Fulci

 

ZOMBI-2-1979-A mysterious boat is discovered in the NYC harbor. It seems abandoned but 2 coast guard members discover a rotting flesh eating zombie on board which kills one of the guards. It turns out the boat belongs to a missing scientist. His daughter Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow) teams ups with a NYC based British reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch) to find his whereabouts. They hitch a ride with another couple (Al Cliver and Auretta Gay) on their boat to reach the island of Mantool where it turns out Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson) is trying to stave off a zombie invasion. After an underwater zombie fights a shark, the quartet meet up with Menard. Meanwhile the doc's mistreated wife (Olga Karlatos) is killed and eaten (a splinter going through her eye is an infamous scene). Eventually zombies start turning up everywhere and the four take refuge in Menard's church/hospital.

 It's very gory and fast moving but director Lucio Fulci ran into a lot of problems with the producers (their original choice for director was Enzo Casarelli) and he wasn't that happy with the results. The ending is kind of laughable. Still it was a big hit. Called ZOMBIE in the US, it's original title was ZOMBI 2 since George Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD was called ZOMBI in Europe.

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Who's Invited?

 

DEATH BY INVITATION-1971-During the overlong credits a woman is accused of consorting with the devil by some insane villagers (some have pasty white faces). A weird looking fat guy sayS she's a witch. The whole crowd starts chanting “Witch, witch”. In the modern day a family (most of them lookalikes for the villagers) has dinner. Peter Vroot (Aaron Phillips), the head of the family, has his toast interrupted by the arrival of Lise (Shelby Lverington, who looks like the accused witch) who talks about giving her number to a cab driver. Peter says he doesn't want his kids with any “way-out people”. Then they all go outside and toss a football around. Later Peter's son Roger (Denver John Collins) visits a woman who turns out to be Lise. She sneers and talks about women-hunters and then kills Roger. When Peter contacts the police about his missing son the dumb cop asks “Was he a hippie?”. A stupid detective thinks Peter was a drug dealer. Then not much happens. 

A weird scene has Peter's son in law Jake (Norman Paige) meeting Peter in his office (it looks like somebody's living room) while loud music plays and they have to keep repeating themselves! Lise decapitates Peter's oldest daughter and makes the youngest fall down a flight of stairs and die. The family group gets smaller at the dinner table. Lise seduces Jake and he discovers her secret. She's the reincarnation of the vengeful witch (or she might just be possessed) and Peter's ancestor was her accuser. For some reason Peter shows up at Lise's and Jake kills him. Lise smiles. The End. 

Most of the actors appeared in a bit roles in other films or on TV. Denver John Collins who plays Roger was Judy Collins' brother (he died in 2016). This weird oddball horror revenge story was written and directed by Ken Friedman who later wrote screenplays for HEART LIKE A WHEEL, WHITE LINE FEVER and CADILLAC MAN.

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Italy in Arizona

 

THE MANHUNT-1984-In this low budget Italian production filmed in Arizona, a rancher (Ernest Borgnine) and a sheriff (Bo Svenson) railroad a stranger (John Ethan Wayne) into jail claiming he stole two horses. He escapes and leads the warden (Henry Silva) law on a chase while trying to prove his innocence. Director/writer Fabrizizio de angelio De Angelis is credited as Larry Ludman and on several other films he made including KILLER CROCODILE.

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Breakout

 

BREAKOUT FROM OPPRESSION-1982-Fonda Chiu (Fonda Lyn aka Hsiao-Fen lu), a young woman who is haunted by her time in prison (and a murder she didn't commit) gets a job on a newspaper. Her boss Simon (Alan Tam) falls in love with her but two female co-workers don't treat her too nice. After several bizarre incidents it seems one co-worker, Simon's former lover Sheena (Lona Chang), is seeking revenge (her father was the guy Fonda was accused of killing) while taking care of her invalid grandmother. She's also killed the president of the company. Sheena attacks Simon and ties him up in the basement. He really freaks out when he discovers the president's maggot covered body. Everyone thinks Fonda is behind it.

 Eventually Fonda and Sheena have it out and a beheading ends the conflict. Simon escapes and stands by Fonda. This Taiwanese production is director Karen Yang's only credit. Geoffrey Ho is credited a production designer. Also known as EXPOSED TO DANGER. 

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Underwater Antics

 

THE NEPTUNE FACTOR-1973-Navy commander Blake (Ben Gazzara with Southern accent) commands a special submarine to try and rescue some scientists trapped in an undersea lab after an earthquake. Dr. Andrews (Walter Pidgeon) and Dr. Janssen (Yvette Mimieux) work above water. Two divers Mack (Ernest Borgnine) and Bob (Donelly Rhodes) accompany him. They check it out but Blake thinks it's useless to try and returns to the surface. Mack convinces him otherwise and they return to the sea, this time taking Janssen with them. Following a trail and some pinging they go very deep and find huge coral and plants plus giant fish. Mack is almost eaten by a fish and a giant crab menaces the ship. They manage to rescue the scientists who are trapped by giant eels. 

The SFX are laughable. Footage of normal fish blown up and a toy sub in a fish tank! Director Daniel Petrie later made THE BETSY and FORT APACHE THE BRONX. 

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British Anthology

 

SCREAMTIME-1984-2 idiot video tape robbers crash the apartment of one of their girlfriends to watch some movies in this anthology. 

In the first story Jack (Robin Bailey), a neglected puppeteer has his puppets burned by his bully masculinity challenged step-son Damien (Jonathan Morris). His bitch wife (Ann Lynn) nags him constantly while defending her son. Both mom and son are beaten to death. When a doctor is killed it looks like one of the puppets is doing the dirty deeds. But it's actually Jack who's crushed to death while terrorizing Damien's girlfriend. 

In the second a young married couple move into a new house. The wife sees a little boy riding a bike on their property. Every time she approaches him he vanishes. A church woman tells her she might have second sight. Later she has a vision of a man killing a family. A weird twist ending proves she might not be crazy. 

In the third, a young man becomes the handyman for two eccentric old ladies who believe in fairies. At night the handyman and his two pals go to rob the place. One guy is killed by a giant gnome. Another is killed by some mummy like creatures who come out of the ground and the ring leader is stabbed with forks and knives by an ancient ancestor. 

In the wrap around scenes a hand comes out of the video screen to kill one guy while one of the puppets shows up to beat up the other. This low budget UK production was co-written and directed by Michael Armstrong (MARK OF THE DEVIL, HORROR HOUSE).

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