GHOSTWATCH (1992)

  I can see where this might have spooked out some British children back in the 90s if they saw it with no context, watching it for the first time over 20 years later though it's a pretty tough sit. Made to look like an ordinary TV programme of the day it's quite dull. I suppose it would also help if you had any belief in the supernatural or demons or whatever you're supposed to think is haunting the people on display. Might be good for a few chuckles but mostly just good to take a nap to. It's also probably a better choice to watch any of a number of documentaries that talk about the circumstances around the initial showing of this than the actual movie itself.

 That dude from RED DWARF(Craig Charles) plays one of our intrepid reporters.

IN HOT PURSUIT (1977)

 Based on a true story, what we get here is kind of a SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT-situation(which was made this same year) but instead of smuggling beer our hippie anti-heroes(played by brothers Don and Bobby Watson who seem to not really be actors having appeared in only this) are transporting marijuana for some unlikeable mobster types. Much of the dialogue reminds of that mush-mouthed southern stereotype-guy on the KING OF THE HILL cartoon which makes it a bit difficult to decipher. The element that is true to life involved a large weed-filled plane that landed on top of a highly-wooded mountain in Georgia. Not exactly a great movie but the stunts are pretty amazing to see(especially since it seems, as well as no real actors, no real stuntmen worked on this film either!). You get a semi-truck running right through a house, our to leads hanging off of a helicopter and many automobiles totaled. Definitely a good watch for fans of THE DUKES OF HAZZARD. Also known under the way cooler name of POLK COUNTY POT PLANE.

 

                                                                        Spanish poster:

ACAPULCO GOLD (1973)

  The highlight for me in this documentary about the history, picking, cultivation and smuggling of marijuana was the scene where a dude just swims from Mexico to a beach in California with two giant plastic bags full of high quality weed. It sure was a lot harder to get the good stuff back in those days. Pretty leisurely-paced(stoned?) film that reminded me of a 70s TV show like IN SEARCH OF... but without bigfoot ever showing up.  There is some cool tunes thrown in and a sweet animated bit that looks like it escaped from FRITZ THE CAT or something. 

 Caught this in a theater as the opening film in an all-day marathon of marijuana-influenced cinema and it certainly worked well in that capacity. 

 There is another ACAPULCO GOLD that came it 3 years later starring Marjoe Gortner which is not a documentary but deals with the same subject.

RACKET GIRLS (1951)

  This feels like the American version of one of those Mexican wrasslin' women movies, but since it came out a decade before those I guess this actually set the blueprint. Of course it's really a mobster movie with a whole bunch of wrestling scenes thrown in. Not exactly the sexiest spectacle but this was way before the days that porn became widespread so I guess you took whatever thrills you could get back then.  This has a few aliases including THE BLONDE PICK-UP, PIN-DOWN GIRL and WRESTLING RACKET GIRLS. Another MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 watch and it's undoubtedly better that way. 

THE GIRL IN LOVER'S LANE (1960)

Great character actor Jack Elam is once again great in this playing(as he normally did) the big creepy heavy who keeps creeping on a local innocent waitress(Joyce Meadows, who is not related to Audrey Meadows of THE HONEYMOONERS as I had initially suspected). Sadly most of the movie does not focus on our googly-eyed villain but is basically a love story about a couple of drifters(one of which is Brett Halsey who would go on to be in a bunch of spaghetti-westerns among other Italian flicks) who end up in a crappy little town where they lynch people on some very flimsy evidence. I've only seen this on MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000 and I think that's good enough.

 

THE UNEARTHLY (1957)

  John Carradine as a mad scientist attempting to reverse the aging process but really just creating a bunch of zombies and monsters that resemble the half-animal people in ISLAND OF LOST SOULS. The legendary Tor Johnson is his henchman that keeps his captive guests in line waiting to be his next subjects of medical-experimentation. One of these includes THE 50 FOOT WOMAN herself Alison Hayes! Clunky but fun 50s junk. 

 Originally released on a double-bill with that giant grasshopper movie THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 

                               Known in Spanish as THE MODERN FRANKENSTEIN:

and in Italian as THE HOUSE OF MONSTERS!

ERAN TRECE (1931)

 Similar to how they filmed a Spanish-language DRACULA  this here, translated as THERE WERE 13, is the Spanish version of CHARLIE CHAN CARRIES ON made on the same sets but with a different cast and crew. It's also one of the CHAN films that was thought lost until a print popped up. It's interesting to watch since for almost the first whole half there's no Chan at all until  a fellow named Manuel Arbo appears as the famous detective for the one and only time. It's also of note being the only Spanish version of a CHAN flick made because they figured out dubbing shortly after this. The English version starring Warner Oland(his first in the role of Chan) doesn't seem to exist anymore thanks to a fire. 

  The plot deals with a jealous ex-lover getting revenge. Pretty typical stuff for this genre. 

CHARLIE CHAN IN PARIS (1935)

 The 7th CHAN film starring Warner Oland. There would be over 30 to follow featuring a couple of different folks taking over the role. This one involves a knife-throwing trigger-happy killer who's trying to cover up for a bank that's selling fake bonds. If you've seen any of the films in this series you pretty much know exactly what to expect. This chapter is historically important as being the one to introduce Chan's #1 son(Keye Luke and actual Asian!) who would go on to be a regular. 

 This was considered a lost film until one remaining print of it was found in the 70s.  There are still 4 other CHAN films that are missing. 

KNIFE OF ICE (1972)

  This Italian murder mystery starts out with a bloody bullfight and that's about the most gore you're gonna get out of this fairly slow-moving giallo by director Umberto Lenzi and starring Carroll Baker. This is the 4th movie these 2 made together and probably the worst of them all. There's a hippie junkie, Snoopy shows up in necklace form and of course lots of red herrings. It's almost saved by the ridiculous twist ending which might be the only thing I will remember shortly after watching this. 

The 3 other Lenzi/Baker films(which are also said to be a kind of trilogy):

ORGASMO (AKA PARANOIA) (1969)

SO SWEET, SO PERVERSE (1969)

PARANOIA (AKA A QUIET PLACE TO KILL) (1970) 

                                                         AKA SILENT HORROR:

THE ARENA (1974)

 It's kinda weird seeing 70s Pam Grier in ancient Roman times but compared to some of her fellow female gladiators here she does come off as the most kickass of the bunch. This is overall an odd mashup of 2 different genres, the Italian peplum(complete with many scenes directed by Joe D'Amato himself and featuring Rosalba Neri, Paul Muller, Salvatore(THE BEAST IN HEAT) Baccaro and many other familiar eurotrash cinema faces in big roles.) and the Roger Corman(who produced this) women-in-prison flick with Grier and Margaret Markov(who had previously been paired up in the classic BLACK MAMA, WHITE MAMA). There's also some clear inspiration from SPARTACUS. You get lots of sword-fighting and female-on-female violence. Decent time-wasting midnight movie. AKA GLADIATOR WOMEN(re-release title) and NAKED WARRIORS(re-edited cut video title). 

ALIEN FROM THE DEEP (1989)

  1989 was not exactly the best year for Italian horror(or sci-fi) films and this one really doesn't stand out all that much besides featuring a really bizarre giant monster that consists of a giant claw attached to what might be an alien in a space suit? It's kinda hard to decipher exactly what the creature actually is. In addition to that you get Charles Napier of RAMBO-fame as the main bad guy, quite a bit of gore and an homage to the final scene of ALIENS.  AKA ALIEN FROM THE ABYSS 

SHAOLIN TEMPLE (1976)

 I recently watched director Chang Cheh's earlier, similar kung-fu epic FIVE SHAOLIN MASTERS which is on the same Blu Ray disc as this and while that one was OK I think I preferred this one a bit more. It had some similarities to MASTER KILLER, which is one of my all-time chop-sockey favs, due to all the training montages. You don't just get one hero in this though there are a whole slew of master fighters brandishing a variety of weapons and fighting styles. The cast includes a bunch of classic Shaw Brothers stars in top form including Alexander Fu Sheng, Ti Lung, David Chiang and others. A little lengthy at over 2 hours but that is what makes it all so epic. AKA DEATH CHANMBER

Known in Italy as THE GIANTS OF KARATE!:

DEATHSTALKER (1983)

  This 80s sword & sorcery epic is seemingly influenced by CONAN THE BARBARIAN which came out only a year earlier but I saw it before CONAN and it was in fact the first movie my family rented back when we first bought a VCR in the 80s. Full of boobs, butts, rape and quite a bit of gore this is clearly not a family movie but as a young teen I sure dug it. Not having seen it since those days I must say it really holds up as a great example of 80s exploitation brought to us by Roger Corman's New World Pictures. You get a pig-headed warrior, evil wizardry, arms ripped off, multiple decapitations, mud wrestling, a fight-to-the-death tournament and lots of hot ladies showing off the goods including Barbi Benton. 

 There were 3 sequels with the last one being in 1991 and I don't remember anything outstanding about any of them. There are also various movies which used scenes from this in them because that's how Corman rolls. The 2 BARBARIAN QUEEN films with Lana Clarkson are also kind of sequels to this except the character she plays has a different name. A remake of this was recently announced which is supposed to simply be titled BARBARIAN.

This Norwegian VHS gives us the title STALKER: THE WARRIOR KING and features a totally different character on the box cover!: