• wolfman1959
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Topic: h orror films of actors / actresses not usually known for horror. 3/10

hi again folks here is number three of the series and the first woman it's

3. Joan Crawford
star of films such as Mildred Pierce, Autumn Leaves, the women, harriet craig and many other soapy films and melodramas did dabble in the horror/ sci fic/ fantasy genre with very mixed results.
here we go in the usual chronological  order


1. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? ( 1962)

This is a doozy of a gothic macabre setpiece for two actresses who hated each other in real life, and a real tour de force for one actress which i will go into when i cover her ( i know it's given away who the other actress is and this film is going to be mentioned twice) Joan Crawford has the less flashy role of Blanche Hudson the crippled sister of baby Jane but joan is still effective and suffers a lot of torment. my favourite scene her face and scream of surprise when she sees what is served up for dinner for her.

2. STRAIT JACKET ( 1964) in this William Castle directed film Joan Crawford plays Lucy Harbin who has just been released from an asylum after 20 years for murdering her husband and his lover with an axe. she comes to stay with her daughter on a farm and the murders start again. not bad little thriller with some gory moments for it's time. joan does her usual wide eyed, giving it her all performance.

3. BERSERK (1967) as far as i can remember i've only seen this film once but i remember it being not bad and again rather gruesome for it's time.it's one of those circus set murder/ horror thrillers. Joan plays Monica Rivers the owner of a travelling circus where a series of gruesome murders/ accidents take place. who is responisble?

4. NIGHT GALLERY ( 1969) This was the t v movie pilot for the later t v series and this was directed by Stephen Spielberg. Joan appears in the second of a trio of stories called " Eyes" and she plays Miss Menlo a rich and heartless woman who is blind but blackmails a surgeon to carry out an eye transplant that goes beyond what she expects.

5. TROG ( 1970) Widely rumoured to be our very own Az's favourite film, this sees joan in her last feature film ( she died in  1977, and did appear in a couple of t v movies after Trog.) In truth this film is a real turkey with poor special effects and the trogolyte quite obviously a man in a hairy suit with a monkey like face.Joan Crawford plays a sympathetic anthropoligist called in when a strange trogolyte like creature is discovered in a cave. predictably the creature gets out and runs amok. pretty poor and unintentionally hilarious and not he best film for Joan to end her career but at least AZ enjoys it smile

There we go another five for you  to check out if you wish or comment on the films if you have seen them. watch out for number 4 in the series coming soon!

Last edited by wolfman1959 (2013-02-14 16:44:10)

  • azathoth
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Re: h orror films of actors / actresses not usually known for horror. 3/10

Excellent one, Wolfster!  You keep hitting them out of the park (baseball reference)!

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  • wolfman1959
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Re: h orror films of actors / actresses not usually known for horror. 3/10

azathoth wrote:

Excellent one, Wolfster!  You keep hitting them out of the park (baseball reference)!

Why Thank you  Mr Monkey smile

  • Theli
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Re: h orror films of actors / actresses not usually known for horror. 3/10

The only one of the bunch that I've seen is What Ever Happened to Baby Jane. Which is a great movie. There's some really suspenseful scenes, and the acting for Davis and Crawford is top notch, they play off of each other so well. I need to see Strait Jacket I'm a fan of William Castle and I would love to see his work with Crawford. Though I heard she had some prima donna moments in the making of the film.

Theli's Website

Re: h orror films of actors / actresses not usually known for horror. 3/10

I loved Joan Crawford in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?  Her and Bette Davis were great together.  Didn't they do another film together?  Can't remember.  That scene with the rat for dinner is unforgettable.  It just proves older movies even without the gore can be just as disturbing as the newer ones.   

I have only seen two movies on this list...  Night Gallery and Baby Jane.  smile

DirtyGirl's Website

Re: h orror films of actors / actresses not usually known for horror. 3/10

Crawford may have been an unholy terror off-screen, but on-screen she almost always brought her A-game.  While she's historically gone down as a quintessential example of the once glamorous starlet who "sank" into b-movie obscurity, she nevertheless gave her all in those b-movies.  So what if she bitched about them behind the scenes and bemoaned her loss of celebrity?  At the very least, when it came right down to it, when the cameras were rolling she did her job and acted the hell out of her parts.