Bloodhound?

DRACULA'S DOG-1997- In this strange horror movie some Romanian soldiers unearth a vampire tomb and Count Dracula's pet dog Zoltan escapes. The pooch also frees Veidt (Reggie Nalder), the count's human servant. He and the demon dog go to California to make a guy named Michael Drake (Michael Pataki) their "new master". While Mike and his family are on a camping trip Viedt has Zoltan terrorize the family by making their dogs (including a puppy) into dog-pires! Later an inspector (Jose Ferrer) shows up to help and he and Michael are attacked in their cabin. Somehow the inspector overpowers Veidt and kills him with a stake. Michael is attacked  by the pack but the inspector and 2 hunters save him. In the weird finale Michael reveals his cross to Zoltan and the dog falls off a cliff impaled on a fence. But the evil puppy lives! 

This crazy canine caper is more bizarre than bad. The screenplay was written by Frank Ray Perilli (also an actor) who also penned the soft core porno movie CINDERELLA (directed by DOG'S star Pataki) the same year. Albert Band (who produced CINDERELLA) directed.

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S Seven Times

SSSSSSS!-1973-A scientist working with snakes, Dr. Stoner (Strother Martin) hires college student David (Dirk Benidict) to help him with his experiments after his original helper "quit suddenly". When not experimenting with his reptilian pets Stoner gives exhibitions with a king cobra assisted by his daughter Kristina (Heather Menzies). Stoner of course has an ulterior motive in his hiring of the cheerful David. He wants to turn him into an intelligent king cobra!  While David and Kristina kind of fall in love, Stoner gets revenge on a college bully (Reb Brown) who killed his pet snake and a former colleague (Richard B. Schull) who discovers his secret. In the confused abrupt climax: Kristina discovers dad's former assistant is now a serpent man in a side show run by Tim O'Connor. David turns into a real snake. Stoner seems to want it to fight the real king cobra but he's bitten to death. The sheriff (Jack Ging) shoots the cobra. David-snake is killed by a mongoose. Kristina arrives too late to do anything and upon seeing her beloved mangled by the mongoose lets out a scream which is freeze framed for the final scene.

S X7 isn't bad and it's helped by the great character actor Strother Martin in the lead role. The story doesn't make a whole lot of sense especially when at one point Stoner warns his daughter not to have sex with David when it's already apparent they have. This little tidbit seems forgotten later. He doesn't elaborate on it so maybe Kristina may become a snake herself. We'll never know...

Director Bernard Kowalski used real venomous snakes which had the cast rather nervous. Probably the worst thing about the movie is the title!

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The 3 Mesquiteers

RIDERS OF WHISTLING SKULL-1937-In this strange western 3 cow pokes Stoney Brook (Robert Livingston), Tucson Smith (Ray “Crash” Corrigan) and Lullaby Joslin (Max Terhune) known collectively as "The Three Mesquiteers" help Betty Marsh (Mary Russell) locate her missing archaeologist father (John Van Pelt) who's disappeared while investigating a secret cave and a lost Indian tribe. After several battles with hostile Indians the group finds professor Marsh being held prisoner in the cave because he won't spill the beans about a hidden treasure to a half breed named Rutledge (Roger Williams). In the cave they seem to encounter a living mummy. Before Smith is "sacrificed" he's saved by his buddies who also cause an avalanche that destroys the bad guys. Lullaby also has dummy named Elmer. With all the talk about hieroglyphics, maps, lost tribes, it seems more like a forerunner of the much later Jungle Jim series than a western! 

This weird western was directed by Mack Wright who'd made THE SINGING COWBOY with Gene Autry and the bizarre serial ROBINSON CRUSOE OF CLIPPER ISLAND. He did more work as assistant or second unit director and was also an actor.

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Death Row

CELL 2455, DEATH ROW-1955-Little juvenile delinquent Whit Whitter (R. Wright Campbell) grows up to become a full fledged murdering thug (William Campbell; Wright's real older brother) gaining fame as the vicious "red light bandit", pistol whipping men and molesting women at local lover's lanes. The smug and unrepentant Witter is eventually arrested and sentenced to death. He wages a successful effort to win stays of execution on death row. It's based on the then well known book by death row denizen Caryl  Chessman (who was executed in 1960 for similar crimes; at the time he was the longest serving death row inmate) although the character's name is changed (Whittier was Chessman's middle name) and a disclaimer says the whole thing is a work of fiction. 

Less workman like than other outings by the prolific Fred Sears, it is unusual for a film at the time to spotlight such a slimy character in a kind of “justice story”. Today most lead characters in movies are slimy assholes you couldn't give two shits about and they are usually the heroes!

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Inner Sanctum

CALLING DR. DEATH-1943-First of the "Inner Sanctum" series from Universal with Lon Chaney (who starred in all of them) as Mark Steele, a successful doctor who uses hypnotism to cure patients. Unfortunately his success doesn't extend to his marriage with his bitchy philandering wife Maria (Ramsey Ames). When wifey goes away for the weekend sans hubby he goes after her. Later he wakes up in his office and can't remember where he's been. Maria winds up dead and a smug police inspector Gregg (J. Carroll Nash) suspects the doc even when they pick up Maria's boy toy Duvall (David Bruce) for the murder. Much of Chaney's dialogue is stream of consciousness over dubbing. He is sweet on his nurse Stella (Patricia Morison) and she helps him hypnotize himself but that doesn't really help. After a while he and nurse Stella declare their love but doc seems to be losing his mind. Is it guilt? However Steele uses his hypnotism to find the real killer in a surreal dream induced flashback (with some clever effects). 

CALLING DR. DEATH tries hard to be a psychological mystery and director Reginald Le Borg sort of succeeds but despite some nice dreamy touches and good acting the short running time has the story going along a little too quickly. The most memorable scene though might be the opening where “the spirit of the Inner Sanctum” introduces the story. It's an actor's head (David Hoffman) in a crystal ball talking in a weird voice. 

Screenwriter Edward Dein wrote many murder mysteries in the 1940's and later directed THE LEECH WOMAN, SHACKOUT ON 101 and CURSE OF THE UNDEAD. Director Le Borg directed the next two in the series and later worked with Chaney on the “all star” low budget horror film THE BLACK SLEEP.

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More Killer Babes

I was just watching the Outer Limits episode "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" with Bill Shatner as an astronaut returning from Venus who can't stay warm. The name of the space program he's with? Project Vulcan!

IT LIVES AGAIN-1978-In this crazed sequel a couple (Frederic Forrest and Kathleen Lloyd) are about to have a killer baby. Killer baby hunter Mr. Mallory (John Marley) plans to get rid of it but Frank Davis (John P Ryan; returning from the first film) breaks up the plan and forces them at gunpoint to let the wife have her baby at a secret clinic run by mad scientists R. Perry (Andrew Duggan) and Dr. Forest (Eddie Constantine!). They have another set of killer babes in the basement which they think they can control. Eventually the babies revolt, kill their captors and terrorize mom and dad. Dad finally kills his son and then tries to warn other couples. 

This is another quirky outing by written and directed by Larry Cohen, full of cool camera work, weird acting, choppy editing and some unintentional humor (I think!).

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Too Bad It Wasn't Car 54

THE CAR-1977-A driver-less car of death terrorizes a Utah community. The car indiscriminately kills various citizens including two bike riders, a French horn playing hitchhiker and the town sheriff (John Marley). Deputy Wade Parent (James Brolin) is left to figure out the mystery. The vicious vehicle attacks some grade school kids rehearsing for a parade. Their music teacher Lauren (Kathleen Lloyd) also Wade's girlfriend calls the evil auto a chicken. When the car won't enter a cemetery another deputy (Ronny Cox) surmises that it's some kind of entity but Wade doesn't believe him even after it kills Loren. Later Wade confronts the sinister sedan in his own garage. A wife beating redneck (RG Armstrong) provides explosives that spell a fiery and demonic end to the rampage. Terrible. 

Ok, I'm not going to speculate how Eliot Silverstein, the director of CAT BALLOU and A MAN CALLED HORSE wound up doing doing this low budget piece of junk but much of his later work was episodes of TV shows (like TALES FROM THE CRYPT) and TV movies. You figure it out!

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