Roman Zombies

 

(IMDB)

WAR OF THE ZOMBIES-1964-In ancient times Rome is facing a Zombie problem. They send Gaius (Ettore Manni) to infiltrate the place evil wizard Aderbad (John Drew Barrymore) is raising dead enemies and find some stolen treasure. He falls for Rhama (Ida Galli), servant to Tullia (Susy Anderson) wife of the no good King Lutetus (Mino Doro) who's actually in cahoots with Aderbad who worships a one eyed goddess. Gaius follows Rhama (who's under Aderbad's control) to their temple and is captured. After he escapes the wizard sends a "zombie army" of dead centurions to defeat The Romans. They are more like ghosts. Just when it looks bad Gaius comes to the rescue. 

Low budget sword & sorcery supernatural tale from Italy suffers from bad editing and sfx. Director Giuseppe Vari later directed an Italian production based on Jack London's “The Sea Wolf” starring Chuck Connors. Two years later the always in trouble John Drew Barrymore played Christ in another Italian production PONTIUS PILATE.

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WHY DID THE CAVE MAN HAVE TO DIE?

 

 (Amazon)

DINOSAURUS!-1960-In the South Pacific an American construction company is mining the waters to build a harbor. Most of the citizens seem ok with it but local criminal Hacker (Fred Engelberg) causes trouble. Bart Thompson (Ward Ramsey) is the head of the project and he has girlfriend named Betty (Krisyina Hanson). An explosion unearths some frozen dinosaurs. Lightening brings them back to life along with a Neanderthal man (Gregg Martell). Hacker's abused charge Julio (Alan Roberts) wanders around and the caveman is put to comic effect. He tries to eat a book and has encounters with a mirror and a toilet. While everyone is running for shelter, Julio makes friends with the prehistoric man who helps Julio escape from Hacker. Later Julio and the caveman wind up riding on the brontosaurus. Caveman saves Betty from a T-Rex and takes her to an old mine shaft where she has to ward off his prehistoric advances. Eventually the Bronto and Rex fight falling into quicksand. The caveman dies saving Bart, Betty and Julio from a cave-in. 

This kind of juvenile tale with terrible SFX is a big disappointment as it was produced by Jack H. Harris and directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr., who a few years earlier had presented THE BLOB! 

DINOSAURUS was star Ward Ramsey's film debut. He later had roles in FLOWER DRUM SONG, CAPE FEAR and TV (sometimes uncredited). Kristina Hanson quit showbiz later and became a teacher. Kid star Alan Roberts did a few other movies and TV but as an adult became a truck driver. Director Yeaworth made only one more feature length movie after this but producer Harris went on to produce EQUINOX (1970) as well as John Landis' first movie SCHLOK (1973) and John Carpenter's debut DARK STAR (1974).

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"Gabriel, can't you see we're menacing somebody?"

 

 (wkipedia)

CHROME AND HOT LEATHER-1971-Casey (Michael Hayes), a member of The Wizards motorcycle gang led by TJ (William Smith) kills the finance of Green Beret Mitch (Tony Young). To get revenge Mitch recruits his army buddies (including Marvin Gaye) to hunt down the gang. Mitch tries to infiltrate the gang but is found out. Fortunately his buddies save him. Later while TJ and Casey fight for the gang leadership the Berets attack. After the gang gets its ass kicked TJ is forced to finger Casey as the culprit and they all go to jail. Big band singer Herb Jeffries is a bartender. Bobby "Boris" Pickett is Sweet Willy. 

Director Lee Frost was a force in exploitation films in the 60's and '70's (MUNDO BIZARRO, THE ANIMAL, LOVE CAMP 7) but the next year made the notorious THE THING WITH TWO HEADS. Co-star Michael Hayes co-wrote the script and was also a stuntman in many movies. This is one of two movies singer Marvin Gaye appeared in. The other was a TV movie in 1969 called THE BALLAD OF ANDY CROCKER.

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Anime

 

JUDGE-1991-Supernatural Japanese anime with a timid office worker Ohma who's really a demon that judges mankind's crimes. In "The Court of Ten Kings" he faces a "metaphysical" defense attorney when a weaselly corporate executive is accused of killing his rival. It's based on a manga and it seems like the first episode of a series that was never made. Director Hiroshi Negishi later made several “Tenchi Muyo” full length movies. 

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Cannibal Horror

 

LAST CANNIBAL WORLD (aka JUNGLE HOLOCAUST)-1977-Searching for oil, Robert Harper (Massimo Foschi) and his friends Rolf (Ivan Rassimov), Charlie (Sheik Razak Shikur) and Swan (JudyRosly) crash land in a jungle in The Philippines. While contending with alligators and boas, they explore. At night Swan disappears. The men search for her and Charlie is impaled by an obvious trap.Later the guys spy a group of savage cavemen like cannibals enjoying a guest. They assume it's Charlie so they go off and build a raft to escape but a rapids and a rock put an end to that and Rolf's life. Robert is now all alone in the cannibal jungle! After wandering, eating poison mushrooms and vomiting, the natives capture him, chain him to a rock and tear off all his clothes (warning: full frontal male nudity). After he survives a fall (they wanted to see if he could fly) he's put in a pit and native kids piss on him. A native woman  (Me Me Lai) seems to take a liking to him. A snake eats a bat and the bizarre savages disembowel a crocodile. Robert manages to escape his prison and run away, forcibly taking the native girl with him. While running through the jungle they see a woman give birth. After an encounter with leeches the girl runs away. He pursues her. When he catches her he punches her, slaps her, bloodies her nose and rapes her doggy style. She seems to have a change of heart though and later brings him food. Seeking shelter from a storm, they hide in a cave and find Rolf alive but wounded. The trio wander some, can't attracted a helicopter looking for them and almost get eaten by crocodiles. Despite their best efforts, the tribe catches up with them. They kill the girl, eviscerate her, cook her entrails and eat them. Near the end Robert fights and kills one of the natives and eats his heart. He and Rolf (who takes a spear in the chest) make it back to the plane but Rolf dies. Said to be based on a true story. This cannibal craziness was directed by Ruggero Deodato who later made another exploitative cannibal movie CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and other violent low budget dreck. Lamberto Bava is credited with script continuity.

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Captive Women

 (amazon.com)

WOMEN'S CAMP 119-1977-Sleazy Italian production with Nazis subjecting female prisoners to various torture and experiments. Nude women are whipped, gassed and experimented on. A bald headed male lunatic prisoner feels up two women and another is forced to kiss an officer's boots. Meanwhile the broken Dr. Miesel (Nello Rivie) and his new assistant, a prisoner stand around watching other doctors operate. Women are forced to rub against a soldier who was frozen and he comes back to life. When the bald lunatic attacks a prisoner she's saved by a lesbian doctor who molests her. Women are also used to entice gay soldiers and turn them straight. 

Director Bruno Mattei besides making a few other sleazy exploitative “women in prison” movies also made several horror movies featuring zombies (sometimes under the pseudonym “Vincent Dawn”).

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RIP Conrad Brooks (1931-2017)

 

 (IMDB)

JAN-GEL THE BEAST FROM THE EAST-1999-A prehistoric man (Dale Clukey) frozen in ice is lost by a shipping company and comes to life. He's a bug eyed bearded, balding pot bellied oaf who wanders around scaring people and making ridiculous grunts. Sometimes he sounds constipated. He kills a few people but nothing is shown. This movie is so inept,boring and laughable. Feeble attempts at real humor fall flat. The acting, directing and editing are below sub-par. 

Director/writer Conrad Brooks (in several Ed Wood Jr. movies including PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE) plays Conrad Brooks, a Bigfoot hunter. Visible mics are everywhere. The monster kills in broad daylight and in a really crazed scene fights a rubber snake. This probably isn't as bad as Brooks' BLOOD SLAVES OF THE VAMPIRE WOLF but it's a close second. Speaking of second, Brooks made a sequel!

 (nobudgetpodcast.com)

JAN-GEL 2: THE BEAST RETURNS-2001-I have to hand it Conrad Brooks, he's made a movie worse than JAN-GEL! The big caveman returns but this time his head is bandaged and a still photo is used for his first appearance! I guess the original actor wasn't available. This thing contains the weirdest looking bunch of actors I've ever seen.

 (mondocult.com)

(Conrad Brooks and friend)

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It Stinks!

 

 (IMDB)

THE STINK OF FLESH-2005-This zombie apocalypse soft core porn film was made by some sick fuck in New Mexico. There's gory blood spurting, flesh eating, rough sex with a female zombie, a woman with a conjoined twin, terrible acting, and '80's synth soundtrack. The director Scott Phillips also wrote some episodes of a “Kamen Rider” series.

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Coleman in Cuba?

 

 (Wikipedia)

RED ZONE CUBA-1966-An escaped con Griffin (writer/director Coleman Francis)  hooks up with ex-cons Landis (Tony Cardoza) and Cook (Harold Saunders) to be part of the "bay of pigs" invasion of Cuba. A Texas pilot Cherokee Jack (George Prince) tells them they'll be paid in cash but it seems more like some illegal work camp. They try to escape but get caught and are forced to invade Cuba. (Cardoza does double duty playing Castro) There's a long drawn out execution scene and nothing really happens. Just endless talk. When they get back to the US they throw an old man down a well and Griffin rapes his blind daughter. Eventually Landis and Cook give up and Griffin is shot dead with nothing but a penny and a broken cigarette. 

John Carradine is fourth billed as Mr. Wilson but only appears in a pre-credit sequence and sings the title song “Night Train To Mundo Fine” also the film's original title. Terrible non-action from the director of THE BEAST OF YUCCA FLATS which at least had Tor Johnson in the lead role. This was the last of three very low budget disjointed films Coleman Francis made in the early '60's. Co-star Tony Cardoza was a co-producer on all of them.

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Anna May Wong (New Named Blog)

 

 (wikipedia)

DAUGHTER OF SHANGHAI-1937-Lan Ying Lin (Anna May Wong) wants revenge on the smugglers who killed her dad when he threatened to expose their gang leader Frank Barton (J Carroll Nash; known for playing phony Asians) and his thugs (including Buster Crabbe and Anthony Quinn) who deal in illegal aliens. She tries to find out the identity of the mysterious Hartman (Charles Bickford) and his dealings in human traffic. Federal agent Kim Lee (Philip Ahn) goes undercover to discover the big boss, who turns out to be a seemingly kind and caring rich woman, Mary Hunt (Cecil Cunningham) whose chauffeur turns against her and helps stop her. 

This Paramount production is one of those unique features that has 2 actual Asian actors in the leads! Anna May Wong also made WHEN WERE YOU BORN? the same year and later would find decent roles hard to come by. Director Robert Florey manages to rise above the mundane story line to make this a great but forgotten vehicle for Wong.

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 (wikipedia)

No One Demanded It...But I'm Back!

 (IMDB)

I DEMAND PAYMENT-1938-A guy named Toby Lock (Matty Kemp) owes loan shark Mr. Travis (Bryant Washburn) 5 thou. He also knows one of Travis's henchmen Smiles (Jack LaRue) killed a man. The gang (including Guinn Williams as a dumb henchman Happy) forces Lock to marry his girlfriend Judith (top billed Betty Burgess) so she can't testify against him. No sooner are they wed when Lock, a real jerk, says he doesn't love Judith and never wanted to get married. "We're washed up". She drives away and plows into a train. Judith survives the crash but is now depressed and wheelchair bound in a nursing home under the care of Dr. Mitchell (Lloyd Hughes). To help in her rehabilitation Mitchell gives Judith a job as his secretary. Later of course he falls in love with her. 

Meanwhile Lock decides to double cross his boss. While he and Louie (Anthony Orlando) collect a 10 thou loan, Lock kills Louie and takes the money in broad daylight. There are witnesses and the cops give chase. He escapes to Mexico and convinces Judith to go with him (she's still his wife). Later Smiles and Happy track the unhappy couple down. Mitchell also arrives. A few shootings end everything and make Judith a happy widow. 

This plodding melodrama was one of only four films directed by Clifford Sandforth who a few years earlier directed Lugosi in MURDER BY TELEVISION.

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