Ruby, A Amante Diabólica

Piper Laurie follows her success in Carrie with another supernatural horror, Ruby, in which she plays gangster's moll Ruby Claire, who, sixteen years after witnessing the cold-blooded shooting of Nicky (Sal Vecchio), the father of her unborn child, finds herself menaced by his vengeful spirit. Believing that he was betrayed by his lover, Nicky's ghost proceeds to bump off the ex-gangsters now employed at her drive-in theatre, using his mute daughter Leslie (Janit Baldwin) as a conduit, before finally confronting Ruby herself.

Opening with the wonderfully dreamlike murder of Nicky in a bayou, Curtis Harrington's Ruby is not without atmosphere and style, the director making effective use of his rundown drive-in location and its eerie, foggy swampland surroundings. Sadly, despite the creepy ambiance, several creative kills (ala The Omen)—hanging by film stock, impalement to movie screen, death by drinks vending machine—plus a couple of fun possession scenes clearly inspired by The Exorcist, the overly talky nature of the script prevents the film from being a complete success, the dull dialogue frequently bringing the action to a standstill.

Horror movie with a needlessly convoluted plot. In 1935 a gangster's girlfriend named Ruby (Piper Laurie) sees her boyfriend shot down dead. At that moment she gives birth to his baby (!!!) The movie cuts to 16 years later. Ruby is an alcoholic running a drive in and Leslie is her daughter--born a deaf mute (I think). For reasons never made totally clear she has the guys who shot her boyfriend dead working for her in the drive in! Then they start getting killed--it seems Ruby's ex is coming back for revenge...

If that synopsis sounds confusing you should see the movie! Curtis Harrington is a good director and I'm giving this a 4 just because it is well-directed...it just doesn't make a lot of sense. I saw the director's cut which was thought to be lost. Harrington was fired before the movie was finished. The producer took the movie, cut out all the violence and shot scenes with a totally different cast! That was the one released. Harrington complained about it and said his version was gone. Somehow it was found and that's the one I saw. If this is the cut the director approved I can only wonder how bad the reedited version was! Scenes seem to end before they're finished; the plot meanders all over the place; there are way too many unanswered questions still lingering at the end; Ruby is inexplicably always dressed like a madam; the special effects are poor; the deaths are very poorly done (and look REAL fake); the twist at the end comes out of nowhere--and doesn't make a lot of sense and, basically, this is BORING!

Laurie is a wonderful actress but she's terrible in this. She appears to be drunk most of the time--or looks like she wishes she were. Stuart Whitman walks through his role. Janit Baldwin is actually pretty good as Leslie. And Roger Davis (fondly remembered from "Dark Shadows") pops up about 30 minutes in as a parapsychologist. He has little to do with the plot except have Whitman provide some clumsy exposition to him. It's supposed to clear up the plot--it doesn't.

A dull, confusing mess. Not worth seeing at all. It's really a shame-the VCI DVD looks just beautiful.

After a setup that kills her husband, Ruby a gangster wife has to raise her daughter alone, or maybe not. She have her ganglike family to support her. Then people start getting dying around her. Is it ghost, a crazed murderer, or could be; he dead husband seeking revenge.

I did not know this Curtis Harrington's film, and I have seen all the others he did. Such a shame.... This one is a real tribute to the fifties drive in movie theaters. And I guess Piper Laurie was chosen for her performance one year earlier in Brian De Palma's CARRIE, another horror yarn, and this time at a bigger, larger scale. A pure masterpiece, where she also was the mother of a "possessed" daughter. But this one, directed by a very gifted Curtis Harrington - some kind of William Castle's heir - is very enjoyable, gritty, riveting, and offers us a very good ending, which seemd to be in total opposition to the director's will. For once, the will of a producer over a director satisfies me !!!!

The heyday of the mob. Being an entertainer of that time was always the fuss. But when people go legit, it's always going to be good. For "Ruby", it's not that way. Ruby Claire(Piper Laurie) is a gun-moll who is pregnant watches in horror when her mobster boyfriend gets gunned down by his own crew. Years later, Ruby owns a drive-in movie and some of the former members of the mob work with her. Her daughter Leslie(Janit Baldwin) is 16 and mute, lives with her. One by one, members of the mob suddenly died. The spirit of the slain boyfriend seeks revenge on the crew. So he uses the daughter as a vessel for vengeance. This movie is like a cross between "Carrie" and "The Exorcist". Only tamer. The cast of the movie are great. The special effects was spot on. Enjoyable to say the least. 2 out of 5 stars