Year: 1968
Duration: 01:26:01
Directed by: Jack Hill, Juan Ibáñez
Actors: Boris Karloff, Julissa, Carlos East, Isela Vega
Language: English
Country: Mexico | USA
Also known as: A Câmara do Terror, The Torture Zone, Chamber of Fear
Description: A scientist notices strange frequencies coming from within the Earth. He and his assistants discover a living rock underneath a volcano. They bring the rock to their lab, and discover that it needs the hormones that are produced by humans when they are fearful in order to survive. They then abduct and sacrifice young girls to keep the living rock alive.
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No nudity, but the amount of low-rent cheese in this makes Wisconsin envious.
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Little Shop of Horrors in a laboratory with a rock. When it grows a tentacle and starts draining people’s fluids, the lab team begins to suspect it was lying when it told them it was an ordinary rock.
The team consists of Karloff, a couple other scientists, and some folks dressed in Halloween costumes whose job is to scare women whom they have tricked into staying the night in an adjoining room because— well, it’s complicated. And a lot goes unsaid.
They all have different motives and approaches to working with the rock. Helga, the closeted lesbian, sublimates her desires into strict discipline and scientific rigor, but there are indications of cracks in the facade, especially in the too-short whipping scene. Roland is a brutish assistant of the type Karloff originated, and really all he wants is a friend, unlimited diamonds, and to rule the world. The only dud is Mark, the bore, to whom Karloff’s character sacrifices his daughter just to get him out of the picture for a bit. Of course he comes back at the end and saves/ruins the day.
Lots of gratuitous bras and panties but no T&A. Probably they realized they had a stinker and wanted to have the widest audience possible.
This was Karloff’s final role, but not his final film—they kept coming out Tupac-like for a couple years after his death, four films constituting a curiously Ed Woodsy period in Jack Hill’s career. Fear Chamber is the best of the bunch. I could say something about “elevating the material” but let’s not kid ourselves. Watch with Targets (1967).
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Nathan: Good review but you missed mentioning the best line:
“I want to be KING of the WORLD!! It said it would make me KING of the WORLD!!!” or something along those lines.
😀