Criminally Insane/Satan’s Black Wedding

Directed by Nick Millard

Released by Vinegar Syndrome

This Vinegar Syndrome disc includes two movies directed by Nick Millard. They work well as a double feature since both films clock in at just over an hour. Nick Millard started out in the film business making adult movies and then transitioned to horror films with the two films in this double feature as his first attempts. As a whole, both films suffer from poor audio and rough looking film quality. The case boasts that this is a 4k restoration from the original 16mm negative reversals and I feel as though the picture quality issue is due to the source and not anything to do with Vinegar Syndrome’s quality. Honestly, the clips from Millard’s adult films in the special features look to be shot on better stock than his horror films. There is a nice special feature called “Remains to be Seen” that details how Vinegar Syndrome came into possession of the Nick Millard collection and the restoration process. On the subject of special features, there is a history of the early filmography of Nick Millard, several interviews with the writer/director, and original trailers. I would give the special features alone an A+, lots of interesting extras provided.

Diving into the individual films, Criminally Insane is the story of a morbidly obese woman (Ethel) who is released from an asylum and proceeds to start murdering people around her who try to stop her from eating. The plot is bare bones but the performance of Priscilla Alden as Ethel makes it an entertaining watch. She flies into a believable rage and in the next scene will deliver a dead-eyed, almost robotic series of responses while being questioned by police. There is plenty to complain about regarding the obviously low budget and the blood being way too red (but the blood was also a problem in Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. So it’s not unique to this film.) . However, there is enough positive here to keep me watching. In addition to the main character’s performance as an unhinged lunatic, there is also some interesting editing that struck me as a little more artistic than B-movies usually get.

Satan’s Black Wedding is a vampire movie filmed in California but through the building of atmosphere (musically and visually), Millard does a good job of making this movie feel like a European gothic film. The plot revolves around a man named Mark who is investigating his sister’s suicide. As he learns more about his sister’s final days, he starts to seriously consider the idea of vampires. While the plot revolves around his investigation, the movie leaves very little mystery for the audience to solve as the vampire is revealed in the opening scene. Again, the blood is too red but the movie makes up for it in quantity. The vampire kills are not antiseptically clean with just a trickle on the neck. These vampires make quite a mess, seeming to waste the majority of their meal. While I praised the editing in Criminally Insane, the editing in Satan’s Black Wedding feels much more jarring. Scenes end unexpectedly or cut in ways that leave the viewer caught off guard (but not in a positive way). With that said, I still prefer Satan’s Black Wedding to Criminally Insane because the movie had more of a story and surprisingly good atmosphere, even if the villain wasn’t as over-the-top.

Overall, the movies were very low budget but kept my interest. The special features were great, especially the one about Vinegar Syndrome acquiring the Nick Millard reels. Vinegar Syndrome released an interesting look into the early horror career of a prolific director.