Killdozer!

 

KILLDOZER!-1974-Somewhere on the African coast a meteorite crashes at a demolition site. Foreman Kelly (Clint Walker) tries to bulldozer it and co-worker McCarthey (Robert Urich) is badly burned. When he dies the other workers Dutch (James Wainwright), Dennis (Carl Betz), Beltran (James Watson) and Chub (Neville Brand) blame Kelly. But it seems some alien force has taken over the dozer and it operates independently destroying their radio and crushing Watson who tries to get away by hiding in a metal pipe straight out of a cartoon. Kelly refuses to admit anything is amiss despite witnessing both incidents but Dennis believes there's more to it. When he brings Kelly around the dozer destroys their camp and they head for higher ground. Dutch begins to lose his mind. When Kelly and Dennis are the last survivors they devise a plan to destroy it but will anyone believe them when it's over? 

Better than THE CAR and MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (and probably the influence for King's short story “Trucks”). It's based on a novel by Theodore Sturgeon who also co-wrote the screenplay. This enjoyable TV movie was directed by prolific TV director Jerry London and has gained a cult following over the years.

Hey, true believer! It was also a Marvel comic!

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There's A Riot Going On

RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11-1956-In this Allied Artist documentary style prison uprising film, prisoners Dunn (Neville Brand) and Crazy Mike (Leo Gordon) lead a prison revolt for better conditions. A former colonel (Robert Osterloh) helps them with their list of grievances while the warden (Emile Meyer) lock horns with a callous senator (Frank Faylen). When Dunn is injured the sadistic Mike takes over and the cons begin fighting among themselves. Eventually Dunn wins his case with the approval of the governor (Thomas B Henry) but it's overturned and Dunn faces 30 more years in stir. “Still there are small steps forward” says the narrator. 

Alvy Moore, Whit Bissell, Paul Frees, Dabbs Greer and William Phipps are some of the other prisoners. 

 Screenwriter Richard Collins also wrote THE CULT OF THE COBRA and was blacklisted for a while. Later he worked mostly in TV. Director Don Siegel made this 2 years before his classic THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS.

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War Is Crazy

5 GATES TO HELL-1959-Vietnam (French Indo China) 1950 is the setting for this crazy little war film!

More exploitation than propaganda, it tells the tale of a international medical team that's captured by some Asian rebels who want the doctor (Ken Scott) of the group to "heal" their dying leader. Second in command Chen Pamok (Neville Brand speaking pidgin English but not made up to look Asian!) takes a fancy to nurse Athena (Dolores Michaels) while the rest of the women (including THE FLY's Patricia Owens, Nobu McCarthy, future BEVERLY HILLBILLIES co-star Nancy Kulp and nun Shirley Knight) are abused by the army. The group (there's one other "western" male played by John Morley) stages an uprising where it seems Chen is killed but so are the doctors. The women escape but Chen somehow survives and pursues them. The women eventually have to fight it out in the climax.

Benson Fong hangs around as Chen's leering assistant. Irish McCalla (same year as SHE DEMONS) has a small role as a nun who's crucified (basically shown off screen).

5 was written produced and directed by James Clavell who later became much more famous for his novels like SHOGUN. He had written the screenplay to THE FLY and later directed TO SIR WITH LOVE. Some close-ups seem out of place but where else are you going to see TV's Miss Hathaway wearing an army helmet and fooling around with a grenade?

Thanks once again to my pal Tony for getting this to me and thanks to anyone who reads this!

Eaten Alive!

EATEN ALIVE-1977-This was director Tobe Hooper’s follow up movie after THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. It was written by the same screenwriter, Kim Henkel and features one of it‘s stars. It didn’t get too wide of a release and was not nearly as well known as it’s predecessor. The first scene features Robert Englund as a john wanting anal sex. Not the best way to start off a movie…

Neville Brand stars a Jed, a mumbling drug addict with a fake leg who owns a motel/crocodile farm. After his attempted rape of a runaway whore (Crystin Sinclair) fails, he stabs her with a rake and feeds her to his “crocs”. A weird couple (William Finley and Marilyn Burns) and their daughter stay in a room after their dog is eaten. They argue a lot and act strange. After Jed kills the father and ties the mother to a bed he terrorizes the daughter with a scythe (she hides under the house to escape him). Meanwhile Mel Ferrer searches for his missing daughter (the first victim) and a hick sheriff (Stuart Whitman) investigates. Carolyn Jones is almost unrecognizable as Miss Matty, the owner of the local whorehouse. Jed feels nearly everyone to his crocs.

Despite Brand’s manic performance and a pretty whacked out climax EATEN ALIVE it isn’t that good! It’s drawn out and cheap looking but the excellent lighting and music help.

After this Hooper’s career kind of took an unfortunate nosedive, as he was replaced on two movies (THE DARK and VENOM) and although he has the director’s credit on POLTERGEIST it’s considered that Steven Spielberg directed most of it. He did manage to make a decent TV adaptation of Stephen King’s ’SALEM’S LOT but this was followed by disappointing features like THE FUNHOUSE, LIFEFORCE, a remake of INVADERS FROM MARS and finally TCSM-2. Lately he’s done TV episodes and another remake, THE TOOLBOX MURDERS. As for this writing he’s suppose direct a version of another King novel, FROM A BUICK 8.

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