More Al

THE POSSESSION OF NURSE SHERRY-1978-This is one of director Al Adamson's last efforts.

Out in the desert a cult leader named Reanhauer (Bill Roy) and his disparate group of followers chant over the body of a dead man (Reanhauer told him he didn't need to take his insulin and he died). They keep saying “Rise, William, Rise”. This goes on for 3 weeks and by now his right hand man Brother Stevens (JC Wells; also in Adamson's BLACK HEAT) has had enough. Just when the nutty leader thinks he has made the guy come back to life he suffers some kind of seizure and is rushed to the hospital.

Dr. Frank Desmond (Geoffrey Land, also in several other Adamson productions) tries to save him but would rather have sex with his girlfriend/nurse Sherri (Jill Jacobson). Her nurse friend Tara (Marilyn Joi; also in Adamson's BLAZING STEWARDESSES) gets excited when she hears a famous football player is a patient at the hospital but he's a bitter bigot because he was blinded in an accident. 

Later after Sherri and Frank have sex, a apparition invades Sherri's bedroom (and Sherri). It's a pretty bad special effect even for an Al Adamson movie! Sherri has weird visions (some are flash forwards scenes). Meanwhile another nurse named Beth (Mary Kay Pass) has sex with a patient. After Sherri visits a cemetery, Stevens is visited by Reanhauer's spirit which makes a mess of his apartment. Sherri acts very weird, kills a retired doctor with a pitchfork and talks with Reanhauer's voice. It seems Sherri is possessed by the whacky doctor's spirit. Stevens tells Frank that in order to stop the ghostly shenanigans he has to burn the doctor's corpse. He almost dies in a car crash when Reanhauer's laughing face shows up. 

Sherry kills another doctor and almost kills the blind football player. Stevens thinks he's found his former mentor's body and burns it. Surprise! He burns the wrong body and falls to his death. A psychiatrist wants Sherry sent to a sanitarium. The blind football (who's mom was a voodoo priestess) suggests Tara and Beth find Reanhauer's body and burn it. After several drawn out scenes the nurses find and burn the body just before a blood soaked Sherri tries to kill Frank. Despite this she winds up straight jacketed in a padded cell.

This is one of Adamson's worst and least fun movies. There are no “old” stars and the story is boring. There's a lots of talking and not much really happens. 

Even the “spiced up” alternative version isn't much better. According to the interesting commentary track by Sam Sherman, head of Independent International, he produced the film under the credited “Mark Sherman”.

The alternate version (also included on the Retro Shock a Rama DVD) adds some sex scenes and more nudity from lead actress Jacobson and different end credits.

The music sounds like the theme used in TV's ONE STEP BEYOND. 

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Wild Weird West

FIVE BLOODY GRAVES-1970-I can't believe this is the first Al Adamson movie I'm reviewing here! He was a staple of late night NYC TV viewing in the '70's and '80's. His stuff usually featured aging actors, long fight or chase scenes with no dialogue and bad SFX. Here's his only western! 

I love the cartoon credits too!

Death (Gene Raymond; once a popular star in the 1940's) narrates this low budget weird western tale. Cowboy Ben Thompson (Adamson regular Robert Dix who also wrote the screenplay) is hunting renegade Apache Setago (Adamson regular and future director John “Bud” Cardos) for killing his wife on their wedding day. He starts off by helping save Setago's half brother Joe Lightfoot (also Cardos). Then he saves a former girlfriend Nora Miller (Adamson regular Vicki Volante) but gets into trouble with her jealous husband Dave (Adamson regular Kent Osbourne). 

After Ben leaves Setago's minions kill the couple and burn their house down. Then Death introduces us to Clay Bates (Jim Davis) and his partner Horace (Ray Young) who sell rifles to the Indians. Ben meets up again with Lightfoot now wounded in an attack. Clay and Horace find Lightfoot's “squaw” (Maria Polo) staked to the ground by Setago and Clay rapes and kills her. The Indians then attack a stagecoach. Somehow the passengers manage to hold off the first onslaught. Scott Brady is crabby Jim Wade who's always barking orders at his wife. Paula Raymond (BEAST FROM 50,000 FATHOMS) is aging show girl Kansas Kelly and John Carradine is great as Boone Hawkins, a voyeur preacher. Tara Ashton (later Mrs. Dix) is Althea, another show girl who provides some new love interest for Ben who shows up (with Lightfoot) to help the group survive. 

They meet up with Clay and Horace along the way. After some in fighting Lighfoot gets his revenge on Clay but he is killed by Setago. Then the Indians attack and most of the remaining cast is killed off leading to a final knife fight between Ben and Setago. Death says: “One will come to me. The other will ride on seeking me. Because in violence between men and nations there can be only one victor and that is death”.

I read comments about FBG saying it's the worst western ever made. Well, of course it's not great but it's entertaining. The “oldsters” cast (typical of an Adamson movie) is great but the film is really enhanced by locations (it was shot in a Utah National Park) and the cinematography by future Academy Award winner William (now Vilmos) Zsigmond. Al himself plays an Indian who fights Ben near the beginning of the film and his own father Victor Adamson has a small role. The elder Adamson once made his own low budget westerns in the '30's under the name of Denver Dixon! Besides playing two roles John Cardos was associate producer, production manager, stunt coordinator and assistant director!  

As with most of Adamson's product it was distributed by Independent International, a company founded by former Famous Monsters of Filmland writer Sam Sherman. On the DVD from Retro Shock A Rama there's a commentary track by Sherman and star Robert Dix. (both still alive at the time of this review)

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Note: I just realized I reviewed another Adamson movie:

http://moviemeltdown.blogspot.com/2010/12/talking-chimp.html

 

Sid Haig: King of Vampires

BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD-2007-Vampire hunters (lead by Jason Connery and Victoria Pratt) fight vampires in another weird, full of itself torture-horror-bullshit. Vampires whisper a lot and people get killed. There are some scenes (including DAWN OF THE DEAD's Ken Foree) where the hunters torture the vampires in a switcheroo from the usual garbage. The only real highlight is Sid Haig as the ranting old vampire leader (with too many fangs in his mouth) who fears his deceased (?) undead brother Vlad Kossei has been resurrected and wants revenge. 

The movie's two directors Micheal Roesch and Peter Scheerer later teamed for ALONE IN THE DARK II.

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NYC in the '60's

SATAN'S BED-1965-This black & white low budget craziness is actually two short unfinished films edited into one by the husband and wife team of Michael and Roberta Findley. 

The main (?) story concerns a drug dealer who's new Japanese bride (Yoko Ono) gets involved in his dirty dealings. She's kidnapped and raped by a sleazy hood (Val Avery). Meanwhile in the unrelated second story, 3 drug addicts rob, molest and kill several women (one is Roberta Finley). 

This was on the same DVD with SCARE THEIR PANTS OFF!

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