AKA Barn of The Naked Dead

 

 (imdb)

TERROR CIRCUS-1973-3 no clue women heading to Las Vegas to perform, have car trouble in the desert. A guy named Andre (Andrew Prine) says he can help them. Unfortunately, when they go to his house, they discover he has a barn full of captive women he's training “for his animal act”. Naturally, they become part of it. Andre dresses in a ringmaster's uniform, whips some women and sets his pet mountain lion on another. He then thinks one of the women is his mother. Derek (Chuck Niles), their manager and Sheriff Sanford (Al Cormier) search for them. Later Andre's radiation deformed father (Jerald Cormier; also the producer and co-writer) shows up and kills almost everyone. 

Despite a fairly eccentric performance by Prine, this movie isn't very good but might appeal to men who hate women. Director Alan Rudolph went to make movies like CHOOSE ME (1984) and TROUBLE IN MIND (1985).

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Funny In France

 

 (imdb)

AS LONG AS YOU HAVE YOUR HEALTH-1966-This French Anthology serves up several tales. In the first “Insomnia”, a man can't sleep so he reads a horror novel about a vampire. Little things scare him. Finally, he falls asleep but his sleeping wife has a surprise. In “The Movies”, a movie goer finds it hard to get a good seat in a theater. Then he finds himself in the middle of a bunch of crazy commercials. Next is “As Long As You Have Your Health”. A street construction upsets a man's life and those around him with their constant jack-hammering and goes on to show hectic city life with comical bits. The last is “Into The Woods No More”. A hunter tries to shoot rabbits but humans keep getting in the way while a man and woman search for a picnic spot with disastrous results. 

Director Pierre Etaix (who also stars in one episode) was also an actor who had many roles including one in Jerry Lewis' mysterious THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED (1972).

Merci de lire!

Martial Arts Vs. Vampires

 

 (themoviedatabase)

LEGEND OF THE SEVEN GOLDEN VAMPIRES-1974-Transylvania 1804. A guy named Kan (Shen Chan) who once presided over the 7 Golden Vampires visits Dracula's castle to ask the king of vampires to help him resurrect the group. Dracula (John Forbes-Robinson) has a better idea. He possesses Kan's “image” and decides to resurrect the 7 himself. After the credits, in Chung King 100 years later, Prof. Van Helsing (who else but Peter Cushing) lectures on the Seven Vampires and his encounters with Dracula. The “sophisticated” Chinese students ridicule him but one student Hsi Ching (David Chiang) visits the professor at night to apol-ogize. He definitely believes in the legend as his grandfather destroyed one of the vampires. He wants Van Helsing to accompany him and his 6 brothers to the village where the remaining 6 vampires rule. Meanwhile, Van Helsing's son Leland (Robin Stewart) gets into trouble with local gangster Leung Hon, when he agrees to escort widowed world traveler Vanessa Buren (Julie Ege) home. They are saved by 2 of Hsi's brothers. Vanessa agrees to finance their expedition provided she's allowed to go. Under the protests of the elder Van Helsing, she is allowed. 

Right off the bat, they are attacked by Hon's gang. The brothers (each has a specialty) plus their lone sister Mei Kwei (Szu Shih) defeat the gang and Hon gets an arrow through his neck. Later, in the village, the group battles the remaining 6 vampires and their undead army. They destroy 3 more then get ready for a final showdown. There's a big violent martial arts battle that ends tragically for some. After the final vampire is put down, Van Helsing meets his arch enemy. Dracula's disintegration scene seems longer than their actual battle. 

This has a little of everything: martial arts, weapons, vampires, walking dead, nudity, dismemberment. No classic but not the shit show it is sometimes described as. However, this was Hammer co-production with The Shaw Brothers studio and there were a lot of “communication prob-lems” between the two directors on the film, the English Roy Ward Baker and the Chinese Cheh Chang. A sequel was planned but poor box office performance shelved that idea.

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They're Wild!

 

THE WILD REBELS-1967-Rod Tillman (Steve Alaimo) gives up his race car career and meets up with idiotic neo-Nazi motorcycle gang, Satan's Angels lead by Jetter (John Vella). They want him to drive the getaway car when they rob a bank. He rejects their offer but later a police detective (Walter R. Philbin) convinces Rod to go undercover and join the gang. He agrees but has trouble with Banjo (Willie Pastrano) over the affections of their female member Linda (Bobbie Byers). The fourth member, Fats (Jeff Gillen), doesn't talk. 

Loony low rent biker nonsense with shoot outs, car chases and bad acting from director William Grefe' (DEATH CURSE OF TARTU (1966).

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God Save Us From Go Pro

 

 (imdb)

HARDCORE HENRY-2015-This dizzy violent sci-fi chase film is like a role playing video game. The whole story is the POV of some hybrid android thing called Henry trying to rescue his wife from an over-acting psycho in Moscow. 

It was shot with a Go-Pro using anything goes computer effects. Tim Roth plays Henry's father. The director, Ilya Naishuller threatens a sequel.

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Can't Keep A Good Vampire Down

 

 (imdb)

DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE-1968-In this sequel to DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS (set a year later), a monsignor, Ernst Mueller (Rupert Davies) comes to a small town where Dracula had been sent to a watery grave, to find everyone still afraid especially since a villager was found hanging from a church bell. The monsignor and the local priest (Ewan Hooper) hike to Dracula's castle. Unfortunately, the priest is kind of a coward and while running away, falls and cuts his head. His blood trickles into the Count's mouth and resurrects him. The priest then becomes the count's slave and helps him to secure a coffin. Meanwhile, Mueller hosts a party for his niece Maria (Virginia Carlson) and her boyfriend Paul (Barry Andrews). The monsignor gets upset when Paul tells him he's an atheist. Paul leaves and gets drunk. Drac's first victim is barmaid Zena (Barbara Ewing). Drac has his digs under the pub where Paul works (for Michael Ripper) and sets his teeth on Maria. 

In this rather bloody (and sexual) sequel, a prayer must be read to kill a vampire once the stake has been driven. Nice use of color filters by director Freddie Francis. 

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Sudden

 

 (imdb)

SUDDEN FEAR-1952-Playwright Myra Hudson (Joan Crawford) doesn't think the lead actor in her new play, Lester Blaine (Jack Palance) is right for the role and has him fired. Later, they meet on a train. After dinner, dancing and smoking cigarettes they have a fling. He almost leaves her but she changes his mind and they get married. They seem happy until Irene (Gloria Grahame), a woman from Lester's past shows up. It soon becomes clear Lester wants more than love from Myra. Soon she finds evidence that Lester with the help of floozy Irene want to do away with her. When the evidence is accidentally destroyed, Myra comes up with an intricate plan to thwart the macabre duo. 

Suspense filled film noir directed by David Miller (LOVE HAPPY (1949)) with great performances all around. Crawford (also one of the exec-utive producers) was nominated for a best actress Academy Award (her last) and Palance got a best supporting nomination. Also with Bruce Bennett, Mike “Touch” Con-nors and in smaller roles Arthur Space, Bess Flowers and Selmer Jackson. It's based on a novel by Edna Sherry.

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