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THE IMPORTANT CINEMA CLUB’S SUPER SCARY MOVIE CHALLENGE DAY 13: Curse of the Swamp Creature (1968)

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13. A Horror Film That Features a Swamp Creature

Larry Buchanan made a number of low-budget 16mm color remakes of American International Pictures movies for television. Despite the limited budget, he was able to create some truly wild films, including this one, which was inspired by Voodoo Woman.

Dr. Simond Trent (Jeff Alexander) has set up shop deep in the Texas swamps — these are a real thing — and has taken the natives — this is not a thing — for experiments, trying to reverse their evolution.

MOASASOURI – A MONSTER FROM ANOTHER AGE…with terrifying, destructive powers…his victims fight for their lives in a silent, eerie underwater battleground!

Sure, whatever you say!

Every time Trent creates a new creature in his glass fog machine, yelling “Live! Breath!” it never makes it. So then he carries it to his swimming pool full of stock footage and feeds it to the gators, as if Porky Wallace did mad science instead of running a redneck bar.

Frenchy (Roger Ready) and Brenda Simmons (Shirley McLine) join oilman Driscoll West’s (Bill Thurman) expedition in the hopes of making some money for doing nothing. She tries to seduce him, but he turns her down, and one of their thugs, Ritchie (Cal Duggan), kills the rich man. So when geologist Barry Rogers (John Agar) arrives to start the exploring, she explains that she’s Driscoll’s wife, and he’s none the wiser.

Thanks to their guide, Rabbit Simms (Charles McLine), they all end up at the suburban house/mad scientist lab of Trent, whose wife, Pat (Francine York), wants to leave, and the men all treat her like they’re John Ashley in a Blood Island movie. Then, Brenda’s plans go awry, and she is transformed into something else. A green creature that doesn’t look real at all, and therefore makes this movie so much better as a result. She instantly launches Trent into his own gators, then dives in herself, escaping a life as a monster instead of, well, being a monster.

I watched this in the middle of the night, and maybe I wasn’t sober at all, which was the ideal way to watch it. You should feel on the verge of passing out and in another state of consciousness before it starts, then let it wash over you. More monster movies should have body paint instead of latex suits or complicated CGI.

Buchanan would take Invasion of the Saucer Men and make The Eye Creatures; Day the World Ended  as In the Year 2889; It Conquered the World as Zontar The Thing from Venus and The She-Creature as Creature of Destruction. Of this movie, he said, “Never make a swamp picture. Your film comes back and it’s all…strange”.

You can watch this on Tubi.

2025 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 13: Prey (2022)

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13. HOLLYWOODLAND BACK: Made by an indigenous filmmaker or has featured indigenous cast members.

How is this movie, directed by Dan Trachtenberg and written by Patrick Aison, the best Predator in, well, maybe ever?

The Comanche Naru (Amber Midthunder, a citizen of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribe) dreams of being a warrior like her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers). She’s a healer, and the tribe would be upset to know she’s tracking deer to improve her hunting skills. That night, she sees strange lights in the sky, just as she’s called to service, as a member of the tribe has been attacked by a cougar. In her head, she wishes she were at the party sent to hunt the beast. Soon, she forms a hunting party to fund them and is brave enough to face off with the cougar, which knocks her out. Her brother hunts it and comes back with it as a trophy.

Those lights bother our heroine, so she heads out with her dog, Saril. When her grandmother hears of whatever is out there, she believes it is Mupitsi, the mother owl of her ancestors. Her brother is taken by French traders, whose translator Captain Raphael Adolini (Bennett Taylor) is the last to be killed by the Predator (Dane DiLiegro) that is waiting in the woods.

Yes, the same Anolini whose name is on the pistol that Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover)has at the end of Predator 2.

What I love most about this movie is that its heroine is just as fierce as any of the men. She’s not a damsel to be rescued; in fact, she is one of the few who has ever bested a Predator. Sorry, I know I should call them Yautja, Hish-Qu-Ten or Skin Thieves.

Plus, it has roles for indigenous peoples like Michelle Thrush (Canadian Aborigine), Julian Black Antelope (Cree and Métis by birth, adopted by the Kainai Nation), Stormee Kip, Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat (Cree), Stefany Mathias (Squamish Nation), Skye Pelletier, Ginger Cattleman, Samiyah Crowfoot, Seanna Eggtail and Samuel Marty (Plains Cree and Nakota Stoney). According to IMDB, “The script was rewritten by two Comanche activists to ensure its depiction of Comanche culture wasn’t inaccurate or stereotypical, and the movie was praised for the results of their efforts. Among their changes, they insisted on giving every character (Comanche and French) a name in their language, even if it wasn’t stated onscreen.”

Plus, Billy Sole from Predator is a reincarnation of Taabe, and in that film, he is “reframing his last stand with that film’s Predator as being due to subconscious memories of a past life.” Trachtenburg said that as a kid, he was told that in the original, Billy “stood on a bridge over a waterfall and fought the Predator. But when I eventually saw the movie, that scene was not in it. The beginning of it is, but then it cuts away. So the seed was planted, and then I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a movie that focuses on that character’s story?’ And Prey isn’t exactly that, but it is, spiritually.”

I just read a review of this on IMD, B and it said, “Not bad, except for the teeny bopper stuff.”Yes, men, sometimes you have to watch women as the hero of your movie. That said, “Naru would have an easier time proving herself before her peers as women warriors, being among the various Great Plains Nations was actually very common and would sometimes even lead other warriors into battle.”

UNSUNG HORRORS HORROR GIVES BACK 2025: Moebius (2013)

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Each October, the Unsung Horrors podcast does a month of themed movies. This year, they will once again be setting up a fundraiser to benefit Best Friends, which works to save the lives of cats and dogs across America, giving pets second chances and providing them with happy homes.

Today’s theme: South Korea

Directed and written by Kim Ki-duk, Moebius has no words, using only vocables like “uh-huh” and “hmm” for character communication. Want to see me get fancy? It also has no non-diegetic sound except for the beginning and the end.

The mother (Lee Na-ra) is upset that the father (Cho Jae-hyun) has a mistress (also Lee Na-ra), so she tries to castrate him. That fails, so she does the same to their son (Seo Young-joo) and eats his severed beenie weenie. Yes, this happens and quite early.

The father decides to research a penis transplant while also teaching his son all about BDSM. As he has no penis, the son is bullied until he participates in the gang assault of his father’s mistress. As he has no penis, he is found not guilty; he makes his way to the mistress’s work, where they have a threesome with the leader of the gang of bullies. A knife gets involved, another penis gets sliced, and then a truck runs over the gang leader’s wang. The mistress likes the son better without a penis, so when the father gives him his in the transplant, that falls away, just in time for the mother to come home. She wants a sexual relationship with the father, which is impossible, but the son’s penis has a mind of its own and gets erect around the mother. The father tries to castrate his son, then kills himself and his wife. The son responds by shooting off his member, then becoming a holy man.

The scary part of all of this is that Lee Na-ra replaced another actress who was slapped multiple times by director Kim Ki-duk, as well as being forced to be in the assault scene that was much rougher than she thought it would be. Four years after these charges, Kim Ki-duk was accused of sexual molestation of his students and actor Cho Jae-hyun was also charged with multiple accounts of physical assault, sexual assault and rape alongside the director.

I didn’t learn about the crimes until after I saw this; it now stays with me for much different reasons.

You can watch this on Tubi.

CHILLER THEATER MONTH: Curse of the Doll People (1961)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Curse of the Doll People was on Chiller Theater on Saturday. August 17, 1968 at 1:00 a.m.

Known in Mexico as Munecos Infernales, this movie was directed by Benito Alazraki, who was also behind Santo contra Los Zombies and Espiritismo, both of which were made the same year as this film.

Four men have stolen an idol from a voodoo priest. I don’t have to tell you what a bad idea that is in any country. Soon, evil dolls begin killing their family members years before we even heard of Puppet Master. It’s actually based on the book Burn Witch Burn! by A. Merritt, which has nothing to do with the movie of the same name. That British-American film was initially titled Night of the Eagle and was based on the Fritz Leiber novel “Conjure Wife.”

Speaking of that movie, it had a Paul Frees-narrated prologue in which he read a protective spell for the audience, who were also given further occult defenses via a special pack of salt and the words to an ancient incantation.

This movie has no such assurances.

K. Gordon Murray, who brought The Brainiac and Santa Claus up north, as well as the writer of Shanty Tramp, also brought this movie to America, but not before adding some new scenes.

Ramon Gay, who starred in all of the Aztec Mummy films, is featured. He was one of the brightest lights in Mexican cinema when a dispute over the affections of the actress Evangelina Elizondo ended with her estranged husband shooting Gay dead.

UNSUNG HORRORS HORROR GIVES BACK 2025: I Saw the Devil (2010)

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Each October, the Unsung Horrors podcast does a month of themed movies. This year, they will once again be setting up a fundraiser to benefit Best Friends, which works to save the lives of cats and dogs across America, giving pets second chances and providing them with happy homes.

Today’s theme: South Korea!

About the Author: Parker Simpson is a writer and podcaster focusing on cult films and their social impacts. They currently cohost Where Is My Mind, a podcast focusing on underappreciated films from a variety of genres and countries. They have also held panels, chartered local organizations, and written articles to their blog. When not writing or studying, they like to spend time with their pets and go outside. Check out the podcast Linktree and blog.

I remember watching a trailer for this a few months ago and thinking the serial killer was the aggressor the entire movie. I was wrong.

Anger is an addiction. When someone gets mad, they want to stay mad, even when they tire of it and destroy the lives of others. This can be as small as a petty friend drama, or as large as a full-scale revenge plot. The rampage is unable to be stopped until the person is, at least before wrath consumes them whole.

If you take anything away from 2010’s I Saw The Devil, that may be the smallest and least sensitive reading you could possibly get. Focusing on an intelligence agent’s quest to hunt down the serial killer that murdered his wife, both parties end up in a cat-and-mouse game that affects everyone around them.

The most talked about aspect of the film is its gratuitous violence. This film never lets up its attack, nearly desensitizing the audience until the very final shot, falling into the same vein as other Korean revenge films like Oldboy and Mother. Clocking in at over 140 minutes, it is an endurance test to get through certain scenes involving torture, mutilation, and murder in between lengthy bits centering around character disposition. Some call it torture porn, graphic and tiring; not to sound like the edgelord in the room, but that could be the point. In one’s conquest to exact revenge, you will eventually find the journey for such satisfaction tedious and uninspiring. You may forget what you were even fighting for. Does that mean it’s worth it to go on? I Saw The Devil doesn’t make a particularly compelling argument, showing both parties devolving into insanity and unsavory sadism in a world where there is no good or evil, just wrath, envy, lust, and all of the other sins. 

This point seems to go over many heads amidst the rampant violence against women and lagging pace, not that I don’t disagree; I have yet to see the rest of Kim Jee-woon’s filmography, but many online are quick to point out very few of his films have a favorable view of women. From this one film, it’s important to note the only female characters are shown as helpless, either mourning the death of Kim Soo-hyeon’s wife, Joo-Yeon, or becoming a victim of sexual assault. It fits the killer’s motif, yes, but it’s tiring and even degrading. It makes you wonder what could have been done differently, given the fascinating take on revenge.

I Saw The Devil’s strongest aspect is its visuals. The opening sequence with Joo-Yeon is one of the best cold openings I’ve seen in a long time; the second you see the glimmer in the “Good Samaritan’s” otherwise black eyes, you know what you’re in for: something creepy and unforgiving. Its immaculate cinematography is complemented by a sickly color palette that is simultaneously pale, harsh, and dark. Pretend all the violence was off-screen; you would still walk away feeling nauseous.

Additionally, the performances by the two leads, Lee Byung-hun and Choi Min-sik are mesmerizing, perfectly capturing two psychopaths in a sick loop, hell bent on destroying each other. I see that the former is involved in Squid Game and KPop Demon Hunters – not the plot twist I expected to see after I watched him make the world’s worst Rube Goldberg contraption. Despite both their sorrows and pains, neither express any regret of continuing their little game. And that may be the biggest tragedy of all.

I strongly recommend this to anyone who has seen Oldboy, Lady Vengeance, and Mother, yet somehow not seen this. And if you have not seen any of those titles, this isn’t a bad place to start – just be warned: it’s an intense, polarizing ride that leaves you sick to your stomach.

UNSUNG HORRORS HORROR GIVES BACK 2025: Yongary (1967)

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Each October, the Unsung Horrors podcast does a month of themed movies. This year, they will once again be setting up a fundraiser to benefit Best Friends, which works to save the lives of cats and dogs across America, giving pets second chances and providing them with happy homes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adam Hursey is a pharmacist specializing in health informatics by day, but his true passion is cinema. His current favorite films are Back to the Future, Stop Making Sense, and In the Mood for Love. He has written articles for Film East and The Physical Media Advocate, primarily examining older films through the lens of contemporary perspectives. He is usually found on Letterboxd, where he mainly writes about horror and exploitation films. You can follow him on Letterboxd or Instagram at ashursey.

Today’s theme: South Korea!

Filmgoers of Korea: We want Godzilla!

Director Kim Kee-duk: We have Godzilla at home!

Godzilla at home:


When I am making my list of films to watch for challenges, I keep several factors in mind. First and foremost, do I have access to the film I want to watch? There is nothing worse than getting excited about watching a movie, only to discover that it is not readily available anywhere. Next, how long is the movie? For example, I really loved The Wailing (a film that would fit into this category), but I do not have 156 minutes to devote to it in October. I have to get through too many films. Third, you want your list to have a nice variety about it. You don’t want 31 slashers. You need some diversity.

Yongary, Monster from the Deep checks all of the necessary boxes. I own the Vinegar Syndrome 4K (a 4K?) thanks to being a subscriber (a membership I question more and more each year). The film is only 79 minutes long, a blessing. And I can say I threw a kaiju on my list. 

Does the movie have to be good? No. Do I have to like every movie on my list? Absolutely not. Am I glad I watched Yongary? Let’s just say that this 4K is going on my sale pile. 

The film has its charms for sure. If you love seeing a guy in a rubber suit stomping around a set of miniatures, this is the film for you. If you want to see a monster dance with a precocious little kid, you are in luck. If you want to see a kaiju die by bleeding out of the rectum into a large body of water, no kink shaming here. But for me, this film will fall into that rare category of a film I did not really care for, would not watch again, but will probably never forget. Especially that last part.

CHILLER THEATER MONTH: The Witch’s Mirror (1960)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Witch’s Mirror was on Chiller Theater on Saturday. January 13, 1968 at 1:00 a.m.

The Witch’s Mirror is why I love 1960s Mexican horror. Some movies of that era only hint at witchcraft and the occult, and this one goes all in, showing rituals and all manner of Satanic mayhem. Ah, Mexico. Long may your movies live on.

It’s directed by Chano Urueta, who also made the confoundingly wonderful El Baron del Terror and the Blue Demon films.

If you’re going to steal, I always say to steal big. Chanto draws from numerous sources here — Edgar Allen Poe, Hitchcock’s Rebecca, Eyes Without a Face — while somehow synthesizing them into his own unique narrative.

Deborah (Rosita Arenas, distinct from the Aztec Mummy movies) is the new wife of Dr. Eduardo Ramos (Armando Calvo), but she has no idea that years ago, he poisoned her. Still, she was the first wife, Elena (Dina de Marco).

The thing is, Elena may be dead, but her spirit will not rest. She calls out to her aunt, a witch named Sara (Isabela Corona), whose spells and incantations place Deborah directly in the path of revenge, starting with her face being burned in a fire.

Luckily — or maybe not — Dr. Ramos ends up being somewhat of a mad scientist, so he starts stealing dead bodies to take their skin and attempt to give his new bride her beauty back.

Somehow, in all of this, the witch comes off the best of all of them. This movie is nightmarish in ways that movies made outside of Mexico just can’t pull off because I get the idea that the filmmakers have one foot in believing that everything in this movie is possible.

Murder, She Wrote S2 E15: Powder Keg (1986)

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The justice system is tested when a group of angry rednecks form a lynch party and plan to hang a murder suspect.

Season 2, Episode 15: Powder Keg (February 9, 1986)

The second episode, set in Roper County (also in “It’s a Dog’s Life“), features Jessica and Ames Caulfield (Craig Stevens, Peter Gunn!) traveling down South to attend a writer’s convention. Coincidence strands them at a hotel owned by an old lover of Ames, Cassie Burns (Mariclare Costello, Emily from Let’s Scare Jessica to Death). She runs the place along with her son Matthew (Brian Lane Green). But hey…let’s get into it.

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?

Other than the cast above, that is!

Frank Kelso is played by Pat Corley, who also was Sheriff Joe Corley in Kiss My Grits.

Linda Bonner is played by Cindy Fisher.

Jackie Earle Haley! He’s Billy Willetts.

Sheriff Claudell Cox, the law here, is Dorian Harewood, Shredder on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.

Peter Fargo is played by John Dennis Johnston.

Charlie Demsey is Bill McKinney, who was in Deliverance, First Blood and Back to the Future III.

Jeff Osterage is in the role of Ed Bonner.

The elder Bonner is Stuart Whitman in one of his four appearances on the show.

Larry Wilcox is also in the four-timers club. He’s Andy Crane in this.

Smaller roles include W.K. Stratton as Deputy Morgan, John Alvin as Dr. Frazier, Debra Dusay as a desk clerk, Dave Adams as a barfly, Hartley Silver as a man, Muriel Minot as a woman, Renna Bartlett as a literary conference attendee and Bud Hazlett and Helen Kelly as background characters.

What happens?

Ames goes to watch Matthew play in a band at a bar that has a Confederate flag on the stage. Soon, Linda’s brother Ed and his sons Andy and Billy show up looking for him. And Matthew, who turns out not to be her son but is a lover, is involved.

As you guessed, Ed is dead in the morning, Matt is suspected, and Ames wants JB to help him. Maybe Ed was a drug dealer. Who can say? Well, everyone, because no one seems to like him even after he just died.

Jessica gets a gun pulled on her by a bartender when she’s snooping around. She knows more about guns than he does, and as you can imagine, this gets him rock hard. JB is told to leave people alone, and now look, she’s blue ballsing an NRA member.

But no matter who you think it is, as the townspeople all come to jail to kill Matthew, the surprise is…

Who did it?

The bartender. Yes, Frank Kelso caught his wife pounding it out with Ed, so he killed her and got blackmailed by Ed. Finally, he decided to shoot him with the very gun Jessica saw him pull on her.

Who made it?

This episode was directed by the best TV movie director of all time, John Llewellyn Moxey, and written by series creator Peter S. Fischer.

Does Jessica get some?

No, but Ames had it on his mind before his ex cock blocked him.

Does Jessica dress up and act stupid?

I wish.

Was it any good?

Yes, this is the best kind of episode, where JB is a fish out of water, wins everyone over and solves the case.

Any trivia?

Jeff Osterage was also in season 1’s “Funeral at Fifty-Mile.”

Give me a reasonable quote:

Jessica Fletcher: Oh, Ames, I’m so grateful to you for inviting me to loll around your estate for a few days. You know, that writer’s conference really wore me out.

Prof. Ames Caulfield: Nonsense. You loved it. And they loved you, he admitted enviously.

What’s next?

Art Hindle! Barbi Benton! Frank Bonner! Jessica must find the murderer of her close friend, whose will is in contention between the family and a popular evangelist.

THE IMPORTANT CINEMA CLUB’S SUPER SCARY MOVIE CHALLENGE DAY 12: Hit the Road Running (1983)

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October 12: A 3D Horror Film that you watch with red and blue glasses

I had a lot of 3D movies to pick from, but when a poster promises “The funniest, wackiest 3-D movie ever,” I know which one to pick!

One of six 3D movies made by Earl Owensby’s crew — Rottweiler: Dogs of Hell, Hot Heir, Hyperspace, Chain Gang and Tales of the Third Dimension in 3-D are the others — this has Beau Jim Donner (Owensby) coming home to deal with Sam Grady (Rudy Thompson), who is buying up the small town. Uncle Rusty (Jack Payne) refuses to sell his business, so he’s crippled. Beau Jim starts working for the cops but is really messing up Grady’s schemes; he becomes a hero to the people thanks to DJ Freight Train Fremont (Dee Barton in his only acting role; he did the music for Every Which Way You Can, Play Misty for Me, High Plains Drifter, Death Screams and most of the Owensby films).

Barton also did the music for this, along with narrator David Allan Coe. So yes, if you think, “This sounds a lot like The Dukes of Hazzard,” you’re totally right. Except this is in 3D. And you pay for it.

Director Worth Keeter was on so many Owensby films, like the two Ginger Alden-starring movies Lady Grey and Living Legend: The King of Rock and Roll, as well as The Order of the Black Eagle, Unmasking the Idol, Snapdragon, and many more movies. Writer Thom McIntyre was right there with him and also directed Tales of the Third Dimension in 3-D and The Rutherford County Line.

I was so happy to find this online. Not many people care about the Owensby back catalogue, and now that the company’s website is down, finding the movies is nearly impossible, except for some of the releases that Severin and Vinegar Syndrome have put out. I think I might be the one person who needs to see Hot Heir, a 3D balloon race movie.

You can watch this on YouTube.

2025 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 12: Anemia (1986)

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12. MOROSE CODE: Nestle into your favorite dark place to view a Gothic horror piece.

Directed and written by Alberto Abruzzese and Achille Pisanti, this was described by Abruzzese as a “hypersensible journey among the literary and cinematic genres…a game of displacements.” Based on the Abruzzese novel Anemia Storia di un vampiro comunista, it was first shown on Rai Tre television on October 27, 1990.

Umberto (Hanns Zischler) is a high-ranking Communist Party official who learns that he has become a vampire. He leaves behind the real world and goes to the house of his grandfather, which is all a comment on how the Italian Communists became the Democratic Party of the Left.

It’s more cerebral than Italian horror, but hey, Gioia Scola (Obsession: A Taste for Fear) is in it.

I’m trying to watch every Italian Gothic Horror movie ever — here’s the Letterboxd list — and sometimes, you get to watch The Vampire and the Ballerina or Kill, Baby, Kill. And other times, you watch this.

You can watch this on YouTube.