April 18- Case of a Missing Movie- Solved?
A while back, I wrote about a movie that a viewer was trying to locate-his name was Steve and all he remembered was that, he thought, Mark Twain and Edgar Allan Poe made a bet with a mercenary that he couldn’t spend the entire night in a haunted house- which he then did, fighting off, possibly, thirteen strange ghostly menaces-and the shock ending was, as he left the house the next morning, the gate slams shut, putting a spike through his throat!(Cue the sound effect of Nelson the Bully on “the Simpsons” saying “HA-ha!”)Anyway, Steve was at a loss to naming said flick- and asked us for help.
Quite honestly, it didn’t sound like anything that I had ever seen- so, I turned to you learned Sven viewers.
Naturally- you guys came up with something! Several of you wrote in, but both Greg and Jerry, two constant and knowledgeable viewers, provided the most complete information- it was one of two movies- and one was a remake of the other one!
The general feeling is- Edgar Allan Poe is indeed portrayed, but Mark Twain? Uh-uh. Chances are that the movie was “Web of the Spider” –a 1971 film also known by a zillion other titles, like “In the Grip of the Spider”- “And Comes the Dawn-But Colored Red”-and even “Dracula in the Castle of Blood” (how’d Drac get in there?!) This film has Klaus Kinski as Edgar Allan Poe (I don’t see that, either) and Anthony Franciosa as an American reporter (not a mercenary) who takes up the challenge of the haunted house. According to one source, the ghosts are also vampires- or, they’re JUST vampires. And- no Twain.
This film is supposedly based on a Poe story called “Night of the Living Dead” (did Poe know George Romero?)-but there isn’t a Poe story with that title. It is a remake of a movie called
“Danza Macabra”-which, before you even think it, has nothing to do with Tony Danza…and was made in1964, featuring the talents of horror great Barbara Steele. In it, Poe and another guy bet a writer, in search of some quick cash, that he can’t spend the night in a castle where, supposedly, the dead will rise up. he goes for the deal, and enters the house, where the dead folks do rise and re-enact their deaths- then try to lure him to his doom. Steele plays a ghost who falls in love with the guy, and tries to help him escape. Alas, the old gate spike through the throat, or whatever, provides his surprise demise- and, of course, a spoiler if you planned on seeing the flick!
So- thanks to Jerry and Greg and the others who sent in the info! I know I can always rely on you guys to help when I can’t identify a flick!
Quite honestly, it didn’t sound like anything that I had ever seen- so, I turned to you learned Sven viewers.
Naturally- you guys came up with something! Several of you wrote in, but both Greg and Jerry, two constant and knowledgeable viewers, provided the most complete information- it was one of two movies- and one was a remake of the other one!
The general feeling is- Edgar Allan Poe is indeed portrayed, but Mark Twain? Uh-uh. Chances are that the movie was “Web of the Spider” –a 1971 film also known by a zillion other titles, like “In the Grip of the Spider”- “And Comes the Dawn-But Colored Red”-and even “Dracula in the Castle of Blood” (how’d Drac get in there?!) This film has Klaus Kinski as Edgar Allan Poe (I don’t see that, either) and Anthony Franciosa as an American reporter (not a mercenary) who takes up the challenge of the haunted house. According to one source, the ghosts are also vampires- or, they’re JUST vampires. And- no Twain.
This film is supposedly based on a Poe story called “Night of the Living Dead” (did Poe know George Romero?)-but there isn’t a Poe story with that title. It is a remake of a movie called
“Danza Macabra”-which, before you even think it, has nothing to do with Tony Danza…and was made in1964, featuring the talents of horror great Barbara Steele. In it, Poe and another guy bet a writer, in search of some quick cash, that he can’t spend the night in a castle where, supposedly, the dead will rise up. he goes for the deal, and enters the house, where the dead folks do rise and re-enact their deaths- then try to lure him to his doom. Steele plays a ghost who falls in love with the guy, and tries to help him escape. Alas, the old gate spike through the throat, or whatever, provides his surprise demise- and, of course, a spoiler if you planned on seeing the flick!
So- thanks to Jerry and Greg and the others who sent in the info! I know I can always rely on you guys to help when I can’t identify a flick!
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