RIP WILLIAM REYNOLDS 1933-2022

One of my favorites has died.

William Reynolds might not be a very well known name, but his face will be known to you every time you see one of his many film and TV appearances.

Reynolds acted in some of my favrite films including "Battle At Apache Pass", "Francis Goes To Westpoint", "Son Of Ali Baba" and the all time classic "Thing That Couldn't Die".

He also appeared in the Universal horror gem "Cult Of The Cobra". His career lasted 38 years and he became a very familiar face to many. William Reynolds passed away on Aug. 24th, 2022 at the age of 90.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Debbie Gibson is 52, Mickie James is 43, and Adrienne Reese is 34.

MYSTERY MAN 1944 (PLATINUM)

This is another fun Hopalong Cassidy picture.

This film opens with Hoppy William Boyd) along with California (Andy Clyde) and Jimmy Rogers (Jimmy Rogers) rounding up a group of men called "The Trilling Gang" who are led by Bud Trilling (Don Costello).

Trilling soon breaks his gang out of jail and they rustle the Bar-20 herd for revenge. Hopp gets the herd back, but Trilling then poses as a Sheriff. This way he gets the herd back and has Hoppy and his friends thrown in jail for tustling!!

Hoppy breaks out of jail with the help of the Sheriff's daughter named Diane (Eleanor Stewart) and then he proceeds to again fdgo after Trilling.

As you can tell this is a very fast moving plot and it runs just a bit over one hour. It'a a very fun ride even though I thought the Sheriff was a real idiot as he always seemed to believe the crooks instead of Hoppy, but then again that's what makes a great storyline.

The rest of the cast includes FRancis McDonald, Forrest Taylor and Jack Rockwell. This is a sure bet for western fans.

SECRETS OF THE WASTELAND 1941 (PLATINUM)

This is another fine entry in the Hopalong Cassidy series.

It has been a while since I watched any Hoppy movies, and it was very good to return to these films.

Actress Barbara Britton masde her debut in this fine western about a group of Chinese immigrants who have a beautiful piece of lane across the desert and are fighting to keep it a secret.

Hoppy (William Boyd) leads a group of archaeologists to a site digging and the bad guys follw them. Upon arrival they also discover this hidden land the Chinese own, but they have not sighned the proper papers as of yet.

Hoppy fights for the rights of the Chinese and manages to outsmart the crooks. This is a fine western with a very different kind of plot. The rest of the cast includes Andy Clyde, Brad King, Douglas Fowley, Richard Loo, Lee Tong Foo and John Rawlins.

A simple and fun film that really delivers the goods.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Barbara Bach is 76, and David Soul is 79.

HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN 1988 (TUBI)

The film debut of Roddy Piper.

Donald G. Jackson brings us this well made, low budget film that never slows down and has some excellent set pieces.

After a nuclear war 68% of the population has been wiped out and the human race is facing and end sinca almost all of the men have been destroyed or are sterile.

Piper stars as Sam Hell, a very potent male who is captured and used by the Government to procreate the race. He and a warrior named Centinella (Cec Verrell) and a government official named Spangle (Sandahl Bergman) travel to Frogtown where a large population of mutants live.

Their mission is to rescue a group of women are bring held captive by the mutants and their leader Toti. This is a very fun film and if you just let your mind go you'll enjoy every damned minute of it.

The women are all good looking, of course, and Sandahl Bergman steals the show as an official with a gorgeous body who wants Sam in the worst way, but must stay with the mission.

Rory Calhoun gives a good performance as Looney Tunes, a man helping the mutants mine precious metal to sell to others. The cast is pretty impressive for a Donald Jackson film, and it was distributed by New World Pictures. After this Piper would go on the work with John Carpenter on "They Live".

You really should see this if you haven't. It's always nice to see Bergman in her prime.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Tuesday Weld is 79, and Robert Remus is 74.

THE FLAME BARRIER 1957 (BETAMAX TV)

Betamax TV has some very interesting things to watch, and one of them is "The Dungeon Of Dr. Dreck".

For years I have only had a watchable bootleg DVD of this film, and because it's so damned rare I will not part with it until this movie is finally releasd on digital media. It has never been on VHS, DVD or Blu-ray. Why? I wouldn't know.

However, I caught a pretty good looking print of it on Dr. Dreck of few days ago. Arthur Franz is Dave Hollister, an explorer hired by a beautifulk woman named Carol Dahlman (Kathleen Crowley) to find her husband who has been missing for 6 months in the Mexican jungle.'

He was in charge of a satellite that was shot into space and crashed somewhere in the jungle. Dave and his brother Matt (Robert Brown) take Carol's offer and proceed with her into the jungle. The closer they get the more strange things start to happen.

They find natives fleeing the scene as well as some bodies burned to a crisp. What they finally discover is the satellite in a cave along with Carol's huband trapped and completely covered by a blob-like monster that is increasing in size every 2 hours.

Now they must find a way to destroy it before it grows and takes over the entire Earth. When we first see the monster wrapped around both satellite and the man it is kind of shocking. It's very well done.

The movie does plod along in spots, but it's still damn good 50's sci-fi fun. The cast is top notch in this one of three films from the team of Jules and Arthur Gardener and Paul Landres. The others are "Return Of Dracula" and "Monster That Challenged The World". All three are writeen by a woman named Pat Fielder.

Man it was nice to see this again and it looks very good next to my bootleg. I hope to hell this comes out on Blu-ray sometime, but until then you can watch it on Betamax TV. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Kirk Morris is 80.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Tom Skerritt is 89.

COMING ATTRACTIONS...

Another odd and neglected film comes out from Kino on Oct. 11th.

This Blu-ray release is entitled GOLDENGIRL and I saw it once about 43 years ago. The film is about a neo'nazi scientist who tries to make his daughter into a superwoman and enter her in the Olympics.

This is a wonderful little mixture of sports movies and sci-fi as well as a tad of great exploitation. The cast includes Robert Culp, Curd Jurgens, James Coburn, Leslie Caron, Ward Costello and the simply stunning Susan Anton as Goldine.

I can't wait to see this again as I consider this to be a somewhat "lost" film when it comes to film fans. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

As I teenager I sure has a hard crush on Anton.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Connie Mason is 85.

SWAMP FIRE 1946 (TUBI)

Interesting film.

This film stars two actors that played Tarzan, and it's unique to see them both in these kinds of roles.

Johnny Weissmuller is Johnny Duvall, a military man who is trying to escape his his past. He has left the service after he lost a ship and vows to never make that kind of mistake again.

Returning to his Bayou home he takes a job running a fishing bost and wouldn't you know it, there is a serious accident and Duvall is the one who caused it because of the dense fog.

His rival, Mike (Buster Crabbe) takes advantage of this and also takes advantage of the girl who only has eyes for Johnny, Toni (Carol Thurston). There are a ton of sub plots and they all seem to fit into a nice package of 68 minutes.

One things leads to another and Mike and Johnny finally have it out thanks to a swamp fire that Mike has set because of a new law stopping the locals from hunting the land and feeding their families.

I caught thus early one morning on TUBI and was impressed. The rest of the cast includes Virginia Grey, Pedro de Cordoba, Marcelle Corday and Frank Fenton.

If you get a chance I suggest you check out this little gem. It was Weissmuller's only starring role outside of Tarzan and Jungle Jim, and he handles it very well indeed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Barbara Eden is 91, and Vera Miles is 93.

DEMONOID 1981 (VINEGAR SYNDROME) BLU-RAY

DAMN...I LOVE THIS FILM!!

I don't care all the nay sayers complain about, this film is nothing but fun entertainment from start to finish.

Samantha Egger stars as a young woman naed Jennifer who goes to Mexico to visit her husband Mark (Roy Jenson) who is working in a Silver mine. After several bizarre accidents, the workers refuse to work anymore.

Mark and Jennifer go down into the mine and discover an old chamber where supernatural rites were practiced. They discover a small container shaped like a hand and they take it back to their hotel room.

Mark gets drunk and opens the container and out popsa demonic hand that possesses Mark and forces him to kill. Jennifer is perplexed to say the least. The hand jumps from person to person and everyone it takes control of must kill.

It's a wacky idea, but this film really works. It also has some great lines such as a police officer telling a plastic surgeon "Cut off my hand of I'll kill you".

The film moves along very well and the cast does a very good job. Speaking of the cast it also includes Stuart Whitman, Haji, Erika Carlsson and Lew Saunders.

Forget all the "fanboy" critics. Check this film out and I guarantee you'll be entertained. The Blu-ray looks great and the world owes Vinegar Syndrome a huge thanks for getting this out on disc.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Patty McCormack is 77, and Eve Torres is 38.

WITCHCRAFT: THE DOLL IN BRAMBLES 1964 (SINISTER CINEMA)

Another very obscure item from Sinister Cinema.

Madame Tirelou (Blance Yurka) refuses to let a man named Louis (John Baragrey) marry her daughter Marie (Annemarie Roussel). When he sets his sights on her again, Tirelou puts a witches curse on him.

Louis finds himself unable to walk and his friend Fred (Darren McGavin) arrives to help him break the curse and find out what is really going on. Fred thinks Madame Tirelou is nothing but a fraud, but her "magic' proves to be a lot more than Fred bargained for.

This is a pilot for a proposed TV series that was never picked up. The host of the show is Franchot Tone, and the entire presentation is very well done. It would have been interesting to see an entire series about witchcraft.

There isn't a ton of information about this little gem, but if you get a chance to see it, do so. The rest of the cast includes Robert Middleton and Bruno Wick. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Jill St. John is 82, Diana Muldaur is 84, Debra Paget is 89, and Darby Hinton is 65.

PICKUP 1951 (MOVIES TV)

A great film noir gem!!

Hugo Haas co-wrote and directed this classic film noir that is quite nasty.

Haas stars as Jan Horak, a lonely widowed man who works for the railroad and lives a quiet life. On one of his rare days off her goes into town to a small carnival and runs into a beautiful blonde named Betty (Beverly Michaels).

They seem to hit it off pretty well and Betty finds herself in a very tight spot so she decides the only way out is to marry Jan, who has a good savings account. They marry and almost over night Betty changes.

Things get worse when Jan goes deaf for some unknown reason and that gives Betty and Jan's helper Steve (Allen Nixon) a chance to be together. However one day Jan has a small auto accident and regains his hearing, but he doesn't let anyone know.

He sits and listens to Betty berate him and how she wishes he were dead. Betty even tries to convince Steve to kill Jan. In the end nothing works out well for either Betty or Steve, but Jan turns out fine.

There is a lot of hateful dialogue in this film, and it comes from Michael's character of Betty. She is easily one of the most evil women to appear in any film noir.

Hass usually acted with Cleo Moore and I guess since she wasn't available for this film, Columbis hired Beverly Michaels, a sexy tall blonde who carries her role extremely well.

The rest of the cast includes Howland Chamberlain, Marjorie Beckett, Jack Daley and Bernard Gorcey. Check this one out if you get a chance to see it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Julie K. Smith is 55.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Saraya-Jade Bevis is 29, and Belinda Carlisle is 64.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Julie Newmar is 89, Gary Clarke is 89, Ann Blyth is 94, and Mirta Miller is 74.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Natasha Henstridge is 48, Pat Priest is 86, Barbara Bouchet is 79, and Gaylen Ross is 72.

COMING ATTRACTIONS...

Well, with Halloween about 2 1/2 months away, some companies are already bringing us some great stuff.

There are three releases coming from Mondo Macabro that are well worth checking out.

First is "The Other Side Of The Mirror". This never before released in the USA film is directed by Jess Franco and concerns a woman who seems to be going crazy and she has trouble separating fantasy from reality. Emma Cohen stars as Ana, the young woman in question.

Even if you don't care for Franco's movies, this one is really different. The Blu-ray will be released on Oct. 11th.

Next from Mondo Macabro is "The Horrible Sexy Vampire". This is a very rare German horror film from 1973. A strange vampire is killing both men and women and the police think it's a serial killer, but have they got a suprise coming. This rare film is considered a "holy grail" amongst horror film fans.

I have owned this film for years when I found it as part of a 20 vampire film set, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I don't know if it's uncut, but I will do some looking into that. The upcoming Blu-ray is the UNCUT version. Horror fans should check this out as it is a very odd and offbeat film.

And last, but not least is a never before seen rarity entitled "Love Brides Of The Blood Mummy" from 1973. The incredibly movie is about a long dead Egyptian brought back to life and who must sacrifice young women to stay alive. There is some unbelievable set pieces in this obscure gem that finally gets to see the light of day. A VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED GEM!!

All three of these are available on Oct. 11th at the retail price of $29.95. Get them pre-ordered at Amazon now and sit back for some real offbeat entertainment.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Halle Berry is 56, Lucinda Dickey is 62, Antonio Fargas is 76, Jim Wynorski is 72, Michelle Lintel is 53, Candace Hilligoss is 87, and Jaclyn Swedberg is 32.

EXORCISM 1975 (KINO) BLU-RAY

Over the years I have really tried to like this film, but it never seems to happen.

This is also known as "Demoniac" and :The Sadist Of Notre Dame" but let's be honest. It isn't a good film by any name. The Blu-ray from Redemption and Kino is fine as far as looks go, but it ends there.

Jess Franco directed this and also stars as Mathis Vogel, a former priest who takes it upon himself to cleanse the world of evil and sin. He sees a staged black mass and believes that those who were involved are really demon worshippers.

He takes several women to his apartment and chains them up. He tortures them and kills them to "purify" their souls. This has been done many times in European films, but Jess Franco goes the extra mile and pollutes the film with tons of un-needed sex. It does nothing but slow down the plot.

Also included on this disc is the shortened version entitled "Demoniac" which basically relies on horror. It's the better version of the two in my opinion.

The good points of the movie is having a then 21 year old Lina Romay dressed in bondage gear and being tortured at the conclusion of the film. I truely believe that Lina was born for these types of films.

The selling and advertising of this film made it sound much better than it could ever hope to be. Al I can say is, watch at your own risk, but if the thought of lovely Lina in bondage appeals to you, then skip to the final 20 minutes.