This is a fantastic four disc, eight movie set, dedicated to the British actor Tod Slaughter. Slaughter was referred to as "The Horror Man of Europe", but these films are really Victorian melodramas, while Slaughter himself doesn't play monsters in the traditional sense. He plays over-the-top villains whose aims revolve around two basic drives: greed and lust.
I had never actually seen a Tod Slaughter film before I bought this set, but I had certainly heard of him. If you read any book or article about the history of horror films, particularly British ones, his unique career is usually mentioned. Slaughter was a barnstorming stage actor who, in the 1930s, started appearing in movies mostly based on the blood & thunder plays he had performed in the theater.
Slaughter was known for his grandiose acting style--if you prefer subtle, refined performances, this box set is not for you. In the eight films in this set, Slaughter essentially plays the same role--he's a heavy-set, middle-aged man who is after money and innocent young women, and he'll do just about anything to obtain what he wants. Slaughter's characters almost always go about in a flowing cloak and a top hat, and he usually sports a flamboyant mustache. As soon as he appears in one of these films, you know right off the bat that Slaughter is up to no good--yet it takes almost the whole running time for the supporting cast to figure out the villain's true intentions. (Most of the supporting cast in these films are played by the same actors, playing the same types of roles in each.)
Slaughter is so enamored with his villainy that he spends most of his onscreen time with a disconcerting grin on his face, and during most of his nefarious deeds he actually chortles with glee. Slaughter is more of a cartoon villain than a supernatural or psychological threat.
At times while watching these films I wondered if one was supposed to react to them as if they were amusing. The thing is, what Slaughter does isn't amusing. He commits all sorts of murders, and in one film he kills a child! He assaults women, he steals, lies, ruins the reputations of others, threatens folks with blackmail, etc. The movies in this set fall into a strange category--they're not out-and-out camp, but at the same time it's hard to take them absolutely seriously. The one movie in the set that is an outlier is SEXTON BLAKE AND THE HOODED TERROR. It's set in contemporary times, and while Slaughter is still the main villain, he's not as over-the-top, proving he could act in a "normal" setting.
The eight films in the set are MARIA MARTEN, SWEENEY TODD, THE CRIMES OF STEPHEN HAWKE, IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND, THE TICKET OF LEAVE MAN, SEXTON BLAKE AND THE HOODED TERROR, THE FACE AT THE WINDOW, and CRIMES AT THE DARK HOUSE. The four discs contain two films each.
A number of these films can be found on the internet in terrible public domain versions. This Indicator set presents the films in brand new restorations, and they all look and sound fantastic. I had always assumed that the films Slaughter appeared in were very low budget. While it's obvious that there wasn't a lot of money spent on the films in this set, they don't look cheap. The production design and costumes are very well done, and these movies are much more impressive looking than, say, the Hollywood poverty row horrors made by PRC and Monogram. All of the films in this set were either produced or directed by George King, a British low-budget filmmaker who was the real guiding hand behind the Tod Slaughter movie persona.
I wouldn't call any of these films magnificent, but they are all entertaining, especially if you accept the stories for what they are and get into the spirit of the proceedings. SWEENEY TODD is the best-known film in the set, but I would say THE FACE AT THE WINDOW and CRIMES AT THE DARK HOUSE are the best overall. CRIMES AT THE DARK HOUSE, by the way, has art direction by future Hammer veteran Bernard Robinson, and the story, which is based on the Wilkie Collins novel THE WOMAN IN WHITE, is the type of thing Hammer should have made during the comapny's heyday.
All the films are in black & white (with the photography being very atmospheric at times), and the features average about 70 minutes in running time, which, I believe, is very fitting for the melodramatic tales being told.
Indicator has filled this set to the brim with important extras. First of all, the set comes with a 120 page illustrated booklet that includes cast & crew credits for all the films, along with a number of articles dealing with Tod Slaughter's life and acting career. Each of the four discs in the set has plenty of extras as well. Each film has an audio commentary with such luminaries as Kim Newman, Jonathan Rigby, and Stephen Jones. Each film also has an image gallery. Along the other items spread among the discs are recordings of Tod Slaughter, silent film footage of him acting on stage, an interview with Slaughter's great-niece, and featurettes on the supporting actors and the Slaughter's film career in general. The set is Region Free.
This truly is an impressive release, and film geeks will appreciate that it shines a light on an obscure and very unusual talent. I've seen just about everything when it comes to classic horror cinema, but I never took the opportunity to delve into the films of Tod Slaughter. I wouldn't put him on the same level as Karloff or Lugosi--he's more of an Atwill or Zucco type--but he is entertaining in his own unique way, and these films in this set are much more impressive than I thought they would be. The extras in this set give you all the info you need about Tod Slaughter's life and career. Indicator deserves as many compliments as they can get on this excellent release.
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