Haunted (1979)

HAUNTED (1979)
Article 3080 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-22-2009
Posting Date: 1-19-2010
Directed by Michael A. DeGaetano
Featuring Aldo Ray, Virginia Mayo, Ann Michelle
Country: USA
What it is: Ancient Indian shaman curse movie….maybe…

A small Arizona town suffers from a curse brought on by an Indian woman who was falsely executed by the townspeople. When a woman shows up who might be the reincarnation of the Indian woman, a crazed caretaker after some hidden gold decides he must kill her.

One of the first scenes in this bizarre horror movie has the phone company installing a phone booth in a cemetery. Why? Well, despite the fact that you’ll be asking that question (as well as most of the other characters in the cast), no answer is tendered, and that’s just the type of movie this is. Other weirdnesses include an organ-playing blind woman (played by Virginia Mayo), a series of wooden sculptures, and a series of microphones installed on a roof. It’s directed by Michael A. DeGaetano, who gave us UFO: TARGET EARTH, and you can tell; as in that movie, the story doesn’t make much sense, the dialogue is weirdly artificial, and you’ll be left scratching your head by the end of the movie. And, like UFO: TARGET EARTH, for some reason, I can’t quite bring myself to the point of just dismissing the movie as a ludicrous piece of crap; there’s something oddly hypnotic about his work, and some of the location photography is beautiful. It’s rating on IMDB is very low, and that’s to be expected; it’s marketed as a horror movie, and those expecting a good scare will really come up frustrated. In truth, I’m not sure what it is; there’s a chance its bizarre feel is a side effect of incompetence rather than of any intentional design. Still, if DeGaetano is a bad film-maker, at least he was an interesting one as well.

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The Mystic (1925)

THE MYSTIC (1925)
Article 3079 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-21-2009
Posting Date: 1-18-2010
Directed by Tod Browning
Featuring Aileen Pringle, Conway Tearle, Mitchell Lewis
Country: USA
What it is: A love story disguised as a crime story about mystics

Three gypsies are recruited by an American con man to take part in the bilking of an heiress. However, when the con man has a change of heart about the plan, he discovers the gypsies aren’t so ready to give up their share…

One of the gypsies plays the part of a mystic who can summon the dead, and the scenes involving her show are fun and eerie; this is what provides the fantastic content to this Tod Browning movie. The story itself is pretty clever; it’s fascinating to watch the way the various parties involved (the heiress, the con man, the police, and the three gypsies) play against each other, with the power constantly shifting from one party to another. Lon Chaney is not in this one, but that’s understandable; there really doesn’t seem to be an ideal part for him here. Aileen Pringle is a lot of fun as the gypsy woman/mystic; whether holding a seance, or casually eating food while the knife-thrower practices his craft with her, she’s a joy to watch. It’s one of those movies that is quite unpredictable, and it’s definitely one of Browning’s better efforts.

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Kill or Be Killed (1967)

KILL OR BE KILLED (1967)
TV-Movie
Article 3078 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-20-2009
Posting Date: 1-17-2010
Directed by William Hale and Herschel Daugherty
Featuring James Darren, Robert Colbert, Whit Bissell
Country: USA
What it is: Time travel movie cobbled together from two episodes of “The Time Tunnel”

Tony and Doug find themselves in Hawaii on the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor, prompting Tony to find out what happened to his father, who disappeared during the attack. Then they end up on an island near Iwo Jima, where they become the target of a disgraced Japanese kamikaze pilot.

All right, I cheated; I never actually saw this movie (which I couldn’t find), but rather, in lieu of that, I watched the two episodes from “The Time Tunnel” which were used for the movie, and tried to imagine how they would have been edited together. This was easy enough; they most likely came up with different opening and closing credit sequences and lopped off the end part of each episode in which the Time Tunnelers were whisked off to another time period and left in a cliffhanger situation. Rarely have I seen anything more elaborate done for this sort of movie.

The two episodes are “The Day the Sky Fell In”, and “Kill Two by Two”. I did a sort on IMDB of the episodes of “The Time Tunnel” on IMDB in ratings order, and realized that putting these two episodes together was a no-brainer; not only were they the two top-rated episodes of the series, but they both have a World War II theme. It’s easy to see why the Pearl Harbor story is a favorite; fans of a series generally like the episodes where we get personal stories woven into the action, and Tony does get to interact not only with his father, but with himself as a child as well. This episode works well enough, but clumsy writing blunts the effectiveness of the more emotional scenes. I actually like the other episode better, despite the fact that it turns into a rehash of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, with our heroes trying to escape the clutches of the mad pilot intent on hunting them down. What makes this one work is that the hunter/pilot has a more interesting backstory and motivation than is usual for this type of plot, and it was nice to see that the parts involving Whit Bissell’s character (i.e. the scientists trying to retrieve the two men lost in the Time Tunnel) amount to more than the usual hand-wringing about their frustration at their inability to rescue the men; it’s here that the backstory is fleshed out. Edited together it would have been watchable enough, though I doubt anyone would have been fooled into thinking it would have been anything more than two episodes of a TV show edited together. I do wonder if they kept the nifty theme music, though.

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Sweeney Todd (1970)

SWEENEY TODD (1970)
TV-Movie/Episode of “Mystery and Imagination”
Article 3077 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-14-2009
Posting Date: 1-16-2010
Directed by Robert Collin
Featuring Freddie Jones, Heather Canning, Leon Collins
Country: UK
What it is: TV-Movie adaptation of famous horror story… but with a twist

Sweeney Todd murders a customer for a string of pearls which he hopes will win the heart of the woman he loves. However, when he is spurned and forced to sell the pearls for money, he begins a descent into real madness.

This was an episode of a British TV-Series called “Mystery and Imagination”, but at 75 minutes, it qualifies as a movie, hence its inclusion here. The story is familiar enough, but this movie has a real twist to it, which I won’t give away here because it’s one of the great surprises of this version. Suffice it to say that you spend almost the entire running time of this movie trapped in the mind of Sweeney Todd himself, a mind given to sudden leaps in time and breaks in continuity. After a while, you’re not sure what is real and what isn’t, and it is this ambiguity that makes the movie work. Kudos must go to Freddie Jones, whose performance in the title role is profoundly disturbing; the rest of the cast also does quite well. It’s really rare when such a familiar story can be handled in a truly unique and interesting way, and this one succeeds very well.

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Zontar: The Thing from Venus (1966)

ZONTAR: THE THING FROM VENUS (1966)
TV-Movie
Article 3076 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-9-2009
Posting Date: 1-15-2010
Directed by Larry Buchanan
Featuring John Agar, Susan Bjurman, Tony Huston
Country: USA
What it is: AIP science fiction thriller remake, Larry Buchanan-style

A rogue scientist communicates with a creature from Venus who has plans to “save” the human race. Little does the scientist know the carnage that will result from his actions to bring the alien to Earth.

I’ll give this much to Larry Buchanan; he came up with a nifty title for this one. It not only inspired an episode of SCTV, but a fanzine as well, “Zontar, the Magazine from Venus”. Still, when it came time for the editors to come up with an accompanying image for the magazine, they bypassed the lame creature here for the silly-but-inspired vegetable creature from IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, which is the movie of which this is a remake. And, like the other Larry Buchanan remakes of AIP features, it stinks; one is especially aware of how the conviction of the cast in the original made much of the dialogue work despite its clunkiness, an advantage that this version of the movie does not have. I’m especially aware of how poorly Susan Bjurman does in the Beverly Garland role. Still, this may be the best of Buchanan’s AIP adaptations, for what that’s worth.

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Wolfman (1979)

WOLFMAN (1979)
aka Wolfman – A Lycanthrope
Article 3075 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-8-2009
Posting Date: 1-14-2010
Directed by Worth Keeter
Featuring Earl Owensby, Kristina Reynolds,Sid Rancer
Country: USA
What it is: Regional werewolf horror

A man returns to his ancestral home to discover that his father has died, and that he is the sole heir to the estate. However, the will has been forged in a bid by an evil devil worshiper to keep the son on the premises so he will inherit the family curse that will turn him into a werewolf.

This movie has a rating of 2.1 on IMDB, which means its reputation is pretty awful. It’s certainly not very good; the pacing is very slow and the acting is so low key that it practically vanishes before your eyes. Yet I have to admit to being charmed by the old-fashioned feel of the whole affair, and I also like that low-budget regional feel and obvious sincerity. Except for the added element of the curse being maintained by a devil worshiper, the plot is definitely by the numbers, but it shows more competence than your average Herschell Gordon Lewis movie, and it has a better sense of period than anything I’ve seen from Andy Milligan, and from my point of view, those are the type of filmmakers whose work this movie should be compared to. In short, I found it badly flawed and rather dull, but nowhere near as bad as its detractors maintain.

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Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (1971)
Article 3074 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-7-2009
Posting Date: 1-13-2009
Directed by Mel Stuart
Featuring Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum
Country: USA
What it is: Live-action children’s musical fantasy

A poor young boy desires more than anything to get a golden ticket to visit the Willy Wonka candy factory, which is a mysterious, perpetually-locked and forbidding place. When he does manage to acquire a ticket, he finds himself being tested for his honesty and goodness of heart.

I’ve not read the book by Roald Dahl, but my wife has, and she tells me that the movie doesn’t really capture the spirit of the book. Dahl himself was unhappy with this adaptation of his work (though he is credited as the writer, his screenplay was extensively rewritten) and refused the filmmakers permission to produce the sequel. I do smell the air of compromise here, and the movie does make me want to seek out the original book to get a sense of what it’s really like. Nevertheless, despite a few caveats with this production (I found only two of the songs memorable and only one pleasantly so, and the parts where the movie is obvious stand out noticeably when surrounded by the unpredictability of the rest of the movie), I discovered that I really like the movie and can understand its strong cult following. The first half is an often hilarious satire of ballyhoo, with the out-of-control media coverage of what is essentially a fluff story even more relevant today than in its time; this is definitely something that it’s easier to appreciate when you’re an adult. The second half is anchored by a brilliant performance by Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, who manages to achieve his acting goal of making his character utterly unpredictable while still managing to have a clearly defined character; his half-hearted calls of admonishment to the children who break his rules show us that he is slyly aware of and even eager to see their comeuppance. Several other great actors were considered for this role, but Wilder’s performance makes me glad he was the final choice. I also like the touches of Lewis Carroll and Dr. Seuss that pop up, and I always wonder if the tunnel sequence was influenced a little by a similar sequence in 2OO1: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Quite frankly, this movie seems to improve with time, though I do still hope to read the original book.

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Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965)

VOYAGE TO THE PREHISTORIC PLANET (1965)
Article 3073 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-6-2009
Posting Date: 1-12-2009
Directed by Curtis Harrington
Featuring Basil Rathbone, Faith Domergue, John Bix
Country: USA / Soviet Union
What it is: Russian science fiction movie given an AIP makeover

Astronauts land on Venus and try to survive while searching for intelligent life.

I’ve already covered PLANETA BUR, the Russian science fiction movie from which this movie has culled most of its footage. I’ve also covered VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN, another AIP movie that also culled extensive footage from PLANETA BUR. The main difference between this movie and that last one is that the new American footage is different; whereas that one featured Mamie Van Doren and her tribe of seashell-bikini-wearing women, this one features Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue mostly talking to each other over an intercom. The new footage here is less intrusive but less fun; in any case, it’s still the PLANETA BUR footage that wins out. If you’ve seen any of these movies, you’ll probably remember the scene of the robot carrying the two astronauts through the lava (my favorite scene) and the final revelation that shows that human life does indeed exist on Venus. Really, when you get down to it, you only need one of these movies, and I’d opt for PLANETA BUR.

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Voyage Into Space (1970)

VOYAGE INTO SPACE (1970)
TV-Movie
Article 3072 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-5-2009
Posting Date: 1-11-2010
Directed by Minoru Yamada
Featuring Jerry Berke, Toshiyuki Tsuchiyama, Hirohiko Sato
Country: Japan
What it is: Several episodes of a Japanese children’s science fiction show edited together to masquerade as a feature film.

A young boy hooks up with a secret agent and gains control of a giant robot (known as Giant Robot). He joins the agents organization known as Unicorn, and helps battle an invasion from outer space by the evil Emperor Guillotine, his minions (the Gargoyle Gang), and a variety of giant monsters.

First of all, who concocted that title? I suspect it was thrown onto the movie by someone who watched the opening thirty seconds and noticed a spaceship going through space; hence, the title. However, that’s just the flying saucer arriving on earth, and beyond a short sequence into the movie where the Giant Robot goes into outer space, there is nothing in the way of real space voyaging here. Still, that’s a side issue.

As said above, this movie consists of several episodes of a TV series edited together. The series is “Jonny Sokko and his Giant Robot”, and the five (not four, as some sources state) episodes are “Dracolon, the Great Sea Monster”, “Nucleon, the Magic Globe”, “Destroy the Dam”, “Transformed Humans”, and “The Last Emperor Guillotine”. It’s basically a variation of Ultraman with a more prominent kid’s role and continuing invasion from outer space theme. It’s pretty silly, but fun. Some of the monsters that show up include a bizarre plant monster, a giant bowling ball, a giant eye, and a giant version of the evil space emperor, who can blow up mountains with his fingernail. The Giant Robot looks like a metallic Lou Reed wearing an Egyptian headdress. The episodes encompass the first one which sets up the plot, and the last one (which finished the storyline), so it at least feels a bit more unified than some other attempts at this sort of thing. For this sort of thing, recommendations are irrelevant; I suspect that if you’ve read this far, you’ll know whether it’s your cup of tea or not. Me, I find it irresistible.

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Vampire Men of the Lost Planet (1970)

VAMPIRE MEN OF THE LOST PLANET (1970)
aka Horror of the Blood Monsters
Article 3071 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 10-4-2009
Posting Date: 1-10-2010
Directed by Al Adamson
Featuring John Carradine, Robert Dix, Vicki Volante
Country: USA
What it is: Black-and-white Filipino caveman movie doctored to look like color American science fiction/horror epic

Spacemen are forced to land on a planet in which chromatic radiation has caused mutations. They must find a way to get fuel or die.

Al Adamson does a Jerry Warren-style adaptation of a forgotten (and possibly uncompleted) Filipino movie called TAGANI. Since the original movie was in black-and-white, the scenes were tinted to make it look like it was in color, and new footage was added, much of which seems focused on trying to explain the monochromatic color schemes of the Filipino footage. It’s all a pretty awful mess, but, for the record, Adamson does a better job than Warren ever did trying this sort of thing; at least Adamson’s new footage isn’t utterly without interest value. The silly opening footage (with low budget vampires wreaking havoc on a badly lit soundstage somewhere) is amusingly campy, but it’s also been obviously tacked on. The new footage includes John Carradine (an old hand at this sort of thing), and Adamson regulars Robert Dix and Vicki Volante. When dubbing does take place in the Filipino movie, you’ll be hearing an awful lot of Paul Frees, often talking to himself. Let’s not forget the footage from WIZARD OF MARS and ONE MILLION B.C. either, and, yes, Rumsford and Ignatz reappear for a short reprise of their fight scene. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one sat on the bottom of double bills for years confusing people under a variety of different titles.

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