The Franco slump is over! The final three films were a freakin' chore. I find as though this awful movie just saved the day. Leave it to one of the worst examples of Franco's. DARE I SAY IT?. genius to get me through the badness. Oh yeah. Don't let that VHS cover fool you, there isn't a power tool within miles of this flick.
Franco Friday #18
Revenge in the House of Usher
AKA Neurosis
Directed by Jess Franco
1982
Starring Howard Vernon, Antonio Mayans, Lina Romay, Fata Morgana, Daniel White, Francois Blanchard, Olivier Mathot, Jean Tolzac
90 minutes
Dr. Alan Hacker (played by Antonio Mayans) travels to the palace of his old professor, Dr. Usher (Howard Vernon). Hacker quickly learns that his old teacher has gone mad. Aside from claiming that he is 200 years old, Usher is preoccupied with resurrecting his dead daughter by giving her blood transfusions from unwilling girls he`s kidnapped. Usher has a bevy of servants at his disposal including the blind Morpho (Olivier Mathot), the portly Mathias (Jean Tolzac), and the lovely Helen the housekeeper (Lina Romay). None of these fools can serve him with his craziness. Dr. Usher is haunted by the spectral figures led by the smell of his dead wife. And of course, in true Usher family fashion, the damn castle is gonna collapse.
I think Revenge in the House of Usher gets labeled as one of Jess Franco's worst because it has been out on home video (either in VHS or DVD) in the States for a long time. All of those people should have seen Eugenie de Sade and just like six people (myself included) should accept yet heard of this film. I throw my problems with it but I enjoyed this inept romp probably more than I should have. This film`s biggest offence:it uses footage from The Abominable Dr. Orloff as flashbacks for Dr. Usher.Normally, I would take this to be totally unforgivable but I figured out that if you were to remove (or fast forward through) the 15 minutes (! of Orloff footage, you get this film down to a lots more digestible 75 minutes. There are still the ubiquitous characters named Dr. Seward and Morpho.
One job is that the picture is obviously two different shoots, possibly two different sets of players, slapped together. The musical score for the movie feels like it`s been culled from the library. I doubt an original score would get done much to amend this film but hey, why not, right? The camerawork is excellent with tons of interesting angles. The same camerawork is also quite sloppy with out of focus bits and much of annoying bouncing (this may have been the mark I was watching but still). Luckily, this castle setting, that I`ve seen many Franco films take place in, is always very photogenic.
So what the hell? This sounds terrible! It is painful but it`s also the better form of terrible. If viewed as a gothic comedy with occasional bits of revulsion and atmosphere, then Revenge in the House of Usher succeeds in every way. It`s nearly all the mistake of the horrendous dubbing, something I am beginning to appreciate more and more from these Euro-cheapies. If this flick wasn`t meant to be a comedy then no one informed the voice actors. The voice actor who dubs Howard Vernon is so outrageously bad in this picture that he deserves some sort of an honor or free pancakes for a class or something.
My soul asked for it and the gods have listened. I begged with my tenderness of hearts for Lina Romay to retain her damn clothes on and she finally listened. It is amazing to me that Lina Romay full clothed and acting seductive is 1000x sexier than her writhing around in ecstasy completely naked. She may have formerly been a competition for the claim of Greatest Pair of Eurotrash-Bobbins ever but after film upon film of her undulating in her birthday suit, I needed a fucking break. And I know her part in this one too. Helen is the devoted servant who falls before the feet of Dr. Usher, begging him to enjoy her. But hey, she`s still a horny woman with needs, you know? She`s gotta try to get around on the side.
I can see why people don`t like this film. It is a tough pill to accept what with how stupid and lazy it was made. The use of 15 minutes from another film is inexcusable. But curse it, Revenge in the Family of Usher works especially when it doesn't. Alongside all of the silly and utterly hilarious crap, there lingers a spooky mood and more than two heaping bucketfuls of weirdness. If you enjoyed either Rites of Frankenstein or Dracula, Prisoner of Frankenstein, there`s no way you`re not going to at least find this flick amusing. There`s a plot of call round the rosies, some ladies chained up in the dungeon, and enough slapdash confounding bullshit to get you offer a smile, all just wait for you.
"Look Seward, I`m not very well versed in this new skill of psychoanalysis. In any event, you don`t jump at the age of 200 which is how old he claims to be!"
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