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Monday, January 30, 2023

RIP LISA LORING 1958-2023

The original Wednesday has died.

Loring appeared on many TV shows in the 70's including "Barnaby Jones", and "Fantasy Island".

Her movie credits include "Blood Frenzy" in 1987. However she will always be known as Wednesday, the little girl from thr original Addams Family which ran for 2 years on TV.

Lisa Loring passed away on Jan. 28th, 2023 at the age of 64 from a stroke.

RIP LANCE KERWIN 1960-2023

The ubiquitous actor of the 70's has passed away.

Lance Kerwin was on every TV show ever made...or so it seemed in the 70's.

He appeared in many TV shows such as "Wonder Woman", "Gunsmoke" and "Emergency" plus many more too numerous to mention. Genre fans remember him most for starring in the 1979 TV horror film "Salem's Lot".

He was also very busy in the 80's as well. He passed away on January 24th, 2023 at the age of 62.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Rebecca Quinn is 36.

Sunday, January 29, 2023

ULTRA Q 1966 (MILLCREEK) BLU-RAY

The very first monster show to air on Japanese Television and up until that time it was also the most expensive.

28 episodes were made and they all featured monsters of some kind as well as a few comedic episodes and some that would remind one of the Twilight Zone.

Most of these were very good and a few were exceptional.

DEFEAT GOMESS 1/2/66...The construction of a new tunnel awakens a huge monster called Gomess. This show also introduces us to the three main characters of the show. Jun Majome (Kenji Sahara) a pilot, his friend an co-worker Ippie Togawa (Yasuhiko Saijo) and a young newspaper woman named Yuriko Edogawa (Hiroko Sakurai).

GORO AND GORO 1/9/66...A man feeds a gorilla a growth hormone by accident and the ape grows to gigantic proportions. They used the ape suit from "King Kong Escapes" with a little tuching up.

THE GIFT FROM SPACE 1/16/66...A space rocket that disappeared on Mars suddenly comes back to Earth. But what is on it?

MAMMOTH FLOWER 1/23/66...A huge flower starts growing in Tokyo and the roots threaten to tear the city and surrounding area apart.

PEGUILA IS HERE 1/30/66...A huge monster attacks an Arctic expedition.

GROW UP LITTLE TURTLE 2/6/66...A boy has a turtle that grows to monsterous size. This is a comedy episode and not one of the best, at least in my opinion.

S.O.S.MOUNT FUJI 2/13/66...When Mt. Fuji looks like it's going to erupt a hugh boulder is expelled from a nearby lake. The boulder happens to really be a giant monster.

TERROR OF THE SWEET HONEY 2/20/66...A mole breaks into a greenhouse and eats some super concentrate of Royale Jelly and becomes a giant monster.

BARON SPIDER 2/27/66...One of the best episodes of this show. Our three protagonists and some friends get stranded in a spookey mansion inhabited by giant spiders. The gorgeous Akiko Wakabayashi stars in this one. Creepy as hell.

THE UNDERGROUND SUPER EXPRESS GOES WEST 3/6/66...An experimental life form is accidentally released on a bullet train. The creature and a small child become trapped on the train.

BALLOONGA 3/13/66...A strange blob-like creature returns on a ship from Saturn and continues to grow. Another top notch episode.

I SAW A BIRD 3/20/66...A small brid is befriended by a child and then it begins to grow to colossal proportions.

GARADAMA 3/27/66...A strange monster breaks out of a meteorite and beings a spree of destruction.

TOKYO ICE AGE 4/3/66...A sudden freeze at Tokyo airport brings an Ice monster to life. Strange, but good episode.

KANEGONS COCOON 4/10/66...A boy is turned into a coin eating monster in this very bizarre episode. Very odd indeed.

GARAMON STRIKES BACK 4/17/66...The monster from the episode entitled GARADAMA returns with several of his kind with Tokyo the main target of destruction.

THE 1/8 PROJECT 4/24/66...Overpopulated cities have a cure for this problem, but it may not be for everyone. Very well done show that is no doubt inspired by The Twilight Zone.

THE RAINBOWS EGG 5/1/66...A golden rainbow signals a monster called Pagos is coming to life.

CHALLENGE FROM THE YEAR 2020 5/8/66...People start disappearing and finding themselves in the year 2020.

THE PRIMORDIAL AMPHIBIAN ROGON 5/15/66...After an earthquake fishermen find a strange egg and want to keep it until the monster Ragon shows up to claim it.

SPACE DIRECTIVE M774 5/22/66...An alien arrives on Earth to warn people of an impending invasion from a violent alien race.

METAMORPHOSIS 5/29/66...A man is turned into a giant due to radioactive scales from giant butterflies.

FURY OF THE SOUTH SEA 6/5/66...A giant octopus attack a small island. This episode used a lot of stock footage from "King Kong Vs. Godzilla".

THE STATUE OF GOGA 6/12/66...A monster breaks out of a small statue and goes on a rampage against those who have wronged it.

THE DEVIL CHILD 6/19/66...A father uses his small daughter in a magic act and unleashes a horrifying duplicate of his daughter. Another Twilight Zone inspired episode.

BLAZING GLORY 6/26/66...An undefeated boxer disappears just before his title fight. Very odd show indeed.

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF FLIGHT 206 7/3/66...A jet airliner is caught in a bizarre world inhabited by a giant walrus monster. This one is very good.

OPEN UP 12/17/67...The final episode offers us a Twilight Zone style tale about people on a train running in another dimension. Be carefil what you wish for.

These are fun to watch and the Blu-ray quality is beautiful. None of these were dubbed into English of course, but they all have subtitles. The show was so successful that it launched other "Ultra" shows such as "Ultraman" and many more.

If you're a Japanese monster movie fan you really shouldn't miss this excellent set. 28 episodes on 4 discs.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Katharine Ross is 83, and Marc Singer is 75.

Saturday, January 28, 2023

RIP SYLVIA SYMS 1934-2023

The British actress has passed away.

Syms had quite a career in British TV and movies, but I remember her most for a movie I just watched last night entitled "Aslyum".

In that film she appeared as the wife of actor Richard Todd as was killed when he chopped her up and put her in the freezer. Some of her other fioms included "The Fiction Makers" and "East Of Sudan".

She passed away on January 27th, 2023 at the age of 89.

CRAZY DESIRES OF A MURDERER 1977 (TUBI)

Very strange giallo filmed, I believe in the early 70's but not released until April of 1977.

A young woman invites several friends to her father's mansion for a weekend of wild partying and at first everything seems ok.

Soon a killer is stalking them and cutting out their eyes. The one killing we are shown is very graphic as you would expect from Italians. They seem to be experts at eye violence.

A police inspector shows up and there are a lot of suspects including two men who are trying to seal a drug deal. There is also a sub-plot about the theft of a valuable necklace.

This film does get rather confusing at points, but there are really some remarkable set pieces. Most of the women in this film are very attractive as is usual for this type of film.

I'm not going to give away anymore of the story, but I will recommend this as it is somewhat rare and a must for all giallo fans.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Barbi Benton is 73, and Jack Hill is 90.

Friday, January 27, 2023

YOU NEVER CAN TELL 1951 (UNIVERSAL)

A well made comedy classic.

This is one of my all time favorite films. I first saw it many, many tears ago on a TV station out of Denver and never forgot it.

A millionaire dies and leaves his multi-million dollar fortune to his pet dog, King. Very soon however King is poisoned and his caretaker, Ellen Hathaway ( Peggy Dow) is accused of the murder so she can collect the money, as stipulated in the will.

King who is now is a place called Beastitory, where all good animals go asks to be returned to Earth so he can catch his killer. The request is granted and he returns to Earth as private detective Rex Shepard (Dick Powell). He is accompanied by Golden Harvest a once great race horse (Joyce Holden).

Rex knows who killed hm, he and Goldie just have to devise a trap for him. There are so many hilarious situations in this film I cannot possibly name them all, but a great one is when Goldie misses her bus to the race track.

Another is when detectives bug Rex's office and listen to a conversation he is having with Goldie...never have I laughed so hard.

This is comedy gold at it's best and I cannot recommend this film enough. SEE IT!!!!

The rest of the cast includes Charles Drake, Frank Gerstle, Albert Sharpe and Lou Polan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Melissa Brasselle is 58.

Thursday, January 26, 2023

GYPSY WILDCAT 1944 (KINO) BLU-RAY

Roy William Neill directed this little gem.

Baron Tovar (Douglass Dumbrille) is determined to find the killer of a man from his empire. He proceeds to arrest an entire band of gypsies and imprisons them in his castle while he does his investigation.

Meanwhile a stranger named Michael (Jon Hall) does not believe any of the gypsies are the killer and sets out to prove them innocent. He is aided by a beautiful gypsy named Carla (Maria Montez.

There are a lot of action sequences in this film and it turns into a swashbuckling film by the rip roaring conclusion. It turns out Tovar is behind the killing and it's all a plot for him to marry Carla and inherit the kingdom that she is really the ruler of.

The rest of the cast for the beautiful Technicolor film includes Peter Coe, Nigel Bruce, Leo Carillo, Gale Sondergaard and Oliver Blake. I cannot recommend this enough for anyone who is looking for simple cinema escapism.

This is still how all films should be made.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Mercedes Varnado is 31, and Kathryn Leigh Scott is 80.

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

RAMBLINGS..

I have been doing this for over 12 years and I finally had to turn off the comments.

I used to get messages about movies, errors I made and such, but now there are so many left-wing nut jobs out there that do nothing but complain and spew filth that I will no longer allow comments.

I'm sorry for the sane ones out there who take an interest in what I do and share their stuff, but these left wing nuts have again made something impossible to do.

Thank you for understanding.

CUT AND RUN 1984 (TUBI)

I decided to check this out since it was directed by Ruggero Deodato.

It's not too bad of a film. Lisa Blount stars as a TV reporter who, along with her cameraman set out to find a Jonestown survivor who is now the leading cocaine exporter in the world.

Blount's character of Fran Hudson is a head strong woman who stops at nothing to get the story, but she finds much more than she ever bargained for during the trip to find Colonel Brian Horne (Richard Lynch).

There is a fair amount of action as the drug lord Horne keeps his operation always on the move and they kill anyone in their way. The top assassin is Quecho (Michael Barryman) who is nothing is not brutal and damned near indestructible.

Lynch makes a great villian as always and I was suprised that his role wasn't bigger. The rest of the cast includes Karen Black, Willie Aames, Leonard Mann and Richard Bright.

This could be called a typical action adventure of the 80's from New World Pictures.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Kenya Moore is 52, and Elaine Giftos is 78.

Sunday, January 22, 2023

WHITE SAVAGE 1943 (KINO) BLU-RAY

A wonderful technicolor film from Universal.

This one of 6 Universal adventure films that paired Jon Hall and Maria Montez. The other are "Cobra Woman", "Arabian Nights", "Gypsy Wildcat", "Sudan" and "Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves".

All of these are wonderful escapism and are exactly what these kinds of films should be...totally entertaining.

This is a very simple tale about a shark fisherman named Kaloe (Jon Hall) who is seeking permission to hunt the fish around a tropical island ruled by a beautiful Princess named Tahia (Maria Montez).

After Kaloe's friend Orano (Sabu) introduces him to the Princess, Kaloe falls in love with her and various situations occur such as both of them trying to stop Sam Miller (Thomas Gomez) and Tamara (Turhan Bey from stealing a huge treasure of gold hidden on the island.

This film is simply beautiful in color and Montez, of course, steals every scene she's in. The rest of the cast for this Arthur Lubin directed film includes Sidney Tolar as Wong which is very similar to his Charlie Chan character, Don Terry, Paul Guilfoyle, and Anthony Warde.

I have read so many reviews that are written by people who actually believe that this and other such films are racist. This is NOT the case at all, these are written by very sorry and angry people who have no idea what a film should be and who swallow everything the main stream media and special interest groups tell them.

Just enjoy this movie for what is really is...ESCAPISM. RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Linda Blair is 64.

Saturday, January 21, 2023

DEATH WALKS IN HIGH HEELS 1971 (TUBI)

Another very interesting Giallo.

A man who has just stolen a fortune in diamonds is murdered on a train and his daughter Nicole (Nieves Navarro credited here as Susan Scott) is called in by the police to see if she knows where the diamonds are hidden.

She is a stripper by profession and she and her boyfriend Michel (Simon Andreu) both tell the police they have no idea where the diamonds are. Soon she is attacked in her apartment by a blue eyed man who wants the diamonds.

Nicole goes to Michel's house only to discover a pair of blue contact lenses and she immediately leaves him. She hooks up with a wealthy married doctor named Robert Matthews and they both fall for each other. Nicole stays with Robert (Frank Wolff) and poses as his wife for protection from the killer.

Many twists and turns later we discover that Michel is not the killer and that is was a very intricate plot by Robert. This is a top rate Giallo with a lot of good action and suspense.

I liked this a lot and Navarro is simply gorgeous in this, and her death in the movie comes as quite a shock considering she was the female lead. If you're a Giallo fan, don't miss this one. RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Audrey Dalton is 89, and Victoria Carroll is 82.

Friday, January 20, 2023

KILINK STRIP AND KILL 1967 (SINISTER CINEMA)

More fantastic Turkish cinema.

I consider Kilink one of the greatest cinema creations and if you've ever seen one of these films you'd know why. This film has more action, plot twists and fights than any 200 American films combined in the last 25 years!!

In this outing Kilink manages to pit two rival crime groups against each other while trying to steal a secret nuclear code for himself.

Gorgeous women abound in this film and they all love Kilink, but he only has one true love. He changes disguises at least three times in this film and one of the best scenes is when he strangles a devious babe and throws her off a balcony.

The movie has the usual brisk editing, super fast moving plot, the torture of tied women, bikini clad vixens, cruel criminals and music stolen from American productions. In this case music from Joe Gershenson such as the score to "Tarantula" from 1955 and, believe it or not, the "Dragnet" theme during the opening credits.

I mean, whats not to like here? If you get a chance to see one of the MANY Kilink films do it. You'll be doing yourself a big favor.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Tom Baker is 89, Kylee Nash is 39, and Jack Grinnage is 92.

Thursday, January 19, 2023

WILD ONES ON WHEELS 1962 (TUBI)

Not too bad of a crime drama photographed by Ray Dennis Steckler.

A ex-con named Duke Walker (Sydney Mason) is released from prison after serving time for a theft of $250,000. The money was never recovered.

This is of interest to a man called King Tut (Edmund Tontini) who leads a small gang of psychopathic criminals, and he wants to find Duke and get the money.

Duke returns to his young wife, Hazel (Francine York) and they set off into the desert where Duke claims the money is hidden. Tut and his cronies follow them and they end up offing Duke in a gunfight.

They then force Hazel to find the money, but she has no idea where it's hidden. There is a lot of good scenes in this film and it's nice to see Steckler playing the role of Preacher Man.

Needless to say, things get out of control and everything comes down to a rather bleak climax. The rest of the cast includes Robert Blair, Diana George and Jonathan Karle as Jick, the real psycho of the bunch.

RIP PIERS HAGGARD 1939-2023

The great British director has passed away.

Haggard directed many, many TV shows and movies in his long career. He is best known to genre fans for films like "Venom", "The Quatermass Conclusion" and the all time classic "Blood On Satan's Claw".

Despite what the left wing main stream media says about these movies, they are classics and Haggard will always be remembered for these three films by most people.

Haggared passed away on Jan.11th, 2023 at the age of 83.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Shelley Fabares is 79, Tippi Hedren is 93, and Linda Hayden is 70.

Monday, January 16, 2023

RIP GINA LOLLOBRIGIDA 1927-2023

The Italian beauty is dead.

At one time she was called the most beautiful woman in the world, and with good reason.

Gina began her acting career in 1947 after doing some model work and with her sensational good looks rocketed to stardom in both Italy and the USA.

Some of her best roles include movies like "Soloman And Sheba", "Hunchback Of Notre Dame", "A Tale Of Five Women" and many, many more.

She passed away on Jan. 15th, 2023 at the age of 95. Her legacy will live as long as there is film in the world.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

John Carpenter is 75, Caroline Munro is 74, and Marilu Tolo is 79.

Sunday, January 15, 2023

WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED 2022 (FREEVEE)

This is probably one of the ten best documentaries on film I have ever seen.

This is a 3 hour 12 minute look at the history of folk horror and it never stops being entertaining and extremely informative.

Woodlands covers almost every folk horror film from the silent era thru the modern day. A short list of the films talked about include "The Wicker Man", "Legend Of Hillbilly John", "Blood On Satan's Claw", "Burn Witch Burn", "Robin Redbreast", "Onibaba", "Curse Of The Crying Woman" and so much more.

There are many people they talk with including actor Ian Ogilvy who starred in the classic "Witchfinder General". This was released on Blu-ray from Severin along with several different films in the folk horror genre and I never got the chance to see it until I ran across in by accident.

As I stated, this is one of the most in-depth film studies I have ever encountered and a huge congrats is due Severin for putting this all together. Folk Horror is a genre most people never think of, but it's out there in full force and many of the films discussed are available to view via disc or streaming.

All I can say is that this is REQUIRED viewing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Phyllis Coates is 96, and Barbie Blank is 36.

Saturday, January 14, 2023

SCREAM OF THE BUTTERFLY 1965 (SINISTER CINEMA)

What a movie!!

A beautiful woman named Marla Williams (Nelida Lobato) marries a wealthy man named Paul (William Turner). She is such a horny maneater that she starts fooling around with a young man named David (Nick Novarro) after only 3 weeks of marriage.

In the beginning of the film we see David running over and killing Marla. We then cut to the office of the DA Michael Farmer (Robert Miller) as he prepares for a meeting with his assistant and the Defense attorney. Farmer is on the phone and tells his lover that they will get to spend the weekend together if he can get this case closed quickly.

We are then shown the entire back story of what led to the murder which is intercut with scenes of the three legal men discussing the case and the upcoming trial.

Lobato is simply gorgeous in her bikini and dancing. Once seen she is not easily forgotten. Her acting range is from quiet lover to insanely angry. This was the only feature she ever made, and that is a shame.

It's a wild ride of a film and the final jolt at the end is something that nobody will see coming. It really caught me by suprise and I will not soon forget it. WOW!!

This is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED film that really should be better known. SEE IT!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Marjoe Gortner is 79 and Kacy Esther Catanzaro is 33.

Friday, January 13, 2023

CASE OF THE BLOODY IRIS 1972 (TUBI)

This is another in a long line of Italian Giallo films that really delivers the goods.

This tale concerns a very sexy model named Jennifer Lansbury (Edwige Fenech) who has recently left a hippie sex cult and wishes to just go on with her career.

However, she finds herself puesued by a member of the cult who claims he "married" her and insists on making her life a living hell. He even goes as far as to enter her apartment, rip her clothes off and claim that she is his property.

As if this isn't enough, she is also stalked by a deranged serial killer who has already killed several people in her apartment complex. There are a lot of suspects including her lesbian neighbor, a strange old lady and her deformed son as well as another man who has a huge blood phobia.

There are plenty of plot twists as usual and all are very well handled by director Giuliano Carnimeo. The main attraction of this movie is, of course, Edwige Fenech. My God this woman just reeks of sexuality and I don't think there was ever any actress in Giallo films that could even come close to her beauty. I know that might be a point of debate, but all I can say is WOW!!

Fenech steals every scene she is in and is absolutely captivating. The rest of the cast for this excellent film include George Hilton, Paola Quattrini and Ben Carra.

If you get the chance you really should check out this well made Italian crime drama.

Thursday, January 12, 2023

PACTO DIABOLICO 1968 (SINISTER CINEMA)

John Carradine stars in this fun little Mexican horror film.

Carridine is Dr. Halbeck, a man who has created a serum he hopes will make people ageless. It works, but only a little different than he antiscipated.

He becomes a young man again and calls himself Fred Halbeck and claims to be the nephew of the famous doctor. DiNora Jekyll (Regina Torne) suspects something sinister is going on as Halbeck hasn't been seen since Fred showed up.

However, Fred has a problem as well. Every so often he turns into a deformed monster of a man with killing on his mind.

As you can tell, this is really a Mexican re-telling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but done with a few twists. This was the first of 4 quickies that Carradine made in Mexico and it's not too bad at all.

Anyone who is a fan of Miexican cinema knows how bizarre these films can be. I recommend this movie for any horror fan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Shirley Eaton is 86, and Victoria Gonzalez is 32.