Customer Reviews

The House on Skull Mountain / The Mephisto Waltz

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

... is also the title of the purportedly most difficult piece every written for piano, by Franz Liszt. You get to hear parts of that piece quite a bit in this horror film. The aging grandest piano player alive, Duncan Eli (played magnificently by German master actor Curd Juergens), is quite obsessed with this piano solo. While giving a young music journalist Myles Clarkson (Alan Alda) an interview, he recognizes Myles' large hands, and starts to invite him and his beautiful wife (Jacqueline Bisset) into his circle of friends. Of course, he has ulterior motives to do that ...

It is amazing how this film from 1971 can still conjure up a good deal of chills. A demonic soundtrack and moody camera settings together with great acting are all that it takes. No gore is required, and when in one of the most dramatic scenes the devil himself appears, actually showing him would only have detracted from the suspense already built up, and no image of him would have been able to scare you more than the look on the face of Bisset summoning the Master.

Great acting from Juergens, two even in today's world stunning actresses (Bisset and Barbara Parkins as Duncan's daughter and then some), fantastic music and soundtrack, a great story with a few unexpected twists: a classic but still relevant after all these years!

The House On Skull Mountain (1974) **

A dying woman lies in her bed in a large mansion as a Priest reads her "the last rites." She asks her servant to bring her "the letters" and then gives them to the Priest requesting that he send them out. After the Priest leaves her room with the servant, she opens a wooden box and takes out what appears to be a "voodoo doll" and then she dies! The "letters" are invitations to her last surviving family members to come to the house. This opening scene hints at better things to come, however, much of what proceeds is rather disappointing.

The plot involves the classic gathering-of-the-relatives to read-the-will which became standard in many horror/suspense films. A nice element to the story and with a blend in voodoo and blaxploitation themes, and even hints at an inter-racial romance, "The House On Skull Mountain" is unique in its various themes. However, none of these elements really work out and the film comes off as being a hodgepodge. Mike Evans' (Lionel on the Jeffersons) role as a "playboy type" character comes off more as annoying than actually being entertaining or being the "comic relief" of the picture, which is how I saw his character trying to be. Sorely miscast is Victor French (Mr. Edwards on "Little House On The Prairie) as a "white" descendent of the black heiress. His "almost" romance with lovely Janee Michele comes off as more of a "friendship" than anything resembling a possible "romance." There's even a "love song" sequence in the film and while it's playing we see Victor and Janee spending their day together in town visiting shops and holding hands. This scene is completely out of place in a movie that is supposed to be a "horror" film!

There are also some "did you see that!" things that occur in the film, too. One of them is during the old lady's funeral as you see two "white" grave digger guys standing with shovels a few feet from the grave while the Priest is reading his prayers. Then after a spooky occurrence happens and one of the servants says- "Cover her up!" 2 "black" guys start shoveling the dirt onto the casket! And your thinking- "I thought those 2 grave digger guys were "white?" Whoever directed this scene was either drunk, color blind, or both! I enjoyed the ending of the picture the most with the servant using voodoo to summon the dead! The film has a made-for-TV look about it due to the fact that there are really only about 10 or so people in the cast and not much in the way of special effects. "The House On Skull Mountain" is not by no means a "classic" in the way of "The Haunting" or many of the gothic" Hammer Horror" films are, and even with it's flaws and hokey plot it's still an enjoyable watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

The DVD's picture quality is excellent and the audio superb! The movie is on its own disc with a cool full color picture illustration of the movie's theatrical poster on it.


The Mephisto Waltz (1971) *****

Stylish and intriguing, "The Mephisto Waltz" is a theatrical entry in the satanic genre which the late 1960's and early 1970's were chock full of and it's sad that we do not see such films today. Alan Alda (TV's M*A*S*H) plays Myles Clarkson, a classical music reviewer, who is granted a rare review by piano genius, Duncan Eli (brilliantly played by Curt Jurgens) who after meeting Myles, and examining his hands, decides he has found the perfect specimen for a devious occult experiment! Unknown to Myles, and his gorgeous wife, Paula (Jacqueline Bisset) the guy is a Satanist, who arranges to have their souls switch places at his death, so that he can be young again and continue to play piano (thus needing a skilled piano player like Alda to switch bodies with) and forever be with his young lover, Roxanne (beautiful Barbara Parkins).

"The Mephisto Waltz" is incredibly entertaining and contains several elements of intrigue and has an incredible "twist" ending! One of the most chilling scenes in the movie is when Paula decides to win Myles back, even if it means summoning the devil!! Paula uses a magic book and draws the infamous pagan sign of "the pentagram" on the floor and summons the devil to "make a deal!" And it isn't TV's "Let's Make A Deal's" Monte Hall that shows up, but old Slew foot himself! You hear footsteps coming down the hall and Paula's on the floor looking up as the door slowly opens...the look on Paula's face as she looks up to greet her visitor is nothing short of chilling!! In the same league as "Rosemary's Baby," "The Stepford Wives," and practically any of the `70's horror made-for-TV movies, "The Mephisto Waltz" is an enjoyable watch and one that you will want to see again!

The DVD's picture quality is excellent and the audio superb! The movie is on its own disc with a cool full color picture illustration of the movie's theatrical poster on it. I wish ALL of the MGM Midnite Movies were released like this, instead of the "two sided flip over" discs!

It is awesome 20th Century Fox is doing a lot of new Midnite Movies titles and this one including all the others Double features released Sept 11 07 are TWO DISC SETS!!!! They are not flipper discs one movie one side the other movie on the other side! These are great. It is nice to see great quality on these set. and it is great to see The Mephisto Waltz released on DVD! It features an amazing Jerry Goldsmith score.

Finally to have the Mephisto Waltz and the delightfully chilling Barbara Parkins [what a beauty as well] in one of her best roles. A great sound track! ENJOY.

If you can, without being chilled, watch Jacqueline Bisset's face, when she sees the Devil whom she has conjured up, well, you've got ice water in your veins.
Excellent performances by Kurt Jurgens and Barbara Parkins

... not for "House on Skull Mountain."

Mephisto Waltz is an absolute gem of a horror movie -- one which has been unavailable for far too long. It's wonderful that Fox finally released it on DVD.

It's companion piece on this two-DVD set is hardly worth watching. It's like some weird merging of "The Old Dark House" and "Foxy Brown" (or maybe "Blackula"). I have a real appetite for cheesy horror flix, and even I came away from "Skull" feeling like I'd just wasted a couple hours of my life.

So, I highly recommend this set; but if you buy it, recognize that what you're getting is one DVD and one plastic disk you can use for a drink coaster.

The House on Skull Mountain (Ron Honthaner, 1974)

Silly blaxploitation effort that's actually not half bad, as long as you're willing to ignore the fact that most of the aspects of this movie were done better in other flicks.

Plot: an old voodoo woman who lives in a mansion outside Atlanta (as you may surmise, the mansion is, in fact, on Skull Mountain) dies, and her descendants are gathered together for the reading of the will. Her descendants are something of a mixed lot (of just about every stereotype you'd expect to find in a low-rent blaxploitation flick, including the mysterious white descendant, played by Victor French), and when they go to visit the grave soon after all have arrived, weird things occur, and there's a drug-induced vision--or is it reality? Watch on and find out...

Things get a lot weirder from there, including a cult of mind-controlled thugs, a handful of folks who may or may not be zombies, a lot of voodoo, and perhaps most distressingly, a love-story subplot between French and female lead Janee Michelle (who, despite the differences in skin color, are supposed to be close relatives).

It's definitely odd, and derivative as all get-out, but with the exception of one all-too-long scene that takes repetition in film to heights rarely seen outside the world of structural filmmaking, it's watchable in that cheesy sort of way. Honthaner, who spent most of his Hollywood career as an editor, never directed another film, so I can't be certain when I say the movie was meant to be cheesy, but I certainly get that impression from it. If I look at it with that eye, then it succeeds. Don't expect greatness and you should have fun with this one. ** ½

* * *

The Mephisto Waltz (Paul Wendkos, 1971)

1970 was a pretty bad year for Twentieth Century Fox, thanks to a number of rather spectacular box-office failures in 1969; in fact, times were so tight they produced only a single film during the entire calendar year of 1970. You'd expect in such circumstances they'd have tried to go with something that would really be a blockbuster for them, wouldn't you? Instead, they decided to greenlight The Mephisto Waltz, which, despite having an incredible cast, manages to be memorable only because Alan Alda gets to make out with both Jacqueline Bisset and Barbara Parkins, two of the most beautiful women in cinema at the time.

Based on a potboiler by Fred Mustard Stewart, The Mephisto Waltz tells the story of journalist Myles Clarkson (Alda), a former piano prodigy who gave it up after his first recital got mediocre reviews. He gets a chance to interview the famed, eccentric pianist Duncan Ely (The Spy Who Loved Me's Curd Jurgens), and the two of them hit it off, with the result that Clarkson gets invited into Ely's inner circle of eccentrics. While Clarkson's wife Paula (Bisset) is initially thrilled, she soon realizes that the bunch of them are as dangerous as they are weird. As well, it seems Roxanne (Peyton Place's Barbara Parkins), the high priestess of Duncan's bizarre cult, has romantic designs on Myles. She's partly right, but sex is only the tip of the iceberg where these folks are concerned...

I described the novel as a potboiler, and the movie follows suit very well. This is typical of the genre in every way, featuring a number of utterly predictable plot twists, some gratuitous nudity and violence, needless psychedelia, and a title sequence that's straight out of late-sixties television. Not an awful way to kill some time when you've got a very slow night ahead of you, but not at all what you'd expect from one of Hollywood's biggest studios' only film in an entire year. **

Buy this movie exclusively for the Mephisto Waltz, the Skull House is the worst directed, acted and predictable movie ever made. The Mephisto Waltz is a great psych thirller, even thought I can only see Alan Alda as Hawkeye for MASH. Pay close attention because the plot can be complicated and the switching of time frames makes it difficult to follow, but still worth it. Good acting and directing!!

Please note that this review is just for The Mephisto Waltz.

Although in some ways this movie seems very dated in its 60s and 70s obsession with the occult, this movie can still provide some chills and thrills. Curt Jurgens (who I remembered well from his role as a German submarine commander opposite Robert Mitchum in "The Enemy Below," one of the best WWII sub movies) is the leader of a Satanic cult and a brilliant but sadistic pianist with a sinister plan. He intends to take possession of, and switch bodies with, the younger Alan Alda's more youthful character so he can be young again.

The Satanists leave too many clues to their sinister shenanigans, however, and Jacqueline Bisset plays the mother who eventually discovers the plan and tries to stop the evil Satanists. There's some decent acting, and Bisset's riveting performance makes the conjuring scene entirely believable. Note for the prudes out there--there's an occasional but briefly exposed breast of Bisset and Parkins, but then how many guys are going to object to that? I suppose no movie about a practicing Satanic cult would be worth its salt without at least one boob shot.

Overall, it's not a bad movie and with less capable directing and acting could have been pretty cheesy, which it isn't.

A pair of long-limbed occult movies here, neither particularly memorable (thus a disc I've already sold). HOUSE is a blaxploitation voodoo yarn with a white hero (Victor French, of all people). Essentially an Old Dark House-style mystery with estranged relatives (three black, one white) brought together for the reading of their great-grandmother's will, but the maid and butler, who practise voodoo, have other plans for the money. Good concept, but the production is strictly TV movie level, hardly surprising considering the cast, almost all of whom were small screen thesps at best. French was a TV mainstay who would soon go on to LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, while Mike Evans, the other most recognizable face in the cast, had a few telemovies to his name, but would shortly start an extended run as Lionel on the classic sitcoms ALL IN THE FAMILY and THE JEFFERSONS.

Much better, but still severely dated, is THE MEPHISTO WALTZ, one of the few theatrical features of TV vet Paul Wendkos, and it looks like a TV movie, too, only with more boobs, gore and swearing, as music journalist Alan Alda get possessed by the spirit of newly-departed concert pianist and satanist Curt Jurgens. Jackie Bissett is Alda's wife, who becomes hip to the ruse after Alda takes over the dead man's career and their daughter dies of an unexplained illness. Some creepy moments and an intriguingly dark twist, but the oh-so-typically Hollywood-liberal portrayal of the outwardly conservative tuxedo classes as society's truly debauched sin-seeking swingers was pretty worn out even by 1971, when this was made.