Curtis Threesome

 

 (imdb)

DEAD OF NIGHT-1977-TV movie trilogy by director Dan Curtis and screenwriter Richard Matheson, narrated by John Dehner. 

 In "Second Chance"-A guy named Frank (Ed Begley Jr.) restores an old car that had been in a car crash (killing two people) in 1926. While driving it on a back road, he's transported to 1926. His car is stolen and he's stranded but the next day he's back in his own time. He meets Helen (Christina Hart) and her father (EJ Andre) & mother (Ann Doran) who have the exact same car. It seems Frank may have changed the past. From a story by Jack Finney.

In the second story "No Such Thing As A Vampire"-Prof. Gheria (Patrick Macnee) calls on his friend Michael (Horst Bucholtz) to help his daughter Alexis (Anjanette Comer) who he says has been attacked by a vampire. Elisha Cook Jr. is his butler. This has a good twist ending. From a story by Matheson.

"Bobby"-A woman (Joan Hackett) uses witchcraft to try and bring back her dead son. He (Lee Montgomery) comes back but wants to murder mom. His "friend" shows up in the finale. Based on the WW Jacobs classic short story "The Monkey's Paw". 

Director Dan Curtis made this a year after the feature film BURNT OFFERINGS. It's very good (especially for TV) but is usually pushed aside in favor of his earlier anthology TRILOGY OF TERROR (1975). 

Thanks for reading!

Which Witch?

 

 (imdb)

THE WITCH-1966-Sergio (Richard Johnson; in KHARTOUM the same year) meets old lady Consuelo Lorente (Sarah Ferrati) who wants him to catalogue the manuscripts her dead husband wrote about her. When she has some kind of fainting spell Sergio meets her daughter Aura (Rosanna Schiaffino; MINOTAUR, THE WILD BEAST OF CRETE) who he falls for immediately, but a dead cat spoils their first meeting. Just when it seems like Sergio and Aura are going to get it on, they are interrupted by Fabrizio (Gian Maria Volente; FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE), the guy who Sergio has replaced, who is madly in love with Aura, who then suddenly rebuffs Sergio and tells him to leave. He talks to a female neighbor who tells him Lorente has no daughter. He returns to the apartment and has a fight with Fabrizio who's killed accidentally. 

Sergio must figure out what's going on just like the viewer in this very arty, stylish supernatural tale from a book by Carlos Fuentes. This Italian production was directed and co-written by Damiano Damiani who went on to make AMITTYVILLE ll: THE POSSESSION (1982) and many Italian based crime dramas.

Thanks for reading!

Do You Believe?

 

 (amazon.com)

BURN, WITCH, BURN! -1962-Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde), a college professor finds out his wife Tansy (Janet Blair) has been using voodoo she learned in Jamaica to make him successful. After he makes her burn all her charms and talismans, a female student accuses him of rape and a male student threatens him with a gun. After a weird episode at their home, Tansy is convinced Norman will die, so she decides to take his place. He frantically searches for her. She almost drowns herself but Norman saves her using the occult practices he doesn't believe in. Flora Carr (Margret Jackson), a vengeful college secretary seems to be behind it, using voodoo to destroy The Taylors because she feels her husband Lindsey (Colin Gordon) was passed over in flavor of Norman. The climax is good. 

Veteran sci-fi/horror writers Charles Beaumont & Richard Matheson (both worked on TV's The Twilight Zone) collaborated on the script (based on Fritz Leiber's “Conjure Wife”) for AIP's James Nicolson who later turned it over to their British affiliate Anglo-Amalgamated. They wanted Peter Cushing to star but he was busy. 

Director Sidney Hayers (CIRCUS OF HORRORS) does a competent job of holding everything together despite a low budget and provides some good scares. In the 1980's he came to the US and directed for TV. The Universal Pictures “Inner Sanctum” entry WEIRD WOMAN (1944) is also based on Leiber's story. Known in the UK as NIGHT OF THE EAGLE, the US version has a short prologue by Paul Frees.

 (wikipedia)

Thanks for reading!

PS: There was also a band in the early 2000's called "Burn Witch Burn" lead by "Dead Milken" lead singer Rodney Linderman. Their only release is great!

 (amazon.com)

She's A Witch! Burn Her!

 

 (imdb)

MARK OF THE WITCH-1970-A woman condemned as a witch curses her accusers. Then she's hanged. 

In the present, a college professor Mac (Robert Elston), has a group of students who study witchcraft, mainly as a lark. Jill (Anitra Walsh), a student who works at a bookstore, finds an ancient book and the group decides to summon a witch. It doesn't seem to work but Jill seems affected. The witch has possessed her and wants revenge. 

The psychedelic finale with abrupt twist ending is the best part of this talky supernatural low budget junk with bad acting. Director Tom Moore later directed RETURN TO BOGGY CREEK for Charles Pierce and was producer on several other projects for Pierce.

Thanks for reading!

Sign The Book

 

 (imdb)

THE UNDEAD-1957-After a sinister intro by The Devil (Richard Devon), a weird guy named Quintas Ratcliff (Val Dufour) returns from Tibet to confront his former teacher with his regression experiments. Quintas regresses hooker Diana (Pamela Duncan) to a past life in some medieval time when persecution of witches was trending. She finds herself a condemned witch named Elaine, locked in a dungeon awaiting execution. She escapes but is accidentally locked in a coffin (with a corpse played by Paul Blaisdell) by feeble gravedigger Smolen (Mel Welles). Meanwhile Pendragon (Richard Garland) searches for proof of Elaine's innocence. A woman named Livia (Allison Hayes) pretends to care but is really a witch with imp companion (Bobby Barty) who's after Pendragon's heart. 

(Metaphorically speaking…).

 After Smolen frees Elaine from the coffin she meets Maud (Dorothy Neumann), a kind of witch who hides Elaine and tells Pendragon. Maud then challenges Livia. Bruno VeSota plays a pub owner who's decapitated. When Quintas realizes he's changed the past he goes back to try and fix things up. Livia convinces Pendragon the only way to help Elaine is to make a pact with the devil but Qunitas now a knight who somehow the devil knows dissuades Pendragon from signing. But if Elaine doesn't die by dawn all her future lives will cease to be. Will she submit to the executioner's axe? And what of Quintas? Will he make it back to the present? Dick Miller appears in one scene as a leper. 

This is a great low budget AIP production directed of course by Roger Corman with a lot of flair and imagination. There's some nice SFX and spooky settings. Screenwriters Charles Griffin and Mark Hanna also collaborated on Corman's best sci-fi/horror film NOT OF THIS EARTH the same year. Corman also made ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS in '57, written by Griffin and and starring Garland and Duncan.

Thanks for reading!

More '50's Madness!

THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE-1958-In this crazy, creepy Universal International horror film a young woman named Jessica (Carolyn Kearney) works on her Aunt Flavia's farm, mostly divining for water. One day while searching for a well she discovers an ancient chest buried by Sir Francis Drake. Gordon Hawthrone (William Reynolds) shows a lot of interest in the chest (and in Jessica) and thinks it might be a valuable artifact. Flavia (Peggy Converse) thinks only about it's monetary value. Gordon leaves to fetch archaeologist Julian Ash (Forrest Lewis). Meanwhile two ranch hands the mean Boyd (James Anderson) and the dumb but powerful Mike (Charles Horvath) decide to open the chest and take whatever is inside. To their surprise, instead of gold or jewels they find the still alive head of Gideon Drew an evil satanist with special powers. It immediately makes Mike kill Boyd. In a flashback we learn that Gideon (Robin Hughes) was so powerful no one could look him in the eye without coming under his control. Only a special medallion could control him (Gordon found it earlier and gave it to Jessica to wear around her neck). For his heinous crimes a Galleon Captain (Thomas B Henry) has him beheaded with his head put in a separate grave from his body. Back in the present Gideon's head makes Linda (Andra Martin), another woman staying at the ranch, his slave (she puts his head in a hat box). Later it takes over Jessica, changing her whole personality and making the others dig up Gideon's body. When head and body are reconnected it seems like the small party is doomed but the medallion destroys the foul one in the nick of time.

THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE was one of two feature length films producer/director Will Cowan made 1958. The other was a rock and roll story called THE BIG BEAT which featured several actors from THTCD. They were his only features. Before that he made many musical subject shorts. For a guy who had directed Nat King Cole, Herb Jeffries and The Mills Brothers I'd say Cowan did a hell of a job with THING, even providing an eerie flashback. Making a horror film must have been his ultimate goal because it's the last thing he did movie wise. He died in 1994. 

Star William Reynolds had been in CULT OF THE COBRA and THE LAND UNKNOWN and later co-starred in THE FBI on TV. Co-star Carolyn Kearney was in many TV shows in the 50's and 60's including the very memorable episode of THRILLER called “The Incredible Doktor Markesan” with Boris Karloff and Dick York. James Anderson usually played an outlaw in westerns but had been in Arch Obler's FIVE and gave a good performance in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD a few years later. Of course Robin Hughes is fairly terrifying as the severed head. Hughes showed up in many films around this time THE MOLE PEOPLE, THE MAZE, DIAL M FOR MURDER, even an uncredited role in the Bowery Boys comedy PARIS PLAYBOYS! But to a lot of THE TWILIGHT ZONE fans he'll always be remembered as the Devil incarnate in the episode “The Howling Man”.

Thanks for reading!

Witchcraft in Spain

THE WITCHES MOUNTAIN-1975-In a pre-credit scene a woman comes home to find her cat dead in her bed. A little girl seems to be the culprit. She bosses the woman and runs around looking for Kiki which turns out to be her pet snake. Then the woman sets the place on fire. After the credits, a pompous photojournalist Mario (Cihangir Gaffani) blows off his girlfriend's romantic expressions and gets a new assignment. For some reason he takes photos of a woman named Delia (Patty Shepard; born in South Carolina) sunbathing topless on a beach. They have lunch and he invites her to go with him on his new assignment. After refusing she changes her mind and agrees to go. While waiting for her he hears some loud chanting like music. Later they stay overnight at an inn run by a guy who's hard of hearing. The next day they go to the mountains and their car is stolen. They find the car in a village where an old woman offers to let them stay overnight. While taking photos Mario sees a line of women with torches parading around. The old woman says they are witches. Some of them show up on the photos he took although they weren't there when he took them. Finally, the witches show up, dance around and capture the pair. Mario escapes. He meets up with Delia later somehow and they drive away but when they stop, she’s recaptured. Mario drives back to his swinging bachelor pad only to be confronted once again by the coven of witches of which Carla, the woman he spurned at the beginning is a member. 

This Spanish production directed by Rene Artigot moves along at a snail's pace and is sometimes too dark. The best thing about it is Mario's over sized 1970’s porno star style mustache!

Thanks for reading!

Tamara

 

TAMARA-2005-A high school student named Tamara (Jena Dewan Tatum) is bullied and disliked by her classmates. Her father doesn't treat her much better. In her spare time she practices witchcraft. After some (typical) moronic students play a prank on her in a hotel room she's accidentally killed. Even though one of the girls involved wants to come clean, the others blackmail her to keep quiet and bury the body. Much to everyone's surprise the next day Tamara shows up in class. Apparently she's come back for revenge! In a cringe worthy scene she makes a nerd cut off his ear, part of his tongue then stab himself in the eye. She makes her pervert father eat beer bottles and makes two male jocks have sex together. Then she makes one of their bulimic girlfriends puke up her guts and eat her own fingers. The two remaining teens get help from a teacher Tamara has a crush on. She sends the two jocks to kill the teacher's wife in a scene that goes on way too long (the wife kills both jocks). It really gets ridiculous when Tamara terrorizes what's left of the cast in a hospital devoid of doctors, nurses and patients. The teacher sacrifices himself to destroy Tamara but they forget about one other person...

As back from the dead for revenge flicks go this isn't too bad but like most modern day horror stories it's too long and runs out of steam relaying on long chases and pointless secondary side stories. Director Jeremy Haft directed some video games after this and according to at least one source is writing the screenplay for a film bio of late rapper Tupac Shakur.

Bava and Steele

BLACK SUNDAY-1960-This was Italian horror master Mario Bava's directorial debut. In 1630, Asa Vajda (Barbara Steele) along with her lover Javuto (Arturo Dominici) is about to be burned as a witch, condemned by her own brother. Before this happens she lays a curse on the brother and all his descendants. Then a spiked metal mask is nailed on to her face! Two hundred years later, two doctors are travelling to a medical conference. Dr. Kurvanjan (Andrea Checchi)) and his younger assistant Andre (John Richardson, later in ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.) stop to investigate the tomb where the burned witch was buried after their wagon breaks a wheel. Kurvanjan kills an attacking bat but some of his blood drips into the tomb. Later they meet Katia (also Steele) who lives with her father Prince Vajda (Ivo Garrani) and her brother Constantine in a near by castle. Of course they are related to the ancestors of the witch and even have a haunting painting of her hanging over a fireplace. Revived by the doctor's blood Asa contacts Javuto to kill the old prince who saves himself by brandishing a cross but seems to lose his mind. A servant is dispatch to fetch Dr. Kurvanjan but instead the creepy Javuto picks him up and takes him to Asa's tomb where he becomes her slave and promptly goes to the castle and kills the prince. Andre investigates when Kurvanjan and Javuto plan to kidnap Katia and use her blood to revive Vajda! Andre teams with a local priest to try and stop Vajda's evil plan. And when the poor prince returns to life and tries to drink his daughter's blood Javuto throws him in the fireplace! Vajda pulls a switcheroo that almost causes Andre to kill Katia but torch bearing villagers led by priest prevail and once again burn the witch.

Before this Bava's only work as a director was un-credited but he was a cinematographer on many productions before and after BLACK SUNDAY (which he also photographed). Bava packs the film with lots of eerie scenes and macabre sets.

This film made England born Barbara Steele a horror icon. The next year she went  to American and co-starred in Roger Corman's THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM with Vincent Price and was on an episode of TV's ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS. She returned to Italy to make THE HORRIBLE DR. HITCHCOCK and other horror films (and Fellini's 81/2...). It's based on a story by Russian author Gogol.

Thanks for reading!

Dead Cyclists

PSYCHOMANIA-1973-This starts off with a motorcycle gang riding through graveyard in slow motion while the credits play. Then the gang, called "The Living Dead" and led by Tom (Nicky Henson) drive a car off the road, killing the driver. ("Teach him a lesson. Blow his mind!"). Later Tom makes out with his girlfriend Abby (Mary Larkin) on a grave. He talks about them killing themselves and takes home a frog he finds. At home he talks to his mother (Beryl Reid) about a room that will help him come back to life after he's dead. Their butler Shadwell (George Sanders) hangs around too and offers Tom a medallion to protect him when he's in the room. Tom goes into the room and nearly freaks out but in a smoky mirror he sees a giant frog and what appears to be his mom selling him to a figure all dressed in black. He promptly faints. After he recovers he and his gang really cause a lot of trouble in town. After a high speed police chase Tom drives his motorcycle off a bridge and dies. His friends bury him (sitting on his motorcycle) in a place where some witches were killed while a guy sings a song ("Riding Free"). Later Tom rides out of his grave and kills a gas station attendant. He picks up a girl but later kills her too. He convinces most of the gang to commit suicide so so they all can enjoy being un-dead. Unfortunately Abby doesn't want to die. She pretends to be dead but Tom won't buy that and decides to kill her. His mom decides to break the spell by turning herself into a toad. Tom decomposes before Abby's eyes (a terrible effect) as do all the other un-dead members. Robert Hardy is also featured as a police inspector. The gang members have names like Hatchet, Gash, Hinky and Chopped Meat.

Director Don Sharp (RASPUTIN-THE MAD MONK) can't do much with this dumb premise and the whole thing is pretty much a bore. The bikers don't do much more than any living bikers would do but it was nice to see the great George Saunders (sadly in his last role; ironically he committed suicide before the movie was released) try to bring some dignity to this stupid production.

Thanks for reading

"Acting is like roller-skating. Once you know how to do it, 
it is neither stimulating nor exciting"-George Sanders

Silent Demons

HAXAN: WITCHCRAFT THROUGH THE AGES-1922-Another incredible silent movie!

Although it purports to be a documentary and there is a narrator who uses various pictures and charts to tell the story this in reality is a great horror film!!

Told in several episodes it traces the history of witchcraft, witch burning and how confessions were coerced from the witnesses and victims. Mind blowing scenes of hell include scary demons, a baby sacrifice and worshipers literally kissing the devil's ass. It's depictions explaining the various ways of torture are graphic for the time. Pretty shocking stuff for 1922! No wonder it was banned in the US and heavily censored in other countries.

This Danish production was the brainchild of Benjamin Christensen (who portrays the devil) a contemporary of fellow countryman the great Carl Theodor Dreyer (who made his own witchcraft trial movie in 1943). Two slightly different versions appeared later. One in 1968 had added narration by William S. Burroughs. Director Christensen later came to the US and made MOCKERY, a film about the Russian revolution, often considered one of Lon Chaney's weakest MGM films. After several other misfires he returned to his native Denmark.

Thanks for reading!

Somehow They Finished It

EYE OF THE DEVIL-1966-David Niven plays Philippe de Montfaucon who returns to his family vineyard at Castle Bellenac to help when the crops fail. He leaves his wife Catherine (Deborah Kerr) and children behind but they soon follow and Catherine sees many strange things including a weird ceremony involving the killing of a dove. Later she is menaced by Odile de Caray (Sharon Tate with dubbed voice) and her bow and arrow toting brother Christian (David Hemmings). Donald Pleasance is the "out there" priest who talks mysteriously and watches while Philippe whips Odile after she nearly kills Catherine Flora Robson is Philippe's "I don't want to be involved anymore" sister. Later Catherine is terrorized in the woods by some cloaked figures. After Philippe drugs her and padlocks her in her room, she escapes and discovers a family secret involving witchcraft, pagan rituals and murder although the real culprit seems to be be madness. Edward Mulhare has a small role as a family friend.

EYE is alright for a while but it's drawn out and talky at times. Niven seems to be sleep walking through the whole thing. It seems to have been inspired in part by Henry James and may have had an influence on the later THE WICKER MAN.

Originally Kim Novak was cast as Catherine and most of her scenes were finished however production was shut down when she left the film. One story is she was injured when she fell off a horse. Another says she had a falling out with the producer Martin Ransohoff. Whatever, Deborah Kerr was hired and all of Novak's scenes were re-shot. Michael Anderson (AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS) started the film then was replaced by Sidney Furie and Arthur Hiller. Credited director J. Lee Thompson finished it. Some prints say 13 (the film's original title) at the end.

Kerr and Niven were reunited the next year in CASINO ROYALE.

Thanks for reading!

Fontaine's Last Stand

THE WITCHES-(THE DEVIL'S OWN)-1966-Gwen Mayfield (Oscar winner Joan Fontaine in her last feature film role and still alive at the time of this writing) is a school teacher still recovering from an occult experience in Africa who goes to teach at a school in a small English town. Everyone seems to like her despite some oddballs like Alan Bax (Alec McCowen) who wears a priest's collar despite not being a priest. She becomes friends with Allan's sister Stephanie (Kay Walsh), a writer. After some mysterious goings on involving 2 teenagers and some disappearances Gwen has another breakdown and is sent to a hospital/nursing home. The doctor there (Leonard Rossiter) seems to be keeping her a prisoner....or is he? She later escapes and finds out the town's secret. Witchcraft is to blame and a young girl is to be a sacrifice!

This partnership between 7 Arts and Hammer films isn't as bad as I've sometimes read it's suppose to be though there's not a lot of action and in a way it's fairly easy to figure out the character who's behind it all. The devil worshipers do a really wild dance and there are some very haunting native masks. Screenplay (adapted from a novel by Norah Lofts, a female writer who sometimes wrote under the pen name Peter Curtis)) is by Nigel Kneale who wrote 2 of the Quatermass TV series and FIRST MEN IN THE MOON among other films. Director Cyril Frankel did a lot of BBC TV shows.

According to some sources the book's rights were purchased by Fontaine herself who brought the project to Hammer.

Thanks for reading!

Early American Haunting

AN AMERICAN HAUNTING-2005-A teenage girl has recurring nightmares. Her mom reads a letter written by her ancestor in 1817. It tells the story of John Bell (Donald Sutherland) who is admonished by his church in a land dispute with a woman said to be a witch. Believing she has been treated unfairly she puts a curse on John and his family. Later his daughter Betsey (Rachel Hurd-Wood) is terrorized by an unseen force. She's thrown around, suspended in mid-air and slapped. She gets very mean and aggressive and seems possessed. A disbelieving school teacher (James D'Arcy, also in EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING around the same time) tries to help and soon is a believer.

This was the second feature made by director Courtney Solomon. He later served as producer on movies like the execrable CAPTIVITY and the forgettable UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: REGENERATION. But unlike most horror movies these days, he uses a minimum of gory effects relying more on lighting, mood, fast paced scenes, competent acting and a non-supernatural ending.

Though AN AMERICAN HAUNTING is based on a novel by Brent Monahan, there is also an incident purported to have happened in the 19^th century and chronicled in a book called “An Authentic History of The Bell Witch” published in 1891 by someone named Martin Van Buren Ingram. However historians today believe it is more legend than fact.

Thanks for reading!

Whatever Happened to Emby Mellay?

Halloween seems to have passed me by!

TOUCH OF SATAN-1971-In a pre-credit sequence a deformed old lady (Jeanne Gerson) kills a rural police officer. Later a guy named Jodie (Michael Berry) is traveling to California when he turns into a road and stops to eat his lunch by a lake. There he meets Melissa (Emby Mellay in her only movie). She talks about her father's walnut farm and then invites Jodie for dinner. Her parents don't exactly seem enthused to see him and talk mysteriously about what Melissa can and can't do. When Jodie agrees to stay the night he meets grandma Lucinda, the same disfigured old lady from before who clutches a doll and mumbles a lot. When Jodie and Melissa go to town for groceries and get a cold reception from some fellow shoppers, Melissa says it's because she's a witch!

Flashbacks (featuring perennial hillbilly Robert Easton) reveal the truth. In the 1870's Melissa made a pact with the devil to save her sister (the deformed old hag Lucinda) from being burned at the stake. When Lucinda kills another cop things kind of get weird for Jodie who refuses to believe the story. He finds out the truth in the twist finale.

This is a pretty low budget outing but I kind of liked it. It's full of unanswered questions and strange dialogue (like Melissa suddenly saying "This is where the fish lives" while looking at the lake) and although it's mostly talk it doesn't really drag as the running time is fairly short.

Director Don Henderson also made THE BABYSITTER and WEEKEND WITH THE BABYSITTER. The old age make-up was provided by Joe Blasco who later did early Cronenberg and ILSA movies.

I'm not sure if it's available on DVD but Mystery Science Theater has used it, where a lot of people learned about it. I first saw it on late night TV in the early '80's.

Thanks for reading!

Philippine Horror

DAUGHTERS OF SATAN-1972-In this Philippines shot horror film, a guy (Tom Selleck) brings home a painting of three witches. His wife Chris (Barra Grant) resembles one of them and seems bent on suddenly killing him. She toys with a dagger when his back is turned and almost suffocates him with some burning gas. A doctor (Vic Silayan) tries to convince hubby that his wife is possessed. The picture comes to life and shows the witches actually being burned at the stake. Later Chris is hung topless above some spikes and whipped by the head of a coven.

There's too much talk and the acting by the two leads isn't very good. The ending is dumb too. It does features Vic Diaz, a comedian who played villains in many Philippine productions. Director Hollingsworth Morse made very few movies but did lots of TV episodes including F-TROOP, HR PUFNSTUF and MARCUS WELBY.

Thanks for reading!

Was This Ever In A Theater Near You?

THE WOODS-2006-A problem teenager named Heather (Agnes Bruckner) is sent by her parents (Emma Campbell and Bruce Campbell) to a mysterious girls school run by Patricia Clarkson (who whispers a lot). Besides having trouble with the usual bullies and strict rules Heather sees a ghost and learns the legend of three witches who once emerged from the foreboding woods that surround the school.

This spooky story features some very weird SFX and although a little talky it’s entertaining and has a few twists. With all the crap thrown in theaters these days I was surprised to read that it took 3 years to get it released! Director Lucky McKee had previously made a horror film I like a lot called MAY. T

hanks for reading!

The Third Mother

MOTHER OF TEARS-THE THIRD MOTHER-2007-This very mean spirited movie from Dario Argento is the third part of his “3 Mothers” trilogy that started years ago with SUSPIRA and continued with INFERNO. This makes about as much sense as it predecessors but is ten times gorier.

One woman is disemboweled, strangled with her own intestines and then eaten. A creepy bald guy with a pet monkey tortures two lesbians in a very nasty scene.

When an ancient urn is opened at a Rome museum it unleashes Mater Larimore (The Third Mother) which unleashes a horde of murders, suicides, rapes and other violent acts. Asia Argento (not the best actress in the whole world but the director’s daughter) is the museum worker Sarah Mandy trying to figure it all out. Some weird women run around the city chasing her. Udo Keir (who was also in Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN remake the same year) plays a sickly priest with a courtyard full of exorcism cases who tries to explain things but suffers a bloody death. Daria Nicolodi (Asia’s real life mom and Dario’s wife) plays Sarah’s dead mother who tries to help from beyond the grave. It all has to do with the second coming of witches.

While the acting and dialogue are weak like the previous two entries it’s Argento’s directing style that really make the film. Too bad he went over the top with the violence and gore. Great soundtrack by Claudio Simonetti.

Thanks for reading!

Rotten Cotten

THE HEARSE-1980-Jane (Trish Van Devere) goes to live at her late aunt’s mansion after an emotional divorce. Most of the townsfolk take an instant dislike to her. Joseph Cotton is the unfriendly real estate agent. A hearse seems to follow Jane around and after reading the aunt’s diary (she was involved in witchcraft) she begins to have weird dreams. She meets an urbane guy named Tom (David Gautreaux) and they have an affair but he has a secret. I’m not exactly sure what to make of the ending. With Donald Hotton as a strange reverend, Donald Petrie and Perry Lang. 

This was one of the last roles for the distinguished Cotton who was also in Michael Cimino’s infamous HEAVEN’S GATE the same year. Director George Bowers was also a film editor.

Thanks for reading!

There Are Several Movies By This Name. Here's One of Them...

SUPERSTITION-1982-This is a very weird low budget movie about a witch condemned to death in the 1700’s who seems to return to the present day to extract revenge on the descendents of the town where it happened. A police inspector (Albert Salmi) and a priest in street clothes (James Houghton) investigate. Many people are killed including a young kid and an older priest (Stacey Keach Sr.). An old woman who may be a witch keeps warning the priest about performing a ritual. In the end the priest must fight a clawed demon with a cross and everyone dies.

Director James W. Roberson was a cinematographer on many films and also made THE LEGEND OF ALFRED PACKER and THE GIANT OF THUNDER MOUNTAIN.
T
hanks for reading!