Jess Franco kind of makes a sequel to THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF even though there already was one in 64, and while this isn't my favorite Franco it is definitely better than that one. Our main character here Dr. Z, and his daughter, continue Orloff's work which of course brings us down the EYES WITHOUT A FACE road but also focuses more on seeking revenge using mind control with the help of a big clunky machine with robot arms. Some cool visuals and sexy gals even if it drags a bit at times.
The idea of casting George Eastman of ANTHROPOPHAGUS fame as the hero in this appeals greatly to me. Sadly most of the film isn't all that exciting despite having the tallest guy to ever play Django in it. You get women and kid-killing Mexican bandits and the usual spaghetti-western plot. For completists or big Eastman fanatics only.
This is one of the wackier movies I've seen in a while. What we got here is a French horror flick that starts off like it's going to be a slasher gorefest(something along the lines of OGROFF also from France) featuring a mutant Nazi killer before it then turns into a fever-dream involving a possessed horse, a mummy(complete with bride), a black cat(that gets tossed around in various scenes) and an old murderous hag. Director Bernard Launois seems fairly incompetent with his repeated act of cutting to the same scenes over and over again but somehow he did manage to make 6 previous films before this one so I guess someone believed in him. Obviously this is for real hardcore aficionados of low-brow trash cinema only.
This is one of those horror films that it seems like everyone I know, that's into such things, just loves and I can never really figure out why. Sure there's sex and violence and some pretty lame zombies show up intermittently but I guess the mixture of a faux-artsy-fartsy Italian gore film with a comedy just never sits right with me. It's probably also due to being such a fan of Italy's superior 70s and 80s horror junk that this one seems so pale and pointless by comparison. It seems to get praise for being intellectually deep which it isn't while also appealing to the gorehound which all the philosophical nonsense negates but apparently my view is in the minority so judge for yourself I guess.
I have extremely low expectations for any horror film made in the 2010s so this one at least slightly exceeded those. It starts off with 2 annoying gals which makes you want to turn this off after a few minutes but if you stick with it you do get a modern interpretation of the classic rape/revenge plot. The tone of the film is all over the place with brutal sexual assault(with no actual nudity or rape shown since we now live in strict puritanical times for some reason?) followed by stupid jokey-jokes complete with terrible music video montages. There's a rapist who wears a pighead mask that might remind you of MOTEL HELL and that's maybe the biggest problem with this movie is that it constantly reminds you of and references much better films from the past from DELIVERANCE to DEER HUNTER. Clearly the director, Terry Miles, has seen quite a few Quentin Tarantino movies.
Lina Romay stars in this Jess Franco-directed sleaze flick as a 17-year old girl who falls victim to a demonic curse set in motion by her father before she was even born. Of course her playing an underage girl doesn't stop her from being completely naked and experiencing some kinky lesbian antics throughout a good portion of the movie including gratuitous pubic hair munching. There's a pretty uncomfortable-looking penetration by a wooden dildo, incest abounding and Howard Vernon playing the tough henchman of our main demon-lady Lorna(Pamela Stanford wearing some crazy glam-looking eye makeup). Franco himself shows up as a terribly ineffective psychiatrist. Not my favorite Franco but it is growing on me with repeated watches and the scene where a lady dies by getting actual genital crabs is pretty killer!
IMDB erroneously lists a couple of different versions of this but it looks like they're mixing whatever those various versions are called up with Franco's EXCORCISM so thanks for the added confusion IMDB!
AKA LINDA A DEVILISH NIGHTMARE:
This is a pretty uneventful Eurotrash horror flick. I've seen it described as a giallo but it's really not. Rather than really being a mystery it's more of a case of some naughty Etruscan spirits killing off various people including John Saxon who has a pretty small role. Also dragging this down is the very low gore quotient since almost everyone gets killed by having their head turned quickly which is hardly the most exciting death sequence. Maybe the only highlights I found in this were the recycled soundtrack cues which borrowed from GATES OF HELL and NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES and made me wish I was watching either one of those instead.
There is an earlier actual giallo, directed by the same director as this, Sergio Martino, called THE CASE OF THE SCORPION'S TAIL which looks way better. I need to check that out at some point.
Possibly due to the fact that the version I watched of this obscure Jess Franco sex flick was taken from a pretty crappy-looking video and the acting was very stagey it reminded me of something Andy Milligan woulda made. This was also the last film in a 14+ hour marathon of Uncle Jess' work so my mind was feeling a bit altered by this point. The most hardcore film from this event, there are probably a couple of different versions ranging in explicitness, this one featured lingering zooms into vaginas and even a fake cumshot. The plot has to do with horny women who have escaped from the doomed continent of Atlantis and their sexual exploits. Not exactly the most riveting thing but Franco completists will dig it.
A pretty decent riff(rip-off?) of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE featuring a gang of destructive, rapist hooligans in a society where they try and rehabilitate violent criminals using some futuristic shock treatment. They even have their inspiration show up playing on TV. While it's usually not a good idea to remind people of the better movie you're copying they do manage to make this different enough not to bore ya by throwing in a murderous nurse character(Ana Vernia) who enjoys stabbing men right through their hearts. Alternate titles include CLOCKWORK TERROR(this American release is supposed to have a couple of extra scenes) and TO LOVE, PERHAPS TO DIE.
There are shorter cuts of this including the French one with hardcore footage and an animated title sequence.
The weirdest thing about this Italian/German/French giallo flick is that the police inspector in it does a Humphrey Bogart impression throughout. Apparently actor Robert Sacchi did that bit in a bunch of stuff including THE LOVE BOAT tv show. Besides that weirdness this is a pretty good mystery that takes place in France and centers around a whorehouse. There's a few misleading cues that eventually unravel in a fairly logical way unlike some other films in this sub-genre. There's also a pretty well-known cast of Eurotrash regulars including Howard "AWFUL DR. ORLOF" Vernon, Rosalba Neri, Barbara Bouchet, Anita Ekberg and others. Black gloves, bloody killings and sexy women!
Released on video in Norway as CALL GIRLS FOR INSPECTOR BOGART!
Known in Germany as THE EYE OF EVIL!:
While it's lumped into the giallo genre this is certainly no mystery since we're introduced to the murderer right away. It is a sorta variation on Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN(a cigarette lighter even comes into play) where George Hilton blackmails our killer, that he oversees dumping a body, into offing his wife. Things don't exactly go as planned and there are a few twists and turns which is more typical of a giallo. It's also one of the best movies director Luigi Cozzi ever made. He would go on to do a lot of silly trashy films throughout the 1980s including those dumb Lou Ferrigno HERCULES movies. AKA DARK IS DEATH'S FRIEND
Allegedly Cozzi wanted to call the film THE SPIDER and that is what it's titled on some video releases in a couple of other countries.
This one is the final chapter in Jess Franco's monster trilogy, which includes DRACULA, PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN. It's also my least favorite of the three. It seems like with each film Franco was less concerned with any sort of actual plot and more interested in just filming whatever he felt like. There's lesbianism, vampirism, cameras zooming into pubes and a very inconsequential plot about a lady(Carmen Yazalde) who is told about the curse of her family being vampires. Franco himself has a pretty big role where he gets to show off his oddball version of acting and Howard Vernon plays our main vampire who's not named Dracula at all but instead Count Karlstein. Pretty unique way of staking the vamps here (through the forehead!) and lots of atmosphere but still not up to the first 2 films in this sorta series.
Subtitles so small you need to have Superman's vision to read them!:
Sleazy eurotrash starring a young girl who's taken advantage of by her scummy manipulative boyfriend or 70s unconventional romance tale of young blossoming love that traverses Spain and France? Kind of a mix of both really. Rape, orgies, attempted murder and peeping perverts fill the movie's running time when the romantic bits are not slowing things down. While not officially credited to him this was allegedly shot, for the most part, by director Jess Franco(Georges Friedland is given credit) and it's not hard to believe that while viewing. Franco regular Paul Muller has a big role. Non-essential except for true Franco completists.
I caught this one recently as the 2nd movie in an all-day marathon of giallos. Following OASIS OF FEAR in the lineup this one couldn't help but drag in comparison. It is after all a pretty standard mystery and there's not much in the way of a body count(though the one big kill shown does bring the gore quotient). It is also fairly stylish throughout and the soundtrack grooves. Strangely there's a cross-dressing guy with a fake hand that shows up and a stripper in black-face. Nowhere near the best giallo I've seen but a decent enough watch. AKA DEATH STALKS ON HIGH HEELS
Director Luciano Ercoli would make the similarly titled DEATH WALKS AT MIDNIGHT the following year. The plots have no connection.
This was the first film shown during a recant giallo-marathon at the local weirdo art theater and it really started things out nicely. A fast-moving tale of two hippies who sell porn to finance their anarchic adventures through Europe. This was one of those films which made me want to be magically transported into the world portrayed in the movie, at least up until the murder stuff shows up because this is a giallo after all. Directed by Umberto Lenzi, who's probably best known now as a gore director for stuff like MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY, this is a great example of one of his early gems. Not a very high body count but quite a few twists and turns and sexy adventures to keep you watching. The only downside to starting off a marathon of gialli with this one is that it's kinda hard to keep the pace up.
I have read that Lenzi wanted to make something akin to EASY RIDER but the producers wanted a more typical giallo formula which explains the mashed-up feel of this one. AKA OASIS OF FEAR and DIRTY PICTURES
Lenzi did make the similarly-titled A QUIET PLACE TO KILL the year before but it has no connection to this film.
This is an early Jess Franco flick and is part of his "film noir" series. It's pretty atypical of what Franco would do later on. There's no nudity, excessive zoom lens action and the plot is pretty straight forward. Unlike where most noirs are set this takes place primarily in Jamaica and not some dark city. You get multiple shootings, fist fights, mystery and intrigue all in dazzling black and white. While I do prefer the more outrageous sleazy epics Uncle Jess would give us in the later decades I will try and check out more of his early stuff to see some of his more competent filmmaking.
Having already seen the other Umberto Lenzi-directed film known as PARANOIA I couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch this one down at the local weirdo art theater. Just like that earlier film this one stars Carroll Baker. This time she gets involved with her ex-husband(Jean Sorel), his new wife(Anna Proclemer) and her daughter(Marina Coffa). Murder, mystery and gaslighting ensue. It plays like a sorta giallo-lite since there isn't all that much in the way of blood or killing and it deals more with various relationships. There are some twists and surprises to wrap everything up and some very stylish wardrobe and cinematography on display. AKA A QUIET PLACE TO KILL
This is supposed to be the final part of a very loose trilogy that includes the 2 PARANOIA movies and SO SWEET, SO PERVERSE all featuring Baker and very messed up relationships!
Better known as ZOMBIE LAKE(or ZOMBIES LAKE on some prints) this is a movie so crappy that allegedly director Jess Franco turned it down(who then quickly went on to make the equally crappy OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES). It's been credited to Jean Rollin, at least partially, Spanish director Julian de Laserna is blamed for about half of the film, though this is his only credit. The main problem with this movie is that the pacing is so dreadfully slow it's almost as if it's daring the viewer to remain interested in anything that's going on. On the plus side there's plenty of nudity(at least in the unclothed version; all the nudie scenes were also shot with clothing, so watch out for that edition!) and maybe a few laughs at how badly done everything is(including how every time we see the lake from underwater it magically transforms into a swimming pool!). You get very minimal gore as these creatures only bite the necks of their victims like vampires. This is one of the only zombie films I've seen where 2 zombies fight each other. Sadly this scene, like pretty much everything else here, is shot in super slow-motion. I have watched this more times than I can recall though outside of the boobs and bare ladies crotches on display I'm not sure why.
This did play one year on Halloween on a local UHF channel and if you think watching this movie uncut is bad imagine it without any nudity and commercials thrown in to slow it down even more!
