Oddball Films presents Amour Macabre, a night of murderous romantic melodramas as Friday the 13th and Valentines Eve coincide with two all-star powerhouse episodes of 60s mystery TV as well as ill-fated ephemeral films. Ida Lupino directs a witchy episode of Boris Karloff's Thriller - La Strega (1962), starring a then-unknown Ursula Andress who must shake her witchy past to fall in love with a handsome stranger. This tragic romance features palpable chemistry between Andress and Alejandro Rey, Jeanette Nolan's scene-stealing performance as one of the most authentically creepy witches ever with her coven of interpretive dancing witches, and (of course) loving close-ups of Andress' gorgeous face. Dean Stockwell stars in an epically creepy episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour - Annabel (1962), based on a Patricia Highsmith story and adapted by Psycho screenwriter Robert Bloch. Stockwell's obsession for his ex-girlfriend leads to lies, double lives, stalking, murder, and an unbelievable ending. And from one Annabel obsession to another, Edgar Allan Poe's melancholic love poem Annabel Lee (1971) evokes the ghosts of lost love. For a little light entertainment, Gracie Barrie sings about matrimonial crimes of passion in the delightfully off-beat Soundie Stone Cold Dead in the Market (1946). Plus, Grant Munro's blood-sucking anti-smoking short Ashes of Doom (1970), Anjelica Huston in A Rose for Emily (1983) for the early arrivals and more surprises. Bring someone you love...or someone you'd like to murder...
Thriller - La Strega (B+W, 1962, Ida Lupino)
This all-star episode of Boris Karloff's Thriller features a then-unknown Ursula Andress as Luana, a young woman accused of being a witch in a small Italian village in the 19th century. She is saved from an attempt on her life by a romantic young painter, Antonio (Alejandro Rey) who takes her in. Romance is in bloom until Luana's grandmother (Jeanette Nolan in a scene-stealing performance), a real witch comes to curse the couple. The episode is shot beautifully; it's moody and atmospheric with stark contrasts to illuminate Andress' pail beauty and coming from director Ida Lupino, this witchy melodrama has got it all; romance, art, witchcraft, creepy optical hallucinations and even a coven of interpretive dancing witches!
Annabel Lee (Color, 1971, Arthur Evans)
Edgar Allan Poe's tragic love story is recited over the haunting image of a young girl forlornly walking an empty beach. As the words circle back upon themselves, so do the waves, and with deft editing, so do the fragmented images of the ghostly memory of lost love. Directed by Arthur Evans, music by Les Baxter (who also scored Roger Corman's Poe adaptation The Pit and the Pendulum).
Annabel - The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (B+W, 1962, Paul Henreid)
This masterfully creepy episode of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour was directed by Paul Henreid (Dead Ringer), penned by Psycho scribe Robert Bloch, and based off a short story by Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley). Dean Stockwell stars as a man living two lives; a common theme in Highsmith's work. During the week he is David Kelsey, a bachelor chemist living with a buddy and burning toast. On the weekends, he retreats to his country home where he has meticulously planned and laid out the dream home for his dream girl, Annabel (Susan Oliver). The only problem is, Annabel is married to another man, and has no interest in David at all. She rebuffs every call and present, but his obsession only magnifies. David has been living so long with the delusion of his life with Annabel, when reality finally confronts him and his lies unravel, tragedy and brutality soon follows.
Ashes of Doom (Color, 1970, Grant Munro)
A vampiric take on an anti-smoking short from the National Film Board of Canada and the fertile mind of Grant Munro.
Stone Cold Dead in the Market (B+W, 1946)
Big Band leader and 1930’s Broadway starlet Gracie Barrie sings a lovely little ditty about a wife’s revenge on her cheating husband.
Mantis (Color, 1971, Jack Scaparro)
Follow a young witch as she lures a handsome wanderer to her woodland cottage and subdues him with love rituals. This really beautiful film straddles the line between narrative and poetic films. As short as it is, Mantis leaves you under its spell.
For the Early Birds:
A Rose For Emily (Color, 1983)
This compelling made-for-tv dramatization of William Faulkner's short story is worth it for Anjelica Huston's shyly sullen performance alone. Huston plays Emily Grierson, the last of the esteemed southern aristocratic Grierson clan, who grows more and more reclusive and fragile after the death of her father, clinging to the past so desperately that living in the present is out of the question. After years of rejecting suitors who would come calling, Emily takes a mediocre lover. But along with his abrupt disappearance and the resulting deterioration of Emily's psychological state, the film smolders into delicious delirium. Directed by Lyndon Chubbuck, with John Carradine in a cameo role.
