HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Patty McCormack is 77, and Eve Torres is 38.

WITCHCRAFT: THE DOLL IN BRAMBLES 1964 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Another very obscure item from Sinister Cinema.

Madame Tirelou (Blance Yurka) refuses to let a man named Louis (John Baragrey) marry her daughter Marie (Annemarie Roussel). When he sets his sights on her again, Tirelou puts a witches curse on him.

Louis finds himself unable to walk and his friend Fred (Darren McGavin) arrives to help him break the curse and find out what is really going on. Fred thinks Madame Tirelou is nothing but a fraud, but her "magic' proves to be a lot more than Fred bargained for.

This is a pilot for a proposed TV series that was never picked up. The host of the show is Franchot Tone, and the entire presentation is very well done. It would have been interesting to see an entire series about witchcraft.

There isn't a ton of information about this little gem, but if you get a chance to see it, do so. The rest of the cast includes Robert Middleton and Bruno Wick. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Jill St. John is 82, Diana Muldaur is 84, Debra Paget is 89, and Darby Hinton is 65.

PICKUP 1951 (MOVIES TV)

A great film noir gem!!

Hugo Haas co-wrote and directed this classic film noir that is quite nasty.

Haas stars as Jan Horak, a lonely widowed man who works for the railroad and lives a quiet life. On one of his rare days off her goes into town to a small carnival and runs into a beautiful blonde named Betty (Beverly Michaels).

They seem to hit it off pretty well and Betty finds herself in a very tight spot so she decides the only way out is to marry Jan, who has a good savings account. They marry and almost over night Betty changes.

Things get worse when Jan goes deaf for some unknown reason and that gives Betty and Jan's helper Steve (Allen Nixon) a chance to be together. However one day Jan has a small auto accident and regains his hearing, but he doesn't let anyone know.

He sits and listens to Betty berate him and how she wishes he were dead. Betty even tries to convince Steve to kill Jan. In the end nothing works out well for either Betty or Steve, but Jan turns out fine.

There is a lot of hateful dialogue in this film, and it comes from Michael's character of Betty. She is easily one of the most evil women to appear in any film noir.

Hass usually acted with Cleo Moore and I guess since she wasn't available for this film, Columbis hired Beverly Michaels, a sexy tall blonde who carries her role extremely well.

The rest of the cast includes Howland Chamberlain, Marjorie Beckett, Jack Daley and Bernard Gorcey. Check this one out if you get a chance to see it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Julie K. Smith is 55.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Saraya-Jade Bevis is 29, and Belinda Carlisle is 64.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Julie Newmar is 89, Gary Clarke is 89, Ann Blyth is 94, and Mirta Miller is 74.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Natasha Henstridge is 48, Pat Priest is 86, Barbara Bouchet is 79, and Gaylen Ross is 72.

COMING ATTRACTIONS...

Well, with Halloween about 2 1/2 months away, some companies are already bringing us some great stuff.

There are three releases coming from Mondo Macabro that are well worth checking out.

First is "The Other Side Of The Mirror". This never before released in the USA film is directed by Jess Franco and concerns a woman who seems to be going crazy and she has trouble separating fantasy from reality. Emma Cohen stars as Ana, the young woman in question.

Even if you don't care for Franco's movies, this one is really different. The Blu-ray will be released on Oct. 11th.

Next from Mondo Macabro is "The Horrible Sexy Vampire". This is a very rare German horror film from 1973. A strange vampire is killing both men and women and the police think it's a serial killer, but have they got a suprise coming. This rare film is considered a "holy grail" amongst horror film fans.

I have owned this film for years when I found it as part of a 20 vampire film set, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I don't know if it's uncut, but I will do some looking into that. The upcoming Blu-ray is the UNCUT version. Horror fans should check this out as it is a very odd and offbeat film.

And last, but not least is a never before seen rarity entitled "Love Brides Of The Blood Mummy" from 1973. The incredibly movie is about a long dead Egyptian brought back to life and who must sacrifice young women to stay alive. There is some unbelievable set pieces in this obscure gem that finally gets to see the light of day. A VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED GEM!!

All three of these are available on Oct. 11th at the retail price of $29.95. Get them pre-ordered at Amazon now and sit back for some real offbeat entertainment.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Halle Berry is 56, Lucinda Dickey is 62, Antonio Fargas is 76, Jim Wynorski is 72, Michelle Lintel is 53, Candace Hilligoss is 87, and Jaclyn Swedberg is 32.

EXORCISM 1975 (KINO) BLU-RAY

Over the years I have really tried to like this film, but it never seems to happen.

This is also known as "Demoniac" and :The Sadist Of Notre Dame" but let's be honest. It isn't a good film by any name. The Blu-ray from Redemption and Kino is fine as far as looks go, but it ends there.

Jess Franco directed this and also stars as Mathis Vogel, a former priest who takes it upon himself to cleanse the world of evil and sin. He sees a staged black mass and believes that those who were involved are really demon worshippers.

He takes several women to his apartment and chains them up. He tortures them and kills them to "purify" their souls. This has been done many times in European films, but Jess Franco goes the extra mile and pollutes the film with tons of un-needed sex. It does nothing but slow down the plot.

Also included on this disc is the shortened version entitled "Demoniac" which basically relies on horror. It's the better version of the two in my opinion.

The good points of the movie is having a then 21 year old Lina Romay dressed in bondage gear and being tortured at the conclusion of the film. I truely believe that Lina was born for these types of films.

The selling and advertising of this film made it sound much better than it could ever hope to be. Al I can say is, watch at your own risk, but if the thought of lovely Lina in bondage appeals to you, then skip to the final 20 minutes.

CONGO BILL 1948 (STARRY NIGHT)

A rare serial that actually deserves to be better known.

Before I say anything more about the serial, let me talk a bit about DVD companies. During the VHS period of the 80's and 90's most VHS releases were pretty good quality yet there wer always companies of dubious content and quality.

These companies usually turned out substandard tapes much to the chagrin of customers like me. But I watched them anyway because I figured it was the ONLY way to see them at the time. Now comes the DVD age and Blu-ray age and we are still seeing certain companies turning out awful products.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not turning into a "fanboy". I'll watch anything. Which brings us to today's review. This 15 chapter dandy comes from a company called Starry Night, and man alive does it suck. It's watchable, but damn it looks like a 3rd generation bootleg and it has spanish subtitles and isn't framed well at all.

Obviously a fly-by-night company and hell, the disc only cost 10 bucks, but still, it amazes me some companies don't even try and make anything better. It sounds a lot like Lowe's Corporation, but that is another tale for another time.

The serial follows the adventures of a man named Congo Bill (Don McGuire) who is also an lion tamer and adventurer. He owns a circus and is hired to find a missing young woman in the African jungle who may actually be the rightful owner.

The circus is worth a half a million dollars so there are evil forces out to get the money as well as killing Bill and the young woman he is looking for named Ruth (Cleo Moore).

Sometimes this one drags a bit, but it's still fun, and watching Cleo Moore in a sarong is ALWAYS a pleasure. I admit I lust after Cleo Moore! A stunning woman who really never rose to the stardom she aspired to, but she sure gave it her all in everything she was in. This was her first credited role, and she ain't too bad.

Cleo passed away in 1973 at the age of 48, just 6 days shy of her 49th birthday from a heart attack. I can really recommend this serial, but as I said above....BEWARE of the print this "company" uses for the DVD. Maybe someday somebody else will release this in a much better version and then I can scrap this one, but until then this will have to do.

The rest of the cast includes Fred Graham, Jack Ingram, I. Stanford Jolley, Armida, Ray Corrigan and Fred Lackteen. This was direted by Spencer Gordon Bennett and Thomas Carr. Bennett was and always will be "king of the serials" and Carr went on to direct many episodes of Superman for TV.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

George Hamilton is 83, Leticia Roman is 81, Elizabeth Shepard is 86, and Jennifer Bishop is 81.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Terry Bollea is 69, Judith Brown is 78, and Tomi Lahren is 30.

KILLDOZER 1974 (KINO) BLU-RAY

I finally got to see this again after 48 years and it was just as good as I remembered it.

I originally saw this on an ABC Saturday Night movie of the week back in 1974. Once seen, I never forgot it. Clint Walker stars as Lloyd Kelly, the leader of a small construction crew on an island who are building an airstrip.

One day their huge bulldozer hits a strange looking rock which came to Earth a very long time ago, as we are shown at the very beginning of the film. A mysterious blue light emminates from it and then leaves the rock and enters the bulldozer.

Before you know it, the dozer has a life of it's own as an alien entity has taken it over. The huge machine is intent on killing all of the men and it becomes a life or death struggle between men and machine.

This is a pretty simple plot and it's based on a 1944 novella by screenwriter Theodore Sturgeon. Someday I will have to read that because it sounds like a good read.

In the wonderful 70's network movies like this were always on and ABC lead the way with some of the most classic made for TV terror films ever made, and this one is pretty darn good.

The film uses it's 74 minute running time very well and the cast is perfect for this movie. Speaking of the cast, it also includes Carl Betz, Neville Brand, Robert Urich and James Wainwright.

I love the fact that Kino gave this a great Blu-ray presentation. It's a small little film that deserves to be better known and liked in the horror circles. I recommend this for every fan of TV horror.