PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

Vampyres 1974

Vampyres 1974 Screenplay by Diana Daubeney, directed by José Ramón Larraz under the name Joseph Larraz.

A couple of women are shot to death in an English country manor house, they revive as vampires and start sucking unsuspecting travelers. A couple in a caravan camp near the mansion, they see the vampire ladies out and about. They hunt and gather solo people out and about in the night. Some they have sex with before they murder them, others just get a bit of murdering. Hardly anyone survives to the end of the movie. In the morning a realtor shows up with a couple interested in the house. As the movie jumps to the credits I wonder if that guy got a sale.

The vampire gals are Anulka Dziubinska and Marianne Morris, that's them in the picture above, the are a great murderous pair. They're my favorite thing about the movie. The film itself is just average, there's plenty of nudity and sex, and a bit of story to pad out the naughty naughty. There's some decent gore and a few gags. There's not that much to recommend about it but I did get a laugh or two. I found a copy on YouTube but it appears to be gone now.

Friday Night Movies 1010

Doomed Metropolis 2 The Last War 1989 Based on the novel Teito Monogatari by Hiroshi Armata, screenplay by Kaizo Hayashi, directed by Takashige Ichise. A sequel to Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis which we watched last November 2023.

The first movie ended in 1927, the sequel starts in 1945, it's near the end of the war and the American's are fire bombing Toyko. A Buddhist priest plans to curse the Allied leaders with magic. Before that gets to happen the spirits of the local dead revive the evil demon Kato. That's him on the poster, he's the baddie from the first movie.

Kato attacks the locals and some of them fight back. A young man, a nurse and a little blind girl, all with psychic powers, take on Kato. The nurse had encountered Kato as a child and still bears the damage. The young man nearly dies fighting Kato. The shaman realizing that Japan is losing the war attacks Hitler. The nurse prays to seal Kato away.

There's a fair bit going on but it's told so slowly it becomes rather dull. The recreation of WW2 era Tokyo looks pretty good and the cast is fine. The effects people did a good job. I'm sad I didn't like it more. You can test drive a copy of the movie on YouTube. Link above.

Sky Sharks 2020 Written by Marc Fehse, A D Morel and Carsten Fehse, directed by Marc Fehse.

A German SF comedy film about a secret Nazi ship frozen in the Antarctic ice since WW2. The ship housed a secret Nazi lab that was reanimating dead Nazi soldiers. The dead men would be zombied up then be given genetically modified flying sharks for steeds. The Nazi soldiers attack air planes, kill the passengers and crash the planes. A team of soldiers has to put a stop to the Nazi plan of world domination.

There's plenty of over the top Nazi action and the effects are pretty entertaining. The effects are by DigiTale Studios, they are known for their work on Game Of Thrones. Sadly the action packed beginning phases out for non-stop explanation which sucks the life out of the room. Everyone was complaining after a good half hour of this. There's more action in the last act but by then I was less responsive than I would have liked. I enjoyed most of the movie but not enough to go buy the Blu-ray. I might not want to see it again.

Van Der Valk Series 4

Van Der Valk Series 4 Written by Chris Murray and Mania Ward, directed by Michiel van Jaarsveld, Eché Janga and Paula van der Oest. Three 90 min episodes just popped up for viewing.

Marc Warren plays Commissaris Piet van der Valk and Maimie McCoy plays Inspecteur Lucienne Hassell of Amsterdam's National Police Force. The stories are urgently told and there's a fair bit of action.

I enjoyed the other three series and this was much the same. I could do with less of the animosity between Piet and his ex-girlfriend. Why do writers think we all need that personal drama all the time. I'd still watch the series again someday.

Vampira 1973

Vampira 1973 Written by Jeremy Lloyd and directed by Clive Donner. A British comedy horror mix with David Niven and Teresa Graves. It was titled Old Dracula in the US.

David is Count Dracula, he's been having tours of his castle to lure in tourists for a quick snack. He's trying to find a certain blood type to resurrect his long dead love Vampira, she's been dead since the 1920s. Lucky for him some Playmates are due for a photo shoot.

Sneaky tests reveal one of the gals has the blood he needs. After the transfusion Vampira is revived. There's an unexpected side effect, Vampira is now black. She's played by Teresa Graves in full on flapper mode. The couple take off for London and have some adventures while snacking on the locals. It gets a bit dicey for the Count and Company near the end but they manage to get away to South America.

It's a weak comedy, some of the jokes were tired in 1974, they're darn near terminal today. There weren't many of them, good or bad. Most of the race based gags are benign, some might slip over the line, depends on where you draw it.

I did enjoy David, Teresa and Peter Bayliss as the Count's butler is entertaining. Carol Cleveland turns up as a mugging victim. I enjoyed it for what it was but I wouldn't need to buy a copy, you can watch it on YouTube, you might like it, maybe you won't.

Jackpot 1960

Jackpot 1960 Story by John Sherman, screenplay by Montgomery Tully and Maurice J Wilson, directed by Montgomery Tully. A British crime film with William Hartnell.

An ex-con tries to get back with his wife but she's not interested. He gets involved in a robbery of a nightclub. William Hartnell plays the police Superintendent that goes after the crooks. Eddie Bryne plays the nightclub owner, he's a nasty guy who's after the crooks too.

It's a good solid film that doesn't waste time on much. It's not really much above average and there's nothing outstanding. Still, watchable and entertaining. I'd watch it again.

Science Fiction Sunday 809

Eolomea 1972 Written by Willi Brückner, directed by Hermann Zschoche. An East German - Soviet - Bulgarian science fiction film.

Disappearing spaceships from the space station Margot have caused the authorities to shut down launching more ships. Professor Maria Scholl goes to investigate, she finds out there's a secret plan to steal some ships and run off to the planet Eolomea.

I enjoyed the movie, it has a decent script and cast, the sets look fine and modern.

Signale Ein Weltraumabenteuer 1970 Written by Gottfried Kolditz and Claus-Ulrich Wiesner, directed by Gottfried Kolditz. A German - Polish science fiction film.

Commander Veikko leads a rescue mission to the damaged spaceship Ikaros. They have a bit of an adventure, and rescue some survivors.

I liked the sets and space stuff. The script is a bit dull, there are long stretches of sitting and yakking. It gets more interesting when they get to the Ikaros. I enjoyed it well enough, it's certainly better than a lot of the newer SF films that I see on Amazon Prime. I might even watch it again but I doubt that's going to happen. I watched it on YouTube, link above.

Friday Night Movies 1009

The Primevals 2023 Story by David Allen, screenplay by David Allen and Randall William Cook, directed David Allen.

A yeti is killed during an avalanche in Nepal, scientists travel there to search for more yeti's. They find the hidden homeland of the yeti and have an adventure with prehistoric animals, hominids and an alien race.

It's an unusual movie, most of the footage was shot by David Allen in 1994 but it was never finished. Full Moon Pictures had financial troubles when they split from Paramount Home Video and the movie never got finished. Allen died in 1999. Charles Band had the movie finished and released last year. You can read a more detailed on the Wikipedia.

It looks fairly good and I enjoyed the movie. It's a fairly decent but simple story packed with a good bit of stop motion animation.The cast is of mixed ability but most of them do a serviceable job. I liked it enough to watch it over again sometime.

Cosmic Journey 1936 Written by Aleksandr Filimonov and Konstantin Tsiokovsky, directed by Vasili Zhuravlov. A Russian silent film about a trip to the moon in 1946.

Professor Sedikh leads a team of scientists to the moon. They have adventures exploring the moon, with some jeopardy, and return to Russia. The film has nice looking sets and effects. There's even some stop motion animation of the scientists leaping about the lunar surface. That animation was something that caused the censors to pull the film. It was thought: the stop-motion animated sequences of cosmonauts hopping across the low-gravity lunar surface were antithetical to the spirit of social realism. It was not widely seen again until the 1980s.

I found it entertaining but a bit slow at times. I liked the miniature and full size sets. It's got a good bit of rather decent space travel and lunar activity. Despite the lack of social realism I enjoyed the stop motion astronauts bouncing around the lunar surface. You can see if you might like it by clicking on the title above. I'll want to watch it again but I don't think I'd need to buy the Blu-ray.

The Witching 1983

The Witching 1983 Written by Bert I Gordon and Gail March, directed by Bert I Gordon. An alternate cut of the 1972 Bert I Gordon film Necromancy. The film was changed a fair bit from the 1972 version.

Frank takes an advertising job in the northern California town of Lilith, he's going to work for Mr Cato, played by Orson Wells, the head of a toy company. Frank's wife Lori has recently had a still birth. On the way into town they see a bad accident and shortly after run out of gas.

They meet Mr Cato and Frank starts his job at the toy company. Turns out Mr Cato has a lot of control in the town, owns most of the local businesses, and heavily influences the town and it's people. The town is rich with occult goings on and Mr Cato believes that Lori can revive his dead son. Other strange things happen including Frank getting seduced by one of Mr Cato's employees. Lori tries to leave with Priscilla, only to find her dead at their meeting place.

I'd seen Necromancy back in 2017 at a FNM evening but had forgotten much about the movie. I remember the graveyard shot with Orson under the tree but that's about all. I didn't' remember the nudity but that was what was added to the movie for this release. It's not an improvement over the original or generally that good but you can't always expect much from Bert I.

Virgin Witch 1972

Virgin Witch 1972 Written by Hazel Adair (under the name Klaus Vogel) and directed by Ray Austin. A British film that was shot in 1970 but kept from the theaters until January 1972 because of the censors. It was cut to get a certificate but the version on the Blu-ray is uncut.

Christine and Betty run away from home to become models. The sisters are played by real life sisters Ann and Vicki Michelle. The gals get a lift to London from a guy called Johnny. Christine gets a job from a modeling agency. A woman called Sybil runs the place and owns the house where the photo shoot is taking place. Betty tags along. Turns out the house used for the photo shoot is home to a coven and they've got their eyes on Christine. She's got some psychic ability and an interest in joining the coven. The coven is led by Sybil and Gerald. There's a ceremony with plenty of nudity and Christine looses her virginity to Gerald. Sybil has eyes on Betty next but Christine has her own plans, when she moves in for a take over, things get nasty.

There's not much story going on, mostly it's wall to wall breasts and ass cheeks. The Michelle sisters have disowned the film. I thought it was about average. I managed to get to the end. I might even watch it again some time. Who knows.

Witch Story 1989

Witch Story 1989 Story by Alessandro Capone, screenplay by Rosario Galli and Alessandro Capone, directed by Alessandro Capone. An Italian film that was shot in Italy and Florida.

Fifty years ago the locals of a small rural town in Florida burned a woman alive because she was a witch. Some teens break into the house where the witch once lived, she possesses some of the teens and kills some of the others. A priest helps some of them survive.

It's a good bit below average. I didn't care that much for it. I wouldn't watch it again.