Dragon

 

 (blackbeltmag.com)

BLOODFIST-1989-After his brother is killed in Manila, Jake Raye (Don “The Dragon” Wilson), an American martial arts instructor goes there and gets involved in a fighting tournament trying to find his brother's killer. A local named Kwong (Joe Mari Avellana) helps him train. Jake eventually has to face his brother’s killer, Chin Woo (Chris Agular). But things aren't exactly as Jake sees them. One of The fighters is played Billy Blanks (the creator of “Tae-Bo” in his 4th movie). It also features Vic Diaz as a cop. 

This martial arts film was directed by Terence H. Winkless (THE NEST (1987)) and features some good fights but not as flashy as some “aficionados” might like. It was professional kickboxer Don Wilson's first big role and put him on the map, spawning 6 sequels.

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Snake Bit

 

 

SNAKE EATER-1989-Some undercover cop called Soldier (Lorenzo Lamas) is after revenge on some redneck hillbillies led by the crazed Junior (Robert Scott) who murdered his parents and kidnapped his sister. King (singer Ronnie Hawkins), a guy who rents out boats, converts Soldier's motorcycle into watercycle and he goes into the forest to find the gang. King's daughter kind of gets in the way. A scene at the end with the whiny nerd (Ron Palillo from TV's “Welcome Back Kotter”) seems tacked on. Former pro football player Larry Csonka is a cop. 

It spawned three sequels though Gary Daniels played the lead in part 4. Besides, the first two sequels director George Erschbamer later directed episodes of The New Addams Family TV Show in 1998.

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Tell Tale

 

 (imdb)

THE AVENGING CONSCIOUS or THOU SHALT NOT KILL-1914-A man (Henry B. Walthall) is raised by his uncle. When he's an adult (and Edgar Allan Poe fan), he works for the old man (Spottiswoode Aitken). All goes well until he meets a young woman Anabel (Blanche Sweet). He spends more time with her than uncle would like. When the uncle insults her, nephew quits. At a party, they meet “the stranger” (Ralph Lewis). When the nephew realizes that as long as his uncle is around, he and the girl can never be happy, he plots to kill uncle. 

Unfortunately, for him “the Italian” (George Siegman) sees him murdering unk and blackmails him. Nephew walls up the corpse in the fireplace. His guilt gets the best of him and he sees his uncle's ghost and has a breakdown. He goes to a sanitarium and seems to be cured but he suspects the stranger to be a detective (he's right) and hires the Italian to keep an eye out. Later, while being questioned by the detective, he has a fiery vision of demons in hell. He goes insane at the sight of his uncle's ghost and reenacts the murder in front of the detective. He flees but is pursued by a posse and hangs himself. The girl commits suicide but…. 

This DW Griffith directed adaptation based on Edgar Allan Poe's “The Tell Tale Heart” is sometimes called the first great American horror movie. The ending might be a letdown to some. It also features the ill-fated Wallace Reid as a doctor.

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Way Out West On A Budget

 

 (imdb)

LAST OF THE WILD HORSES-1948-A cowpoke Duke Barnum (James Ellison; I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)), would be stage robber meets rancher Charles Cooper (Douglas Dumbrille) and his daughter Jane (Jane Frazee) who are involved in a dispute with small ranchers over a herd of wild horses. Unfortunately, Barnum is arrested by the sheriff (James Millican). In town, small ranch owner, Remedy (Olin Howland) and his daughter Carrie (Mary Beth Hughes from I ACCUSE MY PARENTS (1944)) for some reason provide an alibi for Barnum, keeping him out of jail. He goes to work for them. They have a comical cook named Curly (Grady Sutton). Unscrupulous ranch hand Reily Morgan (Reed Hadley; in Sam Fuller's I SHOT JESSE JAMES the next year) wants to take over the ranch and kills Cooper and frames Barnum. After the two have a fairly violent fight, justice prevails. 

This low budget run of the mill western was produced and directed by Robert Lippert (his only time in a director's chair). Albert Glasser did the music and the editor was future director Paul Landres (RETURN OF DRACULA (1958)). Despite its drawbacks, it's watchable.

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First Curse

 

 (imdb)

THE CURSE OF NOSTRADAMUS-1961-Professor Duran (Domingo Soler) who has just lectured on senseless superstition says vampires and monsters do not exist. No sooner have the words left his lips when the vampire Nostradamus (German Robles) and his ugly hunchback assistant, Leo (Manuel Vegara) show up. He visits his father's rotting corpse, then visits Duran and his secretary Antonio (Julio Aleman) under the name Ericson. He reveals his real identity but the professor scoffs and calls him names. Nostradamus says to prove what he's saying is the truth, he plans to murder 13 people with the last being the professor himself. He's pretty vicious. He hypnotizes one guy and he's buried alive and makes an antiques dealer shoot a collector and then the dealer is arrested for murder (he later jumps to his death). Nostradamus visits the professor several times to gloat. Later, Nostradamus kidnaps Anna (Aurora Alverado), Duran’s daughter. He and Antonio go after the vampire with platinum bullets but a cave in disrupts their plans in the abrupt ending since this and the three “sequels” that followed are all culled from a serial. 

Director/writer Federico Curiel also made THE BRAINIAC (1962) and several El Santo movies. Stillman Segar who worked on the English language version was unfortunately killed in a plane crash in 1969.

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Bluebeard

 

 (imdb-)

BLUEBEARD- 1944-Paris is gripped by the murders of several young women. The killer has been dubbed Bluebeard by police. Gaston Morel (John Carradine), the puppeteer puts on puppet operas in the park. He takes a liking to Lucille (Jean Parker), a dress designer. After he kills his jealous assistant Renee (Sonia Sorel), it's obvious he's Bluebeard, dump-ing victims in the Seine after painting their portraits. He hires Lucille to make dresses for a new puppet show he wants to create. A police in-spector (Nils Asther) deduces that a recently purchased painting is one of the murdered women. Lucille's sister Francine (Teala Loring) helps the police set a trap to catch Morel. Things don't go as planned. Morel kills Francine, then his lackey (Ludwig Stossel) who he thinks betrayed him. When Lucille suspects Morel is the murderer, instead of going to the inspector, she visits Morel who relates a flashback and his relationship with Jeanette (Anne Sterling) which inspires him to paint an award-winning painting. However, when he visits her place, he finds her a “low, coarse, loathsome creature”. So, he killed her and now must kill every woman he paints. 

Moody thriller with a great performance by Carradine and excellent direction by Edgar Ulmer despite the low PRC budget. Also with Iris Adrian, Harry Cording and Bess Flowers. In the same year, co-star Parker was in DEAD MAN'S EYES with Lon Chaney and ONE BODY TOO MANY with Bela Lugosi!

According to an interview John Carradine gave to Dick Cavett around 1981, the actor said director Edgar Ulmer let him direct a scene.

To read about the story this film is based on:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard

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No Mania

 

 (imdb)

BLOOD MANIA-1970-A doctor (Peter Carpenter, also one of the screenwriters) is blackmailed for doing abortions when he was a med student. He has an affair with Victoria (Maria De Aragon), who's bed- ridden father is his patient. After the blackmailer rapes the doc's wife, Victoria uses a drug to kill dad. She admits to the doctor that she killed her dad but she promises to give him money from her inheritance to pay off the blackmailer. Her sister Gail (Vicki Peters) comes for the reading of the will. Surprise! Dad leaves everything to Gail. Victoria has a break-down but it doesn't bother the doc. He just romances Gail. 

This drawn out psychological bs has bad acting, a boring story, hardly any blood and plodding direction from Robert Vincent O'Neil who later directed ANGEL (1984) and its sequel AVENGING ANGEL (1984). Star Carpenter was a mystery man for years. It had been thought he passed away in the early '70's but in fact left movie making for real estate and died of AIDS in 1996. He also starred in POINT OF TERROR in 1971 with Dyanne Thorne. 

Co-star Maria De Aragon was later in Harry Essex's terrible THE CREMATORS (1972) and was unbilled as the alien Greedo in the first STAR WARS movie in 1977.

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