Chosen Survivors (1974)

...aka: Sobrevivientes escogidos, Los

Directed by:

Sutton Roley

I was genuinely excited about seeing this one based solely on the plot overview: A handful of post nuke survivors hole up in some futuristic bunker a thousand+ feet beneath the Earth's surface and must face off against blood-hungry vampire bats! What's not to love there? Unfortunately, this film never realizes its full potential. So what went wrong? Primarily the screenplay. The dialogue and character arcs/interactions are not only hokey in the extreme, but predictable. The whole thing has a "TV Movie of the Week" feel to it. Even worse, it instantly brings to mind one of those cornball Irwin Allen flicks from the era. You know, the ones where a star-studded cast runs around trying to avoid getting killed by towering infernos, flood waters, killer bees, sinking ships and the like. They're usually referred to as disaster movies, which not only refers to the plot but also the execution. This one is really no different. There's a sci-fi/horror bent, but it's still business as usual. Only the cast isn't quite up to par.

Things begin when ten drugged people; several scientists, a female politician, a jerk corporate fat cat, a famous athlete, etc., are escorted out of a helicopter by some soldiers somewhere in the desert and thrown into an elevator. The elevator goes deep underground, opens its doors and then promptly disables itself. The ten trapped people wander out to find themselves in a futuristic military bunker fully equipped to sustain their number for upwards of five years. Television sets play a pre-recorded message from a female spokesperson, who informs them that nuclear war has broken out on the surface and they are amongst the chosen few selected by the U.S. government to help carry on the human species. So far, so intriguing. I actually really liked the movie up until this point. Unfortunately, as the chosen survivors start settling in and tensions start bubbling to the surface as a swarm of bloodsucking bats somehow find their way into the installation, the movie really seems to lose its way.

As some have done, I could say this movie has an identity crisis, but that's not the problem here. The problem is poorly-written dialogue, bad continuity and thinly-drawn, cliched, unlikable and uninteresting characters. Just a few days in the bunker, people are already starting to pair off. Unfortunately, we don't get to see them in any romantic scenario beforehand. The film just raggedly cuts to two people lying in bed together and we the viewers are kind of like "Huh?" None of the characters - as written or performed - invokes much interest. There's really no solid protagonist here and no central focal point. There are also no real ideas present nor are there any kind of insights into human nature during times of stress. Naturally, the movie pulls a twist out of its bag near the end, but it's poorly telegraphed in advance.

Despite my negative comments, the movie is still mildly watchable if you're not expecting much. There's a certain low-budget efficiency to both the sets and lighting design that gives off the appropriate futuristic vibe. The idea of using TV monitors to track progess on the surface is a good one and the general premise is just intriguing enough to keep one wondering how things are going to pan out. Some of the visual effects have dated badly, but scenes utilizing real bats are fairly effective. There are also some familiar faces in the cast, though none of them are given a chance to make an impression here... at least not a good one. Former child star Jackie Cooper has the thankless role of an obnoxious financial big wig who can't handle the stress and at one point attempts to rape one of the females (Barbara Babcock). Richard Jaeckel (GRIZZLY) is an army electronics expert whose face turns lobster red any time he's forced to emote, Lincoln Kilpatrick is a washed-up athelete who eventually puts his skills to use climbing up the elevator shaft, Alex Cord is - uh - I can't even remember and Diana Muldaur (THE OTHER) is her usual sullen self as a congresswoman. Pedro Armendariz Jr. (who was a star in Mexico, where this was filmed) is also on board and has nothing to do but die and personal favorite Bradford Dillman plays a geeky scientist and gets some practice in the killer animal subgenre. He'd go on to face killer cockroaches from hell in BUG (1975), killer bees in THE SWARM (1978) and killer piranha in (you guessed it!) PIRANHA (1978).

Long out of circulation, this was finally revived by 20th Century Fox, who paired it with THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING (1964) for the 2007 DVD release. It's part of their "Midnite Movies" line. Nice looking print, at least.

★★

Psycho Lover, The (1970)

...aka: Lovely Killer, The
...aka: Loving Touch, The

...aka: Psycho Killer, The

Directed by:

Robert Vincent O'Neill

You'll notice a month+ gap between reviews on here. I was dealing with not only the usual holiday stuff but also trying to help get things in order after a sudden, unexpected death a little over a week before Christmas. I just wasn't in the mood to really sit down and watch anything, let alone a bunch of horror movies. I'm sure many genre fans have been there before. Sometimes you just ain't in the mood for this stuff. Things have settled down a bit since the funeral and everyone's just now starting to get back to their usual routines, including myself. Last week I finally got around to watching a few movies and consciously chose two that I hadn't seen from two of my favorite directors; George A. Romero and Mario Bava. But then a funny thing happened. When I sat down to write the reviews for both I just couldn't pull it together. Yep, I had a bad case of writer's block. I couldn't get my brain working. It probably didn't help that both of the films I chose were perplexing and flawed, yet have their moments of brilliance. Maybe they went over my head. Maybe I had too much going on in there already.

So tonight I decided to view a couple of brainless (s)exploitation shockers that wouldn't require any thought to hopefully get me back into the swing of things. I had a hard time keeping my finger off the fast-forward button while watching the near worthless EVIL EYE, but thankfully THE PSYCHO LOVER - a Something Weird release - was a whole other story. This thing was something else. I wouldn't label it a complete success, but there's plenty of invigorating nastiness going on here as well as some sidesplitting "thoughtful" dialogue. How "thoughtful" is it? We're talking about soft-focus lighting of lovers lying in fields discussing how sad it is that flowers cannot fuck one another. Accompanied by soft rock/folksy songs with lyrics like "A woooman. One smile and all your fear of her will melt away. A woooman. Will make you feel like floating on a summer day." Good lord.

The film opens with a woman undressing and getting ready for bed. A nutcase wearing rubber gloves and pantyhose over his head comes in through the window, pins her down and starts raping her. To his surprise, the "victim" really starts getting into it and that pisses him off since he prefers his unwilling lovers to be in a terrified state. Actually, he prefers them to be in a dead state and can't really perform unless they are. After strangling them to death, he likes doing ever nastier things to their corpses, including deflowering a lesbian photographer with a ketchup bottle. That might not impress you in theory, but this pup has a 1969 copyright date, so I was impressed. It came out years before ILSA's prison camp experiments and the ever-so-popular raped-to-death-by-gigantic-dildo flicks that emerged in Italy during the late 70s!

The killer turns out to be a traumatized young chap named Marco Everson (Frank Cuva), who believes his recollections about commiting the crimes are only nightmares. He recounts his stories to psychologist Dr. Kenneth Alden (Lawrence Montaigne) but patient-doctor confidentiality is keeping him from going to the police. Well, I guess that's what's keeping him from going to the police. The subject isn't even broached, even when Ken discusses it with a colleague. They simply let the killer go home and keep raping and murdering women between water cooler talk. As it turns out, Ken does have a reason to keep Marco out of the psych ward. His bitter, alcoholic wife Valerie (Jo Anne Meredith) refuses to give him a divorce so he can be with his bubbly, much-younger lover Stacy (Elizabeth Plumb). While discussing THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE with the mistress, a light bulb goes off in Ken's head. Hey, who needs a divorce? Why not just hypnotize Marco, give him orders to kill the wife and then sit back and let the loony do the dirty work for him?

Not only do you get plenty of nudity, sleaze, cheese, violence and an enjoyably far-fetched storyline, but you also get a twist at the end you might not see coming, surprisingly good performances from the actors, some truly bizarre dialogue exchanges ("Let's not commiserate about the poor sex life of some wild flowers.") and even some visual style. There are several sequences here that would be celebrated if they were in an Italian giallo movie. Unfortunately they're in an American exploitation film, so they'll either be overlooked or completely ignored. One of the best scenes takes place in an apartment where the killer plays hide-and-seek with a potential victim while flashing red and green lights outside illuminate the room. The opening of another scene is shot behind a fishtank and most of the night scenes are attractively photographed with a blue hue. There's also a great trippy freak-out sequence shot in a large, entirely white room where the painted ghosts of victims cackle and instruct Marco to "Kill!" with their echo voices and a woman does a belly-dancing routine. Overall, the film is well worth a look.
.

.
Gary Kent was the production manager, Donald M. Jones did the sound and director O'Neill returned with BLOOD MANIA (1970) before making his biggest splash with the first two ANGEL ("High School Honor Student by Day. Hollywood Hooker by Night!") films. The cast also includes John Vincent (THE MANSON MASSACRE) as a policeman and Luanne Roberts (who co-starred with Plumb in the sometimes admired lesbian drama THE DARK SIDE OF TOMORROW) and Judy Lang (COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE) as victims.

★★★

Malocchio (1975)

...aka: Beyond the Exorcism
...aka: Black Magic

...aka: Das geheimnis des magischen kreises

...aka: Eroticofollia

...aka: Evil Eye

...aka: Mal de ojo

...aka: Mas alla del exorcismo

...aka: Secret of the Magic Circle, The

Directed by:

Mario Siciliano

In Rome, wealthy playboy Peter Crane (Jorge Rivero) is having bizarre nightmares involving a screaming red-eyed guru and naked cultists. He's also having headaches and black out periods and the beings in his dreams seem to be able to control him whether he's awake or asleep. While visiting his fashion house announcer girlfriend Tania (Daniela Giordano) at work he meets rich Yvonne Chevrel ("Lane"/ Lone Fleming) who has a connected nightmare where someone informs her "Peter Crane will murder you!" And guess what? That's exactly what happens. Peter goes into a trance, scowls, clinches his fists and then strangles her to death. While visiting his friend Derek ("Alan Collins"/ Luciano Pigozzi) and his unfaithful wife Elizabeth (Pia Giancaro) out in the country, he murders them as well. Peter remembers nothing of the events and goes to a pair of shrinks; Dr. Stone (Richard Conte) and Dr. Sarah Turner (Pilar Velázquez), for help. Police Lieutenant Ranieri (top-billed Anthony Steffen) investigates when the corpses start piling up.

Things get even stranger when Peter checks himself into a clinic. Glass bottles burst, stuff starts moving around and he sneaks out of his room to murder a swinger aquaintance after a topless pool party. His butler Walter (Eduardo Fajardo) tries to blackmail him, murders his lover when she threatens to expose him and then pukes up a frog (?!) and gets shot in the head when a rifle falls off a bookshelf and goes off. The inspector is also being effected by the supernatural presence but his psychic wife sneaks charms in his pockets to help ward off the evil. Peter and his hottie female psychiatrist become lovers. Only in movies, I tell ya. Ethics aside, if you were a shrink, would you immediately jump into bed with one of your patients, especially when he's the chief suspect in a series of murders? And then would you go to an isolated location with said murder suspect for a romantic weekend getaway?

The cast is full of familiar faces for Euro horror buffs but the characters they're playing are dull and you never really care about what happens to any of them. Rivero - a muscular guy who was a major sex symbol in Mexico at the time - and his circle of self-absorbed swinger friends crowding into rooms in a drunken stupor are about at unsympathetic as it gets. Not that the protagonist or side characters need to necessarily get us in their corner, but these people aren't interesting either. They're simply annoying, skeezy and obnoxious. Velázquez is certainly gorgeous to look at but she's stuck playing a complete moron, former Miss Italy Giordano serves almost no purpose in the film whatsoever and Fleming (who has very striking green eyes) isn't around long enough to make much of an impact. Mr. Steffen isn't given much to work with either and his role is actually rather pointless. Kind of like the rest of the film.

BCI/Eclipse have paired this slow, muddled film with BLACK CANDLES (1980) for their Welcome to the Grindhouse DVD release. While this one does have a bit of nudity and some mild violence it's not nearly as outrageously sleazy as Candles and is thus completely eclipsed by that film as far as Satantic sexploitation cinema goes. Instead, what we have here is a meandering tale with a memory half life of about 10 seconds and no real payoff. It's badly written, needlessly confusing and Stelvio Cipriani's score peaks during the first sequence. The film was retitled in Spanish-speaking countries to try to cash-in on THE EXORCIST and never saw the light of day in America on a home viewing format until the recent DVD release.

★1/2

Daikaijû Gamera (1965)

...aka: Gamera

...aka: Gamera, the Giant Monster

...aka: Giant Monster Gamera, The

Directed by:

Noriaki Yuasa

Thanks to the international success of Toho's GODZILLA series and all of its offshoots (MOTHRA, RODAN, etc.), several rival companies decided to give chase in the giant monster sweepstakes. GAMERA, from Daiei Studios, is one of those, and probably the most popular of all the non-Toho Japanese monster flicks from the era, spawning six sequels in its original run as well as a new rebooted series beginning in 1995. GAMERA not only holds the distinction of being the only movie in its series to be filmed in black-and-white, it's also the last kaijû eiga to be filmed in black-and-white. The film is also noteworthy for being the only one in its series where the titular monster doesn't face off against another giant monster. So how's the actual movie? Somewhat fun, I guess. How can a giant upright-walking nuclear turtle not be a little fun?

The world's at war again (there's even mention of us being on the verge of WWIII) when a Russian airplane being pursued by some American fighter pilots decides to drop an A bomb out in the middle of the Arctic. The ice cracks open, steam rolls out and a gigantic prehistoric turtle (gah!) is awakened after a two-thousand year frozen slumber. It goes on to sink a ship, destroy a lighthouse, derail a train, demolish a geothermal plant and eventually turn Tokyo into a big pile of rubble. Amusing stuff? Yeah, pretty much, especially when a dance club full of bopping teens is smashed. The turtle ramage scenes deliver as is expected of them and the special effects are pretty fun. The rest of the movie is basically a snooze. Your typical group of scientists, militarymen, reporters, etc. try to bait the beast and discover it actually thrives on all manner of fire, nuclear energy, missles and bombs. There's also an orphaned boy who has a special connection to turtles of all sizes, thinks Gamera is just lonely and needs a friend and manages to get in the middle of everything. How our heroes rid the earth of the terrifying tortoise (for the time being, at least) is pretty amusing.

Sequels: GAMERA VS. BARUGON (1966; aka GAMERA STRIKES AGAIN), GAMERA VS. GAOS (1967; aka RETURN OF THE GIANT MONSTERS), GAMERA VS. VIRAS (1968; aka DESTROY ALL PLANETS), GAMERA VS. GUILLON (1969; aka ATTACK OF THE MONSTERS), GAMERA VS. MONSTER X (1970) and GAMERA VS. ZIGRA (1971). The series saw a resurgance years later with the release of GAMERA: THE GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE (1995).

Eiji Funakoshi (BLIND BEAST), Yoshiro Kitahara (who also appeared - playing different roles - in the first three Gamera sequels) and Jun Hamamura (KWAIDAN, JIGOKU) star. In America, producer Sandy Frank scrapped some of the original footage and added brand new scenes featuring Albert Dekker, Brian Donlevy, Dick O'Neill and Alan Oppenheimer, among others. That version was released as GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE in 1966 and is also available on DVD. I will likely review it separately on here eventually.

★★

Daimajin gyakushu (1966)

...aka: Majin Strikes Again

...aka: Return of Daimajin, The

...aka: Return of Majin, The

...aka: Return of the Giant Majin, The

Directed by:

Kazuo Mori

After the surprisingly successful MAJIN, MONSTER OF TERROR came this immediate follow-up, which was filmed back-to-back with the two other Majin titles and is more or less just a rehash of the original. Unfortunately for this viewer, lightning didn't quite strike twice. There's a new set of characters here, but they're less interesting and less defined than the ones in the previous film. Furthermore, while the first featured several child characters, this one makes the mistake of centering the entire film around four of them, resulting in an overabundance of the cutesy that's not going to sit well with the glucose intolerant. The script doesn't really bring anything all that new or interesting to the table either. There are a couple of new additions to the Majin mythos, but the film still has the same basic premise as the first. The pacing is identical, right down to how (Dai)majin doesn't spring to life until the last 15-20 minutes of the film.

The film centers around two basic locations; a peaceful village and a mining camp. Right smack in the middle of the two is the steep mountain home of the giant (Dai)majin stone idol. Anyone who tries to side step the rocky terrain is kidnapped by an evil warlord and his army and forced to mine sulfur at a slave camp. If the prisoners cause any trouble or try to escape, they face death by being tossed into the boiling hot sulfur springs. Winter is quickly approaching and back at the village four concerned little boys want their missing fathers (now amongst the enslaved workers) back, so they decide to sneak off and brave the treacherous mountain all on their own. They scale cliffs, take a raft down rapids, try to avoid getting smashed by rockslides and avalanches and eventually are caught in a bad blizzard while trying to (sometimes comically) outwit the evil guards sent out to apprehend them. The kids also have an ally in a magical hawk who guides them along on their perilous quest. Naturally, when all seems lost, prayer brings Daimajin to life and he heads down to the mining camp to smash the place up, pummel the baddies and liberate the prisoners.

Though not nearly as enjoyable as the first, many of the same aesthetic pleasures have carried over to at least keep this juvenile fantasy-adventure watchable. Nearly every scene takes place outdoors and the mixture of well-designed sets and picturesque outdoor locations is fantastic. The special effects are also very good, as is the cinematography and music score. Then again, if you've seen the first already, you won't be seeing much new here. It was followed by THE WRATH OF DAIMAJIN, the third and final film in the series. Again, the top quality DVD release from AD Vision Films is recommended.

★★

Daimajin (1966)

...aka: Devil Got Angry, The
...aka: Giant Majin, The
...aka: Majin
...aka: Majin, Monster of Terror
...aka: Majin, the Hideous Idol
...aka: Majin, the Stone Samurai
...aka: Vengeance of the Monster, The

Directed by:
Kimiyoshi Yasuda

When it comes to Japanese monster movies, it's hard not to have visions of horribly-dubbed extras running around in a panic as some silly-looking giant man-in-a-rubbery-monster-suit rampages through a city. We've all seen at least a couple of these things before. They're good for a few dumb good laughs, right? Not so at all in this case. Hell, it might not actually be so in many or even most cases if this is any indicator of what these things are like when presented in pristine shape with the original soundtracks. Visually speaking, this movie is beautiful. The sets and art direction are top notch, the production values and cinematography are excellent and the performances are good. It's well-written, with an intriguing central premise and decent characters. And the special effects - mostly showcased during the final fifteen minutes though the film has no problem maintaining interest without them - have held up beautifully over the years. There were many times watching this where I was in awe at how smoothly they managed to blend the model work with the live actors. It's a hell of a lot more effective than most of today's overpriced CGI effects.

Set in 17th Century feudal Japan, DAIMAJIN (initially released in the U.S. as MAJIN, MONSTER OF TERROR) centers around a small village about to be overthrown by warlord / chamberlain Samanosuke (Yutaro Gomi) and his chief henchman Gunjuro (Tatsuo Endo). They and their brood murder kind samurai lord Hanabusa and his wife, and then attempt to murder their two young children; Tadafumi and Kosawa. Thankfully, vassal Kogenta (Jun Fujimaki) manages to get the kids out of the village before its too late. Kogenta and the kids seek refuge with Aunt Shinobu, an elderly high priestess who lives at the base of Mount Okimadini. Located at the mountain right in front of a huge waterfall sits a huge stone statue of Daimajin, a God worshipped by many in the village. Ten long years later, evil Samanosuke has turned the village into a slave camp where the villagers are little more than slaves who are whipped and killed if they dissent in any way. Kogenta, the Aunt and the now-teenage Tadafumi (Yoshihiko Aoyama) and Kosawa (Miwa Takada) are still hiding out in the woods. After both men are captured and tortured, Auntie is slain and Samanosuke's troops unsuccessfully attempt to demolish the statue, Kosawa pleads to the huge statue to avenge the village. She gets her wish as Daimajin comes to life, waves its arm to reveal a green monstrous face and beings its rampage of destruction.

Even though I'm still very much a novice when it comes to Japanese monster movies, what I got here wasn't at all what I was expecting. And I mean that in the very best of ways. Not only is the film extremely well made and highly entertaining, but it's also filled with brilliantly composed and downright beautiful shots; from the waterfall pouring over the mountainside to low angles peering up at a cloudy, sometimes red sky as the revived stone statue marches toward the village. Like many other films, this has been issued on both video and DVD under many labels, so you need to be careful about which version you get. It's hard to imagine any of them stacking up to the high quality disc released by AD Vision Films, which is a gorgeous print with English subs. Judging by stills I just looked at, the version released by Image Ent./Retromedia doesn't stack up anywhere near the ADV version quality wise.

It was made by Daiei Studios and was followed by two immediate sequels; THE RETURN OF MAJIN and THE WRATH OR MAJIN. All three films were shot back-to-back in 1966. Several box sets containing all three Daimajin titles are available.

★★★

Mannekäng i rött (1958)

...aka: Mannequin in Red

Directed by:

Arne Mattsson

This is the second of a five-part Swedish murder-mystery series, all of which were directed by Mattsson, starred Karl-Arne Holmsten as police detective John Hillman and were based on novels written by Folke Mellvig. The others in this series (none of which have been officially released in the U.S.) include THE LADY IN BLACK (1958), THE RIDER IN BLUE (1959), THE LADY IN WHITE (1962) and THE YELLOW CAR (1963). While I haven't seen any of the others to confirm whether or not they're "horror" enough to include on this blog, Mannequin certainly deserves a spot here for being an obvious precursor to both the German krimni (which were largely adapted works of Edgar Wallace) and Italian giallo movements. Speaking of giallo, this movie is surprisingly similar in numerous ways to Mario Bava's acclaimed BLOOD AND BLACK LACE (1964); so much so that BABL almost seems like a remake! And while Bava's movie (often cited as one of the first of its type) has the upper hand when it comes to visual style and depictions of on-screen violence, Mannequin is actually the better written and acted of the two. It's also visually sumptuous in its own right. Hilding Bladh's Eastmancolor cinematography is gorgeous and the art direction, lighting and imaginative costume designs are all outstanding.

Just as in BABL, the film is set in and around a colorful high fashion house full of designers, models and beauticians who cater to obnoxious and wealthy sophisticates. Both films open with the murder of a mysterious model and feature a killer who seems to be trying to conceal his/ her first crime with each new murder. The list of suspects is long. Very, very long. But don't worry, they're soon trimmed down. The fashion house itself is run by bitter, bitchy, wheelchair-bound Thyra Lennberg (Lillebil Ibsen), whose foster son Bobbie (Bengt Brunskog) is more interested in cars than clothes, so he's promptly written out of the will. Naturally, Bobbie's a bit upset about all this, especially when he learns that mum is planning on leaving everything to her snooty niece Gabriella (Gio Petré), who's more interested in a singing career than running the fashion house, and her playboy nephew Richard (Lennart Lindberg) instead. Each of the four characters are primary suspects in the first murder since each was in possession of a rare 17th Century dagger that was found in the victim's back.

Others thrown into the mix include put-upon designer Birgitta (Anita Björk), who is romantically involved with Richard and Bobbie, cosmetics counter girl Sonja (Lena Granhagen), who is romantically involved with one of the investigators, and a woman who goes by the name of 'Peter' (Lissi Alandh) and seems to be Gabrielle's lesbian lover. There's also a mysterious older woman lurking about carrying a cat that belonged to one of the victims. Detective Hillman is on the case and has some help from his wife Kaisa (Annalisa Ericson), who goes undercover as a model to see if she can uncover the killer. One character who you'll wish was 86'd is Det. Hillman's partner Freddy (Nills Hallberg), a stuttering buffoon who keeps popping up to provide completely unfunny "comic relief." His presence is a minor debit in this otherwise solidly made, sometimes quite suspenseful and very entertaining, if overlong (108 minutes), little thriller. The performances (especially from Björk and Ibsen) and camerawork are both very good, there's an eerie music score and the whole movie looks fantastic.

In addition to this series, director Mattson (a three-time nominee at Cannes) also made KORKARLEN (1958; aka THE PHANTOM CARRAIGE, a refilming of the 1921 silent classic of the same name), MORIANNA (1965), NIGHTMARE (1965), DIRTY FINGERS (1973) and MASK OF MURDER (1985). Most of those were never released in the United States.

★★★