Dope

 

STAKEOUT ON DOPE STREET-1958-Grocery clerk Ves (Jonathan Haze), bodybuilder Nick (Steven Marlo) & artist Jim (Yale Wexler) find two pounds of heroin after a police bust. They decide to sell it and live on easy street. They enlist a junkie named Danny (Allen Kramer) to help them. After their first deal Jim has problems with his girlfriend Kathy (Abby Dalton) who doesn't like their plan. Danny relates a long flashback where he goes through cold turkey. When they run afoul of gang boss Mr. Fennell (Herschel Bernardi) and his thugs they regret their involvement. 

This forgotten little crime drama with a message was the first feature film directed by Irwin Kershner after making a few documentary shorts and some TV. After stuff like THE RETURN OF THE MAN CALLED HORSE and EYES OF LAURA MARS, he really made it to the big time directing THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, NEVER SAY NEVER and ROBO-COP 2.

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Blood Bath AKA

 

BLOOD BATH-1966-After it seems like a vampire killed a woman, some beatniks (including Sid Haig & Jonathan Haze) check out Max (Karl Schanzer) the artist's new painting. Then waitress Daisy (Marissa Mathes) has a discussion with ballet dancing Dorean (Linda/Lori Saunders) about a secret meeting she has with a man. 

While looking at some paintings Daisy meets artist Antonio Sordi (William Campbell), who's artist ancestor was burned at the sake after being betrayed by his mistress Melizza. While having a flashback/hallucination, he turns into the vampire and kills Daisy with a meat cleaver. Sordi is also the person Dorean was meeting on the beach. Later at a party, he attacks a woman who falls into a pool. Daisy's sister Donna (Sandra Knight) goes looking for her (Max recognizes her from Sordi's latest painting) but Sordi denies knowing her. She learns about Sordi's ancestor who came back as a vengeful vampire after being burned, eventually being staked. 

Donna sees a connection between the missing women and Sordi. She decides to shadow him but he kills her on a merry go round (while others do nothing). His vampire self terrorizes Dorean but she escapes. Max has a fight with the vampire who seems to fall to his death but his body disappears. Poor Dorean seeks shelter at Sordi's bell tower residence where she discovers a dead corpse (Patrick Magee). Sordi isn't dead and thinks Doreann is Melizza come back to him. Fortunately some of his victims come back to life and throw him in bubbling wax. 

This movie has a crazy history. It started out life as a US-Yugoslavian production called “Operation Titan” for which Roger Corman provided American actors William Campbell and Sid Haig as he planned to distribute it in the US. Corman was unhappy with the resulting film and finally asked Jack Hill to write a new script and shoot new scenes while incorporating some of the original. Hill turned it into a horror film called “Portrait in Terror”. Corman was still unhappy with this new version and hired Stephanie Rothman to shoot more scenes. Unfortunately star William Campbell refused to do anymore re-shoots and an unidentified actor portrays the vampire monster which is why the Sordi character transforms into a totally different monster! Sid Haig's character also grows a beard for his later scenes! New scenes were also shot for a TV version called “Track of The Vampire”. 

There's always a story with Roger Corman!

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It's A Start...

MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR-1954 This was the first film Roger Corman made as producer. It was a modest hit and made it's money back so as they say "the rest is history"....

Anne Kimball stars as Julie, a vacationing American artist in Mexican who decides to investigate the local legend of a one eyed sea monster. Love blooms when she meets Steve (Stuart Wade; the sheriff in TEENAGE MONSTER) a marine biologist who doesn't believe her when she finally does see the creature. The nerdy looking Dr. Baldwin (Dick Pinner) thinks the monster may be a product of the Bikini Island A-bomb tests.

Future Corman regular Jonathan Haze appears as a local with a bad accent (it's similar to his later role in IT CONQUERED THE WORLD). The monster is kind of a comical stop motion thing and it's demise is pretty silly. 

Still although it's a little talky MONSTER is a short easy to take cheapy....and it was directed by Wyott Ordung, the guy who wrote ROBOT MONSTER!!!!! He also appears as a villager who thinks Julie should be sacrificed to appease the underwater monster! Earlier Ordung had a role in Sam Fuller's FIXED BAYONETS. He directed one other film, WALK THE DARK STREET.

Cinematography is by Floyd Crosby (who'd shot HIGH NOON in '52) who would become a AIP mainstay and collaborate with Corman again in the future. Look quick for Corman himself in the brief role of "Tommy".....

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