CREEPING FLESH 1973 (MILL CREEK) BLU-RAY

Another great Hammer Horror.

It's been a while since I saw this film, and it's coming to Blu-ray is a very welcome happening.

Peter Cushing stars as a scientist who returns from an expedition in New Guinea with a huge skeleton and he believes it may be the scientific find of the century.

During his research he discovers that if the bones get wet they grow new flesh. He also discovers from the blood of the new flesh there may be a cure for insanity which he fears his daughter might inherit from his wife, who died in an asylum.

His evil half brother James (Christopher Lee), who runs the asylum is plotting on stealing the fame that Emmanuel (Cushing) might receive. Emmanuel injects his daughter with the blood from the creature and all it does is speed the insanity up and soon she is running around and killing people.

James learns of this and attempts to have the skeleton stolen during a rain storm and before you know it, a huge monster is roaming the land. It is the essence of all evil and there is no stopping it.

The creature, once seen is not forgotten, and the twist ending is also very cool. It's always good to see Lee and Cushing together and this is one of their very best films.

The Blu-ray is beautiful looking and Mill Creek should be commended for bringing this to the format. If you haven't seen this movie, you should, and if you've seen it, watch it again. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Olivia Hussey is 66, and Michael Forest is 88.

RIP CLIFTON JAMES 1921-2017

A great character has passed away.

Clifton James is probably best remembered for his role as Sheriff J.W. Pepper in both LIVE AND LET DIE and THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN in which he played a loud and very confused small town Sheriff who gets mixed up with James Bond.

Over his 60 plus year career he appeared in many Tv shows such as "Another World", "Mannix", "Ironside" and many more. His movies include such titles as "Cool Hand Luke", "Will Penny", "Rancho Deluxe", the two above mentioned James Bond films and many more.

He passed away at the age of 95.

CATHY'S CURSE 1976 (SEVERIN) BLU-RAY

This is easily one of the most bizarre films of the 70's.

Filmed in the cold and snowy winter in Canada in 1976, this film wasn't released here until 1980 and it disappeared quickly. I have seen this many times in butchered versions and very crappy prints, but now Severin has brought us the uncut version in a very beautiful print.

A young girl and her father are killed in a car accident and many years later the girls brother moves into the old family estate with his wife and daughter, Cathy.

Strange things start happening right away and soon Cathy is possessed by the spirit of the little girl killed in the car crash many years ago, who is, of course Cathy's aunt. Randi Allen is Cathy, and she is very good at playing the possessed and very cruel girl.

There are so many bizarre images in this film and quite a few good scares as well. Cathy has an evil doll, and this little creepy thing will give you nightmares. It's nothing like dolls in many films made after this, but it will make you think twice about keeping old dolls.

The sequence with spiders, snakes and rats will make you wince a bit. if it doesn't you're probably already dead..lol.

Alan Scarfe is Cathy's father and Beverly Murray is her distraught mother. The Blu-ray has interviews with the director, Eddy Matalon and long lost star Randi Allen. There is also an original trailer.

This DVD is one of the best releases of the year and it should be seen by every horror fan. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

COMING ATTRACTIONS....

On May 30th Severin has announced this bizarre exploitation classic is coming to Blu-ray!!

Yes, the 1973 gem BLACKENSTEIN is coming to Blu-ray and is loaded with cool extras.

PARATROOP COMMAND 1959 (DVD-R)

Rare little AIP film.

Richard Bakalyan gets a starring role as Charlie, a member of a US paratroop group during WW2 that accidentally shoots one of his own men who was wearing a Nazi uniform at the time.

Through the rest of the campaign Charlie is met with much animosity by his fellow troops. He finally proves himself during a courageous attempt to get across a mined road in Salerno.

This is a very low budget character study of men under the stress of war as well as trusting one another. It's a fun little film that delves deeply into human emotion, more than one would expect from such a production.

I wish films like this were available on DVD or Blu for more people to see. The rest of the cast includes Ken Lynch, Jack Hogan, Jimmy Murphy and Carolyn Hughes. The director was serial vet Bill Whitney.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Claudia Cardinale is 79, and Samantha Fox is 52.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Sarah Michelle Geller is 40, Amy Dumas is 42, and Bradford Dillman is 87.

RAMBLINGS....

Time to take a couple of days off and get away from everything.

Nothing will be added here for a few days as I am getting away for a while.

More reviews will be forth coming by the weekend and those include such things as CATHY'S CURSE.

See you in a few days.

CORRUPTION 1968 (DVD-R)

Very interesting Peter Cushing horror film.

Cushing is a very successful plastic surgeon named Sir John Rowan. His fiancee, Lynn Nolan (Sue Lloyd) talks him into going to a party after a very long day.

He does so and in a fit of jealousy the good doctor gets into a fight with a sleazy photographer. This results in Lynn getting badly burned when a light falls on her face, and hence the nightmare begins.

Rowan finds a cure for her, but it doesn't last so he has to resort to murder in order to keep Nolan beautiful. Both Cushing and Lloyd are perfect as the insane couple, each with their own destructive desires.

There are a lot of very effective scenes in this film and every time Cushing is killing someone the camera takes on a "fish eye" look and it makes Cushing look even more insane.

The ending involves an out of control laserbeam and some punks, but I don't want to give too much away in case you haven't seen this film.

Cushing fans may be surprised by this film as it is more startling and graphic than his previous efforts, but it is a film I can easily recommend to anyone. The rest of the cast includes Valarie Van Ost, Kate O' Mara, David Lodge and Noel Trevarthen.

Director Robert Hartford-Davis also directed the superior "Black Torment".

TORTURE GARDEN 1967 (MILL CREEK) BLU-RAY

Another fine Amicus anthology film, and it arrives on Blu-ray.

Burgess Meredith stars as Dr. Diablo who runs a carnival sideshow. There are four tales of terror told in this film, and they are quite bizarre.

They include Humanoid robots, Edgar Allen Poe, A cat that eats human heads and controls minds and a killer piano!! I enjoyed all of these tales.

I reviewed this a few years ago and was surprised to see it arrive on Blu-ray. It looks fantastic and should be in your collection.

The cast for this film also includes Robert Hutton, Jack Palance (excellent as a deranged Poe collector), Peter Cushing, Beverly Adams, Barbara Ewing, Michael Ripper and Ursula Howells.

This is one of three beautiful Blu-ray presentations from Mill Creek on a set entitled PSYCHO CIRCUS. The others on the set are 'BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN and THE CREEPING FLESH. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN 1970 (MILL CREEK) BLU-RAY

I have written about this movie a couple of times on this blog, and it has finally reached Blu-ray.

A family gets trapped in a small town after they arrive to report a devastating accident they see along the side of the road.

L.Q. Jones if the sheriff and Alvy Moore is his deputy. These two produced and came up with the idea for the movie. Strother Martin is the kindly doctor who is also trying to find out where many missing children have gone to.

It turns out that Martin also leads a devil cult of elderly people using the children's bodies as sacrifices to Satan to gain eternal life.

This is one of the best 70's terror films I have ever seen, and it really knocked my socks off back in the day. It still does as a matter of fact. The Blu-ray presentation is excellent from Mill Creek. It is included on a set called Psycho Circus along with two other movies to be reviewed here shortly.

I really recommend this film as I have said in previous reviews of it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

Fred Dekker is 58.

COMMANDO SQUAD 1986 (DVD-R)

Fun little Fred Olen Ray film.

Another gem that is MIA from DVD or Blu-ray. Kathy Shower stars as Kat Withers,a government narcotics agent who discovers that her boyfriend has been kidnapped by drug lords in Mexico.

The cartel is being run by a former American agent named Morgan Denny (William Smith). Withers leads her team to Mexico to both stop the cartel and rescue her boyfriend, Clint Jensen (Brian Thompson).

There is lots of action in this film and many, many familiar faces including Sid Haig, Dawn Wildsmith, Ross Hagen, Mel Wells, Robert Quarry, Russ Tamblyn and Tane McClure.

Marie Windsor has a great part as an employee of Hollywood Book And Poster who also has a side job of supplying Kat with high tech destructive weapons!! Great stuff.

I can't see any Fred Olen ray fan not liking this film. I only wish this and others would be made available on Blu-ray. If you can find this anywhere, I highly recommend this.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO....

John Schneider is 57, John Gavin is 86, Julissa is 73, and Suzanna Love is 67.