Severin Films dropped a massive Christopher Lee box set last month, and I being me, I got my hands on a copy just to write about Challenge the Devil, a 1963 Lee debacle most people haven’t seen (because the studio didn’t really let anyone see it*). I consider this a matter of scholarly import, and also I like watching horror movies, and also also Christopher Lee is a god among horror icons.
It’s weird, watching something so old and feeling as if you’re watching something new. It hardly mattered to me that Challenge the Devil has a tenuous relationship with the word “good,” being a scattershot mess of original footage, new footage, and extremely bad practical effects; nobody has really seen this movie, and that makes seeing it feel oddly special.
I put down my thoughts on that dynamic, and on the movie’s history, and on the movie itself, for Fangoria.
*Because it’s a real cluster, folks, and how.
A Constant Visual Feast 