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!

Blackout

BLACKOUT-2007-In this Philippines based drama a landlord named Gil (Robin Padilla) suffers from seemingly alcoholic blackouts, He lives in a dingy apartment with his young son after his wife has left them. One night it seems he has killed his neighbor's young daughter while driving. Reality seems to blur for Gil. This is really not a horror film. It's more like a eerie psychological study on alcoholism directed by Ato Bautista.

Thanks for reading!

What a Town!

A TOWN CALLED PANIC-2009-This is a very crazy and imaginative animation from Belgium. A plastic toy Indian (called Indian) and a plastic toy cowboy (called Cowboy) decide to build a brick barbeque as a birthday present for their friend Horse (a plastic toy horse). This begins their troubles as the stupid duo destroys their house (after having a strange birthday party for Horse). They try to re-build it but someone steals their walls. It turns out some underwater creatures are the culprits and the trio goes after them. Along the way they are nearly burned at the Earth's core and held prisoners by 3 mad scientists with incredible strength who operate a snowball making robot. If you want to see animated horses dance, play the piano and a work a computer this is the movie for you. It's based on an earlier TV version.
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hanks for reading!

More K-Horror

Wow! I've been busy doing "things" in the real world. But I have watched a lot of movies so here I go again!




DARK FOREST (OF DEATH)-2006-More horror craziness from South Korean. A mother tells her daughter about passing on a curse and then deliberately causes a car accident that kills the mother. A few years later the daughter and some friends go camping in the woods and encounter some evil spirits that kill most of campers and reanimates them to kill who's left alive.

Obviously inspired by THE EVIL DEAD this was the last installment of a series called "4 Horror Tales". It's very gory and drawn out. The finale where the last two survivors are terrorized seems to go on forever!
The director Jeong-min Kim uses split screen, freeze frames, fast cuts and some shots through a camcorder but basically it's still just the "campers getting killed by an unknown killer" premise done to death (no pun intended) by the end of the 1980's!

Thanks for reading!

Where's The Wolf?

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF-1944-In this Universal quickie Dr. Morris (Fritz Leiber), curator of a famous museum has discovered the secret of their top attraction the mysterious Marie Latour . Her daughter (Nina Foch who was in THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE with Lugosi the same year) lives with a band of gypsies and can turn into a werewolf whenever she seeks to silence anyone who knows the truth. Morris' son (Stephen Crane, a fairly catatonic actor. It doesn't surprise me he only made 3 movies!) and his girlfriend Elsa (Osa Massen) investigate while a police lieutenant (Barton McLane) refuses to believe the supernatural goings-on. Blanche Yurka is a mysterious gypsy leader and John Abbott has a small role as a tour guide who loses his mind ("Much to be seen, more to be heard and plenty to imagine"). It's mostly talk and the wolf is rarely seen but it's only 63 minutes long and McLane's wisecracking cop is a highlight. Milton Parsons has one scene as a talkative funeral director and Ray Teal is an (un-credited) cop.

CRY OF THE WEREWOLF was Henry Levin's directorial debut. He made other low budget quickies but later "graduated" to bigger things like JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH and THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM as well as two Matt Helm movies starring Dean Martin.

Thanks for reading and once again thanks to my pal Tony for finding this!

The Mountains are Killers

KILLER MOUNTAIN-2011-After a research team disappears on a mysterious mountain in Bhutan, a climbing expert (Aaron Douglas) leads a rescue squad to find them (his wife is among the missing). After several bad decisions the four remaining members wind up kind of stranded on the mountain while the missing wife has her own adventure. Meanwhile a phony computer generated centipede like monster terrorizes everyone. It's all a plot by a dying doctor to find the lost city of Shambala.

Director Sheldon Wilson directed lots of other nonsense that's played on the SYFY channel like SNOWMAGEDDON.

Thanks to my buddy Tony for giving me this and thanks to you all for reading!

Perry Mason

THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE-1935-Attorney Perry Mason (Warren William) is ready to go on vacation to China when an old friend named Rhoda (Margaret Lindsey) wants his help. It seems Rhoda thought her husband was dead and re-married. Turns out she was wrong and now hubby number one has returned and is blackmailing her. When he winds up dead Perry really gets involved. This very entertaining film has a clever script and great performances. Clare Dodd is Della Street and Allen Jenkins is Mason's right hand man, Spudsy. Olin Howlin is his wise cracking coroner friend. Also with Barton McLane, Donald Woods, Warren Hymer and Errol Flynn in one of his earliest roles (he appears in a short flashback toward the end of the story).

Almost forgotten today Warren William was a big star in his (relatively short) time. He also portrayed The Lone Wolf and Philo Vance and was in the second version of "The Maltese Falcon" called SATAN MET A LADY. This was one of 4 Perry Mason stories he made. He died in 1948 at the age of 53.

Director Michael Curtiz made THE WALKING DEAD starring Boris Karloff the next year.
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hanks for reading!