Headless Horsing Around

 

HORSE WITHOUT A HEAD: THE KEY TO THE CACHE-1963-A mobster (Herbert Lom) and his gang (including Leo McKern) rob a train. One of them hides a key to the cash in a toy horse (with no head) that some annoying kids (including Pamela Franklin from THE INNOCENTS (1961)) in a French village like to ride. Jean Pierre Aumont is Inspector Sinet and Michael Gwynn and Peter Vaughan are also in it. 

This was shown in the US on TV's “The Magical World of Disney”. It was directed by Don Chaffey, a British TV director who made a few interesting features like JASON AND THE ARGONAUNTS (1963) and ONE MILLION YEARS BC (1966).

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Not Really His Son

 

 (themoviedatabase)

MEDUSA AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES-1963-The son of Hercules, Perseo the invincible (Richard Harrison) (not a blood relative; just appointed to the role) gets involved in a spat between two city-states (one good, one evil) over one of the king's daughters, Princess Andromeda. She sets up a tournament and whoever wins, gets her. The bad king's son is in the tourney as is Perseo, who wins, becomes a soldier and falls for Andromeda. The evil son kidnaps her. Then his father declares war and Perseo fights and slays a sea serpent singlehandedly. While the bad king's troops besiege the good king's castle, Perseo goes to fight Medusa (created by Carlo Rambaldi) who he kills. All its victims who were turned to stone come back to life and join Perseo in vanquishing the bad guys. 

Director Alberto De Martino made THE BLANCHEVILLE MONSTER the same year and later made OPERATION KID BROTHER (1967) and THE PUMAMAN (1980). American lead Richard Harrison later made a lot of films with the word “ninja” in the titles.

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Sic Semper Tyrannis

 (imdb)

THE TYRANT OF LYDIA VS. THE SON OF HERCULES aka GOLIATH VS. THE REBEL SLAVE-1963-Goliath (Gordon Scott) battles a bad, greedy king for the love of Corri (Ombretta Colli), the former king's daughter. With help from Alexander the Great (Gabriele Antonini) and a muscular black slave with an earring (Harry Baird; later in THE OBLONG BOX (1969)) he succeeds in this crazy sword and sandal extravaganza directed by Mario Caiano (NIGHTMARE CASTLE (1965)).

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Bloody Mess

 

HOUSE OF BLOOD-2006-4 vicious but stupid escaped cons and a doctor they take hostage seek refuge and help for one of their wounded at an old house inhabited by a medieval like family that transforms into blood drinking vampire monsters. They kill all the cons but the doctor is saved by a seemingly normal woman who usues a high pitched scream to drive the monsters away. He's picked up by a SWAT team lead by Jurgen Prochnow. Somehow the movie starts to repeat itself but the with the doc as one of the convicts and a flat faced bald guy acting very badly. The doc seems to have a connection with a woman he meets in a black and white flashbacks (?). 

Apparently, the producers of this mess could afford money for CGI gore SFX but not for a story. The director, Olaf Ittenbach, was known in Germany for his low-budget independent splatter films but this bigger budget mainstream gore film is a mess.

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It's Not Baron Barracuda

 

 (imdb)

BARRACUDA-1970-In some hick Florida town, full of grouchy people, Oceanographer Mike (Wayne David Crawford) tries to prove a local chemical company, Jack Chemical is polluting the water. The owner (Bert Freed) has him arrested but nice guy sheriff (BLOOD FEAST's William Kerwin) lets him go. Mike and the sheriff's daughter (Roberta Leighton) investigate. Swimmers are being killed by some deadly fish. When loads of dead fish wash up on shore, the sheriff becomes concerned. Meanwhile, men in dark suits wander around suspiciously. A local doctor (Jason Evers from THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE (1962)) helps the sheriff determine that killer barracuda are on the prowl due to chemicals from the plant. A reporter (dressed to look like Carl Kolchak) also investigates. Another guy in a suit (Harry Kerwin) kills people too. But the doctor is actually behind The Lucifer Project, a government experiment to control people through their blood sugar levels. 

This killer fish conspiracy film by director Harry Kerwin with underwater scenes directed by star Crawford (who also co-wrote and co-produced) is pretty bland.

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Tall Tale

 (imdb)

THE TALL MAN-2012-A small town is plagued by child abductions. Julie (Jessica Biel) is a nurse with a young son who administers to the residents of a trailer park. When her son is taken by “The Tall Man”, she tries to get him back but fails. She's rescued by an FBI agent (Stephen McHattie) who's investigating the disappearances. The story takes a twist here with Julie herself seeming to be the abductor of the children but The Tall Man does exist. 

It's a good premise to a point but the film goes on and on with little plot development until the implausible finale. William B. Davis (from TV's “The X-Files”) is sheriff Chesnut. Producer/writer Pascal Laugier (from France) filmed this Canadian-French production in British Columbia. 

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Sugar Zombies

 

 (the movie database)

SUGAR HILL-1974-After her boyfriend is murdered by mobster Morgan (Robert Quarry), Diana “Sugar” Hill (Marki Bey) wants revenge. She goes to Momma Maitresse (Zara Cully) for help and she summons Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley in a great performance; also one of the screenwriters) who sends his horde of cobwebbed zombies to help (“Put them to evil use. It's all they know or want”). One guy is decapitated. Another is fed to hungry pigs. Another is forced to commit suicide and the last is put in a coffin full of snakes. Morgan drowns in quicksand and the Baron takes Morgan's white mistress back to Zombieland with him. One character says “I'm accusing you, honk!”. 

Filmed in Houston, Texas by one shot director Paul Maslansky who later produced the “Police Academy” movies.

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