The Green Archer (1961)

THE GREEN ARCHER (1961)
aka Der grune Bogenschutze
Article 3770 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-28-2011
Posting Date: 12-10-2011
Directed by Jurgen Roland
Featuring Klausjurgen Wussow, Karin Dor, Eddi Arent
Country: West Germany
What it is: Krimi

A phantom known as the Green Archer is on the loose, knocking off people with his green arrows. But is he fighting against an American businessman in England, or for him…?

Some krimis I enjoy; they can be fun and atmospheric at their best. However, some, like this one, can be frustrating. The problem here is that there are just too many characters, many of which aren’t established strongly enough to stick in the memory from scene to scene. There are also a wealth of subplots to further complicate things. Finally, there’s the fact that the story threads are usually kept a secret until the end of the movie. Here we have a businessman (played by Gert Frobe) who is keeping a woman locked in a secret room in his house, whose son is believed to be dead and whose daughter the businessman is trying to dispose of. Not knowing why this is all happening wouldn’t be quite as maddening if the plot wasn’t wandering all over the place; after a while you don’t know which characters are really important, even if you can remember them from one scene to the next. Furthermore, the title character appears so rarely during the first two-thirds of the movie that it’s rather jarring in the last third that he’s all over the place. But, I’ve seen enough krimis now to know that some of them end up like this.

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Galaxina (1980)

GALAXINA (1980)
Article 3769 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-27-2011
Posting Date: 12-9-2011
Directed by William Sachs
Featuring Stephen Macht, Avery Schreiber, J.D. Hinton
Country: USA
What it is: Not sure, but it thinks it’s a comedy

A police ship is sent to a distant planet to retrieve the Blue Crystal, a gem of incredible power.

Before this movie premiered, actress Dorothy Stratten (who, despite being fourth-billed, plays the title character) was shockingly murdered by her husband, a story that is told in the movie STAR 80. I mention this fact because that seems to be the fact for which this movie is most famous. And, having seen the movie itself, that’s perhaps as it should be. Stratten wears a handful of sexy costumes, which I’m sure will be considered a plus by some people. The only other plus I can think of for this movie is that it has lots of alien creatures in it. It’s certainly not going to be remembered for its plot, which, if summarized, would have trouble filling out an index card. It’s not going to be remembered for its jokes; the ones that aren’t a hundred years old are stillborn, and the comic timing is so horrid that even those jokes that might have potentially worked die a horrible death. If you’re trapped into watching it, you might amuse yourself at spotting the subtle and not-so-subtle references to other science fiction movies and TV shows. The “R” rating seems to be mostly the result of an unnecessary plethora of badly-integrated cussing. By the way, that’s Angelo Rossitto in the costume of the monster from the egg. This one is truly awful.

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The Flying Saucer (1964)

THE FLYING SAUCER (1964)
aka Il disco volante
Article 3768 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-26-2011
Posting Date: 12-8-2011
Directed by Tinto Brass
Featuring Alberto Sordi, Silvana Mangano, Monica Vitti
Country: Italy
What it is: Satire / Black comedy

A small Italian town has undergone a rash of flying saucer sightings. But will any of those actually viewing the saucers and meeting the inhabitants be believed?

I’m not quite sure yet how I feel about this one. It is nice to be watching an Italian comedy that is dry and dark rather than one that is maniacally over the top, but I did find myself wondering if some of the humor simply didn’t translate well in the dubbed version I saw. It’s also a little hard to classify; I used the term “black comedy” above, but it’s not near as consistently dark as other movies for which I’d use the term, yet it’s hard to not feel the inherent darkness to the story when several characters are forced to undergo electroshock therapy because of their claims to have seen the saucers. The downbeat ending seems a little simple and obvious to me, but it is rather interesting to see how the four characters played by Alberto Sordi all end up trapped by the situation, and the movie does leave you guessing at times. Still, my favorite plot situation has to do with Silvano Mangano’s widow, whose scheme to make a fortune off the situation backfires largely as a result of her own scheming. And I found the tale of the drunken priest rather bittersweet. Overall, it’s flawed, but rather interesting.

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Fire and Ice (1983)

FIRE AND ICE (1983)
Animated Feature
Article 3767 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-25-2011
Posting Date: 12-7-2011
Directed by Ralph Bakshi
Featuring the voices of Randy Norton, Cynthia Leake, Steve Sandor
Country: USA
What it is: Epic fantasy, sword and sorcery style

The only surviving warrior of a destroyed town tries to save a princess who has been kidnapped by an evil sorcerer.

Of the four Ralph Bakshi movies I’ve seen for this series, this is easily the most cohesive stylistically. That’s probably because its intent seems pretty clear, which is to bring a Frank Frazetta painting to life, and since Frazetta himself was present as part of the creative team for the movie, it manages to keep itself focused on that goal. The story is a pretty standard compendium of Sword and Sorcery cliches, but I would imagine that fans of the form would be satisfied; after all, there really hadn’t been a lot of cinematic examples of the subgenre. Still, though it’s often used to good effect her, I did find myself pondering somewhat the limitations of rotoscoping. At any rate, I do think the movie works better than WIZARDS.

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Fiend (1980)

FIEND (1980)
Article 3766 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-24-2011
Posting Date: 12-6-2011
Directed by Don Dohler
Featuring Don Leifert, Richard Nelson, Elaine White
Country: USA
What it is: Low budget regional horror

A man is suspicious of his new neighbor – a creepy violin teacher. What he doesn’t know is that the teacher is actually a resurrected corpse who has to kill to keep his body from decaying…

I’ve encountered director Don Dohler before with THE ALIEN FACTOR. His movies are threadbare and silly, and if you want to pick out examples of bad acting, plot holes, bad special effects, etc., his movies will give you plenty of opportunities. Yet I must admit that I’m charmed somewhat by his movies; though I can’t quite put my finger on it, there’s something rather likable about them. I get the feeling Dohler loved making these movies, and somehow that comes through in the movies themselves. He’s the kind of filmmaker that makes me feel that if he could make a movie, so could I, and that the whole process would be rather fun. And that’s something that really makes his cheap and cheesy films worthwhile.

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Arabian Adventure (1979)

ARABIAN ADVENTURE (1979)
Article 3765 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-23-2011
Posting Date: 12-5-2011
Directed by Kevin Connor
Featuring Christopher Lee, Milo O’Shea, Oliver Tobias
Country: UK
What it is: Reheated Arabian nights

A prince, wishing to marry a beautiful princess, is sent out on a quest by an evil sorcerer to bring back a magic rose; the sorcerer believes it will give him ultimate power. However, the only one who can reach the rose is a little beggar boy…

Given the reviews I’ve read of this one, I was expecting the worst; however, though it is pretty weak, it’s not as bad as all that. In its own threadbare way, it’s trying to be the STAR WARS of Arabian nights movies, but it’s badly crippled by a criminally underdeveloped script. Most of the characters are not developed past their role in the story; the hero is a hero, the female love interest is female love interest, the evil villain is an evil villain, the toady is a toady (and a toad as well before all is through); in short, the script gives them no character past these functions. It’s really noticeable in the comic characters; both Milo O’Shea’s toady and Mickey Rooney’s inventor are supposed to be comic roles, but neither one is given anything funny to say or do; Rooney in particular is left with little to do with his role other than cackle maniacally. The story itself is just another variation on THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, but I think the movie works best when it comes up with sequences that I haven’t really seen in other Arabian Nights movies; the scene where the evil sorcerer summons up a wind storm to defeat some revolutionaries, and the scene involving the inventor’s workshop inside the volcano are real visual highlights in the movie. Other special effects sequences fall flat; in particular, the battle on the flying carpets near the end of the movie is muddled and unexciting. There’s a number of name actors in the movie, but they’re mostly wasted in unmemorable roles. If it weren’t for the aforementioned visual highlights, this movie would be a total waste of time.

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The Prowler (1981)

THE PROWLER (1981)
Article 3764 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-22-2011
Posting Date: 12-4-2011
Directed by Joseph Zito
Featuring Vicky Dawson, Christopher Goutman, Lawrence Tierney
Country: USA
What it is: Slasher movie

In 1945, a girl and her boyfriend are killed during a graduation dance. 35 years later, the graduation dance is revived for the first time since the murder… and the murders start up again.

Back when I covered GRADUATION DAY, I commented on how several of the reviews I’d read proved to be highly inaccurate, with the one in the John Stanley book going on about a backstory that did not exist in that movie. I hypothesized then that he was probably confusing that movie with another one. Well, the mystery is solved; he was confusing it with this one, probably due to the fact that one of the alternate titles of this one is THE GRADUATION. For the record, this is indeed one of the better slasher movies out there; in the way it actually works hard to build up suspense and in the way it eschews the use of a lot of typical slasher cliches, it actually shows up how lazily written so many movies of that genre were. Not that the movie doesn’t have its flaws; there’s a few plot holes to be reckoned with, some awkward moments, and a bit of muddiness near the end of the movie. Still, it’s probably the best one I’ve seen since MY BLOODY VALENTINE, and the fact that the acting is generally very good throughout is another plus. There’s even some fun character moments, such as a scene with a lazy desk clerk that sticks in the memory.

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Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow (1963)

DR. SYN, ALIAS THE SCARECROW (1963)
Article 3763 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-21-2011
Posting Date: 12-3-2011
Directed by James Neilson
Featuring Patrick McGoohan, George Cole, Tony Britton
Country: USA
What it is: Feature version of TV episodes

A vicar has a secret identity known as the Scarecrow, a smuggler who fights the tyranny of the government and helps the poor people of the village. He is forced to match wits with a ruthless general who intends to bring him to justice.

When this movie first entered my hunt list, there was no listing for it on IMDB. However, since the movie is edited together from a series of episodes of Disney’s “The Wonderful World of Color” entitled “The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh”, I substituted those episodes for the movie, and when I acquired those episodes on DVD, I watched them. Recently, the title popped up again on my hunt list because IMDB had, in the interim, made a listing for the movie version, and since the movie version was also available on the DVDs, I decided to go ahead and review this version as well.

As I stated in my previous review, this was far from an unpleasant experience; I enjoyed it the first time I saw it, and I enjoyed this version as well. Its condensation to a single feature seems to have mostly been accomplished by largely removing the first of the three episodes from the mix, which makes sense; the second and third episodes make for a smoother single story. I like the same things as before (McGoohan’s performance, the excellent masks, the lack of cuteness, etc), and, like before, I must admit that the fantastic content consists of little more than the fact that those masks are so effectively scary. Enjoyable, but ultimately it’s pretty marginal.

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Don’t Open the Door! (1975)

DON’T OPEN THE DOOR! (1975)
Article 3762 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-20-2011
Posting Date: 12-2-2011
Directed by S.F. Brownrigg
Featuring Susan Bracken, Larry O’Dwyer, Gene Ross
Country: USA
What it is: Psycho killer

A woman gets an anonymous phone call telling her that her grandmother is on her deathbed. She returns to her grandmother’s home town (where her own mother was killed years ago) to take charge and make sure her grandmother gets the care she needs. Unfortunately, she finds herself the target of a psycho killer who makes obscene phone calls to her.

I will give S.F. Brownrigg some credit; he does know instill a truly creepy air in the proceedings, sometimes merely by casting people who really look right for their parts. And though you’ll figure out who the killer is fairly quickly (the movie really isn’t trying very hard to hide it), you’ll find all of the people hanging around the grandmother’s house have a pretty sleazy and unsettling feel to them. Still, if he’s good at that creepy low-budget feel, he’s less impressive in the story department, and not only does this movie leave too many unanswered questions in its wake, but after I while I find myself losing my patience with characters who consistently make the stupidest choices imaginable in their positions. Brownrigg is most famous for having helmed DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT; this one ends up not being near as bloody or near as interesting, though it does have its moments. It even has a choice bit of dialogue where the attorney quotes a line from Lewis Carroll. Nevertheless, despite the movie’s flaws, Brownrigg is a much stronger director than fellow Texan Larry Buchanan, with whom he worked before he moved into directing. Incidentally, the title is meaningless.

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Dogs of Hell (1982)

DOGS OF HELL (1982)
aka Rottweilers: Dogs of Hell
Article 3761 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-19-2011
Posting Date: 12-1-2011
Directed by Worth Keeter
Featuring Earl Owensby, Bill Gribble, Robert Bloodworth
Country: USA
What it is: Regional horror movie

The military has been experimenting with rottweilers to see if they can be developed to take the place of army troops. When a transport carrying some of the dogs crashes, they get loose and terrorize the residents and visitors in a mountain resort town.

Much as I admire the attempt to work at character development in a movie, to do it effectively requires a certain level of competence in both the acting and the writing departments, and I’m afraid that the talent in this movie isn’t quite up to the task from either angle. As a result, the first twenty minutes of this movie is a real snoozefest, but once the accident occurs and the dogs get loose it becomes… well, not good, but, if you take into account we’re dealing with low-budget regional horror, it becomes passable. Which is not to say the movie doesn’t have major problems after that point; it has quite a few moments when people act with real stupidity, there are a number of silly lines of dialogue, and the movie keeps trying to instill some more clumsy character development. Nevertheless, it’s sporadically entertaining enough to get by. It was filmed in 3D, though as far as I can tell, the movie uses the gimmick sparingly. My favorite line: “That catfish in there was bigger than Dolly Parton’s latest hit!” – I must admit that I wasn’t expecting those two last words.

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