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Thursday, October 17, 2024

RIP ROGER BROWNE 1930-2024

Argoman has passed away.

Roger Browne may not be too familiar to most of you, but he did appear in many great movies.

His most famous role for people here in the US was "Argoman: The Fantastic Superman" which is a great and fun film.

Some of his other film credits include "Killer Looks", "War Of The Robots", "Women In Cell Block 7", "Karzan", "Samoa, Queen Of The Jungle", "Hercules And The Princess Of Troy", "Password: Killa Agent Gordon".

Roger Browne passed away on October 11, 2024 at the age of 94.

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 17: LEPTIRICA 1973 (TUBI)

This is also known as "The She-Butterfly".

This is a wonderful TV movie from Yugoslavia that perfectly captures folk-horror images and traditions in it's brief 64 minute running time.

An unemployed loser named Strahinja (Petar Bozovic) wants to marry a very beautiful girl named Radojka ( Mirjana Nikolic) but her father refuses to allow it as he cannot stand the young man and feels he is worthless.

Strahinja agrees to take a job at the local flour mill, which has been the place of four mysterious killings in the past and nobody will work there anymore.

The locals say it's haunted by Vampires. While that turns out to be true, it's the final twist at the end that makes you shake your head.

I won't say anymore except that this is a good little film and beware, it will drag in a couple of places, but not for long. Again, this is a prime example of folk-horror, and hopefully with it streaming it willl become much better known.\

The scenery is beautiful and captures the spirit of the movie very well. The print is subtitled in English. Check it out!!!

Wednesday, October 16, 2024

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 16: THE PREMONITION 1976 (TUBI)

Now this was one weird movie.

Sharon Farrell stars as Sheri Bennett a young woman who, along with her husband Miles (Edward Bell) adopted a child five years before and everyone seems happy.

One day at school Sherri sees a mysterious woman staring at her child Janie (Danielle Brisebois). This is when the trouble starts. The mysterious woman is Janie's biological mother who has been released from a mental hospital, and is obviously still crazy.

The woman, Andrea (Ellen Barber) is staying with a circus clown performer named Jude (Richard Lynch). Both plan to kidnap Janie, but their plans do not go as expected.

Both of these characters are insane and we find out that Jude is way more insane than Andrea. Jude kills her and he manages to get his hands on Janie. I won't say too much more, but this is a film that has all but disappeared and really needs to be seen by mystery and horror fans.

It takes off in several different direction with no explanation, but it still manages to satisfy. The rest of the cast includes Jeff Corey, Rosemary McNamara and the gorgeous Chitra Neogy.

I recommend you see this. You will NOT be disappointed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Erin Brown is 45.

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 15: HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON 1970 (IMAGE)

Powerful Mario Bava film.

Stephen Forsyth stars as John Harrington, a wedding dress designer. In the first 5 minutes of the movie we hear John in the narration telling us he is a crazy murderer who enjoys killing women.

He has to keep killing women until he unlocks a repressed memory from his childhood. His marriage to his wife Mildred (Laura Betti) is not a happy one, but she refuses to give him a divorce.

The police suspect john of the murders we haven't seen, and one Inspector Russell (Jesus Puente) fights to prove John is a killer, but every time he comes close, John seems to have good luck and gets away.

John manages to kill his wife, and then n an interesting turn thr film becomes outright horror as her ghost haunts his every move. This bizarre film moves along at a breakneck speed to a climax that is very fitting for the material.

The others in the cast include Dagmar Lassander (wow), Femi Benussi (wow...wow), Antonia Mas, Luciano Pigozzi and Gerard Tichy.

This film has been avalable for years on various formats and is also available on streaming. It's Bava, it's Italian and it has Lassander and Benussi in it. What more could you ask for??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Lynn Lowry is 77.

Monday, October 14, 2024

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 14: DR. JEKYLL AND THE WEREWOLF 1972 (MONDO MACABRO) BLU-RAY

This is yet another movie I have written about several times.

Mondo Macabro finally managed to get this released on Blu-ray and it makes my favorite Paul Naschy film look better than ever.

Naschy stars as Waldamar Daninski once again. This time he rescues a very beautiful woman from an attempted rape by three men who also killed her husband.

The woman is called Justine and is essayed by the incredibly gorgeous Shirley Corrigan. She takes him to London where she introduces Waldarmar to Dr. Henry Jekyll (Jack Taylor) who is the grandson of the famous doctor.

Henry believes that he can cure Waldamar. Jekyll's assistant Sandra (Mirta Miller) is jealous overt he fact that Henry still loves Justine and thereby sets out to destroy everything.

In case you haven't seen this, I won't say too much ore on the plot, but it's a wild one. Some of the set pieces are unforgettable such as the elevator scene where Daninski is stuck and changes into a monster, the disco scene and many more.

There were no less than four different versions of this movie released in 1972. What we have on this great presentation is the "clothed" Spanish version which contans no nudity and then we have the "export" version which contains all the nudity and some extra violence.

The export version is culled from the original negative and other sources to make the best possible print. It's dubbed into English and is the version I prefer.

The Spanish version is subtitled. I guess I prefer the export version because it's the only one I ever saw, and seeing Corrigan topless as well as the other Spanish beauties is alway a plus.

This came out several months ago, and if you haven't already done so, I think you should really check it out. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Udo Kier is 80, Stacy Keibler is 45, and Cliff Richard is 84.

Sunday, October 13, 2024

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 13: FATAL GAMES 1984 (VINEGAR SYNDROME) BLU-RAY

I actually found this to be a fun slasher film.

A mad killer stalks an athletic school where young people are training for the Olympics.

This is very much like the movie "Graduation Day" but I found it to be more entertaining. The killer uses a javelin as a murder weapon and in this movie he goes after both men and women.

As is so usual in these kinds of movies, some of the characters are nothing but annoying and others are the kind you'd like to know. The movie is a swift 88 minutes and the presentation on the Blu-ray is nothing short of amazing considering the other prints I have seen of this.

I will say the casting director knew how to pick very sexy women for the roles. The cast includes Sally Kirkland, Lynn Banashek, Teal Roberts, Spice Williams-Crosby, Melissa Prophet, Angela Bennett, Lauretta Murphy and Nicholas Love.

If you haven't seen the movie I can't say too much without destroying the very twisted ending, but when you see it you'll know where they got their idea from, and I believe they used it very well. I never saw it coming...lol.

I recommend this little thriller and hope it slowly becomes better known after this release from VS. It deserves better.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Ashanti Douglas is 44, Demond Wilson is 78, and Judy Bamber is 88.

Saturday, October 12, 2024

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 12: ILYA MUROMETS 1958 (IMAGE)

Another fine adventure/fantasy film from Russia.

Any fan of fantastic cinema has seen this film under the US title "Sword And The Dragon" which was very entertaining, but this is the original Cinemascope version and it blows the other away.

Ilya Muromets (Boris Andreyev) is a man with legs that don't seem to work. He helps some lost travelers and they give him a potion that makes him walk again.

He immediately sets out for adventure and prove to his King that he is a great warrior. Along the way he encounters a wind demon that he easily overcomes, fights Tugars and then a weird being known as The Noid, a huge man-like being that reminded me of a balloon or something like that.

During the course of the film Ilya is framed for a crime he didn't commit but finally gets out of jail and helps his kingdom finally defeat the Tugars once and for all.

The dragon is still impressive for the mid 1950's but come to think of it the entire damned movie is impressive. Communist Russia had some very talented actors, actresses and movie people in general.

Everything in the film looks so "fantasy" like and it really works well. This is a magical film and one that should be seen by anyone who appreciates solid entertainment.

The film is in Russian, but has English subtitles.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Deborah Foreman is 62, Susan Anton is 74,and Robin Askwith is 74.

Friday, October 11, 2024

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 11: REPULSION 1965 (CRITERION) BLU-RAY

An all time classic.

Very simply put, this is a story of madness coming to the surface.

Beautiful Catherine Deneuve stars as Carol Ledoux, a very quiet and somewhat disturbed woman who lives with her older sister and works as a manicurist.

Carol is repulsed by men and even more so by the thought of one touching her or kissing her. For this reason she hates her sister boyfriend. Her sister Helen (Yvonne Furneaux) decides to go on a trip with her boyfriend Michela (Ian Hendry) and this, of course leaves Carol alone.

She slowly decends into madness as she imagines cracks in the walls getting bigger and hands come out to grab her. She dreams of a man raping her and she never leaves the apartment. She kills a young man who kicks in her door and then she also kills the landlord who comes to collect the rent and then wants more from Carol.

The bodies are hidden in the apartment as Carol slowlt goes insane. I find this movie to be one of the best horror films of it's time, and of this time to be honest.

The images Carol sees and dreams of are the stuff of nightmares and madness. This woman really has some problem let me tell you. The rest of the cast includes John Fraser, Patrick Wymark, James Villiers and Reneer Houston.

I cannot recommend this enough. This is a MUST see.

Thursday, October 10, 2024

31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN DAY 10: THE BLOODY JUDGE 1970 (BLUE UNDERGROUND) BLU-RAY

It has been a while since I saw this movie, and I just had to pick it up on Blu-ray.

The look of the movie is a great improvement over the old DVD release and so is the 4K-UHD version, of course. Call me what you will, but I bought this for the somewhat perverse but alluring package.

I consider this to be one of Jess Franco's best movies. The story surrounds one Judge Jeffries (Christopher Lee) who uses the justice system to satisfy his own sexual and political whims.

This is based on a real character in British history and in some cases Franco stayed true to history, others he went off on wild tangents, but this is to be expected.

There are some excellent scenes involving the war going on at the time. The movie veers many times into witch hunting and it is the many torture scenes that have made this movie famous.

After all you have incredibly sexy women like Diana Lorys, Margaret Lee and Maria Rohm in various state of undress and being tortured, and that is considered cinema gold.

The rest of the cast includes Leo Genn, Hans Hass, Jr., Maria Schell, Peter Martell, Howard Vernon, and Serena Vergano.

If you haven't seen this, give it a try. I really think you might like it. It has everything a movie like this should have and you can tell Franco had some money behind him on this one. The Blue Underground presentation is nothing short of spectacular.

Lastly, the print has the title "Night Of The Blood Monster" on it, but "Bloody Judge" is much better.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

RIP ELISA MONTES 1934-2024

The beautiful Spanish actress has passed away.

Montes made many, many movies and TV shows in her 55 year career.

Some of the movies you might remember her from include "Samson And The Mighty Challenge", "Eric The Viking", and "Django The Honorable Killer".

Her beauty was really on display in such fare as "Island Of The Doomed", "99 Women" and "Girl From Rio" which are the three films she is most remembered for by US audiences.

She had quite a career and I loved her in everything I saw her in. Elisa Montes passed away on October 8th, 2024 at the age of 89.