Lovecraftian

 

 (themoviedb.org)

FROM BEYOND-1986-Dr. Tillingast (Jeffery Combs) is accused of killing his superior Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel) who's found decapitated. He says something bit off Pretorius' head. They were working on a machine dubbed “the Pretorius resonator”) that stimulates the pineal gland. A notorious psychiatrist Katherine McMichaels (Barbra Crampton) doesn't believe Tillingast is insane and takes him back to where they were experimenting. Police Sgt. Brownlee (Ken Foree) accompanies them. They turn on the machine and meet the nude reanimated body of Dr. P. He turns into a whatziz and almost eats them but Tillingast turns the machine off. McMichael becomes obsessed with learning more. After almost being eaten again, she escapes and after doing her famous s & m scene has to fight the bizarrely transformed Pretorius. Later everyone thinks she's insane. A crazed female doctor wants her to have shock therapy. She escapes and Tillingast runs around the hospital killing people. When she returns to destroy the resonator, Tillingast kidnaps her. Pretorius somehow returns and terrorizes her. She defeats him and goes insane. 

A lot of disgusting SFX (by a huge crew) made this a cult film but Crampton helped too. She was later on the TV soap operas “The Guiding Light” and “The Bold and The Beautiful”. Conceptual art by Neal Adams. An Empire Pictures release, filmed in Italy, Charles Band was one of the producers. 

Director Stuart Gordon had already become a cult like director after making RE-ANIMATOR (1985), also with Crampton & Combs. Producer Brian Yuzna co-wrote the screenplay with Dennis Paoli based on the HP Lovecraft short story “From Beyond”. A more recent adaptation of the same story is BANSHEE CHAPTER (2013).

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Killdozer!

 

KILLDOZER!-1974-Somewhere on the African coast a meteorite crashes at a demolition site. Foreman Kelly (Clint Walker) tries to bulldozer it and co-worker McCarthey (Robert Urich) is badly burned. When he dies the other workers Dutch (James Wainwright), Dennis (Carl Betz), Beltran (James Watson) and Chub (Neville Brand) blame Kelly. But it seems some alien force has taken over the dozer and it operates independently destroying their radio and crushing Watson who tries to get away by hiding in a metal pipe straight out of a cartoon. Kelly refuses to admit anything is amiss despite witnessing both incidents but Dennis believes there's more to it. When he brings Kelly around the dozer destroys their camp and they head for higher ground. Dutch begins to lose his mind. When Kelly and Dennis are the last survivors they devise a plan to destroy it but will anyone believe them when it's over? 

Better than THE CAR and MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE (and probably the influence for King's short story “Trucks”). It's based on a novel by Theodore Sturgeon who also co-wrote the screenplay. This enjoyable TV movie was directed by prolific TV director Jerry London and has gained a cult following over the years.

Hey, true believer! It was also a Marvel comic!

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Saturday Night Live Spin-Off?

NOTHING LASTS FOREVER-1984-Strange arty old movie feel (in black & white) fantasy that takes place in an alternate NYC (controlled by The Port Authority!) of the future. A young man named Adam (Zach Galligan; in GREMLINS the same year) wants to be an “artist”. He gets a job watching cars at The Holland Tunnel where Dan Aykroyd plays his boss and lives for a while with his aunt and uncle (Mort Sahl). The film turns color when Adam visits an underground land run by bums and watched over by Father Knickerbocker (Sam Jaffe in his second to last movie). Later he accidentally takes a bus to the moon. Bill Murray plays the ship's captain. In the bus lounge Eddie Fisher performs “O My Papa”! The government sends old people (including King Donovan, his real life wife Imogene Coca and Larry “Bud” Melman) there to shop. Eventually Adam becomes a great pianist and wins the love of a moon maiden named Eloy (Lauren Tom). 

This strange could be a cult film also uses stock footage and silent films and features a cameo by Lawrence Tierney at the end. Paul Frees is the narrator. It was written and directed by Tom Schiller a former writer on Saturday Night Live.

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'70's Cult Film

VANISHING POINT-1971-Former demolition driver (and cop) Kowalski (Barry Newman) has to deliver a 1970 Dodge Challenger he picked up in Colorado to San Francisco. He makes a bet with blind underground DJ Supersoul (Cleavon Little) that he can make it in 15 hours. Kowalski has several car chases with the local police and becomes a real wanted man while Supersoul guides him on the radio. Kowalski has flashbacks, beats up two gay would be robbers, meets a naked woman on a motorcycle (Gilda Texter) and an old snake hunter (Dean Jagger). Thrown in is a desert revival run by Severn Darden whose singers are played by Delaney and Bonnie (with Rita Coolidge, David Gates and Ted Neeley). Paul Koslo and Robert Donner are cops. Val Avery appears uncredited in a flashback and John Amos (also uncredited) gets beat up by some white guys.

This anti-establishment cult film is a little dated and not for everyone but I enjoyed. It was directed by Richard C. Sarafian who also  made MAN IN THE WILDERNESS the same year. Screenwriter Guillermo Cabrera Infante wrote WONDERWALL previously.

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Boredom Radio

BORDER RADIO-1987-This pretentious black and white "punk" film seems ripe for "cult-dom". The boring story concerns a musician named Jeff Bailey (Chris D., the lead vocalist for The Flesheaters) who's hiding out in Mexico after he and his two friends Chris (Chris Shearer) and Dean (John Doe, guitarist in X) steal the money they were owed from a gig they played. Jeff's wife Lu (Luanna Anders, the director's daughter) searches for him. The confused plot also uses out of place documentary style interviews to move the story along. The acting is terrible. It had three directors. Allison Anders (who later made GAS FOOD LODGING and MI VIDA LOCA) co-directed with cinematographer Dean Lett. The other credited director is Kurt Voss who later made POISON IVY: THE NEW SEDUCTION. BR also features The Blasters' guitarist Dave Alvin and Green On Red performing in one scene.

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Rock is Reborn!

SECONDS-1966-Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph), a successful bank executive feels his life has lost it’s meaning. He is persuaded by an old friend (Murray Hamilton) he long thought dead to seek out an agency known only as “The Company” and become “reborn”. Through plastic surgery and other unexplained medical procedures they will provide him with a new body, face and identity for a fee. When he at first balks at the idea he is kind of blackmailed into signing. He becomes a well known painter Tony Wilson (now portrayed by Rock Hudson). He has a house in Malibu and a helpful manservant (Wesley Addy). He meets Nora (Salome Jens from TERROR IN THE YEAR 5000 AD!) and she takes him to a wild hippie party where he’s stripped naked and has wine or something poured over him. He seems fine with Nora and his new career and life until he gets drunk at a party and begins to blab about his former life. It turns out all his neighbors are “reborns” and even Nora is working for The Company. Wilson decides his new persona isn’t for him and asks The Company to make him “reborn again”. This leads to complications as Wilson realizes it’s not what he expects it to be.

Will Geer plays the old man who seems to be behind it all and Richard Anderson is the doctor who does the operation. Jeff Corey, Khigh Dhiegh, Karl Swenson, Edger Stehli and Frank Campanella all have small but key roles. Although there’s a lot of talk and soul searching it’s handled very well.

SECONDS was directed by John Frankenhiemer after his blockbusters BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ, SEVEN DAYS IN MAY and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. It did poorly but has become something of a cult film and a reexamination of the film has brought about some (deservedly) good reviews. It’s excellent black and white photography is by veteran James Wong Howe. It’s based on a novel by David Ely.

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Wrestlers Or Rock Stars?

THE MARINE-2006-You would have thought after the debacle of NO HOLDS BARRED in the ‘80’s dirt bag wrestling owner Vince McMahon Jr. would have learned his lesson about making movies. But of course being the self-centered bastard that he is, Junior decided the time was right to try it again. Too bad for us all!

All he could come up with was a cheap Swartzenegger rip-off starring the guy, John Cena who at the time happened to be the champion of McMoron’s wrestling promotion. Every cliché’ in the book is thrown in. Explosions abound. It’s the kind of action flick that gives CGI a bad name. Robert Patrick is the bad guy who kills a lot of people (there’s even a TERMINATOR in joke). Director John Bonito had previously done work for wrestling on TV. Hopefully we will never hear from him again. Chuck this shit and go watch John Woo’s HARDBOILED!



TWO LANE BLACKTOP-1971-A duo drag race their way around the USA. James Taylor is The Driver and Dennis Wilson is The Mechanic. Both need acting lessons. Warren Oates is GTO another driver who challenges them to a race in Washington DC. Laurie Bird is The Girl. Harry Dean Stanton appears as a gay hitchhiker. Everyone walks around a lot and works on their cars. Sometimes they talk. Cult Director Monte Hellman made this between THE SHOOTING and COCKFIGHTER (which also featured Oates & Bird). They didn’t seem to know how to end the movie so the final scene has the film burn away. Some have said this is the ultimate road movie. I say it’s pretty boring…



GREENDALE-(2003)-A few years ago it seemed like every actor or actress would direct at least one movie in his or her lifetime. Fortunately that “trend” has kind of abated. Still egotistic nobodies like Vincent Gallo make their own movies and actually get them released so why can’t a rock and roll icon like Neil Young?

Of course this isn’t his first attempt. He directed several of his own concert films (like RUST NEVER SLEEPS) and one very bizarre “real” movie called HUMAN HIGHWAY. This is totally different from anything he has done before and in fact it’s totally different from most other films too! It’s kind of a rock opera/musical/parable, which besides writing the music he also produced and directed (under his usual pseudonym “Bernard Shakey”). It’s filmed in grainy Super 8 except for some excellent CNN like news reports. The central characters are The Green Family including their hippie father, his two sons (one a painter, one a cop killer) and his environmentalist granddaughter. There’s no dialogue. The characters only mouth Young’s lyrics at certain points in his songs. The story involves topics that usually pop up in Young’s songs: saving the environment, not trusting the government and manipulation by the media. It’s kind of experimental I guess but not all that interesting, mainly because (much like Frank Zappa’s 200 MOTELS) with the exception of two songs (“Bandit” and “Be The Rain”) the music isn’t up to Young usual standards. The director appears briefly as Wayne Newton…

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