...aka: Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, TheDirected by:
Emilio P. Miraglia
Review coming soon.
★★1/2
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Nightbreed (1990)
...aka: Cabal...aka: Clive Barker's Nightbreed
Directed by:
Clive Barker
Review coming soon.
★★★
Night Angel (1990)
...aka: Hellborn
Directed by:
Dominique Othenin-Girard
Review coming soon.
★★1/2
Ultimo treno della notte, L' (1975)
...aka: Don't Ride on Late Night Trains...aka: Last Stop on the Night Train
...aka: Late Night Trains
...aka: New House on the Left
...aka: Night Train Murders
...aka: Second House on the Left
...aka: Torture Train
Directed by:
Aldo Lado
Review coming soon.
Score: 4 out of 10
Ninth Configuration, The (1979)
...aka: Twinkle, Twinkle, Killer KaneDirected by:
William Peter Blatty
Review coming soon.
★★★1/2
Extraño amor de los vampiros, El (1975)
...aka: Noche de los vampiros, La
...aka: Strange Love of the Vampires
...aka: Vampiros también aman, Los
Directed by:
León Klimovsky
A very interesting, though difficult to find, Spanish vampire flick from León Klimovsky; the guy behind such titles as the Paul Naschy vehicle THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMEN (1970) and the village-full-of-bloodsuckers tale THE VAMPIRE'S NIGHT ORGY (1973), which is similar in many ways to this one. Night of the Walking Dead (whose original release title translates to The Strange Love of the Vampires) starts as a garden variety exploitation-horror before taking a more elegant, sophisticated and romantic turn, and it actually almost pulls it all off. Doctor Patrick ("L. Robled" / Lorenzo Robledo) has just moved to a small village where the superstitious townspeople believe vampirism runs rampant. A young girl named Marian has just died and the doctor thinks it's of natural causes, but is shocked when he attends the funeral and finds part of the ceremony involves driving a stake through her heart. Marian's body eventually turns up missing and her sickly, lonely, sad-eyed sister Catherine (Emma Cohen) seems to think that she'll become the next victim. There's an abandoned castle on a hilltop that's supposedly been vacant for over a century. Local legend has it that it was occupied by gray-haired Count Rudolph van Windberg ("Charles Balest" / Carlos Ballesteros), who allowed a stranded traveler and his two female companions to spend the night one evening, was seduced by one of the women and then was bitten. When he awoke he found his family and servant slaughtered and his guests gone before he himself fled the castle never to return.
One evening while her parents are out of town, Catherine has an uninvited guest. Guess who? Yep, Count Rudolph. He's returned to the village because every so often the local vampire populace will rise from their graves to throw a bloody good party before returning to their crypts by morning. Rudolph seems to fancy Catherine, and she returns his affections. After all, Catherine has just been stabbed in the back by the only man she loved (who is caught cheating and bad-mouthing her) and knows she is dying, so what the hell does she have to lose? So the vampires run around town claiming victims, while Rudolph tries to decide whether or not he actually wants to grant Catherine her wish for immortality.
What does a film like this the most damage (and makes it a bit difficult to assign any kind of rating to) is how it was released. The only English-language version I'm aware of was issued on VHS by a European company called Sunrise Tapes, which is in English but with burnt-in Dutch subs. Unfortunately, their release is way too dark. Nearly every scene taking place at night is difficult to make out. Whoever dubbed the film also did a negligible job and hired some truly awful voice actors. So in my estimation it really says something that the good aspects of the film manage to shine through regardless of the print quality. For starters, the remote village location and art direction are both good, particularly the latter. There are some nice designs on the all-white master bedroom in the castle and the room where the vampire party takes place. Speaking of the party, it's a great scene where Catherine and Rudolph descend the stairs and enter a room decked out in balloons, candelabras, sheets of see-through fabric and celebratory vampires dressed in Victorian era clothing dancing around. There's even a vampire violin player! The film's score is also excellent. Also in the cast are Rafael Hernández, Vicky (Viky) Lussón, "Bartha Barry"/Barta Barri, José Lifante as a vampire, Robert (Roberto) Camardiel and Tota Alba as Catherine's mother.
The film provides enough nudity and blood to please the exploitation fans while also attempting a more mature love story between the "living dead;" a young woman who's already resigned herself to death and a man who's technically already dead. I could easily see my score going up a point if a better version of this ever gets released.
One evening while her parents are out of town, Catherine has an uninvited guest. Guess who? Yep, Count Rudolph. He's returned to the village because every so often the local vampire populace will rise from their graves to throw a bloody good party before returning to their crypts by morning. Rudolph seems to fancy Catherine, and she returns his affections. After all, Catherine has just been stabbed in the back by the only man she loved (who is caught cheating and bad-mouthing her) and knows she is dying, so what the hell does she have to lose? So the vampires run around town claiming victims, while Rudolph tries to decide whether or not he actually wants to grant Catherine her wish for immortality.
What does a film like this the most damage (and makes it a bit difficult to assign any kind of rating to) is how it was released. The only English-language version I'm aware of was issued on VHS by a European company called Sunrise Tapes, which is in English but with burnt-in Dutch subs. Unfortunately, their release is way too dark. Nearly every scene taking place at night is difficult to make out. Whoever dubbed the film also did a negligible job and hired some truly awful voice actors. So in my estimation it really says something that the good aspects of the film manage to shine through regardless of the print quality. For starters, the remote village location and art direction are both good, particularly the latter. There are some nice designs on the all-white master bedroom in the castle and the room where the vampire party takes place. Speaking of the party, it's a great scene where Catherine and Rudolph descend the stairs and enter a room decked out in balloons, candelabras, sheets of see-through fabric and celebratory vampires dressed in Victorian era clothing dancing around. There's even a vampire violin player! The film's score is also excellent. Also in the cast are Rafael Hernández, Vicky (Viky) Lussón, "Bartha Barry"/Barta Barri, José Lifante as a vampire, Robert (Roberto) Camardiel and Tota Alba as Catherine's mother.
The film provides enough nudity and blood to please the exploitation fans while also attempting a more mature love story between the "living dead;" a young woman who's already resigned herself to death and a man who's technically already dead. I could easily see my score going up a point if a better version of this ever gets released.
★★★
Nightmare Weekend (1986) [filmed in 1982]
H. (Henry) Sala
Even though this film isn't well known, it should be! It's easily one of the worst, yet most hilarious, horror films of the 80s. "You may look innocent, but you're a slut...just like your mother!" That's a snippet of choice dialogue delivered by the evil, ball-busting lady assistant (Debbie Laster) of a famous scientist to her prim maid just before she lures three incredibly dumb college girls to a mansion for behavior modification experiments. Meanwhile, at the local bar, people drink and dance to lame 80s rock songs. A biker punk has sex with a cycle slut on a pinball table in front of a crowd of people, then tries to rape the scientist's virginal daughter Jessica (Debra Hunter), who is in love with another biker (Dale Midkiff, the dad from PET SEMATARY), who, in turn, is in cohorts with the assistant! Back at the house, the sorority bimbos swim, shower, change clothes and have sex with men from the bar. A small silver ball (part of the experiment) flies into victims mouths and turns them into drooling, killer zombies. If that isn't enough to entertain you, there's a hilarious theme song ("Nightmare Fantasy"), roller skating, some serious daisy dukes and a psychic hand puppet (!?) that warns "DANGER! DANGER!" just like the "Lost in Space" robot and recommends hitchhiking as one of the best ways to pick up men (??)
This filmed-in-Florida mess is so mind-numbingly awful that multiple viewings are recommended to soak it all in. And, hey isn't that NYPD Blue's Detective Jill Kirkendall turned CNN newscaster Andrea Thompson as one of the oft-nude bimbos? Sure is! It was also the starting point for both future Hal Hartley favorite Robert John Burke (who also starred in 1992's well-regarded Dust Devil and the Stephen King adaptation Thinner), not to mention B movie regular Karen Mayo Chandler (OUT OF THE DARK). According to people who worked on the film, French and UK backers pulled half the budget at the last minute, the script was rewritten multiple times, much of the crew didn't even speak English and the producers tried to flee the country before paying everyone. Production began in 1982 and new footage was added sometime later for the video release in 1986. Troma now pawns it off on people in cheap sets.
★ SBIG
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