Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Script of the Dead 2024

- The Bell Affair 2023

- Easter Bloody Easter 2024

- Velma 2022

- Everwinter Night 2023

- Main Character Energy 2023

- Stupid Games 2024

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- The Thousand Steps 2020

- The Desiring 2021

- When a Stranger Knocks 2024

- Quint-essentially Irish 2024

- Son of Gacy 2024

- Saltville 2024

- The True Story of the Christ's Return 2024

- Whenever I'm Alone with You 2023

- Jurassic Triangle 2024

- Midnight Peepshow 2022

- Offworld: Alien Planet 2024

- The Swiss Conspiracy 1976

- Sex-Positive 2024

- Here for Blood 2022

- All Over Again 2024

- The Color Yellow 2023

- Des Töchterleins Leid 2024

- I Am a Channel 2024

- The Hermits 2023

- Murdaritaville 2024

- Inheritance 2024

- The Devil's Partner 1960

- Pareidolia 2023

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Cul-de-Sac

UK 1966
produced by
Gene Gutowski, Michael Klinger, Tony Tenser, Sam Waynberg (executive) for Compton Films, Tekli British Productions
directed by Roman Polanski
starring Donald Pleasence, Francoise Dorléac, Lionel Stander, Jack MacGowran, Iain Quarrier, Geoffrey Sumner, Renee Houston, Robert Dorning, Marie Kean, William Franklyn, Jacqueline Bisset, Trevor Delaney
written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, music by Krzysztof Komeda

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

Available on DVD!

To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)

Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!

A heist (we never learn what kind of heist) has obviously gone wrong for gangsters Albert (Jack MacGowran) and Richard (Lionel Stander), leaving both of them injured. But despite their car having broken down, they have managed to make a getaway and now seek abode in a castle on some peninsula that turns into a regular island during tide. From there, Richard desperately tries to phone their boss Katelbach while Albert is slowly dieing.

Problem is, the castle is not uninhabited, there is millionaire-turned-artist George (Donald Pleasence) and his wife Theresa (Francoise Dorléac), and while Albert finally dies for good, Richard plays his cat-and-mouse game with them, in which he takes more and more joy since George is way too much of a coward to put up any opposition, and even his wife gets more and more fed up with him.

Things take a turn however when George and Theresa receive unannounced visitors, Philip (Robert Dorning) and Marion (Marie Kean), their son Nicholas (Trevor Delaney), and their friends Cecil (William Franklyn) and Jackie (Jacqueline Bisset). Theresa immediately seizes the opportunity and introduces Richard as their butler, letting him do low menial jobs of all sorts, however, neither she nor George manage to really take full advantage of the situation despite the fact that Cecil has brought a loaded gun (solely for hunting purposes). Then though George explodes when young Nicholas rather accidently fires the gun and breaks one of the castles priceless painted glasses - but unfortunately George directs his anger at the wrong persons and throws Philip and Marion and company out - which means they are once more alone with Richard, who soon enough thinks it's payback time ...

Then however Richard learns that Katelbach won't be coming or sending help and he's all on his own - so he wants to acquire George's car. However, Theresa has since stolen Richard's gun and handed it over to George - who eventually gets in such a worked up state that he actually shoots Richard. But Richard, with his dieing breath, is still able to fetch his machinegun from his broken down car and prepares to shoot his hosts - when he finally falls over dead and when the machinegun goes off all it does is perforating George's car and blowing it up.

Killing Richard however has driven George totally over the edge, and when Cecil comes back - to fetch his gun of all things - he actively throws Theresa out and forces her to leave with Cecil.

The last image sees George sitting on a rock near the castle, whimpering, while the tide is coming back ...

 

Quite simply put, a great movie: A rather unlikely marriage of a gritty thriller in the Desperate Hours (1955, William Wyler) mold and absurd drama à la Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, handled by Roman Polanski who in the mid-1960's was at the height of his game and who seems to instinctively know how to make perfect use of the (limited but pittoresque) locations. Add to this a great cast (with the always dependable Donald Pleasence giving probably his finest performance) and a perfect score by Krzysztof Komeda and you've got one great movie.

Definitely recommended !!!

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Cul-de-Sac
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Cul-de-Sac here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find Cul-de-Sac at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!