Italy in America

 

 

CONTAMINATION 7-1993-Something is killing folks in a forest near a power plant conducting some shady business. A hick who drives a DeSoto and his girlfriend who just returned from living in "the city" investigate when they find a dead body. An alcoholic doctor discovers a lot of radioactivity in the woods but his bosses only want to cover it up. They send 2 hit men to kill him but the thing in the woods kills them. When he complains to the asshole sheriff he's locked up. It seems roots from carnivorous trees are killing everyone. 

This Italian production directed by Fabrizo Laurenti was filmed in the state of Utah and later known under the titles THE CRAWLERS and/or TROLL 3 (despite there being no trolls int it). It was produced by Joe D'Amato (ANTHROPOPHAGUS). Bad acting and direction rolled together in one mess of shoddy shit.

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Nun From Hell

  (IMDB)

THE NUN-2018-A priest, Father Burke (Damian Birchir) and a young nun Irene (Taissa Farmiga) go to Romania to investigate the suicide of a nun at an abbey there. Local yokel Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet) who found the body takes them there. They meet the abbess (Gabrielle Downy) who seems evil and tells them to come back tomorrow. Later the priest relates a tale of an exorcism he did years before. Then after he sees a figure vomiting a snake he's buried alive. Irene finds him and in a scene reminiscent of Fuchi's THE GATES OF HELL,  digs him out. Meanwhile Frenchie survives a demon attack and learns that many horrible things are happening in town including the suicide of a 12 yr old girl. Later Irene meets Sister Ouana (Ingrid Bisu) who relates how a duke opened up a gateway to hell. Fortunately The Church interceded and using the blood of Christ sealed the gate. Later crazy things happen and Irene has lots of visions. A decrepit nun attacks them. When Frenchie rejoins them, the trio must close the gate to Hell using some more of Christ's blood. Irene becomes possessed for a while and several demonic nuns attack. 

The three succeed in their quest but 20 years later The Warrens (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) from THE CONJURING “universe” are telling about the demonic possession case of Maurice aka Frenchie. Besides Fuchi, parts of this also reminded me of THE SENTINEL.There's lots of false scares and some scenes and dialogue make no sense. Director Corin Hardy made videos and shorts earlier and one other horror movie THE HALLOW.

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Deadtime

 (IMDB)

 DEADTIME STORIES-1986-A reluctant babysitting uncle (Michael Mesmer) tells his nephew 3 bedtime stories. In the first 2 old hag sisters Hagnathol & Florinda search for a third sister with the help of a servant boy Peter (Scott Valentine). They kill a priest and use his severed hand to find the corpse. They plan to resurrect her using her heart and sacrificing Miranda, a local maiden (Kathy Fleig) but Peter turns against them and saves her. They are then briefly terrorized by the reanimated sister but Peter pulls her heart out. They seem saved but there's a sort of twist ending. 

Then uncle then tells his own version of Little Red Riding Hood. A stupid druggist mixes up the prescriptions of a woman named Rachel (Nicole Picard) and a pill popping loser named Willie (Matt Mitler). While Rachel and her boyfriend have sex in a shack Willie turns into a werewolf and attacks Rachel's grandmother (the prescription had been for her). Then he kills the boyfriend. Rachel kills the wolf with a silver cake knife. At the hospital grandma turns into a wolf. 

Then comes the tale of Goldilocks which takes place at the "Home For The Hopelessly Insane". A woman helps her husband and idiot son escape. Meanwhile Goldi Lox, an escaped serial killer who can kill with her psychic powers lives in their old house. This is by far the worst story with a lot of characters acting like morons. At the end a kid is attacked by a fake looking monster. Terrible music. 

Filmed in New York City by director/co-writer Jeffrey Delman.\

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Jackie Chan

 

(Rotten Tomatoes)

PROJECT A-1983-In 19th century Hong Kong the navy has their ships destroyed by smugglers and they are all "reduced" to being part of the police force (who they never got along with). Navy Lt. Dragon Ma (director/co-writer Jackie Chan) becomes a Sgt. and locks horns with Capt. Tzu (Biao Yuen). However bureaucracy and corruption cause him to quit the force. He meets his old friend con-man Fei (Sammo Hung). They get into trouble over some stolen guns. 

Eventually Ma is put in charge of bringing down the pirates led by Sam Pau (Dick Wei). He enlists Winnie (Isabella Wong) and Tzu to help him. In disguise he infiltrates the pirate base. Later of course Fei winds up helping Ma, Tzu and Jaws (Mars) in the incredible final battle. 

This was a huge hit in Asia and garnered several nominations and awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Chan made a sequel in 1987.

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Mantan Returns!

 

 (IMDB)

LUCKY GHOST-1942-This all black cast musical comedy stars the comic duo Miller & Moreland (FE Miller and the great Mantan Moreland) as two down on their luck hustlers:  Washington (Moreland) and Jefferson (Miller) trying to break into high society after winning big playing craps. They wind up in a sanitarium that is actually an illegal gambling casino run by tough guy Blake (Maceo B. Sheffield). No sooner do the team sit down for dinner when Washington incurs the wrath of the jealous Blake by dancing with his girl The Hostess (Florence O'Brien). 

After Jefferson knocks Blake out, they all become friends. A drunk who was thrown out and lands in the cemetery next door, hears some ghosts talking about all the noise the casino is making. At the craps table Washington not only breaks the bank but wins the whole establishment from Blake. The ghosts enter the place and scare the revenge planning Blake away. Unfortunately they scare the band and most of the customers away too! A skeleton plays the piano and a suit of armor dances. The duo give back all the money they won and are allowed to leave. 

Entertaining but forgotten little comedy directed by William X. Crowley (actually a pseudonym for the super fast William Beaudine! One of 11 films he directed in 1942!)

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Yesterday

 

 (cultpix.com)

THE YESTERDAY MACHINE-1965-After a college kid is shot by unknown assailants a reporter Jim Crandall (James Britton; the director's brother) goes to interview him at the hospital. Dr. Blake (Charles Young) tells Jim the boy's story and in a flashback we learn the boy's attackers were dressed in Civil War clothes and his cheerleader girlfriend disappeared. After night club singer Sandra Del Marr (Ann Pelligrino) croons a song, police Lt. Partane (Tim Holt) and his assistant Lansky (Robert Kelly) inform her of her cheerleader sister's disappearance. Later a weird detective finds a Civil War cap that's the real thing, along with the girl's sweater. Partane relates a story to Lansky from WW2 involving some young concentration camp prisoners who should have been old and a German physicist Prof. Von Hauser. Later Jim and Sandy investigate an old house near where her sister's sweater was found. After Jim knocks out a guy who attacked Sandy they seem to go back in time and meet a guy on a horse in a tri-corner hat. When the guy sees Jim's cigarette lighter he declares "Witchcraft!" and rides off. After walking around they are transported to the lab of Prof. Von Hauser (Jack Herman) who's doing experiments with time traveling. He has a former Egyptian slave as a servant and is quite kindly until Jim calls Hitler a madman. The long winded mad scientist explains in detail how he mastered time with something called "The Minus Ray". Meanwhile Sandy is reunited with her sister. Later Von Hauser plans to send Sandy's sister into the future but with the help of the slave (who's killed) Jim escapes and rescues the women. Partane arrives and kills Von Hauser and destroys the machine. 

This movie is mostly talk and not much else. The story's sole proof of time travel are 4 characters. It's very cheap and badly acted. Writer/director Russ Marker wrote the shoddy NIGHT FRIGHT with John Agar. 

Tim Holt was a popular young star before WW2. On his return from the war (a decorated officer) he starred in Orson Welles' THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS and co-starred in THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE but soon after was regulated to westerns (some successful, some not). He grew disillusioned with Hollywood and moved to Oklahoma. For years his filmography ended with the Sci-Fi monster film THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD (made over two years after his previous movie) but then THE YESTERDAY MACHINE showed up. His final film role was in Herschel Gordon Lewis' hillbilly drama THIS STUFF'LL KILL YA!

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Anime Again

 

 (Wikipedia)

BAOH-1989-Great science fiction-horror anime from Japan. Sumire, a 9 yr old girl with telekinesis being held captive by an evil group called Doress accidentally frees their prized experiment, a teenage boy named Ikuri who has fantastic strength and powers thanks to being implanted with BAOH, a parasitic worm that embeds itself in the host's brain. Writer Hirohiko Araki also created the very popular manga series “JoJo's Bizarre Adventure”.

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Wilde In The Future

 

(IMDB)

NO BLADE OF GRASS-1970-When a mysterious virus nearly wipes out England's agriculture and pollutes the water, a man, John Custance (Nigel Davenport) and his wife Ann (Jean Wallace) and two kids along with their friend Roger (John Hamill) head for a farm in the country. Along the way they pick up the violent Pirrie (Anthony May) and his flirty wife Clara (Wendy Richard). It doesn't take long for the group to descend into killing and stealing. The wife and daughter are raped by 3 creeps and their cars and goods are taken by a town. Meanwhile the government has fled and the world is descending into cannibalism. Things don't turn out like they planned and there's a wild fight with a motorcycle gang. They make it to the farm but problems arise with David (Patrick Holt) John's brother. 

Basically this treats a future calamity in pretty depressing chilling dog eat dog terms (more so then say PANIC IN THE YEAR ZERO which at times GRASS imitates). Where as Ray Milland's character worked against a breakdown in society, John readily accepts it's kill or be killed and might makes right (especially in the climax). There are a few lapses but overall this is an ahead of its time feature directed and co-written by actor Cornel Wilde (he and a lead actress Wallace were married in real life) especially with the world situation today.

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Alice Guy-Blache

 

 (IMDB)

BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHE-2018-Very interesting if a little long, documentary about Alice Guy-Blache probably the first woman director and the first person to make a feature film. Forgotten and ignored for decades she was a pioneer making something like 1000 short films with varied subjects (THE PIT & PENDULUM; HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME; THE LIFE OF CHRIST). Much of her output was later credited to her husband. The do it all writer/director/producer/editor Pamela B. Green does an awesome job of tracking down filmed interviews, written material and relatives. Check it out!

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Some Interesting Links I Found On YouTube

NYC Chiller Theater:

https://youtu.be/Zu57ml_ShxM

Scary Japanese Movies:

https://youtu.be/1jpIZs_zJP8

Ultraman:

https://youtu.be/cqe0OISmA5Q

Goriest Anime Before 2000:

https://youtu.be/LYQpsyELfR8

Lost Horror Films:

https://youtu.be/-QDNJcMWJiM

Ulmer in The West

 

THE NAKED DAWN-1955-A violent, philosophical Mexican bandit Santiago (Arthur Kennedy) corrupts Miguel (Eugene Iglesias), a simple farmer and his unhappy wife (Betta St. John; years later in HORROR HOTEL). This is not your typical south of the border western but it might make you think. A technicolor oddity pretty much overlooked and directed by the great Edgar Ulmer. Kennedy was nominated for an Academy Award the same year for his supporting role in Mark Robson's TRIAL. (He won a Golden Globe). 

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