LITTLE LAURA AND BIG JOHN (1973)

  Crappier and lower-budgeted version of BONNIE AND CLYDE(not actually based on Bonnie & Clyde but on a different real life criminal group out of Florida known as the John Ashley Gang(no relation to BLOOD ISLAND-star John Ashley)). Karen Black and 50s pop star Fabian do a decent enough job with the acting I guess but the movie itself is fairly boring and forgettable. One of the weirder aspects in this is the music, some of which seems totally out of place and way too 70s for a movie set in the 1920s. Bruce Dern was originally supposed to star in this but I doubt if that woulda helped much. 

THE PYX (1973)

I own this on a DVD under the title HOOKER CULT MURDERS and brought it to a movie night gathering many years ago and remember being pretty letdown due to it not living up to that title in the least. Viewing it more recently, with lowered expectations and under it's original PYX title, I would give it a higher rating. It's still a pretty somber tale of our main character's (Elizabeth Lucy played by Karen Black(who also supplies a few songs on the soundtrack)) downward spiral that culminates right in the opening of the film with either a suicide or a murder. The film is shown partly in flashback which is an interesting choice. Definitely a slow-burn of a film so if you're looking for something to laugh at with a group of friends this might not be optimal but for a weird little downer of a Satanic 70s experience give it a look.

SAVAGE DAWN (1985)

 I never thought of Lance Henriksen as a bad-ass before. I mean I think he's a good actor and all but I guess I just always think of him as that shifty no-good android in the ALIEN films. So maybe I'm instantly prejudiced against a movie that tries to make him into an ass-kicking action hero. There's a few other problems besides this though. The main one is that this movie is really fucking stupid. It's about this gang of bikers led by William Forsythe who do lots of dumb things including inexplicably stealing a tank from an armory that seems to be guarded by only two people. They take over a town with the help of a crazy-ass Karen Black and have to deal with Lance and his old 'Nam buddy George Kennedy who's stuck in a motorized wheelchair thing. There's also a pervy reverend(Richard Lynch) and some lame tough guy cops that play part in all this. I can't really say this a good watch but at least the cast is pretty interesting. Hell even Sam Kinison shows up at one point as a super religious barber which is something to see.




Strangely the old VHS I have of this doesn't even list Lance Henriksen's name anywhere on it:

TRILOGY OF TERROR (1975)

 If you like Karen Black this is the most Karen Black-iest movie you will find. All in one classic 70's TV-movie you get three stories starring Ms. Black. The first one features her as a teacher that one of her students has the hots for. So naturally he takes her to the drive-in, drugs her and date-rapes her. Luckily there's a twist ending that's sorta happy but not really. Then we get Black in what's basically a dual-role as a woman with a crazy split-personality. That story's kind of forgettable but the last story, and the one everyone whose ever heard of this movie knows, is very memorable since it stars a little wild Zuni-fetish doll who goes ape-shit and tries to kill Karen. This is one of those things that if you saw it when you were a kid you may have been scarred for life. There were quite a few 70's TV-flicks like that and this is one of the best ones just for this last tale alone.
 There was a TV-movie sequel in 1996 that I've never seen but since the 90's were generally so awful, and TV in the 90's was probably the worst thing ever, I'll just say it blew.
 If you want to see a whole Island full of angry murderous Zuni-fetish dolls gone berserk check out ATTACK OF THE BEAST CREATURES.      

BURNT OFFERINGS (1976)

 Dan Curtis, who did that 60's DARK SHADOWS show and made a bunch of TV stuff, here directs a big haunted house feature. It's probably the best cast ever in a ghost movie with Karen Black and Oliver Reed as the couple who along with their aunt, played by Bette Davis, are slowly pulled into madness. The great Burgess Meredith also appears in a smaller role so everything is done really well. I do have a natural predilection to dislike ghostly movies since they never make much sense but if you're into that sort of thing this is a pretty good entry in the genre and it comes complete with a nice downbeat 70's ending. There's also a few elements, as the family begins to unwind, that sorta reminded me of THE SHINING which is a good thing.