As far as silly giant monster movies go this one is certainly entertaining enough for a watch. Made the same year as the definitive British giant monster movie GORGO, this time instead of a GODZILLA-influenced monster we get a more KING KONG-inspired creature who starts out as a chimpanzee and as he gets bigger is magically(and unexplainedly) transformed into an ape. The story itself is nothing like KONG and owes more to your standard mad-scientist yarns of the 50s. In addition to a giant ape running loose you get some over-sized man-eating plants which can't help but remind us all of THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS which came out the previous year. Now if they only made a GORGO VS. KONGA flick it woulda been cinematic gold!
Inspired this comic book series which ran for 23 issues and is very expensive to find today!:
This movie starts out with a warning and a promise to a free burial if you happen to drop dead while watching! From there we get an exploitation movie homage to Alfred Hitchcock's REBECCA involving a woman(Peggy Webber, who mostly acted on TV shows) marrying a fellow(John Hudson, also predominately a TV guy) whose wife still haunts him as a skull that screams like a peacock, or does she? The mystery elements probably worked a lot better before there were a million movies with similar plots made through the years. Goofy throwback to a simpler era of exploitation thrills that I actually got to see play in a theater once many years ago. Sadly it was a shitty blurry DVD that the theater projected which didn't help my assessment of this film's qualities. This is a public domain feature so it's probably been presented by every dumb horror host ever and is able to be viewed in way better definition these days.
In this last entry in the Roger Corman-directed Edgar Allan Poe series from AIP studios Vincent Price wears some snazzy shades and pines for his dead wife and then gets remarried and becomes a hypnotist. There's lots of ghost shenanigans and a naughty black cat and Price acting like a koo-koo nutbird which is his specialty. I'm not sure if I would rate this one all that high up in the series (PIT AND THE PENDULUM and TALES OF TERROR are my 2 favs) but they're all enjoyable enough for a look at by Price fans.
It's hard to watch this one with the knowledge that it was originally going to star Vincent Price and not imagine it would have been improved by his presence. That's not to say that Ray Milland doesn't do a good job it's just hard for anyone to top Price in these Roger Corman directed Edgar Allan Poe adaptations and that inevitably leads to some minor disappointment while viewing.
The story itself deals with a guy(Milland) whose family has a history of being buried alive so that's his greatest fear. Guess what ends up happening to him?
This was the 3rd Corman/Poe film and the only one not to star Vincent Price.
Corman's Poe adaptations:
1960 - HOUSE OF USHER
1961 - THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
1962 - PREMATURE BURIAL
1962 - TALES OF TERROR
1963 - THE RAVEN
1963 - THE HAUNTED PALACE
1964 - THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
1964 - TOMB OF LIGEIA
Known in France as THE OBSESSION:
Weird British double feature where everything is rated X!
This one was obviously influential on 68's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD with it's hordes of undead roaming around after our sole survivor Vincent Price who's boarded-up inside his home during the night. Here, instead of flesh-eating zombies though, they are neck-biting vampires caused by a global airborne plague. This one gets extra credit for being the first version of the story that would go on to be filmed a few times as THE OMEGA MAN in '71, a big-budget CGI Hollywood piece of crap with Will Smith called I AM LEGEND(which was also the name of the original story) followed quickly by a shitty shot-on-video thing called I AM OMEGA(both in 2007). I would usually say stick with the original but the 70s version is the one I've honestly gone back to more often for a fun apocalyptic watch even if this one is in that semi-classic category..
There is a slightly longer ending if you're not watching the AIP TV-cut which seems to be the most common out there on all the cheap-o public domain DVD sets.
This starts off as an apocalyptic end-of-the-world deal with a gas that kills off anyone over 25. It's really more of a spoof of youth culture of the 60s and a satirical look at the stark generation gap back in those days though. It's also really a big disjointed mess. Roger Corman is the director here, but apparently AIP re-edited things quite a bit which pissed him off and caused him to leave and start his own company, New World Pictures, shortly after this. There's lots of dumb hippie stuff in this film, you get Shirley(Cindy Williams) from the LAVERNE & SHIRLEY tv show in a very pregnant state, Edgar Allen Poe as a biker is a sort of narrator, Bud Cort from HAROLD & MAUDE shows up, there's a football team that rapes and pillages, Country Joe & The Fish play a gig(while all looking older than 25), lots of hippie gibberish ensues and there's a silly peacenik ending. Unless you're really nostalgic for the 60s this one is pretty skippable. AKA GASSSS
Vincent Price hams it up as a Satanic prince in this AIP Edgar Allen Poe adaptation. Directed by Roger Corman, who is known for working as cheaply as possible, this one actually has some pretty good-looking production values since it was filmed on location in England. That "try the wine" guy from A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, Patrick Magee, has a pretty big role as a jerk who ends up in a gorilla suit getting his just rewards and the personification of death makes a few appearances kind of like in that DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY/BILL & TED style.
The story itself is a blending of 2 Poe stories which is more than some of the AIP Poe-inspired films were and probably one of the best.
Released in Germany as SATANAS: THE CASTLE OF THE BLOODY BEAST:
This is a biker movie but it's a little different because the bikers here only ride dirt bikes. Luckily they also only seem to ride around desert locations. Led by a rather hairy, unattractive, one-eyed leader named Monk(Paul Carr who mostly did television work) they rob a gas station, kill a cop and then hide out at an old-west movie set. They rape and abuse cast members until Michael Forest, who was a former gang member and current stuntman, goes into hero mode.
The bootleg DVD I own of this touts Uschi Digard as starring in this but she only appears briefly as a naked gang member.
Before viewing this 70's exploitation epic I had the notion that it would be something along the lines of that GARGOYLES made-for-T.V. movie with monstrous creatures living underground causing humans grief. What you actually get is more along the lines of a WOLF MAN-rip-off with a guy bitten by a naughty bat that turns him into a Man-Bat creature on occasion. So the film itself is a bit short on the promised "Bat People" but it's not totally terrible. You do get some bloody bat attacks(even though the movie is rated PG) and the Bat-Monster Man(designed by a young Stan Winston) is good for a chuckle. Overall though I had higher hopes for this one. AKA IT LIVES BY NIGHT
German VHS(THE BLOODSUCKERS!) cover with boobs!:
Good nature-run amuck triple feature down at the drive-in!:
George Kennedy plays a badass warden who is in love with his ferocious doberman pinscher dog that he uses to hunt down and tear apart escapees in this 70s men-in-prison epic. Our main character(Gregg Henry) seems way too much of a pretty boy to be a very convincing tough guy but after being wrongfully thrown into a prison camp he has to learn how to deal with all kinds of not very friendly folks. Julio from SANFORD AND SON(Gregory Sierra) as a flamboyant gay prisoner is one of the few friends he makes. Scatman Crothers, as the unfortunately nick-named "Dog Nigger" Mudcat, has too small of a role and meets a grisly fate and Tina "Ginger from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND" Louise gets about as naked as I've seen her in anything(really just some side-boob but I'll take what I can get). While I'm generally more of a fan of women-in-prison stuff from this era this one is still a pretty cool grimy little-known gem from American International Pictures that moves along at a brisk pace.
This seems to be one of those Martin Scorsese-directed films that doesn't get brought up much when people talk about his career. That's kind of a shame because, even though it's not my favorite of his filmography(TAXI DRIVER? MEAN STREETS?), it's still a pretty amazing film for being so early in his career. Made for producer Roger Corman's AIP studios to obviously cash-in on the success of BONNIE AND CLYDE from a couple of years earlier, this definitely has the Corman-feel to it throughout most of it's run time up until it pulls out all stops and gives us a super bloody ending scene which includes multiple gory shotgun wounds and even a crucifixion! This ending wallop foreshadows the one in TAXI DRIVER though things seem even bleaker here under the depression-era circumstances. Worth checking out instead of any of that more current junk Mr. Martin has put out. Also as a bonus you get to see Barbara Hershey very nude if that's your thing and in what I'm thinking is a rare occurrence David and his dad John Carradine get to act opposite each other in at least one scene.
Annette Funicello was America's sweetheart and beloved by all, thanks to all those BEACH PARTY movies, when she starred in this. With that in mind I found this a strange role for her since her character steals a guy(fellow 60s popstar Fabian) away from his girlfriend(Diane McBain) and comes off as a pretty big jerk. Thankfully that's not the main plot point here though and it's pretty hard to stay mad at Annette. The main drama concerns Fabian, as stock car driver Tommy Callahan, and his quest to getting back into the racing game after proving he's a nutjob who blacks out during races and murders guys with his car. You would think after sending a fellow driver to his fiery death that might be enough for Tommy to call it quits but I guess with the power of positive thinking and Annette by your side anything is possible. While I didn't care too much about the racing scenes everything moves along briskly enough and you get a raucous party with beer poured over heads, gymnastics and 60s go-go stripping! A goofy fun enough watch that is basically a slightly toned-down version of one of the BEACH PARTY movies on wheels.
There have been quite a few versions of this Edgar Allen Poe story filmed over the years starting way back in 1928. This is the first in a series of director Roger Corman's adaptations of various Poe tales and it stars Vincent Price as a real creep who seems to be holding his sister hostage in what seems to be a haunted house full of ghosts of their ancestors. For the most part it's a real talky and pretty dull affair all the way up until the ending. Price does raise things above what they would otherwise be but even with someone being buried alive and the big climax this is still one of my least favorite things starring Mr. P. Corman, being the cheap guy that he was, would reuse some of the fiery special-fx shots that end this film in some of the other 7 films that would follow in the series. PIT AND THE PENDULUM still remains my favorite of the bunch. AKA HOUSE OF USHER
Some other USHER'S:
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER - 1950 (Made in England)
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER - 1979 (TV-movie with Martin Landau)
REVENGE IN THE HOUSE OF USHER 1983 (Spanish Jess Franco production with Howard Vernon)
THE HOUSE OF USHER - 1989 (A British/U.S./Canadian co-production with Oliver Reed)
From the amazing soundtrack, thanks to star Isaac Hayes, to the gun-fighting violence to sweet pimp attire and bums fighting in the streets this one is one of my all-time favorite examples of classic blaxploitation. Not only is Hayes great in the starring role Yaphet Kotto does a great job of being a bad-ass. It plays sort-of like a black version of STARSKY AND HUTCH except that show didn't come out yet so maybe it's the other way around. Also of note is STAR TREK's Lieutenant Uhura(Nichelle Nichols) as a take-no-shit Madam who also dons some great 70s threads ans Scatman Crothers as an old-timey pimp. It's too bad Mr. Hayes didn't go on to star in more of these types of films but I guess he gave us some classic tunes instead.
Slow-moving Roger Corman-directed AIP horror flick that has that classic feel. This is mainly due to Boris Karloff's presence as a brooding Baron who has secluded himself in his seaside spooky castle but there's also a witch, a young Dick Miller as Boris' servant, a face-meltdown, a bird that eats eyeballs right out of your head and enough other creepy elements to make this one watchable. There's also some twists at the end which make it worthwhile. Jack Nicholson does an OK job as a bewitched French soldier before growing his hair out and heading off to make all those great biker flicks later on in the 60s. The plot itself is just a variation on Edgar Allen Poe stories which Corman had already made(HOUSE OF USHER and PIT AND THE PENDULUM) and which are actually better movies so go watch them first.
Francis Ford Coppola helped shoot this and it's been claimed that it was all shot in 4 days but apparently that was just the scenes with Karloff.
Being in the public domain this movie is in just about every cheap-ass horror DVD set out there right alongside NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
AKA THE CASTLE OF TERROR and THE HAUNTING(released-to-TV-version)
There's a bunch of shitty-artwork VHS releases of this:
The introduction of the Billy Jack character. The series got super hippie-like/philosophical and political but this first chapter is my favorite. It's your basic exploitation movie tale of a gang of crazy rape-happy bikers who mess with a town where American-Indian/cowboy martial-arts master Billy Jack occasionally hangs out. At first, like all great, kung fu heroes, Billy doesn't want to get involved in the white-man's problems but he ends up right in the middle of all the chaos anyway. One weird thing about this movie is how it starts out with the villains, who we're supposed to hate, being mouthed-off to by a real jackass and shitty driver who smacks right into one of their Harley's and then acts like a smart-ass about it. I mean beating him to a bloody pulp mighta been overkill but this meathead was obviously looking for trouble yappin' off like that. Another strange thing is how the VHS I own of this has a big rated-PG sticker on it when the movie is full of bikers raping young ladies?
Overall this one is a notch above your typical biker flick with most of the characters actually having some depth to them and being fleshed out. It was also the biggest money-maker for AIP studios up until they released THE AMITYVILLE HORROR which explains all the sequels.
Jane Russell who was a big sex symbol back in the 40's shows up as a mom of one of the raped gals and in one standout scene does some super hardcore dramatic acting!(overacting?).
Billy Jack gets his name in the title of all the rest of the films in this series which include:
BILLY JACK (1971)
THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK (1974)
BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON (1977)
There was a planned 5th film titled THE RETURN OF BILLY JACK alternately known under the long insane title of BILLY JACK'S CRUSADE TO END THE WAR IN IRAQ AND RESTORE AMERICA TO ITS MORAL PURPOSE, that was never completed.
A young rock singer(Christopher Jones), who has Richard Pryor playing drums for him, rallies the youth to make himself the youngest President in U.S. history. From there everyone over 30 is forced to retire and then sent to internment camps where they are dosed with LSD. Having been made in the 60's this is obviously a metaphor for the turbulence of the civil rights and/or women's rights movements(or I guess any big social movement of the time really) and also a commentary on the generation gap between the baby-boomer hippies and the old folks of the times. Having been made by AIP it also has that familiar exploitation movie vibe which makes for a strange combination. It kinda made me think about what something like BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS woulda been like if Roger Corman produced it. Shelley Winters is given top-billing as the mom of our young rebel but doesn't really have a whole lot to do unfortunately. So to sum it up, it's mostly disjointed and probably only interesting as a curiosity piece from the era it was produced. On the positive side there's some cool 60's tunes like "Shape Of Things To Come" which were created for this film.
This is an AIP version of a kung-fu flick. It's also produced by Cirio H. Santiago so it has that crappy Filipino action movie feel to it. Also the main couple in this are black so it has a blaxploitation feel. As you might suspect by all this it really feels like quite the mish-mosh of genres and overall it's a pretty standard unexceptional viewing experience. The one thing this has going for it is there's quite a bit of female nudity for a martial-arts movie. Outside of all the naked Asian ladies I'll probably forget most of this within a few days. One thing I'll probably not forget is that this might be the only movie that ends with the whole cast in black-face(even the black folks!).
The 70's, when people still listened to the radio:
They probably shoulda called this one I WAS A TEENAGE VAMPIRE to go with the other two AIP teen monster flicks of the time. The vampire chick here gets her powers in a pretty weird way for a vamp. One of her teachers is doing some kinda science experiment to eliminate atom bombs, I think? Somehow she uses some kinda hypnotic voodoo to turn our main gal into a bloodsucking creature that does her evil bidding. This is supposed to show how man is a more destructive force than an atomic blast, I think? It's all very convoluted and of course has nothing to do with Dracula. There's not much that's all that different from the other two more well known(TEENAGE WEREWOLF & TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN) flicks but it's an OK watch if you want to catch a genuine 50's drive-in double-feature spook show kinda deal. They also shoehorn in a song about puppy love. AKA BLOOD OF THE DEMON(Canadian title) & BLOOD IS MY HERITAGE(British title)
"Stimulating young girls beyond any reasonable control"(pretty sure I've heard that same line used in a porno trailer before):
Not to be confused with the Larry Cohen killer baby movie, this is the other Larry; Larry Buchanan's TV-movie about a crazy farmer dude who keeps a pet prehistoric creature in a cave and feeds unsuspecting people to it. I've been watching a few Buchanan films lately and they're all pretty awful. This one is no exception but it's not the worst I've seen. The pacing really kills it though and the monster, I think, is supposed to be like a giant dinosaur-type creature when in reality it's just a guy in a really ridiculous rubber-suit shot from underneath to appear slightly bigger. The monster is really the only thing that makes this one entertaining at all and it's a shame that he's really only used as a background character for the most part. It's hard to imagine a world where this was broadcast on national television and people accepted it as entertainment but I'll still take it over anything airing regularly today.
This was part of a group of made-for-TV remakes that Buchanan did for AIP except that the original version of this one was never made. It was supposed to have starred Peter Lorre and Elsa Lanchester which probably woulda been pretty cool.
The wacky monster suit used here was recycled from Buchanan's sea-monster movie CREATURE OF DESTRUCTION which itself was a remake of THE SHE-CREATURE. Buchanan also remade IT CONQUERED THE WORLD and called it ZONTAR, THE THING FROM VENUS as part of his AIP-TV deal.
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