Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Spanish Vampires



THE VAMPIRES NIGHT ORGY-1974-A busload of workers traveling to a castle make an unplanned stop in a strange village after their driver dies. The village is devoid of people but the weary travelers decide to stay in the cozy empty inn anyway. One person does show up though, a guy named Luis (the ubiquitous Jack Taylor) who says he got lost while driving around. When Ernest, one of the group goes out for a smoke he's attacked and killed en mass by some weird looking vampires. The next morning the remaining members are greeted by the town folk. A sort of town leader name Boris, who everyone calls Major (Jose' Guardiola) explains that the reason no one was around the previous night was that they were all attending a funeral. When the guests want some meat with their breakfast a big bearded cook chops off a villagers leg and it's serves it to them. One of the travelers goes on and on about how “different” tasting the meat is, much to the amusement of Boris. ”In no other place will you find a roast like this"...
















Around this time a pasty faced Ernest shows up and later their bus won't start. Stranded with no money the visitors must accept the hospitality of The Countess (Helga Line', from several Paul Naschy movies), an aristocratic beauty who promptly seduces the young school teacher in the group, bites him on the neck and throws him to her hungry minions. Later the hairy cook hacks off a villager's arm (while a child watches) to serve as dinner. Luis suspects trouble (“There are too many strange and dangerous things going on”) and tries to save the remaining passengers including Alma (Dyanik Zurakowska from FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR) who finds a severed finger on her dinner plate! For some reason the one child, a girl passenger goes off with a mysterious boy and gets trapped in the cemetery. After her mother is killed the boy tries to save her the girl but winds up killing her instead. Luis and Alma flee in his car with the bloodthirsty villagers in hot pursuit. They escape but like in HG Lewis' 2000 MANIACS (and BRIGADOON) the evil village disappears once the pair bring back the authorities.













Director Leon Klimovsky made several films with Paul Naschy. He usually provides a lot of atmosphere and action but this Spanish production is pretty standard and way too dark. The vampires are strange enough but some things are left unexplained. Star Jack Taylor (from Oregon in the USA) made (and is still making) many Euro-films including some with Naschy and some for Jess Franco.






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Monday, January 28, 2013

Yeah, It Reeks...




NO MAN'S LAND:THE RISE OF THE REEKER-2008-Why do people keep making these dumb shit movies? When will it stop? In this one a sheriff (Robert Pine) and his deputy son (Michael Muhney) are after two jackasses who robbed a casino. Apparently some smelly (literally) monster/killer is after anyone in the vicinity. For some reason an invisible barrier keeps him and his intended victims trapped in the desert. One guy walks around with half his head missing. This nonsense is actually a sequel/remake of a movie called REEKER. Both were written and directed by Dave Payne who later directed kids' shows on Nickelodeon (SUPAH NINJAS, THE FRED SHOW). 

In better days Robert Pine starred in TV movies with the likes of Bill Shatner: 

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4609335177952045780#editor/target=post;postID=3862085771477935856

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Saturday, January 26, 2013

Alice Has A Date With Ro-Man


ROBOT MONSTER-1953-One of the best “bad” movies ever. ROBOT MONSTER seems have been forgotten in recent years. On viewing it recently I can say it's as crazy now as it was 25 years ago when I first saw it! 



Anyone who cares already knows the whole story. Invading alien Ro-Man Extension XJ-2 (from the planet Ro-Man) destroys almost all of the inhabitants of Earth with a his strange (and annoying) C ray that turns everything negative when he uses it. Only 5 people are left. They are “The Professor (John Mylong with a distracting German accent), his wife (Selena Royale), grown daughter Alice (Claudia Barrett, still living at the time of this posting), two younger children Johnny (Gregory Moffet) and Carla (Pamela Paulson) and Alice's scientist/boyfriend Roy (George Nader). They are immune to the deadly “Ro-Ray” because of a serum Dad invented. The group  hide out in a burned out bunker  with some kind of electric barrier that keeps Ro-Man from finding them. 





It's strange that since Ro-Man can't find them and the family are the only people left in the whole world he just happens to have his headquarters (a cave in the famous Bronson Canyon) a hop, skip and jump away from their hideout! But then that's the least strangest thing! 

Take the terrifying Ro-Man! He's a guy (famous man in a gorilla suit actor George Barrows) in a ape costume but instead of an ape head he has some kind of modified diver's helmet! He threatens the family by a special view screen and occasionally talks to Ro-Man leader “The Great Guidance” (probably the same guy). Ro-Man's dialogue is funny stuff. “The great one is never wrong”.  In fact all the dialogue is funny!

Anyway, his base is a cave that seems to be guarded by a bubble machine! Ro-Man is ordered by “the great one” (for all I know Jackie Gleason could have been in the costume...) to destroy everyone but it's obvious he has “feelings” for the comely Alice (he may look and act like a doofus but he's no fool apparently). When trying to reason with the alien diver helmeted hairy menace fails Alice and Roy have a toss in the grass. When they come back to the shelter they announce they want to get married! And The Professor does the job! And then the newlyweds leave the protected area to go on their honeymoon with Ro-Man still running around! Then Carla chases after them to give her big sister some flowers. On the way back she meets Ro-Man who proceeds to strangle her (off-screen). He then breaks up the honeymoon by throwing Roy off a cliff and kidnapping Alice. He takes her back to his place and tears off the top of her dress! 



Just then The Great Guidance calls (Mr. perfect timing) and Ro-Man gets some rope to tie Alice up. He can't seem to do this so he clouts her with his hand. His boss is quite peeved to learn his henchman has yet to kill everyone. Ro-Man 'fesses up that he wants Alice and can't kill her. “I must but I cannot. Where do must and cannot meet on the graph?”. And I guess there are elves in the cave with Ro-Man because when next we see Alice she is bound tightly! Fairly pissed and completely through with letting XJ-2 ruin his plan “the great one” unleashes prehistoric animals and earthquakes to destroy the Earth (and Ro-Man). (Why didn't he just do this in the first place????)

But of course it was all a dream Johnny had after hitting his head! Yet after the seemingly happy ending The Great Guidance Ro-Man is seen emerging from the cave (3 times!). 

RM was originally shot in 3-D. I always like the opening credits as they were shown over a backdrop of comic books. According to most sources director Phil Tucker shot the whole thing in 4 days for a budget of about $16,000 and grossed around $100,000 despite bad reviews. To some it's consider one of the worst movies ever made but to me it's one of the most enjoyable bad movies ever made! 

There is also the story that Tucker tried to commit suicide after the movie opened when he realized how bad it was. Though he did try to kill himself, it was probably due more to depression over personal woes than bad reviews (they may have heightened his depression) because the film actually made money! The same year as RM Tucker also made DANCE HALL RACKET starring Lenny Bruce (who also wrote the script) and his wife Honey Harlow. He made the low budget Sci-Fi movie CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS in 1960 and was mostly an editor (and inventor) after that.

Shanghai born screenwriter Wyott Ordung also wrote TARGET EARTH, directed MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR and later was the assistant director on a film 10 times worst than RM, THE MUMMY AND THE CURSE OF THE JACKALS! He occasionally acted too. Executive producer Al Zimbalist was also behind CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON, KING DINOSAUR and THE MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL. 



Leading man George Nader was signed to a contract with Universal Pictures the next year (but not on his RM performance). He became good friends with fellow contract player Rock Hudson and like Hudson was a gay man hiding his true nature. 

He was later the star of movies like THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS and AGENT FROM H.A.R.M. According to The Internet Movie Database after quitting movies Nader wrote a Science Fiction novel in 1978 called “Chrome” which featured gay robots! 

Selena Royale was a popular character actor in the 1940's (THE FIGHTING SULLIVANS) before being blacklisted. Her role in RM was one of her last. 


Final note: Near the beginning of RM when Ro-Man destroys the rocket heading for space, look closely the final time and you can see a hand operating the “burning rocket”....

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Child Bride



CHILD BRIDE-1938-A school teacher Miss Carol (Diana Durrell) tries to stop child marriages among “mountain people” in her old rural hillbilly burg. But the main focus is on Jennie (Shirley Mills ) a 12 year old girl who's father (George Humpreys) is a moonshiner but likes the teacher. One night a bunch of inbred idiots kidnap Carol with the intent of tar and feathering her because she preaches again them “marrying young uns”. Fortunately Jennie's dad and his moonshining buddies Angelo (Angelo Rossitto) and Happy (Al Bannon) save her. He seems ok but later he gets drunk and thinks his wife is fooling around with his sleazy partner Jake so he beats her. Pa winds up dead so Jake (Warner Richmond) blackmails Jennie's ma into letting him marry Jennie! 










Carol also has a district attorney boyfriend who tries to get pass a law prohibiting the marriages. When he talks to the governor he addresses him as “your excellency”. Though promoted as “educational” (and thus avoiding most censors) this exploitation film is kind of bizarre and depraved especially the marriage ceremony. And then the happy couple get ready for their wedding night! Whew! Fortunately a well placed bullet put into Jake stops that before it even starts and the Jennie and Freddie go home together.










One character uses a very racist line that I won't repeat here. The most notorious scene is when Jennie takes off her clothes (and is topless for a minute) and swims nude in a lake! 





This was the last film directed by Harry Revier who had made LASH OF THE PENTENTIES and several silent Tarzan movies. A 1945 reissue was “presented” by Kroger Babb. With the exception of Mills (who was later in THE GRAPES OF WRATH), Richmond and Rossitto most of the rest of the cast never made another movie!








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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

All For A Dollar!


INCIDENT ON A DARK STREET-1973-Here's a DVD I got at a Dollar Tree Store in NJ for, what else but a dollar! 


It's a typical routine story (maybe a pilot) about lawyers battling organized crime and corruption. The best part about it is the cast. Once popular TV actor (and star of Robert Wise's THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN) James (don't call me Jimmy) Olsen is Joe Dubbs, the hard ass district attorney. David Canary is his assistant. Robert Pine is the newest member of the staff. They investigate mobster Dominic Leopold (Gilbert Roland) who has some dirty dealings with a greedy contractor Deaver Wallace (William Shatner). Rotund Richard Castellano (THE GODFATHER) is a mob connected government witness who the mean producers make run around and climb a fence. There's another story involving a dying woman and her husband who's being prosecuted for selling drugs. It's boring and ends rather abruptly without the main story coming to a conclusion. 














Others in the cast include David Doyle, Murray Hamilton, John Kerr, Gordon Pinsett (he was in BLACULA the year before) and Marlene Clark (some year as GANJA AND HESS) as Dubbs' secretary. Don “Red” Barry and Eddie Quillan also have small roles. Shatner was in two more memorable TV movies the same year as this: GO ASK ALICE and THE HORROR AT 37,000 FEET. 




Director Buzz Kulik began his career in TV in the very early '50's staying there almost his entire life doing TV series and movies (his most famous was BRIAN'S SONG) and only occasionally directing a big screen film (VILLA RIDES AGAIN, SHAMUS and Steve McQueens's last film THE HUNTER).

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