The Way!

THE WARRIOR'S WAY-2010-In this surreal Martial Arts Western fable, Yang (Dong-gun Jang), a sword wielding assassin from Korea (with a baby) comes to the US and settles in a western town populated by circus performers including a clown, a bearded lady, a little person (Tony Cox) and a drunk (Geoffrey Rush who also narrates). He gets a job doing laundry and helps knife thrower Kate Bosworth hone her craft. They both have unhappy flashbacks. When the town is visited by The Colonel (Danny Huston), a ruthless killer with a mask, Yang is forced to reveal himself and help the townsfolk battle him and his army.

Yang gets help from Rush's character who it turns out is actually a famous bank robbing gunslinger who gave up killing...until now. The all out climax is great with several excellent fight scenes.

The assassins who are after Yang kind of remind me of the ring wraiths in THE LORD OF THE RINGS series but then one of TWW's producers Barrie Osborne also produced the LORD OF THE RINGS series!

Lung Ti (also in John Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW) is Yang's former mentor. It was written and directed in Auckland New Zealand by first time director Sngmoo Lee, a Korean who studied at NYU. It did poorly at the box office but don't let that stop you from enjoying it!

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Boo!

THE BOOGENS-1981-Some construction workers accidentally release the title creatures while exploring and dynamiting a mine in Utah. They look like giant shell-less turtles with tentacles but are only seen fully toward the end of the story. Rebecca Balding (from THE SILENT SCREAM) and Fred McCarren (who was in XANADU the year before) star. There's a couple of bloody deaths but there's a long spell of character development and no action like many horror films churned out in the early '80's. Familiar TV character actor Jon Lormer is an old man who knows where "the boogens" came from. It seems every character but the two leads die.

Director James L. Conway made many Sunn Classics pseudo-documentaries like IN SEARCH OF NOAH'S ARK, THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY and BEYOND AND BACK. He made the UFO themed HANGAR 18 in 1980. After THE BOOGENS he in went into TV.

RIP: Hideki Irabu: 1969-2011.

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The Wacky '80's

GHOULIES-1985-A young man named Jonathan (overacting Peter Liapis) who as a baby was saved from being a demonic sacrifice inherits an old mansion and moves there with his girlfriend (Lisa Pelikan). During a party with his drunken stupid friends (one is Mariska Hargity in her movie debut) he begins to practice the black arts eventually conjuring up the little nasty demons of the title. His eyes glow green and he gets help from two little people Grizzel and Greedigut (who provide comedy relief). He throws another party and during another ritual makes his ghoul faced father (Michael Des Barres) rise from the grave. The ghoulies then kill his friends (one pops out of a toilet bowl like in the poster) and Jonathan must fight his demon dad.

Jack Nance (ERASERHEAD) plays a good guy sorcerer/caretaker who saves the day. Bobbi Bresee (MAUSOLEUM) has one scene.

This possession-sorcery nonsense was obviously inspired by Joe Dante's GREMLINS (made the year before) but I've read it went through several plot and script changes before being filmed. In a way the little monsters do seem like an afterthought. But it spawned 4 sequels!

Charles Band was the executive producer. It was the first movie directed by actor Luca Bercovici who later made ROCKULA and THE GRANNY.

Lead Liapis later played the same character in Part 4. England born Des Barres fronted the '70's rock band Detective and did a lot of American television. As a teen in his native England he'd already been in TO SIR WITH LOVE and I MONSTER.

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Corman Strikes Again!

THE WASP WOMAN-1959-Cosmetics CEO Janice Starlin (Susan Cabot with old age make-up) is worried her company is going down the tubes but she's more concerned about getting old.

She hires a scientist (Michael Mark) who's experiments with queen wasps produce a formula that makes her young. Unfortunately the treatment has some unwanted side effects. She turns into a hairy bug eyed insect with claws that prays on humans!

Barboura Morris is her secretary and Fred (later Anthony) Eisley is on her staff. They become suspicious when their pipe smoking colleague (William Roderick) becomes the first victim. Bruno VeSota plays a night watch man victim.

This THE FLY inspired horror is a very short and fast paced. It almost seems like an episode of a TV anthology show! Producer/director Roger Corman (who appears briefly as a doctor) made it between BUCKET OF BLOOD and SKI PATROL. It was written by actor Leo Gordon whose wife Lynn Cartwright appears as a switch board operator.

Both Cabot and Morris had appeared in Corman's SORORITY GIRL in 1957. Morris (who appeared in other Corman and /or AIP films) died of a stroke at 43 in 1975. Cabot (in 5 Corman directed features) was killed by her son in 1985. She was 59. WASP WOMAN was her last feature.

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Rock and Religion

THE WORLD’S GREATEST SINNER-1962-Rock god or sinner? 

Bored insurance salesman Clarence Hilliard (Timothy Carey) quits his job to write a book. That doesn’t work out so after seeing a rock band perform (the musician looks like he’s 12 years old) he decides to start his own group and throw some bible thumping in besides. He stands on street corners with his faithful friend Alonzo (Gil Barreto) and gets some followers (one of them is Titus Moede, later in some Ray Dennis Steckler movies).

He forms a kind of cabal with a bunch of nitwits to devise a plan (“Let’s be different. Let’s not hate anybody”). He seduces an old lady for money then dons a phony goatee and plays some numbers with his band (it’s very noisy) and shakes and yells like he’s having a fit. He preaches a loony kind of Nietzsche like philosophy that man is the only god and his followers run riot in the town. After his followers start calling him “God” the devil (who also narrates) visits him and convinces him to enter politics (“Just get rid of your guitar, Clarence”). He starts “The Eternal Man’s Party” and a montage of scenes depict how he’s corrupted by sex and power while campaigning as “God” Hilliard. After he loses the election it all goes down the drain and he cracks up, loses his family and blasphemes God. In the finale the devil as a snake is super-imposed around his body and the screen turns red negative!

For years I read all sorts of stuff about this movie. Michael Wheldon of “Psychotronic Video” fame gushed over it many times. It is entertaining. If more people get to see it (TCM showed one night at 2 AM) it could become the "PLAN 9" of the21^st Century!

Star Carey (a familiar and weird character actor who had scenes in the bigger budgeted films HOUSE OF NUMBERS and CONVICTS 4 the same year) wrote, produced and directed. It’s badly edited and some of the acting is quite funny. In his scenes before he becomes “God” Carey seems like he’s drunk. Paul Frees is the voice of Satan.

Frank Zappa wrote and performed the theme song and some incidental music is also obviously his (some of it sounds like his “Holiday In Berlin”, a theme he used many times over).

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3 By Franco

Filmmaker Jess Franco is a prolific, enigmatic director. If you think Woody Allen and Robert Altman made a lot of movies, well Franco leaves them both in the dust.

At his peak in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s his most exploitative films usually feature murder, blood, a wild jazz score, nudity and many of the same cast members. Occasionally he’s gotten some name stars to appear in his films.

In 1962 he created a horror character called Dr. Orloff who would reappear in many future films. Even Orloff’s servant Morpho showed up in other films (at least in name)! But his films suffered from low budgets, rushed filming, bad dubbing, censors and Franco’s insistent use of zoom senses. He used numerous pseudonyms and several versions of one movie were sometimes released for different countries! Some sources claim hardcore sex scenes were even added to some versions! Much of his output seemed obsessed with The Dracula Legend (and vampires in general), sadomasochism and lesbian love scenes. He’s still going strong today making films with names like KILLER BARBYS VS. DRACULA and BAD DAY AT THE CEMETERY but his output has decreased considerably. The following three movies were all made around the same time in 1971. This was the year after Franco made a fairly competent version of DRACULA and the imfamous EUNGENIE...AND THE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION.



SHE KILLED IN ECSTASY-1971-A scientist working with hormones and embryos (it almost sounds like stem cell research!) is rejected by 4 of his colleagues. He can’t accept the rejection and goes crazy, eventually committing suicide. His wife (Franco regular Soledad Miranda) takes revenge. She seduces the three men (Howard Vernon, Paul Muller and director Franco himself) then stabs and castrates them. The fourth is a woman who she also seduces then suffocates with a pillow. Later she drives off a cliff with her dead hubby beside her. The story isn’t much but this is a Jess Franco movie so there’s a loud jazz score to keep you interested and everyone wears bright clothing.



VAMPYROS LESBOS-1971 –This is the cult movie Franco made around the same time as SKIE and it seems to have the same musical score. Nadine, the daughter of Dracula (Soledad Miranda again) sets her sights on Linda who seeks the help of Dr. Seward (Franco regular Dennis Price) because she thinks it’s all a dream. Nadine and another woman do a nude erotic dance twice. The nude scenes of Nadine and Linda probably caused a stir at the time but I’m not sure if this was even released in the US in 1971 ! Paul Mueller and Franco are also in it.


THE DEVIL CAME TO ALAKASA-1971-This is a more typical Franco mess…er…movie. A scientist and his wife have a legendary stone that among other things can kill people exposed to it. Fred Williams (Jonathan Harker in Franco's production of DRACULA the year before) plays a Scotland Yard detective who investigates. He’s aided by another agent (Franco) and eventually helps and falls in love with an undercover government agent (Miranda) who’s posing as a stripper.

Meanwhile, a wheelchair bound Lord (Walter Rilla) and his mysterious servant (Howard Vernon) lurk in the background. Lots of people are killed in the confused plot that is hampered by bad dubbing and editing. Also the characters do and say things that I wasn’t really sure were intentional humor or not! Miranda was killed in a car accident soon after this was completed (maybe before as the ending seems tacked on).

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Don't Look At Me When You See The Title!

OLDBOY-2003-A man is mysteriously held captive in a room for 15 years. When he’s finally released he tries to find out why. This violent and sometimes annoying film uses a lot of craziness to explain it’s final resolution. I didn’t like it but some folks seem to. The Virginia Tech killer is said to have posted photos of himself online that resemble scenes from this movie.

South Korean director Chan-wook Park also made SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE which I liked better.

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