DEMON WIND 1990 (TUBI)

A strange movie, albeit not a bad one.

A young man named Cory (Eric Larson) goes to his grandfather's farm to find out about his family past. Along the way he and his girlfriend Elaine (Francine Lapensee) hear nothing but vague warnings of the dangers that await, but Cory shrugs them off as he is dtermined to discover the truth.

They finally arrive at the house with a group of their friends and soon they discovere that the house is possessed by evil spirits who will not allow them to leave.

There are several gory killings and the story will indeed remind you of "The Evil Dead: from 1982. This film has demonic monsters, walking corpses, parallel universes and some nice overall effects.

I did like the fact that this is a "rural horror" film as those to me are always the best kind. Overall I enjoyed the movie and found it to not be as bad as a lot of people have claimed.

If you get the chance, you ought to see it. I can't see horror fans not liking it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Paige Spiranac is 30, Sara Jean Underwood is 39, Diana Ross is 79, and Scotty Morrow is 77.

DUEL 1971 (METV)

I caught this on Svengoolie a few days back and it was fun to watch this little made for TV thriller again.

Sven ran the 90 minute version that was released to theaters with 16 minutes of extra footage.

Dennie Weaver stars as a businessman who is traveling thru California. He passes a truck on a lonely highway and thus his terror ride begins. The unseen driver of the truck starts to pursue Weaver's character of David Mann.

There are many scenes of intense car chasing as the killer in the semi truck sets out to kill Mann and anything and anyone who gets in his way. Director Steven Spielberg really piles on the suspense during the final 15 minutes and it makes this a landmark TV production.

Weaver is excellent as the man who is forced to fight for his life behind the wheel of his car. The rest of the cat is minimal but includes Eddie Firestone, Gene Dynarski and Charles Seel.

I hadn't seen this in almost 30 years and I found it to be just a great as I remember it. RECOMMENDED!!

THE HITMAN 1990 (WARNERS)

A great action film from Cannon.

Chuck Norris stars as an undercover detective named Cliff Garrett. During a stake out he is ambushed and almost killed by his partner, Ronnie Delaney (Michael Parks).

After a long recovery in the hospital Garrett decides to go undercover as a hit man and work his way up thru the mobs of Seattle in order to destroy all from within, including Delaney who has partnerd up with Muslims in a deadly drug operation.

Garrett stars working with a local gangster named Marco Luganni (Al Waxman). He also befriends a lonely boy who lives in his apartment and the two develope a good friendship.

There are a lot of violent gunfights and bloodletting and when the boy is badly burned by the evil Delaney, Garrett decides it's time to conclude his long dreamed plan.

Norris is excellent in the role and everyone in the cast does a very good job. The final confrontation between Garrett and Delaney is something you won't soon forget.

Sadly Cannon films was on it's last legs when this was made and the end of their long line of action films was near. But they still had one more Norris film in the works.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Meiko Kaji is 76, and Masha Lund is 37.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Barbara Rhodes is 77, Corinne Clery is 73 and Lori Williams is 77.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

William Shatner is 92, and May Britt is 89.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Kathy Ireland is 60, and Steve Borden is 64.

BLOODSPORT 1987 (WARNERS)

Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as Frank Dux.

Dux is an American martial artist who is serving in the military. He badly wants to compete in a Hong Kong martial arts tournement who people can actually get killed.

He leaves his army base without permission to compete and he has two agents following him to bring him back. Dux manages to lose the agents and enters the three day event.

He also falls for a beautiful female reporter named Janice (Leah Ayres). Frank advances well into the second and third rounds. The final battle is with Cong Li (Bolo Yeung) who is undefeated in five years and has killed many opponents.

The final showdown is really something to watch. It just kind of grabs you and won't let go. I found myself enjoying this film after refusing to see it for many years.

The rest of the cast includes Norman Burton, Forest Whitaker, Ray Chiao and Rani Gill.

If you haven't seen this, check it out, you might like it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Ursula Andress is 87, Jan Shepard is 95, and A.J. Mendez is 36.

SANTO VS. THE INFERNAL MEN 1959 (INDICATOR) BLU-RAY

The second Santo film ever masde also shot in Cuba back to back with Santo Vs. The Evil Brain.

Again, this has a very simple plot. Santo helps a federal agent take out a gang of drug smugglers.

Santo has a few more lines in this film and several sceans from the Evil Brain film appear in here as well. It was a way to save money. It was shot very quickly in Havana and the film crew left just two days before Castro entered the Capital,

The 4K print is beautiful and if you're a Santo fan this is a MUST SEE!! "Invasion Of The Zombies" was next for Santo, and that was the film that would introduce him to a world wide audience, even thought in America he was known as "Samson" thanks to K. Gordon Murray.

However, this is a real piece of film history that has finally been made available and should be seen by every fan. I cannot recommend this enough.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Leslie Parrish is 88.

SANTO VS. THE EVIL BRAIN 1958 (INDICATOR) BLU-RAY

This is the first Santo movie and it was shot in Havana Cuba just days before the Castro takeover.

This film was shot very quickly and the plot is very simple. Santo has to tabgle with an evil mad doctor who is using a serum to control people's thoughts and actions.

Santo is drugged and works with the drug smugglers for a while until another masked wrestler named El Incognito rescues him. This film is very odd for several reasons. First it was shot in Cuba, second, Santo only has about 3 lines in the entire film and third is that he is given no background.

The print for this film is simply beautiful and brings out the black and white photography. It's in Spanish with American subtitles. The disc has some great extras including a background on where the film was made such as locations and how the print of this and another film shot back to back with it entitled "Santo Vs. The Infernal Men" were smuggled into the US in a casket after the Castro takeover.

I'm very happy to see this film finally getting a release as it has been thought lost for a long while. Any Santo fan will want to check out this release.

It still strikes me as very odd that the top Mexican wrestler and national hero in movies started out in a small Cuban production. CHECK IT OUT!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Kurt Russell is 72, and Laurene Landon is 66.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Erik Estrada is 74.