Amicus Strikes Back

 

(imdb)

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS-1973-Catherine (Stephanie Beach-am) & Charles (Ian Ogilvy) come to live in the ancestral Fengriffen. No sooner are they there when Catherine becomes mesmerized by a portrait of Charles’ grandfather Sir Henry and a bloody hand tries to grab her. After their wedding, a severed hand is seen crawling across the floor. Later, she sees a ghoulish, eyeless corpse, missing one hand. Then she's scared by Silas (Geoffrey Whitehead), a sinister looking woodsman with a red birth mark, who lives on the estate. After their lawyer (Guy Rolfe) is murdered, Catherine sees more apparitions and the family doctor, Whittle (Patrick Magee) informs the couple Catherine is pregnant. Then Charles and Dr. Whittle discuss telling Catherine some secret about the family. 

When the maid decides to help Catherine, she's killed. The severed hand seems to be controlling things. When her aunt Edith (Gillan Lind) decides Catherine should leave Fengriffen, she dies. When it seems like Catherine is really cracking up, Whittle calls in Dr. Pope (Peter Cushing). In a flashback, Charles reveals his granddad Sir Henry (Herbert Lom) turned Fengriffin into “a house of debauchery” and “filled it with the scum of the earth”. Then on Silas’ father's wedding night, Henry rapes his bride, while his goons hold down Silas. Henry chops off his hand and Silas puts a curse on him. Later, Catherine gives birth to a baby with no right hand and a reddish birth mark. 

Good cast and story but not a great ending. This Amicus production was directed by Roy Ward Baker who also made THE VAULT OF HORROR for the same company in'73. It's based a on a novel by American novelist David Case.

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Caged Pig

 

 (imdb)

PIG-(2023)-Mysterious, unfriendly and unclean Rob (Nicolas Cage) lives by himself in a cabin in a remote forest in Oregon. His only companion is a truffle sniffing pig. One night his pig is stolen. He enlists his main truffle customer Amir (Alex Wolff) to help him get his pig back. This leads to a underground fighting ring for restaurant employees run by Edgar (Darius Pierce) where Rob is beaten by a waiter in exchange for info. Later, Rob's past identity is revealed and he has a confrontation with Amir's father (Adam Arkin). 

Very loony, out there story with some weird characters and Cage doing his best to stay awake while acting. Director Michael Sarnoski went on to make A QUIET PLACE:DAY ONE in 2024.

I Don't Think He Ever Got Old

 

 (imdb)

YOUNG DILLINGER-1965-John Dillinger's (Nick Adams) girlfriend Elaine (Mary Ann Mobley) convinces him to rob her father so they can get married. John beats up the justice of the peace (Gene Roth) and they lam it. He's arrested later on. Elaine's father (Ted Knight) convinces him to plead guilty and not involve Elaine. Despite dad's promises, the judge (Walter Sande) gives John the maximum sentence. In jail, he meets Pretty Boy Floyd (Robert Conrad), Babyface Nelson (John Ashley) and Homer van Meter (Dan Terranova). They help John become a model prisoner so he can help them from the outside. When he's transferred to a state work farm, Elaine helps him escape. Outside, John meets Floyd's friend, mob boss Joe Rocco (Anthony Caruso) and gets beat up. He kills Rocco and his goons, then breaks his pals out of jail. Prof. Hoffman (Victor Buono) gets them an armored car to rob. That's fairly successful though John gets shot. He gets plastic surgery but the sleazy surgeon (John Hoyt) tries to rape Elaine. For some reason the surgery doesn't work so John drowns the doc. When the gang goes to the professor again he's being used by a federal agent (Reed Hadley) to set a trap. Joy Harmon plays Nelson's moll and Art Baker, Emile Meyer and Frank Gerstle are in it. 

Violent, mostly fictional crime drama directed by Terry Morse whose was mostly a film editor but did make some interesting movies like BRITISH INTELLIGENCE (1939) with Boris Karloff, TEAR GAS SQUAD (1940) co-starring George Reeves, 2 Sidney Toler Charlie Chan mysteries and was credited with the US filmed scenes in GODZILLA-KING OF MONSTERS (1956).

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Remake (again)

 

 (imdb)

VICKI-1953-Against the wishes of his boss (uncredited John Denher), burned out obsessed police Lt. Cornell (Richard Boone) takes on the murder case of famous model Vicki Lin (Jean Peters). Suspects include PR man Steve Christopher (Elliot Reid) who made Vicki famous, colum-nist Larry Evans (Casey Adams, who wrote the theme song), actor Robin Ray (Alex D'Arcy) and switchboard operator Harry (Aaron Spelling). The story is mostly told in flashbacks by the suspects and Vicki's sister Jill (Jeanne Crain) who was suspicious of the whole thing. Though there are a lot of suspects it seems obvious who's the guilty party but there's a twist. 

Cops include Carl Betz, Russ Conway, Paul Gerstle and Parley Baer. Bits by Billy Nelson, Richard Garland and Burt Mustin as a bell boy! (He was still old!). This film noir remake of I WAKE UP SCREAMING (1941) was directed by Harry Horner (RED PLANET MARS (1952), BEWARE, MY LOVELY (1952)). A few years later, Richard Boone would star in the TV western HAVE GUN WILL TRAVEL, which John Denher had starred in on radio. It's also been noted that the blacklisted writer Leo Townsend worked on the screenplay with no credit. He later wrote BEACH BLANKET BINGO (1963) and FIREBALL 500 (1965).

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Doctor

 

THE CAREY TREATMENT-1972-Dr. Peter Carey (James Colburn) investigates when his friend David Tao (James Hong) is accused of killing a young girl during an abortion. The victim is the daughter of the head of the hospital (Dan O'Herlihy). A too sure police detective (Pat Hingle) also noses around, while Carey romances another doctor (Jennifer O'Neil). His snooping leads him to a weird massage guy (Michael Blodgett; BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970)). Also with Regis Toomey, Elizabeth Allen, Alex Drier and John Hillerman. 

Drawn out mystery which director Blake Edwards says was cut without his knowledge. It's based on a novel by Michael Crichton.

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Kicks, Baby, Kicks

 

 (imdb)

THE WILD REBELS-1967-Rod Tillman (Steve Alaimo) quits his race car driving and hooks up with the dumb motorcycle gang Satan's Angels led by goofball Jeeter (John Vella). The gang is made up of biker chick Linda (Bobbie Byers), Fats (Jeff Gillen) and Banjo (Willie Pastrano). They want Rod to drive the getaway car for crime they are plotting. He turns them down but then is approached by police Lt. Dorn (Walter R. Philbin) to infiltrate the gang. He agrees and winds up driving their getaway car when they rob a bank. There's a big shoot out with the police in some kind of tower where Rod is cornered by Jeeter until Linda shoots him. 

Stupid cliche nonsense from writer/director William Grefe' who'd made more entertaining films like DEATH CURSE OF TARTU and THE STING OF DEATH (both 1966) and would go on to make a spat of oddball productions like THE HOOKED GENERATION (also with Alaimo), THE NAKED ZOO with Rita Hayworth, STANLEY, IMPULSE with William Shatner and Bacardi rum commercials.

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Silent Star Prince

 

 (moviessliently.com)

THE STAR PRINCE-1918-A baby falls from the stars and is found by a woodcutter. He takes it home and he and his wife raise him with their other children. He (played by Zoe Rae, a young girl) grows into a deceitful, arrogant little brat who bullies his step-siblings and beats a bigger woman who turns out to be his mother who he shuns and insults when he finds out. A fairy sees his foul behavior and turns him into an ugly beggar. He wanders around looking for mom so he can apologize to her. Meanwhile, a fairy godmother tells a young princess (Dorphia Brown) she will marry the Star Prince. He saves a trapped squirrel and the fairy turns him back. Later, he meets The Dwarf (John Dorland) who imprisons the prince in a cave and asks the king to let the princess marry him instead. When the prince escapes, the dwarf's mom sends some imps to bring him back. He gets help from the squirrel he helped and arrives in time to break up the bogus marriage, see the dwarf turned into a pig and meet with both of his parents before marrying the princess. All the roles were played by kids. 

This silent production is the only film directed by Madeline Brandeis (she also wrote it), who was also a popular children's author. She distributed other films and planned to make more but died from injuries received in an automobile accident in 1937. She was 39 years old. Star Zoe Rae was also in a lost Lon Chaney film THE KAISER, THE BEAST OF BERLIN the same year.

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Impact Zone

 

 (themoviedatabase.org)

IMPACT-1949-Irene (Helen Walker), the wife of industrialist Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) plots with her boyfriend to murder her husband. Things go wrong. The boyfriend clouts Williams with a jack and throws his body into a ravine. He's promptly killed in a fiery crash. Now everyone (including Irene)) thinks he's dead. The boyfriend hinted that he and Irene were in cahoots and after a phone call Williams knows she is behind it. A police officer Quincey (Charles Colburn) investigates and suspects Irene of murder. Meanwhile, in Idaho, Williams meets female mechanic Marsha (Ella Raines). He fixes cars while Irene is arrested for his murder. Later he goes back to San Francisco and admits he is still alive. Bad move. He winds up on trial for murder. His housekeeper is Anna May Wong and her uncle is Phillips Ahn. Also with Art Baker, William Wright, Mae Marsh, Jason Robards Sr., Erskine Sanford, Ben Welden, Joe Kirk, Thomas B. Henry and gossip columnist Sheilah Graham as herself. 

The story is good up to a point but when Williams returns and reveals himself it kind of goes downhill to a unsatisfying conclusion. Director Arthur Lubin had directed Abbott & Costello's first 5 movies, then the big color remake of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943) and later THE SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES (1946). After IMPACT, he directed most of the “Francis, The Talking Mule” series.

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It Wasn't Final

 

 (imdb)

 

THE FINAL TERROR-1983-After a couple is killed a forest, a bunch of camp ranger jerks (including Adrian Zmed) go off on a trip with a few women (including Daryl Hannah and Rachel Ward) to clear a river. Although, the bus driver Egger (Joe Pantoliano) is an idiot who they all make fun of, he the only one who shows any concern for their safety but he has a reason…

Typically, dumb ‘80's slasher stuff, made in 81 but not released till 83, when some of the stars became more well known. Director Andrew Davis later made CODE OF SILENCE (1988) with Chuck Norris and two Steven Segal movies. In 1993, he made the big-budgeted Hollywood production THE FUGITIVE.

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Magically Murderous

 

 (themoviedatabase.org)

RED CLOVER-2012-Karen (Courtney Halverson) is attacked by something while hunting with her grandfather (William Devane). It seems Karen thinks she's under the curse of red clover and the Keening Leprechaun is responsible for some random deaths. The leprechaun was kidnapped by some Irish immigrants who used his pot of gold to be successful. Karen's father is an asshole policeman (Billy Zane) who looks like a total ditz wearing an Ed Norton-like hat and doesn't get along with granddad. The leprechaun causes pandemonium during a St. Patrick's Day parade and it kills nearly all of the main cast (most of them are jerks anyway). Nothing new. Directed by Drew Daywalt.

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Truffaut

 

THE BRIDE WORE BLACK-1968-A mysterious, alluring woman (Jeanne Moreau) kills several men seemingly at random. As the story progresses we learn her reasons why. Thanks to one guy's lying kid, the police arrest the wrong person but she clears her. Unusual suspense revenge tale with an interesting ending, co-written and directed by Francois Truffaut and based on a story by Cornell Woolrich (Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW was also based on one of his stories).

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Holmes And Hypnotism

 

THE WOMAN IN GREEN-1945-The head of the CID in London lectures his agents on their failure to find any clues in the seemingly random mur-ders of 3 women all missing a finger. After a fourth is killed, Inspector Gregson (Matthew Boulton) calls on Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone). After another murder, rich Sir George Fenick (Paul Cavanagh) wakes up in a strange house with no memory of how he got there after having a nightcap with his younger girlfriend Lydia Marlowe (Hillary Brooke). Then Prof. Moriarty (Henry Daniel) shows up and in a roundabout way accuses Fenick of being the murderer. Later, Holmes is visited by George's daug-hter Maud (Eve Amber). She says she saw her dad bury a box that contains a finger. 

They visit Sir George and find him dead. Holmes suspects Moriarty, who was supposed to have been hanged in Montevideo. The professor visits Holmes and tells the detective to drop out. Later, there's an attempt on Holmes' life. The assassin appears to be hypnotized. After he's killed, Holmes & Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) visit The Mesmer Club and a dis-believing Watson is hypnotized. Then Holmes formally meets Lydia who says “hypnotism is like a religion with me”. She tries to hypnotize Holmes and make him commit suicide. Of course, Lydia is in league with Moriarty, along with her maid and a crazy doll lover. 

This is the 11^th of the 14 Sherlock Holmes adaptations starring Rathbone and Bruce, again produced and directed by Roy William Neil. It's based on the Conan Doyle story “The Adventure of The Empty House”. Both Brooke and Daniel were in their second outing in the series.

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Ants In The Pantry

 

 (themoviedatabase)

ANT-MAN-2015-Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) quits the company he helped found after punching out one guy, Carson (Martin Donovan). Later Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), a balding grinning yuppie ass, who now runs the company is developing Yellow Jacket, a super small agent. Somehow, Pym sets up hacker criminal Scott Lang (Paul Rudd; also credited as one of the screenwriters) as the new Ant Man after he's fired from Haagen Daz. Pym has a love/hate relationship with his daughter Hope (the always annoying Evangeline Lilly). Lang learns to talk to different ant species and spars with Hope, who blames her dad (the original Ant Man) for the death of her mother (the original Wasp). Later, Lang meets The Falcon (Anthony Mackie) at Avengers HQ. Of course, he gets some insane unfunny ex-cons to help him. The finale sees Ant Man vs. Yellow Jacket (who looks like the super villain Scorpion turned into a Trans-former). Stan Lee has a cameo as a bartender. 

It has great sfx and action sequences but like so many “action” movies today it gets bogged down by back story bullshit. I'm not sure what qualified director Peyton Reed to helm such a project but he does hold it all together pretty well. It was followed by 2 sequels.

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