highcamp Reviews

Secret Beyond the Door... (1947)

An Accidental Parody

[3/10 · 1 May 2024]

A knockoff Hitchcock in gorgeous sets.

As mentioned by other reviewers, motifs and themes of Rebecca, Suspicion, Spellbound... The room collection and the psychoanalysis dialogue are cringeworthy and sound like a parody.

The set design is very elaborate although eclectic, the variation of everything between art deco and rococo unintentionally stresses the unbalanced state of mind of the architect protagonist I guess.

Both of these factors put this film into an accidental Camp classic territory rather than making it an already formulaic thriller or film noir.

Speaking of the latter, the camera and the lighting are on point as always in Fritz Lang but go for another of his films instead.

Ghost Story (1974)

Campstravaganza!

[5/10 · 2 December 2023]

A singularly disjointed and eccentric Murray Melvin vehicle pulling in tropes, inspirations, and homages from left and right, delightful until the last second of the closing credits. Production and costume design are something else entirely-so many questions that yield no answer. I suppose people come in for Marianne Faithful but the film is so blatantly uninterested and unaware of women the leading lady looks more like an afterthought. I wonder if this is a TV movie or people actually went out to watch it in theatre at the time of its release, as the aesthetics, the campiness, and the narrative structure are more reminiscent of TV productions yet it is not marked as one. Very seventies and yet timeless.