For lovers of movies from the silent era to modern day with an emphasis on horror, sci-fi, exploitation, WIP, westerns and anything of the fantastic and bizarre. THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO BOB WILKINS, GEORGE ROMERO, ALAN FREED, ROGER CORMAN, HELGA LINE, CAROLINE MUNRO, JOHN FREDRIKSEN, JOHN ZACHERLE, CLEO MOORE , ROSALBA NERI, ERIKA BLANC, FEMI BENUSSI, SHIRLEY CORRIGAN, ROSANNA YANNI, MIRTA MILLER, KARIN DOR, BARBARA BOUCHET, MAMIE VAN DOREN, BARBARA STEELE and, of course, CASEY KASEM.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
FOUR FAST GUNS 1960 (VCI)
Well made western.
James Craig is a man who rides into the town of Purgatory and finds himself offered the job of "Town Tamer". Paul Richards is Hoag, a wheelchair bound man who hires three killers in a row to get rid of the new lawman.
One by one the gunmen are dispersed by Craig, and everyone of them weaves more mystery into the story until the final gunman, played by Brett Halsey, we discover is Craig's brother.
Phoenix Film Company released this in 1960 and it is a good little western. I can't see any fan of the genre being disappointed in it. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Martha Vickers, Edgar Buchanan, Richard martin and Blu Wright. The print from VCI is excellent and widescreen to boot.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
COMING ATTRACTIONS
Good news from Warner Archive...they have released the 1966 cult film "The Frozen Dead" starring Dana Andrews.
FIRE MAIDENS OF OUTER SPACE 1956 (OLIVE)
Recently I reviewed the version from Sinister Cinema, now I am updating to include the release from Olive.
A group of astronauts encounter a race of women from Atlantis on the 13th moon of Jupiter. These women are scantily clad and do dance to the music of Alexander Borodin.
There is one man living with them, an elderly man who claims to be the father of them all. Also on hand is a bizarre looking monster that growls a lot and wears a dark bodysuit.
Anthony Dexter is Luther Blair, the head of the expedition from Earth. Paul Carpenter and Henry Fowler are two other astronauts who like what they see. Susan Shaw is Hestia, the young woman whom Luther saves from the monster and therefore she becomes his..a rule of Atlantis.
This is a truly bizarre film that for some reason I am a huge fan of. I saw this at just the right time in my life, and it left an impression. The print from Olive is excellent and I have never seen the movie look better. It is in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio which is perfect. The box says color, but thank god it's black and white. Good stuff for bad movie lovers.
Monday, August 12, 2013
TWILIGHT ZONE SEASON 2 1960/61 (CBS)
Another visit to the greatest TV show ever made.
29 episodes make up the classic second season of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone.
The episodes in order are...
KING NINE WILL NOT RETURN...Bob Cummings stars as a man who wakes up in the desert next to a plane he thinks he was flying that has crashed..the only problem is where is his crew?
MAN IN THE BOTTLE...A curio shop owner finds a genie in a bottle and thinks all his trouble are over..but they are just beginning.
NERVOUS MAN IN A FOUR DOLLAR ROOM...A meek and scared small time hood ordered to commit a murder he doesn't want to perform sees his reflection in a mirror, and it wants out.
A THING ABOUT MACHINES....Richard Haydn is a man who finds his machines hate him as much as he hates them.
THE HOWLING MAN...One of the all time classic episodes about the Devil himself imprisoned in a secluded monastery, and his efforts to get out. Great Bernard Herrmann music score.
EYE OF THE BEHOLDER.....Another all time classic. A young woman is having corrective surgery so she can look like everyone else as she is considered an ugly freak.
NICK OF TIME....William Shatner is a man whose life seems controlled by a small fortune telling machine.
LATENESS OF THE HOUR...The first of 6 episodes shot on video tape to save money. Lovely Inger Stevens is a young woman who lives in a huge mansion with her parents and their robot servants. She feels imprisoned by them, and soon discovers a dark secret.
THE TROUBLE WITH TEMPLETON.....An aging actor longs for the past when his wife was alive.
A MOST UNUSUAL CAMERA...Three criminals find a camera that takes pictures of things before they happen.
NIGHT OF THE MEEK....Art Carney is a drunken department store Santa who soon finds out he is about to have the best Christmas ever.
DUST...A man whose son is about to be hanged for running over a little girl, buys some magic dust from a con man, who claims it will bring people happiness.
BACK THERE...Russell Johnson is a man who somehow ends up back in time at the Lincoln assassination.
THE WHOLE TRUTH....A used car dealer buy a car and suddenly finds he can only tell the absolute truth. This episode has an interesting ending.
THE INVADERS..Agnes Moorehead is an woman who is terrorized by two tiny alien invaders who land in her attic. This episode has no dialogue until the very twisted ending.
A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS....A man flips a coin and it lands on it's side. He then finds he can read minds.
TWENTY TWO...A woman in a hospital has a repeating dream involving a morgue and the number 22. not a bad story by Bennet Surf.
ODYSSEY OF FLIGHT 33...Excellent episode about a jet aircraft that picks up a very odd tail wind and find themselves in prehistoric times and then in New York in 1939!
MR. DINGLE THE STRONG...A timid salesman is given 500 times the strength of the average human by a martian experimenter.
STATIC...Dean Jagger is a man who gets a second chance at life after listening to an oldd radio only he can hear.
THE PRIME MOVER....A man finds his best friend can actually move things with his mindd, so he sets out to get rich.
LONG DISTANCE CALL....Billy Mumy stars a s a young boy who believes he can talk to his dead grandmother via a toy telephone. Things are fine until he decides to join her.
A HUNDRED YARDS OVER THE RIM....Cliff Robertson is a pioneer from 1847 that finds himself in 1961 when he travels over a rim of desert sand hoping to find water for his group and medicine for his dying son.
THE RIP VAN WINKLE CAPER...Four men who have stolen a million dollars in gold bars put themselves in suspended animation for 100 years.
THE SILENCE..A man bets another that he cannot keep silent for an entire year. The bet has very bad consequences for both men however.
SHADOW PLAY...Dennis Weaver is a man who believes he is reliving a dream over and over as he waits to be electrocuted for a murder. Very surreal.
MIND AND THE MATTER..A man uses sheer willpower to wish everyone in the world away, much to his regret.
WILL THE REAL MARTIAN PLEASE STAND UP...Two patrolmen must find an alien who is hiding out in a diner during a winter blizzard. This episode is both funny and mysterious at the same time, and it has a classic ending. Jack Elam steals the show.
THE OBSOLETE MAN..In a future where books and religion has been banned, a librarian is judged to be obsolete by the Chancellor played by Fritz Weaver. Burgess Meredeth also stars. This episode reflects a lot of how America is today.
If you enjoy well made TV this is a show I cannot recommend highly enough.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
KISS OF THE VAMPIRE 1963 (UNIVERSAL)
A great, unsung Hammer film.
A young couple are stranded in a remote European Village and a mysterious man and his family help them out, and that is where the trouble begins.
Soon the young man's wife disappears and he is told she never arrived at the castle with him. It turns out that the family who helped them is also a bunch of vampires who head a local cult,and he wants the young woman for his own.
Edward de Souza and Jennifer Daniel are the young couple. Noel Willman is the leader of the vampire cult and Clifford Evans is Prof. Zimmer, the man who is out to stop the cult and whom de Souza enlists for aid.
This film has a great and very tight plot, good pacing and excellent directing from Don Sharp. The ending is pretty cool and it is something you wont forget. Recommended!
Saturday, August 10, 2013
RIP BARBARELLA CATTON AKA HAJI 1946-2013
Another beauty passes away.
The exotic acress who called herself Haji has passed away at the age of 67. She will always be remembered for two films in particular, and they are both Russ Meyer films. She made her debut in the Meyer film "Motor Psycho" and then she went on to star with Tara Satana and Lori Williams in what I consider to be the greatest cult film of all time, "Faster Pussycat Kill Kill".
She also appeared in such films as Beyond The Valley of The Dolls, Bigfoot, Ilsa Harem Keeper Of The Oil Sheiks, Poor Cecily and Killing Of A Chinese Bookie.
She leaves a small film legacy behind, but what a legacy it is.
JUNGLE WARRIORS 1984 (PANIK HOUSE)
A well made action film.
I reviewed this film a while back, but since I finally saw this film courtesey of Panik House, I figured I re-review it here now.
A group of gorgeous models on a photo shoot have a plane accident and crash right in the middle of a drug lords empire. They are promptly taken captive and raped and tortured by the drug lord's men.
They get themselves some guns and decide to fight back after they discover that one of them is a DEA agent sent to infiltrate the drug empire. Marjoe Gortner is the panicky producer of the shoot who dies a fairly gruesome death.
Paul L. Smith is Santiago, the drug lord and Sybil Danning is his lesbian, sadist sister who enjoys torturing the models and who has a very unhealthy relationship with her brother. The great John Vernon is another rug pusher who tries to make a huge deal with Santiago and Alex Cord is his attorney.
Lots of action and gun battles and some bloody deaths make this a sure bet for action fans, and there are some simply gorgeous women for eye candy. This is a winner folks, and the print used by Panik is the best I have ever seen this movie look..
The rest of the cast is rounded out by Dana Elcar, Woody Strode, Suzi Horne, Angela Robinson, Ava Cadell and Kari Lloyd.
Friday, August 9, 2013
COMING ATTRACTIONS.....
Olive Films is coming out with another bizarre and obscure film.
On September 24th they will be releasing the seldom seen film "Tam Lin" which was actor Roddy McDowell's only directorial effort.
Ava Gardner and Stephanie Beacham star in this film about young thrill seekers and the sinister seductress who holds them spellbound. A bizarre film to say the least and a very rare one that I recommend to any collector.
SCHIZO 1976 (REDEMPTION)
One hell of a wild film.
Lynne Frederick stars as a young woman who is getting married and finds that her haunting past is catching up with her.
Some of her friends start dying under very grisly circumstances. Director Pete Walker provides plenty of twists and turns in this very well made psycho-drama.
Stephanie Beacham is simply gorgeous as usual and provides a good role as Fredericks friend who could never believe she is a killer. Or is she? A good film with some great effects. Watch out for those sledgehammers!!! There is a very interesting twist or two at the end of the film which I thought helped it out quite a bit.
Recommended for fans of Giallo and horror films.
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