This 1970 documentary about Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan that was directed and produced by Ray Laurent, whose only other credits involve editing some films, including one of the Lemon Grove Kids films that Ray Dennis Steckler directed. Within this movie, there’s plenty of ritual footage, as well as interviews with LaVey, his family, church members and then his somewhat annoying neighbors and some priests and Mormon missionaries.

It’s really interesting to see how the people living next to LaVey saw things, less concerned about the people coming in and out than the upkeep and shingles of the Black House. This is a rare opportunity to see actual rituals of the early Church and hear from its members.

Also, the Church is very ahead of the cultural mores of the time — and even today — commenting on how they don’t tolerate homosexuality in the Church of Satan. Instead, they go further: “To tolerate is to infer they are different or less than, we just accept them as normal people because that’s exactly what they are.” Keep in mind this was made in 1970.

You can watch the whole film here:

I’d like to welcome Tommy Zimmer as a contributor to our site. He’s a writer whose work has appeared online and in print. His work covers a variety of topics, including politics, economics, health and wellness, consumer electronics, and the entertainment industry. Here, he’ll be covering several films and we’re happy to have him on board.

Tom Cruise is the quintessential movie star. Nobody can do what he does in film. He’s a movie star and has a pretty good following of people who like him. Only he can save us from the alien apocalypse. He seeks to save us from the aliens within ourselves. These are things he allegedly believes. While many of us may not believe what he does, it does not mean he is not one of the great movie stars still. Most of his films, except for The Mummy, have received rave reviews and people have spent money to see him in them. It’s something that continues to happen again and again, especially in War of the Worlds. His most recent film, Mission Impossible: Fallout, blew critics and audiences alike out of the water. Going back to 2005, Cruise was just beginning to deal with the fallout of his Scientology beliefs.

However, he was on top of the world, married to Katie Holmes, and having the time of his life. If audiences ever wondered what it would be like to imagine Cruise as a father to Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin, who played his daughter and son respectively, they got their answer here. Cruise portrays Ray Ferrier, a dockworker, who gets caught up in aliens invading. This is nothing new, right? It’s something we’ve seen again and again in movies, especially in some of Cruise’s later work such as Edge of Tomorrow and Oblivion.

Cruise’s Ferrier is our eyes and ears throughout the entire narrative. He is someone who is divorced and does not want to deal with the responsibility of being a parent. His kids aren’t even that happy to see him. It’s easy to see why when he does not want to be a father. Yet, that all changes when the aliens invade and change their lives forever. He has to protect his children from them and seek safe shelter as best he can. One of the best scenes in the film is with Cruise and Tim Robbins. It’s interesting to see the latter portray a deranged person when he is well-known for his portrayal of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption, who was the complete opposite.

Robbins shows his range here and does well in his scenes with Cruise. The consummate caring father, Cruise, will not let Robbins do anything to himself or his family. They end up escaping at the proper time. It’s quite startling to see some of the scenes Cruise and Steven Spielberg, the director create in this film. To see humanity at its worst while a father attempts to protect his children can lead one to be disturbed by these scenes. At the same time, Cruise proves why he is the father of the year in this film. No other person could be both awesome as a father protecting his kids and going up against the aliens. In this film, he accomplishes both.

While others may like previous versions of the film, those adaptations of H.G. Wells’ story did not have Tom Cruise. He brings an authenticity to the struggle of earth against the aliens. He is a true hero and we all recognize him for that. He alters the course of the events in the movie. By his actions, his children are saved and reunited with their mother and stepfather. The relationship between father and children is saved because of their commitment to one another as a family. They survive the events of the movie. If we ever get a sequel, it would be interesting to see Cruise go up against the aliens once more.

Was it mentioned that Morgan Freeman does the narration in the beginning and end of the film? If that’s not enough to get you excited about this film, there may be nothing else. But, if you have the chance, check this movie out. It will leave you a proud earthling forever more.

Flay was originally due for release in 2017. However, Sony claimed Phame Factory’s film was too close to the Slender Man legend, which the studio believed they had exclusive rights to. Writer and producer Eric Pham opted not to release the film until he met the studio in court.

As part of the settlement agreement, Phame Factory has to include a disclaimer on advertising material, trailers, and the movie itself, but they were finally allowed to release it.

So how’s the movie?

Eric Pham cut his teeth working on VFX for Grindhouse and Sin City. That means that several of the effects sequences here, such as paint bleeding upward into the air, look great.

After the death of her mother, Moon (Elle LaMont who was Screwhead in Alita: Battle Angel and Dollface in Machete Kills) struggles to save her brother and those around her from a malevolent faceless spirit that is related to how Native Americans were treated and the chains left behind.

This movie also features Violett Beane, Jesse Quick on TV’s The Flash) and A. Michael Baldwin (from Phantasm!).

That said, the movie never really explains what’s happening, continuity is screwy between day and night in some sequences and you never really grow to care for any of the characters. That said, there is a scene where a demon rises out of a glass of spilled milk, which I’d never seen before.

Flay is available digitally on April 2.

Disclaimer: We were sent this movie by its PR company and that doesn’t impact our review.

The fact that this movie exists gives me hope. There are moments when life gets me down, when I wonder about my place in this world and if humanity is essentially horrible. Then I remember that great films like this exist and it makes me feel a lot better. You should do the same thing if you’re ever in an existential crisis.

Dr. Phibes is back, three years after he laid down in the darkness next to the corpse of his beloved wife. Now, however, he has learned that the secret of eternal life — held by a centuries-old man — are in Egypt. I don’t care why he’s back. I’d watch Dr. Phibes go grocery shopping!

Dr. Anton Phibes (Vincent Price) has in suspended animation in a sarcophagus alongside his wife Victoria Regina Phibes (Caroline Munro). When the moon aligns with the planets in a way not seen for two millennia, he returns, summoning the silent Vulnavia (thus confirming to me, at least, that she’s really one of his robots as she died in the last film; furthermore, she’s played by Valli Kemp, who took over for the pregnant Virginia North) to his side.

Phibes plans on taking his wife’s body with him to Egypt, where the River of Life promises her resurrection. As he emerges from his tomb, his house has been demolished and the safe that contained the map to the river lies empty. That’s because the map has been stolen by Darius Biederbeck, a man who is hundreds of years old thanks to a special elixir. He may also be every bit Phibes’ equal.

Darius is played by Robert Quarry, who American International Pictures was grooming to be Price’s replacement. There were tensions between the two on set, including a moment where Quarry was singing in his dressing room and challenged Price by saying, “You didn’t know I could sing did you?” Ever the wit, Vincent Price replied, “Well, I knew you couldn’t act.” Quarry would had already played Count Yorga in two films for AIP and would go on to be in The Deathmaster, where he played hippie vampire Khorda, but the AIP style had already fallen out of style. He’s also in tons of Fred Olen Ray films, like Evil Toons where he’s the uncredited voice of the demon.

Biederbeck wants eternal life for himself and his lover Diana (Fiona Lewis, Tintorera…Tiger Shark). Phibes and Vulnavia are on his trail, immediately entering his home, murdering his butler and stealing back the map. Everyone connected with Biederbeck comes to an ill end — Phibes places one inside a giant bottle and throws him overboard. That murder brings Inspector Trout back on the case, as he instantly recognizes that only one man could do something like that.

The rest of the film’s murders are based on Egyptian mythology versus Biblical plagues. Hawks and scorpions become his weapons, along with gusts of wind and bursts of sand. Phibes has also brought an army of clockwork men with him the desert to do his bidding.

Phibes finally exchanges Diana’s life for the key to the River of Life. As he floats the coffin containing his wife down the water, he beckons Vulnavia to join them. As his lover tries to comfort him, Biederbeck begs Phibes to take him with them. He begins to rapidly age and dies as Phibes loudly sings “Over the Rainbow,” which might be the best ending of any movie ever made.

There were plans for a whole bunch more of these films and the fact that they were never made saddens me to this day. I’ve heard that a third film would Phibes fighting Nazis. I’ve also heard that it’d be about the key to Olympus. Or Phibes going up against  Dr. Vesalius’ son. Or Victoria Phibes herself coming back, just as sinister as her husband. There have been titles thrown around like Phibes Resurrectus, The Seven Fates of Dr. Phibes and The Brides of Dr. Phibes. There was even thought of Count Yorga facing off with Dr. Phibes, a fact which delights me to no end.

There was also a pitch for a TV series and what looked like an animated version, with Jack Kirby himself providing the pitch artwork!

Other ideas included Dr. Phibes in the Holy Land, The Son of Dr. Phibes (which would have pitted the doctor and his son against ecological terrorists), Phibes Resurrectus (which would have David Carradine as Phibes battling against Paul Williams, Orson Welles, Roddy McDowall, John Carradine and Donald Pleasence. The mind boggles at the thought, let me tell you!), a 1981 Dr. Phibes film where the WormwooInstitutete would have destroyed his wife’s body and then their strange members, including transvestite twins obsessed with economics and nuclear weaponry, fail to match wits with Phibes) and finally, Phibes was almost a role for Peter Sellers in a Pink Panther film where hed also play Clouseau and Fu Manchu. You can learn more about these at the Vincent Price Exhibit site.

There was also a story in 2013 that Johnny Depp was going to star in a Tim Burton directed remake. That obviously didn’t happen.

So much of this film fits into the same Satanic themes as the original. However, you can add in a few new wrinkles. One of the Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth states “When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.” All Phibes wished to do was take his wife to Egypt and bring her back to life. Once Biederbeck stole from him, his fate was sealed.