Reformed Vampires

 

 (imdb)

SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT-1989-A prologue tells us that a community of vampires (Purgatory) live somewhere out west, no longer drinking human blood, using sunblock and other modern devices so that someday they can live in harmony with humans. David Harrison (Jim Meltzer), his wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany) and their 2 monster loving daughters come to town to help make artificial blood for the vampires. The town is run by Mardulak (David Carradine). Meanwhile, Jefferson (John Ireland) is planning a revolt and is gathering a vampire army. Another vampire Shane (Maxwell Caulfield), a former rival of David's ìs in league with Jefferson and invents wooden bullets to kill Mardulak's followers. Another visitor is Robert Van Helsing (Bruce Campbell), who's helped by Sandy, a waitress vampire (Deborah Foreman). Of course, Mardulak is really Dracula and there's a huge shootout between the two factions as a finale. 

Dabbs Greer is a German vampire. John Hancock is the sheriff. Emmett Walsh is a gas station attendant who decapitates a punk and Bert Remsen is his brother. Buck Flower is impaled with an umbrella. 

The story is part horror parody and part serious horror and it doesn't always mesh but Carradine, Campbell & Ireland are good. “Town Without Pity” and “Earth Angel” are played over the closing credits. 

This was director Anthony Hickox's second feature (after WAXWORK in 1988). His dad, Douglas directed Vincent Price in THEATER OF BLOOD (1973).

Thanks for reading!

He Who Walks Behind The Rows

 

 (themoviedb.org)

CHILDREN OF THE CORN V: FIELDS OF TERROR-1998-A young kid has an episode in a cornfield. Then he goes and kills a farmer and a bunch of kids bludgeon his wife to death. Later a guy (Ahmet Zappa) and his girlfriend are killed by some strange kids in the cornfield. 2 more couples (Stacy Galina, Alexis Arquette, Eva Mendes, Greg Vaughan) appear looking for the first pair and one girl's brother Jacob. After their car breaks down, they wander into a town full of asshole hicks (Kane Hodder is a bartender). To top it off, the unhelpful sheriff is played by Fred Williamson. The idiots miss the only outgoing bus and their car is set on fire. They find a semi-abandoned house and stay the night. Later they meet Luke (David Carradine), a way-out guy who seems to have a community of children he wants to save from adulthood, but little punk Ezekiel (Adam Wylie) seems to really be in charge. The only good part is the whacked confrontation between Luke and the sheriff. 

From Ethan Wiley, director of HOUSE 2: THE SECOND STORY (1987) and writer of the original HOUSE (1985) and BLACK OPS (2008). These corn kid sequels are of course all “based on” Stephen King's short story.

Thanks for reading!

Sequel?

 

 (imdb)

WIZARDS OF THE LOST KINGDOM 2-1989-Failed wizard Caedmon (Mel Welles) guides a young stupid kid Tybor (Robert Jayne) with a terrible haircut, to becoming a wizard so they can free three cities from the clutches of 3 wizards. They want a mercenary The Dark One (David Carradine) to help them but he doesn't want to leave his busy bar. Meanwhile Princess Amathea (Lana Clarkson) helps them and organizes an army. One wizard Loki (Edward Blackoff) tries to turn them to stone. A sorceress Freya (Diana Barton) and the wizard Donar (Sid Haig) have a sword the good guys want. Later The Dark One shows up to help them battle Zatz (outrageously overacting Henry Brandon in his last film role). 

It's basically a comedy, one of the handful of movies directed by Charles Griffith better known for this screenwriting efforts (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, NOT OF THIS EARTH), many produced (and or directed) by Roger Corman who co-produced this filmed in Argentina “sequel” which has no characters from the first one! It also features stock footage from other sword and sorcery productions made by Corman's company Concorde. Co-star Clarkson was shot and killed by Phil Spector in 2003.

Thanks for reading!

Carradine The Younger

 

DEATHSPORT-1978-In the war torn Earth of 3000, the countryside is occupied by cannibals and barbarian like Range Guides. Two guides Kaz Oshay (David Carradine) and Deneer (Claudia Jennings in her last film) are captured by the mad Lord Zirpola (David McLean) and his evil henchman Ankar Moor (Richard Lynch) to compete in the title battle. After an escape plan fails, Kaz and Deneer are put in the battle which involves motorcycles and a fight to the death. The duo escape and Moor and his minions follow. A doctor (William Smithers) and his son (Will Walker) accompany them on a trek to find a missing child. Lots of people are disintegrated. After the child is rescued from some mutants, Kaz and Moor have a show-down. After decapitating Moor, Kaz and Deneer leave together. 

This entertaining little movie has cheap sfx and weird dialogue. Jesse Vint, HB Haggerty and Linnea Quigley have roles too. Jerry Garcia plays guitar on the soundtrack. Director Allan Arkush made this in between HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD and ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL. Co-director Henry Suso is the pseudonym of screenwriter Nicolas Niciphor.

Thanks for reading!

Corman Giant Size Monsters

DINOCROC VS. SUPERGATOR-2010-More made for TV giant reptilian junk courtesy of Roger Corman and the SyFy channel. A genetics lab working to grow bigger food sources is used by an evil industrialist Jason Drake (David Carradine; the only reason I checked this out) to create a giant crocodile and a giant alligator. A sheriff (John Callahan), his daughter deputy (Amy Holt), a hunter (Rib Hills) and an undercover FBI agent (James Burns) try to stop the scaly pair. Somehow the gang gets the two giganto-reptiles together and they fight each other until they are blown up. The fight is nothing but a computerized update of the famous overused stock footage from One Million Years BC. 

The director Jim Wynorski (under the pseudonym Rob Robertson) has been making mostly direct to video soft core nudie movie takeoffs (THE HILLS HAVE THIGHS, THE BREASTFORD WIVES) and cheesy giant reptile craziness under many fake names for years now and also co-wrote this using the name Jay Andrews (I don't really blame him...)

Thanks for reading!

Armed Response

ARMED RESPONSE-1986-In this crazed sometimes funny Fred Olen Ray action drama, David Carradine plays Jim Roth, a veteran tortured by memories of Viet-Nam who now runs a bar. His war vet father Burt is played by Lee Van Cleef! A Yakusa gang leader named Tanaka (Mako) is after a stolen statue. He dispatches two underlings, Thorton (Ross Hagen acting weird as usual) and one of Jim's brothers (David Goss) to deliver a million dollars to buy the statue from the comic duo of Laurene Landon and Dick Miller. Thorton betrays his partner and a bloody shoot out ensues. He beats it out with the money and the statue. Later Tanaka has another brother (Brent Huff) tortured with some kind of acupuncture. After he dies Jim and Burt go for revenge. Fights, shootings and explosions abound. Some of the dialogue is terrible but Tanaka's main henchmen are played by Michael Berryman and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.

Also with Lois Hamilton, Burr DeBenning, Conan Lee and Bobbie Bresee (in one quick scene). This was one of Lee Van Cleef's last roles. He died in 1989 of a heart attack at age 63.

Thanks for reading!

Curses!

DARK FIELDS-2009-A town called Perseverance has been under a curse fro several generations. It started when the farming community dug up an old hat. Now every generation has to sacrifice several of their children based on a lottery they devised. An Indian shaman and a tall bald guy with fangs also figures into it. It tells three stories at the same time but jumps around and tries to be arty (and causes much viewer confusion). The late David Carradine is seen in the 18th century segments and Dee Wallace is in the 1950's plot. Richard Lynch (who died in 2012) is featured in the modern day story as a mean crazy father who wants his cursed daughter (Sasha Higgins) to drown her own brother. Later it's just the brother and sister running around in the dark looking for a cure and useless scenes of gore and torture (some of it against children). It's kind of like Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" except it's not good.

Too bad the director (who probably needs mental help) Douglas Schulze (THE HELLMASTER) decided to the three way story line and waste the triple threat of Carradine, Stone and Lynch which is the only acting highlights. The rest of the cast is terrible.

Thanks for reading!

"It's Hard to Kill a Horse With a Flute".

CIRCLE OF IRON-1978-A fighter named Cord (Jeff Cooper) fights in a weird tournament where the winner gets a chance to find "the book of enlightenment" held by someone named Zetan. He wins but is expelled for cheating by the games master (Roddy McDowall in strange headgear). He sets out to find the book anyway and helps a philosophy spouting blind flute player (David Carradine, similar to his Caine KUNG-FU character) who beats up three attackers in alley.

To find the book Cord must go through several trials. In the first he battles the leader (Carradine again) of a tribe of monkey men. Then in the film's most amusing scene he meets "man in oil" (Eli Wallach), a doctor who sits in a tub of oil to destroy his sexual urges. Cord then meets a barbarian leader Changsha (Carradine once more) who fights pro wrestler Earl Maynard and eventually provides Cord with his next trial. There he also meets Tara (Erica Greer) who tries to make Cord break his vow of chastity and gets crucified instead. In a dream he confronts Death (Carradine in his fourth role). Then he and the blind flute player have a few adventures. At the end Cord does meet Zetan (Christopher Lee) and finds out the secret of the book.
Carradine is great in his multiple roles (especially the blind flute player saying things like: "A fool is the twin of the wise") Antony De Longis is Morthond.

The Zen Buddhism inspired story was developed by Bruce Lee, James Coburn and Stirling Silliphant (who co-wrote the screenplay) as a vehicle for Lee (who died in 1973 ). Despite this it does seem influenced by the KUNG-FU TV show. Silliphant was a prolific TV writer who also penned the original CHILDREN OF THE DAMMED, THE SWARM and several Irwin Allen disaster movies.

Director Richard Moore was a cinematographer on films like WILD IN THE STREETS, MYRA BRECKENRIDGE and (later) ANNIE. CIRCLE is his only film as director. Co-scripter Stanley Mann also wrote DAMIEN: OMEN 2 and METEOR. It takes place in the Far East but was filmed in Israel.

"A fish saved my life once. I ate it".

Thanks for reading!

Nam Fu

ATTACK FORCE 'NAM-Similar to Chuck Norris' POW series, David Carradine is Col. Cooper who leads a group of GIs back to Vietnam to rescue POWs right before the Paris Peace Accord is signed. Mako plays a camp leader who takes Cooper prisoner but then wants a deal where Cooper will take him to Hanoi as his prisoner but he's really after some hidden gold.

It's cheaply made but has lots of action and also features Steve Jones as an army Lieutenant.

The DVD version I saw had a picture of Carradine from the original Kung-Fu series on the front and they back had credits for another movie!

Carradine and Mako were in Kung-Fu reunion TV movie the same year.

ATTACK FORCE played in theaters as BEHIND ENEMY LINES.

Thanks for reading!