Returning to his hometown in Upstate New York — yes, I know, nothing good happens when we go back home — Dr. Issac Blake (Jake Pirkkanen) has the psychic notion that his sister Sue (Nicki Clyne, Cally from Battlestar Galactica). So he grabs a crowbar, steals a car and prepares to battle with the Lunamancer (Cliff Tulis).

Is it weird to say that the sound design is one of the stars of this movie? Because it totally is. This film sounds amazing and looks beyond what its budget should. There aren’t many budget superhero movies, but this one does it right.

Director Noah Mucci (who co-wrote this with Matt Patterson, who wrote This Film Is Not Yet Rated and played the devil in Warlock: The Armageddon), who was the cinematographer for The Last Blockbuster, does a great job with a much, much smaller balance sheet than a Marvel or DC movie. Definitely worth keeping an eye on what he does next.

Lunamancer plays MidWest WeirdFest on Sunday, March 6 at 8:30 PM CST. You can get tickets and more information on the MidWest Weird Fest website. You can learn more about Lunamancer on the official site.

The Awful Dr. Orloff. Nightmares Come at Night. A Virgin Among the Living Dead. Female Vampire. Golden Temple Amazons. The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus. Helga The She Wolf of Spilberg, Maniac Killer, The Man with the Severed Head. The films of Eurociné — more than a hundred movies — may not be considered as anything more than schlock, but this documentary by Christophe Bier attempts to change all of that.

Marius Lesoeur was a carnival man who used the same ballyhoo to make movies, which mostly were about wild animals and exotic dancing, which are both subjects that we can get behind, as well as violence, action and nudity, all of which made their way into the films of his new studio. This movie posits Lesoeur as the Roger Corman of France, yet perhaps a bit sillier and at an even lower budget. Then there’s the theory of just shooting movies and dubbing later, as well as using the same footage and costumes as many times as possible. Anything to make a movie!

What I loved most was seeing scenes from so many of these films — with the logo and artwork before each movie — and the breakdown of how it was made, why it was made and how audiences reacted, as well as stories about the filmmakers. This movie could have been nine hours long — it clocks in at a short 77 minutes — and I’d watch it more than twice.

Director-writer Chad Ferrin’s (The Deep Ones, Exorcism at 60,000 Feet) Night Caller pulls from so many films, feeling like a modern U.S. version of a late in the game giallo, which is not a bad thing.

It gets the genre names to get you into the movie part down, including Steve Railsback, Lew Temple, Bai Ling and Kelli Maroney in the lineup. And it really lays on the color switches, the gore and the weirdness throughout.

Clementine (Susan Priver) is a phone psychic for Jade (Bai Ling), except that both of them have some level of psychic ability for real. When a James Smith calls in, Clementine knows right away that he’s a killer and she can see his murders inside her mind, a talent her mother had and her father (Robert Miano) has worried about enough that he makes her carry a gun. Yet when the cops try to help, they end up dead and now the danger really begins.

With references to Maniac and literally showing Dementia 13 and Patrick, this feels like a straight to video VHS movie and again, that’s a good thing. It’s not perfect, but it’s quite willing to go absolutely for it, getting scalping, necrophilia and violent murder — not to mention misogynistic dialogue out of an 80s movie — into it.

The best part? Bai Ling is absolutely berserk. She should be in a real giallo, because I would pay money for that now. Let’s try to make that happen.

Night Caller plays MidWest WeirdFest on Friday, March 4 at 10 PM CST. You can get tickets and more information on the MidWest Weird Fest website.

After Al Pereira vs. the Alligator Ladies, Al Pereira (Antonio Mayans, who directed the film after the death of Jess Franco, who started it) is so disappointed that he never wants to work with Franco again. Yet Franco keeps begging, the Alligator Ladies (Carmen Montes, Irene Verdú and Paula Davis) are still after him and he has a crisis of faith, family and sexuality to solve.

From seeing Franco make the movie and interact with fans, as well as the typical Franco slowed down women stripped and rubbing one another scenes, the new story directed by Mayans has Al in Germany, caught by his daughter as he’s in the midst of a threesome. Also, he sees a dead body and has no idea who the killers are after: the actor, the actor playing the actor in the movie within a movie, he himself as the director, Franco or Franco within the movie, even saying dialogue like, “It’s a decomposition of human matter in cinematographic expression.”

Also — a tender man on man scene? And Franco trapped — happily — for all eternity endlessly filming girl on girl love?

Heady stuff, but mostly it’s Alligator Ladies stripping with those video effects Jess was doing before his death. Even this close to death, the man was still making filth and for that, we should always love him.

After years of being in Hammer Dracula movies, Christopher Lee starred in this Harry Alan Towers produced, Jess Franco directed version of Bram Stoker’s novel.

There’s a great cast and by that, I mean the kind of cast that I look for in movies. Klaus Kinski, (before he played Dracula in Nosferantu the Vampyre and Nosferantu In Venice) is Renfield, Herbert Lom is Van Helsing, Frederick Williams (A Bridge Too Far) is Jonathan Harker, Maria Rohn (Venus In Furs) is Maria, Paul Muller is Jack Seward, Jack Taylor is Quincey Morris (he had vampire hunting experience after being in the Mexican Nostradamus films) and Soledad Miranda — and who else, really? — is Lucy.

This could have had an even wilder cast, as both Vincent Price — sadly under his American-International Picture exclusive contract — and Dennis Price were both selected to play Val Helsing.

At the same time that this was being made, so was Cuadecuc, vampire, which was shot on the same sets with the same actors by the experimental director — and a senator elected in Spain’s first democratic elections who participated in the writing of the Spanish Constitution — Pere Portabella.

As for Franco’s film, it’s one of the first attempts at being faithful to the novel, with Dracula starting as an old man and gradually gaining in vitality as the movie goes on. Lee* was supposedly tired of playing Dracula and was only convinced to join the cast only after being promised that this movie would be faithful to Stoker. It still plays fast and loose; oddly enough Towers has claimed he tricked Kinski into being in this with a fake script. Franco has said that that wasn’t true, but what was is that Kinski ate real flies.

I wouldn’t expect the Franco madness that most associate with him, but this is the first extended time he’d work with Miranda before the films they’d be known for making together (she was an uncredited dancer at just eight years old in Franco’s Queen of the Tabarin Club). But there’s a great Bruno Nicolai score, Lee is super into everything he’s doing, the sparse sets work and Bruno Mattei was one of the editors.

There’s always been a contingent of people who claim this movie is boring, but look, any movie with Soledad Miranda in it is worthwhile.

You can watch this on Tubi.

*To be fair, Lee played the role three other times in 1970: in One More Time, Taste the Blood of Dracula and Scars of Dracula.

About the Author:  Sean Mitus grew up watching “Chiller Theater” & Pittsburgh UHF Channels and has been a drive-in enthusiast for the last eight years.  Sean enjoys all genres but has lately become fascinated with Italian horror, giallo and poliziotteschi films.

Want something different from Jesus “Jess” Franco’s eurosleaze/eurohorror filmography, well look no further than Severin Films’ wonderful two-in-one disc Franco Noir. The prolific career of Jess Franco, born Jesus Franco Manera, spanned seven decades from 1954 to 2013.  Franco’s early filmography fit with more traditional Spanish cinema showing an entertaining visual flair.

Shortly after he directed The Awful Dr. Orloff, Franco directed La Muerte Silba Un Blues AKA Death Whistles the Blues in 1962.  It was a spirited foray into the crime genre taking inspiration from Film Noir. Just one film later, Franco directed Rififi en la ciudad AKA Rififi in the City (connection to Jules Dassin‘s Rififi by the definition of rififi meaning trouble/violent conflict/a brutal show of force).  

Both films have the dramatic light and dark shading typical of film noir.  Death Whistles the Blues has creative camera moves in the opening scene with the death of a musician and fine tracking and crane shots throughout.  There’s also a fine action sequence with exciting staging and flashy editing.  Rififi in the City has even more use of noir dark and light contrast throughout.  Both films feature wonderful jazz scores with live performances that add flavor to the proceedings.

As for the story, all you need to know is Death Whistle the Blues deals with double-crosses and betrayals coming back to haunt some of the characters. Rififi in the City followed a dogged policeman setting out to avenge a confidential informant’s killer while those involved meet their deaths at the hands of a surprise killer.  

Do yourself a favor and check out Death Whistles the Blues and Rififi in the City for good examples of noir cinema from Jess Franco.  You won’t be disappointed!

You can get both of these movies in the Franco Noir set from Severin.

References

Franco Noir featurette by Stephen Thrower; Severin Blu-ray © 2021