Category Archives: Made for TV Movie

House of Lost Souls (1989)

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Hell yeah this is Ghosthouse 3 and it is filled with all the magic and absolutely baffling things that make the original film something that I love like others feel appreciation for fine paintings or great food.

Directed and written by Umberto Lenzi, this movie has the most basic of outlines, as a group of people stay at a cursed hotel. And then, as I like to say, hijinks ensue.

There’s a ghost monk that wouldn’t exist if Romero didn’t include a Hare Krishna in one of his movies, as well as a bear trap bloodbath that is pretty darn upsetting and all the head lopping, knife stabbing and a child killed by a washing machine, which is the kind of thing that makes Italian horror — even at the end of it all — so worthwhile.

Plus — Claudio Simonetti makes music that absolutely works for this. Seriously, the ghost movies of Lenzi are the hot chocolate at the end of a cold day, a balm for my constantly besieged and worried soul.

This is part of the Doomed Houses TV movie series — that was never aired on TV because Lenzi and Fulci just went for it with the blood and gore — that includes The Sweet House of Horrors, The House of Clocks and The House of Witchcraft. If you’re a normal person, these movies are complete wastes of time.

I find them essential.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Dinner with a Vampire (1989)

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My expectations may be lowered, but I tend to like Lamberto Bava’s TV efforts — Graveyard Disturbance and The Ogre are two examples — more than his theatrical movies.

Four actors — Gianni (Riccardo Rossi, the Italian voice of Simba in The Lion King), Rita (Patrizia Pellegrino), Monica (Yvonne Sciò, who was in the Tal Bachman video for “She’s So High”) and Sasha (Valeria Milillo) have won their audition to appear in a new horror movie. As they’re taking to meet Jurek the director (George Hilton, All the Colors of the Dark, The Case of the Bloody Iris) — who lives in a large castle — they learn that he’s a vampire and he has a challenge: he believes that they can kill him.

There are movies within a movie. There’s a hunchbacked assistant named Giles (Daniele Aldrovandi). And there’s lots of gore, particularly at the end. Written by Bava with Dardano Sacchetti, this comedy isn’t going to change your world, but it will entertain you unless you have a major issue with goofy humor.

There’s an incredible version of this posted by Dr. Sapirstein on YouTube:

SLASHER MONTH: Bloody Psycho (1989)

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God bless you, Lucio Fulci. By 1989, things were so rough that you loaned your name to several movies that said that they were presented by you. Those five films — Bloody Psycho, Hansel e Gretel, Massacre, Sodoma’s Ghost and Touch of Death* — are all of varying qualities, but when they work, well — they work. They deliver what our basest instincts want in a Fulci film.

Directed by Leandro Lucchetti (who also wrote Vampire In Venice) from a script that he wrote with Giovanni Simonelli (the writer of the giallo The Crimes of the Black Cat and the director of Hansel e Gretel), it’s all about psychic Dr. Werner Vogler, who has come to a castle to heal the broken body of the lady of the house, who has a special relationship with her maid. And if you’ve seen enough Italian horror, you know exactly what I mean.

Somehow, the faith healing tai chi doctor ends up hooking up with the granddaughter of the crippled woman and they have without a doubt the most upsetting sex scene I’ve ever seen in which they pour liters upon liters of dairy products all over one another and scoop it out of one another’s mouths. Seriously, I must have watched this scene three times just to write how appalled I was by it.

There’s also a creepy doll, lots of dreams of murder and a corpse in a wheelchair. Then, this movie was pronounced dead and its best effects were packed in ice to later be transplanted into Cat in the Brain.

*You can add the television films Sweet House of Horrors and House of Clocks to this era of Fulci.

You can watch this on YouTube.

SLASHER MONTH: Coda (1987)

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Coda is an Australian TV movie that never made it to the theaters but man, there are still great slashers out there that I haven’t seen and that gives me some hope for the rest of this life, right?

Also called Deadly Possession and Symphony of Evil, this has a white faced, black gloved killer watching his intended victims from afar, hiding amongst the sheets on a clothesline while synth music plays and if you think, “Is this the Australian Halloween?” then yes, you’d be correct. It’s also the sequel, because there’s a jacuzzi attack and the killer sitting back up after being stabbed in the neck.

Then again, isn’t The Day After Halloween the Australian Halloween?

Then, the movie turns into a whodunnit based around classical music, which feels like something out of a giallo, which is kind of cool, because things had been moving very slow and then suddenly, the story really picks up.

The formula of Hitchcock (DePalma + Argento) is what this film is all about. And man, how many great movies keep getting discovered many years later out of Australia? Also, unlike so many slashers — and movies, when you think about it — all of the central roles are played by women.

House of Witchcraft (1989)

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La casa del sortilegio (The House of the Spell) finds our old friend Umberto Lenzi making a TV movie that fits right into his Ghosthouse style and I, for one, could not be happier.

This is one of four films in the Doomed Houses series of films that also includes his The House of Lost Souls and Fulci’s The Sweet House Of Horrors and The House of Clocks. And he decides that what this movie needs is lots of the hero having visions of losing his head and having it thrown into cauldrons and giant vats of soup. And you know what they say, there ain’t no fake severed head like an Italian fake severed head.

Also: our hero Luke has a tarot-obsessed wife named Martha and if I know my Italian exploitation conventions — and you know I do — anyone named Martha is evil.

Also also: Italian directors hate cats and Lenzi says, “I guess I’ll continue that tradition,” and has a scene where someone throws at TV at a black cat and it exposes on impact.

You better believe that the words La Casa were really big on the posters for this. I mean, by posters it played on TV. Ah, you know what I mean.

Lenzi makes a film that may not be a narrative wonder, but if you made a supercut of all its weirdest scenes, you’d find a priest being beaten to death with a crowbar by a witch, a boyfriend chopped into pieces and dumped down a well and a basement where it snows and the daughter becomes a ghost. And maggots!

“You have to have maggots in this sauce,” screaming Lenzi, mad with cooking energy in the kitchen.

This movie is also called Ghosthouse 4 and for that I love it sixteen times as much.

2021 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 25: Dark Mansions (1986)

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25. SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE*: Sleep deprived and still alive… for now. (*Does not have to be set in Seattle)

Hey all — just got back from Seattle, then a week quarantine from Becca who got COVID-19, which is pretty much like me being normal because all I did was sit in my basement and write about movies and here I am, still writing about movies.

Produced by Aaron Spelling and Douglas S. Cramer, Dark Mansions had the elevator speech of “kind of like Dynasty if it were Dark Shadows,” which is to say, it’s Dark Shadows. It was also not picked up for a series and back in the wonderful days of 1986, if that didn’t happen, we got the burn off TV movie and would say, “Man, I wish that was a series.” But even if it was, it would have lasted ten episodes and a bunch would have only played in Europe and I’d still be writing this article, just slightly different.

That said — Joan Fontaine as reclusive matriarch Margaret Drake! Linda Purl from Visiting Hours! Melissa Sue Anderson fromLittle House on the Prarie (and the voice of Snowbird from Alpha Flight on the X-Men cartoon and yes, that kind of information is inside my brain)! Lois Chiles, who is both Holly Goodhead and the thanks for the ride lady from Creepshow 2!  Nicollette Sheridan! Dan O’Herilhy! Grant Aleksander (Phillip from Guiding Light)! Raymond St. Jacques (the street preacher from They Live)! Paul Shenar (Dream Lover, Scarface)! And a ghost haunting all of them!

Director Jerry London also did Killdozer, so there’s that. The show was written by Anthony Lawrence (who speaking of shows that died before their time also created The Phoenix), his wife Nancy and Robert McCullough, who wrote for Falcon Crest and that helped with this I guess.

A lot gets set up. Nothing gets resolved. And that’s how it goes for a pilot. Just think, in another reality, I’m posting the YouTube link for each episode and not just this one and done.

2021 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 22: Circle of Fear “Dark Vengeance” (1973)

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22. BEASTS OF BURDEN: One where a horse/donkey/mule/ox etc is doing some serious work.

This was supposed to be Devil Story but I got so excited after I watched it that I jumped the gun and posted it, thinking that surely I’d find another movie to fit the bill.

I spent almost this entire month trying to find another one.

This is an episode of the show Ghost Story, which changed its name to Circle of Fear midway through its one season. Executive produced by William Castle, the original idea for the show was to have Sebastian Cabot play Winston Essex, the owner of a mysterious hotel called Mansfield House, which was really San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado where Wicked Wicked was filmed.

By episode 14 of 22, the show was retitled and Cabot was out and the show still suffered poor ratings, despite featuring writers like Robert Bloch, Harlan Ellison, D.C. Fontana and Jimmy Sangster.

Episode 15 was Dark Vengeance, which was written by Peter Dixon (whose career was all over the place in TV, working on everything from the Superman 1950s TV series to the Masters of the Universe cartoon) and directed by Herschel Daugherty (The Victim).

While working at a construction site, Frank (an incredibly, near imposible young Martin Sheen) finds a box that can;t be opened. He becomes obsessed with it and finally is able to break into it, revealing only a broken mirror and a toy horse that upsets his wife Cindy (KIm Darby, queen of the TV movie supernatural heroines) to increasing mania.

Of course Cindy would have a past with the horse. But how do you get it back in the box or even destroy it when it can even survive being set ablaze?

There’s no way a goofy wooden horse should be so damned frightening, but everyone is beyond committed to making this happen. Man, after seeing this episode, now I have an entire series to devour. This show suffered comparisons to Night Gallery, but after all, shouldn’t every anthology show made ever after Serling’s masterwork suffer that fate?

You can watch this on YouTube.

2021 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 14: Graveyard Disturbance (1987)

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14. SPOILED ALERT!: Watch something with grotesque eating in it. Or at least some expired food. Yuck.

I have a complicated relationship with Lamberto Bava. And by that, I mean that for every Demons, there’s a Devilfish. But then I realize that I kind of like Blastfighter, love Macabre and even kind of dig Delirium. I always give him another chance and I feel like someday, I won’t feel like Lamberto is going to let me down every time I see his signature on a film.

In July of 1986, Lamberto was hired to create five TV movies under the title Brivido Giallo (Yellow Thrill). Of course, none of these were giallo and only four got made: Until Death, The Ogre, Dinner with a Vampire and this film.

Originally titled Dentro il cimitero (Inside the Cemetery), this spoof of Italian horror is about five twnetysomething teenagers who make a bet with an entire town — which is literally referred to as the kind of place from An American Werewolf In London — to see if they can survive one evening inside a series of catacombs. Not only are there zombies and vampires in there, there’s also death itself.

It all starts off with plenty of promise, as our gang of young punks has the most 80s van ever, complete with an image from Heavy Metal, U2 and Madonna. After the crew shoplifts, they go on the run and straight into supernatural trouble.

The person they’re stealing from? Lamberto. Which is only fair, as he uses this movie to rip off everything from — sorry, spoof or pay homage to — Carnival of Souls and Phenomena to his father’s Black Sunday and any number of zombie movies.

So where does the eating come in? Well, there’s one great scene in here where an entire family of multiple eyed creatures all dine on rotten food. This moment had to have inspired Pan’s Labyrinth, if only for Guillermo del Toro to try to make something good out of, well, another movie where Lamberto lets me down.

The Ultraman (1979)

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Originally airing on Tokyo Broadcasting System from April 4, 1979 to March 26, 1980,  the fifty episodes of The Ultraman are the eighth story of Ultraman and take place four years after Ultraman Leo’s adventures.

The first animated version of Tsuburaya’s iconic superhero, The Ultraman was one of the earliest cartoons from Sunrise, which is better known for the other cartoon they released the same year as this, Mobile Suit Gundam.

At some point in the 21st century, the Earth Defense Forces form the Science Guard Agency led by Captain Akiyama. Their goal is to solve the strange glowing objects in the form of letters from an unknown language that are appearing in the sky. Earth Defense Forces member Choichiro Hikari is making his way back to Earth to join the team when he encounters and bonds with Ultraman Joneus.

Beyond the monsters, the bad guys are the Heller Empire, a renegade faction of Ultra People who have learned how to use the Ultra Mind for evil.

If you’ve seen this before in America, it may be because it was condensed into two movies, 1981’s The Adventures of Ultraman and 1983’s Ultraman II: The Further Adventures of Ultraman. The fourteenth episode also aired on New York superstation WOR as part of their Japan Tonight! seven-hour event which was hosted by noted Japanese actor Telly Savalas. I kid, I kid.

Sponsored by Bandai, the episode was introduced by Japanese actress/author/talk show host Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, who told American audiences that Ultraman was “very, very popular in Japan. He’s like your Superman.” Plenty of geeks like me knew all about Ultraman, as the show aired in syndication here from 1966 until the mid 80s.

Now you can get the entire series — all in one gorgeous package — from Mill Creek. I love that they’ve been putting so much love into these releases. They also look incredible all sitting on one shelf.

You can buy this set from:

2021 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 13: Alison’s Birthday (1981)

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13. THE RUBY ANNIVERSARY: Watch something that came out in 1981. The redder the better, right Ben?

How many movies have I seen from 1981? I mean, has there ever been a better year for movies? Possession, Scanners, Evil Dead, Escape from New York, Heavy Metal, Dead and Buried, Just Before Dawn, The House by the Cemetery, Eyes of a Stranger, An American Werewolf In London, Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker, Hell Night, Mystics In Bali, even Carnival Magic. Ahh — also Dark Night of the Scarecrow, Piranha 2, Absurd, Demonoid, Madhouse, My Bloody Valentine, The Monster Club, Shock Treatment, Night School, The Beyond, The Other Hell, Happy Birthday to Me, The Prowler, The Funhouse, Burial Ground, One from the Heart, Don’t Go Into the Woods, Evilspeak, Fear No Evil, The Howling, The Beyond, Knightriders, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Halloween II,  Friday the 13th Part 2, Porky’s, The Road Warrior, Excalibur, Body Heat, Cannonball Run, Stripes, The Burning, Blow Out, Thief, Ms. 45, Mommie Dearest, Cannibal Ferox, Galaxy of Terror, Nighthawks, Inseminoid, Ghost Story, The Pit,  Christiane F., Roar, Pennies from Heaven, Sharky’s Machine, Bloody Moon, Enter the Ninja, The Incredible Shrinking Woman, The Fan, The Nesting, The Black Cat, Night of the Werewolf, Firecracker, Mad Foxes, The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, Centrespread, Years of the Beast, Home Sweet Home, Dead Kids and man, so many more.

1981 was a great, great time to be alive and excited about horror movies.

On the other side of the world, Australian folk horror was taking root, at least with this film, which starts with 16-year-old Alison playing with a spirit board and we all know just how well that works out in film. It doesn’t work out in minutes, not hours or days, as Alison’s dead father begins to warns her that ‘s she in trouble and that she shouldn’t go home for her birthday through possessing one of her friends, who is then killed dead when a bookcase falls on her.

Years later, Alison and her boyfriend visit her family, who instantly keep them apart and Alison begins having vivid nightmares. The plan is to keep slowly drugging and gaslighting them both, ending with the spirit of a demon named Mirna being moved from Alison’s grandmother into her body, as has been the tradition for two hundred years.

Director and writer Ian Coughlan also made Stones of Death and Cubbyhouse, another movie about devil worship that supposedly has a connection to this movie. I’ve heard that it’s near unwatchable and has Joshua Leonard from The Blair Witch, so I leave it up to some other brave soul to watch it. Who am I kidding — I’ll probably update this post sooner or later with my findings.

As part of the All the Haunts Be Ours box set from Severin, this modern folk horror will finally be seen by a larger audience. It may not be the fastest moving story, it may not have all the gore of the slasher yeat of 1981, but it has a definite dark mood that makes it unlike anything you’ve seen before, even if you know exactly where it leads. You can also watch it on Tubi.