Lon the Witch!

 

 (imdb)

WITCHCRAFT-1964-Supernatural trouble brews when an ancient graveyard that hosted the Whitlock family for 800 years is bulldozed. Morgan Whitlock (Lon Chaney), head of the clan, gets upset and threatens the construction company run by Bill Lanier (Jack Hedley) and Miles Forrester (Barry Linehan). Of course, Lanier's brother Todd (David Weston) is in love with Morgan's daughter, Amy (Diane Clare). When Forester drowns taking a bath, a devil (voodoo) doll is found. It seems a witch has been resurrected by the bulldozing. She makes Bill's Aunt Helen (Viola Keats) drive off a cliff. All the Whitlocks, including Amy, are part of a coven. Fire spells their end before they can sacrifice Bill's wife. 

This is low budget but entertaining little supernatural tale that gives the aging Lon Chaney a good role in a decent film. Except for a few westerns and TV, he wouldn't get many more but always threw himself into whatever role he was playing. 

Director Don Sharp who directed Christopher Lee in DEVIL SHIP PIRATES the same year and would go on to work with Hammer, directing CURSE OF THE FLY (1965), RASPUTIN: THE MAD MONK (1966) and two Fu-Manchu entries. He makes the most with what he has on WITCHCRAFT in a very short shooting schedule (the number of days it took varies on who's talking about it...). 

American Robert Lippert was the producer and backed THE LAST MAN ON EARTH the same year. Writer Harry Spauding worked a lot for producer Lippert (and director Maury Dexter).

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Mummy Story

 

 (imdb)

THE AWAKENING-1980-In Egypt, obsessed archaeologist Matthew Corbeck (Charlton Heston) and his dedicated assistant Janey (Susannah York) find the tomb of a nameless Queen. When he opens the tomb, his pregnant wife (Jill Townsend) goes comatose. He takes her to the hospital and returns to the dig. While he and Janey explore the vast tomb, his wife gives birth but the baby dies. When he opens up the Queen's sarcophagus, the baby comes back to life. When he tries illegally to take the sarcophagus, the official who tries to stop him is killed. Later his wife takes their daughter and leaves.

In the present, he's now married to Janey and a professor at a college with his daughter Margaret (Stephanie Zimbalist) now 18 years old. He returns to Cairo to check out the mummy queen's decaying problem. Later, he's in England with the mummy and sends his daughter an ankh shaped mirror. She decides to visit him. They have a happy reunion but over dinner Dad tells Margaret all about the evil Queen Kara and her quest to be reincarnated in the real world. While his assistant Paul (Patrick Drury) dates Meg, Corbeck and Janey examine the mummy and discover a virus is causing decay. Paul wants to send the mummy back to Cairo but the professor says no but later relents. It's obvious something weird is going on. Margaret seems possessed by the evil queen and the professor wants to perform a ritual that will bring Kara back to life using urns containing the queen's organs! After Janey is killed trying to destroy the urns, Margaret freaks out a lot. When a doctor tries to help her, she beats him to death. The professor decides to perform the ritual (he thinks it will save Margaret's life) but realizes too late he was tricked by Kara who does possess Margaret and kills him. 

This is a crazy confusing US-British horror film with Heston chewing the scenery in several scenes. Director Mike Newell (HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (2005)) provides some eerie spots but Warner Brothers didn't like his director's cut and hired Monte Hellman to recut it. Based on “The Jewel of The Seven Stars” by Bram Stoker. Hammer's BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB (1971) is based on the same story.

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Ho Ho No!

 

 (imdb)

SILENT NIGHT-2012-A small town full of moronic lowlifes is terrorized by a killer Santa who slays “naughty people”. Even Malcolm McDowell as the chief of police, can't save this one though he does deliver a lot of dumb lines with a straight face. Director Steven C. Miller needs a new vocation.

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French-Italian

 

 (imdb)

MILL OF STONE WOMEN-1960-Hans von Arnim (Pierre Brice) visits Prof. Wahl (Herbert Bohme) to fix up an old museum carousel. Though in love with his childhood friend, Liselotte (Dany Carrel), he has an affair with the professor's daughter, Elfie (Scilla Gabel). Her personal physician, Dr. Bohem (Wolfgang Preiss) hangs around. When Wahl tells Hans that Elfie has some kind of genetic disease, he breaks off their affair. Elfie seems to die but is alive the next day! 

Yes, Elfie is actually being kept alive by a blood transfusion experiment created by Dr. Bohem. Prof. Wahl gets blood from local girls who are killed and made into wax dummies for the carousel. Lise almost becomes the next victim but when Boehm professes his love for Elfie, Wahl kills him. Elfie dies and Wahl goes insane, setting fire to their mill. Hans and his friend Ralf rescue Lise just in time. 

Moody, atmospheric French/Italian co-production directed by Giorgio Ferroni (SECRET AGENT SUPER DRAGON (1966)).

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Some Longer Things From You Tube

 Ed Wood's Final Curtain:

https://youtu.be/70khHPDk5O4?is=0aNPIArGp2PGWZfc

Lost Kaiju:

https://youtu.be/odhpWP8zOjU?is=khYbR3egJbImRRK2

Anime History:

https://youtu.be/CW5pIEzyeh0?is=SVWhC1ERmdKZCHV3

Bruce Bickford Highlights:

https://youtu.be/f3fZrOSFNOk?is=CBNnqO-mqKPp1xrf

Change of Pace:

https://youtu.be/IvTOQWOXSUY?is=HwO2epruQz3BV0UQ

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Midnight Sun

 

 (alchetron.com)

SPACE INVASION OF LAPLAND-1959-A group of scientists investigate a meteor crash in the mountains. Erik (Sten Gester), a womanizing doctor takes a liking to Diane (Barbara Wilson), the niece of Erik's older colleague, Dr. Wilson (American actor Robert Burton). After a long period of skiing, dancing and singing, Erik, Diane and Dr. Wilson visit the crash site. They find the remains of some dead reindeer and a giant footprint. The men take a plane to check out the meteor and Diane is a stowaway. While they are off scouting, something attacks and wrecks their plane. They discover it's not a meteor at all; it's a spaceship! Diane and Erik ski for help but Diane crashes and hurts her knee. 

Meanwhile, another scientist finds something moving in the spaceship and is killed. Diane and Erik find a cabin for shelter but an avalanche destroys it (with Erik inside). Diane flees the scene when a big hairy giant with fangs, shows up. Somehow, Diane survives all night being out in a snowstorm, only to be captured by the furry alien in the morning. At the crater site, she meets some pointy headed aliens in hoodies. She screams and faints. The giant shows up in a village and wrecks the new plane Dr. Wilson has! A Lapland posse is formed and, with torches and on skis, they follow the monster back to where he's holding Diane. The Laps set the creature on fire and kill it. Diane is saved. The aliens leave, their true purpose for the visit unknown. 

This film has a rather sordid history in the US as schlock director Jerry Warren got a hold of it, cut it drastically and added John Carradine as an on-screen narrator in a version called INVASION OF THE ANIMAL PEOPLE (it used to play on TV's “Chiller” here in NYC occasionally in the '70's). It's commonly called TERROR IN THE MIDNIGHT SUN but the version I saw had this other name. 

A Swedish American black and white co-production, it directed by American low-budget filmmaker Virgil Vogel (THE MOLE PEOPLE (1956)) and American screenwriter Arthur C. Pierce (THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS (1964)).

Lapland is region that spans 4 countries: Sweden, Finland, Norway and Russia. Only Sweden and Finland have a region within their borders called as such.

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Death Horse

 

 (imdb)

DEATH RIDES A HORSE-1967-A small boy watches as some bandits murder his father, mother and sister (who they also rape). He notices certain things about them: a tattoo on one guy, a scar on another, etc. A mysterious figure helps him escape after his house is set on fire. 15 years later, the boy named Bill is now a grown man (John Phillip Law) seeking revenge on the gang led by Walcott (Luigi Pistilli), a banker. He gets help from Ryan (Lee Van Cleef) who's also after the gang because they double crossed him and he went to jail. It also turns out that Ryan was the one who helped Bill out 15 years before. When the gang kidnaps Bill, Ryan comes to his rescue. During a sandstorm in a Mexican village, the duo get their revenge. The two nearly have a showdown but Bill (who knows Ryan saved his life) rides away. 

Not bad spaghetti western directed by Giulio Petroni who was the assistant director on ISLAND MONSTER (1959) with Boris Karloff.

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