Agnes Moorehead

All posts tagged Agnes Moorehead

The Bat – An Appreciation

Published March 1, 2024 by biggayhorrorfan

1959’s The Bat is often lumped in with Vincent’s Price’s other mid-period, lower budget horror extravaganzas. But, unlike many of those efforts, Price actually takes on more of a supporting role here. His Dr. Malcolm Wells plays into the proceedings in an ancillary way and he ultimately emerges as more of a red herring, disappearing from the proceedings for major periods of time. Nicely, this means that the fourth adaptation of Mary Robert Rinehart’s The Circular Staircase, a popular mystery, finds the singular Agnes Moorehead in the foreground – resulting in a old school film with surprisingly feministic overtones.

Seemingly based on Rinehart herself, Moorehead plays world famous Gothic writer Cornelia van Gorder. As the show opens, van Gorder has just rented a summer home, known as The Oaks, in a small town. Long rumored to be the site of multiple horrors, The Oaks soon becomes a true crime spot. Money from a recent bank heist may be hidden in the house, with the notorious and blood thirsty Bat soon targeting the manse in his hunt for the fortune. Naturally, this puts the distinguished author and her devoted maid (and de facto personal assistant) Lizzie, portrayed by the divinely funny Lenita Lane, in his jagged crosshairs, as well. But as spooky nighttime invasions increase in frequency and bodies begin to pile up. Cornelia and Lizzie refuse to be frightened out of their temporary lodging.

Joining forces with two determined local women, Dale (Elaine Edwards) and Judy (Darla Hood), the quartet eventually smoke out the assailant. Willing and, perhaps, even eager to put themselves in danger, it is definitely the viewer’s joy to watch this firm foursome take control of the situation. In the decades to follow, other celluloid divas would add psychotic color to the proceedings with a variety of classics. But those projects would emphasize femme hysteria and unbalance. The Bat, thankfully and needfully, concentrates on Susan B. Anthony-style rabble rousing instead.

Long the dominion of public domain screenings, The Bat can be readily found for viewing, in various states of quality, online.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Va-Va-Villainess: Agnes Moorehead

Published April 4, 2021 by biggayhorrorfan

Noted for her acerbic antagonism as Endora on Bewitched, arguably her most famous role, the significant, always striking Agnes Moorehead resonated with a much more slithery, maliciously evil context in the noted 1947 film noir Dark Passage. Indeed, Madge Rapf, the character portrayed by Moorehead, undermines and manipulates the lives of Humphrey Bogart’s maligned Vincent and Lauren Bacall’s overly supportive Irene with such devious finesse that, even at the film’s semi-happy fade-out, their lives have been irreparably altered by her sadistic manipulations.

In fact, with the strategic aid of Bernard Newman’s glorious costumes, Moorehead’s Rapf may be one of celluloid’s most notoriously nasty characters. And while some casual fans may be surprised at the ferocious energy that she ultimately exhibits here, she is definitely this film’s most uninhibited pleasure.

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Horror Hall of Fame:

With credits like The Bat, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Night Gallery and Dear Dead Delilah, this one of a kind performer has irrevocably earned her stripes as a dignified goddess of terror, as well.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Sharkbait Retro Village: Night of Terror

Published February 23, 2020 by biggayhorrorfan

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When you a injure a limb, a reliable cast is sometimes necessary. But…when you watch an early 70s television film thriller, a really good cast is always a necessity.

Thankfully, 1972’s Night of Terror delivers with a creative team that glows as brightly as the greasy smile on costar Chuck Conners’ face. Though, I imagine there are a few out there who would rather break an arm then be forced to watch this almost 40 year old tribute to the virginal heroine in distress.

The plucky damsel here is played by television stalwart-nighttime soap opera icon Donna Mills. Before finding eternal fame as the manipulative Abby on Knots Landing, Mills was a prime time movie of the week regular. With credits including Haunts of the Very Rich and Play Misty for Me already under her belt, this blonde dynamo knew how to deliver up the surprise and anxiety that is the bread and butter of her role here. As a kindly art teacher accidentally caught in the crosshairs of Connors’ mob assassin, Mills’ Linda Daniel glows with dewy worry throughout the proceedings and the actress’s traditional Hollywood blondness is the perfect fit for this almost saintly character’s twisted trajectory.

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Nicely, she is joined on her journey by many familiar faces, making this exercise in fraught dynamics a truly enjoyable one for lovers of the old school celeb estetic. Bewitched regulars Mary Grace Canfield and Agnes Moorehead show up as a friendly cleaning lady and the physical therapist who treats Daniel’s temporary emotional and physical paralysis, a plot point that shares similarities to such fare as The Spiral Staircase, Wait Until Dark and many other gothic shockers.

John Karlen, then best known for his work with Dan Curtis, meanwhile gives up a frantic appearance as Connors’ first victim. Other notables include esteemed character actor Martin Balsam, soap opera hunk William Gray Espy (AKA the first Snapper on The Young and the Restless) and what even appears to be Julie Kavner in a dialogue free exchange as a nurse attending to the distraught Mills.

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Perhaps most interestingly, the quirky and irreplaceable Catharine Burns shows up in the first act as Mills/Daniels’ doomed friend. Always a significantly enjoyable presence, Burns was best known for her devastating, Academy Award nominated work in Last Summer. Her success there, though, did not assure her a major career and she wound up doing smaller television work before fading away from the industry completely. Thus, her sudden death in 2019 was not discovered by the media for almost a year. Nicely, a quick YouTube search finds her here living forever young with all her special talents intact and ready for every agreeable viewer’s consumption.

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Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Review: The Tell Tale Heart

Published August 25, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I have a feeling a platoon of estrogen fueled ghosts are going to be paying writer-director Bart Mastronardi a visit soon. Whether it’ll be Bette Davis, Joan Bennett and Agnes Moorehead or some other golden age dream team is anyone’s guess. But goddess knows, many of those classic screen sirens have to be pissed that Mastronardi didn’t create Miss Lamarr, the faded Hollywood actress who, even in a supporting capacity, is one of the highlights of his version of The Tell Tale Heart, in their lifetimes.

Of course, the milkily doomed Lamarr is enacted with regal precision by Alan Rowe Kelly, a true student of those sassy broads. Therefore, he and Mastronardi establish a sense of gothic glamour throughout the entirety of the piece, one portion of the highly anticipated anthology film Tales of Poe.

As expected, as the story’s narrator and primary participant, legendary genre actress Debbie Rochon does an exemplary job. As a former nurse relating the violent origins of her arrival at a mental health asylum, Rochon glows with a crackled subtlety. It is one of her most nuanced performances in a career layered with passionate portrayals.

The true surprise here, though, is Lesleh Donaldson as Evelyn Dyck, one of asylum’s boldest patients. Donaldson, of course, is well loved for her pretty final girl/victim roles in slasher stalwarts like Happy Birthday to Me, Curtains and Funeral Home. Here, obviously relieved to be given something tangible to do, she attacks her role with comedic gusto. Never straining into parody, she nearly steals the show, revealing largely unseen skills in her (obviously) eclectic repertoire.

Mastronardi, himself, gives this whole outing the organdy visual flair of Corman’s earlier Poe efforts mixed with a dash of Hammer’s (more violent) latter years. The sheen of grizzly humor he supplies is also grand, making one truly curious about the final two efforts in this sure to be dazzling spectacle.

Be sure to keep the arteries flowing with Tales of Poe at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tales-of-Poe.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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