The first flick in my double feature was this Islandic thriller called Rökkur (Rift in English).
One night Gunnar receives a cryptic phone call from his ex boyfriend Einar. Due to Einar's history of mental health issues, the call worries Gunnar enough that he drives up to the isolated home of Einar's parents, where he's currently staying. Upon arriving, Einar informs him that everything is fine and tells Gunnar he should just go back. Gunnar agrees to stay until the next morning, but soon enough, he begins to notice odd things happening, such as someone knocking at the door in the middle of the night, a mysterious red car that he seems to notice everywhere, and Einar's increasingly odd behavior. The longer Gunnar stays, the more strange things he begins to notice, causing him to believe that something sinister is afoot.
The film does a great job of utilizing the isolated Islandic location to set the mood, which is tense and creepy. Despite the plot being a slow burn, the script does a fine job of keeping things eerie, causing the viewer to question if the things happening are real, or simply Gunnar's imagination. Both actors give good performances as well. The film favors mood and atmosphere over cheap jump scares, reminding me of some of Hitchcock's work, where he created suspense and tension through the power of suggestion. If you enjoy movies that take their time to unveil the horror, then you may enjoy this one. I streamed this one on Tubi.
For the 2nd flick, I went for cheesy with 1957’s Zombies of Mora Tau, starring scream queen Allison Hayes (Attack of the 50ft. Woman, The Hypnotic Eye).
A rich American tycoon is leading a team of deep sea divers on a mission in Africa to recover diamonds that sank in a shipwreck. Upon arriving there, they meet an old woman (Mrs. Peters) and her granddaughter Jan. Mrs. Peters warns them that the sunken ship is guarded by a group of living dead sailors, and that many others who’ve attempted to recover the diamonds have lost their lives trying. Despite the warnings, the wealthy tycoon (George Harrison) is determined to get his claws on the sunken treasure. His team includes divers and a fortune hunter named Jeff, as well as his greedy wife Mona (Allison Hayes), who has the hots for Jeff. Their attempts to get the diamonds keep getting thwarted by the zombies, who cannot be killed and are only repelled with fire.
The movie was absolutely hilarious. The dialogue the actors had to speak was probably the most entertaining aspect of the film, with Allison Hayes’ character getting some of the best lines. While everyone in the cast did a fine job in keeping the shenanigans fun, it was Hayes who stole the show with her over the top, animated performance. Every time she was on screen, the fun factor was dialed up to ten. The zombies were basically actors walking around with blank expressions, and dirt on their faces. The scenes of them attacking had absolutely zero suspense, with them lumbering around slowly while action music played in a desperate attempt to heighten the suspense. This was clearly a decade before George Romero would revitalize the zombie genre with flesh eating and gore. Still, it’s a fun film that zips by with humorous dialogue, silly scares, and the glorious Allison Hayes. If you love old black and white b-movies, then Zombies of Mora Tau is sure to be right up your alley. I streamed it on YouTube.
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