Curse of the Voodoo

I was expecting a good horror film with Dennis Price.Instead it was a disappointing low budget drama with Dennis Price appearing from time to time,looking absolutely dreadful.An unknown leading man is of no assistance.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Lindsay Shonteff. Produced by RIchard Gordon. Original British title: Curse of Simba. Released in America by Allied Artists. Screenplay by Brian Clemens; Photography by Gerald Gibbs; Edited by Barrie Vince; Music by Brian Fahey. Starring: Bryant Halliday, Dennis Price, Lisa Daniely, Mary Kerridge, Ronald Leigh Hunt, Jean Lodge, Louis Mahoney, Valli Newby, Beryl Cunningham and Mike Nightingale.

Voodoo curse torments a white hunter who killed a lion in an area of lion-worshiping natives. It dominates his life back in London until he returns to Africa to kill his curser. Fine music, female pulchritude and excellent, suspenseful photography help punch up the weak story. An English forest is used to simulate the African bush, giving these scenes a most unroutine look in comparison to the stock safari saga. Lack of chills or supernatural atmosphere causes the film to be far inferior to Shonteff's memorable next effort: "The Devil Doll".

Now then, where to start.... I am a big fan of the ultimately rather tragic Dennis Price; he was superb in "Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949) so thought I'd defy the reviews and give it a chance. Well, you know what - it's dreadful nonsense. Bryant Haliday is a big game hunter who commits the ultimate taboo for a local tribe of voodoo worshippers - he kills a Simla (not the one from the cartoon, you understand...). This is sacrilegious to the locals - and so when Haliday gets back home, suitably cursed, he begins to have hallucinations that he is being chased across rural England by spear-yielding warriors... Now anyone who has ever tried running through a grassy, thistle filled field clad only in a loincloth will appreciate just how difficult - decidedly jaggy and slippy, bestrewn with cow pats - it can be; and that's without a man in skintight white denim taking potshots at you; or indeed, pointing his jeep in your direction... The film is simply woeful; the action scenes filmed and edited as it were a jigsaw puzzle and the music was so interfering as to render the whole thing amongst the worst example of British cinema I have ever had the misfortune to watch.

A rare miss in the horror genre for famed British producer Richard Gordon, Voodoo Blood Death stars Bryant Haliday (The Projected Man) as Mike Stacey, a big game hunter who makes a huge mistake killing a sacred lion on Simbaza territory. So, as you may expect, a curse is placed on him that follows him back to England. While he imagines spooky faces haunting him - even chasing him - the wound he sustained during his African safari mysteriously won't heal.

Although the movie is made with general competence - the director is Lindsay Shonteff, whose credits also include Devil Doll and The Million Eyes of Sumuru - and tells a decent enough story, it's pretty much a wash when it comes to horror elements. Although Shonteff tries hard to create suspense, the movie just fails to be that interesting. For one thing, there's way too much padding, and for another, too much time is wasted on Stacey's dull domestic situation (he's trying to win back his estranged wife).

It's too bad; the score by Brian Fahey is good, and the capable supporting cast includes Dennis Price (Kind Hearts and Coronets), Lisa Daniely (The Vicious Circle), Mary Kerridge (Richard III), Ronald Leigh-Hunt (The Omen), and Danny D. Daniels (The Outing).

All in all, this has to rank as a disappointment.

Four out of 10.

Curse of the Voodoo (AKA Voodoo Blood Death) stars Bryant Haliday as hard-drinking big-game hunter Mike Stacey, who kills a lion in Simbaza territory, thus incurring a curse that slowly causes him to go mad. The only way for Mike to break the curse is to kill the man who placed it on him.

Having set up the basic premise, this dull film does very little of interest, with Mike - having returned to London - spending most of his time half-cut or hallucinating, while his estranged wife Janet (Lisa Daniely) looks concerned. Mike sees scary Simbaza tribesmen lurking around every corner, and is even chased across Hampstead Heath by a couple of them, but Lindsay Shonteff's lacklustre direction achieves very little in the way of suspense or excitement.

To pad out the run-time, we get a prolonged dance routine in a nightclub, Beryl Cunningham gyrating enthusiastically to some jungle rhythms, and we get to see Mike's doctor (Ronald Leigh-Hunt) meticulously arranging his medical bag, which kills some more time. There's also a spot of gratuitous skin from gorgeous Valli Newby as a lonely young woman who invites Mike back to her flat for some no-strings-attached nookie (however, while the lovely lady strips down to her undies, Mike passes out on her bed - the drunken fool!).

The pace is slow, and the script is dull. Dennis Price appears from time to time as Stacey's pal Major Lomas, adding some class to proceedings, but the film is largely a waste of time, with our thoroughly unlikable lion-killing 'hero' turning to murder to free himself of his curse.

3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.