Berserk! (1968)

According to the immutable laws of fame, quite a few starts tend either drop abruptly from the horizon or they gradually collapse on themselves. Of course, there are exceptions: among Marlene Dietrich's last films were two of the most remembered in her career, Judgement at Nuremberg and Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, but then there were Rock Hudson, who towards the end appeared in a series of mediocre TV movies before finishing his career with a pretty minor role in the '80s prime time soap opera "Dynasty", and Bette Devis, whose last film was the Larry Cohen atrocity Wicked Stepmother. Berserk! wasn't the last film of Bette's great rival, Joan Crawford, but it was made years past the point Crawford stopped being a studio darling. Weirdly enough, the mainstream success of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? helped make Crawford and Davis into cult film icons, particularly in the realm of low-budget horror movies. Crawford particularly took to the genre, appearing in two productions by William Castle, Strait-Jacket and I Saw What You Did, and even hosting several horror-themed specials.

Crawford was in her 60s and close to her last feature movie Trog when she appeared in Berserk!. The pathetic or amazing thing (depending on your point of view) is that even at this point Crawford continued to expect to be treated like a celebrity among celebrities. Berserk! is a very low-budget thriller/murder mystery whose big attraction is that it takes place on a travelling circus. Playing the circus' owner and ringmaster, Monica Rivers, with her stock characteristic - namely, cold-bloodedness - Joan Crawford not only goes at it like a film from her glory days, but with twenty or so 'glamour shots' (I actually lost count) and a leading man more than half her age. If only the rest of the film received that much attention.

As far as other churned out thrillers from the 60s go, Berserk! isn't too bad. There is some genuine attempt to make a mystery about the identity of the film's killer, who has been going around killing members of the circus' acts and crew. The mystery and its many red herrings go well enough for the first half of the film, although once the real killer finally does show up, all the mystery is pretty much dead (but more on that later). The circus background of the movie is used as more than window dressing, but the plot grinds to a halt with unnecessarily lengthy scenes of circus acts. Also at least, unlike many low-budget movies that claim to star a big name, Crawford actually, well, stars in the movie. In fact, there's so few scenes without her you have to wonder if she pushed for more camera time. She's still too much of a pro to phone in her performance, but she isn't given much to work with. There are quite a few attempts to give her character depth, but while there are many hints that she has some Dark Secret from her past, it's never detailed, a sure sign of a bad editing job or a rushed production. While Crawford does positively steal the show (or, more likely, has it handed to her on a silver platter), that isn't a bad thing as all the characters more or less range from beligerent to obnoxious.

You would think, too, since this film takes place in a circus there'd be some interesting deaths at least. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Only a couple of the murders really take advantage of the atmosphere along with, naturally, about a dozen false scares. Even more of a bust is the identity of the killer who turns out to be...

(Obligatory spoiler warning)

...Monica Rivers' daughter, a character who doesn't show up except halfway through the film and frequently eludes to her less than ideal childhood under Monica's care. (People aware of "Mommy Dearest" might find this pretty ironic.) As if that wasn't enough of a let-down, minutes after the killer's identity is revealed she is killed by being struck by lightning! Afterwards we cut to credits, without finding out exactly why she went about the murders (beyond the typical 'crappy childhood' excuse) or even how she was able to commit all the murders from the first half of the movie. I wonder if Psycho would have been as big a hit if it ended the same way...

Even with that, the film will still probably attract historical interest. Luckily it's not nearly as abysmal as the even more important Wicked Stepmother, but, if not for its unusual star, this film would have most likely faded into obscurity.

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