I'd been wanting to see this post-apocalyptic(post World War 4!) sci-fi flick for a long time now but had somehow avoided it all these years. The premise, about a young man(Don Johnson, who went on to become famous for MIAMI VICE in the 80s) who can telepathically communicate with his dog(Tiger from THE BRADY BUNCH!) who helps him sniff out women for him to rape is certainly intriguing. The actual execution of this idea is pretty wonky and the film seems to suffer from a fairly low-budget. Still a movie where our "hero" is a rapist and possible cannibal before everything is over is a unique one. Also the bleak 70s ending is a big plus in my book.
This movie deals with some pretty sordid events including the raping and murdering of teenage schoolgirls but since it was made in England things never get all that graphicly shown. It plays out more along the lines of one of those police procedurals but still managed to maintain my interest. Suzy Kendall, known mostly to me as the gal from Argento's THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE, stars as an art teacher who is used as the cheese(cheesecake?) to lure our rape-happy killer out into the open. A mixture of sleaze and British-classiness that I found worth a look. AKA SATAN'S PLAYTHINGS, MOLESTED, THE CREEPERS and IN THE DEVIL'S GARDEN. Released on American TV as TOWER OF TERROR
Known in Spanish as PANIC IN THE FOREST:
Released on VHS as THE CREEPERS(not to be confused with the similarly titled Dario Argento movie from the 80s):
This is not your typical Italian giallo. It does star Edwige Fenech as is often the case but more than being a proto-slasher flick with a bunch of people getting offed by a razor it deals with a woman going through the traumatic combination of losing her child and recalling her mom being murdered when she was a child. A lot of the film is full of what might be hallucinations or not when she imagines a knife-wielding maniac and a Satanic cult. This film was clearly influenced by ROSEMARY'S BABY but is not really a rip-off of that classic at all. There is some Satanic ritual animal violence involving a dog getting sacrificed so that might not be for everyone but besides this it's a very stylish crazy trip. AKA THEY'RE COMING TO GET YOU(which sounds a lot like a zombie movie to me!) . Released on video as DAY OF THE MANIAC.
Ray Dennis Steckler directs one of the most simplistic proto-slasher flicks ever with this tale of a cursed shack(hence the alternate title of BLOOD SHACK) in the middle of some dusty desert town that people end up getting killed in. Pretty dull stuff and to make things even worse ol' Ray stuck a 10-minute long rodeo sequence right in the middle of the movie.
One bright spot though is that rockabilly legend Ron Haydock sings the Chooper's theme song so at least that's a little something.
I had successfully managed to avoid seeing this for many years up until a few nights ago when a friend of mine took me to a midnight showing in a local theater and it was just as stupid as I had anticipated. I know it's a favorite of many 80s kids, in fact there were a few folks in attendance all dressed up in full clown attire for this event, but I've never really seen the appeal of clown cinema(unless you're making a John Wayne Gacy docudrama of course!) I will give the film high points for all the great-looking practical effects done by The Chiodo Brothers. Can't say much for their directing abilities but apparently most people don't seem to mind. Luckily for me Stephen Chiodo never directed another feature.
This could have been a much better film if it was 4 minutes long and starred The Dickies!:
Jack Palance acts his ass off in the title role of a movie that asks the question of "what if Jack The Ripper was your upstairs tenant?" It's clearly very loosely based on the facts since I don't think they ever got this close to catching ol' saucy Jack in reality. There's no gore or anything since this was the 50s but it is a good gloomy period piece with solid performances. Aunt Bee from THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW herself(Frances Bavier) is Jack's landlord and has a few freak out scenes as she is wont to do.
This is technically a remake of 1944's THE LODGER though that one was more of a mystery and was itself a remake of a few earlier film adaptations of a 1913's book called THE LODGER starting off with Alfred Hitchcock's 1927 THE LODGER: A STORY OF THE LONDON FOG. There was also a 2009 THE LODGER movie.
So this Italian exploitation flick is a bit weird because it starts off like it's going to be one of those polizziotteschi movies where it's all about a tough cop kicking ass. The alternate title of BLAZING MAGNUM really makes you think this! Surprisingly though it turns into a more giallo-esque situation so I'll give this one extra credit for combining two genres. I'll also give it credit for having a scene where our main tough guy cop(Stuart Whitman) shoves a hot curling iron up the ass of a tranny the very same year as BLACK SHAMPOO which features a very similar sequence(in that case though it was a villain not the hero which makes this film even nuttier!). There must have been something in the air in '76! Loaded with sleaze, car chases and great character actors John Saxon, Martin Landau, Tisa Farrow etc. this one stands out from the pack despite some slow bits and monotony. AKA STRANGE SHADOWS IN AN EMPTY ROOM and .44 SPECIAL
Known in Spanish as THE LAW OF THE MAGNUM:
Known in Italian as A SPECIAL MAGNUM FOR TONY SAITTA:
The Three Stooges made 2 of their shorts in 3D since it was the 50s and that was the popular craze. This is the more horror-themed of the two(the other one PARDON MY BACKFIRE is sadly not about farts but about just being mechanics). You get a mad scientist attempting to put the brain of a beautiful gal inside the head of a gorilla. There's also a big ugly henchman, knives and other weapons thrown at the screen and lots of rampaging gorilla hijinks. One of my favorite shorts with Shemp and even when not in 3D good stupid fun.
This is a British sci-fli movie that feels kinda like an old episode of DR. WHO that's stretched out to feature length. There's a group of scientists that are sent to outer space, along with a couple of older folks whose sole purpose seems to be to act as comic relief from time to time, to learn the secrets about some warring aliens and how to defend the Earth from the bad aliens(aka The Terrornauts!). It's a bit talky at first but if you manage to stay awake you get an oversized Dalek-like robot, an alien with an eyeball under it's arm our green -skinned titular Terrornauts looking to do some human sacrificing of ladies. Goofy enough for a chuckle but hardly essential viewing. Maybe the weirdest thing I've ever seen from Amicus Studios though.
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 is a very TWILIGHT ZONE-ish tale of a fellow who takes over at the local cemetary and believes he can cause people to die simply by placing black pins in their plots on a big board in the ol' graveyard office. He also summizes that by that logic he should also be able to bring them back to life by using white pins which almost turns this into a 50s zombie flick. Unfortunately there are a few semi-surprising reveals at the end, that I won't spoil, that thwarts that expectation. Not my fav 50s horror and it probably coulda been shortened a lot without losing any of it's impact but interesting enough for a one-time watch.
Known in spanish under the less zombie-ish title of THE MARKED GRAVES:
This is one of those 80s horror flicks that somehow got 8 sequels and 2 remakes and I have no idea how. I know this played on cable a whole bunch back in the 80s and 90s and is still popular enough to this day but I have never really understood the appeal. There are a bunch of way better killer kid movies and there are also a bunch of way better Stephen King adaptations(even better ones that were based on short stories like this one!). I guess it just hit at the right time that everyone was looking to see a town of children killing grown-ups. Can't say I ever feel the need to check out any of the sequels. They did wait until the 90s to pop out the first sequel so I assume that had to do with its TV following and not the initial boxoffice popularity.
Linda Hamilton also made THE TERMINATOR this same year and became a big star so I guess that's something.
All the CHILDRENS OF THE CORN!(so far):
2. CHILDREN OF THE CORN II: FINAL SACRIFICE (1992)
3. CHILDREN OF THE CORN III: URBAN HARVEST (1995)
4. CHILDREN OF THE CORN IV: THE GATHERING (1996) The first shot-on-video sequel
5. CHILDREN OF THE CORN V: THE FIELDS OF TERROR (1998)
6. CHILDREN OF THE CORN 666: ISAAC'S RETURN (1999) the return of little John Franklin as Isaac(he was also in Part 5 as a different character)
7. CHILDREN OF THE CORN REVELATION (2001) They gave up on the numbers!
8. CHILDREN OF THE CORN (2009) This was a TV movie remake of the original story
9. CHILDREN OF THE CORN: GENESIS (2011) Isn't this also the subtitle of one of the TERMINATOR sequels?
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