The Howling Man

 

 (imdb)

TWILIGHT ZONE-1960-”The Howling Man”-David Ellington (HM Wynant) relates the story of how he got lost in a storm and sought refuge at a hermitage “Brothers of Truth”, run by Brother Jerome (John Carradine in white beard). While pleading his case for shelter he hears a strange howling but another brother (Friedrich Ledebur; MOBY DICK (1956)) says it's just the wind. Jerome refuses to shelter him but Ellington collapses. Later while wandering around the place, he meets a man (Robin Hughes from THE THING THAT COULDN'T DIE (1958)) being held prisoner who claims he is being held there because Jerome was jealous of his girlfriend. When Ellington confronts Jerome about this the brother reveals that the prisoner is not a man but the devil himself!  Although Jerome relates a convincing story, Ellington still frees the man who it turns out really is the devil. Now in the present time Ellington (the worst for wear and sounding a little insane) has imprisoned Satan in a hotel room and has been relating his story to a maid. He leaves to contact Jerome and the maid begins to open the door...

Memorable episode with good performances and nice SFX. It was written by Charles Beaumont (from his short story) who penned 21 other episodes and directed by Douglas Heyes. Of course, the host was Rod Serling.

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Poe X 3

 

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SPIRITS OF THE DEAD-1968-3 tales loosely based on stories by the legendary Edgar Allen Poe by 3 different directors. 

The first is "Metzengerstein" by Roger Vadim, about a cruel countess (Jane Fonda) whose life of debauchery is changed by the death of her mysterious cousin (Peter Fonda) and a wild horse he owned. "William Wilson" by Louis Malle is about a psychotic man (Alain Delon) plagued by another man who has the same name. He plays cards with a woman (Bridgitte Bardot) and wins by cheating. To pay her debt, he whips her but the other Wilson exposes him. They have a duel; both end up dying. "Toby Dammit" by Federico Fellini is about a burnout film star (Terence Stamp) who agrees to be in an Italian movie because the producers promise to give him a Ferrari in lieu of payment. It seems to be a plot by the devil, in the guise of a sinister little girl, to get his head. 

Strange trilogy that could have been better. Despite the three directors, it's missing something. Originally, Orson Welles and/or Luis Bunel were supposed to direct a segment. When AIP released it in the US it had opening narration by Vincent Price.

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Evil vs. Evil

 

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DR. SATAN VS. BLACK MAGIC-1968-Dr. Satan (Joaquin Cordero) is awakened by the real Satan and told to go back to Earth to stop vampire Yei Lin (Noe Murayama) from obtaining a formula that turns metal into gold. I'm not exactly sure why Beazelbub cares about this but he does. Satan hypnotizes two women (who sleep in coffins) to assist him. In a fight Lin almost turns Satan into a vampire but evil triumphs over evil in this Mexican tale directed by Rogelio A. Gonzalez (THE SHIP OF MONSTERS).

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Crap Train To Terror

 

 (imdb)

NIGHT TRAIN TO TERROR-1985-On a train, a terrible rock band play. Also on the train are God (un-billed Ferdy Mayne) and Satan (un-billed Tony Giorgio) who discuss various things in this low budget trilogy. 

In the first story, “The Case of Harry Bilings”, an accident victim named Harry (John Phillip Law) is turned into a weirdo who drugs women and brings them to an institution where a big doofus intern Otto (Richard Moll) rapes and dismembers them and sells their body parts. Later a female doctor lobotomizes a male doctor. Harry decapitates Otto and discovers the male doctor operating on the female doctor. I thought this might have been a misfire black comedy despite the subject matter.

Number 2: “The Case of Gretta Connors”. A musician named Greta (Merideth Hayes) is turned into a porno actress by a jerk named George (J. Martin Sellers). Glen, a preppie type sees one of Gretta's movies and falls in love with her. Somehow, he meets her and they become lovers. It turns out George is the head of “The Death Club” whose members have all had brushes with death. Something called a “Transinian Winged Beetle” (terrible animation) stings a guy to death and his eyeballs explode. They also play an electrocution game where an African American guy is burned to death. Later they play a game of death with a construction ball that looks like something from the '60's “Batman” TV show.

The third story is called “The Case of Claire Hansen”, Mr. Weiss (Marc Lawrence) enlists a police Lt. (Cameron Mitchell) and his assistant Dieter (also Marc Lawrence) to help him trap a Nazi. Then Weiss is killed by a fanged monster. Coroner Claire Hansen (Faith Cliff) examines the body. Her husband Peter is the author of the book “Is God Dead?”. A guy named Papini warns Peter the devil is coming for him. The Nazi is now the still young Mr. Oliver (Robert Bristol), a murderer sporting goat legs. The boyfriend of one of Oliver's victims tries to kill him but is crushed by a red eyed monster (terrible animation). Strange rubbery demons attack Claire but it seems to be an illusion. A priest tells her she was picked by God to battle the devil. He gives her a box and tells her to cut out Oliver's heart and put it in the box. A badly animated monster kills Papini. The Lt and Dieter are blown up. Then Oliver turns into a demon (bad puppet) and kills Peter. Somehow Claire runs Oliver down with her car and takes him to a hospital to remove his heart. Everything goes awry in the bloody operating room finale but Satan wins.

 The band plays some more but fortunately are killed when the train crashes. (but sadly, they seem to come back to life) This out of whack z budget trilogy was actually made from three full length or almost finished films and the third story actually was released in full length form as CATACLYSM. Four directors are credited but the screenwriting for all the stories go to one person, Phillip Yordan, who once won an Oscar for the screenplay of BROKEN LANCE (1954)!

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French Horror

 

 (letterboxd.com)

CARNIVAL OF SINNERS-1943-At a Parisian inn full of disgruntled guests, a mysterious man (Pierre Fresnay; THE GRAND ILLUSION) with an artificial hand relates the story of how he bought a cursed hand from the devil to become a famous painter. He spends the rest of the story trying to get rid of it. Previous owners include a musketeer, a thief, a juggler, a magician, a surgeon, a boxer and the chef who sold it to the painter. 

Clever but seldom seen French horror directed by Maurice Tourneur, father of future director Jacques.

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Go Back

 

 (imdb)

BACK FROM HELL-1993-Father Aaron Pike visits his old friend Jack to hear his confession. Jack is hold up in some attic. Two detectives who followed Pike enter the building one by one and are killed by Jack. Then Jack says they are going to talk to the devil. He says some pray and one of the dead detectives comes back to life and starts ranting in a weird voice. A hand comes out of a Bible and tries to kill the priest. Later the duo fights some hooded characters. It seems Jack sold his soul to the devil. 

While not unentertaining, BFH is very incompetent with terrible acting, bad lighting, direction and gratuitous scenes of gore and blood spurting. It's unintentionally funny most of the time but its real drawback is some of the scenes go on too long. This was the first movie for director Matt Jaissle (he's made a few more since) who also plays “maniac with an ax”.

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Mexican Werewof

 

 (imdb)

EL HOMBRE Y MONSTERO-1959-In this stylish and eerie Mexican horror film, Samuel (Enrique Rambal) makes a pact with the devil to become a great pianist but unfortunately when dealing with Mr. Scratch there's always a catch. Now whenever Sam tinkles the ivories he turns into a hairy werewolf like creature. He lives with his mom and a young protégé he's training. However a nosy reporter (screenwriter Abel Salazar) learns that Sam has the corpse of a female rival he killed in a room and every so often talks to it. After terrorizing he transforms during a big concert and is shot by the police. Director Rafael Baledon also made ORLAK,THE HELL OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN.

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Sign The Book

 

 (imdb)

THE UNDEAD-1957-After a sinister intro by The Devil (Richard Devon), a weird guy named Quintas Ratcliff (Val Dufour) returns from Tibet to confront his former teacher with his regression experiments. Quintas regresses hooker Diana (Pamela Duncan) to a past life in some medieval time when persecution of witches was trending. She finds herself a condemned witch named Elaine, locked in a dungeon awaiting execution. She escapes but is accidentally locked in a coffin (with a corpse played by Paul Blaisdell) by feeble gravedigger Smolen (Mel Welles). Meanwhile Pendragon (Richard Garland) searches for proof of Elaine's innocence. A woman named Livia (Allison Hayes) pretends to care but is really a witch with imp companion (Bobby Barty) who's after Pendragon's heart. 

(Metaphorically speaking…).

 After Smolen frees Elaine from the coffin she meets Maud (Dorothy Neumann), a kind of witch who hides Elaine and tells Pendragon. Maud then challenges Livia. Bruno VeSota plays a pub owner who's decapitated. When Quintas realizes he's changed the past he goes back to try and fix things up. Livia convinces Pendragon the only way to help Elaine is to make a pact with the devil but Qunitas now a knight who somehow the devil knows dissuades Pendragon from signing. But if Elaine doesn't die by dawn all her future lives will cease to be. Will she submit to the executioner's axe? And what of Quintas? Will he make it back to the present? Dick Miller appears in one scene as a leper. 

This is a great low budget AIP production directed of course by Roger Corman with a lot of flair and imagination. There's some nice SFX and spooky settings. Screenwriters Charles Griffin and Mark Hanna also collaborated on Corman's best sci-fi/horror film NOT OF THIS EARTH the same year. Corman also made ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS in '57, written by Griffin and and starring Garland and Duncan.

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Transmissions From Planet Haas

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BAIT-1954-The devil disguised as Sir Cedric Hardwick introduces this tale of two gold prospectors Marko (director Hugo Haas) and Ray (John Agar) looking for a lost goldmine. Peggy (Cleo Moore) an unwed mother who works at a grocery comes between them. The religiously bent Marko thinks Peggy was sent by the devil. The duo find the mine and both get gold fever. While Ray stays behind, Marko romances Peggy and winds up marrying her. Dumbly, he takes her to the mine to live with him and Ray but he has his reasons. 

Pretty low grade even for Hugo Haas, king of the senseless low budget morality tale. Bruno Ve Sota is also in it.

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Merry Christmas!

 

SANTA CLAUS-1959-Out in space Santa Claus (Jose Elias Moreno) sets up a nativity scene, laughs insanely and watches children from all over the world make his toys. Lucifer sends his main man Pitch (Jose' Luis Aguirre) to Earth to make children do evil. Santa has some bizarre machines to help him. One machine has lips and his telescope has a tentacle with an eye on it. Pitch tries to corrupt a cute little girl named Lupita who only wants a doll. She has a “devil influenced” dream where large dolls dance and try to convince her to steal. Besides kids, Santa also gets help from Merlin the magician, a doddering old fool who gives Santa secret sleeping powders and a flower that makes him invisible. The red bearded key maker gives him a key that opens any door. He also has mechanical reindeer that pull his sleigh. Pitch corrupts three brothers who want to kidnap Santa and steal his toys. 

A side story is about a lonely rich kid who only wants to be with his neglectful parents on Christmas eve. Despite losing the sleeping powders and flower and being run up a tree by a dog Santa delivers all his presents and gives Lupita the doll she wanted. Actor/director Rene Cordona made this religious leaning craziness from Mexico.

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Religious

THE BLOOD OF JESUS-1941-After a baptism ceremony Martha (Cathryn Caviness), a devout religious woman is accidentally shot by her “heathen” husband Razz (Spencer Williams). It's believed she won't survive and everyone prays for her. After she appears to die she is visited by an angel and her spirit leaves her body. The angel takes her on a tour of the spirit world where hooded figures walk around graves. The angel tells her to go to the crossroads to find her fate and almost immediately the devil (who laughs like a lunatic) sends a dapper guy named Judas to tempt her (“Ok Judas. Do your stuff”) and lead her off the road of righteousness with a nice dress and fancy shoes. He takes her to a nightclub in the city that features singers and some weird dancers. Unfortunately she becomes a prostitute but later runs away chased by some guys who think she stole a wallet. At the crossroads (a sign has “To Hell” pointing one way and “To Zion” pointing another) there's a flat bed truck with a jazz combo (the devil is the driver). Just when the men are about to stone Martha the Lord's thundering voice sends them running. A heavenly choir and the blood of Christ bring her back to the living and everyone sings (for some reason one guy faints). 

This “race film” was the brainchild of actor/director/writer Spencer Williams (who'd provided the screenplay for the notorious SON OF INGAGI a few years before). Said to have been made on a budget of $5,000 and I wouldn't doubt it as BLOOD's special effects are crude and the actors (most were amateurs) deliver their lines with little emotion. Yet there is something that makes this movie click (at least for me). Perhaps it's Williams' belief in his subject matter. Whatever the case it's a low budget winner in my book! 

 Williams directed 10 more films after this (at least one is lost) and after leaving the film business for a while played Andy TV's “The Amos and Andy Show” from 1951-1955. He died in 1969.

Final note: IMDB lists no date for death for one of the actors in BLOOD, that of Juanita Riley who plays one of Martha's friends. If still alive she'd be 99 at the time of this writing!

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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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