In the Queue

Neither of these people are named Boris Lugosi, but they do appear in "Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks."

I have a big pile of scrawled notes that will be turned into movie reviews shortly — three regular films by Jean-Pierre Melville and a load of caca that has erupted from the depths of my NetFlix queue.

That list includes Tod Browning's "Freaks," which I haven't seen in a decade, and "Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks," featuring Boris Lugosi as "Ook, the Neanderthal Man."

I fell asleep in the middle of the latter so I must fire it up again. But thus far we've got: one necrophiliac midget; uneasy transition between guys in Sta-Prest slacks and windbreakers subduing Ook the Neanderthal Man in the opening scene and the Victorian era setting of the rest of the film; one nekkid scene with no goodies; one full breast (dead); four partial breasts (living); girl in polka-dotted top hat, for no apparent reason.

Update: This is a tough movie to watch, it's that bad. One full breast in the grotto scene. The police inspector rides one way along the path; then he rides back. Some of the most hapless dubbing in cinematic history. One pint blood, unusual for a mad scientist with freaks and corpses everywhere. (Maybe they blew the budget on the inspector's horse.) A consistent and frankly splendid disregard for continuity. Utter crap. One coil.