La jena di Londra

HYENA OF LONDON is a gothic mystery very much along the lines of THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER aka HORROR which came out about the same time. I'd call it part of the cinema of meaningful glances.

For fans of Tony Kendall, here he plays an ineffectual hero for a change. He's the secret lover of the local doctor's daughter, whose house is full of conniving servants and suspicious characters, like Luciano Pigozzi. They all stay very busy lying, cheating, and sneaking around the old dark house. Mysterious murders begin to occur in the vicinity and everyone points fingers at each other until the twist ending reveals an actual surprise.

This is an atmospheric, nicely photographed trifle that I always enjoy watching but never seem to remember much about later.

Who would ever have thought that an isolated, dark, gothic estate could be such a hot bed of illicit trysts with secret lovers? Aside from the patriarch Dr. Dalton, virtually the entire staff of the mansion are steaming up the windows.

Aside from the frothy soap opera subplots, there are heinous murders being committed off camera. Has the "Hyena of London" come back from the grave?

Without spoiling the ending, there is a minor scifi element revealed in the denoument.

The Italians made many excellent and highly atmospheric Gothic thrillers during the 1960s. "Hyena of London" was produced in 1964, at the peak of the genre's popularity. Like the films of Bava, etc., it benefits from historic European locations, authentic costumes, fine manners and moody scoring.

What prevents this entry from being as popular as say, "Castle of Blood" or "The Whip and the Body" is its script. Though marketed as a thriller most of the film is straight drama, with the macabre scenes confined to the film's beginning and end.

Watching this made me recall "Terror Creatures from the Grave," which originally was the bottom half of a 1965 double feature with "Bloody Pit of Horror." It had much of the same film noir ambiance and class.

"Hyena of London" is definitely not for everyone, but a good bet for fans of '60s Euro-thrillers or Tony Kendall.

A killer known as The Hyena of London is caught and hanged. However almost immediately his body goes missing. In a small village outside of London people begin to die in a manner similar to the way the Hyena killed.

Italian Euro-horror shocker that bogs down almost instantly into various love triangles and quadrangles and general romance. More soap opera than horror film the movie never really generates much tension even as its trying to be very Gothic. Not bad as such but I picked this up since it was listed as a horror film and I was expecting thrills and chills not soap. More bland than anything I thought a good deal of this was tedious, though watchable as background noise. The disappointing thing was that many of the revelations seemed to be an after thought.

Ultimately a lesser Euro-shocker from Italy (despite the Anglicized credits)

This movie is a little seen rarity. There's a reason for that.the action is decent, the outdoor photography is excellent and the directing up to par. As far as the plot goes, did I mention the outdoor photography?Aren't you glad I sit through dreck like this so you don't have to?

The dreaded killer "The Hyena Of London" is finally strung up for his crimes in the late 1880's. But his body mysteriously vanishes.Soon afterwards a string of killings occur in the small village of Bradford.You know that there is a tie in to the incidents. At this point you should settle in for a nice nap.

You start watching the clock about 7 minutes into this film.The only thing that would liven this PUPPY up is some old fashioned plot.You'll HOWL with indignation at this film.You'll GIGGLE at the inane dialogue.You'll convulse with LAUGHTER at the bald headed ladies' man.

Skip this one. It pees on the carpet.