Fear Chamber

One of the handful of dirt-cheap American / Mexican horror films headlined by Boris Karloff before the horror legend passed away, "Fear Chamber" a.k.a. "Torture Zone" is "good" schlocky fun. As long as viewers go in knowing to expect an over the top level of cheese and a complete dearth of quality, they can have some fun with this. Whatever one may think of these movies, it's admirable that Karloff kept soldiering on, despite being in weak health.

The main reason to watch is to see Karloff once again give his all, even to movies that really didn't deserve his level of professionalism. Written by American cult favourite Jack Hill ("Coffy", "Spider Baby") and Luis Enrique Vergara, it tells of scientists discovering a "living rock" within a volcanic crevice. Dr. Karl Mantell (Karloff) deduces that it needs to feed upon people when they are at their most terrified.

Directors Hill and Juan Ibanez don't concern themselves with being terribly coherent, instead just throwing wacky characters into the mix to keep it just odd enough. Yerye Beirute is a hoot as an utterly demented goon named Roland, a guy who's given to uttering "I'm the king of the world" long before Leo DiCaprio made the phrase famous. Mexican superstar Isela Vega is likewise fun as a determined, cold-blooded scientist named Helga. Carlos East is okay as another of the eggheads; Julissa plays Mantells' daughter.

Stupid, poorly filmed, and indicative of its (lack of) budget at every turn, "Fear Chamber" still manages to entertain fans of this type of thing, despite itself. It's really Karloff that makes the big difference. Even in light of the "quality" level here, and his own ailing health, he remains compelling.

Five out of 10.

The "Torture Zone" version of this film released by Rhino has between 10-15 minutes cut from the Mexican version. No significant scenes are missing (except for the original credits which have a live-action background); most of the cuts are trims to existing scenes. However, the English-language version does feature Karloff's own voice, which is a bonus.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Juan Ibanez and Jack Hill; Produced by Luis Enrique Vergara, for Azteca Films, released in America by Columbia Pictures. Screenplay by Luis Enrique Vergara and Jack Hill; Photography by Raul Dominguez and Austin McKinney; Edited by Felipe Marino; Music by Enrico Cabiati; Dialogue Director: Stillman Segar. Starring: Boris Karloff, Julissa, Isela Vega, Carlos East, Sandra Chavez and Eva Muller.

Silly sci-fi/horror exploitation film, integrating some of Karloff's last live-action footage into an incredible plot. Vega plays a fellow mad scientist who with big K is feeding a living volcanic rock blood from busty young women after scaring them in the title area. Oddly, Vega's famous frame is kept under wraps until her finale, being fed to the rock herself. Wide-angle lenses and flashy lighting effects do not hide the absence of development in the subplot of rocks from the center of the earth trying to learn to survive on the surface and take over.

Five days ago, House of Evil replaced The Invisible Menace as Boris Karloff's worst film. Today, House of Evil was just replaced by Fear Chamber(viewings of The Snake People and The Invisible Invasion are pending as of now, hoping they are a little better). The only halfway decent thing about Fear Chamber is Boris Karloff, he doesn't have a lot to work with but he still delivers with conviction and dignity which is more than the material deserved. The rest of the acting is atrocious, especially from Isela Vega and Yerye Beirute, the latter bringing unintentional humour to his part. The production values are amateurish, the photography really does look as though it was shot in a matter of days, the effects are slipshod and the sets look like the film was shot in a basement. The music is at best shrill, though a marginal improvement over the music for House of Evil, at least it isn't as annoying. The biggest failings are the script and story. The script often doesn't make sense and written and delivered in such a wooden, stilted way. The story is just as incoherent, laboriously paced and more uncomfortably weird than creepy or suspenseful(and there was me thinking The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Zombies was weird). All in all, love and have a lot of respect for Karloff but Fear Chamber was just awful. 1/10 Bethany Cox

One of those dreary Mexican productions that Boris Karloff made toward the end of his career, "The Fear Chamber"'s only attraction for the great but now aged and ailing star must have been the paycheck. The plot, already described elsewhere, is ludicrous, the set looks like somebody's basement, and the effects are cheap.

It's always worth seeing Karloff, but otherwise the only attraction is the supporting cast which includes various beautiful women, including Isele Vega (best known for "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia"), who are called upon to add some sex to the mix. The lesbian scenes make no sense within the context of the story, but they may at least prevent you from fast-forwarding to the conclusion.