The Oak Drive-In

Another Day, Another Scholar

Original Air Date Oct. 17 1971

Filipino exploitation babe Margaret Markov attempts to seduce Jimmy Stewart !!

A few months before heading off to the Philippines to film New World's THE HOT BOX (and later BLACK MAMA WHITE MAMA) here's the very beautiful Margaret Markov making an appearance in Jimmy Stewart's short lived early 70's TV series, which was titled (aptly enough) THE JIMMY STEWART SHOW. Playing Prof. James Howard, a science teacher at a small college, Stewart's small screen debut was highly publicized but untimely failed to connect with viewers only running for one season from 1971-72. Watching the series today on Warner Archives Streaming (I have vague recollections of the show as a child) it seems wanting to juggle back and forth between comedy and drama with Stewart in full "aw shucks..." mode as he gently tries to confront some of the then contemporary social issues of the day. Most of the comedy side of things is centered around his home life with Julie Adams (THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) playing the wife along with a couple of precocious kids and M. Emmett Walsh as a fellow professor.

Before she would shower down Pam Grier and blast her way through the sweaty Filipino jungles with machine guns & machetes, Markov here plays Joyce Gibbs - a highly flirtatious student who seemingly will go to any lengths not to pass Prof. Howard's class, but to simply be allowed to enroll in it (!). Wearing a variety of low cut dresses along with mini-skirts & leopard-skinned hot pants she seems bound and determined to enjoy the benefits of the professor's folksy science musings, as at one point she even starts to strip down in his office (after offering him a case of beer !). The script makes it plainly obvious that Markov's end game plan is to not only flirt with the slightly befuddled Stewart, but to untimely engage in some office couch "special tutoring"

Born in 1948 in Stockton Calif., the blonde statuesque Markov appeared in Jack Starret's RUN ANGEL RUN in 1969 and in 1971 would appear in Roger Vadim's black comedy PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW. Traveling to the Philippines in 1972 she was in the THE HOT BOX and in 1973 would appear as a revolutionary on the run with Pam Grier in the all time classic BLACK MAMA WHITE MAMA ("Chicks in Chains...On The Run From A Prison Hell !"). In 1974 Roger Corman would transplant the women in prison thing to Ancient Rome with the result being THE ARENA that once again teamed Margaret with Pam Grier as female gladiators that are overseen by Rosalba Neri. Former actor Mark Damon (THE DEVIL'S WEDDING NIGHT) was producer on THE ARENA and he and Margaret were later married (and remain so to this day).

"DEATH WISH AT 120 DECIBELS !!"

The recipient of one of the most superbly edited & adrenaline pumping trailers in the history of film (which can be seen here) this massively entertaining combination of car chases, explosions, death defying stunt work, & magic along with 70's theatrical metal music all worked into the plot (complete with an onstage battling wizard & devil) has been slowly gaining a cult following over the years as a result of the trailer showing up on various compilations. Held together by the barest thread of a plot (which in large part helps it), STUNT ROCK was described by director Brian Trenchard-Smith (THE MAN FROM HONG KONG & THE SIEGE OF FIREBASE GLORIA) as a homage to 1970's stuntmen and its basic premise can probably be looked at as simply an attempted star making vehicle for famed Australian stuntman Grant Page (MAD MAX). Frustratingly hard to see through the years (I remember it showing up occasionally at midnight shows), it was issued by Code Red on DVD a few years back.

Because of a rushed production schedule and producer meddling, Trenchard- Smith was dismissive of it through the years and refereed to it as the "the worst film I ever made". However, in recent times he's turned around quite a bit on it with all these aspects playing out in the extras on the DVD special features. Looking back at it today, it's a movie viewing experience that you can't help but enjoy and is a fascinating (albeit heavily fictionalized) portrait of pre CGI movie making
Playing himself, Page travels to Los Angeles to help out on the stunt work for a fictional American TV series titled Undercover Girl (which because of a producers insistence stars Dutch actress Monique van de Ven - again playing herself) and along the way hooks up with Lois, a reporter (played by Trenchard-Smith's wife Margaret Gerard) and soon a romance develops. Page also meets up with his "cousin" Curtis Hyde who is a member of the theatrical rock group Sorcery. Hyde pays the part of the "Prince of Darkness" who does battle with "King of the Wizards" (played by Paul Haynes) during Sorcery's stage show (portions of which are integrated into the plot). Becoming friends with the band, Page agrees to help them out by staging some stunts onstage featuring himself as Sorcery is getting ready to do "three nights at the Fourm" (!).

The film's plot line basically has Page relating stories of his past stunts to reporter Lois (shown as flashbacks from his previous movies), along with his working on the TV show and doing things such escaping from a hospital after an injury by climbing down the hospital's outside wall, chin-ups on the Hollywood sign and repelling across two buildings in order to talk to Lois - all interspersed with the periodic concert & rehearsal footage of Sorcery. Some of the flashback footage Trenchard-Smith had used earlier in his previous stunt filled opus DEATH CHEATERS from 1976, along with some of the truly wince inducing crash footage lifted from H.B. Halicki's car chase classic GONE IN 60 SECONDS from 1974. Among some of the highlights are Page's blazing high fall in MAD DOG MORGAN that resulted in him suffering burns over a majority of his body (but returning to work in a matter of days) and some truly spectacular automobile and high fall stunts.

Many bands were considered and approached with Van Halen reputedly being in the running for a time and Foreigner being the final choice until touring commitments prompted them to dropout. Faced with fast looming start date Trenchard-Smith signed Sorcery after a week long search (and later described them as "the type of band you'd find if you had only a week"). Although their stage show does have low budget Dungeon & Dragons type cheesiness about it, their theatrical show does add to the WTF atmosphere of the film and most likely helps with films cult reputation.
As a leading man Page's acting chops are a bit flat, but he does have an undeniable charisma about him and as he's not required to do a whole lot other then just play himself (along with most of the cast) plus his performance does fit in with the premise of the movie perfectly. Page was the go to stunt guy for Australian cinema starting in mid 70's (his resume reads like a checklist of Ozploiatation cinema) and he continues to serve as a stunt coordinator up the the present day. His work on MAD MAX, including the car blasting through a trailer and the climatic motorcycle pileups are still awe inspiring to this day.
The plot does a drag a bit whenever the characters actually have to interact, as its best when it's just left to the stunt and/or concert footage and is an almost perfect example of "not letting the plot to get in way of the story"

Hammer's rather uneven attempt to drag Dracula and the studios patented Gothic trappings kicking and screaming into a 1970's setting has never been held in very high regard even by the most ardent of the studio's fans. Warner after noticing the healthy box office returns for the Count Yorga films approached Hammer regarding a two picture deal that would bring the iconic vampire into a contemporary setting - with the second picture being the even more problematic THE SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA in 1973 and the series would finish up with the Shaw Brothers collaboration THE LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES IN 1974 (which I've always liked). Hammer which by this time had begun to see the writing on the wall in regards to a shrinking market for its Gothic horrors probably jumped at the chance to hopefully expand their audience.
In 1970 after Peter Sasdy's wonderful TASTE THE BLOOD OF DRACULA (which for the first time in the series placed Dracula in his literary origins of Victorian England) Hammer followed up with the shoddy SCARS OF DRACULA. Looking to amp up the blood & gore content (unfortunately on what would seem to be laughably small budget), SCARS was a huge letdown after the atmospheric TASTE THE BLOOD (which is my favorite in the series after the original) and its relative failure at the box office was probably another inducement for Hammer to try something different.

DRACULA A.D. 1972, while far from the studio's best effort, does have some things to recommend it including the presence of Peter Cushing, heaving bosoms courtesy of Stephanie Beacham and Caroline Monro and of course Christopher Lee. The film was shot by Dick Bush (who also was the cinematographer for TWINS OF EVIL & BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW) and for whatever faults it does have, DRACULA A.D. 1972 is a very handsome looking production. Director Alan Gibson (GOODBYE GEMINI & CRESCENDO) stages some atmospheric sequences and most of the movies problems can most likely be attributed to the script (as with most of Hammer's later day Dracula's, Lee is sorely underused), Hammer's ever shrinking budgets and to Warner's meddling.
Opening with a marvelous sequence that has Lee and Cushing as Dracula and Van Helsing battling aboard a runaway coach in 1872 England (which oddly places the action 13 years before the 1958 DRACULA's 1885 time frame) whereupon the coach crashes and Dracula is impaled by one of splintered wheels. Before he himself dies Van Helsing jams one of the spokes into Dracula's heart causing him to dissolve away, but not before a minion of Dracula (Christopher Neame from GHOSTBUSTERS II) scoops up the ashes and buries them in a lonely corner of a cemetery. Flash forward 100 years (which is accomplished by a pretty nifty panning shot of the graveyard to a passing jet airliner) to 1972 London and we're introduced to "Johnny Alucard" (a relative of Dracula's minion again played by Neame) and his group of hedonistic young swingers. His friends include Gaynor (future Mick Jagger girlfriend Marsha Hunt), Laura (Caroline Munro THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD & AT THE EARTHS CORE) along with the "good girl" of the gang Jessica Van Helsing (Stephanie Beachum SUPER BITCH & THE NIGHTCOMERS) who happens to be the granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing (again Cushing - who is the great great grandson of the original Prof. Van Helsing from the film's 1872 prologue).

The film gets off to a rather rocky start straight off, as whereupon after that terrific opening sequence we flash forward to 1972 and are introduced to Johnny and his friends in the midst of crashing an upper class party, which by chance happens to have the rock group Stoneground (!?) playing there. An early 70's American blues rock band, Stoneground at the time was signed to Warners and there inclusion here in a heavy handed promotional sequence (we're treated to two songs by them) unfortunately kills whatever momentum the period opening prologue had generated. There's also some attempts at humor, all of which tend to cloud the rest of the movie and it never quite recovers.
Looking for some bigger thrills Johnny talks the group at a deserted church (which happens to be the one where Dracula was buried in the prologue) and by bringing along the ashes his ancestor procured seems to intent on resurrecting the vampire. In one of the films better sequences Laura is chosen as the centerpiece of the ritual and with ominous music being played in the background, she is laid out on an altar table and drenched with blood across her chest (which being Caroline Munro's chest makes it one of the highlights of the film). During the course of the ceremony Laura is killed by Dracula and when her body is later found it brings in the police. Upon his resurrection Dracula enlists the help of Johnny to locate the Van Helsings to exact revenge upon them. For some strange reason the movie has all the female victims of Lee and the by now vampire Johnny Alucard killed outright without turning into vampires, while the male victim does. It's seems a bit odd to have a Hammer vampire movie devoid of female vampires ??

After realizing Alucard spelled backwards is Dracula (which was by now a pretty tired plot ploy - going all the way back to 1943's SON OF DRACULA) Peter Cushing springs into action, realizing its his grand daughter that's the focus of Dracula's wrath. It's strange to see Cushing as Van Helsing dashing about modern day London, but he's amazing to watch as Cushing seemingly takes it upon himself to carry the movie and brings his usual great bravado and scene stealing mannerisms to his role (this was his first portrayal of Van Helsing since Lee-less sequel BRIDES OF DRACULA from 1960). As usual with the later day Hammer Lee doesn't much screen time as he usually just glowers and intones instructions and/or curses upon people, but he still has a magnificent presence (even when he's not on screen) and although their time here together is brief it's great to see him and Cushing sharing the screen. Except for Dracula's climatic demise DRACULA A.D. 1972 is relatively bloodless and with just the barest hint of nudity as Hammer via Warners was obviously going for GP rating (SCARS was R, while TASTE THE BLOOD was snipped of some nudity for American play dates to earn a PG).

Stephanie Beachum had previously appeared in THE NIGHTCOMERS in 1971, a prequel to Jack Clayton's adaption of Henry James Turn of the Screw THE INNOCENTS and the same year was in THE DEVIL"S WIDOW (AKA TAM LIN). Later she was in SUPER BITCH 1973 (AKA MAFIA JUNCTION), INSEMINOID 1981 (AKA HORROR PLANET), two films for Pete Walker - THE CONFESSIONAL (1973) & SCHIZO (1976) and in 1973 was in the underrated Amicus Gothic chiller AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS ! To non-genre fans, she's probably most famous for her recurring role in T.V.'s THE COLBYS and DYNASTY in the 1980's.
Caroline Munro was a model/cover girl and was the only actress ever signed to a contract by Hammer Studios. She turned down offers from Playboy and always refused to do nudity in any of her roles (which although disappointing, I always admired her for) which caused her to lose out roles in Hammer's DR. JEKYLL AND SISTER HYDE (1971) and their unrealized VAMPERILLA project. Also for Hammer she appeared in the criminally underrated CAPTAIN KRONOS - VAMPIRE HUNTER from 1974.

This 1973 release was the sixth release in Paul Naschy's Waldemar Daninsky films and is a bit of the departure from other films in the series in that its a period piece and as a result fits more outside the realm of the other movies in the series (though they are all held together by a rather tenuous linkage). The narration and flow of CURSE OF THE DEVIL (which was the title given in its America release) is also a bit more straight forward and the direction of Carlos Aured (HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB) is also somewhat more darker & subdued (although still with the expected amounts of bare skin & bright red blood splashed about) then the other Daninsky films with the results being one the better movies in the series and an excellent place for the uninitiated Naschy neophyte to start.

Beginning in medieval Spain "the great inquisitor & witch hunter" Ireneus Daninsky (Naschy) kills the Count Bathory while dueling in their full suits of armor. Chopping off his head and displaying it proudly, he then hunts down the Countess Bathroy (Maria Silva from THE AWFUL DR, ORLOF & TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD - and who bears a striking resemblance to actress Helga Liné here) along with her female minions ("Bitches, I'll see you all in chains ..!!") and quickly dispenses some good ol' medieval witch finder justice on them. Hanging the female followers from his drawbridge he burns the Countess on a pyre (which nicely gives her time to invoke a curse upon Daninsky's ancestors).
Flash forward several hundred years to what seems to be the late 1800's and the brooding (nobody can brood like Naschy) Waldemar Daninsky is living in the ancestral castle and one day while hunting he shoots what seems to be a wolf, but upon death turns out to be one of the local gypsies (why a werewolf is out in daylight and dying by a standard bullet is never explained). The gypsies have some sort of link to the past executed Countess Bathroy and vowing revenge upon Daninsky they initiate a satanic-type ceremony and send a gypsy girl Ilona (Inés Morales - who's also in the interesting and long over due for a decent release THE WITCHES MOUNTAIN from 1973) over to seduce Waldemar. After a romp in bed with the as it turns out virginal (!) Daninsky she sneaks out, retrieves the skull of a wolf (which had been used in the previous satanic ceremony) and using it to slash him in the chest, it forms a pentagram thereby cursing Daninsky with lycanthropy. This sequence and Ilona's subsequent fleeing and soon after ultimate fate is one of the high points of Naschy's films as its beautifully shot and has a very creepy & darkly perverse atmosphere about it.

Concurrently an engineer moves into the area with his two daughters - Maria (Maritza Olivares) being the sweet one and Kinga (Fibiola Falcón) being the somewhat "loose" one. Adding to the fun is an escaped mental patient who is killing off local villagers which takes the blame off the by now rampaging werewolf Waldamer. He also begins romance with Maria while fending off the advances of Kinga - with Kinga's attempted nighttime tryst with Waldamer unfortunately occurring on a night of the full moon which leads to the expected ending.
Although as usual Nacshy's character is not adverse to romance (even if he knows the consequences), buts its interesting to see him here a bit more hesitant around the ladies (even initially spurring the advances of Kinga). As mentioned before the film has a much darker tone then the other films in the series with the villagers mistaken capture and lynching of Waldamer's servant for the crimes being a grisly highlight.

The Argentina born León Klimovsky gets the lions share of credit as Naschy's best director, but Aured's four efforts are among the best with HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB (1973), THE MUMMY'S REVENGE (1973 - and probably one of Naschy's goriest in its uncut form), the excellent Spanish flavored giallo BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL (1974) along with CURSE OF THE DEVIL. The cinematography by Francisco Sánchez (who also shot Naschy's VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES, BLUE EYES OF THE BROKEN DOLL, DEVILS POSSESSED & THE MUMMY'S REVENGE along with NIGHT OF THE SEAGULLS & THE DRACULA SAGA is among the best of the series. Because of the period setting the film literally drips Gothic ambiance and is suitably dark & gloomy.
With two killers on the loose in the forms of both the wolfman and the escaped lunatic the film and not a lot of excess plot baggage the plot moves at a much quicker pace than the usual Naschy film. Although Naschy himself seems a bit more subdued here, his wolfman is even more athletic then usual, even doing a flying somersault off a second floor stair railing to attack.

Along with an earlier Anchor Bay release, BCI released this on DVD in their Spanish horror collection. (on a dbl feature with WEREWOLF SHADOW) although initial copies had an audio defect that required an exchange. The print appears to have some lesser quality American titles & a credit sequence grafted on to a very beautiful uncut print with the CURSE OF THE DEVIL re-titling done most likely to tie into the post ROSEMARY"S BABY obsession with the devil in 70's horror cinema.

Originally titled IL PLENILUNIO DELLE VERGIN (FULL MOON OF THE VIRGINS) this was one of the last Gothics from what's considered the golden age of Italian horror and along with LADY FRANKENSTEIN is one of Rosalba's (here again under her "Sara Bay" pseudonym in this American re-titling) only true horror roles. Released in 1973, this highly entertaining hodge podge of Richard Wagner Norse mythology (Der Ring des Nibelunge), historical personages (the "blood countess" Elizabeth Bathroy), candlelit castles and Gothic trappings along with copious amounts of blood and bare skin (not to mention virgin sacrifices and giant bats) has recently been given a long overdue blu-ray release courtesy of Code Red.

Long a staple of budget DVD horror labels (all of which featured that same print which looked to have been dragged through a gravel parking lot) Code Red's new release features a 1.78:1 transfer of a (for the most part) beautiful 35mm Eastmancolor CRI. Proudly bearing the Dimension Pictures logo, this being the U.S. theatrical version it's missing about 2 seconds of Rosalba's bloody arm stump footage but considering the scarcity of this title (along with being sourced from what is likely the last surviving material in decent shape as far as a U.S. release is concerned) this release is something to get very excited about - and not to mention the blu-ray cover features that beautiful U.S. one sheet art.

There's a bit of print damage in the center of the image for a short time which unfortunately shows up exactly at the point of Esmeralda Barros and Rosalba's erotic encounter and continues through a nude Rosalba's justifiably famous bloody resurrection (one can just picture a bored Movieola operator going back and forth through these sequences countless times at some point in the past), but again this should not be considered a determent when its balanced out with what we've had available before. For the most part it looks beautiful and image & color/-wise is an upgrade over the uncut Italian DVD of a few years back. This is available through Bill Olsen over at Code Red
Along with last years release of SLAUGHTER HOTEL, we now have two Rosalba titles on blu and just maybe someday we'll get this blogs dream of a fully restored LADY FRANKENSTEIN and a pristine copy of the U.S. cut of THE SEDUCERS.

All the above screen captures are from the Code Red Blu Ray release

Hicksploitation Movie Night # 10 !

"All She Wants Is A Break, All They Want Is Her Body"

Released the same year as Robert Altman's NASHVILLE this bicentennial year New World cautionary tale of the rocky and brutal road to country music stardom combines drama along with exploitation elements (even working a women in prison sequence) to create a great little gem of 70's drive-in entertainment. Anchored throughout by an outstanding performance by Monica Gayle (best known as "Patch" from Jack Hill's SWITCHBLADE SISTERS from 1975), it also draws a bit from Loretta Lynn's autobiography Coal Miners Daughter which was published that same year (it was even re-released as COUNTRY MUSIC DAUGHTER after the success of the 1980 screen version of Lynn's story).

16 year old Jamie Barker (Gayle) dreams of becoming a big time country singer and escaping her small southern town. After being violently raped by an inbred looking neighbor who catches her skinny dipping and later having her father beat her with a belt for listening to a transistor radio while in church she runs away from home. Hitchhiking to Nashville, she's picked up by gruff but kindly truck driver Leo V. Gordon (who protects her against his lecherous partner). Arriving in Music City USA she quickly discovers that the only way to kick start her singing career is to succumb to the sexual advances and pawing hands of various smarmy record producers & music insiders. Taking refuge at the local YWCA she meets fellow wanna-be singer Alice (a cute as heck Marcie Barkin) and the pair pay a futile visit to con-artist/music publisher C.Y. Ordell (the great Jesse White).

Finding herself short of money Jamie takes a job at a massage parlor ("I'm only the receptionist !") where she's caught up in sting operation and sent to a women's prison work farm. At the farm she has the fend off the advances of the predatory matron in the shower and upon release hooks up with seemingly nice guy session musician Kelly (Roger Davis from DARK SHADOWS). Kelly in turns introduces her to country superstar Jeb Hubbard (Glenn Corbett - who a few years earlier played Pat Garrett in John Wayne's CHISUM) who signs her to an exclusive contract and begins molding her into a superstar. However things being to spiral out of control as the now christened "Melody Mason" has to deal with an increasingly schizoid Jeb, having to go to bed with slimy records producers (who wear truly hideous 70's wardrobes), life on the road & all the pitfalls of stardom.

Being a New World production NASHVILLE GIRL does play up the exploitation elements as there seems to be a script coda that every 20 minutes or so Gayle has to shed her clothes and the prison sequence feels shoehorned in, but at its core there's a solid little drama beating away here. There's a few attempts at a bit of humor that don't juxtapose too well with some of the more sordid plot elements such as Jamie's seemingly constant degradation with literally every man she comes across being unscrupulous and/or a sexual predator. In fact the only two wholly sincere people she meets happen to be women - one being the aforementioned Alice and later Frisky (Shirley Jo Finny) with whom she meets up with in prison.

The strength of this type of movie either rises or falls flat on its face with its leading character and Monica Gayle is truly a wonder here, slowly changing from sweet corn fed innocence to hard bitten cynicism. Slender, fair skinned with a very natural "prettiness", she had been knocking around in the low budget movies since the early 60's along the way appearing in Gary Graver's SANDRA : THE MAKING OF A WOMEN (1969), the Larry Buchanan oddity STRAWBERRIES NEED RAIN from 1970 and probably her piece de resistance came in 1975 with the Jack Hill classic girl gang war opus SWITCHBLADE SISTERS. She drifted to TV in the late 70's with a stint on GENERAL HOSPITAL and then just dropped out of sight.

Except for a cover of Bob Wills Faded Love the soundtrack features all original songs by Rory Bourke, Johnny Wilson and Gene Dobbin. Their excellent representatives of 70's country music and Gayle does an outstanding job of (what I presume is) lip syncing to them - even doing a better job then country singer Johnny Rodriguez in his short cameo. In spite of its budget the film has some well staged studio and stage sequences and actual filming locations in Nashville help with the atmosphere. A film that's fallen under the radar for way too long, it was released by Scorpion on DVD and on a newly released blu-ray.

All the above screen captures above are from the Scorpion DVD release.

Log # 153 FIND ME A NEEDLE

Season 2 Episode 2 - Original Air Date Sept. 27 1969

Here's future 70's exploitation star Roberta Collins in a very early appearance (and her first speaking role) getting hassled by the man in an episode of ADAM -12 from 1969. Appearing in FIND ME A NEEDLE she plays "Sally"a stranded party-goer whose broken down car helps give the police a clue to a missing female hitchhiker..

One of the more grim and darker episodes of the series, it concerns the hunt for a fugitive known as the "Mulholland Masher" who's been raping and killing young female hitchhikers. The episodes plot is unique in that it focuses on only one crime for the entire duration of the episode and the usual light humor and comic banter between Reed and Malloy is absent. It's also probably one of the earliest times on prime time TV that the word rape was freely used.
IMDB incorrectly states that Collin's name is switched in the closing credits with blond actress Astrid Warner. Warner (who was later in the biker movies HELL'S BELLES and THE GLORY STOMPERS) plays Mary Gallagher, the young mini-skirted hitchhiker who runs afoul of Reed and Malloy earlier in the episode as they warn her against the dangers of hitchhiking on the streets of Los Angeles (or at the very least the Universal backlot). Since Collins is a redhead here rather then her later blond perhaps that's where the confusion lays.

Collins would go on to appear in such bona fide 70's classics as THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (mud wresting with Pam Grier ! - "Their bodies were caged, but not their desires !"), WOMEN IN CAGES, UNHOLY ROLLERS, DEATH RACE 2000, SWEET KILL, CAGED HEAT, WONDER WOMEN, EATEN ALIVE, THE ROOMMATES & THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA. She would sadly pass away in 2008 at the age of 63 from an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol. The recent Gorgon blu-ray release of THE ROOMMATES (paired with A WOMAN FOR ALL MEN) has a short but very delightful interview with her recorded shortly before her passing. She is very much missed.

May 27 1922 - June 7 2014

Growing up watching horror movies as a child I can still remember vividly the first time I watched Christopher Lee in Hammer's 1958 version of DRACULA. Although I was weened (as many "monster kids" were) on the Lugosi version (and not to dismiss that), but upon first seeing Lee's interpretation of Bram Stoker's literary creation it was almost a revelation. Here was an athletically powerful & sadistic force of evil that not for the work of his co-star and close friend Peter Cushing would have enveloped the entire movie. He is the Dracula of my childhood.

In honor of this blogs favorite actress on her 76th birthday here's some LADY FRANKENSTEIN goodies. Below is the set of Italian "fotobusta" posters (along with the two one sheets) that were sent out to cinemas in Italy at the time of the films release. I've managed to pick up some of these for some other movies and they really are gorgeous with the montage design work & lurid bright colors. This entire set was up on Ebay Italy recently and sold for a pretty hefty sum.

In some other Rosalba/LADY FRANKENSTEIN related news, a beautiful German trailer with some really eye popping color showed up on YouTube awhile back. It now seems to have disappeared, but here are some screen grabs from it. This is how this movie should look and hopefully one day the planets will align (and the lawyers will get all the rights sorted out...) and we'll get an uncut blu-ray.

"Filmed in the Graveyards of England"

During the late 60's low budget Staten Island filmmaker Andy Milligan was cranking out ramshackle horror and grungy sex shocker films, mostly for low budget mogul William Mishkin the sleaze king of Times Square. Andy's battles with the penny pinching Mishkin are the stuff of legend and while Mishken did have the uncanny ability to market Andy's poverty budgeted epics and give them lengthy runs on the grindhouse circuit, his suspect accounting practices sent the ever violate Milligan into fits of rage.
In 1968 at the behest of British producer Leslie Elloitt, Milligan packed up his 16 mm Auricon camera and headed off to London, where he would be seemingly free of his nemesis and could indulge in his love of Gothic settings. After rounding up the usual gang of misfits and disparate actors somewhat bizarrely Andy's first feature for Elloitt was the non-horror NIGHTBIRDS, a very strange & downbeat story of a twisted love relationship between a pair of London street waifs. Only shown commercially once, it became a lost film until a print was recently discovered and released on blu-ray by BFI.

For his second feature Milligan turned to his love of all things Gothic (although here with a contemporary setting) and made for all intensive purposes his most cohesive film and the one with the most straightforward narration - but still with burning hunchbacks, bright red stage blood, over blown dialogue & Andy's patented method of shooting highly un-erotic nude lovemaking sequences. Although the script is still filled with Andy's flowery overwrought prose, for once he found an actor worthy of it in the form of Gavin Reed (who later showed up in small but memorable, part in TOOTSIE). Although his haughty attitude and sneering condescending delivery would seem overdone in any other film, in Milligan's twisted universe and gutter view of the human race its a scenery chewing marriage in hell.
Reed plays the Reverend Algernon Ford, who newly arrived in London, sets up residence at Carfax Abby (one of many nods to Bram Stoker & Lugosi's DRACULA peppered about) and looks to revive the All Souls Church. Along with his constantly knitting wife Alicia (played with an unnerving creepy silence by Susan Heard) he pays a visit on Graham Ford (Colin Gordon) who the Rev. claims to be a distant relative of. He invites Graham and wife Anna (Susan Clark) to dinner, while Anna has just had an unnerving experience in a local cemetery where she was accosted by three pasty blue faced blond haired women. Later the Rev. meets a young couple Susan's & Paul (Jackie Skarvellis & Richmond Ross) with who he also claims to be a relative of Susan and offers to officiate at their upcoming wedding.

Seems the Rev. and his wife are part of a centuries old vampire clan who have begun to get progressively weaker caused by inbreeding and need to get some new blood infused into the family (all of which fits into Andy's favorite theme of dysfunctional families). Occasionally Alicia has to give blood transfusions to her ever weakening hubby and administer leeches to control his blood pressure. In addition sunlight doesn't kill them outright, but makes the grow weaker. After luring Susan to his home the Rev kidnaps her with the plan to turn into a baby maker in order to provide new blood into the clan and in addition sends the blue faced vampires out out for Susan who once vampirized lures Graham to Carfax Abbey for breeding purposes. In addition yet another relative Candace (Emma Jones) is kidnapped in order to use for a handy blood supply.
Assisting the Ford's is sympathetic hunchback Spool (Berwick Kaler from NIGHTBIRDS) who after attempting to help the captives is crucified in an ornate garden with the blue faced harpies dancing about and the Rev. Ford pontificating in one of the more bizarre & surreal moments in Andy's cannon. Also hanging about is the Ford's maid, who while also showing some sympathies for the captives gets a pair of knitting needles shoved in her eyeballs for her trouble. The film ends in a delirious sequence with the vampires holding a meeting thats allows Andy to unleash his fondness for outrageous costumes (with many looking to be made from shower curtains) and outlandish head wear for the ladies. Rev. Ford decides to move the clan to America which prompts one the vampire ladies to unleash this classic piece of Milligan dialogue -"Go to America ? Never ! What is America ? What it it made of ? Pimps, prostitutes, religious fanatics ? Thrown out of England but a few short centuries ago. They're the scum of the Earth !" - which most likely is a peek into Andy's psych and his feeling for his native country's "establishment".

With the look of an acid tinged Hammer film shot through a Vaseline smeared lens this is for however bizarre it may seem on the surface, Milligan's most accessible film. His trademark swirling camerawork is held to a minimum, athough his 16mm camera can still be heard whirring away in the background at certain points. With the contemporary setting he doesn't have to worry (not that he worried anyways) about such things as light sockets and background traffic noises that invade his usual "period pieces" and the London setting help tremendously with the films atmosphere (much better then the usual Staten Island). As to be expected the pacing is a bit off with some long drawn out dialogue sequences (punctuated by jarring editing) & wonky sound editing- but what the heck, this IS an Andy Milligan film.
Much of the film was shot at Sarum Chase, a Tudor style mansion in West Hampstead that served as the setting for numerous film and photo shoots including the inner gate fold of The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet album. Andy would later shoot much of CURSE OF THE FULL MOON here - later re-titled THE RATS ARE COMING, THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE !".
Sadly, THE BODY BENEATH would be the end of Andy's British sojourn as he had the to be expected falling out with his British producers. THE BODY BENEATH was never released in England but did play throughout the 70's on 42nd St. where it was co-billed with Andy's GURU THE MAD MONK. He stayed in England for awhile and ending making three movies there for the hated Mishkin - his take on Sweeney Todd with the THE BLOODTHIRSTY BUTCHERS, Jekyll & Hyde in THE MAN WITH TWO HEADS and the above mentioned CURSE OF THE FULL MOON.

Claudia Jennings Movie Night # 5 !

What better way to celebrate the 4th of July then blowing up a bunch of stuff with Claudia !!

"MAKE A DATE TO DETONATE !"

Produced by Roger Corman's New World Pictures (and one of Claudia's more popular pictures) this 1976 action exploitation favorite gained some notoriety in the early 90's as being looked at as a precursor to Ridley Scott's THELMA AND LOUISE. Although its debatable whether Scott had seen or was even aware of it's existence the two movies do share some similar themes primarily in a plot line based upon two strong central female characters who embark on a road trip which turns ugly & violent (however Claudia and her buddy are a more deliberately crime centered duo from the get go - and show bit more scenery then their 90's counterparts). Although lately its been fun to see how people read things such as social comment or gender issues into exploitation movies that for the most part were likely pretty far from the said films creators end purposes, THE GREAT TEXAS DYNAMITE CHASE while at its core being basic 70's drive-in fare does have some interesting stuff lurking in its plot (whether by design or not by writer Mark Rosin & director Michael Pressman) and fits kind of left handed in with the 70's "road" movie genre. Plus anytime you get Claudia Jennings into a pair of daisy dukes worked into your plot that's a good thing.

Claudia stars as Candy Moran who upon escaping from prison (where she handily worked on a road crew doing blasting) and liberating some dynamite robs a local bank by brandishing the said dynamite and subsequently hands the money over to her Pa (who doesn't seem to mind much as far as her method of obtaining it) in order the pay off the mortgage on the family farm. While at the bank she catches the eye of teller Ellie Jo Turner (Jocelyn Jones from Dirty Harry's THE ENFORCER) who had just been fired from her bank position for constantly being late as a result of languishing in bed with her boyfriend(s). Later a hitchhiking Ellie Jo is picked up by Candy and the two women decide to become partners in the dynamite bank robbing way of life. Eventually they hook up with "Slim" (Johnny Crawford from the THE RIFLEMAN) who serves as a love interest for Ellie Jo and poses has a hostage for the gang's escalating robberies.
Like a lot on 70's exploitation movies its a bit of a schizophrenic proposition and much like New Worlds Nurse series of movies, the film starts off with kind of a goofy comedy vibe to it before turning somewhat serious. At one point it goes into an extended (way too extended...) under cranked sequence in fast motion that has the trio gleefully counting and playing with their stolen loot, while a short while later there's a couple of bloody shotgun killings. The police are shown to be pretty much complete buffons in the early sequences, but the above mentioned shotgun sequence turns film in almost a 180 degree direction and points it toward its somewhat downbeat ending.

The plot channels a bit BONNIE AND CLYDE and BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID with its pair of rebels vs. the establishment plot line, but doesn't lose sight of the main reasons people would be drawn to this - shit blowing up and Claudia in (and out of) her daisy dukes. We don't get a lot of character establishment (but we really don't need it - or want it) and the the plot sticks pretty close to the Roger Corman mantra of boobs and/or action every 15 minutes or so. With all that being said however, the plot does place its two female leads strongly front and center and in control of their chosen way of life. Though it does offer up the requisite nudity & sex with both Candy and Ellie Jo (sometimes even together), they rebuff any man who forces himself upon them and engage in relationships when they want to and on their terms.
Claudia & Jocelyn have a great chemistry together (in some scenes they look almost like sisters) and film does have some quite funny moments in the first half with Claudia dressing up in a prissy hair bun with large glasses to call in a fake bomb threat in order for Jocelyn to stage a robbery while posing as a pushy bank customer. A wonderfully natural & charismatic actress, Claudia's charms are on full display here and its easy to see why see was one of the few true drive-in stars during the 70's. In 1979 she missed out to replace Kate Jackson on CHARLIE'S ANGELS (with the part going to Shelly Hack) and later that same year she would tragically die in head on automobile collision on Topanga Canyon Blvd. after falling asleep at the wheel of her car.
Under its THE GREAT TEXAS DYNAMITE title this is available from Shout Factory on DVD (in one of their typical schizophrenic packages) that includes the tolerable & sorta fun Corman produced TV pilot GEORGIA PEACHES with Tanya Tucker and Terri Nunn, along with the insufferable and utter crap-fest SMOKEY BITES THE DUST - with Claudia at least getting a disc to herself.

Claudia Rockin' the Shotgun !!

Death Was The Only Living Thing.....

....and best of all it'sFilmed in Dead Color

Gaggles of formaldehyde resurrected zombie convicts shamble about a poverty stricken prison in this 1972 ultra low budget quickie. Director John Hayes cranked this out in a matter of days around Topanga Canyon outside Los Angeles for a reported budget of about $10,000 to serve as a second feature to his weird & darkly compelling GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE. Hayes had one of the more interesting careers in low budget film making directing the off beat oddity DREAM NO EVIL (1970) along with MAMA'S DIRTY GIRLS (1974) and JAILBAIT BABYSITTER (1977). As with here he usually teamed with writer/producer Daniel Cady (who wrote/produced 1977's Willard homage KISS OF THE TARANTULA) and here they combine to create something that while shoddily produced and with inept acting, is still a curious & bizarre viewing experience for 70's horror fans (and at only 58 min GARDEN OF THE DEAD really can't drag too much - although it does try). In spite of its budget and technical shortcomings, there's something oddly compelling about this and going in with the expected allusions it works in its own weird way.

Totally free of blood (although the one sheet with its shambling line of zombies reminiscent of EC artist Graham Ingles is one of the more striking of the time period), it was one of the earlier offsprings of George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD from 1968 and features zombies that are based upon chemical revival which looks ahead a bit to films such as Jorge Grau's BREAKFAST AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE and its one of the first instances of "fast moving" zombies. Trotted out for years afterwards on the bottom of double & triple features, it even showed up on an early Siskel and Ebert episode as a (to be expected) "dog of the week".

At a ramshackle prison (named Camp Hoover..?) which consists of wooden posts and barb wire the main job of a motley group prisoners is the manufacture of formaldehyde (?!) which the evil warden sells on the side for a few extra bucks. With the oblivious guards looking on the inmates gather about inhaling the fumes through a hose for a cheap high while a the same time work on a tunnel as the means to an escape. One of the prisoners Paul Johnson (played by Marland Proctor from CHROME AND HOT LEATHER), who's the "nice guy prisoner" is allowed visits by his waitress wife Carol (Susan Charney - in what seems to be her only acting role). They neck right outside the prison fence while the other prisoners stand around ogling her.
Attempting a breakout one night the prisoners are quickly hunted down and shot and their bodies quickly buried in the prison graveyard, while the prisoners who didn't attempt to escape are chained together and forced to watch the burial. Almost immediately the dead prisoners arise from their graves and begin attacking and killing everyone in sight, while not looking for flesh to feed upon the zombies rampage around armed with various garden implements in a quest to find more formaldehyde to snort (although they do seemed to be attracted to Carol).

No brain shots or fire are required here as the zombies can be handily dispatched with rifle shots to the body and by shining lights on them - which causes them to bubble & regurgitate white foam. The shoestring budget blue faced & moldy green zombie make-up by Joe Blasco (who worked on ILSA SHE WOLF OF THE SS and David Cronenberg's RABID & SHIVERS) works well enough, although its obvious only a few of the zombies have full face make-up with the remainder regulated to a black smear under the eyes. In spite of the poverty stricken production level (the prisoners #'s are drawn on their shirts with a magic marker) the film manages some atmospheric sequences with the zombies suddenly darting (they do move quickly here) out of the darkness and mist in some highly effective long shots and later as they silently stare in at Carol as shes trapped in a motor home.
The convict zombies also can speak and are able to use tools as weapons as the climax finds the survivors holed up in the prison office with Carol being put outside as "zombie bait" to lure the undead into rifle range. Lurking about in the cast are several familiar faces including Duncan McLeod from BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS and Eric Stern from THE LOVE BUTCHER. Also hanging around is exploitation guru Lee Frost (director of THE THING WITH TWO HEADS, LOVE CAMP 7 & THE BLACK GESTAPO) along with his frequent collaborator Phil Hoover. Available on a double feature DVD (sourced from what is most likely the last surviving 35mm print) from Retromedia in a 16:9 transfer that has a nice grindhouse look to it (sometimes I feel like its more fum to watch these movies with emulsion scratches & dirt) where its paired with the wacky & bat-shit crazy SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED. Fun Stuff !!

One & Only Darren McGavin (AKA Carl Kolchak) Returns For Another Classic Small Screen Horror With a Belly Dancing Jo Ann Pflug, Mad Doctors, Alchemy AND John Carradine !

With the mega success of 1972's THE NIGHT STRANGLER it was inevitable that ABC would follow it up with a sequel continuing the supernatural adventures of intrepid reporter Carl Kolchak as portrayed by Darren McGavin. Premiering on Jan. 19 1973, THE NIGHT STRANGLER was another major ratings success prompting the network to order up an ongoing series. Playing out almost as a remake of the first the movie THE NIGHT STRANGLER improves on some plot items carried over from STALKER while others fall a bit flat compared to the earlier outing. With the "monster" not reveled until the closing moments STRANGLER plays out more like a mystery but contains enough mention of horror elements to keep us reminded of what we tuned in for.
After being run out of Las Vegas in the previous movie THE NIGHT STALKER, Kolchak ends up in Seattle, WA. where in a bit of happenstance he hooks up with his old publisher/nemesis Tony Vincenzo (the incomparably grouchy Simon Oakland) and is duly hired to work as a reporter. To add to the fun (and the horror cred) the newspaper publisher is played by everybodys favorite old curmudgeon John Carradine, who not surprisingly enough plays an old curmudgeon newspaper publisher (and sporting a horrible black dye hair job). This was one of six roles for ol' John in 1973 (which is nothing compared to the 11 (!) he would cash a paycheck for in 1977 !).

Kolchak is immediately assigned to cover the murder of a belly dancer in the rough & tumble area of Seattle known as Pioneer Square and of course (also immediately) begins to come across supernatural elements related to crime. As other bodies begin to appear with their necks crushed and a small amount of blood missing (and all working at the same belly dancing establishment) they seem to tie into a string of murders that go back over 100 years with a string of 8 killings every 21 years. Along the way Kolchak butts heads with the usual bunch of incompetent and/or perpetually pissed-off authority figures. Eventually things lead to a 140 plus year old doctor who's practicing alchemy while hiding in the bowels of underground Seattle preforming experiments that require the blood of young women.

While it can be augured that the film is basically a remake of the previous movie (the first 20 minutes after Kolchak's assignment to the initial story is almost shot for shot from STALKER) it does stand on its own as a great small screen chiller. Returning scriptwriter Richard Matheson serves up several excellent sequences including the creepy underground city and the doctor's mummified family setting around the cobweb strewn dining room. STALKER producer Dan Curtis (DARK SHADOWS) steps into the directors chair and and in some ways STRANGLER is a better movie that along with Matheson's writing it presents more fleshed out characters and keeps the mystery and "what's going on ?..." aspect of plot more interesting - although having the majority of the victims all working at the same bar is a bit of a stretch (the police don't seem to pick up on it) and was most likely done for economies sake.

When the movie premiered it ran at usual 74 minute running time in a 90 minute slot but was expanded for European theatrical release to 91 minutes and its this longer version that appears on the MGM DVD. Although its always interesting to see a longer cut, unfortunately the extra time doesn't add anything to story as it drags out several guest star sequences that get in the way of the plot such as Al "Grampa Munster" Lewis as a wino and Margaret Hamilton (THE WIZARD OF OZ) as grouchy professor and alchemy expert.
For Kolchak's female companion we have the wonderful and bubbly Jo Ann Pflug (who now days works as a motivational speaker) playing a part-time student (and part-time belly dancer - which is one of the STRANGLER's highlights). She's eons better then Carol Lynley's underused and limp noodle character in STALKER and I always thought it was a bit of a shame that she didn't show up in the later series, as the ending leaves open that possibility. Also on hand is Scott Brady (who takes the place of STALKER's Charles McGraw as the grouchy police captain - and also sporting a questionable black dye hair job) and best of all Wally Cox, who in one of his final roles plays a scene stealing newspaper archivist (his scene with Carradine is one of the highlights of both movies). Nina Wayne (younger sister on Carol Wayne), plays a ditsy blonde belly dancer in several alternately creepy/humorous (& 1970's unPC) sequences with her "husband" that would never pass muster today.

Even though he has a very limited amount of screen time Richard Anderson (who was just starting THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN) is excellent in the role of the title character and his final scene still packs a bit of a jolt to this day. For all that's been said of Darren McGavin's portrayal of Carl Kolchak (and it is excellent - literally no one else can you picture in this role) its Simon Oakland as the ever suffering editor Tony Vincenzo who is the background heart & soul of these movies (along with the forthcoming series). Easy to see on just the surface as simply a loud mouthed buffon he helps ground the plots and brings a smile to your face whenever he's on screen.
The movie has enough filmed in Seattle bits to give it a local flavor (the space needle, Jo Ann's houseboat) with the Universal back lot filling in for the remainder. I swear after you watch enough Universal 70's television with that same street you always keep expecting to see Adam-12 come cruising by at some point. For a short time afterwards ABC toyed with the idea for a third movie with Barry Atwater returning has the (un)dead vampire Jonas Skorzeny from NIGHT STALKER to confront Kolchak in New York City or an even more bizarre plot idea concerning UFOs, nuclear power & aliens in Hawaii which was to be titled THE NIGHT KILLERS before green lighting a series.

"Mad dogs from hell !"

"Hunting down their prey with a quarter-ton of hot steel between their legs !"

(and its in Eastman Color !)

In 1966 Roger Corman unleashed THE WILD ANGELS and kicked into high gear the biker genre (which could lay its roots back to 1953's THE WILD ONE) and dragged it kicking and screaming into the world of 60's radicalism, LSD and low budget drive-in movies featuring the requisite sex and violence. After THE WILD ANGELS success the the screens were flooded with dozens (if not hundreds) of independent and major film companies takes on scuzzy black leather bikers with Nazi regalia (along with their female counterparts) roaring down highways and terrifying middle class America. Its kinda amazing when watching THE WILD ANGELS today on how well scrubbed and nattily dressed Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra are as the leads

Their cheapness to produce was another reason the biker film was a popular genre with independent filmmakers. Along with very minimal special effects usually needed you could make a deal with a local motorcycle shop for loan of some bikes, the desert locals which were popular with the genre was cheap and easy to film in since the need for permits could be avoided for the most part and for background extras a local cycle gang could probably be rounded up without to much trouble for the price of a few cases of beer.
NAKED ANGELS was released in 1969 and although it has all the standard hallmarks of other low budget biker flick such as desolate desert highways and a garage rock based score (more on that later) it does feature some above average work by its leads, a neon filled Las Vegas sequence and some quirky editing that gives it an almost art house look (albeit a low budget grungy one) to it. Directed/written by Bruce D. Clark and co-written by Marc Siegler (who later teamed-up for New World's GALAXY OF TERROR) it also features early screen credit for future ace cinematographer Dean Cundey (HALLOWEEN and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK) who's credited here as make-up artist - and most likely spent a little time behind the camera.

Gang leader "Mother" (Michael Greene from TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.) returns to his buddies after spending two months in the hospital from beating at the hands of a rival gang. Greeting his second in command "Fingers" (Richard Rush THE STUDENT NURSES) by engaging in drinking game where they spit mouthfuls of beer back into each others glasses and then announces his plan to head to Las Vegas to exact an ass kicking revenge on the rival gang which goes by the name of the Vegas Hotdoggers. He also lays claim to the strawberry blond foul mouthed Marlene (the wonderful Jennifer Gan from WOMEN IN CAGES - and who looks cool as hell here filling out her open stitched leather pants).
Heading into Las Vegas Mother and company first stop by a topless bar and kick the crap out of a guy to get him to tell where the rival gang is located. Out and about in Vegas Mother picks up a pretty brunette and after getting her back to her place her gangster boyfriend shows up and chases him up on a roof before the police and his gang intercede. The Vegas sequences are beautifully shot and give a nostalgic view of a pre-theme park hotel Vegas on Fremont St. (you can even spot a movie theatre marquee advertising TORTURE GARDEN and THE COLLECTOR) with still shots interspersed in that whether by design or not gives the film a European art house type feel to it. The cinematography is by Robert Eberlen who strangely only has a few other obscure DP credits on his resume. There is some great use of the wide open desert spaces with the climatic stand-off on a barren salt flat composed particularly well, but to be honest the endless time killing driving through the desert gets a bit monotonous.

As with most movies of this genre there's a bit of a misogynistic streak running through it with Mother's brutal sex with Marlene in barn the group has taken shelter in after fleeing Vegas and later offering her up to the gang as a punishment for defying him and being a bit too frre & easy when he was in the hospital. Mother's increasing erratic leadership (there's hints that perhaps his brain got scrambled as a result of the beating) leads to a mutiny by his gang as they refuse to follow him further into the barren desert in his quest for revenge. Heading off on his own Mother soon finds himself beset by thirst and lack of gas along with heat stroke induced hallucinations that have him and his acquaintances in a wild west setting complete with a saloon shoot-out.

For a low budget biker film the acting is pretty darn good with Michael Greene's slowly going psychotic Mother character giving an intense and creepy stare down with a crazy gas station attendant at one point and in a perfect world the New York theatre trained Richard Rust would have been a bigger star (his speech to Mother upon the gangs mutiny is striking). Also in a bit of a twist, there's there's some actual tenderness shown in the burgeoning romance between Rust's Fingers and Gan's Marlene. With her wild mane of hair and iron cross festooned bare midriff blouse Jennifer Gan is wonderful here seeming to be having a ball with her role as she deliciously spews out out her dialogue. Along with her role in the Filipino WOMEN IN CAGES she also played a biker chick in The Monkees episode THE WILD MONKESS from 1967 and had small parts in IN LIKE FLINT and VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. Like Richard Rust (who passed away in 1994) she left us much too early at the age of 62 in 2000. Director Penelope Spears can be seen lurking about as one of the biker chicks.

Being released in 1969 Corman was nominally attached to NAKED ANGELS as an unnamed associate producer as this was just a short time before he left A.I.P. to start New World and although not technicality a "Roger Corman film" it did later became an unofficial part of the New World film catalog. Along with ANGELS DIE HARD (1970), BURY ME AN ANGEL (1971) and ANGELS HARD AS THEY COME (1971) this was rumored to be part of an "Angel" collection that was to be released by Shout Factory as part of their deal with New World. Sadly this fell by the wayside after their New World releases sputtered out and Shout later released NAKED ANGELS as a bare bones stand alone release from a full frame master.
The terrific acid drenched fuzz guitar soundtrack (one of the best of its kind) is by Mothers of Invention bassist Jeff Simmons and was released by Frank Zappa's Straight label. NAKED ANGELS originally went out on the top of a double bill with Jack Hill's excellent b&w racing drama PIT STOP.

Over on their Facebook page Bill Lustig & Blue Underground has posted some news concerning more Rosalba on blu-ray. Jess Franco's JUSTINE was one of a series of films he did for British producer Henry Alan Tower which mixed among them are some of his better works including the excellent historical drama/horror THE BLOODY JUDGE with Christopher Lee. Afforded a larger budget then usual (at close to $1,000,000 1969's JUSTINE was Jess's highest budgeted film) he created a visually stunning film, but one that is still grounded in his off-kilter (and sometimes incomprehensible) universe.

The film has a pretty unbelievable cast including a deranged Klaus Kinski as de Sade, Franco regular Maria Rhom, along with Mercedes McCambridge (who worked with Franco in the same year on 99 WOMEN - also with Rosalba), Akim Tamiroff , a REALLY deranged Jack Palance (who appears happily drunk off his ass in his scenes), the ubiquitous Howard Vernon and of course Rosalba. Wearing one heck of an outfit (that alone is worth the price of admission), she appears as some sort of disciple and/or sex slave for a monk-like society headed by the scenery devouring Palance.
Coming on blu-ray Dec. 15 (which includes a CD with Bruno Nicolai's score), this 1969 production was released as DEADLY SANCTUARY in 1972 for the U.S. market by A.I.P. in a heavily edited version that must have left grindhouse patrons scratching their heads in bewilderment. Originally Franco wanted Rosemary Dexter for the title role but a Hollywood backer insisted on Romina Power (daughter of Tyrone Power) for the lead role which caused Franco to take most of the highly erotic content out of the script and re-write much of the dialogue for her.

More 70's Sweaty Gothic Terror from Texas Low Budget Auteur S.F. Brownrigg

Texas filmmaker S.F. Brownrigg made a series of four horror/exploitation films in the 1970's (one of which 1976's KEEP MY GRAVE OPEN I've covered here before) with others being DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT (aka THE FORGOTTEN 1973), SCUM OF THE EARTH (aka POOR WHITE TRASH II 1974) and this unsettling little gem, also from 1974. Brownrigg's movies are fascinating exercises in low budget film making. Filmed in small towns around east Texas they all feature spooky southern Gothic ambiance filtered through 1970's drive-in horror. They played for years on double and triple bills snaking their way through various distributors and leaving an indelible impression on many a movie goer.

Brownrigg's first feature DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT was originally titled THE FORGOTTEN but the title changed when it went out on a double feature with Wes Craven's LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT where it shared its tagline "To avoid fainting keep repeating...it's only a movie...it's only a movie...it's only a movie". For this second feature Brownrigg most likely thought thought to capitalize a bit from his first run with Last House, a tile theme he would continue with KEEP MY GRAVE OPEN in 1976. Although he does plays the total pent up atmosphere a bit of his earlier efforts, DOOR contains all the classic Brownrigg elements - a small Texas town, a seemingly isolated house, close-ups of sweaty characters with bad complexions and yellow teeth (all driven by dubious motives, greed and/or twisted sexual desires) and a claustrophobic humid setting.

Pretty Amanda Post (Susan Bracken) receives a mysterious phone call asking her to return to her family home as her grandmother is extremely sick. Thirteen years ago Amanda's mother had been brutally murdered in that same house with Amanda sleeping in the next room and perpetrator never having been caught. Arriving at there she discovers her grandmother a bedridden invalid (only able to utter "Go now...Go now...") along with Dr. Crawther (James Harrell) who refuses to admit her grandma to the hospital and who appears to be under the orders of "Judge" Stemple (Brownrigg regular Gene Ross who was also in Charles B. Pierce's LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK). In addition there is Claude Kearn (an unsettling wonderful performance by one and done actor Larry O'Dwyer) who runs the local historical society and museum. All three seem to engaged in an unexplained conspiracy that has them angling to gain control of the house (along with the judge and Claude practically drooling at the sight of Amanda in her tight pink tank-top).

Accepting an invitation by by Claude to visit the museum, Amanda disturbingly finds a mannequin dressed up as her mother along with many items from their household and a creepy doll collection (which Browrigg had used to great effect in the opening credits & makes references to throughout the movie). Claude also makes some squeamish remarks alluding to Amanda as a child and his attraction to her with some not so too subtle allusions to past molestation. Wanting to get her grandmother into a hospital Amanda calls her boyfriend (who luckily is a doctor) and gets her admitted. Once back at the house alone (the boyfriend has handily stayed at the hospital) she begins to receive increasingly creepy and obscene phone calls from someone who appears to be watching her.

The calls increase with at one point in a highly disturbing fashion the caller threatening Amanda's grandmother and forcing her to caress herself while he does the same to a doll he's foundling. Like other of Brownrigg's films the identity of the protagonist is caller is revealed early (although its fairly obvious) but the tension in maintained with a slowly ratcheting sense of terror. Brownrigg always seemed to have an affinity for finding great acting talent for his small films (probably finding them in local theatre) along with getting above average performances from virtually unknown talent. He usually worked with the same few regulars with Gene Ross also appearing in SCUM OF THE EARTH and KEEP MY GRAVE OPEN and later going on to a long career in TV. Annabelle Weenick who appears here in a small was a regular in S.F.'s films and earlier in some of Larry Buchanan's impoverished Texas production upon whom Brownrigg also cut his teeth as a filmmaker.
Unlike his previous productions Brownrigg does show us a bit of the outside world with the Judges odd railroad car house and the museum. The house itself although well lite and neat in appearance has an unsettling atmosphere and supposedly crew members on the film did reported odd happenings during the shoot. Unlike his usual stationary camera focused on unsettling faces, Brownrigg sets up some wonderful prowling shots (in particular one that follows Amanda up floor by floor as she ascends a wrap around staircase). There some hallucinatory Mario Bava lighting used in a scene in an upstairs attic (that unfortunately is over saturated on the DVD). Brownrigg's usual composer Robert Farrar contributes an off setting score with flutes and chamber music interspersed with distorted guitar.

With the negative most likely destroyed at some point and 35mm prints that have been dragged through countless drive-in projectors Brownrigg's catalog has always been problematic on home video as his features (in particular BASEMENT) seem to show up in less then stellar quality on every one of those bargain multi pack sets. VCI is the best bet for DON'T OPEN THE DOOR & DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT as their available in a nifty dbl. disc set that can be had for less then $10.00. DOOR is widescreen and both have about the best quality you're going to find (Every so often a rumor surfaces about a new edition of BASEMENT, but it only turns out to be the same full frame master).

DON"T GO IN THE HOUSE can be looked at as a bit of an early slasher (1980's DON'T ANSWER THE PHONE seems to have borrowed a bit from it) and some folks have mentioned that perhaps Craven cribbed a bit from this for 1996's SCREAM.

aka SMILE BEFORE DEATH
SMILE OF THE HYENA

More Rosalba Golden Age Giallo Goodliness With Murder, Blood & Treachery !!

I always thought it was a shame that Rosalba didn't do more giallo's during her career. She appeared in handful of them including the very excellent AMUCK and the interesting TWO MASKS FOR ALEXA (along with the delirious TOP SENSATION if you count that as a giallo), but for the most part producers seemed more interested in sticking her in spaghetti westerns or peplums with the occasional horror or giallo mixed in. She really excelled in playing icy cold conniving bitches or black hearted murderesses (as she showed in the above titles) that when with combined with her exotic looks would seem to make her a natural for Euro thrillers.
Written and directed by Silvio Amadio (who also was behind AMUCK the same year) SMILE BEFORE DEATH borrows a bit plot wise from the Sergio Martino's superior YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY from the same year (whether be design or not) and although the plot itself is standard giallo (long missing family member shows up and murder/treachery ensues) it throws in some interesting twists. Easy to dismiss as a standard example of 70's Italian gaillo, it does reward with some careful viewing.

Teenage Nancy Thompson (Jenny Tamburi from THE SINFUL NUNS OF ST. VALENTINE & Lucio Fulci's THE PSYCHIC) returns home to her stepfather Marco (Silvano Tranquilli from CASTLE OF BLOOD) after the apparent (??) suicide of her mother Dorothy. She moves into the family cottage with her mother's best friend Gianna, a seemingly friendly fashion photographer played by Rosalba and soon discovers that her stepfather and Gianna are having an affair which they don't seem to worried about keeping secret. Soon Nancy begins to have suspicions about her Mother's death and revels herself to be not quite the innocent she seems as she begins to make advances toward her stepfather along with getting involved with Gianna.
There is the standard stuff about inheritance and wills along with a suspicious housekeeper that most likely knows more then she's telling and it seems that Nancy mother also had a gigolo on the side. The movie starts off with the death of Nancy's mother in a terrifically staged scene (which doesn't give everything away) then goes bloodless until the final set of murders at the end. It's an entertaining example of the genre that maybe as a fault does try just a bit too hard to hold your interest through the somewhat boring middle section with numerous flashbacks. With that being said however the film does reward with some careful & attentive viewing as there is subtle little instances of plot twists with bits of thrown away dialogue here and there and even hints in performances and camera shots that reveal little details (and the ending throws a couple of twists in that are unexpected).

Jenny Tamburi was extremely busy through the 70's and 80's appearing in dozens of erotica and giallo films and she's quite good here. Seeming as a wide eyed innocent at the beginning she inserts herself into the maybe (?) scheming couple's life and begins working each person against the other using her their sexual attraction to her as tool to manipulate them. Her slowly escalating seduction and manipulation of Rosalba's character is full of little nuances with gestures and facial expressions by both protagonists.
With Nancy being the main drive of the narrative, in what at first glance would seem to be a secondary female role as the mistress is given a great range of shifting personalities by Rosalba as she goes from manipulative and seemingly in charge of the situation to realizing things are not all they seem (you almost feel sorry for her at the film's twisted climax). I know I'm bias, but she is quite wonderful here.
Like many Italian thrillers the score would seem to be somewhat inappropriate to the plot as Roberto Pregadio's trippy lounge-like music (with wordless vocals by frequent Morricone collaborator Edda Dell'Orso) seems at odds with whats happening on the screen. I always feel like these scores do have a thematic hold to these films with their sets full of ultra modern furniture, mod clothes and bottles of J&B scotch and they help heighten the dream-like quality that permeates many of their plots. Although the main theme is played in what seems to be a continuous loop, it is a highly memorable score (you'll be humming it for days afterwards) and shows up on numerous 70's Italian lounge/soundtrack compilations along with a stand alone CD release from Beat Records.
Although not attaining the heights of decadence and delirium as AMUCK, this is still a decent gaillo and works well if don't go in with hopes of blood flying about and a quick moving plot. The original Italian title was IL SORRISO DELLA IENA which translates as THE SMILE OF THE HYENA (which to me is a lot more "giallo" sounding title) and unfortunately is one of those that's fallen through the cracks on home video with the only copies floating around in the collector circles (with the best one sourced from an Italian TV broadcast - complete with an annoying station watermark).

A busload of disparate people including Dyanik Zurakowska from FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY TERROR and THE HANGING WOMAN are all on their way to an unnamed aristocrat for employment purposes when they're suddenly stranded in the remote Spanish countryside when their driver suffers a fatal heart attack. The group finds themselves at desolate looking throwback village that is strangely deserted (along with not appearing on any map) and taking shelter in an inn they discover another a stranded traveler in form of Jess Franco stock player and Blind Dead alumnus Jack Taylor (HORROR OF THE ZOMBIES and DR. JEKYLL AND THE WOLFMAN ) who’s car has broken down. The group settles down for the night and discover the occupants in the village the next morning with the nominal head of the town "The Major" (José Guardiola) who informs them that the entire village was absent because there were at a ceremony at the local cemetery (!).
The overseeing matriarch of the village referred to as "The Countess" is played by the very welcome presence of Helga Liné (HORROR EXPRESS& THE LORELEY'S GRASP). She takes pity on the stranded travelers offering them money along with everyone in the village also offering free room and board. Things begin to get a little grim however as the the countess asks one of the stranded passengers up to her estate to recite Shakespeare Soliloquy's (!). The young man eagerly accepts and a bit later even more eagerly jumps into bed with her. Suddenly bearing fangs the countess attacks him and then throws his body out the window down to a group of the now ravenous villagers. Eventually, most of the other passengers fall victim to vampire-like villagers with only Jack Taylor and Dyanik left alive at the end as they attempt to escape.

Directed by Leon Klimovsky the film as with most Spanish horror from the period literally oozes Gothic atmosphere. One of the great things about Spanish horror (along with Italian) is that unlike the set bound horrors of Hammer if they needed a crumbling castle or ancient village they pretty mush just had to just to drive down the road a bit to find the real thing. Seemingly to almost to have grown out of the earth itself the village here is almost a character in the film and Klimovsky takes full use of of its crumbling moss grown walls and narrow streets. Klimovsky directed eight of Paul Naschy's films and although he's the director most associated with Naschy (and Spanish horror in general), I always preferred Calos Aured's work with Naschy. Kilmovsky films while workmanlike and serviceable seemed to lack a certain spark - Naschy would later complain that he rushed through the productions. With that being said however ORGY is one of his stronger efforts as there's a genuine atmosphere of lurking doom with the constant grey overcast skies and the above mentioned village setting.
There are a few instances of black humor (uncommon in Euro horror) sprinkled in the film as the stranded visitors are fed with contributions from various unlucky villagers whose appendages (which are the past off as roasts of various types) are hacked off by an axe wielding giant who intones "I'm here at the behest of the Countess" before chopping off an arm or a leg. There's also a gruesome bit of black humor with Dyanik finding a finger in her pot roast (left over from the donated arm for the evening meal) and the cook hastily summoned to the kitchen to get his finger hacked off to explain it away.

VAMPIRES' NIGHT ORGY would appear to have a myriad of films that it draws inspiration from including H.G. Lewis's 2000 MANIACS (1964), the brilliant & unsettling MESSIAH OF EVIL (1973) and bizarrely MGM's musical BRIGADOON from 1954 (which could also be looked upon as a precursor to H.G. Lewis's above mentioned early splatter classic). It's also probably the closest a Euro horror ever came to a classic 1950's E.C. horror comic story plot-wise, as it even has a bit of cribbing from Joe Orlando's "Midnight Mess" from Tales from the Crypt #35 (which was used in 1973 Amicus anthology VAULT OF HORROR). The film leaves a bit of mystery to the proceedings as it doesn't stick hard and fast to the usual vampire rules as only Liné appears to be a true vampire with the other villagers seeming to be something akin to zombie/possessed ghouls who that infect the unlucky visitors.
There's a few terrific sequences including a young girl who's the child of one of the stranded bus passengers and who's lured to a cemetery by a mysterious local boy where they bury her doll which leads to a very creepy conclusion - and is followed up by her now possessed Mother searching for her. Another sequence on the seemingly deserted bus is reminiscent of a scene in Stephen King's 'Salems Lot.
It's unusual to see Jack Taylor in the role of good guy hero, but being Jack Taylor he does engage in a some "peeping tom" fun in regards to Dyanik and a convenient handy hole in the wall. Helga Line's participation in limited to about eight minutes of screen time in what is basically an extended cameo, but she is pretty unforgettable and makes for one heck of vampire.
Code Red's dbl feature DVD pairs this with DR. JEKYLL AND THE WOLFMAN (which makes it a Jack Taylor dbl. feature) and contains the unclothed export version - which is the one to see if your a Helga Liné fan.

"A severed hand beckons from an open grave !"

Thanks to a couple oft printed stills in Famous Monsters this film became somewhat of a holy grail for me circa 12 years old, as Valerie Leon's buxom reposed "mummy" complete with a severed hand crawling across her mummy tummy (that sure wasn't Lon Chaney Jr. lying there) was forever ingrained in my little monster mind and consequently throughout the years I've always tried my best to like Hammer's BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB. Released in 1971, it truly seemed to be a cursed production as leading man Peter Cushing was forced to drop out after one days filming because of his wife's illness and director Seth Holt died of a heart attack one week before filming was to be completed whereupon Hammer executive producer Michael Carreras completed the film.
Hammer never seemed to have much luck with its mummy franchise after the masterful THE MUMMY from 1959 (which is my favorite Hammer and Chris Lee's best performance IMO) as they seemed to discover much the same thing that Universal discovered in doing their cycle - with that even the mummy itself being a frightening visage of horror, there really isn't a whole lot you can do with him (or her as the case may be). The basic & predictable premise of a shambling undead creature killing various slow moving victims was brought painfully to the forefront in Hammer's lackluster 1964 CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB while 1967's THE MUMMY'S SHROUD though also fairly reviled has always been a guilty pleasure for me. It chalks up some pretty inventive mummy kills, has a couple of strong female leads and contains an exquisite performance by the incomparable Michael Ripper.

Based upon the "other novel" by Bram Stoker The Jewel of the Seven Stars (which was also the basis for 1980's THE AWAKENING) BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB was probably looked upon by Hammer as the chance to take the mummy mythos into some different territory and get away from a resurrected & pissed off monster in bandages knocking off people who desecrate a tomb. Stoker's novel is a pretty good read (I prefer it over Dracula) and with its blending of Victorian Egyptology, mystery and mysticism it could be an intriguing basis for a movie - which makes it a bit strange that the movie versions a all fall a bit flat.
By 1971 Hammer's fortunes were starting to sag a bit as the studio endured a string of rather iffy films along with increased competition for their patented Gothic horrors, but they did turn things around a bit with the likes of TWINS OF EVIL, COUNTESS DRACULA, FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL and VAMPIRE CIRCUS. Looking to perhaps to revive the mummy franchise they cast Peter Cushing and cranked up the publicity machine with the desirable form of Valerie in her eye popping Egyptian formal wear front & center (which seems to have the subject of about a gazillion stills). In spite of a sarcophagus full of issues, BLOOD FROM THE MUMMY'S TOMB has a fair number of things to like as it features a strong performance by the ever reliable Andrew Keir (filling the nearly impossible shoes of Cushing), nice work from some familiar British character faces, in addition thanks to Hammer ace cinematographer Arthur Grant its a handsome looking production and of course there's the exotic beauty of Valerie Leon.

For their adaptation Hammer updated Stoker's novel to a contemporary 1971 setting - which does work better here then in DRACULA A.D. 1972. Archaeologist Professor Fuchs (Keir) leads an expedition into Egypt to locate the cursed tomb of an evil princess. Locating the resting place of the Princess Tara ( Valerie Leon in a dual role) they remarkably find her perfectly (and I mean perfectly) preserved body. Earlier we were shown a flashback (the first of several) that show the princess being entombed with her hand being cut off and thrown to a pack of jackals by a group of priests. The now ravaged hand scuttles across the desert and the priests have their throats bloodily torn out by an unseen force outside the tomb.
At the same time the archaeologist team is entering the tomb back in London Fuch's wife dies giving birth to a daughter. Along the perfectly preserved body of Tara they also find her bloody stump and disembodied hand both oozing blood (shown in glorious close-up). The entire group seemingly falls under the spell of the evil princess with Fuch's taking Tara back to his London home, even building a replica of her tomb in his basement where she lays in state. Fuch's also insists each one of them take one of the artifacts from the tomb for safekeeping.

Flash forward to 1971 with Fuch's now matured daughter Margaret (Leon) becoming increasingly agitated by strange dreams (along with being a dead ringer for Tara down in the basement) with a strange man watching the proceedings from an a vacant house across the street. The stranger is Corbeck (a smarmy evil performance by James Villiers), another member of the archaeological team who is determined to initiate the resurrection of Tara through the mind and body of Margaret. To kick start this process the other relics must be collected which the periodically possessed Margaret does by killing off the other members of the expedition by an ever increasing number of throats being bloodily ripped out including her doctor played by the wonderful British character actor Aubrey Morris (who passed away this past July 15) and who sports an unbelievable pair of glasses.
As the bodies begin to pile up (causing seemingly not much concern to the cast or the absent police) Margaret's boyfriend (Mark Edwards from HORROR ON SNAPE ISLAND) who is named Tod Browning (!) tries without much success to figure out what's happening to her while her father (Keir) who was wounded in throat by an earlier encounter with Tara's spirit climbs out of bed occasionally to utter warnings to the cast or haul away the stray victim.

Bringing something different to the mummy table (although the open ended closing shot shows us a wrapped Margaret and/or Tara in the hospital), it's a shame this isn't a better movie as lurking in the plot is the making of a classic latter day Hammer. The supporting cast is wonderful but the leads fall a bit short. Keir is a wonderful actor (he's my favorite Quatermass for is work in 1967's QUATERMASS AND THE PIT) but he doesn't really work in this role. Although to be fair it was thrust on him at at the last minute but he lacks the pathos and humanity that Cushing would have brought to the role as Keir seems to be half off his rocker from the get-go.
I'm the first to admit that Valerie Leon (a veteran of several of the CARRY ON... films) does make for one heck of a mummy (she also fills out a sheer nightie magnificently) but for the dual role of good Margaret/evil Tara she leaves a bit to be desired as her vacant blank expression throughout makes it hard to tell with what personality we're dealing with at any given time (although to be fair as with Hammer's tendency Leon was dubbed). She does have an undeniable exotic look about her (among the other assets that caught Hammer's eye), however one wonders what someone such as Barbara Shelly (even though she had moved beyond Hammer at this point in time) could do with this role or perhaps even Linda Hayden.
One of the more gorier films in the Hammer canon as it shows blood spurting severed wrists and pulsating throat wounds (although the throat thing does get rather repetitious), the film would have worked better if it played up the mysticism of Stoker's story instead of just focusing on an ever increasing body count. Leon refused to do any nudity for the role (a mantra she always held on to - and for which I've always sort of admired her for), however there is some fleeting nudity delivered by an obvious body double. Valerie was offered the role in Hammer's never made VAMPIRELLA project (for which she would have most assuredly looked fantastic in) but turned down the role because of the nudity content.

Bicentennial Sasquatch Mayhem From Joy N. Houck Jr. !

Directed by Joy N. Houck Jr.(NIGHT OF BLOODY TERROR and WOMEN OF BLOODY TERROR), this enjoyable 1976 Bigfoot romp was released in the midst of the 70's cultural explosion of all things related to mysterious & hairy bipeds. In 1972 Charles B. Pierce's LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK became ground zero for 70's Bigfoot cinema along with the much loved Sunn Classics MYSTERIOUS MONSTERS documentary, TV shows such as IN SEARCH OF.. and even THE SIX-MILLION DOLLAR MAN getting in on the action with a few Bigfoot encounters along with subsequent games, books etc. THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK was distributed by Howco, which was founded by Houck Jr.'s father and distributed movies such as THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROS, Ed Wood's JAIL BAIT, MY WORLD DIES SCREAMING among others throughout the southern drive-in circuit from the late 50's through the early 70's.

CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE has been criticized because of its slow pace (especially during the first half) but I think that works to its advantage. For a low budget movie there's some pretty good character development here with well defined personalities - and for a bonus you get not one...but two crotchety old guys to warn you away from swamp in the form of Dub Taylor AND Jack Elam. The creature attacks are spaced out nicely (although for a supposed reclusive type beastie he sure seems to make a nuisance of himself) with the climatic monster stomping ratcheting up a fair amount of tension.

After hearing a lecture by their anthropology professor (played by director Houck) on the sightings of mysterious creatures who inhabit various remote sections of North America two University of Chicago students named Pahoo (Dennis Fimple TRUCK STOP WOMEN & HOUSE OF A 1000 CORPSES) and Rives (John David Carson PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW) load up their Ford Econoline Van and head down to Oil City, LA. to do a study on a reported swamp dwelling monster (a monster that we've been made aware of by a pre-credit sequence showing a fisherman being dragged from his boat).
Upon arriving at their destination the two immediately run into the patriarch of small southern towns as far as 70's drive-in cinema is concerned - the grouchy heavy set sheriff, here named "Billy Carter" (!) - although this being 1976, I'm not sure how many people knew of Billy Carter, so this might just be a coincidence. Sheriff Billy warns them against looking in the swamps and making the towns folk all appear as "stupid rednecks" to the outside world, but to the credit of screenwriter Jim McCullough & director Houck the character never slips into the stereotypical buffoon as in the films climax he showed to be a capable and sympathetic authority figure.
The two main characters of Pahoo and Rives as portrayed by Fimple and Carson are also written with clearly different personalities as the younger Rives is a bit of a smart alack (he seems to enjoy baiting the sheriff) and know-it-all with long hair while Fimple is the more eager to please and down to earth one (he seems to be interested mostly in girls and hamburgers). There's dialogue alluding to Fimple's service in Vietnam and both characters motivation and their comradeship change several times through the course of the movie.

The plot sets up some of the "fish out of water" scenarios as to be expected with the two "Yankees" (even though Fimple is clearly southern and dialog mentions him being from Georgia) treated as suspicious outsiders as they attempt to question the townsfolk under the watchful eye of the sheriff. Glowering in the background is grizzled trapper Joe Canton (Jack Elam) who's partner had previously been killed by the monster. Not finding much co-operation the eventually meet up with Orville Bridges (played by writer Jim McCullough Jr.- who was also the producer with an over the title John Carpenter-like credit on the poster) whom as a youngster witnessed his parents being killed by the monster and he invites the two back to his home.

His father (Dub Taylor) is initially suspicious of the visitors and invites them in for dinner, but Pahoo mentions the monster upsetting the family and the pair of researchers spends the night in the Bridge's barn, where they record some fearsome howling during the night. The investigation continues as the guys pick up a couple local girls (with one of them being the sheriffs daughter) inviting them back to their campsite and later they hook up with the crusty old trapper Joe Canton who relates the story of his encounter with the swamp critter (Elam does an excellent job with this sequence and it shares some similarities to Robert Shaw's Indianapolis speech in JAWS).
The guy in a hairy suit (monster) is kept fairly hidden with quick glimpses, rustling underbrush and the fearsome howling announcing its presence. One of the criticisms leveled at this occasionally is its lack of "monster attacks", but what the heck - its set up as a reclusive presence, so it can even be argued that the attacks shown might be overdone.

As mentioned CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE has a very character & dialogue driven plot which does lead to some slow parts (especially during the first hour or so) but this is balanced out by having some leads that have a bit more depth to them then you see typically in low budget drive-in films and for the most part avoid broad stereotypical characterizations. For many of the secondary roles Houck used locals (much like Pierce in BOGGY CREEK) and although there is a stiffness to their parts they help with the authenticity and add to the documentary feel to the film. This also represents an early DP credit for future John Carpenter cinematographer Dean Cundey (who also shot ILSA HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHEIKS, THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA and BLACK SHAMPOO the same year).
Although not shot as pseudo- documentary, CREATURE attempts to channel the same sort of LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK atmosphere with its lingering shots of swamps and various critters. Like BOGGY CREEK, this was filmed in the actual location, here being Oil City (which is in the far NW corner of LA.) and is only about 50 miles from the location of Pierce's film in Fouke, AR with the two regions sharing the legend of the "Fouke Monster". The location shooting helps immensely with the atmosphere of the film as you can almost feel the mosquitoes buzzing around and the sticky humidity.
Joy N. Houck also directed the interesting NIGHT OF THE STRANGLER which was just released by Vinegar Syndrome and was the subject of an excellent recent write-up over at Cool Ass Cinema. CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE is available on several budget labels and multi-packs, but Synapse has announced a blu-ray edition for future release.

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CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE 1976