EXTREME WRESTLING LEGENDS: NEW JACK AND SANDMAN EXTREME BLOODSHED 2018 (AMAZON)

Classic ECW wrestling.

The fast paced one hour wrestling program is a guaranteed winner for fans.

We see New Jack, one of the most violent people ever to be in the business in several matches as well as The Sandman.

These matches are brutal and bloody and very chaotic. During the 90's ECW was a powerhouse wrestling organization that brought new heights of violence to the sport. It garnered a cult following that is still strong today almost 20 years after it ended.

These matches are some of the best the company had to offer and if you're a fan of this type of wrestling, then you won't be disappointed. Check it out for yourself. It's on Amazon Prime.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Cheri Caffaro is 75, and Akira Takarada is 86.

THE PIT 1962 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Very strange film indeed.

This is an expressionistic version of Edgar Allen Poe's "Pit & The Pendulum". Made by the BFI, this short story is told with almost no dialogue, but it does have a great music score and Gregorian chants of a sort.

A man is sentenced by monks to a dark dungeon where they proceed to try to drive him mad. The lighting techniques are unique and some of the camera angles are distinctive and make the production even more bizarre.

The film has no happy ending and is one of the more creative things I have seen in a long time. It is extremely rare to find this film as it only runs 28 minutes. The BFI has a talent for making excellent horror tales, and this is an excellent example.

The Print from Sinister is very good and I cannot recommend this enough if you're a fan of obscure horror. Also included on this disc is an interview from Greg Luce's old Sinister Cinema TV show where he talks to author Bruce Dettman about actress Allison Hayes. Pretty cool stuff.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Ann Margret is 79, Jessica Alba is 39, and Kari Wuhrer is 53.

SPECIAL OFFER 1976 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Very odd but well made British TV show.

Pauline Quirk stars as a young frumpy woman named Noreen who works in a small grocery store. She has a crush on her contemptible store manager played by Geoffrey Bateman.

He dislikes her and makes her life miserable at the store, but Noreen stays on anyway. Soon strange things start to happen and it all begins with a can of beans rolling down an aisle all by itself.

It seems like the store is haunted but as more and more things happen it becomes very obvious that something much more evil than a ghost is causing the trouble.

This is a very well made horror tale that was the very first episode of a horror series called "Beasts" which featured the works of Nigel Kneale, who of course, was one of the greatest writers of sci-fi and horror in the world.

This is a subtle approach to horror and it works very well. If you get a chance you might want to check this out. I highly recommend this, and now I want to see other episodes as well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Sheena Easton is 61.

NEUTRON AND THE BLACK MASK 1960 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Another entry in the bizarre but fun series of films.

This film finds the masked wrestler known as Neutron fighting the evil Dr. Curante as the madman seeks the parts to create a Neutron Bomb and therefore control the world.

The doctor is aided by a criminal scientist and Curante's own army of hulking zombie slaves.

The criminal scientist, Prof. Walker (Claudio Brook) has a beautiful daughter named Nora (Rosita Arenas) whom Curante wants to kidnap and force Neutron and his buddies to give up the hidden formula and parts for the bomb.

This is a bit more lackluster than the other two films in the series, but it's still a lot of fun. The zombie slaves are pretty cool and it's always nice to see the sexy Arenas in any film.

If you've seen the other films you will probably like this one as well. The print is from a very nice 16mm and doesn't give one much reason to complain. Recommended for fans of bizarre Mexican cinema.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Gina Torres is 51, and Bonnie Beecher is 79.

FAREWELL MY LOVELY 1975 (SHOUT TV)

Very well made remake of the 1945 film noir entitled "Murder My Sweet".

Robert Mitchum stars as Phillip Marlowe, a world weary private detective whose very tired of the world and how it is.

Marlowe is hired by a recently released convict named Moose Mallory (Jack O' Halloran) who needs hep finding his girlfriend he hasn't seen in 6 years. The search for Velma turns out to be much more than Marlowe bargained for.

In his quest to find the mysterious woman named Velma, Marlowe is soon wrapped up in a world of violence and murder. For some reason the police are looking for Mallory, and the detective in charge is named Nulty (John Ireland) and he is a close friend of Marlowe, but he does not approve of the tactics Marlowe employs.

Marlowe is beaten, drugged and almost killed on his search. He befriends a few people during the investigation including a beautiful woman named Mrs. Grayle (Charlotte Rampling)with whom he has a brief affair.

The plot of the film is extremely complex with plenty of plot turns and twists as is expected in a film noir. You want colorful characters? Well you have many of them including Billy Rolfe (Harry Dean Stanton) a cop on the take that works for Nulty and despises Marlowe. Mrs. Florian (Sylvia Miles) a washed up actress who longs for male attention and the most unforgettable character is Amthor (Kate Murtagh) who runs a brothel. My God, this is one woman you NEVER want to mess with.

When we finally find out who Mallory's Velma is the viewer is given another great twist. Need less to say, film noir fans should like this wonderful film. The rest of the cast includes Anthony Zerbe, Sylvester Stallone and Joe Spinell. I must also say that Rampling is simply delicious looking as always in her 70's movies.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Lee Majors is 81, and Britt Baker is 29.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Jack Nicholson is 83, Catherine Mary Stewart is 61, and Mark Damon is 87.

RIP ANDREW J. FENADY 1928-2020

The prolific producer has passed away.

Fenady was a producer and sometimes actor. He acted in such films as "Stakeout On Dope Street" as well as producing it.

He was also known for such great TV shows like "The Rebel", "Branded" and "Hondo". His many, many movie credits include "Terror In The Wax Museum", "Arnold", "Chisum" and "Mayday At 40,000 Feet" just to name a few.

Fenady passed away on April 20th, 2020 at the age of 91.

RIP TOM LESTER 1938-2020

Eb Dawson has passed on.

The man who portrayed Eb Dawson has died at the age of 81 from complication brought on by Parkinson's Disease.

Dawson will forever be associated with his Eb character on the long running series "Green Acres". It was and still is one of the most surreal comedy shows ever put on the small screen, and Eb was a highlight.

Lester was born in Jackson Mississippi and was a teacher in Purcell, Oklahoma before getting into show business. He passed away on April 20th, 2020. He was the last surviving cast member of "Green Acres".

SATURDAY THE 14TH 1981 (SHOUT TV)

Odd haunted house spoof that I kept passing up until now.

Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss star as John and Mary Hyatt, a young urban couple who, along with their two children Billy (Kevin Brando) and Debbie (Kari Michaelsen) move into a rundown home.

The home is haunted and a vampire named Waldemar (Jeffrey Tambor) wants to move in, but cannot. Billy finds an old book which magically brings many of the monsters in it to life and chaos ensues.

This movie spoofs Friday The 13th and many other horror movies of the time and of days gone by. Severn Darden is Van Helsing and his performance is so over the top, it's hilarious, in a good comedy way of course.

I was absolutely in love with Kari Michaelsen during the late 70's and early 80's and it was frustrating not being able to see this movie when it came out. But I have finally had my Kari fix once again.

The film is no classic, but it is innocent fun and if you like this kind of movie, then I recommend this Julie Corman produced gem. The rest of the cast includes Rosemary DeCamp, Roberta Collins, Stacy Keach, Sr., and Annie O' Donnell.

Shout TV has a great print of the movie and it is available on Blu-ray if you're so inclined, and believe me, in these times we need more innocent movies like this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Dee Hartford is 92, Nicola Glencross is 31, and Ed Leslie is 63.

RIP TERRI ZIMMERN 1930-2020

The VERY beautiful actress has died.

Terri Zimmern gained world wide fame amongst horror fans for her performance as Tara in the 1959 classic "The Manster".

It was her only film performance and it was and still is unforgettable. She was born in 1930 and lived most of her life in Hong Kong until World War 2 and then she lived in Macau.

She passed away on April 13th, 2020 at the age of 80.

NEW ORLEANS UNCENSORED 1955 (COLUMBIA)

An interesting and obscure film.

William Castle directed this Orville Hampton scripted film about a Navy vet named Dan Corbett (Arthur Franz) who buys a rundown government surplus ship in hopes of making it big in the shipping business.

He soon finds himself in trouble with racketeers when he takes a job on the dock of New Orleans to help rebuild the boat. Michael Ansara is Floyd "Zero" Saxson, the man who leads the rackets and will tolerate no interference from anyone. His two henchmen, Big Mike (Mike Mazurki) and Deuce (Frankie Ray) make sure the competition is eliminated.

Corbett meets up with a young woman, Marie Reilly (Beverly Garland) whose husband is soon killed by the mob and he starts his own investigation into all of the criminal activity. This leads to a great climax filled with gun fights, fist fights and non stop action.

This was filmed on location in New Orleans and really shows what the city looked like back in the good old days of the mid 50's. The cast is top notch and full of familiar faces from dozens of movies from the same era. Also inthe cast is the gorgeous Helene Stanton as Saxson's woman, Alma.

If you get a chance you might want to check it out if you like crime dramas. Sadly this is hard to see, but seek it out, you won't be disappointed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

The Goddess Carmen Electra is 48, Clint Howard is 61, Gary Raymond is 85, Judith O' Dea is 75, and Olga Karlatos is 75.

RUNAWAY DAUGHTERS 1956 (SHOUT TV)

Interesting little time killer from AIP.

Three young women from different families try to cope with school and life in general without much success.

All three come from homes where the parents either throw money at them to solve their problems or they are too strict or they are not there at all.

Gorgeous Marla English is Audrey Barton, a young woman whose parents always party and believe that money will solve any problem. Gloria Castillo is Angela Forest a rebellious young woman whose parents are never around and Mary Ellen Kay is Mary Rubeck, a young woman whose father refuses to let her do anything but study and forces her to live the complete life he wants.

These three girls reach a breaking point and before too long all of them are on their way to Los Angeles to live with Angela's brother Tony (Lance Fuller) who happens to be a gangster of sorts. Tony's main squeeze is a beauty named Dixie Jackson (Adele Jergens) and she tries to talk the girls into going back home and not becoming involved in Tony's dance hall racket.

Mary decides to contact her boyfriend in the Army and he asks her to marry him and so she leaves. Angela refuses any kind of help and is soon killed in a high speed auto chase. Audrey is reunited with her parents thanks to Dixie.

I enjoyed this film a lot and I think it's because of the cast. Besides the abover mentioned folks it also stars John Litel, Jay Adler, Steven Terrell, Frank Gorshin, and Anna Sten. The story was written by Lou Rusoff and produced by Alex Gordon.

This fun AIP film and Golden State Production was directed by the always great Edward L. Cahn. Highly Recommended for the cast and crew alone.

THE GREEN DEVILS OF MONTE CASSINO 1960 (SHOUT TV)

A very rare and well made WW2 film.

The plot takes place in 1944 and tells a German point of view on a battle during WW2.

The story revolves around some German parachute troops who are given the assignment to capture and keep a centuries old Abby on a rock coast in Italy known as Monte Cassino.

There are several sub plots as well including that of a beautiful young nurse named Inge (Antge Geerk) who happens to fall in love with a with a German soldier, Karl Christiansen (Dieter Eppler). They are separated often by his wartime duties, but they stay faithful to one another despite the fact that a German Lt. Reiter (Joachim Fuchsbergeer) has his sights set on Inge as well.

There is a good amount of action in this film and it plays well against the low key drama that unfolds. Harald Reinl directed this and I was actually surprised that his wife Karin Dor wasn't in the cast somewhere.

I saw this on Shout and decided to give it a shot, and was very pleased with the film. There isn't a lot of information out there about the movie, but if you like good WW2 dramas you might want to check this one out. It's not too bad at all.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Hayley Mills is 74, Eric Roberts is 64, Melissa Joan Hart is 44, and Melody Thomas Scott is 64.

CLASSIC WRESTLING BRAWLING BEAUTIES 2 (SHOUT TV)

This is the shortest episode of the series because it only runs 53 minutes, which is a shame.

Women's wrestling was at one time an anomaly and not taken too seriously. In fact there are several exploitation films made about it including "Pin Down Girls" from 1951.

I have always been a huge fan of females in the ring and man have things changed thru the years. This show opens with Mildred Burke taking on Mae Weston. I have no date on the match, but I believe it's from the 1940's. Burke held the Women's Wrestling Title for an astounding 18 years!!!

We then get to see June Buyers going against Betty Hawkins from the 1950's, and these women don't play around. Pretty interesting stuff. Debbie Combs takes on Donna Day in a very low key, but nonetheless classic confrontation. Donna made a great heel!!

We then get introduced to a tag team match between Barbara Ovens and The Masked Beauty vs. Beverly Shane and Bonnie Steele. I think The Masked Beauty was the only masked female wrestler I have ever seen, unless my mind is forgetting someone. It makes the match unique indeed.

The next match was rare for back in the day, and it still is since wrestling has become PC. It's a mixed tag team match between Kay Kasey and Ali Baba vs. Sheila Reeves and Jim Wilson. It's really gets out of hand and Baba is always attacking Reeves which really gets the crowd angry. He seems to be a very good heel.

We travel to the great state of Texas for Sherri Martel Vs. Judy Martin and you can really see that Sherri had greater things lying ahead for her in the wrestling world.

The final match is Sherri Martel going against Candy Divine and it's an entertaining match. As I said, women's wrestling has changed a LOT over the years and this show gives you an excellent look at how it all began.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Olivia Hussey is 69, Michael Forest is 91.

RIP HOWARD FINKLE 1950-2020

The legendary ring announcer has passed away.

Finkle has been called the greatest announcer in professional wrestling history.

He started working for the WWF in 1975 and became it's main ring announcer in 1978. Finkle was the companies longest tenured employee and nobody who ever watched wrestling in the 70's thru the 90 will ever forget Howard Finkle.

Finkle passed away on April 16th, 2020 at the age of 69.

RIP BRIAN DENNEHY 1938-2020

The prolific character actor has passed away.

Dennehy started his long career in 1977 on an episode of "Kojak" and went from there to greater heights.

His best known role was that of Teasle in the movie "First Blood". He also appeared in such films as "Ants", "10" and "Split Image". He made hundreds of TV appearances on shows like "Cagney And Lacey", "Hunter" and many more.

He was a very talented actor who could play many different roles and was always a welcome face to see in any film. He passed away on April 15th, 2020 at the age of 81.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Peter Mark Richman is 93, Stephanie Bell is 31, and Marla Landi is 87.

COMING ATTRACTIONS...

Well, you just knew it had to happen.

On July 7th, 2020 Criterion will be releasing a beautiful 4k Blu-ray of the 1953 sci-fi classic "War Of The Worlds".

This is great news for any fan of 50's sci-fi and horror. There will be a ton of extras and it will also include the original 1938 radio play starring Orson Wells.

Everyone I know has been waiting for this release, and here it is coming in the summer of 2020!!! This is a top release of the year.

SPOTLIGHT...MAMIE VAN DOREN

Getting new DVD's in has become quite a problem with all the crap going on in this once great country, so I figured I'd spotlight one of my favorite performers.

Over the years there have been a plethora of beautiful actresses that have made me drool from the 40's thru the 90's but one of the ones that REALLY made an impression on me was the gorgeous MAMIE VAN DOREN.

The South Dakota born beauty was first introduced to me in the 1951 film noir classic "His Kind Of Woman" in a small uncredited part, and she really caught my eye. Back when I was a wee little guys cutting my teeth on movies I didn't know who she was, but after the above listed movie I soon found out.

I was a teenager when I saw "High School Confidential" and Mamie knocked my socks off with her portrayal of a lust filled woman with and incredible body and more incredibly tight sweaters!! Watching her tempt Russ Tamblyn all while taking a seductive bite out of an apple sent me over the edge. I was hooked and needed to see more.

With the advent of VHS I was able to see much more of Van Doren's films including "Teacher's Pet", "Girls Town", "The Beat Generation", "Voyage To The Planet Of Prehistoric Women", and many more.

I have never seen a film of hers that I didn't like. I recently acquired the DVD of "Guns, Girls and Gangsters" from Kino and the first time we see Mamie she is singing in a nightclub and is looking hotter than hell!!! Once seen, it's not soon forgotten.

Mamie was perfect for the motion picture business. Her beautiful body, wonderful lips and that platinum blonde hair made for something that always mixed well with the roles she had. To this day when I see one of her movies I still get that feeling I had when I first saw her.

Mamie turned 89 this past February and is the last living "Bombshell" of the golden era of movie making. It's nice that when talking to her she has no regrets to speak of about her career.

Mamie is one of a kind and her legacy still lives on. Not too shabby for a young woman who grew up in a house with no running water or electricity and went on to become one of the most enduring women in movies.

There will never be another like her, and that's a good thing because the world couldn't handle two such gorgeous women. Mamie Van Doren, a talented actress and someone who helped fuel my passionate fire for movies that still burns out of control within me.

In case you're interested there are a lot of her movies available on DVD. All of the ones I mentioned here as well as "Navy Vs. The Night Monsters", "Las Vegas Hillbilly's", and "The Big Operator". I just wish to heck I could get "Star In The Dust" back into my collection.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Claudia Cardinale is 82, and Samantha Fox is 54.

BARRACUDA 1978 (DARK SKY)

It has been many years since I saw this bizarre little horror film.

In a small Florida coastal town called Palm Cove there are terrible things happening. Several divers have been found chewed apart in the water and the local authorities are stumped.

There is a chemical pant near the town run by a man named Papa Jack (Bert Freed) who has a young man named Mike Canfield (Wayne Crawford) thrown in jail for attempting to take samples of the water. The arresting sheriff, Ben Williams (William Kerwin) gladly accepts the help of Canfield to help with the ever mounting deaths.

Other things are happening as well including the fact that many of the towns population are becoming increasingly violent for no reason. Canfield, the sheriff's beautiful daughter Liza Williams (Roberta Leighton) and several others attempt to uncover the reasons behind this.

What they find is that the plant, along with the Federal Government and a local Doctor named Elliot Snow (Jason Evers) are secretly experimenting with the citizens thru the towns water supply.

These experiments have also made the Barracuda much more vicious and soon everything starts to come out in the open and both Ren Williams and Canfield find themselves fighting for their lives against both killer fish and an evil government.

I found this movie quite entertaining and a pretty wild ride. The ending is somewhat of a surprise and was handled very well. Also, all of the familiar faces made it a pretty cool experience as well. During the 70's you could always expect great movies made in Florida and Bill Kerwin in the cast.

I can recommend this for horror fans.