EDITOR’S NOTE: Doomwatch was first on Chiller Theater on Saturday, January 5, 1980 at 1 a.m. It also aired on May 29, 1982.
Doomwatch was originally a TV series that was on between 1970 and 1972. It was so big that it became this movie, which was released in the U.S. as Island of the Ghouls.
Dr. Spencer Quist (John Paul) and the Doomwatch (Department for the Observation and Measurement of Scientific Work) team — Doctor Del Shaw (Ian Bannen), Dr. John Ridge (Simon Oates), Dr. Fay Chantry (Jean Trend) — visit a village on the island of Balfe that is cut off from the rest of civilization. That’s because pollution has led to many of their people becoming mutated and violent.
Del Shaw was a new character who became the lead in this, which hurt the popularity of this movie with the fans of the show. Judy Geeson also gets more time than any of the show’s cast.
Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, who created that show, have writing credits, but Clive Exton (The House In Nightmare Park, The Awakening) did most of the story. It’s kind of folk horror mixed with ecology, which is a weird mix.
October 22: A Horror Film Shot for less than S10,000 (That’s not found footage)
Former baseball players Ben (director and writer Jeremy Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cronheim) are roaming the highways as a zombie outbreak has destroyed the world. They were trapped in a house in Massachusetts for three months. Mickey’s family is now dead and Ben won’t sleep inside. They also meet members of a survivors group known as the Orchid — Annie (Alana O’Brien) and Frank (Larry Fessenden) — who won’t allow them to join.
Ben forces Mickey to kill his first zombie and learn how to finally be someone who can make it in this world. Annie still won’t allow them to join and later causes Mickey to have to rescue Ben. He’s bitten by a zombie and has to be killed by his best friend. He promises Andy that he will get revenge.
When Ben and Mickey are trapped in the car surrounded by zombies, they get drunk and start singing “Show Me the Way to Go Home.” That part made me laugh even if it’s quite sad. This is an interesting movie. It cost $6,000 and was made very much as they went.
22. HIGHWAY TO HELL: A savage car chase is the vehicle for tonight’s viewing displeasure.
Directed by Eric Valette (the 2008 American remake of One Missed Call), this movie feels like a decade ahead of when it should have been made. It was written by Neal Marshall Stevens, who also writes a lot of movies for Full Moon as Roger Barron.
A shapeshifting car is on the streets of Chicago, going from a black Chevrolet Nova to a red Chevrolet Corvette Z06, luring in would-be criminals and then basically eating them and getting into accidents just to get impounded and murder policemen. It even becomes a 1968 Lincoln Continental with tentacles inside it that drag people into the interior.
The title is good, you know? But this is no Christine. It’s also no The Car, a movie that while one of the dumbest films ever created is one of my favorites and in my opinion, way better than U of M grad Steve King’s car movie.
All you need to know about how this movie was made is that the underground garage where it was shot wasn’t well-ventilated and the entire cast got sick.
B&S About Movies is the one thing in my writing career — I pretty much write from when I get up until when I go to bed for people who pay me — that is outside of making money. I like that there are no ads on the site and the most commerce that intrudes on this page is mentioning what label sent me a film to review.
I don’t ever want to run ads, but if I could make just a little bit doing this, I’d be happy. Or at least feel like the hours I spend every week weren’t me writing for an audience of one.
There are four ways you can help:
Go to our Ko-Fi site and just donate. There’s no set amount and I won’t tell you what to do. In fact, if you just keep reading for free, we can still be friends.
Join as a monthly member for just $1. That makes you a Little B&S’er.
As a Medium B&S’er at just $3 a month, if you pick a movie or a director, I’ll write about them for you. In fact, I’ll do one a month and even dedicate the post to you.
For $5 a month, you basically get some major power. As a Big B&S’er, I’ll write an entire week on any subject you’d like. How awesome would that be? In fact, I’ll do it for every month you’re a member. Do you think any of your other movie sites will do that for you?
If you sent money before, good news! I have time set aside in December to post movies for several of you:
Jennifer Upton: Requiem for a Dream, A Simple Plan
AC Nicholas: The movies of Radley Metzer
Chris Salazr: Heartbeeps
Thanks so much for reading and being part of this site. And let me know what you want to see!
Paul Wilson (Ben Gavin) is a vet who has settled down in Iowa where he’s running a farm. When his wife is killed and his diabetic daughter is kidnapped in Kansas City, he reveals to his friends that he’s way more than the man they believed as he unleashes all of his mercenary skills on those who took his girl.
Also: a former friend from Iraq, Randall Johnson (Robert Coppage), is the grandson of Robert Johnson, whose deal at the crossroads didn’t just take his soul, but the souls of every male child in his family afterward. Of course, they all get superpowers because the Devil (Kirk Fox) has a weird sense of humor. He also likes to play cards against John Wayne and John Wayne Gacy.
Directed and written by Michael P. Blevins, this is a movie that’s never really sure of its tone and if we should get behind Paul or be afraid of him. Even by the end of the movie,. he’s proved that he’s pretty much an idiot and for all his military skills has no idea how to plan things.
My wife walked in and saw some of this and said that I should tell all of you that “This looks like the movie that a bunch of indy pro wrestlers would make.”
Obviously, this is the vision of its creator and as such, way cooler to watch than a formula film. I’ll always choose not the best acting and quick changes in tone over boring.
Also: How did they get Jerry from Parks and Rec to play Paul’s dad? And how happy is Kevin Porter to be in two Tubi originals — this and Dante’s Hotel — in the same weekend?
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 is working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across America, giving pets second chances and happy homes.
Today’s theme: A movie with a Goblin soundtrack
From 1976 to 1984, Tomas Milan starred in eleven movies in the Squadra antiscippo series. Starting with The Cop in Blue Jeans, these films include Hit Squad, Squadra antitruffa, Little Italy, Assassino sul Tevere, Delitto a Porta Romana, Crime at the Chinese Restaurant, Delitto sull’autostrada, Crime in Formula One, Cop in Drag and this movie.
In each of these movies, Milan plays Nico “Il Pirata” Giraldi, progressively goes from a tough Italian movie cop to a cop with a Chiense twin, one that becomes a race car driver and finally investigating Rome’s gay community to investigate a murder.
Producewr Galliano Juso got the idea when he and director Bruno Corbucci were filming Il trafficone. Juso had his purse stolen by thieves on Kawasaki motorcycles, which make him wondered what would happen if the cops had an anti-snatch and grab team.
The fifth film in the series, The Gang Who Sold America has Giraldi now an Interpol agent in America. He meets the mob family from the last movie — Little Italy — including Salvatore (Enzo Cannavale) with his family and Giarra (Margherita Fumero, whose character is so close to Edith Prickley in both voice and dress that i wonder what came first; SCTV started airing in 1976, so it could go both ways), who is in love with him. Eli Walach, who played Don Girolamo Giarra, did not come back for this.
Giraldi puts two mob bosses against each other but this movie is mostly about broad comedy and action scenes, including air boats and plenty of fistfights. The beginning may be the best part, as Milan is dressed in a military jacket with a straw hat and a scarf, carrying a boombox and dancing to disco down 42nd Street. There’s also a great scene where Indian singer Asha Puthli sings “The Whip” and fights criminals with Milan. Her name is Fiona Strike in this movie which is such a perfect Italian movie name.
Salvatore Baccaro, who is always an ogre in films. But the real reason I watched this?
The Goblin soundtrack. It’s great, embracing full disco. Boomkatsaid, “The film is set in the United States, and the soundtrack sounds very American, starting from the first two songs, interpreted by the warm voice of Asha Puthli, an Indian singer who is also an actress in this movie, “The Whip” and “The Sound of Money” seem to belong to one of the many Stax productions of those years, only that they’re played by… Goblin! The Roman band, whose line-up consisted of Claudio Simonetti (keyboards), Agostino Marangolo (drums), Fabio Pignatelli (bass) and Carlo Pennisi (guitar) was in those years nothing less than hyper-productive, but this did not prevent them from producing high-quality works. In fact, the album songs go through various genres (disco music, country, funky, soul, samba) with little concessions to some typical “Goblinian” moments.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Assignment: Outer Spacewas first on Chiller Theater on Saturday, April 24, 1965 at 11:20 p.m. It also aired on May 21, 1966 and June 1, 1968.
Known as Space-Men in Italy, this was Antonio Margheriti’s first full directorial effort. How magical is it that at the same time that this was being filmed, Mario Bava was filming Black Sunday in the next sound stage over.
This takes place in 2116, as Interplanetary Chronicle of New York reporter Ray Peterson (Rik Van Nutter, Uncle Was a Vampire) is writing a story about the infra-radiation flux in Galaxy M12. The space station commander thinks that he’s in the way, which doesn’t help when they both fall for the station’s botanist Lucy (Gabriella Farinon, Blood and Roses).
Then the out of control Spaceship Alpha Two appears, headed straight to Earth with enough radiation to destroy it. Lives are lost, including Al, who is played by Archie Savage. He’s probably the first black man to play an astronaut on film, first in First Spaceship On Venus and then in this movie.
Peterson becomes a hero and uses Space Taxi B91 to fly out to the death ship and shut down its power. He’s rescued by the commander, gets the girl and all is well in the world of Italian science fiction.
Using the name Anthony Dawson, Margheriti would make more science fiction films, including Battle of the Worlds; Wild, Wild Planet; War of the Planets and, late in his career, Treasure Island In Outer Space.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Atom Age Vampire was first on Chiller Theater on Saturday, December 26, 1970 at 11:30 p.m.
Seddok, l’erede di Satana was renamed Atom Age Vampire in America. It was directed by Anton Giulio Majano and written by Majano with Gino De Santis and Alberto Bevilacqua.
An exotic dancer (Susanne Loret) has her face ruined in a car accident. She goes insane when she sees her face but is offered a chance by Monique Riviere (Franca Parisi Strahl), the assistant of Dr. Levin (Alberto Lupo). The idea of saving the beauty that she has lost appeals to Levin, so he starts injecting her with a special serum called Derma 28, which he based on research done on burn victims in Hiroshima. Before you can say, “Corruption is not a woman’s picture” or “Eyes Without a Face,” he’s fallen in love with her and he’s killing women to keep her ravishing, even if it lasts less and less with each murder, because the supply is running out. In order to forget things like morals, he injects himself with Derma 25, which makes him into a monster who no longer cares how many women he has to kill. The police bring in Dr. Levin to consult and he blames Japanese immigrants for the crimes. Of course, it’s been him all along.
There are two amazing remakes of this movie.
Animator Scott Bateman used the English dubbing to create a soundtrack for his animated version of the movie.
Adam Roberts also made Remake, a scene-for-scene reshoot that also has the dubbed English soundtrack, but moves the camera so we never see anyone. It also looks like a bad VHS dub, which is an intriguing choice.
There’s no vampire in this, but once Dr. Levin starts losing control of his beast side, you won’t miss any of those blood drinkers.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Monster On the Campuswas on Chiller Theater on Saturday, December 23, 1972 at 1:00 a.m. It also aired on Saturday, December 29, 1973; August 23, 1975 and March 12, 1977.
Released as a double feature with Blood of the Vampire, Monster On the Campus is about Dr. Donald Blake (Arthur Franz), a science professor who gets a coelacanth, which he refers to as “a living fossil, immune to the forces of evolution.” As he examines it, he’s cut by its teeth and passes out as Molly Riordan (Helen Westcott) drives him home.
That night, someone kills Molly, leaving her in a tree outside Blake’s home. Blake is found inside, passed out, by his fiancee Madeline Howard (Joanna Moore). Lt. Mike Stevens (Judson Pratt) and Detective Sgt. Eddie Daniels (Ross Elliot) take him to the station for questioning but he can’t remember anything.
All sorts of weirdness starts happening, like dragonflies growing big in size and the doctor accidentally smoking his own blood in his pipe. That’s when he figures out that the gamma rays in the ancient animal have preserved its blood and it can turn anyone into a devolved version. He thinks that he’s turning into a troglodyte, so he goes to his cabin and sets it up to take a photo if he walks across a wire. He does. He’s a caveman.
A caveman with an axe.
Director Jack Arnold made a lot of these science films, like Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Incredible Shrinking Man, It Came from Outer Space! and This Island Earth. He also made High School Confidential!, Boss N***** and finished his career directing episodes of The Love Boat, The Fall Guy and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo. He also made 28 episodes of Gilligan’s Island. This was written by David Duncan, who scripted The Time Machine, Fantastic Voyage, the American script for Rodan, The Monster that Challenged the World and The Black Scorpion.
October 21: A NonSupematural Shaw Bros Horror Film.
I think I’ve seen all the Shaw Brothers non-supernatural films and the HK Database says that this is a drama, so…let’s just agree that it may have demons and magic but it’s kind of its own thing.
Long Fei (Jason Piao Pai) left behind the world of martial arts fisticuffs and now lives in a secluded mountain studio where he and his assistant Fatty (Wong Chun) have spent five years carving a woman out of crystal. Long Fei wishes that his woman had a soul, so he adds some blood because you know, nothing bad would happen, and of course everything bad in this movie happens as the crystal woman (Yu-Po Liu) starts killing people.
Masked Poison Yama (Wei Hao Ting) and his son (Yu Hsiao) want to kill Long Fei, so they spend much of the movie inside a treehouse lab where they mix plants, snake venom — yes, the movie shows us it being extracted, it’s a Shaw Brothers movie — and animals to make a poison that blows people up from inside their stomach. Yes, they show it. You know you want it.
Yet the son is soon killed by the crystal female and Yama declares revenge on everyone, first using poison gas to kill everyone in the family of former fighter Prince Tian Di (Jung Wang). As this is all going on, he sends his men White Judge and Black Judge after Long Fei and Fatty, who are hiding out in an inn where the owner decapitated people and serves their flesh.
This movie is, well, absolutely wild. There are battles in a graveyard, a school of masked female assassins, wire-assisted swordplay and every character coming together for one final battle. I just realized that Hus Shan also directed Inframan, Kung Fu Zombie and Dynamo. Yeah, that makes sense even if this movie doesn’t — like how is the crystal woman related to the assassin academy? — but who cares? It looks good, it moves fast and it’s super weird.
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