Halloween Schlockfest

If you are an Amazon Prime member, there is a nice selection of Grade Z horror movies available for your Halloween viewing pleasure.

Starting with “Blood of Dracula’s Castle” (1969),Glen is a fashion photographer who spends a lot of time shooting his girlfriend Liz, often next to seals. And he was ahead of his time, too, because he uses an Instamatic or a Polaroid the whole time. No fancy single lens reflex for this fellow, no sirree!

He gets a telegram announcing he has inherited Falcon Rock Castle, in prime castle territory — to wit, Arizona. But this old couple have been renting it forever, so Glen will have to boot them out.You know where this is going. 

Yep, it’s Dracula.

Then there is the 1965 Italian Gothic horror flick, “Nightmare Castle,” with the young scream queen Barbara Steele in a dual role as Muriel, wife of mad scientist Stephen Arrowsmith, and Jenny, Muriel’s crazy blonde sister.

There is a whole lot of plot that interferes with the story, but there are redeeming features: the acid-dripping, electrocuting bed; the electrocuting bathtub; the blood-oozing vase, and the scene in which the ghosts of the Muriel and the gardener return to wreak their terrible vengeance. Black and white. Bad dubbing. Horses. Two stars.

Wrapping up this schlockfest is “Horror Express” (1972), with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Set on the Trans-Siberian Express en route from Peking to Moscow, it involves a Rasputin-like monk, 19th-century British scientists, a gorgeous countess, a secret formula...and a two-million year old man/ape that drains people’s brains.

Oh, and Telly Savalas as a Cossack — which truly makes this a horror movie.

Finding this stuff on Amazon Prime isn’t easy. I found these by scrolling through more recent horror films, selecting one, but before playing it, looking at the bottom of the screen, where there are more suggested titles. 

So it’s a little hit-or-miss. But it definitely beats the “Halloween” marathon on cable.