Feudal Japan

 

 (imdb)

AZUMI-2003-Azumi (Aya Ueto) is trained to be an assassin in feudal Japan. She has to kill her friend as a village is slaughtered. She then goes after several warlords who are deemed evil but Azumi has some doubts. This is a violent tragic story with great swordplay and direction but it's a little mean spirited. 

Director Ryuhei Kitamura made ARAGAMI the same year. He was previously known for VERSUS (2000) and later made GODZILLA: FINAL WARS (2004) and THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN (2008).

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Indigestion

 

 (imdb)

GORE-MET: ZOMBIE CHEF FROM HELL-1986-In 1386, Goza (Theo Depuay) is condemned to be a flesh-eating zombie by some robed guys. 300 years later he's running a deli on the beach in Charlotte, NC. He kills a health inspector and a customer complains there's hair in his stew. Of course, Goza, who occasionally talks to the camera, is killing people to quench his lust for flesh.

 If more people could see this movie (it's supposed to be a comedy) I'm sure it would be on a lot more worst horror movies lists. Bad everything! It's the only film effort by director Don Swan.

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Beach Follow Up

 

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WILD ON THE BEACH-1965-Adam (Frankie Randall) and Lee (Sherry Jackson) both rent the same beach house. Oodles of funny things happen in this pretty unfunny rip-off of AIP's Beach movies. Sonny & Cher, The Astronauts and Sandy Nelson provide the music and Russ Bender as a college professor/record producer even croons a tune! Booth Colman is a college dean and Justin Smith is his bumbling assistant.

This was Maury Dexter's follow up to SURF PARTY and it was co-written by his usual screenwriter Harry Spauding. Lead Frankie Randall hosted a summer replacement show for Dean Martin and his cover of The Who's “I Can See For Miles” is featured on “Golden Throats: The Great American Sing Off” from Rhino records.

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Hit The Beach

 

 (imdb)

SURF PARTY-1964-3 women Terry (Patricia Morrow; TV's 'Peyton Place”), Junior (singer Jackie DeShannon; she was in INTIMACY in 1966) and Sylvia (Lory Patrick) take their trailer from Arizona go to the California beach to meet Terry's brother Skeet (TV actor/stuntman Jerry Summers). A police officer (Richard Crane from THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE) isn't happy to learn that Skeet is Terry's brother. They take surfing lessons from Len Marshall (Bobby Vinton; his song “Blue Velvet” was a hit the year before). Skeet is a big man on the beach but everyone blames him for a surf accident a guy named Milo (Kenny Miller (I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF) who sings “Pearly Shells”) has. Len who is sweet on Terry, thinks Skeet is a bad influence. 

There's music by The Astronauts and The Routers (with Scott Walker) but the women sing too. Things just seem to get started when Skeet's sugar mama (Martha Stewart) returns and throws him out. The girls leave, still single. 

This little teenage musical was made by the team of Harry Spauding, writer and Maury Dexter, director to cash in on the popular Beach Party movies of AIP. The duo had already made THE DAY MARS INVADED EARTH, HOUSE OF THE DAMNED and HARBOR LIGHTS. They must have thought this was good because the next year they made a similar “beach movie”.

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Bjork

 

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GLERBROT aka BROKEN GLASS-1988-In a laundry room, a woman, her father and her drunken, abusive husband argue and insult each other. The couple also talk about putting their rebellious daughter Maria (Bjork; still a member of The Sugar Cubes), in an insane asylum. She shows up and calls them “shitty scum” then leaves. 

Later, two Teutonic religiously demented women come from the asylum, and forcibly take Maria away and put her in a cell. The place seems to be a hotbed of lesbianism trying to turn Maria queer. She convinces her parents to take her away but the Hitler sisters won't release her. Using a glass cutter sneaked to her by her boyfriend, Maria escapes, meets her boyfriend and they freeze to death. 

Parts look like a music video. It was directed by Kristin Johannesdottir for Icelandic TV.

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Moon Beast

 

 (imdb)

TRACK OF THE MOON BEAST1976--Anthropologist Paul Carson (Chase Cordell), teacher Johnny Longbow (Georgio Sala), two air head students Bud (Tim Butler) & Janet (Francine Kessler) and photographer Kathy Nolan (Donna Leigh Drake) all meet in the desert. Meanwhile, a newscaster reports about a meteor shower. When Paul and Kathy are watching the shower, Paul is hit by a meteor which turns him into a blood thirsty part dinosaur killer. His first victim is a drunk bowler then a bunch of poker playing campers. 

Terrible acting and too slow paced but the monster (created and played by Joe Blasco) isn't bad when we get to see it. It's the only movie directed by Richard Ashe who was second unit director on two Cheri Caffaro movies.

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Hall-Montez

 

 (imdb)

COBRA WOMAN-1944-Ramu (Jon Hall) & Tulia (Maria Montez) are to be married. On their wedding day she's kidnap by Hava (Lon Chaney), a sinister looking guy pretending to be blind. Ramu's friend McDonald (Moroni Olsen) says Tulia has been taken back to the treacherous "Cobra Island" where she was born. Ramu journeys to the island to rescue her accompanied by a local talkative young guy Kado (the one and only Sabu). Once there Ramu spies Tulia swimming and goes to her. They embrace but she seems rather distant. After they part, he's captured and sentenced to die. Kado meets up with Tula and the Queen of the island (Mary Nash).

It turns out the woman Ramu met was not Tula but her evil sister Narja who rules the island using sacrifices to a volcano and the help of evil fiancée, Martok (Edgar Barrier). It turns out Hava is not bad but a servant of the Queen who brought Tulia back to rule.

Universal made several of these Technicolor tropical adventures with Hall & Montez. Mostly considered camp, they do have a cult following. A dance in front of a cobra is kind of funny and Chaney is once again wasted in a mute role. Directed by Robert Siodmak, a year after making SON OF DRACULA with Chaney.

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