The other night, Monsieur and I watched another piece of "Ghost Story " trash, called "Creatures Of The Canyon." What I still want to know is, who, actually, are the "Creatures Of The Canyon?????????" And let me tell you, the neighborhood featured did not look at all like it was in a canyon. It looked like the back lot street Ward and June Cleaver lived on. And I would not be surprised if it was!
Anyway, in this tripe, Angie Dickinson plays a widow named Carol Finney. She and her husband, Frank, owned two dogs--Adam, the Doberman pictured, and Charlie, who seemed to be a short, long haired terrier!!!!!! The two dogs did not get along, so Adam, who was devoted to husband Frank, was given away to their neighbors, the Mundys, played by John Ireland and Mary Murphy. Mrs. Mundy was always in a wheelchair, with no explanations, and her husband was always skulking about, looking at everyone mysteriously, or interacting with the dogs in the story. Were they like the Castevets???????? Were these two the "Creatures Of The Canyon?" Damned if I could tell!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shortly, after Adam moves to the Mundys, Frank dies. And it seems, from that point, that Adam becomes downright hostile to Carol!!!!!!! As if he blames her for Frank's death! Actually, the one he should have been hostile to is Carol's repressed lesbian sister, Georgia, who, out of sibling love, poisons Adam, allegedly to protect Carol!!!!!!!!!! I bet she killed Frank, too; at one point Angie asks her if she really liked him!!!! Uh, huh!!!!!!!!! Georgia is played by Madlyn Rhue, in her usual, ambivalent way!!!!!!!!!! And she never gets her comeuppance.
Now, I have to talk about Charlie, the other dog! As I said, I think he was a long haired terrier! But, I am not sure they used a real dog for Charlie, because he moves like a robot, and when Angie cuddles him in her arms, he looks as limp as a stuffed animal! Actually, I have seen, and owned, some stuffed animals that seemed more alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is this one scene, darlings, where she puts down Charlie, and the dog just goes plop on the floor! Doesn't get up, doesn't even run out of the room! What was going on? Couldn't they afford to hire another dog? Or did Adam have a better contract, and agent??????
Once Adam dies, things get weirder. The neighbors act even more loony, and Charlie begins to go nuts! You have to see the scene, where he attacks Carol/Angie, at the end! He makes a leap from the floor to her neck that is so unreal it is painfully obvious a mechanical dog is being used! So Carol gets killed, the neighbors glower, Georgia gets her deserved comeuppance, and we are left, at the end, wondering who the hell are the "Creatures Of The Canyon?" And what canyon???????????????
Trash doesn't come better than this! I cannot wait to watch the next batch of tales!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All of these were made in 1972, dolls! It must have been a lean year, for actors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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