Satan Strikes

 

 (imdb)

NIGHT VISITOR-1989-Billy Colton (Derek Rydall), a moronic high school student who's always late for class spies on his new single hot neighbor Lisa (Shannon Tweed). He has a dopey friend Sam (Scott Fults) and a kind of girlfriend Kelly (Teresa Van der Woude). When Billy decides to climb to a window of Lisa's house to get some pics, he sees her ritualistically killed by a masked Satanist who turns out to be his teacher Mr. Willard (Allen Garfield) who lives with his weird brother Stanley (Michael J. Pollard) and have a kidnapped hooker in their basement. Unfortunately, the police (lead by Richard Roundtree) don't believe Billy because he's known to be a liar. Billy goes to an ex-cop Devereaux (Elliot Gould) for help. Meanwhile Willard and Stanley sacrifice the hooker to Satan. The police consult an authority on Satanism (Henry Gibson!). Later, when Kelly is kidnapped, Billy and Devereaux invade Willard's house. 

The out-of-control finale saves this from time wasting boredom and the annoying Billy character! Brooke Bundy plays Billy's mom. Director Rupert Hitzig earlier had produced WOLFEN (1981) and JAWS 3-D (1983).

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Lost But Found

PRIVATE PROPERTY-1960-Two hoodlums, Duke (Corey Allen) and Boots (Warren Oates) use intimation and switchblade to get their way. Duke also rides Boots for still being a virgin. They take a shine to a Ann Carlisle (Kate Manx, the director's wife) who they spot at a gas station and force an old guy (Jerome Cowan) to follow her to her house. Fortunately for them the house next door is unoccupied and they squat there and spy on her and her husband Roger (Robert Wark). Duke's sick plan is to seduce Ann and then turn her over to Boots but it doesn't quite work out that way when Boots winds up doing the dead man's float in the swimming​ pool and Duke is shot to death by Ann. 

Though rather mild and irritating by today's standards, PRIVATE PPROPERTY caused a lot of controversy in its initial release and was condemned by The League Of Decency. It played very few venues and disappeared. So much so that it was thought to be a "lost" film until a print was discovered and restored around 2016. 

PRIVATE PROPERTY was the first movie directed (and written) by Leslie Stevens, a busy TV screenwriter at the time. He went back to TV after the failure of this feature before returning to the big screen in 1966 with INCUBUS, the supernatural Bergmanesque parable with dialogue in Esperanto and starring William Shatner. His last work is on the series THE OUTER LIMITS. Sadly, leading lady Manx committed suicide four years after this was made. Star Corey Allen had been in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and other films and later became a successful TV director.

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Kinski In America

CRAWLSPACE-1986-This was one of the unfortunate starring roles for German actor Klaus Kinski in the US.

He plays Karl, an ex-doctor whose father was a Nazi. He runs a boarding house where four co-eds stay and has an elaborate duct through the place so he can spy on them. He also has a son (?) in a cage in the attic and collects various body parts from some other victims (eyes, a finger, a tongue). After a lot of peeping and acting weird Karl freaks out, puts on make-up and rants while a film of Hitler plays (“Hail Karl”, he exclaims.). Though the eccentric Kinski gives his all in the role of Karl, it’s a terrible movie. Talia Balsam plays a potential victim.

Director David Schoeller made the first (and best) PUPPET MASTER movie and directed episodes of the cable crime show SILK STALKINGS. In 1999 he made a 9-minute short PLEASE KILL MR. KINSKI about working with the nutty actor.

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