Friday, July 31, 2009

BAFFLED! (1973)

Most of the target audience seems to have missed Leonard Nimoy's attempt at a weekly series when this pilot premiered in 1973. Which is too bad because it's quite a decent little horror flick with all kinds of psycho sexual undertones.
Nimoy plays a race car driver who has an out-of-body experience after a bad accident. He hooks up with an English psychic and the two head off to a Gothic castle trying to prevent a murder he's witnessed in a vision. Not a bad effort to get rid of the Vulcan typecast.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Alabama's Ghost Poster


Proving once again that you can find anything on the Internet.
This is a much better picture of the poster than I reproduced in my old Fear of Darkness Zine, but it still doesn't give you the full effect of the original. This picture implies the poster was on coated stock, but I'm sure mine was on uncoated, yellow, paper.
Hard to believe I was obsessing over this movie for months in 1982. But it was an obscure film at the time with virtually no information about it. A few years later the movie popped up on one of the "Elvira Presents" VHS tapes.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Mannequin II: Mannequin on the Move!

A friend of mine gets her five minutes of stardom. You go Heather!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Fear Of Darkness -1982-2nd Issue (Highlights)



















As I may have mentioned, the inspiration for this Blog was my old print Zine of the same name. I could write a book on that folly, what inspired me to do it, and how I lost my shirt on a business venture I had not a clue how to run. But a few copies of the old Zine do remain in my files and now is the time to show the kids how we used to do it in the days before every damn movie in the universe could be bit torrented.
The original Fear Of Darkness came out in the dawn of the home video tape age. Some of the editions do talk about what could be viewed on VHS and Beta. But my prime means of watching films in those distant days were movie theaters, Drive-Ins, and late-night TV. Cable was just beginning to turn into a googleplex of channels as well.
My apologies for how these old print sheets scanned. I'm still learning how to do it right. All my reproductions were done B&W. I was lucky to get a good price on green cover stock for this issue, which is why it's printed in red ink. Most of the reproductions don't do justice to the original posters (which I no longer possess). The Alabama's Ghost one was beautifully done in a variety of line colors on uncoated stock. The race car poster on the back cover was silk screened with fluorescent pink. All of these posters came out of the old Great Southern Hotel theater in Columbus, OH.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Dorothy Mills (2008)

Outstanding Irish-French movie about a psychiatrist sent to an isolated island. She's supposed to be investigating accusations against a young woman charged with assaulting a baby, but uncovers much more. Is it a case of multiple personalities, or is the young woman possessed by ghosts? The islanders think she's a medium. Excellent performance by Belfast actress Jenn Murray in the title role.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Terror In The Jungle (1967)

It's not the little blond kid who spends the entire movie whining. Nor is it the Peruvian Indian tribe who got their garb from the Sears discount rack. No, it's not even the plane full of passengers who create the most annoying group of people in history. It's the synthesis of all parts of this movie which takes it to new levels of bizarre.
Here is one of those films from the past which makes you ask: "What the hell did they have in mind?" Jungle movie. Then why the extended scenes with the irritating little kid? Family entertainment. Would someone then explain all the graphic knife stab scenes? Adventure film. Where's the hero?
This had to be somebody's vanity production. I just can't figure out who. Can't be the director Tom Simone, he went into the gay niche adult film minor leagues after this, his debut.
What really makes this oddity such a question mark is it's few scenes of brillance. Such as the little whiny kid floating away from a plane crash in a coffin. And a jaguar transformation scene toward the end which comes out of left field. Not to mention another scene involving quicksand which would have Children Services breaking down the producers door if filmed today.
Strange little film which begs for a remake.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Xenogenesis

Brilliant little film made in the 70's by future TERMINATOR director James Cameron. Here's part 1 via YouTube. I don't quite know why I love this little film. It does look like the sort of Super 8mm epic I would have directed in my parent's basement about the same time.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The Dead Girl (2006)

Gripping horror film that focuses on the death of a prostitute through five different points of view. The first episode looks at what happens to the woman who discovers the body. The second focuses on a medical examiner who thinks the victim might bear a resemblance to her missing sister. The third is from the POV of a wife who comes to realize her husband may be the serial killer who committed the crime. The fourth, the mother of the victim who has to identify the body. Finally, the last story concerns the dead girl herself and the last few hours of her life.
Director Karen Montcrieff had mostly done TV work prior to this feature. For a new movie director, The Dead Girl delivers a punch you won't likely forget for some time. It's also good to see Hollywood veterans (Piper Laurie, Josh Brolin) helping out.
Brittany Murphy gives one of the most realistic and scary performances of a crack whore imaginable.