EDITOR’S NOTE: The Trygon Factor was on the CBS Late Movie on January 23, 1973 and January 2, 1974.

Das Geheimnis der weißen Nonne (Mystery of the White Nun) is known in the U.S. as The Trygon Factor and is based on Edgar Wallace’s book Kate Plus Ten.

Inspector Cooper-Smith (Stewart Granger) is on the hunt for a group of thieves who have been stealing various unconnected goods. His investigation leads him to the country manor of the Emberdays, a respectable English family. The mistress of the house, Livia (Cathleen Nesbitt), and Sister General (Brigitte Horney) and the nuns living in her home, are all suspects. Could they be behind the thefts to save the family fortune? The plot thickens when Inspector Thompson (Allan Cuthbertson) is murdered at Emberday Abbey. The Emberday children, Trudy (Susan Hampshire) and Luke (James Culliford), also come under suspicion.

The Trygon Factor leans more towards the Eurospy genre than the nascent Giallo, a style of Italian thriller, as the Krimi cycle of films began to slow down. The Eurospy genre is characterized by its focus on espionage and action, which is evident in the film’s plot and action sequences. Director Cyril Frankel, known for his work on UFO, The Avengers and Return of the Saint, brings his expertise to the film. The script was written by Derry Quinn (Young, Willing and Eager) and Stanley Munro.

One of the most intriguing scenes in the film features a gang member in a striking yellow suit of armor, wielding a gigantic gatling gun to burst through a bank wall. This unique sequence is only topped by the unexpected moment when Stewart Granger’s character punches a nun right in the face.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Manbeast! Myth of Monster? was on the CBS Late Movie on October 17, 1984; August 8, 1985 and June 15, 1988.

Drink every time that Peter C. Byrne says, “I believe in the Manbeast.”

At some point in 1978, Peter decided to remake the In Search Of episode about Bigfoot as this movie, taking his wife Cecelia out for a ride. In fact, director Nicholas Webster would go on to direct three episodes of that syndicated Leonard Nimoy-hosted show that would often give me nightmares. But he can’t hide perhaps the darkest secrets, as Webster also directed Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

This was written by Anthony Potter (whose resume mostly consists of hard news and documentaries) and Diana Webster, who wrote nine episodes of In Search Of, appeared in movies like Death Ray 2000 and played a nurse in two early Marvel movies, Dr. Strange and Captain America.

As we watch a Rob Bottin-created Manbeast interact with people and appear in reenactments, we hear stories like the Russian farmer who kept a female Manbeast — a Fembeast? Femalebeast? Ladybeast, shout out to Pittsburgh metal?!? — for years, one that even gave birth and accidentally killed her children by washing them in a frozen stream until the farmer’s wife started raising the children for her own, and the kids looked very human and wait, was the farmer putting it on the female Manbeast because yes, I totally believe that story as well as a skier straight up murked by a Manbeast.

That said, Peter is the most sympathetic person ever toward the lost species, saying that man has destroyed the forest and that we must help the Manbeast survive. And then some insane scientist shows up and says, “Look, they’re going extinct. Or maybe they don’t exist. I don’t care. But if I do find one, I’m going to kill it and do an exhaustive autopsy and enjoy every moment,” and I’m absolutely sure that that man is a serial killer. Or an actor. Or an actor who is a serial killer.

This is not anywhere near The Mysterious Monsters or The Legend of Boggy Creek, but it’s better than The Legend of Bigfoot, a film in which Ivan Marx talks about himself just as much as he discusses sasquatches.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Ava Robbins (Rose Lane Sanfilippo) is a social media influencer who has moved from #vanlife to #cabinlife as she settles in a small town. An accident has left her unable to drive for several months, so she’s putting up roots, getting to know the cute local mechanic Kellen (Austin Scott) and oh yeah, getting obsessed and eventually haunted by Hannah Granger, the witch who has become an urban legend in the region where she’s trying to make her home.

The entire time that Ava is trying to make a new life, she’s haunted by a man in another van who keeps stalking her, getting closer by the second. She’s also investigating the haunted Granger family, even going as far as to go to an asylum and try to meet with Elijah Granger (Brian James Fitzpatrick), who has survived shooting off most of his face and brain with a shotgun.

Ava gradually — well, until one part — becomes an unstable narrator. That part would be after she finally hooks up with Kellen and the movie looks at its run time and says, “Let’s just hurry this up” and Ava makes a character leap into insanity. I blame the Ouija board, as I always do. Just leave those things in the box.

Closer to an f-giallo than a horror movie, Cabin Girl finally comes together in the end but it’s the kind of closure that I can see some members of its audience not being all that happy with.

This was directed by Jon D. Wagner and written by Leslie Beaumont and Rory James Wood. It’s certainly looks better than many streaming movies, has an interesting twist and man, there’s a disquieting moment of gore near the ending that made my hand hurt.

You can watch this on Tubi.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Scream and Scream Again was on the CBS Late Movie on March 22 and August 23, 1974.

Based on the novel The Disorientated Man by Peter Saxon*, this Amicus film boasts the best line-up potentially ever in a horror film. It features the iconic Christopher Lee, the legendary Peter Cushing, and the master of macabre Vincent Price, all delivering stellar performances.

The film opens with a man jogging, collapsing, and waking up in a hospital, missing his leg. He screams, and then the same scream repeats as he loses every appendage. Meanwhile, an Eastern European spy named Konratz (played by Marshall Jones, Cry of the Banshee) is on a killing spree, targeting his superiors, including Cushing. In another subplot, someone is killing young women in London, and it appears that Keith (Michael Gothard) is the murderer, a blood-drinking super-strong weirdo.

Price shows up as the sinister Dr. Browning, and it all ends up being a conspiracy movie that owes a fair deal to Invasion of the Body Snatchers. However, that movie didn’t end with much of its cast falling into acid.

According to Lee, the villains of this movie were going to be revealed as aliens, but that was cut out for some reason, leaving a lot of the movie unexplained.

This was directed by Gordon Hessler (Pray for Death; Scream, Pretty Peggy; Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad).

Team Price, Lee, and Cushing appear in only one other movie: House of the Long Shadows. They barely appear in any scenes together, though.

*A house pen name for multiple authors at Amalgamated Press; the Saxon that wrote this story is Stephen Frances, edited by W. Howard Baker.

Source

Film Still Scream and Scream Again Peter Cushing Christopher Lee 1970 – Richard Thornton Books. https://richardthorntonbooks.com/product/film-still-scream-and-scream-again-peter-cushing-christopher-lee-1970/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jennifer Upton is an American (non-werewolf) writer/editor in London. She currently works as a freelance ghostwriter of personal memoirs and writes for several blogs on topics as diverse as film history, punk rock, women’s issues, and international politics. For links to her work, please visit https://www.jennuptonwriter.com or send her a Tweet @Jennxldn

It’s rare for me to expel an audible groan at the end of a movie. 

Especially if it’s a movie starring William Smith released in 1972. 

With The Runaway, I did just that. Not because it’s a terrible movie. Far from it.  

The film is a mixed bag of loathsome events, and ‘70s anti-gay sentiment portrayed by competent filmmakers and skilled actors. 

Ricki (Gilda Texter) is a 17-year-old virgin runaway who leaves her unhappy rural desert home in search of a friend named Roger Jordan in California. A man she barely knows, but whom she trusts because he never tried to hit on her. 

During her first 24 hours of hitchhiking, the precarious reality of her new situation is explained via a folksy ballad played over a montage of Ricki fighting back against a string of guys with sexual assault on the brain. Each time, she fights back, proving herself to be a likable, capable protagonist. 

Enter Frank (William Smith), a lonely, drunk private eye hired to find the runaway heiress to a wealthy family. Frank and Ricki strike up a friendship forged in the shared experience of life’s miseries and adorned with creepy sexual tension despite their age difference of at least 25 years. 

In Venice Beach, California, Ricki meets only one nice person. A traveling musician who helps her score money for phone calls and food. Everyone else wants something from her. After sleeping in an alley, she takes up with up with some hippies who take her to their swinging upstairs pad and dose her with acid, so she moves downstairs into the resident hooker’s pad. 

Prostitute Lorri (played wonderfully by Rita Murray) is a lesbian who falls for Ricki hard. She’s supposed to be predatory (as evidenced by the longing stares), but from the vantage point of 2023, she comes off more lonely than anything else. Perhaps it’s Ricki who leads Lorri on and takes advantage of her hospitality. 

Lorri not only takes Ricki to the beach where the two share a fun day frolicking naked in the seaweed, but she also lets Ricki live with her rent free, buys all the food and cooks all the meals, only to be spurned after they successfully hook up because Ricki is still struggling with the idea that coming out means living a life of always being different. A daunting prospect in 1972. Ricki wants a “nice” life. Whatever the hell that means. 

From here, the movie really ramps up the animosity towards its leading lady. 

In the worst scene of the whole affair, Ricki attempts to hook up with a random guy recommended by one hippy. Even for 1972 this scene is just wrong. There’s no discussion of whether Ricki even finds the guy attractive. It’s just “Hi, come on in, have some coke,” and the dude hops on like a bunny in spring. Of course, it doesn’t work (because that’s not how female arousal works regardless of sexual orientation) and Ricki flees the scene. 

She re-connects with Frank who takes her to the last known address of her friend Roger Jordan. The vaunted man we never get to see but whom Ricki believes will solve all her problems. It turns out Roger never hit on her because he’s gay, too, having stolen the Vicuna sweater of his last lover before peacing out to San Francisco. 

Meanwhile, Lorri is revealed to be the missing heiress, cast in the mold of Warhol superstar Edie Sedgwick whose rebellion stems from an abusive upbringing. We’re told that her father has died and left her a great deal of money, but otherwise her story ends there. Did she ever find love? I’d love to see a sequel focused on this character. 

The next WTF moment occurs when Ricki asks Frank to deflower her. You know… to see if maybe she’ll like sex with a man she trusts. Again, there’s no discussion of whether she fancies him. It’s just assumed that she’ll like it no matter what man she’s with if she can just get past her personal hang-ups. Because of course, it’s all in her head. Sigh. 

Never mind that he’s drunk and old enough to be her father. Frank’s love-making skills are apparently so good that Ricki overcomes her fear of men and is now free to explore a relationship with the nice hippie boy who helped her score food money earlier in the film. Holy shit. 

The final song plays over a long shot of the new couple walking along the beach. “Ohhhh, Ricki…Please let me open your eyes to the magic inside you. You don’t need a disguise. For you’re a woman, Ricki! A full out woman, Ricki!” Holy shit. Again. 

I’m normally not a journalist who scrutinizes old movies through a lens of modern sensibility. I believe every film is of its time and place. That’s the best way to watch The Runaway. The acting and directing are solid. Texter, Murray, and Smith are all given adequate screen time to portray complex characters trying to navigate their way through a cruel, unforgiving world. But, be warned. The overall message is so incredibly outdated that you too might groan during the end credits. 

If you really want to find out, you can watch it in its entirety here: https://youtu.be/yR_D9ss9y5k

It would take other film industries decades to equal the sheer volume that the Italian exploitation machine could accomplish. In the four years since Django and five since A Fistful of Dollars and West and Soda, a traditionally animated movie whose creation predates Leone’s film, hundreds of cowboys thundered out of the European West and several genres emerged from comedies and Zapata westerns to films centered on the tragic hero, horror westerns and this film, Matalo! (Kill Him), which is uncategorizable but could maybe be an acid horror art deconstruction.

Cesare Canevari, with only nine movies under his belt, managed to traverse nearly every genre with his diverse direction: an early Western (Per un dollaro a Tucson si muore), Giallo (A Hyena In the Safe), an early Italian Emmanuelle (A Man for Emmanuelle), Eurospy (Un tango dalla Russia), Ajita Wilson’s first movie (The Nude Princess), late-era giallo with plenty of sleaze (Killing of the Flesh) and Naziploitation (the go all the way madness that is The Gestapo’s Last Orgy).

The film begins with a desperado named Bart (Corrado Pani) walking through the town as cocky as possible, even though he’s headed to the gallows. He even puts his own neck in the noose, knowing that some Mexican bandits are about to save his neck. His walk back out of town is even more audacious, as he’s just stood on the precipice of death and watched the chaos he ordered come true. He somehow tops that by killing off the men who saved him before meeting up with his friends Ted (Antonio Salines) and Phil (Luis Dávila) in a ghost town where the movie decides to slow down as they explore an abandoned hotel as electric guitars scream and wind blows through every frame of this film.

They’re joined by Mary (Claudia Gravy, Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold, Tuareg: The Desert Warrior), a snarling force of female nature that finds herself strong enough to be on the side of stagecoach robbing evil. That robbery seems to cost Bart his life, and the film switches gears as the gang hides out in the ghost town, abusing an old woman until Ray (Lou Castel) and a younger widow (Mirella Pamphili) arrive, and they too are abused by the gang. Luckily, Ray has a horse that seems smarter than him, and he’s pretty good with a boomerang, which this movie uses for wild POV shots as he whips them at the gunmen.

What’s wild is that a year earlier, Tanio Boccia directed Dio non paga il sabato (Kill the Wickeds), which is nearly the same movie but shot as if it were a normal film, not the sometimes wandering, other times hyperfocused Matalo!

 The Arrow Blood Money: Four Western Classics Vol. 2 set includes 2K restorations of all four films from the original 35mm camera negatives by Arrow Films, original Italian and English front and end titles, restored lossless original Italian and English soundtracks, English subtitles for the Italian soundtracks, brand new introductions to each film by journalist and critic Fabio Melelli, galleries for all four films, an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by author and critic Howard Hughes, a fold-out double-sided poster featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx and limited edition packaging with reversible sleeves featuring original artwork and a slipcover featuring newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx. Matalo! is a significant inclusion in this set due to its unique and uncategorizable nature, making it a must-watch for fans of Italian cinema and exploitation films.

Matalo! (Kill Him) has brand new audio commentary by critics Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson that I promise to listen to because I know how much Troy hates it when people just list the extras and don’t review them. I promise! There’s also an in-depth interview with filmmaker Davide Pulici discussing the career of Matalo! director Cesare Canevari, as well as another appreciation, this time of the soundtrack and its composer, Mario Migliardi, by musician and disc collector Lovely Jon. There’s also a theatrical trailer.

You can get it from MVD.