Caged Heat

 

CAGED HEAT-1974-Jackie Wilson (Erica Gavin) is arrested in a drug bust and sent to a woman's prison where she meets Belle (Roberta Collins) and Pandora (Ella Reid). The place is run by a hung up wheelchair bound warden McQueen (Barbara Steele) and a pipe smoking doctor (Warren Miller). She puts Pandora in solitary because she had a picture of her boyfriend in her cell. They pick fruit, have fights in the showers and walk around topless. Jackie's cellmate is lifer Levelle (Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith). 

When one inmate Maggie (Juanita Brown) tries to rebel, Jackie is also blamed. They are sent for CPT where the sadistic pipe smoking doctor gives them shock treatments as punishment. Later Jackie and Maggie revolt, steal a truck and then a police car. They almost get arrested for prostitution when they meet up with Maggie's friend Crazy Alice (Lynda Gold). Meanwhile the doc rapes the comatose Belle (and cries). Maggie and Jackie go back to the prison for revenge and a bloody shootout caps the finale. 

This was screenwriter (and future Oscar winner) Jonathan Demme's debut as a director and also features a soundtrack written and performed by John Cale. I've read Michael Bloomfield plays guitar but I'm not so sure...

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Deranged

 

DERANGED-1974-Ezra Cobb (Roberts Blossom) listens to his mother's hateful speech on her deathbed. They've lived alone on a farm for the last 15 years. When she dies he builds a shrine to her and waits for her return. One night he hears her voice (it's him talking) tell him to bring her home. He digs her up ("mama, you're in terrible shape") and mummifies her, using other dug up bodies to "patch her up". He meets a woman who talks to her dead husband and during a seance' tells Ezra to have sex with her. But of course he kills her instead. He gets a waitress Mary (Micki Moore) to come to his house where she discovers Ed's collection of corpses and Ed dressed in dead skin. He gets caught after killing a local girl and hanging her up in his barn. Not sure about the reporter/narrator (Leslie Carlson) being comedy relief or not. 

However Roberts Blossom gives a great performance as Cobb (of course based on the real life ghoul Ed Gein). Alan Ormsby (CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS) wrote the screenplay and co-directed with Jeff Gillen.

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Golan & Globus

 

X-RAY-1981-Susan Jeremy (Barbie Benton) walks around a hospital trying to get her check up results. Everyone acts very weird. Someone dressed as a surgeon kills a doctor and a janitor. An idiot doctor orders more tests and it seems Susan may being held against her will. Several more murders occur including her fiance. Later when she freaks out and is strapped down  and the killer (who is from her childhood) kidnaps her. Typical, cliched junk like most 80's Golan & Globus productions. Aka HOSPITAL MASSACRE, its director Boaz Davidson was involved in a lot of crap.

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Enter The Dragon Don Wilson

 

TERMINAL RUSH-1996-Deputy sheriff Jacob Harper (Don “The Dragon” Wilson) beats up rednecks at a local bar and worries about his relationship with his pregnant wife Katherine (Kate Greenhouse) who doesn't like the desert. Terrorists take over the Hoover dam and threaten to destroy it unless a ransom is paid. Jacob's dad is one of the hostages. The plan is run by stupid English snot nose, Dekker (Michael Anderson Jr.) and mercenary partner Bartel  (“Rowdy” Roddy Piper). 

This Canadian production is like a typical '80's action/martial arts action film with Piper and Anderson overacting outrageously. Director Damian Lee (FOOD OF THE GODS 2) also made ABRAXAS: GUARDIAN OF THE GALAXY with former pro-wrestler (and ex-governor) Jesse “The Body” Ventura six years before.

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Alcatraz!

EXPERIMENT ALCATRAZ-1950-Four inmates on “The Rock” are promised freedom if they agree to allow an experimental drug be injected into them. One of the bunch Barry Morgan (Robert Shayne) kills his friend Eddie (Sam Scar) after procuring a pair of scissors. Chief doctor Lt. McKenna (Joan Dixon) is kicked out and Dr. Williams (John Howard), head of the project sees it closed down against his will. Later Williams investigates Morgan and his auction house which is really a front for illegal gambling. After he gets beat up Williams and McKenna learn more about the relationship of Morgan and Eddie (they were suppose to be good friends but actually Morgan wanted him out of the way). Along the way they meet Max Henry (Frank Cady) a convict who collects postcards, Byron Foulger as a relator and Myron Healy as a reporter. Unfortunately Williams doggedly refuses to drop his investigation and Morgan kills him. It's up to Williams' friend Dr. Finley (Walter Kingsford) to set a trap to catch Morgan and avenge his friend's death. Kenneth MacDonald has a small role. 

This is another documentary style crime drama for the much maligned Edward L. Cahn who a few years later made some memorable low budget horror movies. Shayne, a familiar character actor was two years away from playing His most famous role as Inspector Henderson on TV's THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. 

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Japan Ghosts

 THE LIVING SKELETON-1968-Eerie, atmospheric ghost story from Japan. A group of pirates board a ship to steal it's cargo of gold bullion. They kill the crew and all the passengers. However one passenger Yoriko (Kikko Matsuoka) has a twin sister Saeko (also Matsuoka) and they have a kind of symbiotic connection. Through her sister Yoriko conducts her revenge. Or does she? Could it just be the killers' imagination? 

THE LIVING SKELETON starts off like a moody art film but becomes a full fledged horror story with a sea full of skeletons, a mad scientist and a powerful acid that can disintegrate anything. It's a little confusing plot wise but I liked it. This one of only two films directed by Hiroki Matsuno. Too bad!

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Low Budget Minimalist Western

 

THE SHOOTING-1966-A bounty hunter (Warren Oates) and his dumb friend (Will Hutchins) meet a mysterious woman (Millie Perkins; earlier the title role in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK) who wants them to accompany her on a journey. The two try to figure out her motive and later meet up with her friend Billy, a gunfighter (Jack Nicholson). There's a lot of talk in this moody Western by director Monte Hellman. The ending may seem contrived but pay attention to the minimalist dialogue. Nicholson & Perkins were in RIDE THE WHIRLWIND for Hellman the same year. 

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