Love this topic. Keep those reviews comin’!
Trailers:
Putney Swope
Cool Breeze
Boss Nigger
Mandingo
22. THAT MAN BOLT (1973) In the Asian city of Macao, we meet the main hero of the story… Jefferson Bolt (Fred “The Hammer” Williamson) is his name and being a professional courier is his game. Our man Bolt has been being held in Macao for some unknown reason, but we are quickly brought up to speed on the whys, when a British man comes to see Bolt in the jail. Bolt practices his Kung Fu moves as the man tells him that they needed to capture him because he has a new job he is going to do. For Bolt, this isnt out of the ordinary, we can see he is always 100% calm and cool about what happens around him.
*When you hear Mr. Kumada’s voice in the film, you will notice that this is not the real actor’s voice. It is actually Keye Luke (Master Po on the TV series Kung Fu). Not only did Keye Luke do the voice for Kumada, he also did the voice for another evil villain named Mr. Han (Shih Kien) in the Bruce Lee smash hit Enter The Dragon (1973).
That Man Bolt is a really cool 70s Kung Fu meets Espionage film. Very much in the vein of Enter The Dragon and James Bond. An excellent piece of Grindhouse genre cinema that will take you back to the time when Kung Fu films ruled and Blaxploitation stars like Fred Williamson were at the top of their game. An explosive adventure that all Grindhouse fans will love! (Edited review)
Trailers:
Blacula
Cleopatra Jones
Black Mama/White Mama
23. THE MACK (1973) One of the most entertaining sub-genres in the Blaxploitation era was the “pimp” film. There were a few, but not that many. You had stand out hits like Rudy Ray Moore’s Dolemite (1975), Gordon Parks Jr’s Superfly (1972) and probably the best of them all Director Michael Campus’ The Mack (1973). The reason The Mack is most likely the best (in my opinion) pimpin film is the film was actually shot on the streets of Oakland, CA and much of the cast were real life hustlers and pimps from the Bay area. In this Godfather of pimpin’ flicks we get a look into the life of a young hustler/pimp named Goldie (Max Julien) a ex-convict who is back on the streets after being incarcerated by 2 corrupt racist cops. When Goldie gets out of jail, he finds that his younger brother (Roger Mosely) is a now the head of a group of young citizens trying to clean up the streets.
Max Julien is another reason why the film is so special. Julien has such a sincere and real charm it will just pull any viewer right into the story. Goldie gets my vote for coolest pimp to grace the silver screen. When Goldie comes back to his old hood, he has to get a loan from one of his old partners, but after he gets the cash, we see in a slow motion sequence, that the money is everything to Goldie. He throws it up in the air and it falls down over him like confetti. One of Goldies partners is Slim (Richard Pryor). Slim is also Goldies best friend and Richard Pryor does a wonderful job in the supportiung role, he steals every scene hes in, even with Max Julien and he adds the comic relief to the film when it needs it.
Not many Blaxploitation films are all around, well told stories, but The Mack is that special case. Instead of just being a straight up, shallow pimpin’ film, it has a really interesting social commentary on the effects of drugs and crime on the black culture (much like Superfly). While Goldie is pimping and living the high life, his brother is fighting to stop exactly what Goldie stands for. Theres something important here, theres the Goldie view, which anyone can relate to. Goldie is a lower class black man who wants to be someone special and to have nice things. His brother represents the clean and sober Civil Rights minded black man. We can also see his view, which is to get ahead by educating oneself and contributing to society and the black culture in a positive way. In one conversation, Goldie explains he respects his brothers ideals and loves him, but he tells his bro that nothing will stop him from doing his business and gettin’ paid.
There is an excellent sequence where we see how smart and charming Goldie is. Goldie sells the women dreams of the good life by taking them to a planetarium where he controls the large light show, he speaks to the girls and easily convinces them that if they work for him, their dreams will come true. Goldie comes across as a pimping god that can push all the right buttons to turn these young women into hardcore ho’s that live to make him a rich man.
While Goldie builds his pimping business up again from scratch, the two cops that put him away are beginning to get on his case again. One of the cops (played by veteran actor Don Gordon) is a total racist but in one telling sequence we see he has hired a black hooker. He gropes her breasts and we see that even a racist cop like him cant keep his hands off the sweet black sugar! When Goldie starts to make some nice cash from his new pimping biz, he buys his mother a beautiful place right on the water. His mother is a sweet woman who doesnt know what Goldie does, but she is proud of him anyway. Goldie has to fend off rival pimps and shady white businessmen who want a piece of his action. The more money Goldie makes, the more problems he seems to have. Like they say: pimpin’ aint easy. One night, Goldie is met by one of his rivals thugs in an alley, after a heated confrontation, Goldie shows the greaseball what hes worth by picking him up and tossing him right in a dumpster! Another sequence was actually filmed at a real Pimps and Players Ball in Oakland. This is where all the local pimps and hustlers dress up to the hilt in their freshest threads and they vote for who looks best. Of course, our main man Goldie wins the Pimp of The Year trophy with his incredibly fly white fur coat and hat ensemble. He even has a funky fresh pimpin cane.
Goldie is making his way back up the pimpin ladder, but as he gets more money and a stronger reputation in the local area, he finds he cant trust anyone including his own ho’s. Goldie is learning the lesson his brother couldnt teach him. If you live by the gun, you will die by the gun. Goldie and Slim try to maintain their status as kings of the hood, but things keep getting more and more out of hand. The films most violent sequence comes when Goldie captures one of his rivals and wires him with explosives. Goldie finally gets his revenge on the cops that framed him and his the other rival pimps but in the end, Goldie has to leave the hood and start his life over again completely.
The Mack has excellent performances by the cast. Note: Several of the cast members were Blaxploitation film regulars. Starring Max Julien (Thomasine and Bushrod), Richard Pryor (Car Wash), Carol Speed (Abby) and Roger E. Mosley (Darktown Strutters). An amazingly funky score by Willie Hutch, featuring his great song: I Choose You. Hutch later went on to score Jack Hill’s cult classic Foxy Brown (1974) starring Blaxploitation queen Pam Grier!
If you want to chill out with a great classic Blaxploitation film, or you are new to the Blaxploitation genre, The Mack is a perfect place to start. Its filled with raw coolness, drama, comedy and a pimpin style you just won’t get in any other films.
Trailers:
Hot Potato
Black Belt Jones
Ebony, Ivory & Jade
TNT Jackson
The Dynamite Brothers
24. BLACK BELT JONES 2: THE TATTOO CONNECTION (1978) The first thing I noticed about Black Belt Jones 2: The Tattoo Connection is that its actually NOT the sequel to Black Belt Jones (1974). It has nothing to do with that character Jim Kelly played.
The film begins with a man in a red shirt named Tung How (Chen Sing) whos looking for a guy named Fat Dog who used to work with him, but stole some money and split. He confronts the other gang Fat Dog is with now and he fights the main dude who wears an eyepatch. If Tung How wins, he gets Fat Dog to bring back to his boss Mr Liu (Tan Tao Liang). Well, he wins the fight and Fat Dog is brought back to Mr Liu. Mr Liu takes Fat Dog and beats him up, but Tung How pleads with Mr Liu not to kill him. Mr Liu tells Tung How that he can choose to get rid of Fat Dog in any way he chooses. Tung How chooses to brand Fat Dog’s tattoo (the sign of the gang) and kick him out forever.
After the opening credits, we are introduced to a man named George (Norman Wingrove) being picked up at an airport. He has a special diamond that hes carrying called the North Pole Star. When George is in the car, a group of criminals set up a roadblock and stop the car and beat up the other passengers and steal the diamond. They grab the diamond and take off. Its Mr Liu’s gang, made up of many thugs including a familar face to kung fu lovers, Bolo Yeung. When the diamond goes missing, the government officials calls in the only man who can get the diamond back, an ex CIA operative named Lucas (Jim Kelly). Lucas visits George in the hospital and gets some info first.
Lucas starts investigating around Hong Kong for anyone connected with the heist. He knocks on the door of one of the suspects, Ah-Men (whos part of Lius crew) and the first thing the man does is he tries to punch him, but Lucas lets him know hes no pantywaist and beats him into submission. He explains that if he gives the info he will have more money than he can imagine. But Ah Men relents and doesnt give the info. Lucas goes to clubs and tries to find out whos behind the heist, he meets a young lady who happens to be dating Tung How from Liu’s gang. In one of the better action scenes of the film Lucas gets in a fight with Liu’s men in a logging yard. They race around in some tiny cars and crash into each other.
Mr Liu has hired an old man to cut the North Pole Star diamond so he can sell it. He gives the old man whatever he wants. The old man choose to have some prostitutes. Tung How confronts Lucas with his gang, but before they can fight, the cops come and they have to take a raincheck. Meanwhile, Liu sends his men to kill Fat Dog. One of the best shots in the movie is when Bolo Yeung does his famous “killing face” (the one he does in Enter The Dragon when he pulls that guys neck back) when hes drowning Fat Dog. It adds a nice laugh to the proceedings.
One of the most gratuitous scenes in the film is when Mr. Liu beats his mistress (Tung Hows girlfriend) and rapes her. Its pretty cruel stuff. It shows how much of a scumbag Mr Liu really is. She goes to Tung How, and tells him, but Tung How holds Mr Liu in high regards since it was Liu who helped him when he was orphaned as a child. She explains that Liu is not what he seems.
The climactic showdown on a freighter with Tung How, Lucas and Mr Liu is the coolest part of the movie. The fight choreography is excellent and its a total asskicking goodtime. The Tattoo Connection isnt a classic, but its one of those fun bad movies, where you can laugh along with the scenes of people saying things like “You damn bastard!”, getting beat up and you can oogle at the nude Asian babes. It actually has more melodrama than other kung fu films of the time, so I guess that makes it different. I personally watch Kung Fu films for the fighting, not for the discussions.
A good kung fu film with some awesome fight sequences especially at the end of the film. Jim Kelly kicks much ass in this film (when he gets around to actually fighting). I also really got a kick out of the English voice over actors who dubbed the film, it gives it a really entertaining edge.
Trailers:
Destroy All Monsters
Johnny Firecloud
Friday Foster
Master of the Flying Guillotine
(Martial Arts)
26. Karate Bearfighter (1977)
(First time viewing)
Sonny Chiba’s back as the legendary Masutatsu Oyama!
While I don’t honestly remember that much of it’s predecessor, Karate Bullfighter, it’s hard for this sequel to fail on grabbing one’s attention.
There’s quite a few things I like about it. First off, out of the several hand-to-hand combat movies I’ve seen with Sonny, I’ve never seen him look this athletic and graceful with his karate skills.
Secondly, there really is a lot of activity in this movie. And since the storylines just seem to keep coming, it’s safe to say that there’s hardly a dull moment.
Oh, and even if the big showdown with the bear ends up being hokey, there’s still enough alternate action sequences that make up for it…Including the finale duel which is set on beach (I just LOVE that setting)
I dug this one!
(VHS via IFC)
Trailers:
Invasion of the Blood Farmers
Tourist Trap
The Embalmer/She-Beast
The Flesh and Blood Show
(Slasher)
27.Blood Feast (1963)
Widely acknowledged as the first gore film. Aside from that, is it still good? Depends. If you take this thing seriously, you’re in a heap of trouble. If you look at it as an old horror comic-book come to life, you’ll have a blast. Right down to the campy dialogue and larger-than-life color.
I can’t end this post without mentioning the name, Fuad Ramses. One of the most memorable character names in cinema history 8)
(Something Weird DVD)
Trailers:
Police Women
Black Samson
Beyond The Valley of The Dolls
Cool Breeze
(Blaxploitation)
28.Black Shampoo (1976)
Here it is! The only movie in the world where a hair stylist mows down a couple of bad guys with a chainsaw!
At first, this movie seemed to take the top spot in my guilty pleasures list. But the more I see it, the more it seems to define 70’s exploitation cinema at it’s almost finest. Funky musical score,wild fashions,gratuitous sex/nudity/violence,politically incorrect attitudes and over the top characters. It’s all here.
Probably the only fault I initally had with it was that John Daniels (Who plays “Mr. Johnathan”) certainly looks the part of the tough guy/stud, but he displays about 2% charisma throughout the whole movie. But then I thought what if someone like Fred Williamson or Jim Brown played the lead character. For this type of movie, it just wouldn’t work. So a fresh face was wisely chosen.
As a blaxploitation flick,midnight movie, Mystery Science Theater movie…It doesn’t matter. Black Shampoo seems to work well on any wild occasion.
(DVD)
Trailers:
Torso
What Have You Done To Solange?
The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail
Deep Red
25. THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS WARDH (1970) Director Sergio Martino started in film the way several other of his contemporaries started out, by working with reknown directors already established in the industry. His first work was as production assistant on Director Mario Bava’s The Whip and The Body, then he became an assistant and a writer for his Producer brother Luciano Martino, who had entered into the film business years earlier. Sergio’s first directorial outing was the 1969 documentary/exploitation film Mondo Sex. Martino’s next project was a spaghetti western called Arizona Colt Returns (1970) on which Martino teamed up with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi. Later on that year, Martino moved into the Italian thriller aka “giallo” genre and directed The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh. The film became a big success with audiences in Italy and established Martino as a new star in film. Martino was only 29 at the time, but he seemed to have the talents of a veteran filmmaker. The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh also brought Martino comparisons to other popular filmmakers, most notably another giallo director Dario Argento, who was well known from his film The Bird With The Crystal Plummage (1969). Although Argento was a great talent, it can be said that Martino was the first Italian giallo director to push the boundaries of onscreen graphic death and nudity. Argento’s earliest giallos were very timid compared to Martino’s and his later films like Deep Red (1975) and Suspiria (1977) were definitely influenced by Martino’s willingness to push the limits of the genre.
The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh is one of the most celebrated films from the 1970s Italian giallo era. Edwidge Fenech plays Julie Wardh, the wife of an Ambassador who is returning from a trip to her home in Vienna. When she arrives back to the city, she finds out there is a mysterious killer wreaking terror, a “Sex Pervert” who slashes his victims with a straight razor (a signature weapon of many giallo killers). When Julie gets in the cab to take her home, the cab driver tells her more about the killer, but Julie begins to drift off into a daydream. She remembers her former lover Jean (Ivan Rassimov) a sadistic man who would violently attack her before making love to her. As we see Julie and Jean make love in the warm summer rain, we get an introduction to Nora Orlandi’s haunting score which is used throughout the film to great effect. As Director Sergio Leone once said “Music makes up 40% of a film”. Well, this score by Nora Orlandi definitely adds such a very special mood to the film and it heightens the atmosphere created by Martino’s precise direction.
When Julie arrives at home, she disrobes to take a shower, and we see the beautiful nude body of Edwidge Fenech. Suddenly, the doorbell rings and Julie looks through the peephole to see who it is. All she sees is a bouquet of flowers being held by someone. When she opens the door, we see its just a delivery boy and Julie takes the flowers and reads the note attached. The note is from her ex-lover Jean. It tells a secret that only he knows about her. Julie is repulsed by Jean, but in her mind, we see again and again that at one time, she was enthralled by his sadistic and violent lovemaking methods.
Julie goes to a party with her friend Caroll (Conchita Airoldi) and meets Caroll’s cousin George (George Hilton). George seems like a nice guy to Julie. Meanwhile some girls get in a catfight when one of the male guests rips one of the girl’s dresses which is made of silver paper. When Julie sees Jean is there as well, she decides to leave, but before she can get too far, Jean confronts her in the dark of the street. Julie tells Jean she despises him, and suddenly Julies husband Neil drives up and gets out to see whats happening between them. Neil punches Jean, but Jean seems uncaring and laughs right in his face. Jean leaves and Neil takes Julie home.
One of the women who was in the catfight at the party returns home to her apartment and begins to undress and take a shower. As she washes, a dark figure drives up in a car and the lights go off. The figure enters the house and we see from his POV that he is closing in on he girl in the shower. Suddenly the killer rips open the curtain and begins to slash the girl with his razor, cutting her throat and leaves her bleeding. The killer then walks out of the bathroom quickly. You can see that this sequence was obviously inspired by the shower scene in Psycho. This is a perfect example of the Italian filmmakers attitude towards making movies. When they see a great movie and love a certain scene, theres a pretty big chance you will see a similar scene in their film. They do this with no apologies.
The next day Julie and Caroll go into town to have dinner and George is there. Julie is attracted to George, but since she is married she doesnt want to get too close. Before they can start lunch, Caroll gets a phone call at the restaraunt and is called away, leaving Julie alone with George. We can see George likes Julie and he does his best to charm her into going for motorcycle ride across the countryside. Sergio Martino shoots these scenes so well, we can see from all different perspectives as the two speed through the country roads. George drops Julie off at her place and she thinks shes alone, but George shows up and they make love. Someone is outside watching them in the night, is it the killer? Is it Neil?
Julie gets a phone call the next day from a mysterious man. He tells her he has proof of her affair with George and that he will give it to her husband if she doesnt give him 20,000 schillings. Julie is scared, so Caroll agrees to go in her place. The caller has told her to meet him with the money at a large botanical garden estate in the country. When Caroll arrives she waits for the person, and she is all alone. Martino creates a feeling of isolation with the shots of the long empty road set next to the immense garden walls. Caroll sees a distant figure walk past, but shes not sure, so she follows the figure into the maze like garden. As she walks she hears a rustling in the bushes, but its only a groundskeeper. As she walks along, we see shes not alone, and in a flash, the mysterious killer chases after her and she falls down. The killer proceeds to violently slash her with his razor and Caroll is dead. The old groundskeeper discovers her bloody body lying in the garden.
When Julie finds out about Caroll, shes even more afraid and she knows that she will be next. The rest of the film is one thrill after another as Julie tries to stay alive while the mysterious killer tracks her down. This film is one of the best and earliest of the gialli to come out of Italy.
The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh is a highly entertaining and well executed giallo. Sergio Martino really gave the genre a big boost with his precise and exciting direction. Most giallo stories have a simple premise on the surface, but the real trick is making each story unique and surprising in its own way. Martino mastered it on his first time out of the gates which is very impressive for a then 29 year old director. As a big giallo fan, I highly reccomend this film.
Trailers:
Seven Notes in Black
Bird With The Crystal Plumage
Death Walks on High Heels
26. A LIZARD IN A WOMAN’S SKIN (1971) The late Lucio Fulci has been one of my favorite directors for years, if youve read any of my previous Fulci film reviews you know that already. When I heard that “A Lizard In Womans Skin” aka Schizoid was going to be released on DVD I knew I had to get it and add it to my Fulci collection. After watching both cuts of the film, I’ve gotten another delightful treat from one of my all time favorite filmmakers.
The giallo is another really interesting sub genre that alot of film geeks rave about. I happen to be a big fan of gialli myself and Ive seen several by different directors ranging from Sergio Martino (Torso, Blade of The Ripper) to Dario Argento (Bird With The Crystal Plummage, Deep Red). What I always found most intriguing about many gialli is the way cinema storytelling is used to confuse and exhillerate the viewer. The gialli have this strange, psychadelic imagery that use dreams and nightmares to blur the line between the subconscious and reality. Its just a beautifully dark and twisted genre I cant seem to get enough of. Lucio Fulci’s “A Lizard In Womans Skin” is one of the best of the gialli in my opinion. I think Fulci knew the thriller/horror genre like no other director and he definitely had a talent that wasnt fully appreciated while he was alive. You can see by Fulci’s direction and creativity in this film that he was no amateur filmmaker. In fact, I feel he was a groundbreaking visual stylist that used the camera to a brilliant degree.
"BITING, GNAWING TERROR CLAWS AT YOUR BRAIN!..SCHIZOID"
A beautiful woman named Carol Hammond (Florinda Bolkan) is the daughter of a rich local politician (played by Leo Genn). As the film opens, we see Carol inside a train, she seems to be panicking and trying to open the doors of the coaches, then suddenly sheis inside a large hallway with a naked orgy going on around her. Carol then dreams about a woman who happens to be her own neighbor Julia (Anita Strindberg). In her dream, the two come together and have a brief and very erotic encounter. Carol moans with pleasure as the woman kisses her, then suddenly she wakes up. Carol writes down in her personal journal, the dreams shes having. When she goes to see her shrink, she explains to him the different dreams shes having, and he tells her these dreams are a way for her to get out her repressed sexual desires. When Carol returns to her flat, she is becoming more obsessed with her beautiful neighbor Julia. As she sits and eats dinner, Fulci employs a few quick split screen sequences to show the opposite lifestyles of both women. While Carol sits in her dull apartment, Julia is holding psychadelic hippy parties with lots of drugs and music.
One night as its raining, Carol is alone in her room and she dreams once again about making love to Julia. Carol is dressed in a sexy fur coat with white scarf and she slowly makes her way to Julia who is naked. As they come together, Carol takes out a letter opener and begins to stab Julia over and over until she falls down bloody and dead. Carol doesnt notice two other people in her dream, watching her from a balcony. They are two hippies. Then we see close ups of their eyes, which have the trademark Fulci white look (they are blind). Carol goes to see her shrink again and he tells him about what happened in the dream. He explains that the dream was in effect a subconscious break from her repressed feelings. The only problem is, Carol finds out later that Julia was in fact murdered the same night in her flat. Carol’s own letter opener and fur coat were found at the scene.
Carol is in shock and doesnt know what to believe. Did she do it or did someone read her diary while she slept and murder Julia for unknown reasons? The rest of the film, the Inspector (Zulu’s Stanley Baker) and Carol’s father ( and husband (Jean Sorel) are all caught up in this mystery. The police bring in several suspects including a strange hippie with red hair who seems crazy enough to be the killer. The police take him away and find out it wasnt him. One day, Carol goes shopping in London, and out of the corner of her eye, she sees two hippies watching her. They are same two hippies that were in her dream.
Carol is brought to a mental clinic for rest, she seems to be alright, until she senses someone is watching her. She runs inside and she begins to freak out, she is in a large empty hallway just like in her dreams. When Carol is out horseback riding the curly haired hippy from her dream appears. She tells Carol that if she wants to know who the real killer is, to goto a large cathedral for a rendevous. When Carol arrives, the door suddenly vloses behind her and she realizes shes stuck inside. Instead of an unseen killer with black gloves as in most gialli, Fulci uses a leather clad biker as the maniac out to get Carol. This is one of the films most memorable sequences and one of my favorites from Fulci. Carol is chased through the dark basement of the church and the suspense and excitement will make you sit on the edge of your seat. It has one of the best “flying attack bats” sequences in it as well. In most every Fulci film you see, there is some kind of excellent special F/X work by the Italian artists working oin it. In Schizoid, Fulci worked with Franco DiGirolamo and Carlo Rambaldi (ET: The Extra Terrestrial). As Ive said before in my previous Fulci reviews, the special effects work by the Italian crews was brilliantly done. These folks were masters of creating all kinds of great visual effects for films. Instead of using millions of dollars for fake CGI, these men were artisans who crafted something from scratch. Really impressive when you look closely at what they did.
The big chase in the church ends with a stunning and exciting “stab” that will have you jumping up in the air. As for the conclusion of the mystery, you’ll have to get the film and watch to find out who killed Julia!
Fulci’s direction in the film was definitely spot on and he uses several great visual effects including split screen (this film came out before DePalma’s split screen work in Sisters), slo mo, snap zooms and his trademark split focus, as seen in his later films like The Beyond.
A Lizard In A Womans Skin ranks up there with some of the best gialli cinema from Italy. Lucio Fulci once again shows his brilliant mastery of the thriller genre with very erotic and violent sequences that will bend your mind into another shape for the entire running time. I highly reccomend this giallo to fans of Fulci and of the giallo genre itself. You won’t be dissapointed by this exciting atmospheric mystery chiller!
Trailers:
The Ugly Ones
If you meet Sartana, Pray for your death
Apocalypse Joe
A Pistol for Ringo
(Spaghetti Western)
29.Boot Hill (1969)
I got this movie as a part of a spaghetti western DVD collection I bought a few years back. But thanks to the horrible fullscreen, picture quality of this movie, I was never able to make it past the first 5 minutes.
So I figured now’s the time to try to give this a look. With the help of modifying the screen format on my HDTV, I tried to make the movie look watchable.
The movie started out fairly promising with a wounded Terence Hill (On the run from gunslingers) taking refuge with a traveling circus troupe. But then some dull, complicated plot about warring factions trying to take control of a gold mine occurred and I was never able to get into the movie after this.
Despite that, there was a few notable things along the way. I liked the catchy musical score and it was nice to get a glimpse of the Terence Hill/Budd Spencer duo a few years before their comedic schtick took off.
Trailers:
Dont Go In The House
The Blood Spattered Bride/I Dismember Mama
The Undertaker and His Pals
A Bell From Hell
27. TWISTED NERVE (1968) A young man visits his mongoloid brother at an institution in the English countryside. Out in the courtyard they throw a ball back and forth. When the young man enters the institutions resident doctors office he asks him if his brother is doing well. Professor Fuller (Russell Napier) assures him hes doing fine. The doctor then asks the young man how hes doing. The boy is seemingly a happy go lucky, average kid. The pleasant young man says hes doing great and exits. The camera zooms in to a medical poster covering the human body and we then hear Bernard Herrmann’s dreamy, but haunting Twisted Nerve whistling theme play over the opening credits (a medically themed psychadelic montage).
After the opening credits are over, we see the same young man in a small store. His name is Martin Durnley (Hywel Bennett). Martin sees a young beauty in the store shopping. Her name is Susan Harper (Hayley Mills). Martin grabs a toy duck off the shelf and as Susan walks out of the store, Martin walks out right behind her. The store manager runs out and stops them both and sees that Martin has in fact stolen the toy duck. They both are arrested and brought to the police to be questioned. Susan explains that she didnt steal anything. Martin looks innocently and says his name is “Georgie”. He is now acting like a 6 year old boy. Susan explains that she will pay for “Georgie’s” duck and they can just forget about this whole thing. The police let them both go.
We find out that Martin/“Georgie” is actually a relatively wealthy young man who lives with his mother and stepfather in a very nice home. Something is seriously wrong with this guy because he has a room full of toys and he even sleeps with a teddy bear and his mother treats him like a little boy. She serves him breakfast in bed and we see that Martin is very intelligent and witty as well. Martin watches Susan from a distance as she leaves her home. He wants to find out where she works, so he trails behind her and as he walks he whistles the Twisted Nerve theme. The theme is Martin’s eerie creation. He follows Susan into a local library. When Susan sees him, she only sees “Georgie”. “Georgie” seems desperate and he begins to claw at his tie and shirt, opening it in an almost erotic way. Susan begins to help “Georgie” button up his shirt and as she does this, “Georgie” gets a naughty look in his eye as he smells her hair. The head librarian sees the two together and gets angry because hes not sure if Susan is “dressing or undressing” “Georgie”. Susan straightens up and tells “Georgie” she has to get back to work, but “Georgie” says he wants a book on animals and Susan gets him one.
When “Georgie” returns to his home, he changes back to his Martin persona and he finds out that his parents, namely his stepfather Mr Durnley (Frank Finlay) whom Martin loathes, are planning on kicking him out of the house. Martin is given two choices by his stepdad: Take a trip to Australia on a free ticket or move out of the house. Martin tells his stepdad that he chooses to head to Australia and he goes upstairs to pack. Martin begins to undress, then stares at himself in his mirror. It seems that Martin is sexually repressed and or confused. The camera pans into a magazine on Martin’s desk, a Muscle Man type book, suddenly we hear a smash and we see Martin’s mirror has been cracked right where his crotch area is.
Instead of going to the airport, Martin checks into a hotel and gives the hotel clerk a note. Martin then goes to Susan’s mothers boarding house and shows up that night in the rain. The doorbell rings and Susans mother, Mrs Harper (Billie Whitelaw) answers it. “Georgie” is standing in the doorway, all wet and he hands Susan’s mother a note from his father explaining that “Georgie” has been sent to stay with them. They invite him in, but tell “Georgie” that he cant stay because they have no rooms vacant. They call the number on the bottom of the letter and the hotel clerk reads the note Martin gave him telling her Georgie’s father has already left on his trip. All this time, “Georgie” looks like a sad little puppy and we can see Susan is starting to feel bad for him. After Georgie leaves the house, she runs after him and tells him to come back. “Georgie” gets another strange look in his eye. Things are going just like he planned.
That night, Georgie changes back into Martin , gets dressed all in black and sneaks out of the house. When Mr Durnley arrives home, he parks the car in the garage and as hes getting out, a dark figure closes the garage door behind him. Mr Durnley cant see who it is, but then Martin turns on his flashlight, flips out a pair of scissors and stabs Mr Durnley in the gut. Mr Durnley collapses and dies. Martin returns to Mrs Harpers boarding house and watches the scissors to get rid of any blood. Then he goes into Mrs Harpers room, acting as if hes had a bad dream. When he calls her “Mummy” she melts and lets him stay in her bed. Theres some sexual vibes going on between “Georgie” and Mrs Harper and in the silhouette we can see Mrs Harper may be doing more than putting “Georgie” to bed.
“Georgie” and Susan go swimming in a pond nearby and “Georgie” starts to yell for Susan that he needs help. Susan is stunned and begins to swim to him to save him from drowning. When she gets to “Georgie”, he turns to her and says: “Ever been had?”. Susan begins to laugh and they both get out of the water to dry off. While Susan sits and talks to “Georgie”, he gets up and walks out into the middle of the grass behind Susan. “Georgie” removes his bathing suit and turns and stands totally nude in front of Susan with a naughty look on his face. When she sees him, she’s shocked, but tries to ignore it.
When Susan gets home, she goes into “Georgie’s” room, and we see he is behind the door, and he shuts it. Susan is in trouble now because she knows Martin is unstable. Martin has a gun and he tells Susan they need to go right now. Susan tells him she won’t go with him and Martin gets batso. Then he tells her to put on a pretty blue dress. She does it, but Martin begins to ramble on about all kinds of strange things. When Mr Groom returns drunk after being fired from his job, he goes outside and finds Mrs Harper in the shed, chopped to pieces (which is implied, but we dont see this onscreen) and he begins to throw up.
Susan tries to escape but Martin wont let her go. Suddenly, he sees his reflection in the mirror, he smashes it in the same area where he sees his own mature sexuality. He then breaks down completely and throws himself on Susan, kissing her, when she relents and scratches his face, he goes apeshit and tells her “shes just like all the others!”. Martin falls down, clutching her in one last attempt to gain her affection. The police barge through the door and drag him away.
We see through a window that Martin is now in an mental institution. He sings out Susans name over and over and over as the end credits roll.
Trailers:
Frogs
Alligator
Empire of the Ants
Humanoids From the Deep
Pirahna
28. EATEN ALIVE (1976) Eaten Alive was Tobe Hooper’s follow up to the smash cult hit The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). When Eaten Alive was released in Drive Ins and Grindhouses in the 70s it went by several different titles including: Brutes and Savages, Death Trap, Horror Hotel, Horror Hotel Massacre, Legend of the Bayou and Starlight Slaughter.
As the films credits begin we see a full moon, then a dissolve into the bronze belt buckle of a redneck jerk named Buck (Robert Englund). The first words out of his mouth are “Im Buck and I’m here to fuck”. We see Buck is in a whorehouse and wants some lovin’ right away. He even tries to get the poor hooker Clara (Crystin Sinclaire) with the bad blonde curly wig to get on the bed and try things in spots she doesnt want to explore. As he grabs her and orders her to comply because he “paid good money!”, the girl yells and refuses to go there. Suddenly, Miss Hattie (Carolyn Jones) barges in the door and instead of telling Buck to stop, she kicks the girl out of the whorehouse. As shes leaving, we see Buck is bringing 2 more hookers upstairs to get it on. Before leaving, one of the housekeepers, a black woman, gives Clara some money and tells her she can find The Starlight Hotel down the road and stay there.
When Clara arrives at the Starlight Hotel, which is right on the bayou, she gets a creepy feeling. She sees a shadow of someone lurking inside. She walks up to the door and enters and sees a strange old hippy looking fellow. This is Judd (Neville Brand), the owner of the Starlight Hotel. Judd has Clara sign his guestbook before he brings her to her room. When Judd and the girl get to the top of the stairs he starts to freak out and tell her he knows where shes from: shes a WHORE from Miss Hattys Cathouse. He theatreningly grabs her and she panics and runs down the stairs, Judd runs after her, they both trip and tumble down to the bottom. Dazed and confused, Judd ends up on top of the Clara, but she quickly gets up by kicking Judd off her and she runs out the door. Then with a furious speed, Judd runs after her, picks up his good ol’ pitchfork and goes off on her, wailing the pitchfork into her as blood squirts everywhere. This guy Judd is a freakin maniac!! After he calms down, we can hear Clara is gurgling and spitting up blood and she tries to crawl away, but Judd isnt finished with her. He picks her up and throws her over the porch railing into the bayou. His huge pet crocodile “Rocky” is hungry and he gobbles Miss Clara up like a piece of cake!
Clara’s father Harvey Wood (Mel Ferrer) and her sister Libby (Roberta Collins) arrive at Miss Hattie’s whorehouse looking for her. Miss Hattie explains that shes never seen Clara before. They then go down the road to the Starlight and meet Judd. Judd tells them he hasnt seen the girl, but they should see the police in town and try to find out what happened to her. When they arrive in town, they goto the police station and talk to Sheriff Martin (Stuart Whitman). He doesnt know what to tell them, but pretty soon Harvey Wood is back at the Starlight bugging Judd. Judd isnt in a good mood again so this time he picks up his sythe (the grim reapers favorite tool) and just wails the thing into the fathers neck. Seems the scythe is stuck pretty good, so Judd sorta drags the guy over to the edge of the porch and proceeds to have his pet croc rip the guy to shreads while being neck impaled on the scythe. Pretty quickly, Rocky is chowin down again, fillin up his belly with human meat. Judd goes upstairs and talk to Faye whos tied up. He wipes her face off gently with a rag and tells her it will be alright, but she doesnt believe him for some reason. Judd goes back down to try to get Angie whos still crawling around trying to hide under the hotel. This kid is like a human groundhog!
Clara’s sister goes back to the Starlight and gets a room, but she doesnt realize that Faye is tied up in the next room and Angie is under the hotel. Judd, dissapointed with the last missed kill, gets an idea. He goes to the edge of the porch and uses his scythe to lift up the wire fencing that covers the bottom of the hotel. As he pulls the wire fencing up, his pet Croc smells little kiddie and floats right on into where the little girl is hiding out. Now shes REALLY in trouble! Judd may be crazy but hes not stupid! Upstairs, Clara’s sister finds the mother and helps her get untied and frees her. Judd runs upstairs and goes nuts on both the women, he even throws poor Faye right off the second floor bannister onto the floor. Marilyn Burns ALWAYS gets messed up in Tobe Hooper’s movies!
One thing you will surely notice in this film is the use of color by Tobe Hooper and his Cinematographer Robert Caramico. It brings an EC Comics meets Mario Bava visual audacity to the film that is very interesting to look at. The reds, blues pop right off the screen. This film was also shot entirely on sound stages, so thats another reason the film has an alternate world/comic book atmosphere to it. The film has some slow spots, but its paced relatively well and the scenes with people getting killed and freaking out make up for the duller scenes.
While its not as popular as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive is a perfect example of fun 70s Grindhouse cinema. Tobe Hooper did a great job with what the studio gave him to work with and he crafted an atmospheric, colorful, gory horror film with lots of his trademark black humor and over the top craziness.
Trailers:
Lady Whirlwind (Billed as “Deep Thrust”)
The Kid With The Golden Arm
Masked Avengers
The Five Fingers of Death
(Martial Arts)
30. The Master of the Flying Guillotine (1975)
My reactions here:
<LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.tarantino.info/forum/index.p … 144.0.html”>http://www.tarantino.info/forum/index.php/topic,144.0.html</LINK_TEXT>
Trailers:
Blood Suckers
Women and Bloody Terror/Night of Bloody Horror
Anthropophagous
The Beyond
(Italo-Horror/Cannibal)
31. Eaten Alive (1980)
(First time viewing)
Thought I’d finally give this one a shot since the trailer had intrigued me for a couple of years. Not that it was a good trailer, but that it was perhaps the most incomprehensible trailer I’ve ever seen!
(I think the link for the trailer at “favorite Grindhouse/Exploitation trailers” still works. Check it out)
It’s got some scenes that takes place in different continents,along with some footage “borrowed” from other Gore-Italian movies, and it tries to mix up religious cults and cannibals! So of course, my fascination towards this was to see how it all could bridge together!
Suprisingly, for the first 50 minutes or so, I was surprised at how unusually nice this complicated scenario was handled. Right down to Janet Agren (The babe) and her introductory sequence (Taken right out of the SHAFT notebook. Complete with her strut down Times Square) and her rendevous adventure with the rouge, Mark (Played by Robert Kerman. Who also starred in the other 2 notorious Cannibal movies, Ferox and Holocaust. But Kerman is quick to point out that this was his favorite of the bunch to play in. Obviously because he was given a lot more to do compared with the other movies.
But seriously, the movie just falls to complete ruins towards the final act. As if the filmmakers lost the script somewhere in the jungle.
Me Me Lai and Paola Senatore (2 Chicks that have already graced my marathon in other movies) appear in this movie in supporting roles and look surprisingly aged and bored with the material that they’re given (Can you blame them,perhaps?)
But director Umberto Lenzi tries his best to keep the audience on edge by throwing the good ol’ shock-animal-cruelty footage just when he thinks the crowd is about to wander off. To his credit, some of this stuff is STILL tough like a seasoned vet for me to watch. If you kill an animal in an instant on film…Well, more power to ya. But if the animal is obviously still alive while it’s being gutted, then you lose the viewer from looking at the screen. But that’s what you were going for in the marketing department, right?
(Media Blasters DVD)
Trailers:
The Driller Killer
Confessions of a Psycho Cat
Thriller/They Call her One Eye (Billed as “Hooker’s Revenge/The Photographers Model” double feature)
Zero Woman-Red Handcuffs
(Mondo/Shockumentary)
32. Goodbye Uncle Tom (1971)
Well, judging by the trailers, it looked like I was going for a slasher/revenge flick to top the night off, eh? But at the last second, I felt like checking something different out, GOODBYE UNCLE TOM. Even though the Director’s Cut is the version I might have preferred since I haven’t viewed it in a while, I decided to go for the English version, the one that had the Deuce audience (The hardcore 42nd Street crowd) in shock and dismay–As documented in the book, Sleazoid Express).
And even to this day, the movie still strikes plenty of nerves.
It appears as a glorification of slavery at first, but ends with the visual depiction of Nat Turner’s massacre of the slave owners (Complete with the white-infant being smashed to pieces) and to top it off, it’s viewed as Italy’s version of “Fucked Up America”. As possibly exemplified in this SHORT FILM.
But seriously, I wanted to get past the more controversial relics of Grindhouse cinema and into the more “Goody” stuff til the end of the month. Hopefully I’ll be fully recovered by then.
(Blue Underground DVD)
Trailers:
Dracula Vs Frankenstein
The Muthers
Jungle Holocaust
Ebony, Ivory & Jade
[size=170][color=red] THE BLOOD ISLAND VACATION[/size]
[color=red]BRIDES OF BLOOD (1968) In 1959, Phillipino filmmakers Eddie Romero and Gerardo DeLeon first created their “Blood Island” tale for a film called Terror Is A Man aka Blood Creature. Almost 10 years after making that early film they decided to do more of the “Blood Island” movies. Brides of Blood (1968) was the first in a new trilogy of Phillipino horror chillers that took place on an island that usually had some kind of deadly monster who preyed on the unknowing guests and beautiful nude women that lived there.
Two scientists Dr Paul Henderson (Kent Taylor) and Dr. Jim Farrell (Beach Blanket Bingo’s John Ashley) arrive on the island along with Dr Henderson’s stunningly sexy wife Carla (Beverly Hills) to investigate stories about plant and animal mutation, a result of atomic testing in the Pacific Ocean region. When the guests arrive on the island they witness a funeral in which the corpses body parts fall apart on the beach. As the new guests of the island begin to find out things arent as normal as they should be. The native inhabitants of Blood Island are sacrificing young beautiful virgins to a mysterious creature who was created from radiation experiments. The island is a living monster as well, as trees and plants seem to come alive at any sign of disturbance in the dark woods of the island. This adds a great element to the films already mutated creature storyline.
This film is an extra special treat for lovers of Grindhouse-Drive In Cinema of the 60s and 70s. Filled with sexy nude women (you’ll drool when you see the buxom, lusty Beverly Hills in her black nightgown), ultra-gory attacks by the Blood Island Mutant monster and strange natives whos devilish pagan ways keep the films pulse throbbing throughout the films running time.
Directors Eddie Romero and Gerardo DeLeon brought a great style and exciting story to life with this low budget Phillipino production. If you want to see Drive In B-films at their best, definitely add this cult classic to your collection today!
[color=red]MAD DOCTOR OF BLOOD ISLAND (1969) With Mad Doctor of Blood Island, Co-Directors Gerardo DeLeon and Eddie Romero served up another tasty, trashy treat for all the young teens who attended the inner city Grindhouses and suburban Drive-Ins in the late 60s. The film begins with a really fun “Green Blood” prologue. Producer Sam Sherman came up with this idea as a tie-in to the films story featuring a deadly Green Plant Monster. If you don’t have any green blood on hand, make up a cold strong margarita and use that as your green blood instead.
60s film heartthrob John Ashley returns to the bloody proceedings this time as Dr. Bill Foster who travels out to “Blood Island” to investigate a chlorophyll disease thats spreading across the area. This time he is accompanied by Sheila Willard (the sexy Angelique Pettyjohn of Star Trek) a woman looking for her estranged father on the island. Soon we see that while she is looking for her lost father, the sexy Ms Pettyjohn has other things on her mind, namely Dr Foster. Sheila arrives and discovers that her father drinks a helluva lot to escape from the trouble on the island. Carlos Lopez (Renaldo Valdez) a protege of the family has lost his father “Don Ramon” so Sheila has agreed to take his widowed mother back to the mainland.
Meanwhile, a mysterious doctor named Lorca (Ronald Remy of The Blood Drinkers) is conducting strange experiments on the island. This Lorca guy may look like an Elvis-styled playboy, but hes sure one twisted joker. While he appears classy on the outside, underneath he is a truly demented freak! One of his guinea pigs err patients, Carlos’ thought to be dead father “Don Ramon” was ‘accidentally’ transformed into a deadly chlorophyl creature who is now terrorizing the island. The creature tears apart anyone it comes across and its not a pretty sight. The gore in this film is pretty heavy at times and any gorehound will enjoy the incredibly nasty attack scenes featured in the film. Theres also some real life animal slaughtering scenes featured in the film. Yes its tasteless and cruel, but hey, this is a Phillipino horror-exploitation film right? Mad Doctor of Blood Island is another strange, exciting, sexy, campy and gory thriller from the directing team of DeLeon and Romero.
Trailers:
Night of the Bloody Apes
The Fear Chamber
The Freakmaker
The Big Bird Cage
[color=red]BEAST OF BLOOD (1970) Beast of Blood begins with a bang as the half dead mutated “Green Blood” creature attacks a group of sailors on a boat returning to the infamous “Blood Island”. The Green Blood creature goes Krakatoa on their asses with what looks to be a large axe, but it may be just a big stick. It literally slaughters them all. What a great way to open a 60s Exploitation film!
While Beast of Blood takes place on Blood Island, the opening is really the last time we see the Green Blood creature as part of the main story. John Ashley returns once again as a scientist Bill Foster trying to find out the secrets behind the Blood Island deadly curse. Dr. Lorca (now played by Phillipino actor Eddie Garcia) claims he is now madder than ever. Lorca has also removed the Green Blood monster’s head which he keeps attached to a large electronic machine. His main goal is to use the Green Blood body and attach different heads to the monster.
While Lorca is performing his macabre experiments on the island, Ashley and his new companion, a female journalist played by Celeste Yarnall (co-star of the James Bond and Elvis films) find themselves in the middle of a new terrifying adventure as they follow Lorca’s henchmen lead by the bald Razak (Bruno Punzalan) into the islands Valley of Doom where they are confronted with the horrors of Dr Lorcas failed experiments.
Beast of Blood plays more like an action-adventure than a horror film, the Valley of Doom is filled with traps and the explosive climax of the film is an all out battle with explosions and gun fighting. This adds a really cool twist to the previous sci-fi horror theme of the previous Blood Island films.
Beast of Blood turned out to be the most successful film in the Blood Island series. With Eddie Romero taking over as the creative force behind the camera, audiences got an even more streamlined and exciting bloody cinema experience.
[color=red]BRAIN OF BLOOD (1971) In 1971, the producers of Blood Island films had no new Phillipino horror film for the new season, Director Eddie Romero was busy on another film at the time of Brain of Blood. He was working on a Women In Prison film called Black Mama/White Mama starring Pam Grier. Romero handed over the reigns to Sam Sherman and Director Al Adamson to do their own new film in the tradition of the earlier Blood Island series. Adamson and Sherman came up with a rather strange storyline for a film they titled Brain of Blood. While many critics thought this film was shot in the Phillipines like the previous films, it was actually shot in and around Hollywood. Another interesting note is that the score of this film was actually the same score used for Mad Doctor of Blood Island. This gave the film that certain Phillipino Blood Island audio touch some maybe didnt notice while watching it the first time.
In this new bloody tale, Dr Trenton (Kent Taylor) is in the middle of transplanting a brain from a dead former leader of the nation of Khalid named Amir (Reed Hadley). Hadley looks about as Middle Eastern as Johnny Cash!! The only problem is to keep his brain alive they have to put Amir’s brain into a disfigured hulking dope named Gor (John Bloom, the Frankenstein Monster of Adamson’s cult classic Dracula Vs. Frankenstein) and then things go wrong. The doctor must control Gor by using a strange laser beam gun which drives Gor crazy when applied. An interesting factoid is that Producer Sam Sherman wrote the film’s strangely modern script after Egypt’s President Nasser died. 30 Years later this story doesnt seem so bizzare: a Middle Eastern government not wanting to accept their leader’s death so they put his brain into another body.
Director Al Adamson delivered a great bloody film and even used several of Romero’s own previous Blood Island stars. Actor Kent Taylor was back onboard playing the evil Dr. Trenton as was midget actor Angelo Rossito (Freaks) as Trenton’s evil apprentice Dorro. Wait until you see this little guy act in this film. He’s hilariously funny as he terrorizes the evil doctors hostages in the dreary dungeon. When he inserts an IV needle into one of the girls arms and takes some blood from the her, it looks like Heinz ketchup dripping into his extracting jar. Also joining them in this new Blood film were Grant Williams (The Incredible Shrinking Man) Reed Hadley (Racket Squad) Vicki Volante (Horror of the Blood Monsters), Regina Carroll (Dracula Vs. Frankenstein, Adamson’s real life wife) and Zandor Varkov who played Dracula in Adamson’s Dracula Vs Frankenstein is also featured in this film as a devoted follower of Amir.
You’ll notice that the organs used in this film were real, and theres some very bloody operation sequences that take place. The blood looks like its from a fresh bucket of red paint (Hey! it IS red paint!) While the storyline is hokey as youd expect from a film of this time and budget, the cast did a great job, acting as sincerely as they could and Director Al Adamson brought a cool edge to the look of the film, utilizing alot of groovy close ups and gore FX. The make up FX were very primitive, it basically looked like the FX crew stuck a wad of chewed up bubble gum or Silly Putty on the actors head and let the chips fall where they would. The film is actually well paced and is a perfect film to kick back with as you have a few beers and just enjoy the overall campy low budget madness that unfolds in front of your eyes.
Trailers:
Hard Candy
The Beast
Blaze Starr Goes Nudist
The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet
(Sexploitation/Adult Animation)
32.Once Upon a Girl… (1976)
Live action is intercut with animation as Mother Goose goes on trial to “tell the whole truth and nothing about the truth” of what really happened in the children stories ofr Jack & The Beanstalk,Cinderella,and Little Red Riding Hood.
What this movie REALLY needed was some Bakshi-like humor because just throwing in sex act after sex act in each segment gets old awful fast. Plain and simple.
(Severin DVD)
LB: I have that one on DVD. I cant say I liked it as much as Bakshi’s work. It was pretty boring overall for me. I didnt even watch the entire movie.
Trailers:
Lady Snowblood
Karate Bear Fighter
Legend of the Eight Samurai
The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy
33. LONE WOLF AND CUB: BABY CART TO HADES (1972) When this film was released in America in the 1970s it went by the colorful title “Lightning Swords of Death”. One of the lines in the US trailer was “They threw an army at him and he threw it back, one piece at a time!”. That line says it all. Ogami Itto is a legendary character in Japanese cinema and he gets even more down n’ dirty with his Dotonuki sword in this film. Along with his baby son Daigoro, wherever Ogami travels, he leaves a VERY bloody mark!
Ogami Itto (Wakayama Tomisaburo) and his son Daigoro are still on the road after their first bloody adventure which took place because of the murder of Ogami’s wife and his confrontation with Retsudo and the evil Yagyu Shadow Clan. Ogami and Daigoro decide to take a small ferryboat, but theres no babycarts allowed on the small canoe, so Ogami drops it in the water and puts Daigoro in it. A girl on the ferry is upset and drops her bag in the water, but as it floats along, Daigoro (in his babycart) grabs the bag and saves it. Ogami then notices some ninja trailing behind the boat (reeds sticking up from the water) by using his sword as a mirror. Later while making their way through the woods, Ogami stops and Daigoro goes to the bathroom. Suddenly, Ogami whips out his sword and slashes 3 trees and the 3 ninja fall and Ogami kills them.
A group of men called Watari-Kashi (hired bodyguards) are chatting about their lives in the jobs they have. They are also looking for love and they want to get laid as soon as they can. When they spot a mother and daughter and husband walking through the village, they decide not to wait. They grab both the women and start to rape them. The husband gets beat down and knocked out. After the watari-kashi finish up, a lone samurai named Kanbei deftly kills the women and tells the watari-kashi that they must cover up this crime they committed. Kanbei grabs a thin tree branch and breaks it into 3 small sticks. Kanbei explains that the watari-kashi who gets the shortest stick will take the blame for the killing of the women. When one of the men draws the shortest stick, he panics and starts to run away, but Kanbei catches him with a sword slash down his chest. As the man dies, we see a familiar figure appear. Its Ogami Itto. Ogami has witnessed the deed that Kanbei has done, and Kanbei is weary about that. He speaks with Ogami and then challenges him to a duel to make sure his honor is protected. Ogami agrees, but before they start, Ogami changes his mind and tells Kanbei that they should call it a draw. Ogami believes Kanbei is a true warrior that deserves to live on. Kanbei is confused by this.
Ogami and Daigoro move on to the next village where they decide to stop and take a break at an Inn. They eat their delicious Japanese food quietly and enjoy some peace. In a nearby room, the girl from the ferry is with her guardian. He is trying to get her ready for her new job as a prostitute. He tells her that she needs to rub salt on her legs. As he rubs the salt on her body and thighs, he begins to force himself on her, he pushes her down and starts to rape her. He tries to kiss her and then she defiantly bites his tongue off and spits it on the floor. The girl fears she will be killed for this so she runs over to Ogami’s room and asks if she can hide out there. When the inspector of the Inn comes calling, he is looking for the girl but Ogami explains shes not there. The inspector hears a noise and slides open a door but its just Daigoro. The owner of the Inn comes looking for the girl, her name is Torizo. She explains that she is head of the group called Boohachimono (adult entertainers) the man who owned the girl was one of her employees and the girl must be punished for what she did. Ogami refuses to hand her over to Torizo. Torizo tells Ogami something must be done. Theres only one way to solve this problem. Ogami in a most amazing act of sacfrice agrees to submit to Torizo and her group and be tortured for the girls sake. The torture is called Buri-Buri, in which the offender is hung upside down over water and beaten and dunked in the water headfirst (this part of the film reminded me of a Spaghetti Western gang beating but in a Japanese setting). Ogami survives this bloody beating after being nearly killed. Torizo’s men are highly impressed by Ogami’s strength and realize hes not a regular man.
(cont’d)
After the torture is finished, Torizo brings Ogami to meet her father. He is a sick old man and Torizo explains that Ogami actually met him years before when he was the Shogunate Executioner where he lopped his arm off. Torizo’s dad requests a a favor from Ogami, who he knows his a great assassin. He explains to Ogami that one of his Clan’s former members named Genba turned on him and ruined his reputation by using his Clan as a pawn to get the job of Deputy of a region called Tootoomi. Ogami isnt totally convinced by his explanation but he accepts the job for 500 gold pieces. Ogami decides to meet Genba and find out just what happened between him and Torizo’s father. Ogami places some small amulets or stones as a message to tell Genba’s men he wants to meet with him. In the next scene we see a flashback in samurai/spaghetti western style just how Genba won the seat of the deputy of Tootoomi. When Ogami arrives, Genba asks Ogami to assassinate Itakura but Ogami refuses even after Genba offers him 500 gold pieces plus 500 after the job is done. Ogami gets up to leave, and Genba explains that he cant let Ogami leave alive after knowing his plans. Ogami leaves but he holds his sword up backwards as a sign of defiance. Genba sends some of his men to track Ogami down and kill him. The first man he sends is strangled and hung in a tree by Ogami.
Genba gets word of this and he decides to get a group together to hunt Ogami Itto. Ogami reaches a large deserted mountain area and he sees a very startling sight. Genba’s entire army is waiting for him on the mountain ridge. Ogami proceeds to tell Daigoro that they have now entered the Road to Hell. Meanwhile, the army think they will be easily triumphant over Ogami, but they dont know that he has come fully prepared. Genba tells the army to open fire on Ogami with arrows and as they aim and shoot, Ogami tells Daigoro to flip the shield in front of the cart to protect them. The massive amount of arrows bounce off. Genba then tells the army to proceed with their next method of attack: Guns! Before the Army can even get a shot out, Ogami hits another lever on the cart revelaing a Gatling like gun hidden inside, he opens up on the soldiers and begins to decimate them all! After the bullets are gone, the soldiers race towards Ogami swords drawn, and as they come closer Ogami heaves homemade bombs at them, hitting several and causing more damage. This battle becomes even more exciting as the Army comes at Ogami full force on horseback and on foot and Ogami fends all of them off using his edged weapons and then his deadly Dotonuki sword and his Suioryu (Horse Slaying) style! He slashes them all down with his extraordinary skills, flipping through the air as sword meets flesh and blood squirts everywhere. Ogami lets loose his fury with astonishing style!
After the last of the soldiers flees from Ogami in fear, an old aqquaintance shows up: Kanbei. Kanbei confronts Ogami and again challenges him to a duel. This time Ogami agrees. As the men get ready, they lift their swords showing their personal styles. While Kanbei holds the sword upright with his hand lightly on the blade, Ogami holds the sword in one hand at a slight angle. The men run at each other and take their swing. Ogami is slashed down the back, Kanbei hit him! Only thing is, when Kanbei looks down, he sees Ogami’s Dotanuki sword impaled through his torso. Looks like ol’ Ogami WAS faster! Kanbei falls to his knees and knows his life is over. Ogami walks towards him and they share a moment between each other as two true warriors. Kanbei tells Ogami about an incident that had disgraced him: Years earlier, he had left his leaders side to protect him and slayed a group of assassins by himself. This was seen as a shameful thing by his Leader and his Clan. When Ogami hears this he tells Kanbei if he was in his place he wouldve reacted the same way. Kanbei is comforted by Ogami’s words. Kanbei requests that Ogami execute him in honorable samurai fashion. So Ogami removes hos Dotanuki and as he pulls the sword out a large rush of blood sprays forth. Then, he raises his sword and slices Kanbei’s head off. We see the head roll into the dirt. This is the true way of the warrior. As Ogami and Daigoro leave the massacre behind and make their way through the countryside, bleeding and tired from the battle, we hear the bright-tragic Lone Wolf and Cub theme sung by Wakayama Tomisaburo. Its a great ending to an amazingly cool Pop Samurai classic!!
This is one of my top favorite pop samurai films. Babycart To Hades aka Lightning Swords of Death combines deep emotional Japanese drama with eye popping, blood spurting, sword slashing action. The film also flows perfectly with great acting, scenery, direction and samurai blood FX. You are sure to go nuts for the climactic battle between Ogami Itto and Genba’s army!
^That was the first LW&C movie I saw and thought it was a helluva introduction.
You know what, I’ve been slackin’ with this marathon ever since I saw that Grindhouse FX special, but late last night I got a nice, re-energized boost with a particular favorite ;D
Trailers:
I Drink Your Blood
The Mad Butcher
Female Prisoner #701-Scorpion
The Dorm That Dripped Blood
(“The world’s only turkey-monster-anti-drug-pro-Jesus gore film!”)
33. Blood Freak (1972)
Fact is, you haven’t truly lived unless you’ve seen this masterpiece! I just love talking about this one.
The movie opens with a narrator (And humble co-director, Brad Grinter) talking directly to the camera (We’re already off to a good start, right?) giving us the definition of a catalyst…Okay. Then we spring into the movie with the introduction of our biker hero/protoganist/lead guy,Herschell played by Steve Hawkes (Who recieves a starring credit not once, but twice!)
Hersch (Who resembles both Elvis and Wolverine, with a burnt left arm to boot!) then runs into a cutie who’s car has broken down off the highway. With no dialogue available, we take it that the gal (Angel’s her name) convinces Hersh to join her at a party that her sister’s attending. To make things short, we got a good sister, Angel, the bible-preaching goodie-two-shoes and Ann, who’s the opposite, Sex,Drugs,&rock’n’roll! But in the end, it’s Ann who ends up tracking and baiting Hersch for the kill. And while Hersch was reluctant to join in on the weed-smoking party in the previous scene, now all of a sudden, he can’t get enough of both the weed and Ann!
Welp, since it looks like Hersch is gonna stay in town. Might as well find a job. Enter the turkey ranch! But this is no ordinary turkey ranch! Hersch is soon introduced to two scientists (My favorite guys of the whole movie) who encourage Hersch to be a guinea pig to eat their chemically-induced, cooked turkeys! Oh, and a bonus supply of weed too! Can’t say no to that!
So what happens to you when you eat an experimental turkey to go along with your drug addiction?That’s right! You become a maniacal, bloodthirsty Turkey-Man! Complete with a plaster turkey head!
Alright, after that, the movie just becomes “Gobble,Gobble”*SCREAM!SCREAM!"Gobble,Gobble"SCREAM!SCREAM! But boy, if it isn’t a blast. It’s got all the production value of Manos and all the originality of…God knows what! What makes it most appealing is that this was all meant to be taken seriously. You’ve got the Christian theme with Angel (Which comes back to try to save the day in the end) and our narrator’s frequent interruptions telling the audience (Via script that he looks down and reads from) what’s wrong with the world today. And it all just did NOT work. Both in filmmaking terms,“acting”, and in story, the result ends up being a hilarious,twisted joke that you’ll never forget.
Believe me, it’s a unbelievable 90 minutes of your life. And even though the film’s “twist” in the end might not be satisfactory to some, just check out the final segment when we last see the narrator. What he says and what happens to him is a brilliant exclamation point to one of the greatest treasures in filmed history. You read that right.
Trailers:
Snake In The Monkey’s Shadow
Crippled Master
The Stranger and the Gunfighter
Fistful of Talons
34. BORN INVINCIBLE (1978) The ancient Tai Chi style is one of the most deadliest in martial arts. At the opening of the film we are introduced to Chia (Carter Wong), one of the two Chin Yin Chiefs who is a Tai Chi Master. We also learn that to become an invincible Tai Chi master one must start at a very young age. You must bathe in special lotions and eat special pills. Once the style is mastered the hair turns white and the voice tone becomes higher. The body turns into one solid muscle it can break almost anything. The fists can break stone. The energy of the style is at first concentrated in the head. Although the body is invincible, there are always secret weak spots which can’t be moved. This can be fatal to any Tai Chi master.
Chia is one of the two evil Chin Yin Chiefs. The other being Chin Pah (Lo Lieh). The Chin Yin chiefs send two evil thugs out to find an old man named Lu Chin. Lu Chin is an old enemy of The Chin Yin Chiefs and they want to kill him and his young daughter. While the two thugs confront Lu Chin, a local group of kung fu students see it taking place and one of the head students named Ming Chu defends the old man. The two killers battle Ming Chu and he isnt able to defeat them on his own. His uncle, one of the head teachers at the Lei Ping school shows up and fights the two killers. They are defeated for the moment, but they swear to come back and kill the Lei Ping school.
Lu Chin and his daughter are taken back to the Lei Ping school for safe haven. While they are resting, The Chin Yin Chiefs come to the school demanding Liu Chin to surrender or die. The Master of Lei Ping school decides to stick up for Liu Chin and he takes on Chin Pah with his sword. Chin Pah has a special baton with which he can grab the opponents sword and then have the chance to wound him. Chin Pah defeats the Lei Ping Teacher and is ready for the next opponent. When the old man sees that The Master gave his life for him, he decides he must fight the Chin Yin Chiefs himself. He challenges Chin Pah and after the old man proves hes no slouch with a sword, Chin Pah quickly calls in Chia to help him out. Chia and Chin Pah deftly take the old man out, but not without a good fight.
Ming Chu realizes that to defeat The Chin Yin Chiefs the entire school must train in the mountains where they can hide out for awhile. They retreat to the mountains, but their Master explained to them that theyt were punished for getting involved with the Chin Yin Chiefs, so they must refrain from training for 3 years. First thing Ming Chu must do is defeat the Chin Yin Chiefs, so he challenges Chin Pah to a fight. After Ming Chu kills Chin Pah, Chia finds out and the war is ON! Ming Chu then takes on Chia but is killed.
Brother Er tries to battle Chia, but hes defeated badly and almost killed. When Chia is fighting, he creates the Tai Chi insignia in the dirt with his foot. One of the female students tries to help Brother Er by fighting Chia herself, suddenly, in the middle of the fight, a strange white haired female appears and tells Chia to stop fighting and to live in peace. Chia agrees for the moment. The female Lei Ping student follows the white haired woman and asks her if Chia can be defeated. The white haired woman replies “When he’s not being himself”. Brother #3 comes to the realization that Chia’s weakspot is his throat, when he laughs loudly at his opponents in a mocking way.
One of the coolest sequences in the film is when Brother #3 is developing his strengths. He concentrates his breathing, so he is able to move logs hanging on a string by blowing on them. Then he takes steel ballbearings and puts them in his mouth, he proceeds to shoot them out at a tree with a tremendous pressure. With each shot, the steel ballbearings are embedded into the tree deeper and deeper. He also trains on a dummy throwing knives at the throat area.
In the dynamic climax, Brother #3 fights Chia and uses all his knowledge of the secrets of the Tai Chi style to try to defeat him including trying to hit his 80 pressure points with a thumb spike. After a long brutal fight, he mocks Chia’s high voice, it is really funny. Chia says “What did you just say?” and #3 replies in the same high voice “What did you just say?”. Chia starts to laugh, when #3 sees Chia laughing, he sees his chance and throws a knife directly in Chia’s mouth, in effect hitting his throat and striking his secret weak point. Chia dies. The Lei Ping school is safe once again.
One of the main things I really liked about this film was the way the entire Lei Ping school stuck together and used teamwork to defeat the Chin Yin Chiefs. I guess they had to seeing that Chia defeated each member that challenged him. Nevertheless, it made the story altogether more interesting and entertaining. The fight choreography is top notch as well. Yuen Wo Ping (The Matrix, Kill Bill) was the main choreographer and his setups are just as good as it gets. Born Invincible has a great mix of wushu sword fighting, hand to hand combat and ancient kung fu mythology.
One of the most entertaining and fun kung fu films I’ve seen. The kung fu choreography by Yuen Wo Ping is outstanding. Its a must see for any kung fu film fan. The DVD by Xenon doesn’t have any extras, but I enjoyed the film so much, I didn’t mind. I highly reccomend this kung fu film to genre enthusiasts.
Trailers:
Horror of Dracula
Brides of Dracula
Taste The Blood Of Dracula
Scars of Dracula
35. GANJA & HESS (1973) Released in 1973, Ganja and Hess was originally supposed to be a typical Blaxploitation film, but Writer-Director Bill Gunn, decided to go another direction completely. The result is one of the most unique and intelligently crafted films to come out of the 1970s cinema explosion. Note: It was the only American Film screened during Critics’ Week at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival where it recieved a standing ovation. When it first came out, it was hardly even screened in its original form. Kelly Jordan Enterprises (the company that produced it) were not happy with the arthouse nature of the film. They took the picture out of theaters after only a week and then recut the film from 110 minutes to 78 minutes to try to turn it into a typical Grindhouse-Drive In format. Writer Director Bill Gunn removed his name from the other version.
The film is a vampire story, but in no way a conventional one. Dr. Hess Green (Duane Jones) is a doctor of anthropology. While in Africa he was stabbed by an ancient Merthian dagger that was diseased with the plague of vampirism. He has returned to the USA and he has become a vampire who needs human blood to survive. Hess is falling deeper into the life of being a non-human, but tries to deal with the evil posession by attending church services in between killing and looking for blood by any means. There are no bats, no quirky transformations in the film, the vampires portrayed in this film are really metaphors for addictions everyone has, they need blood like junkies need heroin.
Hess invites a man named Meda to stay at his home. Meda (Bill Gunn) is suffering from depression and has suicidal tendencies. After telling Hess about his troubles, he tries to kill Hess, but when he fails, he shoots himself after taking a bath. When Hess finds his naked, lifeless body, he sees the blood puddle beside Meda on the floor and he drinks it greedily. He slurps up the blood like a man whos walked through the desert and found water. When Hess feels the need for more blood, he gets it any way he can. In one scene he drives to a doctors office and steals blood plasma bags right out of the medical refrigerator. Then he visits a local prostitute and kills her and drinks her blood.
When Medas’ wife Ganja (Marlene Clark) arrives at Hess’ home, things change. She is very beautiful and sexy, and Hess takes her under his vampire wing and they become vampire lovers. There are some very erotic sequences in the film, the film becomes not so much about vampires, more about the very nature of hungers, desires and addiction itself. Later, Ganja seduces another man and ends up killing him, while they make love covered in blood. The vampirism and erotic lovemaking continues and we witness the dark macabre world that Hess lives in. Now he has a lover to experience it with him.
Ganja and Hess is a very experimental film especially for the early 1970s and is definitely more of an Arthouse feature than a “Blaxploitation” film. Writer-Director Bill Gunn’s Ganja and Hess was revolutionary for black cinema in very much the same way that Mario Van Peebles and his film Sweet Sweetbacks Baadassss Song (1971) was.
Ganja and Hess is a very surreal film and its not going to be for everyone. Its very experimental and definitely not a typical Blaxploitation film. In fact its really outside of that entire genre and cant be classified as part of that era. I would reccomend this film highly for film students and for hardcore film geeks.