Going all the way back to when I was about 9 or 10 years of age and happened to catch "Beast Of Yucca Flats" on TV, I have always sought out movies everyone else considers to be bad or unwatchable.
When I first saw "Beast Of Yucca Flats" my jaw dropped to the floor in dis-belief even at my young age. I knew this wasn't a regular film because it seemed to have very little dialogue and whenever you did have someone speak you saw the back of their head! Yes, this was not normal, but it captured my attention like nothing else.
These kinds of truly bizarre films were hard to catch on TV in the early years, but with the advent of VHS in the late 70's early 80's and tape trading I discovered all kinds of "bad movies" as they are called.
There are a lot of them in every genre, but my main interest is horror and sci-fi and I will concentrate on a few of those. Another film that caught my attention was something called "Monster A Go-Go" which I had only heard about until I was able to purchase a tape from a New York seller named Mike Burgugian (if I am remembering the name right) who had a lot of strange films in his VHS catalog.
"Monster A Go Go" was a treat to behold. I knew when I saw the cheapness of this film it would always be a favorite. You actually see actors waiting for their cues, a phone ringing is done with an off screen person impersonating a phone ringing and a lot of lines are flubbed and kept in. The movie is gold to me.
Then of course on KCPX TV from Salt Lake City I was introduced to "The Creeping Terror" which after seeing on late night television on their program called "Nightmare Theater", I tried to explain to people the next day and they assumed I was insane. I realized then that this was indeed another film to be cherished, and I did just that.
My "bad" film making love was allowed to flourish and bloomed fully when the video boom came about. However, it wasn't until about 1986 that I first heard rumblings about another film that was "so bad it had to be seen to be believed". A friend from Lousiana named Scott Lawrence first told me about this movie called "Black Devil Doll From Hell" and he'd seen it but couldn't procure a copy for me.
I was amazed this film actually was real!! I loved black cinema all during the 70's and I couldn't believe I had missed one. There was no internet back in these days so research had to be done by (gasp) books and reading. I could find nothing on this film.
One day I got a call from a friend in New York who had the VHS tape of this film and he sent a bootleg copy to me in trade for a title I no longer what it was. I waited impatiently until it finally arrived and what a revelation it was.
To this day I have NEVER seen a film quite like this little gem from Chester N. Turner. I kept the bootleg for many years until I finally managed to get the DVD from Massacre Video a few years ago.
Working in the film industry during this time opened a lot of doors to many collectors who had bizarre and strange films in their collections and of all the weird things I have watched nothing beats BDDFH. What other movie is going to feature a Casio organ music score, a protagonist doll that looks like a midget version of Rick James and so much more?
Mind you, this is not a criticism of any of the films mentioned. I love them all, but this one is a favorite "bad" movie. It, to me anyway, is much better than the awful Chucky films made in the 90's and there is something to be said for anyone who came make a film on a camcorder for $10,000. Hey, believe me, I have been there and done that.
Chester Turner has given the world an unpolished gem that is recommended viewing for anyone who likes obscure and way off the wall films. I believe that everyone should try and watch all of the films I listed in this little write up, but just maybe not all at once.
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