I think we can all agree that the worship of Satan is a bad idea, but it's even worse being a lapsed Satanist, as Christopher Lee can tell you.
A handful of Hollywood producers and other high-echelon types are watching a film of a Black Mass that was conducted in Europe somewhere. Lee is the Bishop, or the anti-Bishop or whatever, and the moguls are enthralled by his performance. He's great. They decide to make a movie about the cult and import Lee to star in it.
Lee shows up when summoned but he's a little nervous. You don't defect from the First Amalgamated Zionist Church of Beelzebub and get away with it. They pursue you, subject you to a painful and lingering death, and then mutilate your body.
The studio pooh poohs this as superstition but they assign a studio cop to be constantly at his side. Then there is a genuine attempt on somebody's part to murder Lee. He barely escapes but insists that from now on, he himself will decide where to live. It will be a different location every night, unknown to anyone else. It worries the moguls, of course, because what happens to the movie if Lee disappears for some reason when it's only half complete.
The first morning of this new arrangement, Lee doesn't show up on time. They plan to shoot around him, meaning they'll shoot scenes in which he's not required to appear. So the leading lady, Gia Scala, goes through her motions and turns to the door through which Lee is supposed to come. The door actually opens slowly and there is Lee, emerging from a cloud of smoke. He utters some incantation and disappears -- for good. That same day, his body is found in an apartment. He's been dead for three days.
It would have made a nice "Twilight Zone" episode, probably, but it's not as gripping as it might have been. The reasons, I think, illustrate the limitations of an hour-long, inexpensive television format.
Lee isn't very spooky here and his performance seems hasty. He's tall, but he's a light weight. The initial viewing of the filmed Black Mass seems to go on too long, as if more footage were needed to pad out the allotted hour. The sets, both indoor and outdoor, look made of cardboard. Gia Scala was a beautiful woman with startling green eyes but her part is unnecessary. She's in no way linked to Lee. In a feature film there would have been time to fill in a relationship that might have made the story more engaging. (Too bad about Scala's problematic psyche.)
A handful of Hollywood producers and other high-echelon types are watching a film of a Black Mass that was conducted in Europe somewhere. Lee is the Bishop, or the anti-Bishop or whatever, and the moguls are enthralled by his performance. He's great. They decide to make a movie about the cult and import Lee to star in it.
Lee shows up when summoned but he's a little nervous. You don't defect from the First Amalgamated Zionist Church of Beelzebub and get away with it. They pursue you, subject you to a painful and lingering death, and then mutilate your body.
The studio pooh poohs this as superstition but they assign a studio cop to be constantly at his side. Then there is a genuine attempt on somebody's part to murder Lee. He barely escapes but insists that from now on, he himself will decide where to live. It will be a different location every night, unknown to anyone else. It worries the moguls, of course, because what happens to the movie if Lee disappears for some reason when it's only half complete.
The first morning of this new arrangement, Lee doesn't show up on time. They plan to shoot around him, meaning they'll shoot scenes in which he's not required to appear. So the leading lady, Gia Scala, goes through her motions and turns to the door through which Lee is supposed to come. The door actually opens slowly and there is Lee, emerging from a cloud of smoke. He utters some incantation and disappears -- for good. That same day, his body is found in an apartment. He's been dead for three days.
It would have made a nice "Twilight Zone" episode, probably, but it's not as gripping as it might have been. The reasons, I think, illustrate the limitations of an hour-long, inexpensive television format.
Lee isn't very spooky here and his performance seems hasty. He's tall, but he's a light weight. The initial viewing of the filmed Black Mass seems to go on too long, as if more footage were needed to pad out the allotted hour. The sets, both indoor and outdoor, look made of cardboard. Gia Scala was a beautiful woman with startling green eyes but her part is unnecessary. She's in no way linked to Lee. In a feature film there would have been time to fill in a relationship that might have made the story more engaging. (Too bad about Scala's problematic psyche.)
