Dark Power, The (1985)

Directed by:
Phil Smoot

Former 40's western star Lash La Rue (with his trademark bullwhip) headlines this quirky Indian-themed zombie tale shot on the cheap in North Carolina. An elderly Indian medicine man dies and his property - which includes four graves marked with sacred Eagle daggers - goes up on the market. Flirtaceous reporter Mary (Mary Dalton), who's doing a story on the Indian, runs into her college-aged Beth (Anna Lane Tatum) - who has found herself without a place to stay this school year - and uses her connections to allow Beth to rent out the home. Ignorning the land's cursed reputation, Beth decides to move in and convinces her friends Tammie (Cynthia Bailey), Lynn (Cynthia Farbman) and Susan (Suzie Martin) to also move in and share rent. After all, it's a big enough place. And it even has a jacuzzi bath and a pool table! The girls have a few issues getting along (which I'll address here in a minute), but they'll have even bigger problems to deal with when the inhabitants of the graves sitting in their front yard decide to pay them a visit one evening. In other words, it's witch doctor zombies vs. college girls, with each of the Indians getting their own signature murder weapon (tomahawk, bow and arrows, etc.) and Lash playing the heroic sheriff who shows up just in the nick of time to spout such lines as "Feel my whip, you son of a bitch!" The results are upbeat, silly and actually quite fun in a cheap movie way.

What really makes this one stand out from the pack is that it actually tries to comment on racism! The Lynn character is a racist bitch. She irrationally hates Tammie because she's black, demands her housemates kick her out, has no problem throwing out the "n" word, hangs confederate flags around the house and invites her obnoxious brother (Marc Matney) to come live with them in hopes of driving Tammie out. During the night of the Indian attack, the brother even invites his racist friends over to crack jokes at Tammie's expense. The nice part is that even being faced with all this crap, Tammie stands her ground, doesn't budge and manages to keep a positive attitude throughout. Even better, she eventually emerges as this film's true heroine, not only for putting up with a bunch of unbelievable bigots and somehow managing to maintain her dignity in the process, but also for her survivalist instincts and zombie fighting skills. Going into this I certainly wasn't expecting to find one of the most memorable leading ladies in any 80s horror film (which includes all bigger-budgeted mainstream releases), but here she is, anyway! Even more interestingly, the actress playing her ended up becoming a top New York fashion model and can now be seen on to the reality TV series Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Though Tammie pretty much dominates the proceedings, many of the other characters are at least broadly defined and have some personality to them. Top-billed Lash (who appeared in the same director's sci-fi/western ALIEN OUTLAW the same year) also gets some nice moments, particularly at the end. The Indian designs themselves are pretty good and the film has a sense of humor (though I could have done without a few slapstick moments involving the zombies and some dumb flatulance jokes). There's a decapitation, a throat slashing, lots of arrow hits and some other bloody moments, plus one topless scene. The film does start out a little slow, but hang in there, it gets better.

The VHS release was from Magnum and it's also on DVD from VCI Home Video.

★★1/2

Garfield's Halloween Adventure (1985)

... aka: Garfield in Disguise

Directed by:
Phil Roman

Review coming soon.

★★1/2

Dead of Night (1977)

Directed by:
Dan Curtis

Just like TRILOGY OF TERROR (1975) a year earlier, this made-for-TV anthology features three tales; two of which are only fair and the last good enough to make the rest of it worth sitting through. Both films were from the team of director / producer Dan Curtis and writer Richard Matheson, who also collaborated on the excellent Kolchak films THE NIGHT STALKER (1971) and THE NIGHT STRANGLER (1972), as well as one of several 70s versions of DRACULA (1974), the werewolf tale SCREAM OF THE WOLF (1974) and others. Things begin with 'A Second Chance,' based on a short story by Jack (The Body Snatchers) Finney. Frank (Ed Begley Jr.) thinks he's lucked out purchasing an antique Jordan car for just 100 bucks. He restores it, takes it out on a drive and finds himself transported back to the year 1926, where preventing an accidental death may alter his modern day life. Despite being completely out of place in this particular anthology, this mild, sub- Twilight Zone supernatural tale (also featuring Christina Hart, Ann Doran and E.J. André) is maudlin and ponderous. If I wanted icky sentimentality, I'd rent something by Spielberg, not something called Dead of Night with a demon face on the cover. Moving on...

Next up we have the period-set vampire story 'No Such Thing As a Vampire' which as the title alludes might not even really involve vampires. Fragile Alexis (Anjanette Comer) is being driven to the brink by what she assumes are nightly vampire attacks. Well, she's been waking up with two puncture wounds on her neck and a little less blood than usual, at least. Her husband, Prof. Gheria (Patrick Macnee) is skeptical about the existence of vampires, so he invites over a friend named Michael (Horst Buchholz) to help watch over his wife, leading to one major (though not actually too surprising) twist. This one's certainly nothing to write home about, but the actors are fine and it's mildly entertaining. Familiar charactor actor Elisha Cook Jr. has a small (though semi-important) role as the superstitious butler.

Our fears of sitting through yet another underwhelming and utterly forgettable anthology are vanquished with the arrival of our final story 'Bobby." Obviously inspired by W.W. Jacobs' classic story 'The Monkey's Paw" (which has been filmed numerous times as early as 1915) this stars Joan Hackett as a grieving mother who uses black magic to bring her 'dead' son Bobby (Lee Montgomery) - who presumedly drowned but whose body was never found - back to life. Bobby shows up cold, wet and confused on her doorstep. She invites him in, gets him dried off, offers him something to eat... and then suddenly finds herself being terrorized by her once-docile and obedient little boy. This segment (fondly remembered by many who saw it on TV as kids) is suspenseful, has several genuinely creepy scenes and an effective, startling climax. Curtis and Matheson would even recycle the story for TRILOGY OF TERROR II (1996); which also marked the final time the two men would work together.

Originally released on VHS by ThrillerVideo (which included Elvira commentary), then reissued on video by Paramount. In 2009, Dark Sky Films finally released a nice-looking print to DVD. Extras on that include the unaired 1969 proposed pilot (A DARKNESS AT BLAISEDON) for a series also to be titled Dead of Night (another Curtis project!), as well as deleted scenes from the 'No Such Thing As a Vampire' segment, unused intro footage and voiceovers and some score highlight from composer Bob Cobert (who scored the majority of Curtis' stuff).

★★1/2

Gorgon Video Magazine: Volume 2 (1989)

... aka: Stuart S. Shapiro's Gorgon Video Magazine: Volume 2

Directed by:
Paul Bacca
Adam Cohen
Joe Horne
Todd Edan Miller
Modi
Evan Pendell
Rob Polich
Alexander Poppas
Charles Schneider
Stuart S. Shapiro
Garth Van Spruiell
Patricia Wadsley

Both this and the original GORGON VIDEO MAGAZINE provide a great look at what was going on in late 80s horror. I learned a lot of things I didn't know from watching both. Unfortunately, this second and final video magazine (a special Halloween edition again hosted by Michael Berryman and running 90 minutes) was never officially released to video stores. A series of screener copies however were sent out to a few places, which is how I was able to obtain a copy (which had "Screening Copy" on the bottom the entire time).

.....................................Starring your host... Michael Berryman!

Director Stuart Gordon says he wants to make movies that "amaze, astound and make you lose your cookies." He discusses the fall of Empire Pictures ("I felt lost..."), his background in live theater and with the successful Organic Theater Company, problems with the rating's board and how horror films help one deal with their own mortality. We get to see clips from RE-ANIMATOR (1985), DOLLS (1986), FROM BEYOND (1986) and ROBOT JOX (1989); the latter being the highest budgeted Empire Picture at 7 million dollars. We also get some rare 8mm film clips from Gordon's early b/w short Mental Illness for Fun + Profit. At the end of the interview, Gordon says that he's getting ready to shoot THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM and the slated stars are Peter O'Toole, Billy Dee Williams and Sherilyn Fenn (none of whom were actually in the cast once it was made).

.................................Director / writer / cookie loser Stuart Gordon.

Linnea Quigley demonstrates her scream and introduces our next segment on Penn and Teller. Naturally, Penn Gillette does all the talking... about how he and Teller were bored with modern magic ("it sucked!") and wanted to do something bold and different. We get to see clips from their starring vehicle PENN AND TELLER GET KILLED, as well as the secrets behind their Rat Cage trick. Penn cites Romero's zombie trilogy as the three most important horror/gore movies, calls When Harry Met Sally "a piece of absolute shit" and says of the MPAA that "They're trying to give more power to the half-assed gore movies - the Jason and the Michael Myers and the guys who have the studios behind them."

............................Shock magicians and Romero fanboys, Penn and Teller.

Next up with a scene from HALLOWEEN (1978) and director Dominique Othenin-Girard talks about the upcoming HALLOWEEN 5, which is ironic since several people in this documentary actually knock the series, as well as the Friday the 13th and Elm Street franchises. A segment on talented special effects artist Screaming Mad George (who took his name from Screaming Jay Hawkins) is up next. We get to see some of his work for POLTERGEIST II (1986), CURSE II: THE BITE (1989), SOCIETY (1989) and others, as well as his paintings, animation sequences he designed and some footage of one of his three (!) bands performing. He says his inspiration was looking at art books in 8th grade, particularly the work of Salvador Dali. Rob Bottin and Dick Smith, and their work on ALTERED STATES (1980) and THE THING (1982), got him interested in special effects.

..................The Screaming Mad George-designed snake-puker from Curse II: The Bite.

"The Galloping Gore-Met" (Charles Schneider) teaches us how to make karo syrup fake blood in the next segment. He'll show up another time at a later junction to show us how to make more realistic blood with chocolate syrup, food coloring, karo and water. A segment on Paragon Arts International follows and features interviews with co-founder Walter Josten, producers Joe Augustyn and Jeff Geoffray, director/writer Kevin S. Tenney and director Dominique Othenin-Girard again, plus clips from WITCHBOARD (1986), NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988) and their upcoming release NIGHT ANGEL (1989). They also announce they'll be making WITCHBOARD 2 soon (which they did in 1992). Next up is a segment on sex-and-violence-filled underground Zap Comix, featuring interviews with Robert Crumb (subject of the award-winning 1994 documentary CRUMB), Victor Moscoso and S. Clay Wilson. Wilson claims the 80s are "more repressive" than the 60s and 70s, and says he doesn't think there are that many good films but says he likes THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974), THE TENANT (1976) and ERASERHEAD (1977).

............................Comic book pioneer Robert Crumb ("Fritz the Cat," etc.)

....................................Some things are just too weird to pass up.

.........................Introducing Charles Schneider, er, The Galloping Gore-Met.

Alex Winter shows up to plug IMPACT VIDEO MAGAZINE and then we get to see some more adult-oriented trading cards on the market such as "Freakards," "Dinosaurs Attack!" and even "Death Cult: Jonestown Massacre Memorial Cards" (!!) Wes Craven pops up briefly to move us along to the next segment.

Gore Gazette's Rick Sullivan reviews the rare stalk-and-slash flick DEADLY OBSESSION (1989), giving in 3 skulls, shows Linnea's dance sequence from THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985), giving the film four skulls, and likewise gives SUSPIRIA (1977) four skulls. I completely disagree with his 1 skull bashing of Chuck Vincent's (IMO) underrated psychological horror film (1987), though.

.......................Bride of Re-Animator director / producer / writer Brian Yuzna.

...........................Bride of Re-Animator's Dr. Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs).

...............................Bride of Re-Animator's Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale).

Next we get to go on the set of BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR (1989). Director Brian Yuzna, special effects artist Tom Rainone, actors Jeffrey Combs and David Gale (who passed away in 1991) and others are interviewed. Some weird performance art piece (featuring some kind of wailing monster with a blood spurting eyeball) titled "Fashion Show" follows. A plug for Sinister cinema releases set at a drive-in is up next and we get scenes from HORROR HOTEL (1960) and THE DEVIL'S PARTNER (1961). Finally, "Home Horrors from Hell" features a scene from something called Splatter Girls, a "cannibal musical" shot with a camcorder.

★★★

Gorgon Video Magazine (1989)

... aka: Gorgon Video Magazine: Volume 1
... aka: Stuart S. Shapiro's Gorgon Video Magazine

Directed by:
John O. Francis Jr.
Joe Horne
Modi
Charles Schneider
Stuart S. Shapiro
Tom Stern
Patricia Wadsley
Alex Winter

Remember Gorgon Video? During the VHS era of the 80s and early 90s, they were primarily known as the studio who released the notorious FACE OF DEATH series to home video. But that's not all they did. They also released other genre films from around the world (including such titles as BAY OF BLOOD and SLAUGHTER HOTEL) and even made this home video magazine featuring what was hot back in 1989. Michael Berryman (dressed in his HILLS HAVE EYES garb) makes a bunch of hilariously bizarre facial expressions as our very enthusiastic, expressive host and introduces each segment in front of movie clips. We also get occasional animated segments from John O. Francis Jr. and Joe Horne thrown in. The first segment is about "the crown prince of horror" Wes Craven. The interview is conducted around the set of SHOCKER (1989). Craven talks about creative freedom, what's great about working on horror films, dealing with censorship and what turned this former "church-goer" and "working class kid from Cleveland, Ohio" into a horror filmmaker. Clips from 90-thousand-budgeted hit LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972) and THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977), which apparently failed theatrically because many theaters refused to show it, are shown. Craven also states that his TV movie debut CHILLER (1985) failed when it was knocked down to a 11 pm time slot because of a championship basketball game and says that the only film that he submitted to the MPA that was passed uncut was THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW (1988).

.......................................Why can't this guy host The Oscars?

.....................Undoubtedly horror's most mild-mannered director - Wes Craven.

The talented guys from KNB (Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger) are next. They discuss getting their starts in special effects, what's appealing about horror and how most of their fx work was cut from the R-rated version of INTRUDER (1988). We also get a look behind-the-scenes at KNB Fx Facility and see some of the effects they designed for such films as CREEPSHOW 2 (1987) and THE HORROR SHOW (1989).

.............Linnea Quigley took her parents to the premiere of Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers.

"Queen of the B's" Linnea Quigley is up next to talk about her career (and what her parents think of her career). Here we get some nice clips from HOLLYWOOD CHAINSAW HOOKERS (1987), SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA (1987), NIGHT OF THE DEMONS (1988) and LINNEA QUIGLEY'S HORROR WORKOUT (1989). Following her is a segment on Troma's Lloyd Kaufman. He discusses the start of the studio (their first release was SUGAR COOKIES) and problems with censorship (a recurring theme here). According to him, horror filmmakers are unfairly singled out by the rating's board and Troma is treated worse than most studios. We also get clips from Troma releases THE TOXIC AVENGER (1984), THE TOXIC AVENGER, PART II (1988) and EVIL CLUTCH (1988).

....................The MPAA's favorite whipping boy, Lloyd Kaufman, in the early days.

Gore Gazette's Rick Sullivan then gets his own review segment. The verdict? BAD TASTE (1987), VICIOUS (1988) and HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986) all get 4 skulls on the "gore barometer" and poor CAMERON'S CLOSET (1987) gets... just 1. Getting burnt out on all the clips yet? Well they even throw in a weird/bloody performance art segment featuring a female singer (Lia Niskanen) performing a song in French ("Sans Amour") and then ripping her head open.

Clips from A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959) and ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959) are shown during a dedication to drive-in movies, which turns out to basically be a plug for the Sinister Cinema catalogue. In a segment co-directed by Alex Winter (of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure fame), shock rockers GWAR ("They make Alice Cooper look like Sesame Street!") are profiled. We also meet an embarrassing group of "GWAR Slaves;" a bunch of drugged out weirdos who do things like get dismembered and puke on stage and use irritating phrases like "gigantic genitaliatica" and "necrophlic butt sex." Next up are previews for DEATH SPA (1987), GIRLFRIEND FROM HELL (1989) and JUDGEMENT DAY (1989). Finally we get a flurry of VHS covers of the movies we've just seen, along with their distributors.

....................................Wonder how this would look on a resume?

Unlike some other documentaries and video mags from back in the day, this is informative, well made, entertaining, very much still worth watching and a nice trip down memory lane to a much simpler time with a much smaller community of actors, directors, producers, writers and fx guys slogging away in an oft-maligned subgenre. It's also nice to note that Berryman, Craven, Kaufman, Quigley and KNB all still enjoy success in the genre over 20 years after this was made.

GORGON VIDEO MAGAZINE: VOLUME 2 was also made the same year and was never officially released to video stores, though a few screener copies were released. Gorgon also made IMPACT VIDEO MAGAZINE (1989), which covered art, music, news and political satire and was hosted by Winter. Included there were music acts Public Enemy, Jane's Addiction and Butthole Surfers, more animation from Joe Horne, underground painter and co-founder of Zap Comix Robert Williams, comedian Bill Hicks, Village Voice columnist Michael Musto, some performance art (including a recycling of the "Sans Amour" act seen here) and the short BAMBI MEETS GODZILLA. It was hosted by Alex Winter.

★★★

Stranger Left No Card, The (1952)

Directed by:
Wendy Toye


Alan Badel (who narrates) stars as a peculiar, bearded, presumably mute man with bushy eyebrows and baggy patchwork clothes who shows up one sunny day in a small town. Merrily twirling his umbrella as he prances through the streets wowing the children with showers of confetti and magic tricks, the man manages to turn the heads of everyone he encounters and charms all of the townspeople in just a week's time. But the strange, unknown vagrant (who is jokingly referred to as Napoleon after signing Napoleon Bonaparte on a hotel register) is actually up to something much more sinister, which involves a wealthy and corrupt banker named Mr. Lathan (Cameron Hall).

A very well-done b/w short written by Sidney Carroll; this manages to alternate between amusing and eerie and packs more mystery and intrigue into its 23-minute run-time than most feature length films. It's nicely photographed, has a deceptively whimsical music score from Muir Mathieson, is a great showcase for silken-voiced British stage actor Badel (who claimed to do films only when he needed money) and concludes with a clever open ending. Director Toye and Badel would re-team for the even-better short 'In the Picture' (contained in the 1955 anthology THREE CASES OF MURDER) a few years later. Toye would also remake The Stranger for the TV series Tales of the Unexpected. That version starred Derek Jacobi and was also the debut of a very young Jennifer Connelly. Stranger won the Best Fictional Short Film at the Cannes Film Festival and played several times on 50's TV on the program Omnibus.

Never officially available on either VHS or DVD, this film is available for view on YouTube (see below) and is highly recommended.

★★★1/2

Eugenie... the Story of Her Journey Into Perversion (1970)

... aka: De Sade 70... aka: Eugenie
... aka: Marquis de Sade
... aka: Marquis de Sade - Eugenie
... aka: Marquis de Sade's 'Philosophy in the Boudoir'
... aka: Philosophy in the Boudoir
... aka: Story of Her Journey Into Perversion, The

Directed by:
Jesus Franco

Madame Marianne Saint Ange (Maria Rohm) seduces Monsieur de Mistival (Paul Muller) and gets him to agree to let her take his impressionable, sheltered 15-year-old daughter Eugenie (played by 19-year-old Marie Liljedahl) away to her tropical island mansion (only accessible via boat) for the weekend. She promises no harm will become of his virginal little girl in the process. Upon arriving, Eugenie is showered with attention, fancy wardrobe, ocean-front dinners, wine and smoke by her libertine hostess, who also enjoys bathing and rubbing lotion on her guest in various states of undress. Eugenie is also introduced to Marianne's step-brother (and lover) Mirvel (Jack Taylor), who immediately falls in love with the naive young beauty, a black handyman named Augustin ("Kablan" / Anney Kablan) and reclusive, mute maid Therese (Uta Dahlberg). Seems harmless - and typical - late 60s/early 70s soft-focus soft-core fluff, right? Not so fast, sucker. This is actually an adaptation of the Marquis de Sade's controversial, oft-banned and (some say) socio-political 1795 book La Philosophie dans le boudoir ("Philosophy in the Bedroom"). There's sadism galore, druggings, rapings, beatings, nightmares, murders and a strange cult dressed in Victorian era garb and headed over by Christopher Lee as Dolmance. Said cult seems to want to get their hands on a human heart for some kind of ceremony.

Though he has received his fair share of criticism over the years - some of it earned and some of it by yours truly - director Jess Franco deserves much credit for what he delivers here. Not many filmmakers actually had the nerve to film de Sade during this era, not many filmmakers actually had the nerve to film erotica involving such then-taboo subjects as incest, lesbianism, interracial relations and S&M and not many directors could do it with an actual budget, actual actors and attention paid to both location and art direction. Furthermore, not many directors could do it all with an intoxicating signature style. Visually-speaking, this is a very interesting piece of work for both the director and cinematographer Manuel Merino, especially in regard to camera focus. Yes, this film does go out of focus to blur quite often. Image being out of focus is often regarded as an elementary technical error, but done intentionally in this context it's an interesting and creative technique that manages to up the dreamy allure and dark sensuality of the film considerably.

Acting-wise, the film makes a particularly fine showcase for Rohm, who previously had played the title role in Franco's murder-mystery VENUS IN FURS (1968). Rohm, who was married to writer and producer "Peter Welbeck" (Harry Alan Towers) and sometimes got sidelined in these productions, gets a wicked, manipulative role to sink her teeth into and makes the most of it. Liljedahl, who'd just made a name for herself in the international erotic hit INGA (1968), is just adequate but at least looks the part of a teenager. Both actresses spend much of their screen time nude. Euro-horror staples Taylor (the male lead in Franco's FEMALE VAMPIRE) and Muller (the male lead in Franco's EUGENIE DE SADE) don't quite get the showcase the ladies do here but are fine nonetheless. Maria Luisa Ponte (billed as "Inga Swenson" and horribly dubbed) has just one scene as Eugenie's overbearing mother but would go on to win many prestigious European film awards later in her career. Colette Giacobine (star of Franco's Nightmares Come at Night), Herbert Fux (from Franco's Jack the Ripper, Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun and others) and Franco himself also appear in small roles.

The part played by Lee was originally offered to George Sanders, who turned it down either for personal reasons or illness (the stories vary), and then to Wolfgang Preiss, who turned it down because of his wife's passing. Lee would later claim he had no idea this was soft-porn until he actually saw the movie (it premiered with an X rating). According to him, his scenes were shot, and then edited in with the sex scenes later on. Though he claimed to be dissatisfied with the end result, he'd still go on to act in several other Franco films, including 1970's THE BLOODY JUDGE, 1988's Dark Mission and 1989's Fall of the Eagles. His imposing presence here during the cult scenes is definitely a plus either way.

It was filmed in Barcelona, Spain and also boasts an evocative Bruno Nicolai score. The DVD was released in America through Blue Underground.

★★★