THE NAKED WORLD OF HARRISON MARKS (1967)
aka The Dream World of Harrison Marks
Article 4205 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 4-17-2013
Directed by George Harrison Mark
Starring George Harrison Marks, Chris Bromfield, Deborah DeLacey
Country: UK
What is is: Bizarre nudie

The life of photographer/movie-maker Harrison Marks is explored, and he is featured in several dream sequences.

Here we take another foray into the world of exploitation. Harrison Marks was a nudie director who must have made something of a name for himself, and if this movie is any indication (a fake documentary about himself as a photographer of beautiful women), he at least had some peculiar and offbeat ideas about how to approach his subject. Perhaps the most interesting thing conceptually about this one is that it deals with the subject of identity; there’s a lot of discussion about how Marks sees himself in contrast to how he is seen by others, and the dream sequences are sometimes his own, and sometimes those of other people. This is an interesting enough subject that I really wish his skill as a film-maker was strong enough to pull it off, but when you consider that his ultimate goal was probably to see how many topless women he could get on the screen, maybe it’s no surprise that the movie is more of a curious oddity than anything else. It’s the dream sequences that push this one into the realm of the fantastic, with the final sequence (a parody of a horror movie in which he finds himself in a script being judged for his faults by a vampire-like character) being the most notable in this regard. Let’s chalk it up to being another one of those odd types of movies that this project occasionally throws my way.

N.P. IL SEGRETO (1973)
aka N.P.
Article 4153 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 2-10-2013
Directed by Silvano Agosti
Featuring Francisco Rabal, Irene Papas, Edy Biagetti
Country: Italy
What it is: Dystopian political science fiction

An industrialist (who is on the verge of implementing an industrial automation solution that eliminates all workers) is kidnapped and brainwashed, and then left to wander the streets with a blank mind.

I had to rely on the Phil Hardy Overlook guide on science fiction for the above plot description; since my copy of the movie is in unsubtitled Italian, I found it nearly impenetrable, even with the plot description for help. I think the movie consists of roughly three segments; the first features the main character’s abduction and brainwashing, the second has him wandering around the city as something of a homeless zombie, and the third has him becoming a worker and being politicized. Still, I do have trouble telling what is going on most of the time; I found myself wondering during the brainwashing sequence whether some of the events were really happening or all in the character’s mind. I can catch certain distinct moments; I know that one sequence involves a visit to an automated Catholic mass, and I have a certain sense of what’s going on at the end of the movie. But not being able to understand Italian is a huge setback here, and even if I did, I might find the rather distracted directorial style would have made the movie difficult even if I did understand the language. So I’m going to have to withhold judgment on this one, though I do suspect that the movie isn’t quite as satisfying as it might have been.

NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CLASS REUNION (1982)
Article 4025 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 9-6-2012
Directed by Michael Miller
Featuring Gerrit Graham, Michael Lerner, Misty Rowe
Country: USA
What it is: Slasher comedy

A high school class reunion is crashed by a former student, the victim of a cruel prank, who went insane and now seeks revenge.

The most famous movie with the “National Lampoon” moniker on it is, of course, NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE, a movie that is considered a genuine comedy classic. I’m going to confess right now that, despite its reputation, that movie left me cold; I remember laughing twice at it. So if their acknowledged classic left me cold, how do you think I’ll feel about this one, which died at the box office and suffered from horrible reviews? For one thing, I’m not going on any campaign to change this movie’s reputation; outside of a single joke that raised a smile (and, much as I hate to admit, it’s probably the most disgusting joke in the movie), I found it obnoxious and desperate. The script (by John Hughes, who would go on to bigger and better things but had to start somewhere) is a major culprit, but not the biggest one; the sloppy execution and uninspired direction are what really sink this one. It’s almost as if the movie wants to get by on energy and good intentions without taking the trouble of actually trying to get individual moments to work. There’s lots of bizarre characters floating around (including a vampire and a former cripple who overcame her problem by making a pact with the devil), but the only ones I found genuinely amusing were the two stoners. It certainly doesn’t work as a parody of the slasher genre; it makes no good use of the various conventions and cliches of the form. All in all, this is just one big, loud, bad comedy.

NIGHT TERROR (1977)
TV-Movie
Article 3900 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-8-2012
Posting Date: 4-18-2012
Directed by E. W. Swackhamer
Featuring Valerie Harper, Richard Romanus, Nicholas Pryor
Country: USA
What it is: Thriller

A woman, forced to undertake a long night drive when her son is taken to the hospital, witnesses the murder of a police officer by a criminal. She then finds herself in danger of her life as the criminal sets out after her.

The casting of Valerie Harper as the female lead in this thriller is actually quite clever, though I didn’t realize this at first; I was a little put off by the fact that she played her character as an absent-minded ditz. But the characterization serves a dual purpose; for one thing, it gives us strong character reasons why her decisions during her ordeal are occasionally wrong-headed, and it also plays into a subtle feminist theme hidden in the movie, and which I didn’t realize until the final scene. I’m not sure whether the movie as a whole qualifies as horror or not; a lot depends on how you interpret the actions of the killer. An early scene establishes that he’s involved in some sort of criminal activity (the nature of which is never clearly stated), so his motivations may be purely to cover up a crime. But the movie also establishes that his hot temper causes him to engage in activities that might be termed “psychotic”, and the creepiness involved in the fact that he can only speak through a larynx box (used sparingly in the movie) does give the movie a horror feel as well. The plot itself is heavily reliant on coincidence; in fact, there are times where the foibles and setbacks of both the woman and the criminal give it all a slight air of black comedy. Nevertheless, it doesn’t keep the movie from working as a nifty thriller in its own right, and you’ll really end up admiring the resourcefulness of the heroine.

NEXT OF KIN (1984)
Article 3899 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-7-2012
Posting Date: 4-17-2012
Directed by Tony Williams
Featuring Jacki Kerin, John Jarratt, Alex Scott
Country: Australia / New Zealand
What it is: Unusual horror thriller

A young woman inherits an estate that has been converted to a rest home. However, she begins to find that events occurring on the estate are very familiar to those in her mother’s diary… and that the place holds a terrible secret.

I found this movie on YouTube, though I notice that the running time is a couple of minutes short of the time on IMDB. I mention this because this is the type of movie where a couple of missing minutes may actually matter a great deal in the enjoyment of the movie. The movie unfolds very slowly, almost like a character piece; it isn’t until the final third that it becomes a full-blown horror movie. Still, the movie does an impressive job of keeping an eerie atmosphere going even when nothing is explicitly happening; in particular, I like the way it uses water and water motifs to add to the sense of unease. My initial reaction after I finished watching the movie was that the first two-thirds of the movie doesn’t adequately prepare you for the horror of the final third, which initially feels like it comes out of nowhere. However, upon reflection, I sense it isn’t coming out of nowhere, and the user comments reflect that the mystery aspects of the story are as important as the horror aspects. This is why the missing two minutes could be important; since the movie doesn’t hand you information on a plate but makes you pay attention and put the pieces together, those missing two minutes could be crucial. At any rate, I’ll say this; though I can’t say I was totally satisfied with this one on first viewing, it is one of those movies that could indeed get better with a second viewing, and it’s interesting enough that I might just give it one one of these days.

NIGHT OF THE COBRA WOMAN (1972)
Article 3832 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-31-2012
Posting Date: 2-10-2012
Directed by Andrew Meyer
Featuring Joy Bang, Marlene Clark, Roger Garrett
Country: USA / Philippines
What it is: Bizarre snake woman thriller

During World War II, a nurse is bitten by a rare snake that gives her eternal life as long as she gets a combination of sex and snake venom to keep her going. However, new problems arise when her snake is killed and her supply of venom stolen…

Though I would hardly call this a “good’ movie (it’s badly directed and some of the acting is awful), the movie has such a bizarre premise and a strange story line that it almost becomes fascinating despite itself. The story eventually degenerates into confusion, but there are some grotesquely interesting moments, such as the scene where the cobra woman sheds her skin like a snake. At times it almost comes across as a comedy, but that may be due to the awkward direction. In fact, the whole movie comes across as awkward in one way or another, but somehow that just adds a bit more to the fascination. And let’s face it; any movie that features an actress named Joy Bang and an actor named Slash Marks (the latter’s only movie) is one to be reckoned with. Probably the most familiar face to me here was Vic Diaz, who popped up in THE BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT. Strange, strange, strange.

THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE (1971)
aka La notte che Evelyn usci dalla tomba
Article 3826 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 1-25-2012
Posting Date: 2-4-2012
Directed by Emilio Miraglia
Featuring Anthony Steffen, Marina Malfatti, Erika Blanc
Country: Italy
What it is: Horror story with twists and turns

A troubled Lord, haunted by the death of his wife, picks up red-headed prostitutes and kills them. Eventually he decides that he can escape the haunting if he marries again. But this starts a whole new chain of horror…

I’ll give this movie a certain amount of credit for continually managing to get more complex as it goes along without giving the game away early on. It starts out looking like it’s going to be like a sixties-style Italian horror movie (only with more nudity than they could get away with earlier), but it doesn’t stop there, eventually having as many twists and turns as a giallo. Still, though I admire the structure somewhat, I’m afraid I really didn’t find the whole journey a lot of fun, and once I think back on the plot as a whole, I start wondering about the purpose or necessity of certain scenes; for one thing, I’m not sure I can find a really good reason for the lord’s second wife trying to establish whether his first wife is still in her tomb. In the end, it’s a movie I more admire than like.

THE NEW HOUSE (1972)
Pilot episode of “Ghost Story”
Article 3789 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-18-2011
Posting Date: 12-29-2011
Directed by John Llewelyn Moxey
Featuring David Birney, Barbara Perkins, Sam Jaffe
Country: USA
What it is: A ghost story, of course

A man and his pregnant wife move into a new house. The wife hears strange sounds and believes the place to be haunted. She discovers the house was built on the site of a gibbet, and that the last execution there was from a young woman who was also buried on the site. Could this woman be haunting the house?

So why am I covering an episode of a TV show that isn’t even feature length? According to the John Stanley book, there was a TV-Movie called DOUBLE PLAY, which featured pilot episodes for two series – this one, and the one from the show “Movin’ On”. Why these two shows were combined in a single movie is beyond me; the other show was about two truckers and apparently had no fantastic content. Given that IMDB does not have a listing for DOUBLE PLAY, I chose to represent it in my hunt list by the episode from “Ghost Story”. When the pilot episode showed up within easy reach of me (I found it on YouTube), I did a similar search for the “Movin’ On” episode and came up blank. I made an executive decision; instead of holding up my review to find an episode of a TV show that had no fantastic content and that I wasn’t particularly keen on hunting down in the first place, I decided to watch the one with the fantastic content and be done with it. Yes, I suppose I’m cheating a little, but it’s not the first time.

The show itself was produced by William Castle (and I believe I caught him in a cameo early on) and was an anthology series, with a different story each week. If the ratings on IMDB are a gauge, this one was of average quality for the series. I wasn’t particularly impressed with it myself; the setup of the story seemed pretty rote to me, the attempts to add suspense seemed hackneyed (you know, where they try to make the final scenes scarier by having it take place during a thunderstorm) and the final twist was a little more silly to me than scary. Still, it might be interesting to see a few other episodes of the series just to see if they do something more with the framing sequences featuring Sebastian Cabot. As it is, I can’t place this episode on the same level as William Castle’s better movies.

NIGHT OF THE GHOUL (1975)
aka The Ghoul
Article 3771 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-29-2011
Posting Date: 12-11-2011
Directed by Freddie Francis
Featuring Peter Cushing, John Hurt, Alexandra Bastedo
Country: UK
What it is: House with a dark secret

A flapper gets involved in a road race that leaves her stranded at a mansion located in a marsh. What she doesn’t know is that the mansion holds a dreadful secret…and it may cost her her life.

There’s a scene in this film where the woman looks at a photograph of a woman who is supposed to be the dead wife of Peter Cushing’s character. According to the trivia section on IMDB, that photograph was of Peter Cushing’s real wife, who had died shortly before filming began. If nothing else, this explains why there’s something terribly moving about Cushing’s performance in this movie; the grief is very real indeed. I only wish it had been in a better movie. Plotwise, this is pretty standard fare; it’s of the “madman in the attic” variety, and there’s not much here that hasn’t been done before. It does, however, have a strong level of unpleasantness, at least partially due to John Hurt’s performance as a truly repulsive character. The biggest disappointment comes at the end of the movie; if you’re going to try to ratchet up the suspense value of not showing a character’s face throughout most of the movie, than you’d better be able to provide a good jolt when you do show it, and the revelation is truly anticlimactic.

NIGHT OF THE DEATH CULT (1975)
aka La noche de las gaviatos, The Night of the Seagulls

Article 3648 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 7-26-2011
Posting Date: 8-10-2011
Directed by Amando de Ossorio
Featuring Victor Petit, Maria Kosty, Sandra Mozarowsky
Country: Spain
What it is: Blind Dead movie

A doctor and his wife move their practice to a small coastal village whose residents treat them with open hostility. It is soon discovered they have a secret; they have been leaving young women of the village to be sacrificed by a cult of the undead.

When I saw THE RETURN OF THE EVIL DEAD, I took issue with the way Amando de Ossorio had changed the rules that dictated the actions of his undead minions from the first movie in the series. Now, having just seen the fourth (I have yet to see the third), I’ve come to the conclusion that he actually did something very interesting with this series; rather than having each movie follow the other in a logical succession, he seemed more interested in varying those rules and putting the blind dead in different environments. It ends up feeling more like “variations on a theme”, which keeps the movies in the series from becoming increasingly stagnant repeats of each other; each one feels different. I quite like this take on it; though it’s made of very familiar elements (the hostile village with a secret is hardly an original concept), it’s interesting to see the changes made to the blind dead to make it work in this context. Furthermore, the movie is quite well dubbed, and as always, there is something genuinely eerie in seeing those zombies trotting around in slow motion on their horses. My favorite scene has one of the zombies set on fire, but who then attempts to make one more attack before being consumed. I have to admit I’m looking forward to seeing the third in the series.