Um Casamento Macabro

This is above all a fun horror film about two criminologists in the late 19th century Baltimore area(one decidedly English - Wilfred Hyde-White and the other decidedly Italian - Cesare Danova)working in a wax museum and uncovering crimes for/with the police. Apparently it was to be a pilot for a television series, and it is very unfortunate it never progressed that far. Hyde-White is always a treat and Danova is rather good too. This story deals with capturing Jason Cravatte - a local aristocrat with a fetish for girls in wedding gowns - dead or alive. Patrick O'Neal gives one of his best screen performances in the role of this psychotic, deranged killer who loses his hand and replaces it with all kinds of cutlery(ax, sword, scalpel, etc...) The film also boast the two gimmicks of the Fear Flasher when the screen will flash with green to let the viewer know something terrifying is about to happen and is preceded by the Horror Horn announcing its arrival. We are told in the beginning of the film that this will occur four times and none of those times are scary in the least bit. What makes this film work is the acting by Hyde-White, Danova, O'Neal, and people like Wayne Rogers as a constable, Jose Rene Ruiz as Pepe the dwarfish assistant, a cameo by Tony Curtis helps out, and all the acting is workmanlike and credible. Hy Averback , a television director of repute and ability, gives the film a very stylish feel with its Victorian-like atmosphere, swirling fogs, and seedy locales when needed. The wax museum itself is indeed impressive as well as is the denouement of the film. This "little" film - judging by its limited audience - is much better than one might at first expect given the gimmicks and story.

There's a lot to like in CHAMBER OF HORRORS, if you can forgive the copycat style that makes it look like a rip-off of HOUSE OF WAX at times. But the plot, involving a killer (Patrick O'Neal) taking revenge on those who punished him for his crimes, moves swiftly amid some handsome color settings and should keep fright fans interested. O'Neal is very persuasive in the central role.

Less can be said of others in the cast--including Marie Windsor who is mainly wasted in a supporting role, Suzy Parker whose role has no depth at all and Patrice Wymore.

Laura Devon is a stunning blond beauty and makes the most of her decorative assignment as the woman who sets up the men targeted for gruesome killings. The wax museum itself is an intriguing setting but the script is not up to the standards of the Vincent Price film with a somewhat similar storyline. Wilfrid Hyde-White and Cesare Danova are effective enough as the men who want to trap the killer.

Recommended mainly for its excellent use of Victorian atmosphere and crisp, clear Technicolor.

"Chamber of Horrors" sure reminds me of some of William Castle's films, as it begins with a prologue narrated by William Conrad. It explains how scary the film is but as a special service to the squeamish in the audience, a red light will flash and weird music will go off when one of four horrifying moments are about to begin! This is cheesy but also fills the movie with kitschy fun.

The film begins with a truly horrifying and wonderful scene in which a total psycho (Patrick O'Neal) forces a minister to marry him....to a dead woman!! The guy is 100% nuts but clever--and manages to elude the police for some times after this. Eventually, when he is captured, he manages to escape both times--and I won't go in to detail about it, but the second time is a doozy and everyone assumes he's dead! And, from here on, the film bears a lot of similarity to the wonderful film "House of Wax" (the Vincent Price version, not the new crappy one) as well as the Dr. Phibes films--some amazingly gory murders, all in the name of revenge. This portion of the film is pretty good, albeit a bit slow at times.

What intrigued me about this film was seeing Patrick O'Neal in a role totally unlike his other film and TV appearances. He was good, mind you--but NOT the typical sort of O'Neal! Also I appreciated that although the subject matter was grisly, it was not at all explicit--and the red flashing lights really weren't necessary. I am thrilled, as I think many horror films just go too far.

Overall, I liked this film very much--O'Neal's character was great and the story quite exciting. The only serious problems were the occasional bad writing, as intended victims just acted too dumb at times--such as the cop (Wayne Rogers) who chose to look for a serial killer out to kill him TOTALLY ALONE! When this character found O'Neal, instead of shooting him on sight, he allowed him to get close to him...too close. Another case of bad writing involved the assistant, Pepe, who hears a noise and TELLS NO ONE--going to investigate it himself!! Too dumb--and sad because otherwise it was a thrilling little movie.

By the way, the way the film ended it seemed apparent this was meant as either a TV pilot or the first in a series. Sadly, this was not to be.

Jason Cravatte (Patrick O'Neal) forces a reverend at gunpoint to marry him and the dead body of Melinda Sawyer. The police is brought in but Jason had already escaped. Anthony Draco (Cesare Danova) and Harold Blount (Wilfrid Hyde-White) own a wax museum and consider themselves amateur detectives. The police searches throughout Baltimore for the disturbed killer.He is caught and sentenced to hang. He manages to escape from a train transport but he had to chop off his own hand. With his new hand replacement, he takes revenge upon those who wronged him.

This is an old horror with a gimmick. At the beginning, the narrator explains the Fear Flasher and Horror Horn would precede the most horrific scenes. That is the best part of the movie. It's campy and fun in treating it seriously. The actual use of the gimmick does not do much. The grotesque violent scenes are not so shocking especially with modern horror eyes. There is blood but the camera cuts away before the actual violence. The story starts interesting but it flounders in the second half. The characters don't have the special interest and the actors are not the most charismatic. It's a passable bland old horror with a cheesy gimmick which is more fun in the imagination than it is in reality.

This takes place in the 1800s. Patrick O'Neal (having a REAL good time) plays a killer who is sentenced to jail for killing his wife and then marrying the corpse! He escapes from the train taking him to jail and is believed dead. However he's alive. He also lost his hand in the escape and has a variety of attachments (among them a hook and a meat cleaver) and sets out to kill the men who convicted him.

This was originally made for TV but was considered too gruesome (at the time) and released to theatres. It was also put on with a VERY fun gimmick--the Fear Flasher and Horror Horn. When the supposedly gruesome parts were coming the frame froze, flashed red and a horn sounded to warn people! The "gruesome" parts are ridiculously tame by todays standards and wouldn't scare a child. In fact I originally saw this on TV uncut during the afternoon in the 1970s when I was in grade school! Didn't scare me at all. Still the acting is good, the atmosphere is spooky and it moves at a fast clip. Silly but fun. I give it a 7.