11/12/2022 0 Comments Movie zotz![]() MOVIE ZOTZ FULLZotz! is full of strained and protracted slapstick business, which may have been amusing for kids in the audience, but is pitched a level below classic Three Stooges routines. Candy Hull (Kathy Dunn) stumbles on murder playing amateur spy in 13 Frightened Girls (1963) His niece and potential girlfriend are kidnapped to force him to cooperate, but he eventually manages to use the coin to defeat the Russians … and finally get recognition from the military, and that departmental promotion. He uses the coin to get the better of his rival for a departmental promotion at the college, and then finds himself in the hands of Russian agents who believe he has a new secret weapon. When Jones realizes what he’s got, he tries to provide his services to the Pentagon, but initially fails to persuade the military that he isn’t simply delusional. Here, the protagonist is professor of ancient languages Jonathan Jones, who comes into possession of an ancient coin, the inscription on which when translated (and supplemented by blood from a conveniently cut finger) gives him powers of life and death – a pointed finger inflicts crippling pain, speaking the word “Zotz” slows time, and pointing and saying the word kills. Zotz! (1962), adapted by Ray Russell from a satirical novel by Walter Karig, tries hard to emulate Disney’s family-friendly fantasies like The Absent-Minded Professor (1961). Russian agents resort to kidnapping in their attempts to get hold of the coin in Zotz! MOVIE ZOTZ MOVIEThe weaker movie in the first set aimed more for strained comedy than horror the second set unfortunately leans heavily on comedy, a genre Castle was not particularly adept at. While the first set included three of his best movies and one of his weaker efforts, the second set reverses this by including just one of his best along side three of his less (in my opinion) effective movies. This was one of the reasons he strove to branch out of horror and try other genres. Although his movies tended be profitable, he hankered to be taken more seriously as a filmmaker. This was the period during which Castle was trying to escape the trap he’d created for himself with his his famous (notorious) promotional gimmicks. Personally, I found the follow-up a bit of a slog to get through. The second set picks up in 1962 and runs to 1964. Because of the focus on his return to Columbia in 1959, that initial set skipped Castle’s first two independent horror productions ( Macabre and House on Haunted Hill ) and included the four movies he made between 19. Indicator’s second box set devoted to William Castle follows chronologically from the first. Jonathan Jones (Tom Poston) acquires the power of life and death from an ancient artifact in William Castle’s Zotz! William Castle at Columbia Vol. Here, some notes on three sets – two recent releases, the third seven years old now, though I’ve only just got to it. While every movie needs to stand on its own merits, there’s no denying that almost any movie when seen in a larger context gains something – whether from being seen as part of a filmmaker’s larger body of work or as something which draws on traditions of genre or style, the individual film takes on meanings (and pleasures) not necessarily intrinsic to itself. I’ve mentioned before that I love box sets. The vampire curse spreads in Gerardo De Leon’s The Blood Drinkers (1964) ![]()
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