Laserblast

 

 (wkipedia)

LASERBLAST-1978-Two lizard like (Dave Allen animated) aliens chase a green faced guy in the California desert. He has some kind of ray gun device on his arm that they want. After the credits, Billy (Kim Milford) is harassed by some hick pot smoking cops. Then he tries to visit his girlfriend Kathy (Cheryl Smith) but has an argument with her senile shell shocked grandpa The Colonel (Keenan Wynn). Worse of all, he's insulted by Eddie Deezen! Riding in the desert he finds the ray gun the aliens were after. A guy named Craig (Gianni Rossi) snoops around. A doctor (Roddy McDowall) examines Billy and is later killed. The lizard aliens get reprimanded by their boss. There's a dumb sheriff (Ron Masak) too. Billy turns into a green faced maniac and destroys a plane, a car, a hippie and some buildings. Before he can really do any destruction the aliens kill him and take the weapon leaving Kathy to mourn his passing. 

This low budget Charles Band Sci-Fi romp was directed by Michael Rae who did various work on other movies and may have directed one other movie (2005's ALIENS GONE WILD). 

LASERBLAST has become somewhat of a cult film, known for one scene where Billy blasts a STAR WARS billboard. Star Kim Milford was “Rocky” in the original stage production of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. He made other stage and film appearances but tragically died at age 37 after heart surgery in 1988. Lead actress Cheryl Smith, who died in 2007 at the age of 47 also appear in Cheech & Chong's UP IN SMOKE the same year.

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Stop Motion Monster Cheapie

 

THE CRATER LAKE MONSTER-1977-At Crater Lake in Northern California, archaeologist Dan Turner (Richard Garrison) and his girlfriend Sue (Kacey Cobb) show a professor some cave drawings they discovered. There's a cave-in but they escape just as a meteor falls into the lake. The trio along with Sheriff Steve Hanson (co-screenwriter Richard Carella) go to investigate. They find the meteor but it's too hot. 

Later a giant (stop motion) dinosaur emerges from the lake and kills a hiker and eats a rancher's cattle. Someone calls to report seeing a monster but the sheriff doesn't believe it. When two hillbillies have a fight in the lake they discover the severed head of a guy they rented a boat to. A side story involving a robber who kills two people just seems to be filler. Somehow Steve kills the monster using a bulldozer. The monster and the stop motion (by Dave Allen) isn't bad but the acting is terrible and the music seems out of place. Co-screenwriter/director William R. Stromberg never made another movie.

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Equinox

EQUINOX-1970-After an explosion, a man runs through the forest (after finding a dead woman). He makes it to the highway but is hit by a car that has no driver. A couple in another car stop to help him. A year later, the man, named David (Edward Connell), is in a mental institution ranting about good and evil and obsessed with a cross he has. A reporter named Sloan tries to interview him (“nutty stuff”). When Sloan shows David a picture of the missing Dr. Waterman (fantasy/horror writer Fritz Lieber), it triggers a flashback and he attacks Sloan. Through a tape recording he made earlier David relates how he and three friends (Susan, Vicki & Tim) go to visit Waterman in his secluded cabin. They find the cabin a wreck. They also meets a weird acting sheriff named Asmodeus (co-director Jack Woods)! Later they discover a castle in the distance and decide to check it out. After hearing eerie laughter and finding non-human tracks, they make torches and enter a dark cave. They meet a crazy old man who gives them an ancient book. They leave the cave and Dr. Waterman suddenly shows up and steals the book. Giving chase, David tackles him and he dies but his body disappears. Meanwhile, Susan (Barbara Hewitt), left alone is terrorized by Asmodeus who puts on a strange ring, turns rather evil looking, slobbers on her and tries to molest her but her cross drives him away. When David reads the professor's notes he learns that Waterman used the ancient book (“a bible of evil”) to open up a demon portal (very weird flashbacks accompany the narration). The castle disappears, the guys go to investigate and Asmodeus sends a (stop motion clay) monster to kill the old man from the cave. Somehow David kills the monster using only a sharpened tree branch. Susan becomes possessed and attacks Vicki (Robin Christopher). Later Asmodeus tries to convince Jim (Frank Boers) to give him the book, then sets a giant green caveman on the group. David goes after Jim when he enters another dimension where Asmodeus kills Jim and impersonates him. They have a fight and Asmodeus-Jim turns into a winged demon and kills Vicki. David and Susan run (with the book in tow). The winged demon is destroyed by a cross on a grave but Susan also dies. A mysteriously shrouded creature tells David in a year and one day he will be dead. The scene of David being hit by the driver-less car is shown and the tape ends. It happens to be a year and a day later and David is strapped into a straitjacket yelling for his cross he lost in his tussle with Sloan. On his way out the reporter eyes a pretty woman as he leaves: Susan, now obviously a demonic assassin.....

EQUINOX was originally filmed in 1967 by Dennis Muren on a budget said to be around 6000 dollars! The interesting stop animation was done by Jim Danforth (who'd created similar creatures for the X-rated FLESH GORDON) and Dave Allen (he later animated “The Pillsbury Doughboy”). Producer Jack H. Harris picked it up and had sound editor Jack Woods direct new scenes (leading to several continuity lapses). Despite those errors, the small budget and some bad acting E is a lot of fun (and a little frightening at times) and obviously inspired Sam Raimi's THE EVIL DEAD.  

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