No Gas in 2012

TOOTH AND NAIL-2007-In this sort of twist on post-apocalyptic zombie cannibal movies, it seems the world ran out of gasoline in 2012 and civilization collapsed. “The American dream became the American nightmare” says Darwin (Robert Carradine), the bearded egghead who leads a small group of survivors with names like Dakota, Ford, Torino and Yukon in a Philadelphia hospital. He seems very optimistic about “creating a new life” but the rest (except for a little girl who doesn't talk) are the usual bickering self obsessed imbeciles. When a new girl Nova (Emily Catherine Young) arrives things seem to deteriorate but she has a secret. 

Later on Michael Madsen shows up as Jackal, the leader of The Rovers, a group of cannibalistic nomads. The twist here I guess is that the flesh eaters are human not zombies. The dialogue is terrible, the action scenes too dark and some of gore effects too phony. Vinnie Jones (X MEN:LAST STAND) has a small role. Director Mark Young made THE KILLING JAR (also with Madsen) after this. I never saw so many producers on one movie! 

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Exorsnore

EXORCISMUS-2010-In England Emma (Sophie Vavasseur from RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE), a teenage girl acts weirdly. She cuts herself, almost drowns her little brother and levitates in front of her mom and dad. When she goes to a psychiatrist he dies of a heart attack. She seems to be possessed so they bring in their uncle, a priest (Stephen Billington; also in RESIDENT EVIL) to perform an exorcism. He's haunted by flashbacks of botched one he once did. While tied to a chair she curses a lot (“fuckin' priest”), has spasms, her eyes turn white and she tries to strangle dad (with her legs). Her pin cushioned faced boyfriend tells her she's just being manipulated but she causes a car crash that nearly kills him (she sees his face covered with cockroaches). 

Later after killing her brother and driving mom crazy, she learns that things might not be what they seem. Despite it's twists in the finale (which goes on too long) this is just another EXORCIST take-off. This English language Spanish production filmed in England was directed by Manuel Carballo and written by David Munoz (THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE). 

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Stanley Before The Bowery

DESTINATION MURDER-1950-Stanley Clements (6 years before replacing Leo Gorcey in The Bowery Boys series) is Jackie Wales, a telegram delivery boy who kills a man for club owner Mr. Armitage (Albert Dekker) who likes to talk in the third person. The dead man's daughter Laura (Joyce MacKenzie) suspects Jackie and begins dating him. Later she gets a job as a cigarette girl in the club where manager Stretch Norton (Hurd Hatfield) puts the moves on her. Armitage's mistress (Myrna Dell) gets Jackie involved in blackmail and eventually his own murder. It turns out Norton is actually the brains of the operation. 

After Jackie's killed (it's not shown; his character seems to have just been written out) it turns into a revenge love story focusing on Laura and her relationship with Norton. 

 Star Joyce MacKenzie played Jane to Lex Barker's Tarzan in TARZAN AND THE SHE DEVIL. James Flavin is a police lieutenant and John Dehner is another suspect. Future star of THE WEREWOLF Steve Ritch has a bit role. 

A great vocal band Steve Gibson's Red Caps plays in the club. You can read about them here: http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/redcaps.html

There's actually a lot of strange twists in this little murder mystery directed by Edward L. Cahn a few years before he made some of the greatest low budget horror and Sci-Fi movies of all time.

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Un-Something

UNDEAD-2003-This gore horror-comedy from Australia reminded a lot of Peter Jackson's BAD TASTE (and SHAUN OF THE DEAD) with it's extreme violent SFX but I didn't care for it. 

In Queensland, a meteorite shower turns residents into human eating zombies. A woman named Rene (Felicity Mason) takes shelter in the cabin of the local weirdo (Mungo McKay) who seems to know a lot about the zombies. They are joined by a few other people (including a pregnant woman) who yell, curse, cry and act like morons.

This was made by twin brothers Michael and Peter Spierig who really think their unoriginal plot, bad acting and dumb comic situations are very clever. They do thrown in a twist ending involving some aliens but by then it's too late. The 90 mins of your life that you wasted watching this crap is gone forever! 

After this The Spierigs made DAYBREAKERS which featured vampires. 

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PS: Wkipedia list of still living silent screen stars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_silent_film_actors

Night Waitress

NIGHT WAITRESS-1936-Helen Roberts (English actress Margot Grahame) is a waitress on probation. She gets involved with schooner operator Martin Rhodes (Gordon Jones, the future Green Hornet) after he gets mixed up with some “secret cargo”. After some misunderstandings and a quick chase and fight (the whole thing is less than an hour!) Rhodes discovers the “cargo” is an armored car filled with money lying underwater. 

Marc Lawrence and (un-billed) Anthony Quinn are two gangsters after both of them. Western star Don “Red” Barry is a murder victim. Comedian Billy Gilbert is a bar owner. 

Director Lew Landers had previously directed the Boris Karloff/Bela Lugosi horror story THE RAVEN under his real name Louis Friedlander. He went on to direct (as Landers) many B-movies including THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU (with Karloff) and THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (with Lugosi).

Star Margot Grahame was England's highest paid actress before she came to America to co-star in THE INFORMER and THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1935 version).  

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Nightmare, man

NIGHTMARE MAN-2006-Ellen (Blythe Metz) sends away for a fertility mask because she and her husband (Luciano Szafir, he kind of talks like THE ROOM's Tommy Wiseau) are having “intimacy” problems. She has a reoccurring dream about the Nightmare Man, a devilish looking guy with horns. While they are on their way to “a clinic” their car runs out of gas. Hubby decides to go back to a gas station for help, leaving Ellen alone. After a false scare or two she is terrorized by a hooded killer with a knife who looks a lot like her worst nightmare. 

While she is being pursued in the woods (she has a couple of narrow escapes), two couples play Truth or Dare. When Ellen finally reaches the cabin, they call her husband who tells them she's crazy and there is no killer. It's all in her mind. This proves to be the wrong info. The killer quickly dispatches three of the young people leaving the fourth named Mia (Tiffany Shepis) to fend for herself. Of course it's all a plot by her husband who's hired a guy to kill her. 

Surprisingly Ellen turns into an EXORCIST inspired demon and takes revenge. 

When it seems like she's killed the demon Mia is raped by the evil spirit and tells the late arriving police “it's inside of me”. 

Writer/Director Rolf Kanefsky made his film debut in 1991 with THERE'S NOTHING OUT THERE, a horror-comedy which part of this resembles (except this isn't suppose to be funny) but takes a lot from EVIL DEAD. 

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All About...???

ALL ABOUT EVIL-2010-This dumb comedy gore-fest begins with a little girl singing in front of her school when she pees herself and is electrocuted while her dad plays the piano and her mother laughs hysterically. Later a stupid woman named Deborah Tennis (Natasha Lyonne from the AMERICAN PIE films) runs a movie theater she inherited from her father. She rants to a librarian (John Waters' veteran Mink Stole) about her father. When her mother informs Deborah that she is going to sell the theater Deborah kills her. The killing is caught on security cameras and accidentally shown to the horror movie loving audience who of course think it's just a movie. Deborah decides to make more movies and goes around killing innocent people with the help of a moronic old projectionist, a homeless maniac and psychotic twin sisters. A horror film dork named Steven (Thomas Dekker) kind of falls for Deborah but he becomes the chief suspect when Deborah uses his date in one of her movies. His mother is played by Cassandra Peterson (TV's Elvira). 

This crazed and derivative gore film was the creation of Joshua Grannell, an underground drag queen known professionally as Peaches Christ (who appears in the film). It's obviously a take off but I found it rather nasty. Just another excuse to show senseless violence and torture.

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Bela & Mother Reilly

MY SON THE VAMPIRE-1952-English music hall comedian Arthur Lucan made 15 films between 1937-1952 in which he starred in drag as charwoman Old Mother Reilly. He'd probably be completely unknown in the US if it wasn't for this entry (actually the last in the series) which of course featured Bela Lugosi as the villain Van Housen, also known as “The Vampire”, a mad scientist and kidnapper who sleeps in a coffin. For some reason he has a robot sent to him but the addresses get mixed up and store owner Mrs. Reilly (Lucan) gets the mechanical man instead. 

It's a lot of dumb fun though Lucan (who also sings a song) is a little overbearing at times. There's a slapstick inspired fight and the robot terrorizes Mrs. Reilly near the finale, although he/she has nothing to do with catching Van Housen in the end. 

Some may think this was a real comedown for the great Lugosi but he has some good lines and seems to be enjoying himself and remember this same year he made BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA! 

Also known as VAMPIRE OVER LONDON and OLD MOTHER RILEY MEETS THE VAMPIRE the US version featured a song by Allen Sherman over the opening credits where neither Lugosi or Lucan are mentioned as the stars! Director John Gilling later made several horror films including PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and THE REPTILE.

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Dead On Release

D.O.A.: DEAD OR ALIVE-2006-This martial arts fantasy comedy drama is based on a popular video game. It's about a bunch of dorks who are invited to a martial arts tournament (D.O.A.). The three main characters are female: a pro-wrestler (Jamie Pressly), an assassin (Holly Valance) and a princess (Devon Aoki) who's looking for her brother (Collin Chou), said to have been killed in the last D.O.A. The guy who runs the thing is played by Eric Roberts. There's a lot of swordplay and fights using CGI and “Jet Li wires”. (The director Corey Yuen made several movies with Li) Kane Kosugi plays a friend of the princess and pro-wrestler Kevin Nash is in it. There's a lot of smart ass jokes and dialogue and most of the men getting beat up by the women. Robin Shou from the MORTAL KOMBAT movies appears briefly as a pirate. 

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Real or Not Real?

THE MYSTERIOUS MONSTERS-1976-Pseudo-documentary from Sunn Classics. Hands on narrator Peter Graves is your host for this examination of the Bigfoot phenomenon. He visits sites where the creatures have been sighted, interviews eye witnesses and skeptics. Many locals testify to their experiences and other stories and photos are used but (except for the controversial Roger Patterson film) all the Bigfoot action is reenacted. (a note at the end of the credits says: Portions of this film taken from “Land of The Yeti”....) 

There's a rather lengthy segment on The Loch Ness Monster and psychic celebrity Peter Hurkos convinces Graves that Bigfoot is real. Hypnotism and lie detector tests are also used to confirm the legend's existence. It's outdated, far fetched and not as entertaining as other ones of it's genre (or pseudo-genre?).

Although writer/director Robert Guenette (who died in 2008) also made MONSTERS! MYSTERIES OR MYTHS?  and THE WORLD OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENON he also tackled more serious projects like segments of TV's HEROES OF THE GAME, cable's CRAZY ABOUT THE MOVIES and the excellent documentary ORSON WELLES :WHAT WENT WRONG?  

Not very important note: Though always referred to as TMM, the film is actually titled BIGFOOT:THE MYSTERIOUS MONSTER. At least the version I saw was (it was taken from a 16 mm print). 

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6 Movies I Want To See!

DEATH OF A SALESMAN-This is the original movie version made in 1950 with Fredric March in the lead. For some reason it’s never shown anywhere! I’ve read Arthur Miller didn’t like it. Maybe That has something to do with it? Since he died in 2005 I thought someone somewhere will show it! I'm still waiting!


CUBAN REBEL GIRLS-This was Errol Flynn’s last movie. It’s a shoestring production that he wrote and his manager (Barry Mahon) directed. To top it all off his 18-year-old girlfriend is his co-star!

THE LOST ONE-This is the only movie actor Peter Lorre directed. He made it while visiting Germany in the ‘50’s (some say he went there to avoid testifying before HUAC). He plays a former Nazi soldier haunted by his past. In the ‘80’s it played at an Art House Theater in NYC but I missed it!

SHORT CUT TO HELL-This is the only movie James Cagney directed. Not sure what it’s about. He’s not in it.

HUMAN HIGHWAY-A weird movie rocker Neil Young made in the ‘80’s. It features Dennis Hopper and Devo!

THE LAST MOVIE-This was made by Dennis Hopper shortly after he co-starred in EASY RIDER. It got terrible reviews and no one would distribute it even though it wound up winning The Palm D’Or at Cannes that year!

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Hanzo

Sandy screwed everything around here! Another short review!

GOYOKIBA-(HANZO THE RAZOR: SWORD OF JUSTICE)-1972-Shintaro Katsu (in between Zatoichi films) plays Hanzo, a strange law enforcement officer in feudal Japan. He uses self-flagellation to make himself tougher and tortures a female prisoner in this very weird period piece that caught me by surprise although I didn't find it that entertaining. It's violent and crazy and has a modern '70's action soundtrack.

Director Kenji Misumi made several Zatoichi entries and a little later did the notorious LONE WOLF AND CUB series.

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Lured

LURED-1947-Interesting overlooked murder mystery directed by Douglas Sirk (later known for his glossy Hollywood tearjerkers).

Lucille Ball stars as an American dancer in London who's recruited by a Scotland Yard inspector (Charles Coburn) to be a decoy to help capture a killer who meets his victims via personal ads. Costar George Sanders is his usual suave self and a chief suspect. George Zucco is great as the crossword puzzle solving detective who helps out. Boris Karloff has a one scene in a stand out role as a crazy dress designer/red herring! Other suspects include Alan Mowbray, Cedric Hardwick and Joseph Calleia. Alan Napier is Coburn's assistant.

It's a remake of a French film "Pieges" (PERSONAL COLUMN; LURED's original working title) made in 1939 by Roberet Siodmak with Erich Von Stroheim in the Karloff role. Earlier Von Stroheim was Karloff's immediate successor for the role of Jonathan Brewster in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE on Broadway.

For some reason LURED was not easy to find for a long time but TCM has showed it several times in recent years and Kino finally released it on DVD.

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Shorts

In the  middle of Hurricane Sandy so I'll have to keep it short (with some shorts)!

PERVERSION FOR PROFIT-1965-Infamous propaganda film warning of the horrors of adult magazines (called smut) and it's effects on society. It's on screen narrator is George Putnam, at the time a popular radio and TV commentator. It makes some valid points but it's all lost on it's unintentionally funny dialogue. It was produced by real estate developer and financier Charles Keating, later involved in the 1980's savings and loan scandal.

ASK ME, DON'T TELL ME-1961-Interesting short produced by Youth In Service, an early '60's organization that tired to help teenagers in gangs (or jacket clubs). Black, White and Hispanic youth are all involved. There's straight narration but occasionally another guy talks in jive and nice background music by The Five Chips (they do versions of Johnny B. Goode and La Bamba). It's very positive and not the usual propaganda crap.

THE TROUBLE MAKER-1957-Mel, a big mouth liar who likes to spread rumors gets 2 football players into trouble after lying about dating a female student. Not much else happens and at the end the narrator asks "what would you do?". It was directed by Herk Harvey who a few years later made the unforgettable CARNIVAL OF SOULS.

GANG BOY-1954-Badly made but interesting little short about teenager violence as two street gangs (one White, one Chicano) do battle. Danny, the leader of the Chicano gang narrates most of it as he looks back on his life and remembers how he became a "gang boy". Was this the inspiration for WEST SIDE STORY? Producer Sid Davis and writer/director Arthur Swerdloff made several other shorts along this line. Most of them used post-sync dialogue, a device later used to the hilt by Doris Wishman on most of her films.

Take care and stay dry!

Out of Order Review!

Of course since this blog is messed up I have the review for the first installment of this series after two later installments!

WAR OF THE PLANETS-1966-A mysterious signal disrupts the New Year's Eve party on space station Gamma One. Commandeer Halstead (Tony Russel) sends a crew to investigate another space station where the landing party is alive but in a kind of suspended animation ("dead like lightening"...???). The landing party soon joins them. Lt. Jacowitx (Franco Nero,the same year he starred in DJANGO) and Lt. Gomez (Lisa Gastoni) help with the investigation and discover there is an invasion by aliens who are smoky green mist and take over humans. "It's a nightmare and we're all dreaming it...together". The aliens want to relocate to Earth and take over all humans. A lot of time is wasted on a ritual called "The Hosting". It's pretty boring but occasionally funny. Some fire extinguishers become deadly weapon's in the hero's hands. 

The sets and SFX in this Italian space drama look like something out of FIREBALL XL-5! Russel, Nero, Gastoni and Giustini had played the same characters in director Antonio Margheriti's THE WILD WILD PLANET the year before. Margheriti (usually credited as Anthony Dawson on US prints) had already made HORROR CASTLE (with Christopher Lee) and CASTLE OF BLOOD (with Barbara Steele) and went on to make many more. He died in 2002 at 72.

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Gamma One Returns

SNOW DEVILS-1967-Another crazy art-deco designed Italian science fiction movie directed by Antonio Margherriti (Anthony Dawson in the US prints). 

After a weather station in the Himalayas is destroyed the commander of space station Gamma One Rod Jackson (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart aka Jack Stuart in American prints) is sent to investigate. A woman lieutenant Lisa Neilson (Ombretta Colli aka Amber Collins in American prints) insists on going along because her fiance was a victim of the destruction and she believes he is still alive (“I don't know. Call it woman's intuition, ESP or whatever you want”). Wilbert Bradley is their crazy talking Sherpa guide Sharu. After their “heli-jet” and other equipment are destroyed in a freak accident,the group must go on foot which becomes a 4 person mission when the Sherpa guides (except for Sharu) run away. Seeking shelter in a cave they encounter big bluish hairy “snow devils”. 

They are actually aliens from a dying planet trying to flood Earth and then freeze it so they can live there. For some reason their skin and fur change color in a few scenes. When the group is held captive they somehow escape and drug the aliens. They kill the leader and go back home to find the Earth plagued by storms, floods and polar meltdowns so they must find the hidden alien base before all is lost! 

The buildings, ships and SFX look like Gerry Anderson's FIREBALL XL-5 and the story is similar to one used on TV'S VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA! If it seems a little episodic that's because it's all part of the Italian “Gamma One” space series which also includes the THE WAR OF THE PLANETS and THE WILD WILD PLANET. (last review)

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The Wild Wild Review

THE WILD WILD PLANET-1965-In this crazy Sci-Fi space adventure from Italy, a mad scientist (Massimo Serato) is conducting mysterious experiments using human beings while strange aliens disguised as humans kill scientists (and little kids). Most are women have beehive hairdos but one is a bald headed guy with a killer trench coat! American born Tony Russel is Commander Mike Halstead in charge of the Gamma One space station where the action takes place. Lisa Gastoni is Lt. Connie Gomez, Halstead's kind of girlfriend. Franco Nero is Jake, another Lieutenant who helps Halstead go after the mad doc (who has some weird plan to create his own race) and rescue Connie who has fallen into his clutches. It's all very funny with toy cars and rockets, people turned doll sized, female aliens beating up men and lines like “You Helium head”. 

Directed by Antonio Margheriti, it's part of the Gamma One series of space movies. Ruggero Deodato (CANNIBAL HOLOHAUST) was an assistant director.

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Puppetmaster

PUPPETMASTER-1989-A prologue set in Nazi Germany reveals that an old puppet maker named Toulon (William Hickey) hides some interesting looking puppets (one walks around in a trench coat with a hook and knife for hands) from The Gestapo and kills himself. 

Years later, group of psychics investigate the death of a guy named Neil Gallagher (Jimmie Skaggs) who killed himself. His wife Meghan seems to think he's dead but not so “dream psychic” Alex (Paul LeMat) who has dreams of Gallagher acting nutty. The group is terrorized by the resurrected puppets including the hook hand trench coat guy and his pals: one with a very small head but huge human hands, one with a drill for a head, a female that upchucks leeches, a kind of jester with a spinning face). After three of the psychics are killed Alex and Meghan discover the truth. It turns out Gallagher did kill himself but came back to life by using Toulon's secret Egyptian rites of the afterlife and wants to live forever. But after he's mean to the puppets they revolt and kill him good. 

This fun (although a little slow story wise) low budget horror movie from Charles Band's Empire Pictures spawned several sequels and even a crossover with another series (DEMONIC TOYS) but I like this one the best. 

Director David Schmoeller had already made two whacked out features: TOURIST TRAP (with Chuck Connors as a psycho) and CRAWLSPACE (with Klaus Kinski as a psycho).

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Early Talkie

THE THIRTEENTH CHAIR-1929-This creaky old early talkie features (pre-Dracula) Bela Lugosi as an Inspector (who's not much better than Inspector Cousteau) who investigates a murder that took place during a séance. Conrad Nagel and Leila Hyams are the real stars. They play an engaged couple (he's rich, she's not and hides a secret about her mother). They and several others are all suspects of the murder of a police officer who was investigating another murder. A medium (Margret Wycherly, later James Cagney's mother in WHITE HEAT) may have been in cahoots with the officer in trying to catch the murderer. She's also the mother of the girl but no one knows it. 

This was Tod Browning's first sound film and like most of them around this time it's almost like a filmed play. One scene begins with  the actors waiting for their cue! Holmes Herbert is also in it.  Co-star Leila Hyams was later in Browning's FREAKS (and ISLAND OF LOST SOULS). She made her last film in 1936 and retired. She died in 1977.  

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Japan

A PAGE OF MADNESS-1926-This silent film from Japan was once thought to b lost. I'm glad someone found it. It has no titles however and is a bit hard to follow. I admit there were a few bits I wasn't quite sure about until I did some research. 

A janitor works at an insane asylum to be near is wife, an inmate. One day their daughter comes to the place to visit the mother unaware who her father is. Flashbacks tell a back story as to how the mother wound up an inmate and why the father isn't recognized. Other parts seem to be a dream. It features incredible haunting scenes of patient madness and eerie surreal imagines. 

Some critics compare it (usually unfavorably) to THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI. I can't agree. This stands on it's own. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa made many more films including GATE OF HELL in the sound era.

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Fear and Desire and Kubrick

FEAR AND DESIRE-1953-Stanley Kubrick's first film isn't as bad as he'd have liked us to believe. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Quentin Tarantino saw this before making RESERVOIR DOGS! 

It's essentially a war story although what war and where it takes place is arbitrary. A group of soldiers are caught behind enemy lines and as they try to weave their way back to allied territory tensions and desires mount. Future director Paul Mazursky makes his acting debut (he was in THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE two years later) as a crazy private who molests a local girl (Virginia Leith, later in THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE). Frank Silvera (also the villain in KILLER'S KISS) is a doomed Sargent. It's hampered by some choppy editing, weird dialogue and stilted acting but it's a low budget film where Kubrick did almost everything (direction,writing, producing, editing, cinematography, sound). And it definitely shows a little of things to come. It would be only 4 years (and 2 movies) later that Kubrick would make PATHS OF GLORY. 

For years it was out of circulation and the story went that the director himself acquired all known prints and had them destroyed. Fortunately this was not the case and although it has yet to be released legally on DVD, TCM showed a newly restored version about a year ago. 

The music was supervised by Gerald Fried who worked with Kubrick on his next 3 films and became a prolific low budget film and TV composer. The script was written by Howard Sackler who years later won a Pulitzer for his play "The Great White Hope". 

Kubrick's then wife Toba was the dialogue director. Problems resulting from the film are said to have lead to the break-up of their marriage! 

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Possession from the '80's

POSSESSION-1981-This is a crazy kind of horror movie that starts out like a Bergman film with lots of soul searching dialogue and over acting. 

Sam Neill (talking like James Mason; it might be his real voice) is Mark, a businessman who returns early from a trip and learns that his wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani, who was in Herzoz's NOSFERATU remake 2 years before) is having an affair. At first Mark seems to be the only one who is unable to cope. He rants and attacks Anna in a restaurant where 2 waiters and 2 cooks have to subdue him. Later he grows a beard and has convulsions. He visits their son and acts weird while rocking in a rocking chair. He very aggressively tries to make her stay with him but that fails. 

When he drops his son off at school he meets the teacher Helen who resembles Anna (Adjani in a dual role). He later confronts her German lover Heinrich (Heinz Bennent, also in films by Truffaut and Bergman), a touchy-feely oddball who won't button up his shirt but he bloodily beats up Mark. Later Anna cracks up, screams, laughs and Mark beats her up! 

She runs out in the street with blood dripping from her mouth and causes an accident. After Anna's dopey friend Margit (Margit Carstensen) shows up and says things like “I love seeing you miserable”, Mark visits a private investigator. It's obvious something is going on with Anna that doesn't involve Mark or her lover. Anna and Mark have a weird discussion in the kitchen while Anna is grinding meat. 

Meanwhile the detective trails Anna to a seemingly abandoned building but Anna kills him when he discovers something strange in the bathroom. Amid more talking, soul searching and fighting it seems Anna is the possessed lover of a slimy tentacled demon (created by Carlo Rambaldi). 

Some might call POSSESSION an art house horror film and go crazy for the over the top acting and Bergman like close-ups and dialogue (I've also read it's an allegory for divorce) but personally I think the director Andrezj Zulawski was having fun with the “art house crowd” and this is a horror parody. The characters act too strange to be taken seriously (especially Adjani's stand-out freak out scene in the subway where she vomits and menstruates and the scene where a demon actually screws her) and most of the killings are comical. 

Neill was the grown up Damien in OMEN lll: THE FINAL CONFLICT the same year. The Polish born Zulawski's next film THE DEVILS (not a horror film) was banned in his homeland. On the commentary for the DVD of POSSESSION he claims Adjani (who won France's equivalent of an Academy Award for her performance) tried to commit suicide after watching the film (I couldn't blame her actually...).

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2 O'Clock

TWO O'CLOCK COURAGE-1945-Interesting early low budget film noir from director Anthony Mann. Tom Conway is a victim of amnesia who with the help of a female cabbie (Ann Rutherford) tries to figure out who he is. He might be guilty of murder! A book of matches, a play (called Two O’clock Courage), the actor and actress stars and 500 hundred dollars are all clues. Though it is a serious drama there are some comedic scenes mostly involving a a police inspector (Emory Parnell) and a newspaper reporter (Richard Lane). At a running time of only 68 minutes a lot happens.

Mann made THE GREAT FLAMARION starring Erich Von Stroheim the same year. Tom Conway was also starring in THE FALCON series at the time. Screenwriter Robert Kent later penned many exploitation films for director Edward L. Cahn. 

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Fright

FRIGHT-1971-A college student named Amanda (Susan George) babysits a small child for his weirdly acting parents (Honor Blackman and George Cole). She gets spooked a few times by noises and a stranger hangs around the house but she thinks it's her stupid boyfriend (Dennis Waterman) who shows up and tries to frighten her with scary stories. Meanwhile we learn why the parents acted strangely. It turns out Mom is the process of divorcing Brian, her husband (and father of her young son) a paranoid nut who has recently escaped from his mental hospital. After she thinks her boyfriend has been bludgeoned to death, Amanda is “befriended” by “a neighbor” (Ian Bannen) who of course turns out to be Brian. Poor Amanda cracks up but soon realizes he's a psycho who imagines she's his wife, rapes her and terrorizes his child. Bannen really goes bonkers in the finale. 

It's a fairly good psychological drama but a little too long and a blockhead comic police officer character seems out of place. Director Peter Collinson (who died in 1980) had made THE ITALIAN JOB and later did remakes of TEN LITTLE INDIANS and THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE. 

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Intimacy

INTIMACY-1966-In this unusual drama, businessman Walter Nicholson (Barry Sullivan) is desperate to get a government contract. He secretly films Washington contractor Jim Hawley (Jack Ging) in a hotel room so he can get something on Hawley to use as blackmail. He sends a prostitute (singer Jackie DeShannon) to woo him but that fails. Later Hawley's alcoholic wife (Nancy Malone; a TV actress who later became a TV director)) shows up but he gets rid of her because he's expecting another woman he's having an affair with. Much of it is Nicholson watching the film in his office and he gets a big surprise when the woman Hawley's having an affair with is his own wife (Joan Blackman who had co-starred with Elvis in BLUE HAWAII)! This is an unusual rarely recognized unique little feature that holds your interest for a while but goes on a little too long. It would have been a great 1 hour TV episode..

Sullivan had been in Mario Bava's PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES the year before. This is probably the only starring role for TV character Jack Ging (and one of his few feature films). Director Victor Stoloff also made a TV movie THE 300 YEAR WEEKEND (1971) which was told in real time. Co-writer Harvey Flaxman later wrote and produced GRIZZLEY.

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Snow!

SNOWMAGEDDON-2011-Killer ice storms reek havoc in the small town of Normal, Alaska (or Canada). A pilot (Laura Harris) and her daughter (Magda Apanowicz; they seem more like sisters) are trapped on a snowy mountain after their helicopter crashes. 

They are rescued by their husband/dad (David Cubitt) but then get caught in an avalanche. The strange happenings seem to be related the a cursed snow globe in the possession of the couple's young son. The usual derivative nonsense this time from director Sheldon Wilson who also made KAW and KILLER MOUNTIAN. 

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Boggy Creek

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK-1972-This pseudo-documentary (very popular in the '70's) is about a legendary Bigfoot like monster prowling around the swamps in Arkansas. It's mostly staged scenes but the dialogue and narration are funny. 

The narrator (an adult who encountered the monster as a little boy) sets up the other “encounters” by giving background on the characters and their situations before they are terrorized. The songs “The Legend of Boggy Creek” and “Nobody Sees The Sun But Me” are occasionally heard. The narrator says things like “The creeks. He always follows the creeks” and partially blames the creatures attacks on “lonely frustration”.The barely seen hairy beast only attacks one person and mostly kills chickens, dogs and cats plus frightening humans. Since some actors (like Smokey Crabtree and his son Travis) are playing themselves I guess there is a sort of real story to the whole thing. But it's all reenactments including the footage of the “the legend”.

TLOBC was shot and directed by Charles B. Pierce in his film debut. He went on to make other regional films including THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN, THE NORSEMEN and the semi-sequel BOGGY CREEK ll: THE LEGEND CONTINUES in 1984 which despite the title is actually the second sequel. The first sequel RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK is really a children's movie. Pierce was also a set designer for bigger budgeted films and wrote the story for the Dirty Harry installment SUDDEN DEATH in which the catch phrase “Make my day” was first used. 

Music was composed by Bolivian born Jaime Mendoza-Nava, who wrote tons of low budget soundtracks.

Excellent shot of the Bigfoot from THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK:

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South Africa

PREY-2007-Peter Weller (he made good movies once, right?) is an engineer who takes his dysfunctional family (teenage daughter doesn't get along with step-mom) with him when he goes to Africa to build a dam. Mom (Bridget Moynahan), daughter (Carly Schroeder and young son (Connor Dowds) go for a tour in a game preserve and wind up trapped in an SUV being stalked by lions. Some poachers help them get water. Meanwhile dad and a white hunter look for them. This South African produced CUJO inspired tale features a lot of arguing, screaming and unrealistic twists. It was directed by Darrell Roodt. 

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