Chase_Witherspoon

I never understood the general vitriol aimed at this film, whilst it doesn't succeed as a serious thriller, as a modest sci-fi it's taut, tense and generally quite compelling. Relatively low-budget but capably handled by director Nelson, it's a film I first caught on late-night television almost forty years ago and it's stayed with me since that time, primarily due to Carrera's intelligent, beguiling performance.

The basic plot finds Grieving Doctor (Hudson) creating freaks in his home laboratory, first a prematurely born Doberman with a murderous streak, then an attractive specimen with a superior intellect played by Carrera.

The cast is a solid mix of experience (Hudson and Ladd in the supporting role as his embittered sister-in-law) and newcomers (Carrera and Schedeen as the bubbly pregnant daughter in law), whilst Roddy McDowall even has a quirky cameo as an egotistical chess player with whom Carrera duels, in a scene that's surprisingly tense and satisfying.

Initially it might appear facile or frivolous and of course the essential plot requirement which has Hudson managing to stop the accelerated ageing of his human foetus experiment just as it reaches the ultra-hot twenty-something form of exotic Carrera is both sensational and hopelessly contrived. Persistence pays however as the second act establishes Carrera's character sympathetically which leads into a prodigious final act that's well worth the wait.

Uncomfortable at times, there's a sinister (and sometimes cruel) undertow but it's mostly superficial akin to a matinee television movie, except for some brief, darkened toplessness and the last couple of scenes where the violence goes above and beyond small-screen constraints.

Overall, 'Embryo' is a quiet storm that's intelligently paced and ends with an unexpected cliffhanger, made even more memorable by Carrera's natural charisma and acting talent, and much better than its maligned reputation supposes.

The dialogue (or perhaps the dubbing) is atrocious, but Deodarto's formulaic slasher-giallo hybrid is a mildly enjoyable romp featuring some nicely photographed mountain locations which add a touch of sinister ambience to the otherwise predictable format.

Lazy storytelling is somewhat redeemed by the impressive cast boasting names which simply can't be dismissed; Hess, Farmer, Napier, Steiner and Rassimov an exploitation film buff's fantasy team and whilst the first three are plot essential (Steiner & Rassimov are squandered in purely incidental roles) it's the pea-brained college dolts who chew up the majority of the precious screen-time. Profoundly deaf, dumb and blind they blithely wander into the killer's waiting axe, generational victims of the mask-wearing Shaman, a mysterious forest-dweller apparently responsible for the unsolved murders of two teens almost fifteen years earlier.

There's some fairly mild gore (a few severed fingers, bloody impalements mostly in darkness so difficult to discern any graphic detail), plenty of nudity (watch out for a pointless and unwelcome pickle shot), but it's very repetitive and predictable with an unimaginative, ambiguous ending.

Deodarto has disappointingly phoned-in this bland effort, Hess, Farmer, Napier, Steiner, Rassimov and himself a chimera of unrealised potential in what should've been exploitation utopia, instead just a passable slasher pic only memorable for the talents of those it wastes.

There's more than mere madness at this asylum as Dr Frankenstein (Cushing) discovers how to reanimate the dead by harvesting the vital organs of the living. Through a process of intelligent selection and aided by his enthusiastic protege (Briant), he sets out to create the perfect specimen with predictably disastrous results.

Cushing's timing is impeccable and despite being 60-years old, he's agile in body as he's sharp in mind, the scene where he leaps on the table and then launches a flying tackle at his demented creation is quite impressive. Youthful Briant's trademark posh elocution and pompous indifference is gradually replaced by a conscience for humanity as he grows more suspicious of the deranged Doctor's ethics, once his hero, now his fallen idol. And then lovely Madeleine Smith appears in almost every scene without uttering a word, similarly reticent but less lovely, brawny Dave Prowse and his hairy back hasn't much to say, but plenty of rage to display at his ghastly mistreatment as Dr Frankenstein's tragic human experiment.

The curtain was coming down as this Hammer horror went into production, stalwart Fisher's swan-song is a particularly gory effort, offering numerous dismemberments and other gruesome scenes made to order (throat slashing, wire hanging, eyeball gouging), although it appears to be done tongue in cheek with occasional gallows humour adding a chuckle or two amid the tension.

Overall it's a modest yet entertaining hammer horror hallmark that's eminently worthwhile, not least of all to see the likes of Dave Prowse pre-Darth Vader, post-Doctor Who Patrick Troughton, and even Bernard Lee in between MI-5 assignments in a small but important role as a withering mental patient with hands of a craftsman.