Stephen Abell This dark thriller was a nice surprise. I'd not seen this before so when it appeared on telly, thanks to the Talking Pictures channel, I took the chance on it as the premise interested me. Based on the nefarious Burke and Hare this tells the story of William Hart (Slaughter) and Mr Moore (Oscar) and their dealings with Dr Cox (Bell), for whom they procure cadavers for. However, the doctor has a need for younger and fresher bodies so, greedy for money, Hart and Moore comply with the doctor's wishes... by turning murderous...There's a lot which is good about this film. I liked the way the director, Mitchell, opted for a more realistic feel. The streets of Edinburgh are close and tight. People pretty much lived in each other's pockets in that era. Mitchell, then adds eeriness by adding fog and shadows. It's also nice to see the size of the living quarters that the common folk were subjected to. Hart runs a rooming house, in which there are just two rooms downstairs, a living room and a kitchen. The living room is sparse, containing a table and chairs and a bed, where he and his wife sleep. Upstairs is for their guests. Life is hard so it's no wonder you do what you have to just to survive. A hard life can make for hard men and both Hart and Moore have no compunctions about beating their wives into sublimation. Moore's wife is so under the fist she's only too happy to squeal on Hart's wife, so she can take what's coming to her.This builds up a bleak overlook to the film. So enter Aubrey Woods portraying the simpleton Jamie Wilson. This character is there not only to lift the film with a comedic element but is also the crux and pivotal role of the movie. This was a good idea by the writer, Gilling, and the director. Woods excels as Jamie and has some of the best lines in the film. It's also nice because he is a breath of fresh air amongst the plethora of melodramatic actors, which can become a little too heavy at times when they deliver their lines - and this is probably the only drawback to the film. Though, for the times, the acting is good to fair.If you like your dark thrillers then I would recommend you check this out, should you get the chance.

mark.waltz A movie so poorly made that it seems 20 years older than it is, "Horror Maniacs" (or "The Greed of William Hart") is a creaky antique that makes its subject matter deadly dull even if the actual history behind its connection with real life events is fascinatingly macabre. With names changed due to lawsuits from family members of the characters it portrays, a lot of the details are obviously missing, mainly because the print available is approximately 25 minutes short of the original running time. The editing out of the character's real life names is so badly dubbed that what was looped in sounds louder than the rest of the soundtrack.The difference between this and other Tod Slaughter films is that his earlier films gave a historical feeling of what the old gaslight theaters of the late 1800's and early 1900's must have been like with the melodramatic thrillers that were popular during this era. This one isn't even an interesting account of the Burke and Hare case of the 1820's in Edinburgh. Slaughter plays his character as if he was mentally retarded and he seems relatively normal when compared to his nefarious partner played by Henry Oscar. Aubrey Woods gives an interesting performance as the very sensitive Jamie Wilson, a rather effeminate young man who shows fear at the very mention of people disappearing in the area where he lives. There is really no element of terror here which makes the insinuations of what the two grave robbers (who also kill for profit) all the less menacing.

rwagn In an attempt to clean up the soundtrack, which is rather scratchy and noisy, a digital audio remastering was done. The problem with this remastering is that between every line of dialog (where the background soundtrack noise would be audible) has now been reduced to absolute silence. The effect is jarring when you watch the movie as the dialog appears to start and stop. It is bad enough when listening via regular TV speakers but when run through an amplified system it becomes unnerving. Additionally, when there is background music in these segments between dialogue the music sounds incredibly muted. The same problem exists on Alpha Video's companion DVD "Sweeney Tood" so beware. These movies are 70+ years old and some leniency must be allowed when viewing these old prints. In this case, those who transfer these items to digital should have left well enough alone.

Erewhon Knowing that this movie is Tod Slaughter's take on the tale of Burke and Hare promises a great deal more than this tawdry, cheap little bore could possibly deliver. It's shot on cramped, ugly sets, the story moves in fits and starts, it's endlessly talky and never gives Slaughter a chance to cut loose in his grand style. The movies he made in the 1930s are all entertaining and, for the tolerant, enjoyable and watchable even today. But if you like those, you can safely skip this one. Slaughter is given few chances to emote in his gloriously florid style; instead, he's handed reams of dull lines to read, as is everyone else. He has a few moments, but not many; more are provided by Aubrey Woods as Jamie with the barrow.