PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Friday Night Movies 928

Frostbiter: The Wrath Of Wendigo 1996 Written and directed by Tom Chaney. Troma released the film and put it out on DVD. We watched the new Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome. Chaney was highly influenced by Sam Raimi's Evil Dead.

A couple of hunters go nuts on an island off Northern Michigan. One of the hunters kills the guardian of the Wendigo and destroys the circle of protection that traps the Wendigo. The beast kills most everyone but one strong lady becomes the new guardian and she puts the beast back in it's hole.

It's pretty low-budget and goofy, there were some laughs and some gory bits. I'd watch it again but I doubt I'd buy a copy.

Mindfield 1989 Based on a novel by William Deverell, screenplay by William Deverell, Tom Berry and George Mihalka, directed by Jean-Claude Lord.

Michael Ironside is a cop in a city in Canada. He's got some mental issues from being experimented on when he was a teenager. Christopher Plummer plays the scientist who did the experimenting. Years pass and a shootout with a criminal triggers the memory. He gets some help from a lady and there's a bit of romance. Eventually Michael figures out who needs killing and takes care of them.

Fairly good but not much more than average. There's a dull part about an hour in, the action picks up for the ending. Enjoyed watching, wouldn't need to see it again.

Friday Night Movies 919

Black Friday 2021 Produced by Bruce Campbell and Warner Davis, written by Andy Greskoviak, directed by Casey Tebo.

Bruce Campbell is the manager of a big box toy store called We Love Toys. It's Thanksgiving and tomorrow is Black Friday. Devon Sawa is a divorced father, he drops off his two daughters with the ex wife and her new family, and drives off to start his midnight shift at We Love Toys. It's a clumsy scene that made me wonder why he was dropping his daughters off in daylight and arriving at the store in the pitch black.

At the store the customers are lined up for nearly a block. There's some banter between the staff and the doors open. Things go along fine until an infected person infects the customers. Chaos breaks out and the infected start building something in the middle of the store. While the phones still work they fine that other stores are infected and the cops aren't answering their phones.

There's plenty of running about and violence. Characters get picked off pretty regularily. It was a bit slow getting going but it picks up the pace when the infected ramp up the violence. Somewhat entertaining but definitely average. Nothing new here really, the script is weaker than the direction, but it did have a few laughs. I probably will pick up a copy because Bruce is in it but I'll wait to see if it drops in price. Maybe I'll find a free download sometime.

Witch Academy 1995 Written by Mark Thomas McGee and directed by Fred Olen Ray. The Wikipedia says: Rey said it was the last of his "scream queen" films as the bottom was about to drop out of that market.

Robert Vaughn plays the Devil, he's poking his nose into the goings on at the Sigma Gamma Sorority. Some nasty women live there. When a party with some scummy frat boys gets cancelled they decide to invite a student, who's seeking membership, over for a bit of torture. The Devil turns the tables on the sorority gals by turning the initiate into a murderous monster.

There's not much story going on, just some horrible women mistreating a nice gal, but there are a lot of boobs. The script is poor, the acting poor but Robert Vaughn was OK. Some bit of fun but not something I need to pick up.

Friday Night Movies 918

Marcel The Shell With Shoes On 2022 Story by Dean Fleischer-Camp, Elisabeth Holm and Nick Paley, screenplay by Dean Fleischer-Camp and Nick Paley, directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp.

A guy finds he's got a talking shell called Marcel living in the house he's renting. He's a film maker and he decides to make a film about Marcel. It becomes a big hit on YouTube. Marcel is featured on 60 Minutes in a story that helps reunite him with his family.

It's humorous and silly. I got a few laughs but I thought I would get really tired of Marcel if I had to live with him. Not one I would need to see again.

Bloody Muscle Body Builder In Hell 1995 Written and directed by Shinichi Fukazawa. Filmed in 1995 but not released until 2012. Shinichi wanted to make an over the top ghost story like The Evil Dead but still keeping true to the Japanese ghost story.

A body builder invites his ex-girlfriend and a psychic over to look at his dead father's haunted house. His father had killed his lover and buried her body under the floor of the house. That dead lady lingers in the house, she's still murder mad, and the psychic is the first one to fall under her ire. The body builder tries to keep his ex alive but that doesn't work so well.

It's pretty low budget and the actors are pretty poor. It's fairly wacky and a bit over the top. It was alright but I wouldn't need to pick up a copy.

Friday Night Movies 905

Sampo 1959 Written by Väinö Kaukonen, Viktor Vitkovich and Grigori Yagdfeld, directed by Aleksandr Ptushko and Risto Orko. This Russian Finnish co-production was filmed in Russian and Finnish with the dialog dubbed in later. Each scene was also filmed in standard 4:3 and anamorphic widescreen ratios. The new Deaf Crocodile Blu-ray uses the 2014 4K restoration of the Finnish version. That's what we watched.

The film was released in the US in 1967 under the title The Day The Earth Froze by American International Pictures. The run time of the original is 91 mins and after the AIP hatch job it ran 67 mins. The AIP version was featured in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 back in the 90s.

It's a colorful fairy tale about the villagers in Kalevala who have a good life. The only thing they wish for is a Sampo. It's a magical device that creates salt, grain and gold from the air. Don't we all wish we had one. The blacksmith Ilmarinen  can't make one, he needs some magic fire from the heavens.

Across a big lake there's a wicked witch called Louhi who wants a Sampo too. She finds out that the blacksmith in Kalevala can make one so she kidnaps his sister Annikki to force him to make her a Sampo. Louhi's got a box filled with fire from the heavens.

Lemminkäinen is the hero and Annikki is his girlfriend, he decides to go rescue her and Ilmarinen goes along. The witch makes them plow a field filled with snakes. She destroys their boat but Ilmarinen makes a metal boat. Louhi makes Ilmarinen forge a Sampo with her fire from the heavens. It works great and she releases Annikki, the trio leave for Kalevala.

Things don't end there, Lemminkäinen tries to steal the Sampo. He tricks the witch and her crew, steals the Sampo and escapes on a boat. Louhi sends some wind and the boat and the Sampo are destroyed, Lemminkäinen is thrown into the water and drowns. Lucky for him his mother finds his body washed up on the beach and revives him with some magical goings on.

Louhi steals the town's sun and the Earth freezes up until the villagers gang up and lead an attack on the witch and her minions. Lemminkäinen kills the witch and the sun is rescued. The village goes back to normal and the hero and his girl are married.

You can see there's plenty going on but it's told so slowly that the 91 mins seems a lot longer. It's a pretty film with great sets and a good look. I'm doubting that I need a copy, especially at the $35 that the film is on Amazon.

The Birds II 1994 A Showtime TV movie that's based on the Daphne du Maurier story of the same name, screenplay by Ken and Jim Wheat and Robert Eisele, directed by Rick Rosenthal under the name Alan Smithee.

For those that don't know Alan Smithee is the name directors use if they don't want their name associated with the film they've directed. Rick has good reason to distance himself from the film. It's pretty darn poor, scoring a 2.9 on the IMDb. With this new release there's a good chance of voting the film a lower score. I gave it a generous 2 and I see 34.3% of the voters gave it a 1. I seem to hear their voices telling me to join them.

There's no connection to the Hitchcock film other than a mention of some birds attacking the people in the town in the original movie. A family, Brad Johnson, Chelsea Field and their two girls move into a house on an island on the east coast. It's filmed in Southport North Carolina.

There's some family tension, their son died 5 years ago and Brad is still having a hard time. He's supposed to be writing his dissertation but he's not working much. He's more worried about his wife working for James Naughton on the local paper. Good reason, James is a creep who tries his moves on Chelsea.

The birds seem very active but some people are slow to notice, especially the mayor/doctor. He ignores Brad and the lighthouse keeper on the activity until it's too late. Lucky for him he burns up in the sea and doesn't have to face to locals for his failure. The whole movie is a bit of a failure, dull story, bad dialog and way too much personal melodrama. It seemed like the end would never come.

Tippi Hedren, who was the main star in the Hitchcock film has a small part. She was disappointed with that but she did say it helped feed her lions and tigers. After seeing the end film she was embarrassed by it. Me too. The film will be out August 30th from Vinegar Syndrome, it won't be going onto my Wishlist.

Basket Case The Trilogy

Basket Case The Trilogy

I ordered the Second Sight Blu-ray in August 2020 and I'm finally getting around to it. Second Sight is a UK company but the set is region free and all 3 films have their own disc. I liked all three films with I first saw them.

Basket Case 1982 Written and directed by Frank Henelotter.

Kevin Van Hentenryck plays Duane Bradley, a young man who had a conjoined twin called Belial. They were separated when they were in their early teens, Belial survived and the twin went to live with their Aunt. She died and the twins set out to kill the doctors that separated them. There's three of them and Duane is successful in his endeavor but he creates a big mess and falls off a building.

There's a lot of mayhem and murder in the film, it's all balanced out by a good dose of humor. There's plenty of odd characters and 42nd Street plays a big part in the film. Not for everybody but I still like it after quite a few viewings.

Basket Case 2 1990 Written and directed by Frank Henelotter.

The story picks up with Duane and Belial in a hospital. They are rescued by a woman called Granny Ruth. She's got a nice big house and it's filled with a large number of deformed people. Belial finds a girlfriend while Duane thinks he should be allowed to go off and lead a normal life. He wants the one woman in the house who seems normal to go with him but Granny Ruth's granddaughter Susan isn't willing to leave the group.

Duane and Belial are wanted by the police for all the murders and things get dicey when a snoopy reporter and her photographer spot Duane in the house. The deformed people fight back and the snoopers come to a gory end. Duane gets nuttier and nuttier, especially when he nearly has sex with Susan. The movie ends with Duane killing Susan and then trying to sew Belial back on his body.

It's somewhat sillier than the first movie while still providing plenty of laughs and gooey content.

Basket Case 3 The Progeny 1991 Written by Frank Henenlotter and Robert Martin, directed by Frank Henenlotter.

Some time has past and Duane has been locked in a padded room in Granny Ruth's house. She finally lets him out as the group are going to take a road trip to visit her ex-husband Hal. Belial has gotten his girlfriend pregnant and she wants some help with the birth. Once they get to Hal's house things go downhill pretty quickly. Duane escapes the house and Belial attacks Hal. Duane gets arrested and the cops want the million dollar reward for for the capture of the brothers. Things go bad for the cops when they get involved, many of them die.

Even more gore and mayhem in this one. More laughs too.

It would be 17 years before Frank made another movie.

Bonus Features A mix of older extras from the US DVD and some new stuff. The commentary and the new docu were the most entertaining extras for me.

What's in the basket? A new 79 min docu with director Frank Henenlotter; actors Kevin VanHentenryck, Beverly Bonner, Annie Ross; producers Edgar Ievans and James Glickenhaus; make-up effects artists John Caglione Jr, Kevin Haney, Gabe Bartalos and writer Uncle Bob Martin.

Interview With Graham Humphreys A new interview with the artist who did the cover to the Second Sight Blu-ray set.

Everything below came from the US DVD:

Video introduction by Frank Henelotter

Audio commentary by director Frank Henenlotter, producer Edgar Ievins, and actress Beverly Bonner

Outtakes / Behind-The-Scenes

In Search Of The Hotel Broslin Frank and a pal wonder around New York looking at the places where they filmed the movie.

Trailers / Radio Spots

Photo Gallery: Behind-The-Scenes, Promotional Material, Stills

Friday Night Movies 895

Legend Of The Lost 1957 Screenplay by Ben Hecht and Robert Presnell, direction by Henry Hathaway. Hathaway worked with Wayne on 6 films, the last of which was True Grit in 1969.

The film was shot by Jack Cardif, he'd filmed some entertaining pictures is his 50 year career, The Red Shoes for Powell and Pressburger, The African Queen for John Huston, War And Peace for King Vidor, Death On The Nile for John Guillermin and Conan The Destroyer for Richard Fleischer.

Cardiff directed 14 pictures, the first of which never got finished. I know I've seen My Geisha with Shirley MacLaine, Yves Montand, Edward G Robinson and Bob Cummings but I'm not sure of any other except for his last film, The Mutations from 1974.You might know it as The Freakmaker.

While I was looking for the above films on YouTube I found Jack's 1968 film The Girl On The Motorcycle with Mary Anne Faithful and Alain Delon. It was the first film to receive an X rating in the US where it was retitled Naked Under Leather. I haven't seen it yet so who knows what to expect.

That's John Wayne, Sophia Loren and Rossano Brazzi in the Libyan desert near Tripoli, it's substituting for Timbuktu, which is in Mali. John is a desert guide, Sophia is a prostitute, Rossano is a man who wants to travel deep into the desert to find his father. John and Rossano leave, just the two of them with a half dozen donkeys. Sophia follows, despite being told no when she offered to go with them, she's infatuated with Rossano's spiritual ways. She admires his plan to use the treasure to fund a home for the poor, something his father envisioned. On the trip it comes out that Rossano's father had found a treasure in a lost city. He's hoping to find the treasure which his, most likely late, father found. John doesn't believe in the gold but he's taken Rassano's money so he sticks it out.

They have some small adventures in the desert and find some ruins. There's a romantic subplot with Sophia and Rossano but that doesn't go well. He's not a man of the world. John and Sophia develop an attraction on the trip and that stirs up mixed emotions in Rossano. They do find the treasure and that complicates things further. Rossano steals the treasure and strands the others in the ruins with no donkeys or supplies. They follow his tracks.

That's the ruins are Leptis Magna, it's pretending to be the lost city. It's really close to the Mediterranean in real life but not in the movie. It's a nicely kept up ruin. The trio have a confrontation in the desert, Rossano dies in the fight but not before stabbing John. Luckily Sophia spots a passing caravan and help is seen coming when the movie ends.

I liked most of the movie but thought some of the romantic melodrama could go. Plenty of cool desert scenery, something I like to see filmed so I can stay home where it's safer than the valley of the spiders. I enjoyed it but I'm not thinking much of getting the Blu-ray for myself. I might not get around to it again.

Hysteria 1997 Written and directed by Rene Daalder.

Michael Maloney psychiatric hospital headed up by Patrick McGoohan. Patrick has been implanting control devices in the heads of the patients and turning them into a sort of group mind. Micheal has fallen for his patient, he brings her to Patrick and he pops a device in her head. Michael isn't too pleased with the level of crazy going on in the place nor is he happy with the treatment on his patient. He's generally in a bad place, mentally and physically yet he gives into Patrick putting the device in his head.

Michael leaves with his patient but finds she's only mentally alive because of the group mind. He returns to the hospital to witness Patrick dying. He gives into the group mind idea and takes over the hospital. Implanted  patients are sent home to drum up new candidates for the treatment.

It's fairly entertaining, very weird, and not much better than average. Another I'll pass on the disc thinking I won't get back to it again. Nice to see a film with Patrick I hadn't seen before.

The Invisible Maniac 1990

The Invisible Maniac 1990 Written and directed by Adam Rifkin under the pseudonym Rif Coogan. It's Adam's third movie, he followed it with my favorite of his films The Dark Backward. Some of his early films stood out from the crowd and I've followed his career much more than many other film makers.

A repressed boy grows up to be a sexually repressed scientist named Dornwinkle. His mother caught him spying on his neighbor getting undressed when he was a young boy and she let him know how naughty and evil women are. As an adult he goes mad at a science conference when his invisibility serum doesn't work. Some of the scientists laugh at him and he kills four of them. Dornwinkle is sent to the State Institution for the Criminally Insane, six months later he escapes and gets a job teaching science at a high school.

Dornwinkle is harassed by some of the students and it makes him angry. He's perfected his invisibility serum but it has some side effects. The principal of the school, played by Stephanie Blake, tries to seduce Dornwinkle but he doesn't want any part of it, things turn ugly and the poor principal gets murdered. It's just the start of a spree as Dornwinkle takes out his revenge on the student body.

It's rough around the edges, a bit sick and pretty over the top but it's filled with laughs. Not the kind of film everyone is going to like but there you go. Sadly there's no legit DVD release out, there are bootlegs but I haven't bothered with one. You can see it on YouTube, link above. You can find a better copy to download at RareLust.

Friday Night Movies 869

Attack Of The Robots 1966 Director Jesús Franco co-wrote the screenplay with Jean-Claude Carrière. We watched the Redemption Blu-ray and it looked quite nice. I bought it on a whim during the last Kino Lorber sale, only a tenner, and it turned out to be my favorite Franco film. The IMDb says that Franco made a half dozen more films with private eye Al Preira.

Eddie Constantine plays an ex-spy who gets tricked into being the bait for an evil mastermind who's got a gang of well tanned hit men and women. They aren't robots, not in anyway. The baddie kidnaps people with a certain blood type and dips them in a tube with lights shining on it. The victims get tanned and a special pair of glasses puts them under the remote control of the baddies. Eddie has his hands full trying to keep ahead of the villains.

There's plenty of espionage activity, a fair number of gags, some dust ups, a few explosions and a ship on fire. There's plenty of beautiful women, oddball characters and gorgeous Spanish scenery in Madrid and Alicante. It was shot in color but only B&W prints are known to exist. I enjoyed it more than most Franco films and would want to watch it again. There's a sequel with Eddie Constantine called Residence For Spies that came out the same year.

Steel And Lace 1991 Written by Joseph Dougherty and Dave Edison, directed by Ernest D Farino. This time there's really a robot under that ladies skin.

The movie starts with a rape, a trial and a suicide. The rapist is defended by his four pals and is acquitted for lack of evidence. Clare Wren is the victim, she's so despondent at seeing the rapist walk free that she jumps off the roof of the court house. Bruce Davison plays Clare's brother, he tried to stop her but failed.

Five years pass. Bruce has built himself a robot sister and set her on a path of vengeance. She kills the pals, one at a time, each death ramming more fear down the throats of the still living. At first they aren't sure who's doing the killing, the pals even think it might be the rapist, cleaning house.

David Noughton plays a police detective and Stacy Haiduk is the court artist who was at the trial. They had dated in the past but broken up. Now they're brought back together. Such a tried cliche, that old ex, I wish people would stop using it.

There's a fair bit of running about, some gore and fights, a couple of laughs and a few effects. It's not more than about average to me. Not something that I would need to buy now that I've seen it.

The Laughing Dead 1990

The Laughing Dead 1990 Written and directed by Somtow Sucharitku under the name SP Somtow. This is Somtow's first feature film as a director, the other was called Ill Met By Moonlight, which I've not seen. Somtow once wrote an episode of Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers and 4 episodes of Dinosaucers. I've seen the former but not the later.

I saw this back in 1990 when a local guy got a VHS tape from the director. The film didn't get a US release but Somtow showed it at SF conventions a few times. It did eventually show up on DVD, usually packaged with another film, recently there's been a Blu-ray release.

It's 80s Asian horror transplanted to the US southwest and mixed with Mexican mythology. Somtow plays the evil Dr Um-tzec, he loves sacrificing people and ripping their hearts out. He's got his eyes set on the son of Father Sullivan. The Father is leading an archeology expedition to Mexico. Dr Um-tzec seems a bit weird at first but soon enough his true nature comes apparent. There's the typical sort of slaughter with a fair bit of gore. They did pretty well for a small budget and a group of film makers that haven't had much experience. From the making of documentary Somtow wasn't supposed to direct but the woman hired stepped down and he was forced to direct. Some others helped.

I remember liking it on the first watch, much of that like was the fun of seeing it in a group and enjoying the appearance of several SF authors in the cast. You may or may not have heard of any of them: Tim Powers, Tim Sullivan, Gregory Frost, Larry Kagen, Wendy Webb, Arthur Byron Cover, William F Wu, Len Wein. Edward Bryant, Forest Ackerman, Bill Warren and his wife Beverly. After seeing it now, the rose off the bloom, I can see why it scores a 4.2 on the IMDb. It's entertaining but it's still below average. It's nice seeing it widescreen and with a nicer image than that old VHS tape. You can check out the copy on YouTube, you might like it, at least you'll know if you might want to spend the money on the Blu-ray. It's a stonking $35 on Amazon. It's hardly worth that.

Ozone 1993

Ozone 1993 Written by David A Wagner and JR Bookwalter, directed by JR Bookwalter. The DVD I watched was released under the title of Street Zombies. It was ma de on a $3500 budget in Akron Ohio. Ozone is a drug that mutates humans. Detective Eddie and his Mike are kidnapped by some Ozone addicts, Eddie is injected with the drug. He gets away and has some weird hallucinations. He goes looking for Mike and finds the drug dealer who makes Ozone. The head man has been taking so much Ozone he's mutated into a big ugly guy who has plans of world domination. Eddie battles it out with the Ozone in his body and the Ozone gang. There's plenty of fights and all sorts of mutants. Their make up is fairly good for not costing much of anything. That's really the most ambitious part of the movie. The basic premise is pretty standard stuff, it would have been a more interesting film with better production values and actors but it's what we got. Someone was nice enough to give me their old DVD so I could watch it. I'd even watch it again someday.