my bad film guru ( and the president of the exposed film society ) spring this one on u last week . there be no deny the demented gleam in his eye a he pull it out of it brown paper bag and announce what he have in store for u represent the most dangerous game and film on a budget of about $ 2 . 95. of course and $ 2 . 95 go a lot far back in 1962 and but still . anyway and there be certainly a lot to dislike about this film . it abound with serious technical gaffe ( my favorite be the repeat musket that fire twice in two minute without benefit of a reload ) . the hero be a wuss who stand by while his wounded friend fight the henchman and get kill . more . ok the plot be a shamble with no continuity to speak of . the movie waste five minute with a pecial guest star who serve a the physical embodiment of the villain madness and paranoia and but never show him again . the hero be choke unconscious by the henchman but make no mention of it when he wake up and first meet his host . the mute servant girl be capture and put on the rack . and then the movie ( and the hero and who put her in this predicament ) just sort of forgets about her . more . well and the set be cheap and and the special effect be cheap ( the makeup be an exception to this ) . much of the plot be carry by the narrator droning and monotonic voice over and which carry less dramatic impact than the menu recital at denny . most of the dialog be simply ridiculous and stilted and a if it be translate from japanese . ( i demand that our conversation be pleasant . ) and the color value tend to shift violently from shot to shoot and a if cheap film stock and problematic lighting equipment be the order of the day . ( note this last may have be the fault of a bad print and rather than the camera crew ) . but there be a couple of nice moment here and there . the makeup effect be startlingly good in contrast to the rest of the film and the actor be looked interesting and especially the mute servant girl and the countess . and in spite of everything and there be a definite creepy atmosphere to be find and very nasty and disturb . so what be the deal with this movie . i think about it a bit and and realize that director or writer pat boyette basically try to put a story from of the old ec horror comic on film . that would account for the stilted dialog and the sketchy character development ( in a comic and physiognomy equal character even more than in film ) and the loopy interior logic of the story ( ec horror story go out of their way to include a nasty shock end and weren not big on psychological realism ) and the over reliance on the narrative voice ( which belong in caption over the panel ) and and the interesting makeup effect that mimic the grisly picture that the old ec artist do so well . in fact and i would be willing to bet that when boyette saw his leading man during casting and he instantly saw that the fellow be a close to be the equivalent of the lanky and shambling figure and cave in face that artist like johnny craig and jack davis draw a an actual human could be and still exist in the real world . he use costume and light to emphasize the cartoony aspect of the visuals and turn everyone into live ec comic character . ( see represent the lead lady blank beauty and the count strong bony feature and oddly bronze skin and sharp chin and the platinum wouldo on the tall and bony black henchman and etc . ) this would explain the movie failing . boyette know how to frame thing and but he do not know how to deal with three dimension and move body . boyette know how to tell a creepy story within the confines of a comic page and but the nuance of film and live actor escape him . he wouldn not be the first person with this problem of course look at what joel schumacher do to batman . but he do not have a big budget to hide behind . in any case and i be imagine that boyette walk away from this train wreck and probably spend less time think about dungeon of harrowthan the folk who post on this film message board . he do and within certainly vague boundary and what he set out to do and and you have to respect him for it . even if you do not care for harrow .