), falls madly in love with his pretty neighbour, (Corri), who tries to ignore his advances as kindly as she can. When the librarian's best friend wins the girl's affections the librarian becomes so enraged that he kills his friend and buries his body under the floorboards of his home. Gradually the murderer believes that he can hear the corpse's heartbeat, which drives him insane.
Payne's superb portrayal and the excellent photography takes the story to new heights. Although this is a much gorier version, the bloodletting does not detract from the plot.
The American version ran for 81 minutes and changed the story in that Edgar Allan Poe himself dreams that he is the librarian and then wakes at the end of the film to find the dream is becoming a reality.

TEMPI DURI PER I VAMPIRI (1961/Cei Incom/Montflour/Maxima Films) Italy.
Aka: UNCLE WAS A VAMPIRE; HARD TIMES FOR VAMPIRES; LE TEMPS SONT DURS POUR LES VAMPIRES.
Credits: Dir: Stefano Steno (Stefano Vanzina); Prod: Mario Cecchi Gori; Sc: Eduardo Anton, Dino Verde & Sandro Continenza; Ph: Marco Scarpelli; Ed: Eraldo Da Roma & Emilio Miraglia; Art: Marianne Laurenti; Sets: Andrea Tomassi; Mus: Armando Trovaioli & Renato Rascel.
Cast: Renato Rascel, Slyvia Koscina, Christopher Lee, Lia Zoppelli, Kai Fischer, Susanne Loret.
Uncle Rodrigo, (Lee), visits his nephew, (Rascel), and discovers that although he is a Baron, the young man is working at his castle hotel as a porter. Horrified, his vampire uncle takes matters into his own hands, but a kiss from the beautiful gardener, (Koscina), cures the young man's blood-lusting vampirism.
An awful continental comedy.

TEMPS DE MOURIR (1969/Filmsky/Films de la Licorne) 82mins. France.
Aka: TWICE UPON A TIME; THE TIME TO DIE.
Credits: Dir: Andre Farwagi; Prod: Albert Koski & Michel Cousin; Sc: Andre Farwagi & Alain Morineau; Ph: Willy Kurant; Ed: Claudine Merlin; Art: Jean-Claude Gallouin; Mus: Karel Trow.
Cast: Anna Karina, Bruno Cemer, Jean Rochefort, Catherine Rich, Billy Kearns.
A man finds a video film from the future that shows his own death at the hands of a murderer. The man tries to prevent the events he has seen.
A chilling thriller.

LE TEMPS SONT DURS POUR LES VAMPIRES (1961) see Tempi Duri Per I Vampiri

THE TENTH VICTIM (1965) see La Decima Vittima