Arliss and Karloff

 

 (tmdb)

THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD-1934-Historical drama about the rise of Mayer Rothschild (George Arliss) from his beginnings in a Jewish ghetto in Frankfort to his rise as Europe's most powerful banker. After his death, the story focuses mainly on son Nathan (also Arliss). He lends millions to the English government to help Wellington (C. Aubrey Smith) defeat Napoleon. Then one of Wellington's men wants to marry Rothschild's daughter (Loretta Young). This could be complicated since he's not Jewish. Later Rothchild runs into opposition in the form of antisemitism headed by Baron Ledrantz (Boris Karloff). When Napoleon escapes and mounts a new offensive, Rothschild backs England with everything he's got, nearing financial ruin but Wellington is victorious and England is back on top. Some prints feature the final scene in color. 

Solid historical drama with a few inaccuracies (but what Hollywood story doesn't have them?), ably directed by Alfred Werker, who later made THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1939) with Rathbone and Bruce, A HAUNTING WE WILL GO (1942) with Laurel and Hardy, SHOCK (1946) with Vincent Price and HE WALKED BY NIGHT (1948) with Richard Basehart.

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Real Cannibal

 

 

 (cnn)

EXCUSE ME FOR LIVING-1993-This is a horrific documentary/biography about Issei Sagawa (who died in November 2022), a Japanese citizen who murdered and cannibalized a young Dutch woman in France. Though arrested and imprisoned, a technical glitch in the justice system freed him after a mere two years in an asylum. He's a pathetic guy who probably needed help for many years, but no one realized it and he committed a pretty heinous crime and became a minor celebrity who wrote several books and gave interviews. 

He expounds on his lifelong obsession to kill and eat someone and his fascination with actress Jean Seberg. His later life wasn't so pleasant. His “celebrity status” in Japan is blown out of proportion as most of the country were fairly outraged by his infamy.

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Alcatraz

 

 (tmdb)

ALCATRAZ BREAKOUT-1975-Grant (Gary Boyd), a bank robber whose sentence has been increased several times because of several failed escape attempts is sent to "The Rock". He becomes friends with an inmate named Frazier (Ray Myles) and plans an escape. He almost succeeds but is somehow caught and brought back. After 90 days in solitary his wife comes to visit him (the actress who plays her seems comatose; I believe it was the director's wife). Later he tries again to escape and that fails. He tries one more time and fails forever. 

This was directed by Nick Millard (CRIMINALLY INSANE 1 & 2, DOCTOR BLOODBATH (1987)) using the pseudonym, Jan Anders. A tedious mess despite the under an hour running time.

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Lookwell

 

 (tv tropes)

LOOKWELL-1991-Former TV detective Ty Lookwell (Adam West) lives in his own world where he still thinks he's a police detective. He runs an acting school for William Shatner wannabes all revolving around his short lived TV "Bennigan" which people confuse with other TV shows like "Banacek". He tries to solve a case of stolen cars and messes up everything. 

LOOKWELL was a TV pilot co-written and co-produced by Conan O'Brien. It's pretty amusing but I don't think it would have worked as a weekly series. Directed by EW Swackhamer, a veteran TV director who worked on lots of TV shows since the early '60's.

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Tiny Tim!

 

 (youtube)

STREET OF DREAMS-1988-This grainy slapped together bio/documentary features Tiny Tim attempting to break the non-stop singing record at Luna Park, a famous amusement park in Australia. It throws in all sorts of Tiny Tim clips: myriad interviews, his marriage on "The Tonight Show", talking to strippers in a hotel room, dressing up like Mickey Mouse, even an interview with his aged mother who shows off childhood photos. Actor Ross Martin occasionally appears to narrate. 

Tim pontificates on the Bible, God, life, sex, etc. It's a cacophony of Tiny Tim, a literal overload, which turns very serious toward the end when it reports on the fire that took 7 lives and closed the amusement park down. 

Director Martin Sharp, who had a keen interest in Luna Park as well as Tiny Tim, was also an artist who drew the cover of Cream's albums “Disraeli Gears” and “Wheels of Fire” as well as writing the lyrics to two of their songs, “Tales of Brave Ulysses” and “Anyone for Tennis?”. There is a separate feature that focuses mainly on the marathon concert itself.

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Ho!

 

 (imdb)

POWER FORCE-1991-In Bangkok, Benny is fighting with help from the CIA while rebels stage an uprising with lots of machine guns and hand grenades. I admit I didn't really understand what was going on most of the time but this movie was directed by Godfrey Ho (using the pseudonym Charles Lee) so it seems like this was a movie made by someone else with Ho adding unrelated scenes of his own.

That's a weird poster too!

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Brooklyn

 

 (imdb)

THE CASE AGAINST BROOKLYN-1958-A rookie cop (Darren McGavin) goes undercover to help break the borough's illegal gambling racket protected by some corrupt police officers. He romances a widow (Margret Hayes)) who's husband (Joe DeSantis) committed suicide. He runs afoul of thug henchman Rudi Franklin (Warren Stevens) who works for the big bosses (Nestor Paiva and Thomas B. Henry). Tragedy follows but he eventually succeeds. Emile Meyer is a police captain and Joe Turkel is another thug. 

This was the second film directed by Paul Wendkos after THE BURGLAR in 1957. He went on to make other films (GIDGET (1959) (and some sequels), BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNG (1960) and THE METHISTO WALTZ (1971) but his major output was on TV.

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Urge To Fast Forward

 

 (imdb)

URGE TO KILL-1989-A record producer Bono (Peter Gordeno) invites a would-be singer back to his swinging pad for some hi jinks. His place has cameras everywhere and a computer nicknamed "Sexy" controls everything. After a night together, the producer leaves and the singer invites her friend over. After a massage, things go awry. The singer is scalded to death in the shower and her friend is burned to ashes by a tanning machine. Later Bono has his girlfriend Jane (Sarah Hope Walker) and two other women over. After frolicking in a bubble bath, the two women disappear. Other weird things happen and it seems Sexy has taken over. The computer later manifests herself as a green woman who kills Bono by throwing him into the computer monitor. 

Featuring nudity, cat fights and mud wrestling, this movie sucks! The director Derek Ford made many sexploitation movies in England, wrote several books and came to a bad end, dying in 1993 at the age of 62.

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TV J-Horror

 

 (amazon.com)

CROW'S BLOOD-2016-Gruesome horror mini-series from Japan about a very strange schoolgirl who seems to have evil powers thanks to her scientist dad's experiments. Very gory and mysterious. Great stuff but not for everyone. It made its US debut on the now defunct El Rey TV network. Directed by Ryo Nishimura.

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Silence Please!

 

 (imdb)

A QUIET PLACE-2018-A family must make little or no sound otherwise they will be detected by the blind alien invaders who attack whenever they hear sound. The family talk mostly in sign language except in certain areas. They all have a bit of angst over the death of their family member and a newborn baby causes some problems late in the story. There are some good suspense scenes but I don't think this was so great as to garner the tremendous reviews it received.

A QUIET PLACE was directed by a guy named John Krasinski who played Reed Richards in DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADDNESS (2022). He made a part 2 in 2020.

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Bed. Breakfast. Death!

 

 (imdb)

BnB HELL-2017-A woman (Kimberley Woods) stays at a dilapidated bed and breakfast while looking for her sister who appears to have disappeared there. It has a weird owner. There's a strange old guy with an accent who hangs around and a grad student is also staying there. It seems like she's being watched. She views a video that shows a murder but she falls asleep before seeing it. It all has to do with the owner's demented animal like son. It was directed without much effort by Andrew Jordan.

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Who Asked for a Sequel?

 

 (imdb)

MEGALODON RISING-2021-This a sequel to MEGALODON. It's a cheap talky badly acted giant shark piece of bull shit. Big cartoonish prehistoric sharks terrorize 2 battleships, one US navy, the other Red China. Ted Sizemore stars and it was directed by Brian Nowak. Good night....

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Borecast

 

 (imdb)

BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION-2011-A video archivist (Harry Shum Jr.) becomes obsessed with a mysterious video that may be connected with the disappearance of several women. He hooks up with a woman named Alice (Kelley Mack) and they go all over trying to find the answer. This pretty much tries to say something but the story (especially the ending) is confused. 

The director Jacob Gentry had previously done MY SUPER PSYCHO SWEET16 series of films for MTV.

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Undersea City

 

 (wikipedia)

WARLORDS OF ATLANTIS-1978-A British exploring vessel sponsored by an English prof. Aitkin (Donald Bisset) and his son Charles (Peter Gilmore) and commanded by Capt. Daniels (Shane Rimmer) get more than they bargain for when they go exploring in a special diving belt designed by American Greg Collins (Doug McClure). When a gold statue is found, the crew decides to mutiny and strand Charles and Greg underwater. But before that can happen the ship is attacked by a giant octopus. The duo, Daniels and a few others are "rescued" by Atmir (Michael Gothard) and his troops. They are taken to "the fourth city" where many English speaking people reside. No sooner do they get there when Greg starts a fight after meeting Delphine (Lea Brodie). Later, after they are put in prison, Charles is introduced to Atsil (Cyd Charrisse), who shows him the real hidden Atlantis because she admires his intellect. She explains how her race came from another planet (Mars). Delphine's father Briggs (Robert Brown) explains that he and everyone else are from other missing ships (his was the Mary Celeste) and they are controlled because of an operation performed on them. King Atraxon (Daniel Massey) says "the ruling class must always survive" while everyone else battles giant lizard-like creatures. He wants to create a utopia on Earth using science and force. 

Not the greatest sfx but overall, it's good. Director Kevin Connor was an old hand at this kind of production having already made THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT (1974), AT THE EARTH'S CORE (1976) and THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT (1977) (all three featuring McClure).

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Giant Mollusk

 

 (imdb)

THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD-1957-At an Air Force facility near The Salton Sea, 3 men are mysteriously killed. Lt. Commander Twillinger (Tim Holt) investigates with the help of a local sheriff (Gordon Jones) and an atomic scientist (Hans Conried!). After several more deaths, it's discovered giant mollusks are breeding underwater. Twillinger also has time to sort of romance a secretary (Audrey Dalton), a widow with a young daughter (Mimi Gibson) who causes a lot of trouble! 

This is a pretty good low budget horror/sci-fi story with a weird monster and a good climax. Director Arthur Laven spent most of his career in TV, only occasionally stepping out to make a feature length film (THE RACK (1956), GERONIMO (1962)). Too bad he didn't do more movies with monsters in them.

 For years MONSTER was always listed as star Tim Holt's final movie but he made the regional film THE YESTERDAY MACHINE in 1965 and HG Lewis' THIS STUFF'LL KILL YA! (1971). Audrey Dalton was later in William Castle's MR. SARDONICUS and lots of TV. Hans Conreid, usually an over-the-top comedian (THE TWONKY; THE 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T.; both 1953) isvery sedate and serious here. Gordon Jones of course had been Mike the Cop on The Abbott & Costello Show in the early '50's. There are also several character actors squeezed in: Milton Parsons, Ralph Moody, Dale Van Sickel.

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Early Talkie

 

 (imdb)

THE NINTH GUEST-1934-8 people are invited to a mysterious party given by someone known only as "The host". The group includes two political rivals who hate each other, a snooty society dame (Helen Flint) and a doctor (Samuel Hinds). The only levelheaded guest is an author (Donald Woods). "The host" talks to them via a special radio and says they all will die. They begin to be killed one by one with the killer being revealed in the finale.

 It's a pre-code talkie based on a play that resembles Agatha Christie's “Then There Were None” which was written later. Genevieve Tobin and Vince Barnett co-star. Unsung director Roy William Neill would go on to make THE BLACK ROOM (with Karloff), FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN and the lion's share of the Univeral Sherlock Holmes series with Basil Rathbone.

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Ed Wood: Adviser

 

 (bleeding skull)

THE ASTOUNDING SHE MONSTER-1957-Wealthy socialite Margaret Chaffee (Marilyn Harvey) is kidnapped and taken to a hideout in the San Gabriel mountains. A "visitor beyond imagination" lands on Earth around the same time the two kidnappers (one is Keene Duncan) along with their "moll" (Jeanne Tatum), a drunken floozy and Chaffee, hold up in the isolated cabin of a geologist (Robert Clarke). The rather voluptuous radioactive alien (Shirley Kilpatrick) walks around the forest, kills a dog and later a bear. She kills one kidnapper then terrorizes the rest who flee into the woods. They try to set her on fire but that fails. They run back to the cabin. They do this several times. 

This black and white cheapie was made by Ronnie Ashcroft who had been assistant director on Ed Wood's NIGHT OF THE GHOULS (which starred Duncan). It's said Wood was the movie's “adviser” and his influence is all over it. Loud out of place music, more talk than action, characters spouting quasi-philosophical dialogue. Soon after this Ashcroft produced the short “Trick Shooting with Keene Duncan”.

 “She Monster” Shirley Kilpatrick had a successful career as a model but her only movie after this was an un-uncredited role in THE GENE KRUPA STORY in 1959. After several troubled marriages, she became a psychic! Unfortunately, at age 38 she died of a drug overdose in 1971.

 

Shirley with Jack LaLane

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Bees on TVs

 

 (imdb)

THE ELGIN HOUR-THE STING OF DEATH-1955-In the English countryside, a pompous honey loving Prof. Stillchester (Robert Flemyng; later in THE HORRIBLE DR. HITCHCOCK) meets the seemingly eccentric Dr. Mycroft (Boris Karloff) who proposes the theory that local beekeeper and honey producer Hargrove (Martyn Green) is raising killer bees. They team up to try and stop him. Mycroft's maid Alice (Hermione Gingold) puts in her 2 cents also.

 It's based on a novel “A Taste for Honey” by Gerald Heard and was later the basis for the Amicus produced THE DEADLY BEES in 1967. Like a lot of these early anthology TV series, it's almost like a filmed play, with Karloff giving a great performance. 

Some have pointed out that Karloff's character is named Mycroft which was the name of Sherlock Holmes' brother, leading to a conclusion that the character may be Holmes' brother or the great detective himself, now retired. One of 8 series entries directed by Daniel Petrie who went on to work much more in TV and movies (RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961), THE NEPTUNE FACTOR (1973), COCOON: THE RETURN (1988)).

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AKA Gary Kent

 

 (imdb)

THE FOREST-1983-A man and woman hiking in the woods are killed by someone toting a knife. After the credits, two arguing couples decide to go camping. The women go out first and the men follow later. They are all terrorized by some bo-hunk cannibal (Gary Kent using a pseudonym) who lives in a cave with his ghost children. His ghost wife wanders around too. In a silly flashback we see what happened to him and his family. 

Typical '80's low budget regional nonsense. Director/writer Don Jones also appears as a ranger. Low budget film veteran Gary Kent died in May 2023 at age 89. RIP...

Find out more about Gary Kent here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Kent

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Shot On Location!

 

 

 (imdb)

DAWN OF THE MUMMY-1981-In ancient Egypt, a mummy is entombed with a curse placed on it to whoever tries to break in. In the modern day, a group of photographers and models go to the desert for a shoot while some grave-robbers look for an ancient treasure. After a lot of talk the mummy comes back to life and brings some other mummies with him. They turn out to be cannibals too. Later the mummy horde invades a wedding, killing and eating guests and the bride and groom. 

This was shot mainly in Egypt with too much talking, dark scenes and actors bellowing when scared. The director Frank Agrama also made QUEEN KONG (1976) and later was involved with the US production of the Japanese anime ROBOTECH.

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Vampire Hookers

 

 

 (rotten tomatoes)

BEVERLY HILLS VAMP-1989-In this dumb vampire comedy, 3 would be filmmakers (Eddie Deezen, Tim Conway Jr. & another guy) become involved with a vampire madam (Britt Ekland) and her hooker vampires (Michelle Bauer, Julian Kesner, Debra Lamb). Jay Richardson is a movie producer and Robert Quarry has a small role as a priest who mentions Count Yorga! 

This is a typical Fred Olen Ray comedy runs hot and cold. I liked HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS (made the year before) a lot better...

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French Short

 

 (imdb)

VOYAGE TO THE SKY-1937-Early French documentary about an imaginary trip to the moon, Mars and the outer reaches of the universe with philosophical narration. Pretty cool and ahead of its time short (11 mins) by A.P. Dufour and Jean Painleve.

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George Gobel College Professor

 

 (imdb)

THE DAY IT CAME TO EARTH-1977-This starts off with two hit men killing a guy in witness protection. Later some college guys ask some girls on a date. At night a skull faced alien crashes and roams around. It kills the two hit men and goes for a rest in the lake where the guys take the girls the next day. One of the guys finds a strange rock and they show it to their professor (George Gobel). Later the monster terrorizes some girls who have to stay in a haunted house.

 With the presence of comedian Gobel, the weird dialogue and bad acting, I'm lead to believe this Arkansas shot mess was supposed to be a comedy but at the last minute they tried to play it straight. Rita Wilson (future wife of Tom Hanks) is also in it. Director Harry Thomason also made ENCOUNTER WITH THE UNKNOWN (1972), SO SAD ABOUT GLORIA (1973) and REVENGE OF BIGFOOT (1979) and later went into TV, working on the show “Designing Women”.

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Italian Horror

 

 (imdb)

HORROR aka THE BLANCHVILLE MONSTER-1963-Emile DeBlanchville (Umbretta Colli; SNOW DEVILS) comes back to her childhood home and to her brother Roderic (Gerald Tichy; HATCHET FOR A HONEYMOON). Also with her are a brother & sister, John (Vanni Materassi) & Alice Taylor (Iran Eory). Things have changed. There's a new butler and a seemingly sinister housekeeper named Eleonore (Helga Line; later in several Paul Naschy movies). Later after the mysterious Dr. LaRouche (Leo Achoritz) shows up, Emily is exploring the castle at night and sees Eleonore injecting a needle into a deformed man. She faints and Rod convinces her it was a dream. Later Emily is traumatized by strange dreams and is chased by an ugly with a cross. Then she's buried alive! 

Typical but well-done Italian Gothic horror by director Alberto Di Martino (HOLOCAUST 2000).

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 (wikipedia)

Children...

 

 

 (wikipedia)

CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT-1991-Dumb vampire tale produced by Fangoria Magazine. In the small town of Allburg,vampires are running around killing locals. A stupid priest Alden (Evan McKenzie) keeps a mother and daughter locked in his attic. A schoolteacher (Karen Black) saves Lucy (Ami Dolenz), a high school student, from her vampire grandmother. After they put a stake in her, they try to rescue a cop held by the vampires but that doesn't work. They're pursued but the town drunk (Garrett Morris) saves them. He relates the story of how a priest killed himself and some children. The finale is pretty good with the drunk saving the day. Some bad acting and disgusting sfx are thrown in. 

The director Tony Randel had previously made HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER 2 (1998) and later made TICKS (1993) and a live action version of FIST OF THE NORTH STAR (1995).

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7 Dummies

 

(imdb)

7 MUMMIES-2006-Idiotic supernatural western nonsense about a group of convicts who escape their transport truck and head into the desert with a female prison guard hostage. After a crazy local (Danny Trejo) tells them about some hidden gold, they decide to search for it and wind up in an old west town occupied by zombie vampires, led by Drake (Billy Drago). Martin Kove is a bar owner. The director Nick Quested had been a music video director before this.

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Against A Low Budget Sky

 

 (imdb)

AGAINST A CROOKED SKY-1975-A weird American Indian Temkai (Geoffrey Land from Al Adamson movies) kidnaps a young girl named Charlotte (Jewell Blanch). Her father (Clint Ritchie) goes to rescue her. Meanwhile his not too bright son Sam (Stuart Petersen) goes looking himself and after nearly drowning is rescued by a backwoods grump called Russian (Richard Boone). After a first aborted search, Sam and Russian search for the tribe that Temkai belongs to. Along the way they meet up with the rightful chief (Henry Wilcoxon who also provides narration) who was left to die in the desert years before. They find the strange tribe now run by an angry bald guy. Sam must go through a ritual to save his sister's life. 

This low budget politically incorrect “The Searchers” rip off is only worth seeing for Boone's performance. Director Earl Bellamy was a prolific TV director with few feature movie credits but he made WALKING TALL PART 2 the same year. Land was in JESSI'S GIRLS and BLAZING STEWARDESSES (both directed by Al Adamson) the same year. Co-star Blanch later became a country-western singer and song publisher.

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Karloff's Ghoul

 

 (imdb)

THE GHOUL-1933-0n his deathbed Prof. Morlant (Boris Karloff) prays to the Egyptian God Anubis and gives instructions to his servant Laing (Ernest Thesiger). It seems Morlant had a sacred jewel "The Eternal Light" in his possession. His lawyer (Cedric Hardwick) seems to want it. He tries to dissuade Morlant's nephew and heir Ralph (Anthony Bushell) from visiting the estate. Ralph hooks up with his cousin, Morlant's niece Betty (Dorothy Hyson) and they investigate along with Betty's comic relief roommate Miss Kaney (Kathleen Harrison). At the place they meet the lawyer and the servant and a bike riding priest (Ralph Richardson). They are also visited by Aga Ben Dragore (Howard Huth), former owner of the jewel and the knife wielding Mamoud (D, A. Clarke-Smith) who becomes the professor's first victim when he comes back to life. Laing is next as he stole the diamond not believing his master would be back. After Morant dies again, there's a couple of twists in the finale and the cousins get trapped in the burning tomb. It also seems the whole premise was not really supernatural. 

This Gaumont British UK production is dark, quirky and dated. It was the first film Karloff made in his homeland in 20 years and did well in England but failed at the US box office. It's also the only film Karloff made after his brief departure from Universal Pictures (he later signed a new contract with them). 

The film was thought lost for many years. In the late '60's William K. Everson discovered a battered and cut version of the film in a vault in Czechoslovakia (with Czech subtitles). Much later a negative of the film was found and restored. Director T. Hayes Hunter retired soon after making it. A year after THE GHOUL, Karloff had two highly acclaimed non-horror roles in THE LOST PATROL and THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD and would get back into the horror swing of things in Edgar Ulmer's classic THE BLACK CAT (with Lugosi).

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Melinda

 (imdb)

 

MELINDA-1972-Frankie Parker (Calvin Lockhart; THE BEAST MUST DIE), conceited Karate asshole DJ meets and falls for Melinda (Vonetta McGee; in BLACULA the same year), an exotic mystery woman from out of town. While they have sex in his apartment, a guy jerks off in the hall. Later she's killed and Parker is arrested for her murder. His friend Tank (Rockne Tarkington; in BEWARE! THE BLOB the same year) gets him out of jail. Later after a woman who tried to kill him is murdered at his house, he goes on the run with his neglected ex-girlfriend Terry (Rosalind Cash; THE OMEGA MAN). It turns out Melinda was the ex-mistress of gangster Mitch (Paul Stevens; BATTLE FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES) and she took something from him that he thinks Parker has. He has a henchman named Gregg (Ross Hagen). 

This messed up misguided blaxploitation movie is pretty tough going with its inane dialogue and outrageous acting until the whacked-out kung fu flying ending. Both Jim Kelly and Jeannie Bell make their screen debuts. Gene LeBelle in is there too. It's also the debut of director Hugh A Robertson, then a well-known editor (MIDNIGHT COWBOY, SHAFT). Theme song by Jerry Butler.

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