Golden Oldies Week (July 27 – August 3) Something Weird Video have released such a wide range of movies over the last 30 years that trying to categorize them can be tricky. They started out as a gray market mail order distributor (aka a bootlegger) not unlike the Cape Copy Center or Sinister Cinema and eventually moved into the niche se ploit titles that would set them apart. The movies on this list are the kind of cult genre titles that were the bread and butter of many of the bootleg companies of the 90s and most were not exclusive to SWV. If you look in the catalogs or on the website these would be under categories like “Nightmare Theatre’s Late Night Chill-O-Rama Horror Show,” “Jaws of the Jungle,” “Sci-fi Late Night Creature Feature Show,” or “Spies, Thighs & Private Eyes.” Many of these are currently available as downloads from the SWV site (until the end of 2024)!

“There was a ring of blind men
Sent by the reverend to kill
Wealthy old pigs feasting on swill
Inside the mouth of madness
The killer creeps into view
A shadow cast in torment
Coming for you

Dead Eyes of London, they’re watching you
Dead Eyes of London, follow you home
Dead Eyes of London, they’re watching you

You’re never coming back, you’re never coming back”

Directed by Alfred Vohrer and written by Egon Eis and Wolfgang Lukschy, this is — like all krimi — based on the novel by Edgar Wallace, who is also the father of King Kong and giallo. It’s the first of a series of 14 movies filmed by Vohrer and was originally adapted in 1939 as The Dark Eyes of London AKA The Human Monster. It was remade in 1968 by Vohrer as The Gorilla Gang.

Wealthy men who have just bought insurance policies are dying and Scotland Yard is on the case. A large, bald and monstrous killer is on the loose. He’s Blind Jack, played by former pro wrestler Ady Berber. Chief inspector Larry Holt (Joachim Fuchsberger) suspects a blind church as being part of these killings, so he hires braille expert Nora Ward (Karin Baal, who was also in the very krimi What Have You Done to Solange?) to help, which puts her in danger. By the end of the movie, she’s menaced with a blowtorch and nearly drowned, but at least the top cop wants to marry her when it’s all over.

This ad is from Zombo’s Closet, an amazing site.

Foggy streets, seedy nightclubs, a young Klaus Kinski being odd and so much mood. While made in 1961, this didn’t make it to the U.S. until 1965, playing a double feature with The Ghost.

You can watch this on Tubi.