Ben (1972)

Directed by Phil Karlson
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Prism Entertainment)

The sequel to the psychological horror of Willard is nothing more than a bad 70s disaster movie dressed up as horror. This time Ben befriends an obnoxiously cute little kid with a heart condition. When he is not playing in the garage with his puppets or making up songs on the harmonica he follows Ben down into the sewers. Mostly though the police and fire departments are trying to find the source of the rat plague as the citizens mass panic. There is a big finale with flame throwers. Michael Jackson coos the theme song as Ben is nursed back to health by the little kid, apparently the lone survivor of the onslaught.

Willard (1971)

Directed by Daniel Mann
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Prism Entertainment)

Bruce Davison plays Willard, the most tortured mama's boy since Anthony Perkins in Psycho. His boss Ernest Borgnine pushes him around at work and covets his house, mom is bedridden and harasses him to do housework and he can't seem to connect to the cute secretary Sondra Locke. He befriends some rats in the back yard, eventually bringing them inside where they quickly multiply and take over his life. He trains them to take orders and wastes no time in sabotaging his boss's birthday party. Later, he takes it even further and has the rats kill his boss at work in the movie's most memorable scene. The lead rat, Ben, seems to possess some kind of intelligence and wants to reverse the pecking order. Willard refuses, leading to a rather predictable ending.

Voodoo Man (1944)

Directed by William Beaudine
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend Films)

George Zucco diverts traffic from the gas station down a lonely dirt road, where John Carradine and his henchmen kidnap lonely young girls from their cars and brings them to the isolated mansion of Bela Lugosi. In the house, Zucco dons a witch doctor costume and chants, Carradine plays bad bongo music and Lugosi hypnotizes the women in an attempt to reincarnate his dead wife who is sitting right beside him. It doesn't work, so they repeat the process again with different girls. Eventually the police catch on and put a stop to it. The movie is also self referential, with producer Sam Katzman playing producer SK, who likes the story so much he decides to make a movie out of it.

The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954)

Directed by Edward Bernds
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall are a dumb, poor man's Abbott and Costello. Gorcey intentionally mispronounces words for comic effect while Huntz plays up the dumb angle. They go to the mansion of the wealthy Dr. Gravesend to get permission to use his vacant lot for a baseball field. Instead, a couple of scientists go after their heads, one to put in a gorilla the other to put in a robot. Grandma feeds a man-eating tree in the hallway. A sexy brunette daughter is a vampire. It's occasionally entertaining but too juvenile to make much of an impact.

Carnival Magic (1981)

Directed by Al Adamson
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

Markov the Magnificent has a magic act in a small-time carnival. He doesn't draw many people to his show and is constantly upstaged by the wild animal tamer and his tigers. He keeps a talking chimp in his trailer but doesn't tell anyone until he is fired. The new act becomes a huge success, but leads to other problems, such as a scientist who will stop at nothing to study the chimp. There is also some romantic drama involving the alcoholic animal trainer and the daughter of the carnival owner. The chimp mostly talks in monosyllables and likes to crack one-liners. It's played seriously, I think.

Two on a Guillotine (1965)

Directed by William Conrad
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Connie Stevens stands to inherit a fortune if she can spend a week in the haunted mansion of her recently deceased magician father. Reporter Dean Jones noses his way in to her house in search of a story, but the two fall in love. In fact, most of the run time is concerned with their romance rather than any kind of scary horror. Jones is one dimensional and not much of a romantic lead. Cesar Romero, as the magician, appears in the beginning and again at the end, far too briefly.

The Sports Killer (1978)

Directed by Jeremy Hoenack
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Shriek Show/Code Red)

A serial killer is on the loose in San Francisco. He picks up teens hitchhiking home from the local public swimming pool. It's not hard to spot him: he wears a wig with wild curly hair, a huge fake moustache and sunglasses at night while talking to young teenage girls. Nonetheless, the police are mostly inept but very lucky. The investigating detective hangs around at the pool as well, has his suspicions and follows our man home. They set up an undercover sting using his girlfriend, but leave her alone at a crucial moment. It plays mostly like a TV movie, with too much time spent on the romantic life of the policemen, but has a memorable downbeat ending.

The Entity (1981)

Directed by Sidney J. Furie
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Fox Movie Channel)

Barbara Hershey is beaten and raped by an invisible demon in her home. At first she shrugs off the experience as a bad dream, but when it happens again she goes to a shrink. Obviously he doesn't believe her invisible man stories but they keep happening, resulting in real bite marks and bruises. She calls in some parapsychologists who set up monitoring equipment in her home. They come up with an elaborate plan to trap the demon in ice, but it backfires nearly killing everyone. The demon eventually leaves on his own accord. It's unabashedly exploitative and derivative of the previous year's superior Poltergeist, but the story line, and especially Hershey's performance in a difficult role, kept me interested throughout. A lively and creepy score by Charles Bernstein helps with atmosphere.

Crescendo (1970)

Directed by Alan Gibson
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

Stefanie Powers is a graduate student doing research on a composer in France. She is staying at the villa of his ex wife and son, wealthy socialites, who welcome her with open arms. The son, who is wheelchair-bound, has nightmares about the accident that paralyzed him from the waist down. He's also a heroin addict and has mom and the maid give him his fix. Stefanie falls in love with him, leading to complications. A soap opera plot twist at the end involves an identical twin. Stylishly directed and good classical music on the soundtrack, but ultimately too much melodrama and derivative of Psycho.

The Flesh and Blood Show (1972)

Directed by Pete Walker
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Shriek Show)

Actors are summoned to a mysterious old theater on a pier in the south of England. The young thespians waste no time in getting naked and fooling around. A corpse is discovered in the basement, beheaded by a guillotine prop. The police are called but all they find is a wax dummy. More killings occur and the mystery deepens. The resolution was originally presented in a 3D segment, but on the DVD is in black and white, which actually works quite well since it is set 30 years prior. It's a competent if undistinguished mystery/thriller from Pete Walker and company, although the theater itself is the main attraction.

Nightmare in Blood (1978)

Directed by John Stanley
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

Regional horror flick set mostly in an old movie palace in San Francisco. It's directed by John Stanley who hosted the San Francisco area Creature Features on local TV. A horror convention is being held in the movie palace and the appearance of horror icon Malakai is the main attraction. Malakai is a Bela Lugosi-type figure who remains in his vampire character even in real life. Maybe he is a vampire? He's got a couple of henchman providing him with fresh blood, who turn out to be none other than the original Burke and Hare body snatchers from London. They are being pursued by a vampire hunter called "The Avenger". It's not nearly as interesting as it sounds. However, there are plenty of classic movie posters to ogle in the background and a "movie within the movie" that is better than anything in the real movie.

The Ballad of Tam Lin (1970)

Directed by Roddy McDowall
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Republic Pictures)

Ava Gardner invites swinging young Londoners to stay at her mansion for free. They play frisbee on the grounds, have their fortunes told and indulge other selfish pursuits. One of them wanders into the nearby town and gets a girl pregnant. Gardener is insane with jealousy since he is her current favorite and lover. Boy and girl plan to escape together and get married but Gardner drugs him and sets her coven after him on a high speed chase. He begins to hallucinate and turns into a bear and fights a giant snake in the swamp (as a man not a bear). The only film ever directed by Roddy McDowall is ambitious but overlong, mainly due to a middle section where nothing much of interest happens, and then there is that head-scratching ending.

Nocturna (1979)

Directed by Harry Hurwitz
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Meda Home Entertainment)

Nai Bonet's disco vampire vanity project is a lot of fun. She looks great but is a horrible actress, practically reciting her lines. Even old pros John Carradine and Yvonne De Carlo look uncomfortable, although they get to end the film together in a coffin. It's best just to forget the plot or acting and soak up the New York City disco atmosphere. Much of it takes place at a real disco called "Star Ship", the "t" of which serves as an improvised cross to take care of Count Dracula himself. Disco dancing is given extended screen time and is absolutely hilarious.

Point of Terror (1971)

Directed by Alex Nicol
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Scorpion Releasing)

Peter Carpenter does a very good Tom Jones impersonation as the featured singer at a local Lobster House restaurant. His red fringe outfit and Vegas style act, complete with lights and an aluminum foil background, are something to behold. It is a sordid story told many times...people using other people to get what they want. Peter wants to be a pop star so sells his body to Dyanne Thorne, who happily obliges since she not only owns a record company but has a paralytic husband. Peter gives up his current girlfriend for Dyanne, but eventually falls in love with her daughter in a soap opera plot twist. You know someone has to die and there are plenty of motivations among the characters. It is a well-photographed melodrama with a Pacific coast vibe, numerous sunsets and midnight swims, but other than one bloody knife murder not really a horror movie. The Scorpion release is spectacular in all respects.

The Possessed (1977)

Directed by Jerry Thorpe
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Archive Collection)

An all-girl's school is having problems with spontaneous combustion. The police can't figure it out, so they call on an ex-priest. His back story is shown at the beginning of this made-for-TV movie, where he comes off looking like some kind of religious superhero assigned by God to seek out and destroy "evil". He arrives at the school and asks some obvious questions that the police seemed to overlook. Joan Hackett is the head mistress and Harrison Ford is the Biology teacher. Ann Dusenberry is the cute student around which the evil seems to revolve. The ending features Hackett doing her best Linda Blair impersonation, spewing liquids and nails at the hapless priest.

The Hanging Woman (1973)

Directed by Jose Luis Merino
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Troma)

Serge has inherited a house in a remote village of the Scottish highlands (really Italy). The inhabitants of the house include an aunt who practices black magic, a scientist who experiments with reviving the dead in the basement and a servant who collects dead bodies in the cemetery next door. When murder is committed all of them become suspects. A fairly boring mystery for most of the run time, it's only when the zombies appear in the last 20 minutes or so that things get kind of interesting. It's poorly photographed in harsh lighting and has washed out color. The village is depressingly dirty and authentic but not really atmospheric. The Troma release is disappointing: full screen and trimmed on the edges (credits are missing on the sides), dubbed in English, soft picture, tape rolls, but does includes a decapitation scene that has been inserted with a different (even worse) print quality. It might be a better film if restored, OAR and original language.

Crimes at the Dark House (1940)

Directed by George King
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend House)

Another Tod Slaughter melodrama with a script awfully similar to Murder in the Red Barn a few years earlier. Slaughter is again an English aristocrat, at least pretends to be, after assuming the identity of a murdered companion. He falls in love with a much younger girl who happens to be very wealthy. Meanwhile he gets a house servant pregnant and kills her in the boat house. He is being blackmailed by a local doctor who figures out all of his secrets. More murders follow and he has his wife committed to a mental institution. His lust and greed get him into more trouble and ultimately lead to his downfall.

Messiah of Evil (1973)

Directed by Willard Huyck
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Code Red)

A girl wanders into the Pacific coastal town of Point Dune in search of her artist father. Instead she finds zombies have taken over the town. She meets a trio of non-zombies who have also just arrived, a man and his "traveling companions", two young girls. He wastes no time in seducing her, but the zombies are on the attack and they find themselves also turning into zombies due to some mumbo jumbo about a "red moon" and the "dark stranger". Occasionally moody and well-photographed, it nonetheless is too derivative of Night of the Living Dead to make much of an impact. My favorite scene takes place in a movie theater.

Murder in the Red Barn (1935)

Directed by Milton Rosmer
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend House)

Tod Slaughter is an English aristocrat who falls for a young girl. One night he entices her to his house, gives her wine and gets her pregnant. Rather than deal with the consequences he murders her and buries the body in the barn. Slaughter tries to pin her disappearance on a poor bank teller and almost convinces the police, but the truth is exposed in a memorable final scene in which Slaughter is forced to dig up the body in front of witnesses! The film's origin as a play can be seen in the brief introduction of the actors on stage at the beginning, a nice touch.

Let's Kill Uncle (1966)

Directed by William Castle
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

William Castle's first foray into horror is an interesting black comedy but ultimately too juvenile to be taken seriously. Barnaby and Chrissie are the children brought to a remote island, the boy set to inherit a fortune and the girl to stay with her aunt. They are spoiled, precocious brats, particularly Barnaby, and not much fun to be around. Barnaby's eccentric uncle also arrives on the island, and reveals that he intends to kill Barnaby to get the inheritance. Boy and girl decide to kill uncle first, and most of the movie is the enjoyable back and forth as each side tries to outdo the other. You get murder attempts by poison, fire, tarantulas, hypnotism, plane crash, etc. However, the ending is abrupt and a huge disappointment.

The Face at the Window (1939)

Directed by George King
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend House)

Another Tod Slaughter melodrama, this time he is an aristocrat in Paris in love with a much younger girl. When she rejects him, he uses his influence with her father to try to win her hand. When that doesn't work, he decides to murder the man she really loves, and since he is already the famous serial killer "The Wolf" this is rather easy. For reasons that are unclear, murder victims see a monster just before being killed: a drooling, Frankenstein-like figure who appears in a window. Then after the murder a howling wolf sound is heard, again unexplained, apparently just for effect. The killer is revealed in a dramatic, Frankenstein-derived mad scientist scene involving electricity and the reincarnated hand of a victim!

The Ghoul (1975)

Directed by Freddie Francis
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Embassy Home Entertainment)

Bored young English socialites in the early 20th century decide to have a race across the countryside. They crash in the fog and wander to the isolated house of Peter Cushing. He's got a homicidal gardener and Indian housekeeper. The mansion is decorated with icons from Eastern religions and he plays raga violin in the study. He hides a cannibalistic monster upstairs who occasionally comes down in search of victims. Reminiscent of more popular Hammer productions from the 60s, it's atmospheric if undistinguished British horror. More explanation of the background of the monster would have helped.

Dark Places (1973)

Directed by Don Sharp
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Embassy Home Entertainment)

A man inherits a country mansion which supposedly has a large sum of money hidden behind its walls. He moves in but has competition from the locals who are also looking for the money. Joan Collins becomes his housekeeper then seduces him, to no avail. Christopher Lee is her brother and local doctor, but he can't find the money either. The sad background of the mansion is revealed in a series of flashbacks/dreams as the man is tormented by voices and slowly goes crazy. A few brutal murders, but otherwise a rather bland mystery with few scares.

Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974)

Directed by Theodore Gershuny
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Diamond Entertainment)

A lawyer and his mistress arrive in a small New England town to sell a mansion for a client. The local townspeople, including the mayor, sheriff and newspaper editor, give him a cold reception. He spends the night in the mansion with the girl and both are brutally murdered. The owner of the house arrives and old skeletons are brought out of the closet. In sepia-toned, heavily altered flashback sequences we learn the house was once a mental institution whose residents turned on the aristocratic operators. These scenes are very well done and almost hallucinatory. Several former members of Andy Warhol's NYC factory scene are in the film, but it still suffers from a confused script and too many dark scenes.

The Dead Are Alive (1972)

Directed by Armando Crispino
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Code Red)

Tame Italian murder mystery with drunken archeologist Alex Cord digging up an Estruscan demon. A couple of teenagers get bumped on the head with a pole while making out in a tomb and die. The police start questioning people and the main suspects are Cord, a sadistic old orchestra director and their friends. Old relationships are dug up and play an important role. It seems to go on forever with nothing much happening. A photograph of the demon manages to attack someone in a barn, but otherwise is not seen. The third act picks up the pace a bit, but it's too little too late.

Rites, Black Magic and Secret Orgies in the Fourteenth Century... (1973)

Directed by Renato Polselli
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Redemption)

A witch is burned in the fourteenth century then worshiped by Satanists who offer her a sacrifice 500 hundred years later in the hopes of reincarnating her. Most of the scenes take place at a real castle during a wedding party, with characters from the witch burning and sacrifice reappearing. None of it makes any sense, it's all an excuse for psychedelic sex, excessive use of the zoom lens and naked young girls who think they are vampires running around with capes.

Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls (1973)

Directed by Eddie Saeta
My rating: 2 stars out of 4

IMDb

(DVD, Scorpion Releasing)

John Considine has become immortal thanks to a potion he carries around his neck in a vial which causes the souls of the recently deceased to do his bidding. He sells his services for a high fee (cash only) for those who wish to either reincarnate themselves or a loved one. Barry Coe has recently lost his wife in an accident and takes up Considine on his offer. The only problem is his wife's dead body resists all attempts at reincarnation. Coe wants to forget the whole thing but Considine kills numerous women in an attempt to find a soul which can inhabit the body. Moe Howard from the Three Stooges makes an appearance as a volunteer in the audience who checks to see if a woman is alive or dead. Moe himself looks to be nearly the latter.

The Ghost Breakers (1940)

Directed by George Marshall
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

Bob Hope and Paulette Godard are reunited from The Cat and the Canary in another mixture of comedy and horror. This time Bob and Paulette end up together in Cuba, where she has inherited a haunted castle. Ghosts roam inside the castle, some real and some not, while zombies roam the outside. Comedy relief is provided by Bob's "man" Willie Best, while the two leads figure out the mystery and try to stay alive. Fun times and good atmosphere in the castle.

The Electric Chair (1977)

Directed by J.G. Patterson Jr.
My rating: BOMB
IMDb
(DVD, Something Weird Video)

Mutilated bodies are discovered at the start of the film, and in flashback we learn they are a local minister and lonely housewife who were cheating on their spouses. Another minister is arrested for the murders and brought to trial, found guilty and sent to the electric chair. He gets a last minute reprieve and is spared. But wait! Crazy Billy is arrested for the crime, along with his sister, and another trial follows with different results. The courtroom scenes are incredibly long and boring, some of the worst stuff I've ever seen and I've seen a lot. The final execution scene consists of strapping the condemned in an apparently real electric chair, flipping the switch and watching a sparkler go off on her head set to menacing synthesizer music. One single lousy sparkler.

Axe (1977)

Directed by Frederick R. Friedel
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Something Weird Video)

Three sadistic murderers dressed in suits beat a man to death then flee to the countryside to hide out. After threatening and humiliating a store clerk they end up in a rural ranch house where a teenage girl and her paralyzed, mute grandfather live alone. What they don't realize is that the girl, Lisa, has a few problems of her own, which includes playing with razors and axes. It doesn't take long for the men to try to rape her but Lisa is prepared. The pacing is dreamlike and Lisa seems to be sleepwalking the entire time, giving the film a hypnotic quality. The soundtrack fits the mood and is quite good, an eerie, low key mixture of piano and synthesized sounds.

Igor (2008)

Directed by Anthony Leondis
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, MGM)

Another quirky, computer animated film, derivative of all things Tim Burton, which has the usual modern pitfalls: it's loud with too many chases, the Big Action Climax features a fight between giant monsters and it's got a sentimental ending that's supposed to get tears but only got groans from me. The sidekicks are clever and can be entertaining: an immortal, suicidal rabbit and a brain in a bubble who is an idiot, but even they become irritating after awhile. I don't know what to make of the giant girl-monster singing Tomorrow from Annie in a red dress...

Drive In Massacre (1977)

Directed by Stu Segall
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Cheezy Flicks)

Ultra low budget regional horror hit from California with a sword wielding murderer on the rampage at a drive in. The suspect pool consists of the scuzzy drive in manager who treats his employees like dirt, the weird guy who directs traffic with a flashlight and sweeps up after everyone is gone and the peeping tom who leaves his car to spy on other patrons making out. A couple of fat cops question people and even go undercover in drag. There is a sequence at a real carnival, which looks exactly like the fair I went to as a kid, and together with the real drive in setting partially makes up for the poor acting and bad script.

Cadaver (2007)

Directed by Derek Son
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
(Sundance Channel)

In this Korean thriller, first-year medical students in an autopsy class work on human cadavers. One of the cadavers is a young girl which causes a group of students working on it to have nightmares. When students start turning up dead in real life they look into her background which opens up all kinds of long-buried secrets. I wanted to like this movie but it was very confusing. Dreams, reality and flashbacks begin to blur, especially during the last half or so which was supposed to tie everything together but left me more lost than when it started.

Doom Asylum (1987)

Directed by Richard Friedman
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Code Red)

Regional horror flick made in New Jersey that takes place entirely in and around an abondoned hospital. It's populated with all the usual 80s horror stereotypes: dumb blond in a red bikini, nerdy girl in a one piece, dumb jock, token black, wisecracking killer and all-girl punk band. Actually the band is the most interesting part, Tina and the Tots, an avant-garde noise band who use the hospital as a practice space. Anyway, all these characters provide ample victims to be slaughtered and mutilated.

The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942)

Directed by William Nigh
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

A private detective is hired to find the mysterious Dr. Rx, who is wanted for a string of killings. He follows up some clues, bickers with the police and marries his girlfriend. His manservant is Mantan Moreland, who along with Shemp Howard provides comic relief. The identity of Dr. Rx is never in doubt, Lionel Atwill in thick spectacles, but it's not revealed until the very end when the detective is kidnapped and brought to his "mad scientist" lab and almost killed by a man in a gorilla suit.

Goodbye Gemini (1970)

Directed by Alan Gibson
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Scorpion Releasing)

Twins Judy Geeson and Martin Potter move to a mansion in swinging London circa 1970. The two not only live in a weird "twin world", but refuse to grow up. Soon they are manipulated by a group of young hipsters lead by bisexual Clive. The male twin gets seduced by two men in drag in a dirty hotel room while the female twin is seduced by Clive. Clive's gambling debts catch up to him and he blackmails the twins for money. They kill him in an innovative manner. The film kind of comes to a halt at this point with the twins separating. Judy runs off to hide in an older man's apartment while Martin holes up in the same dirty hotel room. The police are looking for them and question people. All this leads to a rather hum drum ending. However, I do like Judy Geeson and the hedonistic London atmosphere is convincing.

Naked Evil (1966)

Directed by Stanley Goulder
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Image Entertainment)

Jamaican students at an English college sing songs at dinner, play jazz at the local nightclub and threaten each other with obis, a sort of Jamaican Molotov cocktail: a bottle filled with dirt from a grave and chicken feathers sticking out of the top. Receivers of an obi are doomed to death, including the president of the college. The police start investigating and the real motives are much less sinister. An exorcism of the end lasts all of one line and less than a minute, with the spirit leaving the body and crashing through a window in a burst of wind.

The Mad Ghoul (1943)

Directed by James P. Hogan
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

George Zucco is the mad scientist and David Bruce his student in what may be better titled I Was a Teenage Zombie. Zucco reproduces an ancient potion which turns people into the living dead. He experiments on Bruce who transforms from clean-cut all-American boy to slovenly zombie instantly. Bruce goes in and out of the zombie routine when the potion wears off, sort of like Jekyll and Hyde. Zucco is able to control Bruce by some kind of silly hypnotic trick, and commands him to kill the boyfriend of the girl they are both in love with on stage in the dramatic ending.

The Mad Doctor of Market Street (1942)

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

Minor Universal horror with Lionel Atwill playing the mad doctor who experiments with suspended animation. After accidentally killing his first human experiment he goes incognito on a doomed cruise ship. The film becomes a disaster epic for awhile before a handful of survivors end up on a tropical island. Then it becomes Gilligan's Island with some poor comic relief provided by Una Merkel and Nat Pendleton as Mary Ann and Gilligan. There is some native mumbo jumbo and all the usual tropical island stereotypes until the doctor gets exposed and a plane rescues the rest at the last moment.

Murders in the Zoo (1933)

Directed by A. Edward Sutherland
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Universal)

The film belongs to Lionel Atwill as a homicidal big game hunter with a sadistic streak. Right off the bat he is sewing a man's mouth shut for kissing his wife then leaving him for dead. His jealous streak continues at the big city zoo where he sells his wild animals. He tangles with scientist Randolph Scott and some poisonous snakes. The final scene is another shocker with Atwill getting his punishment in an excruciating but apt manner. Charlie Ruggles provides comedy relief but is never funny.

I Married a Witch (1942)

Directed by Rene Clair
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Turner Classic Movies)

I usually like Veronica Lake but think she is terribly miscast in this romantic comedy. She plays a childlike, possessive witch who falls in love with mortal Fredric March on the eve of his wedding with Susan Hayward. Her father is an angry warlock who was burned by March's ancestors and is out for revenge. Lake's coy, demeaning manor towards March should offend the modern senses of any female watching this. She stoops to placing herself in a burning hotel forcing March to rescue her to win his affection. Once she has him, she spends her time warming his slippers and sabotaging his wedding. Samantha Stephens would be appalled.

Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973)

Directed by Joe D'Amato
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend House)

Dreamlike film centered around the beautiful Ewa Aulin's return from the dead. After a horse carriage accident, Ewa is taken in by local aristocrats for recovery. She can't remember who she is or how she got there. Husband and wife take turns seducing her, but the wife gets jealous and walls her up in the basement. It doesn't matter because Ewa shows up again later in the film. Meanwhile, mad doctor Klaus Kinski is experimenting in his laboratory with a liquid that will make him immortal and Ewa holds the key. The gore is not particularly well done and seems unnecessary and the plot frequently makes no sense, but the soundtrack is good and there is a peculiar hypnotic quality to the proceedings that make it difficult to ignore. David Lynch fans take note!

Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967)

Directed by Harald Reinl
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Legend House)

A loose adaptation of Poe's Pit and the Pendulum, ex-Tarzan Lex Barker travels to a remote castle in search of his identity. Instead he finds an undead servant and his master Christopher Lee recently revived from the dead himself. They need Barker's companion Karin Dor, or more precisely her blood, to complete their transformation to the living. Barker, Dor and friends navigate surreal forests with body parts embedded in trees and labyrinthine catacombs leading to medieval torture chambers in an effort to escape the diabolical Lee. It's not quite as good as it sounds, narrative and plot are secondary, but it's still quite an atmospheric romp in medieval Germany. The Legend House print is OK, but this needs a complete restoration to bring out the original set design.

Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out! (1989)

Directed by Monte Hellman
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Lionsgate)

Blind girl with psychic powers volunteers her time to try to contact man in a coma, who just happens to have the surgically reconstructed brain of the killer from the previous movie. Man awakens and goes on killing rampage. Since it's Christmas Eve, the girl goes to her grandmother's remote country house. Man follows her there and kills everyone but her. There is a lot of mumbo jumbo about ESP and psychic powers. The killer is a scrawny guy with a ridiculous brain in a plastic bubble on top of his head, but is indestructible and takes down guys twice his size. Old reliable Robert Culp is a cop and the only person who makes sense. Poor effort from (former) cult director Monte Hellman.

Maniac (1963)

Directed by Michael Carreras
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Sony)

Kerwin Mathews is an oversexed American who ditches his girlfriend in rural France. He rents a room from a woman and her daughter who run the local bar and restaurant. He hits on both, but only the mother returns his overtures. Her husband is in jail for a gruesome murder involving a welder but he plots an escape. Mathews agrees to help thinking this will give him the woman free and clear. The ending is one mammoth plot twist after another, with every major character undergoing a radical transformation. Instead of shocking it's just plain confusing.

The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher (1979)

Directed by Ray Dennis Steckler
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Guilty Pleasures)

A middle aged psycho with a camera scans the want ads for fashion models who charge by the hour. When the models start to take their clothes off he strangles them. This scenario is repeated over and over, like a peep show loop. He hangs out near the Flicker Theater and occasionally goes into the book store next door. The owner is a woman who also happens to be a psycho, only she kills old winos in the back alley with her razor blade. The two eventually meet and essentially cancel each other out. The film was shot without sound, all dialogue and effects were added later. We get a running commentary from the mind of the strangler which is eerily effective. We know he loved someone named Marsha, likes his pigeons because they are loyal and need him and strangles women to "cleanse the world" of their filth. Location shooting on the streets of Hollywood adds another depth of realism. The final theme song had me crying with laughter as the credits rolled.

Slaughter High (1986)

Directed by George Dugdale, Mark Ezra and Peter Litten
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Lionsgate)

Teens play a practical joke on the high school nerd on April Fools Day. Years later, disfigured teen gets his revenge by trapping his tormentors in their abandoned high school and knocking them off one by one in gruesome ways. Exactly what you would expect from a mid 80s teen slasher flick.

Night Watch (1973)

Directed by Brian G. Hutton
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(VHS, Magnetic Video)

Elizabeth Taylor sees a dead body in the window of the abandoned house next to her garden. The police are called but cannot find anything. It happens again, with the same results, only now the police think she is crazy and will not respond to any more of her phone calls. Liz thinks her husband is having an affair with her best friend and they are trying to drive her insane so they can have her committed and leave the country with her money. That's what I thought as well, but the twist ending proves otherwise. Some good nightmare/flashback sequences, plenty of thunder and lightning, an abandoned old house and a murder mystery make for an entertaining rainy night thriller.

Keep My Grave Open (1976)

Directed by S.F. Brownrigg
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Alpha Video)

Confusing character study of a woman who lives alone on a Texas ranch and who seems to suffer from a split personality, one of which is a sword-wielding homicidal maniac. Since her other personality is a man it leads to an interesting point-of-view sex scene that she has with herself. I guess. After doing away with a hitchhiker, ranch hand and prostitute, she sets her sights on her doctor, but decides to overdose instead. In the illogical ending she is buried but replaced by her other personality. The last Brownrigg horror film pales in comparison to his earlier efforts and is a disappointment.

Wolfman (1979)

Directed by Worth Keeter
My rating: BOMB
IMDB
(VHS, Thorn EMI Video)

North Carolina drive-in wonder Earl Owensby stars in and produces Wolfman, based on the familiar werewolf legend. Set in a turn-of-the-century South, the actors are impeccably attired in period costumes. However, when they open their mouths nothing comes out but rural drawls, completely spoiling the effect. The acting is amateurish beyond belief, with lines spewed off as if they are in the latest high school play. Lead Owensby is the worst offender, with many scenes featuring his repulsive hairy torso, and that's when he is not a werewolf. The soundtrack is a repetitive synth-driven drone. About the only thing I can say to its credit is that there are a couple of good nightmare scenes and the werewolf attacks are bloody if poorly staged.

Repossessed (1990)

Directed by Bob Logan
My rating: 1.5 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Lionsgate)

Airplane-styled spoof starring Leslie Nielsen and Linda Blair, reprising her Exorcist role. The devil re-enters Blair while watching a televangelist program. Nielsen is called in to perform the exorcism when a younger priest declines. The televangelists, played by Ned Beatty and Lana Schwab, decide to televise the exorcism live on national TV. Religion is a frequent target of the satire, both priests and televangelists, but it just as often misfires when it goes for the exercise craze, wrestling and rock videos.