Verdict
Summary
Film Masters nicely restores these two spooky titles, appropriately paired together.
The Creature With the Blue Hand Plot:
A wrongly convicted man escapes prison to try to catch the real culprit of a series of violent crimes.
Review:
Dave Emerson (Klaus Kinski) is sentenced by the court to spend the rest of his life in a mental institution for a series of murders that no sane man could have possibly committed. Dave screams and makes a scene after his sentencing that he is innocent, and then he’s thrown into the system. Soon, he escapes and tries seeking allies to help him prove his innocence … sometimes while the real killer is committing more ghastly killings simultaneously. But since he’s an escaped lunatic (according to the law), Dave still poses a threat to the public, and what’s worse is that his twin brother (gasp!) is the actual killer! But wait! There’s more! Dave’s twin is supposed to be lying dead in a tomb, and so that poses the next challenge: Is Dave’s evil twin alive and well … or is there another killer taking the mantle of the “creature with the blue hand” that is responsible?
An adequate crazed killer thriller with a more or less subdued Kinski in the lead role, The Creature With the Blue Hand is best watched in chill mode because it’s not entirely essential cinema, and more for curious Kinski fans than anything else. It has some creep factor, but little else, and sort of behaves like a Sherlock Holmes mystery than a straight ahead stalker / slasher type of film. Filmmakers Alfred Vohrer and Samuel M. Sherman are credited as the directors.
Film Masters has nicely restored this film in a vibrant new transfer, which is likely the best the film has ever looked before. It’s presented in a 1:66:1 aspect ratio, and I have to say that I was impressed by Film Masters’ presentation.
Web of the Spider Plot:
A bet to stay in a haunted mansion turns deadly for a journalist.
Review:
Journalist Alan Foster (Anthony Franciosa from Tenebrae) is a journalist who has a drink with Edgar Allan Poe (Klaus Kinski) in a pub, and their conversation turns into a dare: Foster will spend the night in a nearby mansion that is rumored to claim the souls of anyone who dares wander in. Foster takes the dare on a lark, being much more foolish than brave. At first, the mansion is just a dusty old place with the usual gothic touches: cobwebs, a candelabra, a portrait of a beautiful woman above the mantle. But as the hours chime away, Foster becomes a witness to a host of ghosts and the horrific murders that took place there once upon a time. He also finds a woman (not the only one; the woman in the portrait materializes and is some kind of vampire) who is confused about whether or not she’s alive or a spirit, and by the end of the night, Foster will have believed he’s been living through one long nightmare … except his final revelation will have him realize too late that he can never leave the grounds.
Stylish and appropriately spooky, Antonio Margheriti’s Web of the Spider updates his own film Castle of Blood, which tells the same story, but this time in vibrant color. Kinski’s role is minor and bookends the film, but it’s interesting to see him play Poe, although he doesn’t do a whole lot with it. The film works and should satiate fans of Italian horror films, especially during the Halloween season.
Film Masters gives Web of the Spider a vivid new 4K HD transfer in widescreen, and I doubt the film has ever looked better than it does here.
Bonus Materials
- Creature with the Blue Hand full length commentary track
- Web of the Spider full length commentary track
- included HD film, ‘The Bloody Dead (1987),’ from Independent International Pictures which added scenes for the home video release
- Essays by Christopher Stewardson and Nick Clark
- All new documentary on Edgar Wallace
- Archival commentary by Samuel M. Sherman
- Original theatrical trailer from 35mm for Creature with the Blue Hand
- Reimagined trailer for Web of the Spider using restored elements
