Ants!

PHASE IV-1974-In a geodesic dome in the Arizona desert, two scientists Lesko (Michael Murphy) and Hubbs (Nigel Davenport) investigate the local ant population that seem to be changing their food patterns and building monoliths out of sand. They are actually developing into intelligent and poisonous ants who could be really more than a bother at the next family picnic. The duo get trapped in their lab (along with a local girl named Kendra (Lynne Frederick)) when the insects assert their power. After Hubbs gets bitten he goes crazy and hunts for the queen. He becomes ant bait. Later Kesko goes after the queen himself but fails. He and Kendra seem to become evolved “slaves” for the new invaders. 

This interesting British-American co-production is the only film directed by Saul Bass, the graphic designer known for his credit sequences in films. The exterior scenes were actually filmed in Kenya, while the interiors were done at Pinewood studios in England. Some critics found it too “vague”. It was written by Mayo Simon who'd written the screenplay for MAROONED several years earlier and later created TV's THE MAN FROM ATLANTIS.

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O Canada, This Werewolf Movie Sucks

WOLVES-2014-A guy Cayden (Lucas Till) finds out he's a werewolf, kills some people and runs away. Later he's taken under the wing of a farmer named John (Stephen McHattie). Then Cayden winds up in a community of werewolves run by Connor (Jason Momoa), the last of the pure breed wolves. It turns out Connor is Cayden's father but later in the crazy out of control finale it's revealed John is responsible for all the mayhem. This Canadian production seems more like a pilot for a TV series (ripped off from WEREWOLF and THE HOWLING). It was written and director by actor/screenwriter David Hayter (X-MEN, X-MEN 2, THE SCORPION KING). 

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Japan's Not Our Enemy Anymore...

THE WOLVERINE-2013-After saving the life of a Japanese officer from the A-bomb in WW 2,

Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is living alone in a forest. When he gets into trouble at a local bar he meets Yukio (Rila Fukushima) who says she wants to take Logan to Japan so an old dying industrialist Yoshida (Haruhiko Yamanouchi), the officer Logan saved can say goodbye to him. Once there Yoshida offers to transfer Wolverine's “immortality to his body and let Logan live a normal life span. After Yoshida dies there's a big shoot up at his funeral and Yukio's granddaughter is kidnapped by The Yakuza. Logan is shot several times but recovers and saves the daughter. They go on the run which of course leads up to the inevitable sex she has to have with the “far superior gaijin”. Later a bunch of ninjas capture the granddaughter and a stupid white woman kills her father (Hiroyuki Sanada). After Logan operates on himself a super metallic robot shows up but do you really think it would pose much of a threat to the powerful white westerner? Their fight though kind of reminded me of THE AZTEC MUMMY VS. THE ROBOT! Of course Yoshida, though thought dead is actually behind the whole thing. I didn't expect the after credits appearances of Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart. Director James Mangold (GIRL,INTERRUPTED) later made LOGAN also featuring the Wolverine character.

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Filmed On The Bayou

BAYOU-1957- Hi-jinx in the Cajun swamps as crab fisherperson Maria (Lita Milan) is ogled by pervert store owner Ulysses (Timothy Carey; bizarre as usual) while NY architect Martin Davis (Peter Graves; also in Bert I. Gordon's THE BEGINING OF THE END the same year) tries to win a contract to build a “civic auditorium”. His contractor friend (Douglas Fowley) gets him an interview with the city commissioner but Murphy (who calls Cajuns “animals”), his rival for the job embarrass him. Maria's father Emil (also played by Fowley though he doesn't get credit for the dual roles) has no more credit at Ulysses' store but U urges dad to put the hard sell on his daughter and make Maria attend a dance with him. After Davis almost runs Maria down in his speed boat, Ulysses does his greasy best to put the moves on her but when she resists he tries to rape her. Fortunately her father comes home and U scrams. Maria and Davis hook up at a bar and she shows him around the carnival. Ulysses beats Davis in a “pirogue race” and gives Davis a hard time. When Davis backs down from fighting everyone thinks he has no guts. Maria though is stuck on him and Ulysses starts trouble when they go for a boat ride. 

At a wedding “shivaree” Ulysses does a wild dance where he looks like he's being tortured. Again he challenges Davis to a fight but again the future MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE star backs down. When a storm hits the two lovers decide to elope but dad is killed. After his funeral Davis and Ulysses have their fight and Davis whips his ass. Everyone (even his abused little pal Bos played by Jonathan Haze) deserts Ulysses. Ed Nelson is also in the cast. Director Harold Daniels was later one of the credited directors of HOUSE OF BLACK DEATH. This nonsense, full of bad Cajun accents, played for years on the drive-in circuit under the title POOR WHITE TRASH.

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Low Budget Western

GREYEAGLE-1977-Rancher Ben Colter (Ben Johnson), and his Indian companion Standing Bear (Iron Eyes Cody who was actually Italian) go after the legendary Indian warrior Greyeagle (Alex Cord) when he kidnaps Beth (Lana Wood), the rancher's daughter. When Greyeagle has trouble with some other braves who want Beth (they were willing to trade 5 horses) he has to fight an adversary who threatens: “I will hang his scalp in the wigwam of the white woman”. Beth winds up saving Grey's life by killing his attacker. A white mad trapper (triple threat behind the camera Charles Pierce hamming it up) leads a group of marauding Indians and Jack Elam lightens things up as a semi-comic cannon toting trapper who helps the rancher find a chieftain named Running Wolf (Paul Fix) who claims to be Beth's real father. In an unrelated to the main story line sequence (typical for Pierce film) the Indian gang kill Elam's dog then subject him to weird combat where he has to fight several braves while tied to a tree by his neck! 

More low budget boredom from the man who gave us THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN (also with Johnson) and THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK.

Black & White Hammer

SHADOW OF THE CAT-1961-With the help of two servants (Michael Crawford and Freda Jackson) Walter (Andre Morell) kills his wife and has her buried in the forest. There are no witnesses except for the victim's cat. All seems to go as planned until the cat keeps popping up, driving the trio to paranoid delusions as they try to kill it. When Walter suffers a heart attack while trying to do in puss, his unsuspecting niece Beth (Barbara Shelly) comes to take care of him. She doesn't understand what the big to-do is about the cat but her boyfriend Michael (Conrad Phillips) suspects the truth (she doesn't believe him though). Deaths by falling, quicksand and stairs eliminate some prying greedy relatives and after they are all gone the cat leads Beth and Michael to the dead woman's grave. 

This little black and white Hammer melodrama was directed by John Gilling (THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS) and plays like an extended version of THRILLER or ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS.

Early Lom

THE DARK TOWER-1943-A failing English circus owned by American Phil Danton (Phil Lyon; a huge silent screen star also known as the co-star of Howard Hughes' early talkie HELL'S ANGELS) hires Torg (Herbert Lom in his first major starring role) a timid hypnotist to increase revenue. Torg can control lions and later helps trapeze artist Mary (Anne Crawford,, a popular screen and early English TV star who died in 1956 of leukemia) with her act. Almost immediately Torg changes into a over demanding egoist who wants to be a partner in the circus. Mary's boyfriend Tom (David Farrar) gets jealous but when Torg expresses his love for Mary she rebukes him and says Tom is her only love. So Torg hypnotizes Mary into sabotaging the act by having Tom fall to his death. It partially works but Tom doesn't die. Later Phil fires Torg but he threatens to take the hypnotized Mary with him. When Torg is killed, Phil seems to be the culprit but in the twist ending a different killer is revealed. 

Future Dr. Who William Hartnell plays Jim, the publicity agent. It's based on a play by George Kaufman and Alexander Woolcott which had been produced as a US feature in 1934 called THE MAN WITH TWO FACES featuring Edward G. Robinson, Louis Calhern and Mary Astor. This film noir-ish psychological thriller was directed by John Harlow. Future director Terence Fisher was the editor.

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Remake

DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS-2014-The crazy Dr. Hightower (Rami Malek) is talked out of suicide by his colleague Dr. Hess Greene (Stephen Tyrone Williams). Later they have a fight and Hightower stabs Greene with an ancient knife. After Hightower finally does kill himself Greene comes back to life as a blood drinking “vampire”. When his suicide attempt fails he robs a blood bank (after starting a fire as a distraction). Then he kills a hooker and drinks her blood. Mrs. Ganja Hightower (Zaraah Abrams) arrives looking for her husband. She and Greene have sex and she later discovers hubby's body in the basement freezer. She doesn't really care, so she and Greene dump the body and get married. He kills her with the knife and she comes back like him. After killing the butler and another woman, Greene seeks redemption at a church but dies under the sign of the cross. Ganja goes to meet her new partner/lover: the woman they killed earlier. 

Terrible talky and pretentious remake of GANJA AND HESS that tries to modernize the story and deepen the religious overtones. The original had its faults but it was a low budget personal film. Here once again director Spike Lee is only looking for attention.

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Williamson/Arnold

BLACK EYE-1974-A former cop named Stone (Fred Williamson) who was kicked off the force for killing a pusher after his sister died from an overdose, gets involved in the search for the cane of a dead old actor (it kind of looks like the one in THE WOLFMAN). After a hooker is killed his ex-boss (Richard X Slattery) puts him on the case. Meanwhile his kind of girlfriend Cynthia (Teresa Graves; also in THAT MAN BOLT with Williamson) is having an affair with a female fashion designer (Rosemary Forsyth). While helping a father (Richard Anderson) rescue his daughter from Jesus freaks, a search leads to porno flicks and drug dealing. Stone (who frequently eats while talking) is usually hostile to whites (good or bad) and is actually responsible for the death of an old man (Cyril Delevanti). It all has to do with heroin hidden in the cane and using old actors as drug mules! It's pretty sub-standard but Jack Arnold though a busy TV director at the time managed to direct Williamson the next year in BOSS NIGGER.

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Frank!

FEARLESS FRANK-1967-In this comedy/parody nuttiness country boy Frank (Jon Voight in his film debut) leaves his home and goes to the city where he falls for Plethora (Monquie van Voorhen,)daughter of mob leader Needles (author Nelson Algren) and is killed. “The Good Doctor” (Severn Darden) brings him back to life as a super hero to fight evil. Frank can fly, is bulletproof and is very strong. His strange gang consists of Cat (Ben Carruthers), Rat (David Steinberg) and Screwnose. Later the doctor's evil brother Claude (also Darden) shows up and creates “False Frank” to combat the hero. Eventually both Franks meet and have a fight on some roller coaster tracks. When Frank is killed it's up to False Frank to save the city from destruction. Director Phillip Kaufman creates a weird personal (maybe too personal) one of a kind low budget oddity that seems to be using elements of Frankenstein, Superman, My Fair Lady and even FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE SPACE MONSTER! Outrageous touches include Frank and Plethora having sex with loud Batman TV show sound effects.

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A Vacation Forever

MR. MOTO TAKES A VACATION-1939-The (phony) Japanese detective gets involved in protecting an ancient relic called “The Queen of Sheba's Crown” in San Francisco's Chinatown. Moto (who also appears in disguises) is less suspiciously acting than usual and is shot at several times by a mysterious trench coated figure. Mr. Featherstone (GP Huntley), the English dandy shows up to get in the way and Moto surmises that Mataxsa, an international jewel thief might be after the crown despite the fact that he's suppose to be dead! Suspects include Hildebrand (Lionel Atwill) the museum curator, Stevens (John “Dusty” King), the guy who headed the expedition that found the crown and Manderson (Joseph Schildkraut), the expedition's sponsor. In their finale fight Moto and Mataxsa nearly wreck the museum! 

Norman Foster once again directed this, the last of 8 Mr. Moto films with Peter Lorre.

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Late Karloff

THE SORCERERS-1967-Old “medical hypnotist” Prof. Monserrat (Boris Karloff) has a weird machine in a room in the apartment he shares with his wife Estelle (Catherine Lacey). Mike (Ian Oglivy), a bored young man answers Monserrat's advertisement for a subject. After a psychedelic experiment, the elderly couple can control Mike's mind and feel all his sensations. The professor wants to use the machine to help mankind but Estelle wants to keep it secret and makes Mike steal a fur coat. They live vicariously through Mike's actions (swimming, riding a motorcycle). When he takes a drink of whiskey Monserrat mumbles “horrible stuff”. Estelle makes him fight and almost kill his best friend. She gets power crazy and when hubby threatens to “de-process” Mike, Estelle hits him with his own cane and destroys the machine. She makes Mike kill a young girl (Susan George) he meets and then a singer at a club. When Mike is almost forced once again to kill his friend he flees the police by car. The professor regains control in time to make Mike crash in a fiery explosion. Back in their apartment the professor and his wife are burned corpses. 

Director Michael Reeves completed only one more film after THE SORCERERS (WITCHFINDER GENERAL with Vincent Price and Ian Oglivy) before dying of an accidental barbiturates overdose. The story goes that the original screenplay by John Burke was re-written by Reeves and Tom Baker (not the Doctor Who actor) to make Karloff's character more sympathetic (supposedly at Karloff's insistence). Burke was created only with “idea by”. Years later and after his death Burke's original screenplay was found and published. Whatever the case Reeves' final version may not be a masterpiece but it has it's moments.

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Depp on the Internet

TRANSCENDENCE-2014-Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp), a doctor working with artificial intelligence is shot with a radioactive bullet by an anti-A.I. terrorist group. While he's dying, his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall) borrows a computer program from a dead colleague and with the help of Caster's friend Max (Paul Bettany), they upload his mind into a computer. After they connect him to the internet, Max has second thoughts about what they've done. Later the terrorist group kidnaps Max and their leader Bree (Kate Mara) convinces Max to join them. Once Caster is on line he can control everything even helping a government agent (Cillian Murphy) arrest the terrorists. Meanwhile another scientist (Morgan Freeman) figures it all out while computer Will and Evelyn set up headquarters in a dying mid-west town. It's obvious things will get out of hand when Will saves a dying contractor and takes over his body, much to Evelyn's displeasure. The government decides to shut down the internet and blame it all on the poor terrorists (who's stupid actions actually caused the whole thing in the first place). Evelyn also comes to regret her actions and when their compound is under siege Caster says “We're not gonna fight them. We are going to transcend them”. A violent finale leads to a poignant ending where the world is changed drastically. 

This movie isn't as bad as I thought it would be and has good acting and SFX but it's too long! As of this writing it's the only directorial effort by Wally Pfister.

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Hammer Vampires

KISS OF THE VAMPIRE-1963-This Hammer production begins with a guy interrupting a funeral and using a shovel to smash open a coffin. A scream emulates from within and blood appears. Then newlyweds Gerald (Edward DeSouza) and Marianne (Jennifer Daniel) have car trouble and Jerry goes off for some petrol. All the while they are being spied on by a mysterious figure in a nearby castle. All alone and spooked by the rising wind Maria ventures out of the car and meets the guy with the shovel who warns her to go back to her car. After getting a tow the couple get a room at an inn and are invited to dine with Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman), the guy who was watching them earlier. The eerily suave doctor has two kids, Sabena (Jacquie Wallis) and Karl (Barry Warren). At dinner Marianne seems mesmerized by Karl's piano playing. At a masked ball Marianne learns the truth. Ravna is head of a vampire cult. They imprison Marianne then tell Gerald there is no such person as his wife. Everyone agrees so Gerald goes to Prof. Zimmer (Clifford Evans) for help and we learn that his own daughter had been vampire-ized by Ravna (he killed her in the pre-credit funeral sequence). 

Although the story is fairly standard and boring, the finale where Zim and Jerry rescue Marianne is exciting and violent with the professor using a spell that sends vampire bats to kill the vampires! Director Don Sharp went on to direct Christopher Lee in THE DEVIL-SHIP PIRATES, RASPUTIN and several Fu Manchu entries.

Gang Busted

GUNS DON'T ARGUE-1957-After a very fake looking building explodes in a quiet small town

special agents Fenton (Bill Baldwin) and Bill Baxter (Sidney Mason) investigate. Fenton explains that the building was blown up by gangsters. He then introduces us to two men who believe “guns don't argue” : Pretty Boy Floyd (Doug Wilson) (and his girlfriend Paula (Jeanne Carmen) ) and Adan Richetti (Knobby Schaeffer) and his girlfriend Hope (Regina Gleason) ). They are hired to rescue a criminal named Frank Nash who is being transferred by federal agents. The duo is so stupid they not only kill 2 cops but kill Nash too! They also kill a federal agent who happens to be Ross Baxter (Coulter Ervin), Bill's brother. Bill goes undercover as a thug and befriends Paula. Meanwhile a female governor enlists the FBI to help stop the murderous bank robbing rampage of Bonnie (Tamar Cooper) & Clyde (Baynes Barron). Captain Stewart (Jim Davis), a Texas ranger goes after them (and picks up the narration too). When Bonnie and Clyde break their comrade Hamilton out of prison they kill everyone including the other prisoners! A farmer named Sully (Hank Patterson) helps Stewart ambush the deadly duo. 

Then the story switches back to Bill avenging Ross' death in a gun battle with Floyd. Then we meet Ma Barker (Jean Harvey) and her sons Herm and Fred along with alcoholic Mr. Barker (Ralph Moody). When Herm is killed Alvin Karpis (Paul Dubov) joins them and then a third son Doc (Lash LaRue) for a bank job that's put on hold to kidnap a millionaire's son. Later they team up with Dillinger (Myron Healy), Baby Face Nelson (Richard Crane) and Homer Van Meter (Robert Kendall) to pull the big bank job. When the heat is on Karpis visits a plastic surgeon (Lyle Talbott). Ma and Fred are killed by G-men and a mummy like Karpis finds out his surgery didn't work. An incarcerated Dillinger breaks out of jail using a gun carved from a piece of wood. He teams up with Van Meter and Tony Malento (Texas Joe Foster) and they raid a prison's arsenal and go on a murder/robbery spree. Van Meter dies on a pile of garbage. Later Dillinger gets help from old flame Mildred (Ann Morriss), the “woman in red” who helps the FBI trap and kill public enemy number one. Karpis gets captured after an underwater duel. 

This might sound like an interesting crime drama full of great '50's character actors but it's just 3 episodes of the once popular TV crime drama “Gang Busters” strung together in a very disjointed facts challenged mess.

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Thirsty Work

THIRST-2009-A priest in Korea volunteers for an experiment on a cure for an incurable virus. He seems to die but actually out of 500 patients he's the only who survives and he becomes a kind of Savior and people seek him out to heal their sick.. Unfortunately there is a bad side effect. He's turned into a vampire and has to drink blood or die of the disease. Later he visits a family and has sex with the adopted daughter (who's treated more like a slave). In a GANJA & HESS move he infects her and they go out "drinking" together. 

THIRST features a lot of violence, blood and blood drinking but also has lots of talk, drawn out scenes and arty direction. With finger and toe sucking and mah-joggh playing. Some might laud it's over 2 running time but I found it hard going.

Ciao for Now...

CIAO MANHATTAN-1972-This strange film stars Warhol "superstar" Edie Sedgwick (who died before it was completed) as Susan, a rich heiress/drug addled burn out recounting her life as a model in NYC. Real scenes of Sedgwick gallivanting with "The Factory" crowd are used as flashbacks. Susan (who spends much of the present day scenes topless) lives in a tent in an empty pool in a mansion owned by her mom (Isabel Jewell), while a doofus named Geoffrey (Paul Briggs) who is suppose to take care of her spends most of his time stealing anything from the house. Much of it is told through the eyes of Butch (Wesley Hayes), a kind of naive guy from Texas who first encounters Susan when she is hitchhiking topless. There are a few subplots with strange characters spouting nutty dialogue but basically it's Sedgwick playing herself. In an ultimate shot at bad taste, the news headline that announces Susan's death are Sedgwick's real obituary! 

Co-star Jewell played “dumb blondes” in many movies of the '30's and '40's and was in GONE WITH THE WIND. She even has a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame. CIAO was her last film. One of CM's directors (there were 2) David Weisman later produced the film version of KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN.

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I'm Ravin'

THE RAVEN-1935-Judge Thatcher's daughter is near death after a car crash. He (Samuel S. Hinds) implores the famous but retired Dr. Vollin (Bela Lugosi) to perform life saving surgery on the “root nerves at the base of the brain”. The Edgar Allen Poe loving doctor (“It's more than a hobby”) finally agrees and the operation is a success. A month later the organ playing doc is obsessed with his patient Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware) who doesn't respond to his come-ons as she is engaged to a doctor named Jerry (Lester Matthews). The judge has his suspicions and tells Vollin to steer clear of his daughter. Vollin couldn't care less and tells the judge he wants his daughter and will get her. Later a wanted criminal named Bateman (Boris Karloff) who “shot his way out of San Quentin” and later killed a guy with a blowtorch wants Vollin to give him a new face. Vollin does but gives him a deformed face and blackmails him into doing his bidding if he wants a real face. Vollin invites The Judge and Jean and Jerry and some others to his place. Bateman is his disfigured but sympathetic butler. Jean wins Bateman's heart when she apologizes to him after initially being frightened by him. The Judge still insists Vollin is mad despite everyone else's flip attitude. 

The nutty doctor has a recreation of Poe's “The Pit and The Pendulum” in his basement and makes Bateman strap the judge on the pendulum. A crazy climax ensues with Bateman saving the day but dying and Vollin crushed to death. Bela says “Death is my talisman", “I'm the sanest man who ever lived” and “I like to torture” and is very insane in the leading role. It's usually said that this is kind of “Bela's movie” where he has the biggest stand out role and it's true in a way. But Karloff snags the more sympathetic role and intimately becomes 'the hero”. It was a big year for Boris (billed as “Karloff”) as he also made THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE BLACK ROOM. Bela wasn't exactly sitting on his hands either making MARK OF THE VAMPIRE for Tod Browning, starring in THE RETURN OF CHANDU and THE MYSTERY OF THE MARY CELESTE. Director Louis Freidlander (later known as Lew Landers) would direct both horror stars separately years later: Lugosi in THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE and Karloff in THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU.

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I've Been Invisible too!

THE INVISIBLE MAN'S REVENGE-1944-Psycho murderer Robert Griffin (Jon Hall) escapes from an insane asylum in South Africa and goes to England. He visits his old friends Jasper (Lester Matthews) and Irene (Gale Sondergaard) who abandoned him in the jungle on their diamond expedition. He's come to collect his share of the booty but Irene (who's pretty evil) has other plans. She drugs Griffin and throws him in the woods. He falls into a river but is rescued by a comic drunk (Leon Errol). They hire a lawyer (Ian Wolfe) to help them but he chickens out. While walking in the rain, Griffin comes to the door of Dr, Durea (John Carradine) who's experimenting with invisible animals. He convinces Griff to become the world's first invisible man. Even the doctor is surprised when it works (“I've out stripped the immortals of science”). Griffin goes for revenge against Jasper and Irene. Foster (Alan Curtis), a reporter who just happens to be wooing the couple's daughter Julie (Evelyn Ankers) investigates. After terrifying the the family Griffin decides he wants to be visible again but the cure is a complete blood transfusion. He goes to Durea for help but when the doc tries to double cross him, he uses the doc's blood. Now visible Griff takes over Jasper's whole household and sets his sights on Julie. In the finale Griff turns invisible unexpectedly and tries to use Foster's blood for a transfusion but Durea's faithful dog spells his end. Despite a bad double for Durea in his final scene, REVENGE is set up nicely by veteran director Ford Beebe and it's a change to have the invisible guy actually being a villain not just an innocent man driven crazy by the formula. It's also full of many un-billed character actors including Billy Bevan, Shelton Knaggs, Mildred Dunnock and a few others. This is usually considered the last of the original Universal “Invisible Man” series but seven years later the studio would dust the character off to meet Abbott & Costello! At the onset of filming Edgar Barrier played the role of Jasper but dropped out after 4 days.

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