EDITOR’S NOTE: The Kirlian Witness was on the CBS Late Movie on August 13, 1986 and July 20, 1987.
“For the first time on the screen a strange thriller that takes you into the psychic world of plants.”
Yes, in 1979, people were talking to their plants, using biofeedback devices to hear from them and even singing to them. For everyone obsessed with the 80s, let me tell you, the 70s were way better.
Director Jonathan Sarno did post-graduate work in playwriting and directing at the Yale School of Drama under directors Arthur Penn, George Roy Hill, Elia Kazan, Roberto Rosselini and novelist Jerzy Kozinski. He’s an artist and yet here he is, making a horror movie about psychic plants, but life is great that way. Sarno wrote this, along with Lamar Sanders, and also produced the movie and acts in it.
I don’t even know where to start with this movie. I mean, the phrase Kirlian is because the photographer detective at the heart of this movie, Rilla Hart, has a photo in this style that represents the energy field of the exotic plant that her sister Laurie owned before her death. And oh yeah, her sister could literally talk to that plant.
An occult low budget movie about talking plants and a psychic named Dusty who brags about how he has surpassed human existence and is one with the plants despite mainly working the night shift loaded trucks and also knows the exact moment that they will expire? What could make this better? How about a cameo by Lawrence Tierney as a police detective? Yeah, that’ll do it.
There’s another release of this called The Plants Are Watchingthat cuts a fair amount of footage, so go for this one. It’s so twisty and oddball that it could pretty much be classified as an American giallo, what with its dream logic and ending which reminded me of The Cat o’ Nine Tails. It’s a relatively sexless journey through the same end of the world New York City as Driller Killer, but you know, with plants.
Honestly, this movie is way better than it has any right to be. In a perfect world, it would have been the first film that Sarno turned into a cult film and we’d be celebrating everything he made afterward instead of him going into making travel videos. There’s honestly nothing else like it.
Oh yeah, one more thing.
In the credits, it thanks the owner of Day of the Triffidsfor the use of a scene from that movie. That man? Philip Yordan, whose strange movie Night Train to Terror is a nexus point in my strange film obsessions. Much like how the Church of Satan connects The Car, Tippi Hedren’s Roar and Jayne Mansfield, that movie is the crux of so many of the pathways that researching weird films has led me down.
Here’s a drink for this movie.
The Plants Are Drinking
1 oz. Midori
1 oz. vodka
1 oz. white rum
5 oz. lemonade
Stir the first three ingredients in a glass with ice.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Tiger Joe was on the CBS Late Movie on September 7 and November 30, 1988.
Known as Fuga dall’arcipelago maledetto (Escape from the Cursed Archipelago) in Italy, this Antonio Margheriti-directed and Tito Capri-written film stars David Warbeck as Tiger Joe, a former US Army Special Forces Vietnam Veteran who works with “Midnight” Washington (Tony King, Atlantis Interceptors) and Lenny (Luciano Pigozzi) to airlift all sorts of cargo but mostly guns.
When he gets shot down, he joins up with Kia (Annie Belle, who started her acting career appearing in Jean Rollin’s Lips of Bloodand BacchanalesSexuelles; she’s in so many movies by directors and personalities I’m obsessed with: Deodato’s House On the Edge of the Park, D’Amato’s Absurdand L’alcova, the supposed Emmanuelle Arsan-directed Forever Emmanuelle, Marco Antonio Andolfi’s Cross of the Seven Jewels and the Cannon film Nana) and her companion Datu (Abadeza) to get out of the jungle alive.
This has a lot of cast, crew and shots from the much better The Last Hunter, but I just love Antonio Margheriti. He brings something extra to every movie. Sadly, cinematographer Riccardo Pallottini lost his life in a plane crash while filming the final shot of the film.
May I never ever get tired of seeing bamboo huts in the Philippines blow up. If you want more Margheriti in the jungle, check out Tornado: The Last Blood, Code Name: Wild Geese, The Last Hunter, Commando Leopard, The Commander, Indio and Indio 2: The Revolt.
Join CFF as we take a journey into the longer side of short cinema. One of the many joys of presenting our festival in a hybrid format is that it allows us to include so many amazing films that our time limitations during our in-person days wouldn’t allow, and it also gives us the freedom to program more short work with running times 15 minutes and above. It can be challenging for festivals to make longer short films work when space in blocks is limited, and we’re grateful that our two-volume Fun Size Epics block gives us a chance to share an exceptional group of films that pack more world-building and storytelling in their run times than some features can manage.
Spiral to the Center (2023): It feels like this movie was made just for me. Rick Danford (co-director, co-writer and musician Scott Ampleford) reviews records on his web channel. When he discovers a band he’s never heard of before called Raven’s Knowe, he soon learns that there’s an entire label of this strange music and twelve more records, as well as a history of people who have lost their minds in the search for all of this occult powered vinyl.
Ampleford created all of the music for this — which you can listen to here — saying that he “steeped myself in the music of the 1970s, listening to Prog Rock, Krautrock, New Age and beyond.” By the time the story gets to its close — with the director (Alisa Stern, who co-wrote and co-directed) of the documentary within the movie begging Rick to give up — you’ll wish this was a full-length film.
Go out of your way to find this movie. It’s incredible. If you’ve ever hunted for bands or sought out something that no one else knows, you’ll feel all of this.
Amos’ Bride (2024): Directed by Yukako Fujimori and written by Harlow Brooks, this is the story of Rebecca (Valerie Loo), a sixteen-year-old girl who wants to escape her hometown. The difference between her and nearly every other young woman is that she was born and raised in the Chosen Colony, a cult that worships the prophet Amos. She’s in love with Amos’ son, but when she’s selected to be the prophet’s latest bride, they both decide to escape. The problem? Amos has already possessed her. This looks and plays great with a folk horror vibe that demands to be revisited with a full-length film.
The Dumpster Dive (2023): Directed by Laura Asherman, who wrote it with Anca Vlasan, this has cockroach news hosts Howard Scourge and Madison Von Vermin reporting on how microplastics could have dire consequences for the human race. A mix between sketch comedy and documentary, this has experts reporting on how we got to where we are with microplastics, illustrated by puppets, animation and — yes, you knew it — live cockroaches. It’s a spoonful of sugar to get down the bitter pill that is the way that we’ve decimated the environment.
Honk (2023): Directed and written by Charles de Lauzirika, this film has Zach Galligan and Tyler Mane in it, which ups the star power. That wouldn’t matter if it didn’t tell a strong story and it totally does. Reluctant divorcee Bill (Galligan) is awakened before dawn by a mysterious car horn in his normally quiet neighborhood. He tries to find it yet starts to uncover something even more horrifying. This film — while short — gets across the power of grief and how hard it is to let go. I didn’t particularly like the ending, but when everything up until that point was of such a high quality, I didn’t dwell on it. I’d love to see how this could be expanded.
HOT SODA (2023): Outraged over the approval to double the fracking operations devastating her hometown, Meg (Tuisdi Layne) is forced by her sick father Jack (Aeron Macintyre) to serve the fracking company owners Todd and Leonard (John T. Woods and Jonathan Wiggs). Instead of letting this opportunity go, she serves them spaghetti and soda that’s been laced with drugs. Soon, the pasta has come to life and may change the future of this small town and the restaurant that has been a part of it. Directed and written by Nello DiGiandomenico, this hit home for me, literally. My small Western Pennsylvania hometown has been torn to pieces by fracking and I also grew up miles from East Palestine, OH, another small place screwed up by big business. Well made! You can learn more at the official site.
Redcoat (2023): A young, recently widowed mother-to-be named Christine (Mallory Ivy) — living in the midst of the Revolutionary War — makes a deal with the enemy to escape her abusive brother. Directed and written by Michaela Hounslow, this has such a gorgeous look and gets so much done in its twenty minute running time. I loved that this film took a time in history that hasn’t been much explored in recent film and created a female-centric story about survival and persisting in the face of male oppression. Jonathan Bouvier and Allen Harbold are quite good in this and the scenery is nearly a character in and out of itself, making this feel as if you really are part of the past.
Caller 102: A Ballad of Cyberspace (2023):When Kevin (Josh Brener) hacks his way into a radio contest, he gets hit with a power surge. That isn’t an accident. He soon discovers that everything he believes about the new cyberspace world of the future (which is today) is true. Directed and written by Turner Barrowman and Jack Goldfisher, this does so much with sound design and imagination, making your mind fill in some of the gaps where the budget can’t go. I love that this starts with trivia contest and ends with near armageddon. I’d love to see more of this world. Where else can it go? I hope that this filmmakers find out and share with us.
We Need Some Space (2023): Can an invasion from space be the metaphor for a breakup? This movie says absolutely. A young, dysfunctional couple struggles to define the future of their relationship — we need some space never seems to end up positive, does it? — all while being followed by a UAP. Directed and written by Ian Geatz and Antonio Zapiain Luna, this reminds me that the only thing more frightening than being probed is falling out of a relationship.
Dumpster Archaeology (2023): Self-proclaimed “Dumpster Archeologist” Lew Blink goes dumpster diving and finds the true stories that have been left in the trash. He alone is able to connect the dots and put together the puzzle in the refuse. To you, this is garbage. To him, this is a mystery made up of material possessions that people decided they no longer wanted. Directed by Dustie Carter, this doc makes me wonder how much of this is stalking or an invasion of privacy, but then when you spend a few moments with Lew through this film, you start to understand and love his outlook. I wonder what Lew would think of my life by looking through my trash? You can learn more about Lew on his official site.
Seraphim (2022):When Jude’s (Erin Reynolds) family is chosen to carry out a suicide bombing for the biblically-accurate angel that they are harboring in their attic and her sister Gloria (Aspen K Somers) is chosen as a modern day prophet, Jude struggles with the ramifications of what it really means to be an agent of God. Directed by Oscar Ramos and written by Joanna Fernandez, this has an angel that is just as frightening in vision as the ones in the actual Bible. This is such a strong idea and I loved every moment. It’s true horror with the idea that an instrument of God doesn’t want peace but instead commands its followers to sacrifice others.
Cotton Candy Sky (2023): Directed and written by Michael Curtis Johnson, this feels like a slice out of Southern modern gothic life. It actually feels a lot like my Western Pennsylvania hometown, a place where there’s not much to do but drink, if you’re lucky, or get into drugs if you’re not. The longer I’m away, the more I see it in a much rosier way. But that’s also because I live far away and only experience it in moments and not a lifetime. This movie hit me because of that. It feels real.
Villa Mink (2024): Directed by Darron Carswell, who wrote the script with Douglas Wells Jr., this is “at once a study of time and space, penetrating examination of distorted male identity, and visual exploration of the enduring legacies of the mythical Western frontier.” It traces Rudy Ford as he drives across the vast exteriors of the Kansas landscape, exploring the flatlands and a roadside motel, waiting to find others in dives and bring them back for a moment of some physical connection despite feeling emotionally away from the world. As Modest Mouse once said, “This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About.”
Get Me Off This Fucking Planet Quincy: A pair of land barons from 19th century Mars find themselves the brunt of a cosmic joke after the sudden suicidal Rapture of their slave workforce who has just learned that Heaven is on Earth. Shot in a way that feels like a sitcom, this short by director and writer John Yost is just plain obtuse and I mean that in a very nice way. It spends more time world building than most full length movies. But man, it’s weird for me so imagine what that entails.
CFF ended a few weeks ago and I’m still getting caught up. You can visit my Letterboxd list of watches to see what else I’ve covered.
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.
“Well, I had a man come to me the other day and he said that it was just terrible, when he joined the Satanic Church, he was masturbating just about every day, and now he’s masturbating two, and sometimes three, times a day, and he’s very happy, much happier than he’s ever been before.” – Anton Lavey
Director Ray Laurent also edited The Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monsters and Body Fever and was the editorial consultant on Sappho Darling.
This had an X rating, probably for the nudity in the Black Mass scene.
Bleeding Skull’s Top 50 (July 7 – 13) The middle-brow champions of low-brow horror, Bleeding Skull has picked out some of their favorites from the SWV catalog. They neglected to put I Drink Your Blood or EEGAH!on the list, but I think I can forgive them since they included Ship of Monsters.
Made in Huntington, West Virginia, Teen-Age Stranger was directed by Ben Parker (Thunder Mountain, Invisible Avenger) and written by Clark Davis, who also wrote the songs “Yipe Stripes” and “Willows Wept” that are in this.
Huntington may be the second largest city in the state and the home of 1950s TV icon Dagmar, game show host Peter Marshall and Brad Dourif, but it does not seem large enough to have a giallo-style killer wandering the streets, tying women up with their stockings and leaving lipstick X marks all over their young dead bodies.
Jimmy Walton (Bill Bloom) is a dirtbike racing rebel new in town. Everyone thinks he could be the strangler, even if his brother Mikey (John Humphries) and his secret love Betty (Jo Canterbury) know it can’t be him or any of his gang, the Fastbacks even if the killer is wearing one of their jackets.
This is the kind of movie where a hamburger restaurant can have a band called the Huntington Astronauts just jump up and start playing and yet there’s a sexually motivated killing machine bringing death to this Leave It to Beaver black and white world.
The real hero is Mikey, who might be the biggest goofball in the history of movies. Between his brother taking the blame for things he’s done, being so annoying that his brother kicks him in the face and being unable to ride a bicycle without an accident, he cries in nearly every scene. If this really were a giallo, he would have to be the killer.
John Humphries later revealed that he thought that Jo Canterbury was a professional actress. She was really an airline hostess. When she got wilder with her performance, he thought she was a pro, so he did the same thing.
This played theaters and drive-ins as late as 1985 due to its great title. It became better known after Mystery Science Theater 3000 played it on their show. It does a lot in 61 minutes. Those West Virginia kids are unshakeable. Betty nearly gets killed by the villain — who is not a teenager, but Janitor Choker is a worse title and a spoiler, sorry — and then has a cop shoot a bullet right at her that hits the killer and he dies inches from her, she goes right back to the malt shop. Montani Semper Liberi!
You can watch this on Tubi with or without riffing.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Rocky III was on the CBS Late Movie on September 29, 1989 and October 26, 1990.
Rocky III did more than just extend the franchise. It boosted the careers of two nascent superheroic characters, Mr. T and Hulk Hogan, as they made their way into the 1980’s cultural zeitgeist and even a titanic team-up at WrestleMania. Yet here, they’re just enemies for Rocky to gather his wits and eventually defeat. 1,200 people auditioned to be Clubber Lang, but there couldn’t be anyone else but Mr. T in this role.
Stallone went hard to get into shape for this movie, getting his body fat percentage down to his record low of 2.8%. He did that by eating only ten egg whites and a piece of toast a day, with fruit every third day, along with two miles of jogging, two hours of weight training, eighteen rounds of sparring, two more hours of weight training and swimming every single day.
Rocky has held the heavyweight championship for five years and defended it ten times, leading to fame, wealth and celebrity. In fact, he’s even moved into boxing versus wrestling matches against opponents like Thunderlips (Hulk Hogan). But his manager, Mickey (Burgess Meredith) knows that James “Clubber” Lang (Mr. T) is the man who can beat him.
While unveiling a statue of himself, Lang shows up and challenges him to a title match, claiming that Rocky has been hiding from him. That turns out to be true, because unbeknownst to our hero, Mickey has been keeping Rocky away from anyone who would hurt him as badly as Apollo Creed did. He goes on to tell him that Lang is hungry and that Rocky will never last three rounds with him because he’s become civilized and lost the eye of the tiger.
The training montage here shows that Rocky is distracted while Lang has risen from the Chicago streets and is very much like a younger Balboa, save that he’s cocky and brutal. When the two first meet, it erupts into a brawl that causes Mickey to suffer a heart attack before the match even starts. After the fight — a second round KO title win for Lang — Rocky tells his mentor that the fight is over and that it ended in the second round. He doesn’t tell him that he lost and his father figure dies happily.
Rocky slips into a deep depression that is only stopped when Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), his former arch enemy, offers to train him in exchange for a favor. Along with Tony “Duke” Evers (Tony Burton), Apollo brings Rocky into his Tough Gym, giving him the footwork, style and speed that he lacked, finally becoming the gladiator that he was born to be.
The fight between Lang and Rocky is different the next time — Rocky destroys him in the first round, then allows his opponent to batter him in the second, taunting Land and claiming that he can’t put him away. This is all a ruse, as Rocky defeats him in the third, finally finding, as the song sings, “The Eye of the Tiger.”
Apollo’s favor? One more rematch, this time in private at Mickey’s gym. Now the men have become friends and finally are on the same level as the film ends.
When Mr. T took his mother to the premiere, she angrily walked out, upset at the lurid way that he yelled at Rocky’s wife Adrian (Talia Shire), saying “I did not raise you to talk to a lady like that.”
As always, Stallone knows where his characters ended up. He saw Clubber Lang as later becoming a born-again Christian and a ringside announcer.
This would be the last time that Rocky would battle for the title. Now, it would be time to go to Russia and then back to the streets.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Rocky II was on the CBS Late Movie on November 18, 1988.
After the success of Rocky, the producers were eager to make a sequel. While Sylvester Stallone would write the script and star again, John G. Avildsen was tied to Saturday Night Fever (a script disagreement led to him being removed from the film three weeks before shooting started; he was replaced by John Badham). Stallone went all out to get the job, just like he did to get the starring role in the original film. Producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff understood how much of the success of the first film came from Stallone and helped him get the job.
The film begins immediately at the close of the last movie: world heavyweight boxing champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) has defended his title against Rocky Balboa (Stallone), yet his promise of no rematch is rescinded the moment reporters surround the two men. Their private moments are much different then public; when Rocky goes to Apollo’s hospital room, he asks if he gave his all. The champion agrees that he did.
Rocky decides to retire after learning that he has a detached retina and that one punch could blind him. He has a new life now, one of endorsements and agents, but also one of true love as he marries Adrian and they expect a child.
Apollo is on a different path, as he’s now obsessed with a rematch. Rocky is the only mark on his perfect career. Despite everyone close to him telling him to drop it, he demands a rematch, smearing the good name of Rocky even in retirement.
Rocky’s inexperience with money and inability to read basically reduces his life to pure pain. Even a job at a slaughterhouse doesn’t last as the film compounds the boxer’s tragedy, moment by moment. Rocky begs Mickey to take him back and train him, but the older boxer refuses until he sees the way Apollo is taunting him.
Adrian has gone back to working at the pet store and refuses to support Rocky’s need to fight one more time. She goes in labor early and while their child is healthy, she remains in a coma. Rocky blames himself and stops training, but days before the fight, she awakens and tells him to win.
Apollo boasts that he will beat Rocky in no more than two rounds to prove the first match was a joke. Yet Rocky fights right handed instead of left, taking an even more brutal encounter into the fifteenth round, yet Apollo is way ahead on points. Rocky switches back to southpaw — leaving his bad eye open to damage — and takes out the champ with a massive punch that takes both to the canvas. Luckily, he rises in victory.
According to John G. Avildsen, another reason he didn’t do this film was because he didn’t like the story. He was, however, excited to do the third movie, where Rocky would have been elected mayor, only to be caught in a scandal when Paulie stole from the treasury. Rocky would take the blame and end up back in his old neighborhood. Notably, a similar plot occurs — spoiler warning — in the movie Stallone and Avildsen did collaborate on, Rocky V.
Director Noriko Yuasa’s Japanese feature Performing Kaoru’s Funeral is an engaging look at laying to rest someone who people only thought they knew. Lighthearted, poignant, and with both humorous and jaw-droppingly dramatic moments, the film examines the family members, work associates, and other acquaintances of the enigmatic title character (Kano Ichiki), a screenwriter whose life suddenly ended in an accident.
Kaoru’s will stated that her ex-husband from 10 years earlier, unlucky actor Jun Yokotani (Koji Seki), be the chief mourner at her funeral in the rural village of Okayama, where she grew up. Unsure of what to do while there, he meets a group of people who were close to Kaoru, including her nine-year-old daughter (Chise Niitsu), who doesn’t know who her father is — and she isn’t the only one without that information.
As Performing Kaoru’s Funeral unfolds — with a screenplay by Takato Nishi — its characters and situations provide commentary on different Japanese societal topics including sexism, along with a wry comment on the inability for original films to be greenlighted in Japan. Yuasa paces the film nicely; it breezes along and unveils mysteries, bringing smiles and lumps to the throat in fine fashion, with a stellar ensemble cast, and gorgeous cinematography courtesy of Victor Catalá.
Laurence Kendall (Kurt Russell) is a wanderer, a model stranded in the middle of nowhere who happens upon the farm of Elroy “Bud” Burkhardt (Dennis Weaver), a wheat harvester who is dealing with economic issues and also dying of cancer. He has a daughter named Marlene (Mare Winningham) who dreams of leaving Kansas and a son Dougie (Rossie Harris) who ran to Canada during the draft. Somehow, this hardened farmer will become like another father to this young man who has never worked hard in his life.
Directed by Joseph Sargent (Jaws: The Revenge) and written by Ken Trevey, this is a really dramatic, well-made TV movie, a reminder of a time when Dennis Weaver was a big star and Kurt Russell was unproven as an adult actor. Plus, you get Wilford Brimley as an opposing rancher and plenty of gorgeous scenery.
Director Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s anime feature Look Back is a coming-of-age tale that puts its two main characters and viewers alike through the emotional wringer. Fujino (voiced by Yumi Kawai) is a school girl whose manga in her elementary school’s newspaper draws a lot of praise from her fellow students — until it is suddenly overshadowed by the manga drawn by shut-in student Kyomoto (voiced by Mizuki Yoshida). Tasked by her middle school teacher to deliver a graduation document to Kyomoto, Fujino is surprised to learn that the girl is a fan of her work. The two work together as high schoolers and craft award-winning manga, splitting apart when Kyomoto announces that she wants to study art at university rather than continuing their success as a professional team.
There’s much more to matters than what I have described here, and I don’t want to spoil what happens in this fast-paced, poignant feature, so suffice it to say that Look Back, based on the autobiographical manga Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto, delivers shocking tragedy, an alternate reality/”What if?” scenario, and plenty of smiles along with lumps in the throat as the bittersweet drama involving the two unlikely friends unfolds. The animation looks terrific, from scenes early on depicting Fujino’s comedy manga to emotionally heavy portrayals where facial expressions are wonderfully conveyed. The voice acting by the original Japanese cast is also top notch. Oshiyama has crafted a touching anime feature in Look Back that leaves plenty to mull over long after its final frame.
B&S About Movies 
You must be logged in to post a comment.